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Agony of the Pre-order Sherlock Hound edition

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 5:00 pm
by SteveH
OK, gonna rant and cry a little here with people I KNOW understand. :)

First, check it: http://www.hlj.com/product/pht57478

Isn't that WONDERFUL? Figma Sherlock Hound. Just PERFECT, everything nailed. EVEN COMES WITH HIS CAR!!!!!

Truly epic. But.

Pre-order is for street date of MAY 2016. That's about 8 months away. That's FOREVER.

Here's where the ranting and crying begin. See, I use a debit card for all my online stuff. I get some money, I throw it on the card, I keep a careful ledger of debit and credit, I never spend more than I have. Good, solid, reasoned way to go, right?

When I order something that's not yet released I note it in the ledger, that money is 'spent' even though the transaction isn't actually completed until a week/month/whatever later. Were I to order this, and understand I want it really REALLY badly, I am tying up appx. $100 USD for 8 months. Now you understand the process.

Here are the points that are issues to me.

1. Dollar/Yen exchange rate. RIGHT NOW it's pretty good, stays around 120 Yen to the Dollar, that makes Hound roughly $70 USD plus around $25 or so for shipping. If the Yen gets stronger, if there's shenanigans in the international currency market, if it goes back to 89 Yen to the Dollar, I would be screwed if I didn't have the difference on my card. 8 months is a VERY long time in this regard.

2. Holmes..er Hound looks really really good. They might not make Watson. If you have Hound you HAVE to have Watson. I can see them making Moriarty simply because they could re-tool the Hound mold and get it done. I seriously doubt they'll make a Mrs. Hudson. Of course if they DID make more of the charac from Sherlock Hound I would be sunk because I would need to have all of them. :)

3. There are various and sundry issues here at home, one of which is I am not sure where I will be living next year. May 2016 is right about when things may or may not go to complete crap.

4. Scalpers and underproduction. I suspect that many Miyazaki fans will lust for this. I don't know how well Sherlock Hound is regarded by the Holmes fans but I'm sure there's SOME crossover. So that increases the demand. Plus it's a new Figma and there actually are some that desire to buy them all just BECAUSE it's a new Figma. If I don't pull the trigger on this soon I KNOW it's going to go 'order stop' and I'll never find it at list price, it'll go nuts on the aftermarket.

Arrggh. First world problems, amIrite everyone? For those in Japan where walking into a corner store gets you ANYTHING you might want this probably seems overwrought and downright overthought, but it's a real, honest problem for us on the Big Landmass. :)

I have the money NOW. I suppose I could always cancel the reservation if it looks like crap is happening. DANG I hate tying up that much money for that long.

Does ANYONE ELSE agonize this way? I don't mean in that "gee I wish I had the money but" way but having the money, just not maybe having the TIME. I would be a whole lot more comfortable if the street date was like Jan. or Feb. 2016.

Thoughts?

Re: Agony of the Pre-order Sherlock Hound edition

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 5:27 pm
by Daniel
Would sending the money to a friend in Japan now, having him/her order it in yen, and then, taking into account the situation at the time, shipping it to you when it's released work?

Re: Agony of the Pre-order Sherlock Hound edition

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 5:40 pm
by SteveH
Daniel wrote:Would sending the money to a friend in Japan now, having him/her order it in yen, and then, taking into account the situation at the time, shipping it to you when it's released work?
Well, not really. It would have to be someone I trusted completely. I once, long ago, sent off $300 to a nominal friend in Japan to pick up some Space Battleship Yamato books, a very dear $300 I might add, and he completely blew it off. I think I funded a month or so of ramen during his grad school time. I chalked the experience up to life lesson learned.

No, it would have to be someone I really knew and trusted and I don't have anyone like that in Japan currently.

But even if I did, that's tying up roughly $100 USD for 8 months, WITHOUT the cancel option.

More than anything else the crisis comes from the 8 month delay. I just don't live in a world where I can plan 8 months away. If that changed there would be many, many things I could do that I can't do now. :)

Good advice, might work for others, so good idea to put out there!