I wonder if that means higher number made if they will be offered through S7?

I guess the smart thing with this release would have been to order 2 and split the cost with someone. Because they said shipping is $25 whether it's 1 or 2, not HUGE savings, but still.

it's cool S7 will be getting some Cronic now. I like the Dorogami, and want more, but they're just a pain to hunt down now.

I've been asked by Cronic to pass on an explanation for the $25 charge.

First, the reason for the direct sale from Cronic to his fans was because Koiwa-san is upset that overseas fans have to pay crazy prices on YJA, Ebay, etc. to get his figures.

The Dorogami sale was about getting figures into fans' hands at reasonable prices. Of course, since they each need to be indivually sent from Japan, the S&H price is higher than a figure being sent from the US. The $25 includes EMS shipping (which is super fast and quite expensive) as well as packaging, transport, and Paypal transaction + currency exchange fees.

As many of you know, when you buy from Kaiju Taro, they charge a fee of 1000 yen per order on top of shipping. The reason is to cover these types of fees. When you order through Celga, you're also paying all kinds of fees, which total a bare minimum of $20-$25 per purchase (usually more) when you add it all up. Basically, a total of $25 isn't at all outrageous.

To that I'd add it's extremely rare to have a chance to order a figure directly from a Japanese artist. Koiwa-san works very hard to hand paint each figure. He doesn't use a factory, since he wants his fans to own figures that were painted by him.

So instead of complaining about a few dollars, let's thank Koiwa-san, and the other good people at Cronic, for the chance to buy such a beautiful figure at a great price.

You'd all complain if I hanged you with brand new ropes.

So, do you work for cronic now andy? Why did he all of a sudden ask you to be his mouthpiece....or did you take it upon yourself to let people here know as a favor for him? Seems to have caused a lot of confusion...huh? Anyway, just curious....it sucks for all the people hyped on this....

I'm still actually pretty hyped.

I do not work for Cronic. As I explained before, I was asked by Cronic to post the pre-order info as well as the explanation for the shipping charge.

There's nothing "sudden" at all about my helping Koiwa-san. I've known him for over a year.

Koiwa-san has asked me to do these favors for him because 1) I am a friend. 2) I'm a native English speaker.

I have tried to make my posts as clear as possible. I'm sorry if they were still confusing to anyone.

I got the notice, and I paid it largely because I consider a pre-order as a commitment, but I did write them a brief email saying that 'padding' profit with shipping charges tends to leave a bad taste in people's mouths. I suggested that, assuming the total charges reflect their desired profit, it might be preferable for them to raise the price of the item and charge only actual-postage-cost for shipping. I've gotten three other significantly larger boxes recently (all via EMS from two different Japan shippers) and they were all shipped for $15 or $16 each.

I received back a very gracious reply, thanking me specifically for telling them about this.

But, if S7 will be getting these from now on then the problem goes away, I know that's where I'll be getting them!

CC

Thats dope....I was not implying that all of a "sudden" this happened, just merely asking a question......true

That's cool, Cesar. It's all good.

I think the smallest EMS package from Japan-USA is now around $18 as it just went up. That plus the paypal fee for around $60 is over $20 so it's a close call.

Personally, I'd rather pay an extra $5 padding to the artist than the 100-300% profit the flippers will be getting for this stuff in a month or two. You don't see Secret Base, RxH, etc making a special edition of a toy just to say thanks to overseas customers, so wipe away the tears and be thankful they even give a shit. At least you won't be getting a Cronic with food-goop inside the head or flaking metal coating.

I just sent a Blobpus EMS San Francisco to UK ... $35 USD. Cronic's charges aren't out of line per current rates.

damn 35 USD. They are probably passing the fuel costs of transfering all these packages down to the consumer. Shitty but nothing we can do until they perfect transporters lol.

how did you all find out about this pre-order? Was it posted here, or did you receive an email? Where can I find a picture?

thanks

I think it was posted but it was taken down by the admin. Still not 100% sure about the reasons but hey it's S7's house so....respect

Actually, the shipping and handling cost is $25.

Purple Walrus - It's too late to pre-order, sorry. As someone mentioned, the pre-order thread was removed, so I'd better hold off on re-posting the pic or other information.

pic shouldn't hurt!

I think if someone posted $60 shipped for this figure no one would complain or maybe ever think twice about it, but since it was offered at $35 then to be hit with $25 shipping that probably threw a lot of people.
Not such a bad deal if you ordered two.

Overall I'd say it's a good deal still and would like to thank Koiwa-san

How many figures are there out there still being painted and offered by the artist/creator that folks can get their hands on at this price?! Not many.
This is probably the most reasonable offer for a Cronic I've seen, and it was pretty damn cool of Koiwa-san to hook folks up with this deal thru Andy, and cool of Andy to do so.

Oh crap, I thought it was offered at $60.....but $35???? Nuff said

Any word on these GID Dorogamis? I've seen them out now, but I haven't gotten mine from the pre-order.

Anyone else gotten theirs? Everyone?

Cc

I too was wondering bout this?

Nothing. I THOUGHT I saw them in some pics , but I think I've only seen the Pop Soda GID out and mixed them up, and I think they're dif.

Ahhh, now that I double-check, the ones I've seen are GID Popsodas too - I had not picked up on the fact that there are 2 different GIDs.

OK, sounds like no one has rec'd the pre-order GIDs yet, so I'll relax. I was just worried allofasudden that maybe everyone else had gotten theirs weeks ago ... though it seemed unlikely that there would not have been even so much as a drive-by gloat posted by someone.

CC

I'm still waiting for gid dorogami i paid for several moths ago
no sign
no problem to wait, I hope I will get it one day
or not?