I got this guy in a week ago from Japan, the pics in the bin auction weren't great so I was thrilled to find him, the box, and all 10 bullets in great condition. I love pre-tfs! He technically isn't a pre-tf as he is Bandai but I'm loving the transforming gun theme these days so I'm loving this pickup. He shoots a bullet from the front by clicking it right in the front and pulling the trigger (shoot across the room!). The blowback sort of feature with the magazine involves cocking it back and a bullet popping out for new ammo/spent round effect. His robot mode is a whole lot of early tf ghetto but the S&W realistic gun mode and its features are a whole lot of awesome (the arms tf so the chrome sides face out not forward but I like it better like pictured). He's also bigger than I was expecting (I have big hands, see the pic), especially after Browning, my last tf gun pickup.
awesome, i can't believe you had no problem getting it through customs. seeing your pictures and hearing that it actually shoots a good distance makes me want it more. nice buy!
hehe, yeah I was worried about that too. It didn't cost much though so it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Definately the most realistic tfing gun.
if you don't mind sharing, how much was it total after rinkya fees, shipping, etc...? i've seen it on YHJ for about $100-$120 total but was so worried about customs taking it because it looks so real, man they don't make toys like this anymore. that bullet/shell ejection is the coolest feature.
I got it for $30 plus $25 ems shipping ($55 US total) from Japan through talking to a guy on ebay. And yep his features are nifty!
no, don't worry about the bullets. the "gold plastic" basketball jones is referring to is the painted stuff that sometimes flakes and decays quickly like on black zarak. the bullets were injection molded with high density polyethylene in that color, not painted; you can see where the channel was on bottom of the bullet. if you want to keep it gem mint the robot-japan guys swear that air, finger prints, and oil from human contact slowly degrade and dull vac-metal and chrome parts....alen yen has a similar story in the "gold lightan" ramble: http://www.toyboxdx.com/ramble/
Uh, the gold plastic prone to easy breakage is molded, not painted. I've got a G1 Skyhammer that's notorious for gold-plastic syndrome and I can assure you it's not painted gold. If it was just paint it would flake off. The only way to tell is if the plastic has swirls of darker areas in the mix, GPS usually affects these and it's a definite sign of the problem being in the plastic, not paint. I cant tell from the pictures if those bullets have those swirls though.