christianponte

It's the international shipping costs that are high, domestic not so much. So it's actually cheaper for your items to be included with the rest of the US shipments, because then you only need to pay for the domestic shipping to you, plus your small fraction of the international shipping because we split the international shipping among you and everyone else ordering from the US (and there's a lot of us).

For those that have said they or someone they know might be going, if you ARE able to go, make sure to let me know which caravan location you'd be attending at. Obviously, we'll try and purchase as much as possible as early as possible, and then use the follow up events to try and get the remainder of the orders. Sapporo and Tokyo are the last two locations, though. Additionally, let me know if you plan on going alone or bringing a group of friends to help you. At the moment, it looks like we looking for 84 items as a group, which sounds like a lot, but 1.) almost half of those are just pens, and 2.) so far we might have 3 people at 3 events, possibly with friends, so it certainly becomes more manageable. For those looking to buy, I've updated the spreadsheet with all orders thus far. If you haven't provided specifics or need to update, do so after this post (since I probably won't notice edits on previous posts unless you pointed them out). Then, what we'll do is we'll just inform our buyers of max quantities for each item, for example: 8 Artworks IV, 8 Binders, 1 billion Pens, etc. and we'll then sort whatever they were able to get among those that ordered. Make sure to let me know your location as well, so we can organize bulk shipping to each country, and then have one person in each country relay those out to the rest. I'm doing my best to factor in all the costs we overlooked and underestimated from Comiket, ranging from transaction fees, shipping, local travel, etc. so that our paid volunteers don't lose any money on this like they usually do.

Great! Let me/us know if you can. It seems like we have a few maybes already, so I've begun organizing everyone's requests thus far into a spreadsheet. If multiple people are able to go, I can help organize a plan to help our buyers divide and conquer the work and hopefully get as many people their "orders" as possible. :) Let me explain the process we've used in the past, since there's someone on Twitter spreading a rumor/implying that we've looking for someone to do all of this for us for free, which is not true. Yes, we pay you – usually in advance, unless you decide otherwise – for the following: 1.) all the products we hope for you to buy, 2.) enough to cover packing and shipping costs, and 3.) our share of your expenses (local travel, etc.). In addition, we also usually pitch in extra for 4.) your time and effort, as you deem necessary. Call it a stipend, call it a finder's fee, call it a commission, whatever. We usually pay that up front as well. The reason we haven't outlined a specific number is because this is usually up to our proxy to decide, based on a number of factors. Some have indeed done it for free, because they and a large group of friends were going to the event anyway (so it wasn't out of their way) and they could pack/ship for free because they worked for the military. Some have asked for anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on what each person was ordering, because they hadn't been planning on going, and wanted a bit more out of it. Finally, once everything that's been able to be purchased has been purchased, any remaining funds from items that sold out and orders that were unfulfilled in part or whole are refunded. So to answer your questions, yes. I would pay you in advance for the items I would like (plus enough to possibly buy extras), shipping, fees, etc. The ¥3,500 is an extra bonus – it's a special bounty for if you're able to get 100% the items I need, meant to provide you incentive to make every attempt to do so. (And to entice someone to take on the task for the group, since this isn't an easy job.) But even if you aren't able to get all the items and claim the bounty, don't worry, you'll still have the money we paid for the items you were able to buy and can ship, as well as any finder's fee you decided upon in advance.

Another thing too is if we could figure out what country everyone's from and group people's shipments together, and then distribute them via domestic mail within those countries, we could save on shipping overall. Volume-wise, the binder and play mats will take up the most space, so it might be smart to ship one large package to the US for those of us in the US first, then relay each person's order domestically from there, like we did with Comiket. Any help would be appreciated! Especially if we can get various people who plan to attend the Caravan in different cities, that can help to lighten the workload for any particular person, and make it more likely that more people will get the stuff they hope to get. If your friend thinks he can help, keep me/us in the loop and I'll try to organize everyone that's able to go with a gameplan. :)

Oh, those aren't the big guns. You'll know when I'm pulling out the big guns. ;)

If anyone is able to go but is on the fence about taking on such a task for the group, I will issue the following bounty: If anyone's willing to take on the task for us as a group and manages to get me everything I need (at least one each of the new items plus Felicia/Flora cards, and perhaps multiple pens), I will pay for ¥3,500 worth of additional merchandise for that person. That is, of course, in addition to the cost of my items plus my share of any additional costs. I also say "at least" because it might be nice to pick up extras for anyone on here who might be late to the party. Otherwise, I can give them away on my upcoming video series. Of course, this would only be for items that haven't sold out. I don't want extras of any item until everyone in our group who wants that item gets at least one. And if I'm feeling generous at the time, I might also pay for up to one pen each (not shipping) for anyone who was part of the Comiket 89 group. We'll see. I'm thinking about it. :)

More Fire Emblem merchandise, including merchandise from Comiket 89 and Cipher Sai, will be available at Fire Emblem 0 (cipher) 1st Anniversary Caravan on/at the following dates/locations: 6/25 Osaka 7/3 Sendai 7/10 Hiroshima 7/16 Nagoya 7/24 Niigata 7/31 Fukuoka 8/7 Tokushima 8/14 Sapporo 8/20 Tokyo I know Comiket was a nightmare for all of us involved and Cipher Sai also sold out insanely fast, but given the multiple locations for this caravan tour plus the lessons learned from the last two events, I hope we can find someone to go to one or more of these events and pick up items for the group. Otherwise, we'll all have to seek them out on auction sites for at least 2x, 3x, or more times the retail cost. The following items will be available. USD prices are estimates as of the May 23rd conversion rate, and may vary significantly from the conversion rate throughout the summer. New Items: Fire Emblem 0 Artworks IV (Illustrations from the cards) - ¥2,000 (US$18.30) Card Binder - ¥3,000 (US$27.50) Can Badge Set (Roy et al.) - ¥1,500 (US$13.75) Tote Bag - ¥1,500 (US$13.75) Ballpoint Pen - ¥500 (US$4.75) Play Mat (Leo/Takumi) - ¥3,500 (US$32.00) Play Mat (Pixel Lords) - ¥3,500 (US$32.00) Returning Items: Fire Emblem 0 Artworks I, II, & III (Illustrations from the cards) - ¥2,000 each (US$18.30) Can Badge Sets - ¥1,500 each (US$13.75) Play Mat (Camilla/Hinoka) - ¥3,500 (US$32.00) Play Mat (Elise/Sakura) - ¥3,500 (US$32.00) If anyone can go, I'm going to need the one each of the new items, perhaps multiple of the pens. Additionally, a pair of promotional Cipher cards featuring Felicia will be distributed to guests. I'll need both of those too. Luckily, I just came into a bonus $1000, so I should be good to cover anyone who can get me what I need for retail cost, plus a little extra for your trouble. Some items from Cipher Festival, Comiket 89, and the 25th Anniversary Concerts will be sold through other retailers. See below: 25th Anniversary Fire Emblem Festival/Concert DVD - ¥5,370 (includes Marth promo card) Fire Emblem: Awakening Original Soundtrack (Fire Emblem Best Collection Series) - ¥3,056 One Hundred Songs of Heroes - ¥10,424 Renka, "IF ~ One's Thoughts" (Limited Edition w/ DVD) - ¥1,700

The FE6 carts cost enough used, you might as well buy one "new" like I did. Don't support piracy by getting the repro carts; it merely promotes piracy and lines the pockets of people who can't make an honest living, and sucks about a fourth or third of the money that could have been put towards a new copy of FE6. FE3/4 look great, congrats on getting them boxed! FE4 is the only one I'm still completely missing, but I'm hoping to find one new or like new, so I've been holding out. I also need boxed Japanese copies of FE7/8/11/13 at some point. I'd post updated pics of my stuff, since I got a ton of stuff in since mid-January... but both my Japanese and North American special editions of If/Fates are on loan to Dan of RetroProtection, so he can measure, design, and order protectors for them and everyone else who's requesting them. You're welcome, fanbase! :P

Most of the above suggestions are pieces, not songs. Just FYI. Anyway, the Tellius soundtracks. The older games have a MIDI quality that I'm not a fan of, but I'd gotten used to. It didn't really hinder my appreciation for the composition and scoring of those pieces. The Tellius game came out in an era when the norm was to take a digital MIDI arrangement and apply instrument samples to them... only the samples are so earshatteringly bad and of such low fidelity that I physically cringe when listening to the 4-disc soundtracks from each. Shameless plug, though: I'm giving away the Path of Radiance Premium Soundtrack at the moment. Link in sig! :)

I need more popcorn...

February 10th, huh? Hmm... Be back then.

TIL the population of Japan is 2.

Inb4 first print.

My stuff from Buyee, including all the Comiket stuff I couldn't get directly, finally arrived. I've run out of space to properly display everything (I'm actually embarrassed at how sloppy the picture had to be as a result of my running out of room), so you can view the current collection broken down into smaller portions here: http://imgur.com/a/xWnZx I'll probably update again after the Fates release and when the Cipher Sai stuff comes in, but that will probably be the last big update for a while. Between needing to save up for E3, two destination weddings, and a few pre-ordered items here and there (e.g., Roy amiibo, Marth/Caeda Nendoroid, Cordelia statue, Art of FE:A), I probably won't have another massive spending spree until later in the year. ...unless the barrage of Fire Emblem merchandise continues beyond the 25th Anniversary celebrations and into the next Comiket, in which case: gah!

If those sleeve limits were correct, you managed to work some serious magic! Thank you so much! And within 50 minutes of opening, wow!

Well, those limits are pretty depressing...

Just got the can badge sets I had to get via auction. I didnt realize how massive these things were... I'll post pics on my TheTanooki Instagram in a bit.

Good to hear everything is starting to arrive safely. Looks like even the other items I had to purchase via auction (notably the badge sets) have finally shipped to me, so I should get those in a couple days. Still waiting on some payments before we start the partial refunds. We could technically start to refund several of the smaller ones (since most refunds are almost negligible), but I had intended on prioritizing those due the largest refunds. I imagine they're more in the hole at this point and getting those sooner could actually have a meaningful impact, versus fulfilling a bunch of the single-digit refunds first.

According to the tracking info I have, all but two orders have been delivered. Of the remaining two, one should be delivered today, and the other seems to be taking longer due to international shipping. Luckily, no one is in blizzard territory.

They have, but not to Nintendo's faces. It's one thing to rant to your friends on Facebook, or to fellow fans on a message board or website. It's another to do it while also strategically disrupting Nintendo's ability to maintain their quality customer service and essentially forcing their hand to either hire more call receptionists (a temporary and costly solution) or to actually resolve the issue.Remember that Nintendo's business practice come from their conservative and defensive nature. They'll always understock because they don't want to be left with excess inventory that ends up in the bargain bin (devaluing their brand) or being sold back to them (killing retailer confidence in them). When games don't sell, they assume fans don't want those games, and they make less in the future. If fans buy them, or they get useful feedback that there is more demand for products than they realize, they have the confidence to boost their production numbers. It's one of the things I hear the most often from my Nintendo contacts and friends: they NEED fan feedback, because the sales data tells them almost nothing. That's why they loved the Club Nintendo surveys, and why they encourage people to call.

I also get Best Buy Reward Zone points out of it, so that's why I was waiting for Best Buy lol. A $200 system is only $4 in rewards, but with everything else, it eventually builds up. Plus, I compared local tax rates against the tax charged when ordering from Best Buy online, and it was significant enough that I chose Best Buy shipping over In-Store Pickup. The only thing one less sale will tell Nintendo is that the game didn't sell as much. If everyone did that, they'd assume no one wants Fire Emblem anymore (because they're really bad with interpreting sales data), and that would just jeopardize localization of the next one, like it did New Mystery. If you really want to get your message across to them and potentially help the situation (if others that share your opinion do the same), your best bet is to call them on the phone and strongly voice your opinion. Do the boycott, don't do the boycott, whatever – that only affects a number on their spreadsheets. Skip the email, because you'll get a form response and your emails can easily be filtered and forgotten about in a folder (including trash folders). The most effective thing you can do? Call them on the phone, because then you're taking up someone's time. Politely but firmly voice your displeasure in the situation, and try and take up as much of their time as you can with good arguments. They're required to file a report of your complaint. If others do the same thing and clog up their phone lines, not only do they file the complaints, but you clog up the phone lines and take the receptionists and customer service representative away from other customers with other problems, meaning they'd become less effective at doing their jobs, which would reflect badly on them and on Nintendo, which means they'll tell their superiors and supervisors that something needs to be done to resolve the issue ASAP so that the complaints stop, and they can go back to answering people's calls about why their Wii U isn't working and telling them it needs to be plugged into a power outlet first. This is what I've learned from friends who have at various times worked as Nintendo product demonstrators. Sales figures don't give them the whole picture. It's imperative fans voice their opinion, and a phone call is the best way to do it. I actually asked one of them to directly file a complaint for me about FE12's lack of localization. The response he eventually passed along to me strongly suggested that if more people called and said the same thing about 8 months earlier, we would've gotten the game.

It's actually cheaper on Best Buy from the sheer fact that you get free shipping: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nintendo-new-3ds-xl-fire-emblem-fates-edition/4773200.p?id=1219817779057&ref=199&loc=lwQPaWJGLu4&acampID=1&siteID=lwQPaWJGLu4-J4x8UyO8TOZeBQUS3GjtWQ I pre-ordered via Best Buy, so I'll probably head back into GameStop tomorrow to move my $25 to something else, perhaps the Roy amiibo and then the rest to my Conquest pre-order (purely for the pre-order bonus, otherwise I would've taken advantage of Best Buy's GCU.

UPDATES: All remaining orders have been shipped and tracking numbers have been sent out via PM. Full refunds have gone out to those whose orders were completely canceled. All those who OWE (or owed) money have already been notified. TO DO LIST: Partial Refunds (pending reception of remaining owed funds; priority to those owed larger refunds) Sleep

http://www.thetanooki.com/2016/01/19/fire-emblem-fates-gets-a-special-edition-new-3ds-xl/ This will be my 6th 3DS. No hesitation at all.

"Sign my crackers!" *eats them* :O