Ng's Collections VS La Tendo

Just feel like doing a short writeup on this topic. Hahah.

It's funny to see how things have taken a turn somehow. I think I can be considered a long-time customer of Ng's Collections (since 2005). Year after year, Uncle Ng was the only main reliable source of Super Sentai toys in CSC itself, so it's very clear-cut for the small market of collectors.

This year was rather exceptional because of the celebration for 35 years of Super Sentai in the anniversary series, "Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger". All of a sudden, you find that almost everyone starts to sell Super Sentai toys as well. The very same reason and increase in market demand led to a shortage of stock levels which also affected Ng's Collections. So for most parts during the beginning of the year, Uncle Ng either got in very limited stocks or very late stocks. Not to mention that the prices somewhat inflated, making them "collector-unfriendly"...

At the very same moment, I first became a member of La Tendo because of the S.H. Figuarts ShinkenBlue. During the times when Ng's Collections was having issues with shipment and less competitive pricing, securing via pre-orders instantly became very appealing. The problem compounded when Ng's Collections had to face issues relating to moving out of CSC or possible semi-retirement. Therefore, this was the time I started spamming pre-orders with La Tendo.

It was nice at first because of the convenience brought about by the service. Basically, one can just pay a deposit to pre-order an item and fork out the remaining when the item arrives which was informed via SMS. Members also get 10% discount for pre-orders and rebate points.

Coincidentally after an unexpected turn of events, Ng's Collections not only managed to remain at CSC but also managed to get in stocks on time and plentiful to go by. And this was where the tables started to turn... La Tendo for some weird reason recently kept receiving QC-failed shipment which pissed me to no end. Under such circumstances, I can only complete the transactions by choosing the "best" out of the available stocks. On the other hand, Ng's Collections more or less resumed its usual capacity which at times made me want to kick myself. Hahah.

At the end of the day, I just wanted to talk about the somewhat amusing switch of dynamics between Ng's Collections and La Tendo. It's not about comparing which is better; that being said - Ng's Collections would still be my main source of Super Sentai toys (at least mecha-wise) and La Tendo can offers more variety and alternatives whenever Ng's Collections is lacking.

Hopefully, the QC-failed cases would stop at just S.H. Figuarts GokaiRed and Ranger Key Set SP.