So did all of you had fun doing the math for the contest? I thought it was pretty easy, no? ^^;. A few words from me before I announce the winner. I’ll explain the steps on how to get the correct answer (the way I actually did it) and the hints I gave.
First off, the answers. I had some good chuckle. They ranged from 3800 yen to some 90,000 yen xD. That was kinda hilarious. Honestly, some of you were trying way too hard to do the math judging from the explanations in the emails xD. Of the 70+ entries I’ve received, only THREE(!!!) were within 1000 yen of the answer.
HINTS EXPLAINED!
I did emphasized “READ CAREFULLY”. I even added that in the rules. Some of you missed it judging by some of the emails ^^;. I worded everything as carefully and concise as possible. I thought my clues were generous enough. Please allow me to explain.
Amount in YEN- This wasn’t in the hint but it is a hint. One should’ve assumed I ordered the items from a Japanese site if I wanted the answer in yen; it doesn’t make sense (impossible) to make you find the exact amount in yen if you have to convert from dollars because the exchange rate changes. Someone commented that yen made the contest harder in which I replied “that makes it a lot easier actually”. Some of you were explaining the dollar-yen conversion to me and all that in the email= It was unnecessary xD.
“I got 20% off on the GUNPLAS“- Again, read carefully. I said “GUNPLAS”. Very few of you picked up on this. This is a reference to rainbowten.co.jp, a Japan-based website. Their Gunplas are regularly 20% off retail. Also, I’ve mentioned from time to time that I shop at rainbowten. They are my main source for gunpla.
“Everything came in one box”- A little shipping research or knowledge might’ve helped here. Given the obvious value, weight and size of the contents plus that it’s all in ONE BOX, one should’ve assumed it was shipped by EMS. SAL has a weight limit of roughly 5 lbs (2kg). The shipment was northward of 11 kg. Just for the record (not sure if I mentioned it in the past or not), I almost always use EMS for shipping. I rarely pick SAL as shipping choice (only for really cheap stuff I absolutely don’t care about). Some of you asked me for the weight and what type of shipping I used… well, I provided the hint. Some even asked where I lived- If you follow this blog, you would’ve also knew that I live in the states.
THE ORIGINAL ORDER
Like I’ve said above, I ordered everything from rainbowten with EMS shipping. I did all the math myself before ordering so I knew exactly how much I had to pay. here’s the original order I did:
Haha There wasn’t any conversion necessary. All you had to do was hop to rainbowten, grab their prices (all in yen), and figure out the shipping. If some items were out, then you just need to go to HLJ, grab the missing item’s price and dock 20% off. Some figured it out and did go to rainbowten but… chose the wrong shipping which threw their answers off ^^;. You could’ve calculate shipping in two ways:
- Go to HLJ, find the weight of each item and total them, then look up the EMS rate for the corresponding weight (HLJ has the chart on their site). 11,000+ g = 16200 yen for shipping.
- Send a shipping inquiry to rainbowten.
I did both of those to make sure I was right in my calculations… then I placed the order. My total for the order came out to be 58440 YEN.
As I’ve mentioned above… only THREE people came close. In the order I’ve received them…
- ChrisEXE guessed 58531 yen. For awhile, I thought Chris have won (again). He was oh so close to winning the MG Infinite Justice- only 91 yen off. I was referring to him when I said “someone might be heartbroken” ^^;. Heck, I was so sure he won that I was planning on how to type this post up to congratulate him again. Alas, someone else beat him in the final few hours…
-Rndm guessed 58290. Very close too.
Now for the winner! Congratulations goes out to “Dennis T.” for guessing 58400 (he said it was a random guess xD). Off by 40 yen. Dennis, if you read this then please send me your addy where I can ship out your prize. Thank you for playing!
Once again, this was a fun contest just like all the other times. I surely enjoy hosting these giveaways as a show of my appreciation toward you all ^^. Hope all of you enjoyed this one as well and stick around for more in the future. It’s definitely not over yet! Thank you all for participating!
…
Oh just one last thing before I forget. The very last entry gave me the best laugh. The person addressed me as “Danny Choo”! ^^; ahahaha. I was very flattered and all and I greatly admire Danny (my giveaways were influenced by him) but I’m not him…
I AM Z :)


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December 1, 2009 at 1:32 AM
Dammit, I would’ve got it exactly if my estimate of the weight of the box had been lower…
December 1, 2009 at 1:53 AM
lol… 40yen gap is very close…
December 1, 2009 at 2:00 AM
congratulations to the winners!!!!!
December 1, 2009 at 2:08 AM
Bwahaha! So I was supposed to be the heartbroken kid. XD
Yes, that’s how I figured out what kind of shipping you use. According to HLJ, your loot would be too much for a SAL so it’s only logical you used EMS.
Hmm, I see my mistake now.
I’ll use Ex-S as example. Instead of using 8000 yen as base price before taking 20% off, I used 8400 yen which is after tax.
Haha, oh well, it’s good to let other people win too. Besides, I was only aiming at the ultimate prize when I joined cause I had my XN Raiser already.
Thanks again for this giveaway,
Dann….I mean Z!December 1, 2009 at 2:27 AM
Well, I was sort of close with 57050 Yen (only 1390 off!) And that was calculating with SAL shipping… Guess I was wayyy off
Congrats to the winner!
December 1, 2009 at 2:52 AM
I always find it tricky to calculate the weight of the shipping box which was pretty much my single downfall in this contest. Though there were some other variables like the different price for the cutter and me not counting the action bases as Gunpla.
Congrats, Dennis!
December 1, 2009 at 2:53 AM
Darn, I was so close this time too~ Ah well, congrats to Dennis T who won. Who would guess that a random shot number won? ^^;
And, lol, when did you become another person? XD
December 1, 2009 at 3:23 AM
Hah, I over estimated the weight of the gunpla. I guessed that it was 20 kg altogether :P. EX-S threw me off lol
that was worth the twenty minutes of my life finding the prices and stuff. I just realized I did 20% off everything -_-
December 1, 2009 at 3:26 AM
Oh man! I missed the give-a-way :(
Hope you have another one soon ;)
December 1, 2009 at 3:33 AM
i was off by 1000 yen… multiplied by 10 >.<lll
December 1, 2009 at 3:35 AM
Ah crap, i missed this contest, xD
December 1, 2009 at 3:45 AM
Haha, I miss few gunpla, @.@ anyway, good lesson, X3
December 1, 2009 at 4:00 AM
dang I calculatted 56090 ;-; haha
December 1, 2009 at 4:31 AM
I was way off. T.T Congratz Dennis.
December 1, 2009 at 5:21 AM
Darn I was way wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy off. 195,000 yen….
darn… anyways congrats to the winner. and again keep up to good work Z, good luck on whatever you are doing now. hek hek. and God Bless
December 1, 2009 at 6:09 AM
argh.. close.. I wasn’t sure about 10+ or 11+ kg, so I put the average.
argh… Z… I calculated 57740, why don’t u count me in the final three?
December 1, 2009 at 6:15 AM
after I sent that answer.. I forgot to read “the closest guess is the winner”… :(
December 1, 2009 at 7:08 AM
I counted 57340, i just missed out because of the weight… =.=
December 1, 2009 at 11:06 AM
@neosonic: That’s because the 3 closest answers are only 40 yen, 91 yen and 150 yen off.
Yours is 700 yen from the exact amount.
December 1, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Man, I would off by 7000 yen…ah well.
Probably did a miscalculation on the shipping. Based my answer around HLJ since that was the first store I could think of that used yen, but I totally forgot about Rainbow10. Wish I could have gotten that XN Raiser…
But congrats to Dennis!