Trump's Tariffs, gaming peripherals, and ticking clocks

I am so goddamned tired of not knowing how much something I want will cost when I am ready to buy it.

I've talked about the tariffs previously.. Hell, I've talked about the manufacturer I'm specifically looking at in that same post.

Well, months later, and the trade wars are still going on, and with the de minimis exemption gone, it's even worse than before.

Here's what triggered my latest bout of fiscal fits.

I was looking forward to spending some time in the simulated cockpit of an AH-64D Apache (see my early experiences here).. Well, actually, I was originally looking forward to spending some time at the rifle range lobbing 22LR rounds out to extreme ranges, but with my heart acting like I'm on cocaine I figure it'd be a bad idea to go out to the middle of nowhere alone where cell signal is spotty for an indeterminate amount of time.

Anyway..

It had been a while since I had flown, but I still have the startup process fused into my brain. So, I set up my ancient Thrustmaster rudder pedals (because flying a helo without rudder pedals is a.. frustrating experience when you've got carpal tunnel both wrists), booted up DCS, and double-checked my bindings only to discover.. Wait, the axis on my rudder pedals aren't fully articulating to the left in the software.

An hour of tests and recalibration later, and I come to the conclusion that the POS rudder pedals have finally given up the ghost and are as broken as I am.

Ok, well.. No Apache for me today, it seems.

I decide I should try and estimate how much it'll cost to get the VKB T-Rudders; This was my next "planned upgrade" if the tariffs ever stopped being a porta-a-potty built out of fun house mirrors.

I hit VKB's site, and see this:

Ok, well, that's a lot of money. Especially when you tack on shipping (which was $50 USD as of writing).. And when you tack on what the tariffs are as of writing this piece, because they change more than I do when I'm trying to remember what a normal persons' "dressing up" looks like, you end up with a cost over $300 total (this is with 45% total additional tariffs, which could absolutely change before they get calculated at arrival).

Here's the fun part: VKB actually did drop the price a bit a few months ago in order to help reduce the pain felt from the tariffs (the below is from July 2025 - thanks Wayback Machine)..

So.. Yeah, that's a pretty good price drop, but it's outside my budget. for sure.

I was stewing on this most of the day yesterday, and today I decided I was going to write about it, because bitching = catharsis.

I had bookmarked the page knowing I'd check it again, and when I clicked it?

404 not found.

..Ok, weird. I pull up the rudders category on the site, and find the reason for the 404: They've now got them in their US distribution facility that they launched after it looked like the tariffs weren't going to get any better any time soon (direct link here, which will hopefully exist for a good long while).

So now we meet somewhere in the middle on listed price, with 2 key differences: Much cheaper shipping (around $15 USD if I recall correctly), and no variable tariffs to surprise you once they hit the US.

Unfortunately, I've got a couple neurologist bills waiting to be paid, so I won't be buying these any time soon.

I just have to hope that VKB keeps them available here in the US by the time I can afford them.

Until then, I'm relegated to non-helicopter sims.

Maybe I'll just play Minecraft and slowly waste away while I attempt to craft a functional redstone set of rudder pedals (tips are appreciated if you want me to not waste away).