Over at AmiAmi they have a lovely preview of the soon to be released Revoltech Jehuty with Vector Cannon. What’s especially interesting is that there is a nifty mechanism for dropping down the Vector Cannon into firing mode (as shown here). To be honest we were thinking of passing this one by, as we’ve already covered the last two Revoltech Jehuty toys but this looks too cool to pass by. The toy is released on the 15th July for 4,980 yen.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent both the Super Robot Chogokin UCR-10/A and Grind Blade from the rather excellent game, Armored Core V. In terms of the series, Armored Core has always had pretty sub-standard toys and only recently, thanks to Kotobukiya, have we had any decent kits. That said, this new toy changes all that for the better. As always, we’ve made sure to include footage of the design in action at the end of the review.

Over at the Yamato website they’ve announced a pre-order bonus for the forthcoming 1/60 scale VF-4G Lightning III toy. If you’re a normal member of the public you’ll get a 5% discount but if you’re a Yamato Fanclub member you’ll also get an additional 5% discount (amounting a nice total of 10% in all). The deadline for all the pre-orders is midday on the 30th July. Whilst the price point still isn’t determined what is more worrying is that Yamato are using this pre-order setup to gauge demand. So if they’re aren’t enough pre-orders we won’t even get this toy. If you’re curious as to how the development of it has gone thus far, then have a look here. It looks really quite lovely and there’s clear diecast in the joints too (this being a very good thing obviously). Either way we’ve got our fingers crossed for this one as we want it bad.

As we mentioned previously, the positively regal Billbine will be receiving a Robot Damashii toy this July. Even more wonderful is the fact that Dunbine will also receive similar treatment later this year. For long time readers of this site you’ll know we seriously wub Aura Battler Dunbine and these toys are just exquisite. The fact we’re also getting a Dunbine and one of this quality is really fantastic as far as we’re concerned. In any case, this Dunbine toy will be out in October of this year and will cost 4,410 yen.

As we mentioned a while back, the VF-171EX Nightmare Plus has been given the chogokin treatment (you can buy it here). Following on from that though, we now have the armored parts announced too. Released this December, the armored parts cost a pretty reasonable 5,040 yen. However, as with many of these optional toy parts, these are only available from the Premium Bandai site.

As was announced a good while ago, those pretty nifty people at Sentinel have finally previewed the forthcoming Riobot Jehuty (shown above). The Riobot range are primarily made of plastic but are normally beautifully sculpted with amazing articulation. Compared to the recent Revoltechs, which are nice enough for the price, this toy will be in a whole other league in terms of quality. No words on a specific release date or price, but the figure will be around 15 cm tall. In any case, this is one of our hotly anticipated toys and the pictures above only help to cement our conviction that it will be pretty damn awesome.

The brilliantly mad Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter is now gearing up for a national Japanese release. The official site lists areas where the game will be installed and they’re also not missing a trick in terms of pimping the forthcoming merchandise either. Talking of which, at the recent International Tokyo Toy Show there were some very nice Gyrozetter toys shown. These appear to be entirely made of plastic but the sculpt and finish put pretty much every US made Transformer toy to shame. As always, you’ll be able to buy the toys here.

In a pretty interesting move, Bandai have decided to ratchet up their already prestigious Soul of Chogokin toyline with a newer and even more exclusive brand. Put simply, we now have a DX (or “deluxe”) variant to the Soul of Chogokin range. The first of these epic toys will be the classic Mazinger Z (pictured above). The toy itself will feature a large amount of diecast and clock in at a very decent 30cm. The price tag is also suitably DX, as it’s an eye watering 36,750 yen. Apart from the awesome cut away armor, the toy will also have a variety of light and sound gimmicks (shown nicely here). Released in December this year, we now have yet another epic toy to add to our stocking requests.

Hot on the heels of their massive Metal Gear Rex replica is an equally impressive Metal Gear Ray from the same craftsmen at threeA. It was first publicly unveiled a few weeks back, at a showcase in Hong Kong, alongside upcoming figures for Halo and Portal.

But it was difficult to get a real sense of Ray’s size, though the safe bet was that he’s just as huge as Rex (if not more so.) So thanks to close up pics, via Kojima’s Twitter, we finally have a better idea. Mostly due to Square Enix’s Play Arts Kai Gray Fox, which stands close by and offers a true sense of scale. Anyone familiar with that figure knows already how big it is, so seeing it appear relatively diminutive speaks volumes.

Details are scant, other than what the pictures tell us. Like how its mouth can open; it remains to be see if he’ll shoot water, which was a primary means of offense in Metal Gear Solid 2. Ray is also without a tail, a key defining trait of the mass production unit. Perhaps one will be included in the final package, which can be applied at will? Like the battle scars that one can apparently adorn Rex, according to previous pictures.

No word yet on availability or price, but it appears to be coming along just swimmingly, and will more than likely have the same $500 or so price tag as its predecessor. Even though Rex is the most popular among Metal Gear diehards, Ray has plenty of fans nonetheless, who would be more than willing to give it a home as well. Provided that they’ve managed to pay his older brother off at that point. Also, Arsenal Gear next, please.

This year’s Shizuoka Hobby Show is now in full swing. Among the many new items shown, with a mention of a Kagekiyo kit being pretty cool, is the reveal of Yamato’s next 1/60 scale variable fighter toy. Specifically that of the VF-4G Lightning III. The mecha itself has an interesting history, as it was originally (though very briefly) shown as a toy in the original Macross TV series. A more substantial display was then later included within Macross Flashback 2012. In both instances though the mecha was only shown in fighter mode. For years this produced all manner of speculation as to its transformation sequence, as well as what the battroid mode would actually look like. In 1995 the questions were answered as the variable fighter was featured (fully transformable) in Macross Digital Mission VF-X. Whilst the game was a steaming pile of bobbins (despite having a damn sexy intro) it did at least lay much of the fan inquiry to rest. Since then, the VF-4 has been a staple of pretty much every Macross game since. All that aside though, it’s one of our favourite designs from Macross and we’re so very happy that Yamato are doing the decent thing and making a toy out of it. No word or pricing or release date as yet but considering that the VF-4 was operationally rolled out in the Macross timeline around September 2012, expect Yamato to try and hit that date. Yamato also have a very nice page detailing the toy’s engineering in regards to its transformation. If you want to have a look at the rest of what the hobby show has on offer, then feast your eyes on this, this and this.