Not wishing to miss a trick, Bandai have followed up from their pretty damn fantastic Robot Damashii Xi Gundam with the news of a Robot Damashii Penelope to be released this August. Like the RX-105 Xi Gundam before it, the RX-104FF Penelope is a webshop exclusive and will come in two variants. A standard release at 23,760 yen and a “Markings Plus” version for 28,080 yen, the latter basically comes in a two tone white and grey colour scheme. Though for an extra 5,000 yen. Pre-orders started today and partly brought Bandai’s site down with it, which was somewhat amusing to see.

Considering that we’re getting this much love from Bandai towards Hathaway’s Flash and the inclusion of the mobile suits in Gundam Extreme Versus Maxi Boost leads many to believe there are other plans for the series. Especially as we saw a Gustav Karl surface in the final episode of Gundam Unicorn, fans are thinking Bandai might start an all new novel only timeline when it comes to the anime. Either way, we now have a frankly massive Penelope to look forward to and we’ve already pre-ordered ours.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Metal Armor Dragonar to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Dragonar 2 Custom that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked anime footage of it in action at the end of the review.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Metal Robot Damashii Hi-Nu Gundam as seen in the novel Beltorchika’s Children (one of the adaptations for Char’s Counterattack). In addition, we’ve also included some game footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review. This is a companion review to the original Robot Damashii figure.

For those that may remember, the boxset of Gundam Side Stories contained a limited edition RX-80PR Pale Rider HGUC kit. Well now you will be able to get the Heavy Equipment Version kit via the Bandai webshop this April. While the game had issues, mostly to do with its budget, the mecha design for the Pale Rider was pretty damn great. Another of the EXAM System-esque mobile suits it played a key role in the Missing Link narrative, with its own version of the HADES system causing havoc. Admittedly this kit is a webshop exclusive but it’s nice to see that the design hasn’t been forgotten at least.

As for the more sporadic updates to the site as of late, that’s entirely down to the quiet patch of mecha game releases we are currently experiencing. Much of this is to do with large publishers thinking console gaming was “dead” and have subsequently been playing catch up since the new consoles have been selling like crazy. Modern games take a few years to make, so hopefully this year will see some more interesting mecha game releases.

After Bandai’s reveal at a recent Macross toy event, we now have release details for their VF-19 Advance DX Chogokin. Specifically that it will be released next May and cost 24,840 yen. It will also come with the VF-25 style super packs, as it was very briefly seen using them towards the end of the second Macross Frontier movie. We will absolutely be picking this up come May but in the meantime check out our review of Arcadia’s YF-19 toy (which was pretty great).

We’ve been keeping an eye on the upcoming Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar and even played with it at a few events. Despite being utterly massive it’s also simply gorgeous. Aimed at collectors, hence the nearly 35,000 yen price tag, it still retains that joyous core of being an unfettered toy. Partly due to its size and also the amount of diecast used, it is a very sturdy chogokin. It has to be too, as it reproduces the Final Fusion combination sequence from the show.

That in itself is utter mind bending madness, as the sequence was full on magic super robot territory in places. Thankfully, Bandai have produced an instructional video (shown below) to help owners handle the beast. Considering the price tag, that’s a very helpful gesture.

This monster will be released next weekend but you can also order it here. We’ll be picking one up and reviewing it accordingly, though not until the New Year most likely. In the meantime, be grateful of the fact that we are finally getting a toy that the King of Braves finally deserves.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Riobot Tsugumori (Anime Version) from the anime adaptation of Knights of Sidonia (based on the manga of the same name). The manga being the latest work from the renowned Tsutomu Nihei. We also reviewed the manga version of this toy a while back as well and this review is a companion to that. As this is a slight departure from our usual toy reviews, as this mecha has yet to be featured in a game, there is no footage as to show the mecha in action.

At a recent mini-show for Megahouse products, they revealed a bunch of lovely new toys. Most of these had been shown previously at places like WonFes but many of these were closer to final versions, so painted up and using the correct materials. One of this was the upcoming Variable Action Hi-Spec Orguss (shown above) from the anime of the same name. It looks frankly gorgeous and will transform across all four modes. Released next March it also costs an eye watering 35,000 yen. As it’s not an overly large figure, that’s a mighty big price tag. Regardless, we want one. Badly. If you want to check out the event, there is a nice gallery here.

Over the weekend we went to see Bandai’s Macross Chogokin Exhibit in Akiba. It was pretty great and showed off old and new tots alike. From the VF-19 Advance (above) to a new toy range, called Hi-Metal R, that featured all manner of classic designs. The latter might indicate the Harmony Gold legal situation might be changing too but we’ll see on that. We’re also getting a new anime too by the looks of it, by the name of Macross Delta. No real details as yet but they are getting ready for singing auditions. We covered this over at Forbes (yeah, we are also writing there now) but there’s also a nice little gallery of the event here.

It’s rare to have an entire kit be an actual spoiler but this is what we have here. Specifically this kit is the AC that Blue Magnolia uses towards the end of Armored Core Verdict Day. Without going into too much detail, this ties into the game’s plot in a big way (if you don’t mind spoilers then check out the video below). In any case, this is part of Kotobukiya’s ongoing Variable Infinity line of kits and is set for release in February of next year for 7,800 yen. Like their other kits this looks pretty magnificent and the detailing is spot-on too.