Over at GA Graphic they’ve uncovered that Kotobukiya are running a limited edition campaign for various Armored Core kit parts (molded in a gun metal colouring) as well as a clear version of Nineball Seraph. The campaign starts today and the items can only be acquired via their online shop. However, if you ask people like Tokyo Hunter to help out we’re sure they’ll be able to lend a hand. As a rule , Kotobukiya’s kits are normally excellent and each kit’s sculpt is often similarly exemplary.

Famitsu has the scoop on a big LAN party for the suitably wonderful Xbox game, Tekki Taisen (or Steel Battalion: Line of Contact) that was renowned for its online play setup. Specifically the “Project FireWorks” group has organised this awesome gathering as well as helped to show off the scratch built VT kits by a chap called “nanaC”. The event gathered over 100 fans of 5 by 5 teams, some even brought their own homemade cockpits. Many met one another for the first time too, despite having played together via an online battlefield. In any case, it’s nice to see that the fans still support games like these. Whilst there is a new Steel Battalion game on the way, we still think a properly complex controller is still what made the original games so very special. Thanks to Atsushi Kawashima for the heads up.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the Robot Damashii L-Gaim Mk. 2 toy from Heavy Metal L-Gaim. To help give the toy some context we’ve also included some videos of it from the original anime and a few games it has been featured in over the years at the end of the review.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the 1/3000 scale SDF-1 Macross toy from Macross Do You Remember Love? as made by Yamato. It goes without saying that this is quite an important and iconic design to get given such an epic toy treatment, so we were understandably excited to get our hands on one. To help give the toy some context we’ve also included some videos of it from the original anime and a few games it has been featured in over the years at the end of the review.

As posted via Hideo Kojima’s Twitter feed last month at the Yoji Shinkawa Live Art Show, it seems that in addition to the just announced RIOBOT figures, that there will also be a Revoltech version of Jehuty released later this year (shown above). The Revoltech line is known for its dynamic poses, as enabled by a very sturdy joint system, as well as their compact size. This is an interesting situation though, as two separate toy lines converging on a previously dormant series is a bit more than just simple coincidence. It’s no big secret that another Zone of Enders has been in an extended form of pre-production for some time now, do these toys herald something more tangible in the near future? In any case, the Revoltech figure will be available this spring (according to Kojima) or “Q4” according to everyone else. There are even a few places taking pre-orders.

Update: The official Konami site has confirmed the release date for the 15th April.

Over at at the RIOBOT official blog and in amongst some of the recent Wonder Festival 2011 Winter coverage is a teaser that some Zone of the Enders figures are on the way. Specifically, figures from Anubis (or the 2nd Runner as it was known outside of Japan). Whilst we are somewhat unimpressed with the ZOE games as a whole, the production standards and especially Yoji Shinkawa’s amazing mecha designs are something we greatly admire. Considering that none of the mecha have ever been released in toy form, this announcement is wonderful news (doubly so as the RIOBOT line is already renowned for its finesse of sculpt). Whilst there is no specific release date set (bar sometime next year), the three announced figures thus far are Jehuty, Vic Viper and Anubis. Whether Vic Viper will transform remains to be seen but we can but hope.

One of the largest Perfect Grade kits has finally been released, that of the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam from Gundam SEED Destiny. Coming in at a whopping 26,250 yen, like the other Perfect Grades it’s hardly very affordable. However, this price tag isn’t without reason; as the sheer engineering involved in the manufacturing of these plamodel beasts is suitably epic. Unsurprisingly, this mobile suit has been in numerous games over the years and the upcoming Gundam Musou 3 will also feature the mecha. As with almost all Bandai Gundam kits, Hajime Katoki has a hand in the sculpt and engineering. This can sometimes cause issues with the sculpt on certain designs (original design here), as he has a habit of somewhat standardising them. The Strike Freedom seems to be mostly okay on this front though. In any case, you can buy this impressive kit over at HLJ and they’re even holding a Perfect Grade sale too.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Gundam Unicorn to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Sinanju. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some gameplay footage of it in action from Gundam Musou 3 and Gundam Extreme Versus at the end of the review.

Super Robot Wars L was released today in Japan (you can buy it here). This is the latest game in the series to be hosted on the mighty DS and despite the extensive asset re-use, we’re still moderately pumped to play it.

Separately, the next Composite Ver. Ka toy will be that of the PTX-EX Exbein from the recent OG anime The Inspector. As with all Ver. Ka treatments it’s definitely been given the patented Katoki flair, but that’s not surprising from a mecha with shades.

Finally, there have been rumours floating around about a new PS3 2D SRW game. Entitled Super Robot Wars U, it would apparently feature mecha from Armored Core Nexus and Front Mission amongst a slew of others (even including Tetsujin 28-go). The only thing is that the article in Famitsu that “announced” it was actually meant as a hypothetical piece. So it’s not really a fake game per se, as Famitsu never intended the exercise as such, but it won’t be getting made any time soon. Whilst an obvious pity, as the line-up was several orders of epic, here’s hoping Banpresto follow it up with a real PS3 SRW announcement.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Virtual On to review. Specifically, the Composite Ver.Ka Temjin. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some gameplay footage of it in action from the excellent SEGA AGES PS2 port at the end of the review.