Following on from the regular Robot Damashii ZZ Gundam, we’ll be now getting a new toy of the mighty FA-010S Full Armor ZZ Gundam this August. Priced at 7,560 yen it’s a bit pricier than the regular version but it comes with more gimmicks and is a fair bit bigger. It’s not quite as sleek as the version in the anime but it’s still most welcome nonetheless, as the last toy we had of this was the godawful Gundam FIX Figuration version and then in the Sentinel colours. This new Robot Damashii figure looks just the ticket and as with the rest of the line, it will likely have great articulation too.

Update: This is a web shop exclusive.

Following on from Bandai’s toy, Kotobukiya have announced a Hanged Man kit from Armored Core V. Like the previous kits in the range, this is similarly gimmick ridden. There’s also an additional campaign where you can get the Moonlight and Another Moon laserblades. The kit is release this July for around 9,000 yen, though you can pre-order it here for less.

Bandai have announced that the much loved XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai “Skull Heart” will be getting the Robot Damashii treatment. This being the mobile suit piloted by the perky Tobia Arronax in both the Skull Heart and Steel 7 manga. This is a slightly strange release, as the other Crossbone Gundam mobile suits were released a fair few years ago (thankfully we managed to pick them up at the time, as they’re quite rare these days). Released in May for 5,940 yen this is one of the more averagely priced toys in the range and one we’ll be definitely be picking up come release.

Following on from our previous Revoltech reviews, our good friends at HobbyLink Japan have sent us the Riobot Jehuty. Now, whilst we aren’t huge fans of the Zone of the Enders series, we’ve always admired the mecha designs that Yoji Shinkawa did for the game. So we’re obviously happy to see more toys made of his work. We’ve also included some game footage at the end of the review.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the 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.

We now finally have details on the release of threeA’s Metal Gear Ray toy. Released this August, the toy will cost around 46,000 yen (in terms of RRP, though you should be able to find it cheaper). This is a fair bit more than threeA’s Metal Gear Rex that was released at the end of 2012. If we’re honest, we were bitterly disappointed with the Rex toy. For one the colour scheme was entirely wrong, it had nonsensical blue LEDs everywhere and, most damning of all, it lacked any diecast. This absence of diecast, especially in the joints, meant that due to its size the toy was rather delicate (as joints have been reported to sheer clear off). Thankfully this new Ray toy has the right colour scheme but it still lacks any diecast in the joints from what we can make out. Considering the price tag, this oversight is still very unfortunate.

Now that the Isamu Dyson YF-29 DX Chogokin from Macross 30 is out in the wild, we’ve been graced with a review of the magnificent article. It goes without saying that this is clearly a very nice toy and more than just a simple repaint (as the head sculpt is all new). We may pick this up one day but for the meantime, it seems only fair to link this.

Update: Looks like this version of the YF-29 will also be getting super packs as well.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Super Robot Chogokin Mazinkaiser as seen in Mazinkaiser (though its origins predate that by quite a bit). In addition, we’ve also included some game and anime footage of the mecha in action at the end of the review.

In case you missed it, Bandai uploaded a helpful tutorial video (shown below) on how to handle and transform your Isamu Dyson YF-29 DX Chogokin from Macross 30 (which was also released today). Naturally, the transformation is pretty much identical to that of the already released YF-29 Durandal DX Chogokin but it’s nice to know that Bandai care. Whilst we passed on this in terms of the pre-order we may pick it up at some point, now that we’re located in Tokyo and amazing toy shops are in ample supply. Especially as this does in fact look like a rather lovely toy indeed.

Over at AmiAmi they have a stupidly lovely breakdown of the upcoming Arcadia 1/60 YF-19 toy set for release in April of next year. As always we’re taken aback by the quality of the both the detailing and sculpt of the new toy, especially as we already own the previous Yamato version. Whilst the price is pretty steep, it’s clear that there is a lot of new engineering on this new toy and as such we feel that the price hike is somewhat validated. Don’t forget that you can still pre-order the toy here.

As an aside, apologies for the lack of updates recently. We’ve relocated to Japan and the move has been rather intensive, as you’d expect really. Normal service and regular updates should be fine from here on in though.