The latest and third installment in the Valkyries book series by Hidetaka Tenjin will be released this September in Japan. Like the first and second books, this one will contain new Macross related art by Tenjin featuring a variety of variable fighters from the series. This new book will also be fully bilingual and feature English text. Considering that Macross Delta is the latest series in the saga, it’s clear this new book will focus on this more readily but it will be interesting to see what other pieces of art turn up. Valkyries Third Sortie is released on September 14th in Japan by Kobunsha and you can pre-order it over on Amazon. In the meantime, make sure to check out my review of the second book.

Kotobukiya’s excellent kit of Nineball Seraph is finally getting a re-release this February. The ultimate evolution of Nineball, Seraph first appeared in Armored Core Master of Arena on the PSone. It also popped up again in Armored Core 2 Another Age on the PS2 and even as a secret boss in Another Century’s Episode R on the PS3, with the latter also being an unlockable as well as a fully playable unit. Designed by Shoji Kawamori, Seraph was closer to an armored MT compared to the original AC version. It could also transform, something this kit also recreates. At 7,800 yen it’s a bit pricier than other kits in the range but it is a big kit to be fair. Though if you pre-order it from our friends at HobbyLink Japan you’ll get a nice discount. In any case, it’s nice to know that Armored Core isn’t entirely dead as the kits seem to be still nicely popular.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the Robot Damashii Dunbine and Robot Damashii Drumlo from the classic 80’s mecha anime Aura Battler Dunbine. While the Dunbine is an updated re-release from 2012, the Drumlo is a brand new release in Bandai’s ongoing and thoroughly excellent aura battler Robot Damashii range. We’ve also included some anime and game footage at the end of the review.

Now this is a toy that’s been a long time in coming. Previewed way back in 2011, it now looks like we’ll be finally getting a Riobot Anubis. Following on from Sentinel’s thoroughly excellent Riobot Jehuty it does however cost a bit more. Quite a lot more actually. Clocking in at around 22,000 yen, it will cost nearly double that of Jehuty. There is a good reason for this price hike though, compared to Jehuty this figure is clearly massive and a lot more complex. Still, that’s a lot of money for a range of toys that doesn’t tend to have much in the way of diecast (bar the lovely Blodia) but the spec of this toy does sound like it might be more diecast heavy. So that too might help in the way of explaining the increased price. In any case, this lovely looking Riobot Anubis will be released in October of this year. Prepare your wallets!

We’ve tried to avoid doing these kinds of lists over the years. Mainly because they end up being contentious and misinterpreted. That said it’s about time we got around to doing this. Especially as other places have attempted similar lists and ended up being laughably parochial and clearly ignorant with it.

Before we start, there are a few a disclaimers. “Best” in this context means that these games are obviously great fun to play but they also went on to influence other games as well as approached mecha gaming in a unique way. They might have even resolved design issues that had plagued other titles too.

The games listed are also not necessarily based on our reviews either, as some we have yet to even cover, but more how they have defined mecha gaming over the years. These are also games that we regard to be very well wrought, based on our years of experience from playing lots and lots of mecha games.

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.

Wonder Festival 2015 Winter has now come to end and it was a good one. Apart from the legion of amazing garage kit figures on show and on sale, the future commercial announcements were decent this time around. The mother of which being Fewture’s transformable EX Gohkin Garland (shown above) from the first Megazone 23. Now we’ve already been graced with toys of this from Yamato back in the day but they all had serious quality issues (the joints often shattered). This will be different though as most EX Gohkins use a lot of diecast and go through rigorous quality assurance. No word on a price or release date but we want this, really quite badly. Apart from the Garland, we had a lot of cool stuff on show from Sentinel and Megahouse. The former had the amazing Metamorforce Dancouga and also showed the prototype Black Wing too, so a Final Dancouga is an option again. The latter showed off the upcoming Orguss toy and it is utterly pristine and will be a definite purchase come its release in March. Arcadia also had a good Macross showing too this year.

If you want to check out some photos then feel free to go here, here, , here, here, here and here. We will also be doing an event report for Forbes in the next few days too, so keep an eye out for that.

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.

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.

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.