Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Mobile Fighter G Gundam to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii God Gundam that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked gameplay and anime footage of it in action at the end of the review.

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 1 Custom that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked gameplay and anime footage of it in action at the end of the review.

Over at HobbyLink.tv we’ve reviewed the recent webshop exclusive Soul of Chogokin Spec Layzner Mark II. It’s a glorious good toy and likely the nicest one we’ll ever get of the design. So check it out!

Also over the next few days we’ll be posting a few more toy reviews here. Lots of new Robot Damashii goodness. We’re also aware we’ve been a bit quiet as of late. That’s mainly because we’re in a release lull for mecha games. Once things kick off again we’ll still be here, so don’t worry!

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from the fantastic Crossbone Gundam manga to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Crossbone Gundam X2 Kai (Full Action) that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked gameplay and anime footage of it in action at the end of the review.

We recently reviewed the amazing Robot Damashii Full Armor ZZ Gundam over at Hobbylink.tv, this being the final version of the titular mobile suit as seen in ZZ Gundam. It’s an amazing figure though and whilst a webshop exclusive is worth getting. The detailing alone for a figure of this size is pretty fantastic really.

Over the weekend, Makuhari Messe in Tokyo (well, technically Chiba) hosted yet another event, that of Chara Hobby 2014. Prior to that Bandai announced a new line of toys called Metal Robot Damashii. We held off on mentioning the latter because we guessed (correctly) that the new toy line would be shown at Chara Hobby. Well, it turns out the first figure in the new toy line will be the mighty RX-93-v2 Hi-Nu Gundam (pictured above). You may be thinking, didn’t they already release a Hi-Nu Gundam recently? The answer would be “yes” (we reviewed it too) but this has all manner of diecast in the joints and other detailing. Subsequently, it looks utterly glorious. No word on price point or release date as yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime check out the video of the new metal infused Hi-Nu Gundam below.

As for the rest of Chara Hobby, there was a lot of cool stuff on show. From the eye wateringly expensive Soul of Chogokin Gaogaigar which is out in December, to the gorgeous Megahouse Orguss. Anyway, check out the coverage here, here, here, here and here.

Following the announcement of an X2 toy, soon to be released in September, we now also have news of a new toy release. That of the plucky XM-X3 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X3. Unlike the X2, the X3 will be a webshop exclusive sadly. Priced at 5,616 yen and released in February next year, the pre-orders start today. There’s a definite push for more Crossbone Gundam toys though. As we had the Full Cloth, the X1 option parts set and even Harrison’s F-91 released or announced. What’s weird about all this, is that we have already had several Robot Damashii toys released of the various Crossbone Gundam mobile suits (bar the Full Cloth) and those had the ABC mantles too. Anyway, updated releases or not we’re just happy to see more of those classic mobile suits get the Robot Damashii treatment. If only they’d do the decent thing and make an anime already.

The Transformers catchphrase “more than meets the eye” is an apt one. Originally used to underscore the transformation abilities of the toys, the catchphrase takes on a different meaning in context of Takara’s official Transformers game, Transformers Tataki. Both the Autobots and Decepticons have been tracking two mysterious UFOs in the vicinity of the planet Zel Samine. It appears that this planet contains unique energy producing properties, something that the locals of this star system use to power their other more habitable planets in the system. What transpires is a story straight from the Saturday morning shows, but with some extra time-travelling fan service thrown in for good measure.

Many of us remember sitting cross-legged, far too close to the television watching cars, planes and helicopters transforming into robot behemoths, with a penchant for ostentatious wrestling.

The original Transformers television series was something millions of people will remember growing up with, so it isn’t surprising that both Takara and Hasbro have milked the franchise since its inception. One of the more recent incarnations is that of Transformers Armada and somebody thought it fit to transform the TV series into a game. Cue Atari and Melbourne House, an inordinate amount of PR nonsense, screenshots that looked faked and legions of nostalgic punters wanting desperately to play as Optimus Prime. Behind all the hype, Transformers is a special game and, in all honesty, the license does take a back seat to a very impressive game engine.

Throughout the sixties and seventies a certain genre of anime and manga ran rampant across Japan. It galvanised an entire generation, a generation that grew up to be game designers. They then went on to create games like Gigantic Drive. The genre was that of the mighty super robot and it is one of the oldest and most resilient facets of Japanese pop-culture (next to real robots of course). Gigantic Drive is a game that, literally, lets you control a “chogokin” from the ground up.

The story revolves around Earth being besieged by big nasty alien robots called the Volgara. To fight these invaders, we have created three rather large robots, whose sole purpose is to kick the posterior of multiple metal aliens back across the galaxy.