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.

One of the first Revoltech toys we bought was the pretty damn great Overman King Gainer (we even have the Xan too). Well, for those that missed out, the figure is getting re-released in October. Now whilst King Gainer has graced many a game over the years, the big gaming deal about the design is that it was penned by Akira Yasuda (of Street Fighter fame, amongst many other things). It’s also a very unconventional mecha design and that’s one of the reasons we like it so much. Anyway, we can recommend this figure to pretty much everyone, so pick it up once it is re-released later this year.

After much wait, the Soul of Chogokin Spec Layzner Mk2 has been given a price and release date. Costing 9,180 yen and out this September, it is indeed a web shop exclusive (with pre-orders opening on May 12th). It will also be on display at the Tamashii Nations event this weekend, which we’ll be obviously attending. That aside, the toy looks bloody amazing. It retains the transformation as well as a slew of other gimmicks. Considering that the E-MF-LZ-00X-2 Layzner Mk2 was never properly included in the show, due to its early cancellation, the fact we have such a nice toy of this nearly thirty years later is somewhat bonkers really (though most welcomed). It goes without saying that we’ll be picking this baby up later in the year.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from Macross Plus to review. Specifically, the YF-19 with FAST Pack from Arcadia. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some anime and gameplay 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 Change!! Shin Getter Robo to review. Specifically, the Getter 1 by Sentinel that’s on sale. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some anime and gameplay footage of it in action at the end of the review.

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.

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.

What with the third installment of the series, entitled Jigoku-hen, released in April we’re now being graced with Best re-releases of both Haikai-hen (review) and Saisei-hen (review) this February. Like with the other games in this range, the Best versions are always considerably cheaper than the original launch versions. As we enjoyed both of the recent PSP games a great deal, we can thoroughly recommend these re-releases for those that missed them the first time around.

Update: The original PS2 game will also be getting a re-release, though only this time via PSN as part of the Classics range.

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.

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.