In an interesting move, Sentinel have announced one of the Blodia variants from Cyberbots to join their Riobot ranks. Specifically that of the Blodia Riot. Like the base unit, the torso is shared but the legs and arms are somewhat different. The latter being the most notable as it has a Rocket Arm. As with the other Riobot toys, this too will be fairly gimmick ridden as well as sporting a good amount of diecast too. However, all this comes at a price and at 16,590 yen it’s considerably more than the standard Blodias set for release this July. In any case, you can pre-order the Riot variant for its October release here.

Bandai have done the decent thing and announced a BluRay boxset for Blue Comet SPT Layzner. This will include the TV series and OVA as well as a variety of other trinkets (such as a 32 page booklet). However, all this will come at a price as the boxset will cost pretty close to 50,000 yen when it is released September 18th in Japan. Unlike the recent Macross Plus BluRay Boxset, this release of Layzner sadly won’t come with English subtitles. This begs the question on whether any Western distributor will do the right thing and pick this classic series up. As to why Layzner matters, well when it comes to gaming the series has been consistently and hugely influential. From Anubis to Armored Core For Answer to Omega Boost and even Bangai-O, Layzner’s functional parameters have inspired all manner of mecha games over the years. That aside the series is also thoroughly excellent in its own right and considering that the last release of Layzner (on DVD) was over 10 years ago now, this announcement is very welcome.

Following on from their VF-1J re-release it seems we’ll be getting a YF-19 toy in 2014. Now it’s not clear whether this will be a re-release of this. What we do know is that it will come with FAST packs, which were originally sold separately on Yamato’s version (though it was packaged together in a later release). Personally, we’re hoping the updated engineering seen on the Macross 7 era VF-19 toys will make it over to this new Arcadia release. The fact that the toy will be available next year also helps to indicate that as well. In other Macross Plus news, the awesome Japanese BluRay boxset (with English subtitles and dub) is now out in the wild. So pick that up whilst you can!

After Yamato shut its doors, we heard rumours that Arcadia had bought the remnants of the company out. It now seems that those rumours had an element of truth to them, as we’ll be getting a 30th Anniversary 1/60 scale VF-1J toy in August. Whilst it looks pretty hideous and is no more than a re-paint of an already existing toy, this is still good news for Macross fans. Especially as Arcadia are also still planning to release Nekki Basara’s guitar too. In the meantime, if you really want you can pre-order the new VF-1J here

Whilst this is not the first toy of Sakura Shinguji’s pink custom koubu from the Sakura Taisen series, this new Variable Action toy from Megahouse looks to be one of the best. Released at the end of September for 7,800 yen, it has a nice sculpt and what appears to be decent articulation too. Sadly, it doesn’t look like it comes with a Sakura pilot figure (though this likely helps to keep the price down). If you are one of those that enjoy pink steampunk mecha then make sure to pre-order yours here.

We now have the first promo for Super Robot Wars Operation Extend. It shows off the 3D and 2D battle animations nicely, with much of the 2D art indeed being for the characters. That said, some of the 3D animations have some 2D flourishes for good measure and whilst this is re-purposed from the GC line of games the art and animations are all pretty fancy. We’re actually looking forward to this know quite a bit.

Bandai are deciding to grace us with a new Super Robot Chogokin figure of Shin Getter-1 this August. At 7,140 yen, it’s not exactly cheap but neither is it overly expensive either. Like the other toys in this line, expect a lot of diecast and an overall excellent sculpt and finish. As for the design itself, its gaming heritage is extensive and was originally premiered in Super Robot Wars 4. Admittedly it was work in progress for the manga and then later for an OVA but Shin Getter has been a staple of Super Robot Wars for as long as I can remember. It’s likely we’ll get the other Getter Machines too, with Shin Getter-2 being notable with its influence on the drilltastic Gurren Lagann, with the Getter Rays and subsequent Spiral Energy being also of note too. Whilst this isn’t the first Shin Getter-1 toy, with the Aoshima figures being really quite something, it will be more reasonably priced and slightly less huge.

Famitsu has a nice update for Super Robot Wars Operation Extend featuring all manner of new units. From the mighty Billbine (shown above) to the RX-79[G]Ez-8 Gundam Ez8. In addition, the piece talks about armour parts that can be equipped to each unit. These are similar sounding to previous parts in the other SRW games. In terms of the blend of 2D and 3D animation in the battle scenes, it seems this is broken down between character cut-ins (2D) and mecha (3D), which isn’t anything overly new (though Banpresto are spinning it that it is). However, the latter 3D models are more stylised in terms of the texturing compared to the previous 3D SRW games. This is obviously a decent improvement but we’d like to see these in action before relaxing entirely, as generally 3D SRW games aren’t exactly very pretty looking normally.

There’s a nice big update for Super Robot Wars Operation Extend over at 4Gamer. Mostly showing lots of new screenshots of the 3D battle animations it also shows the game map (as seen above). This is not like the previous grid base approaches but is instead radial and more along the lines of Super Robot Wars NEO. It’s pretty clear that Operation Extend is likely a re-purposed NEO, with a much larger unit roster. We’re still not sure about the whole download only approach but bear in mind the last few PSP have also been available to download too, so this isn’t something massively new (though the episodic nature may be a bone of contention to some). Either way we’re just happy to see Patlabor finally.

Sentinel have updated their site for the forthcoming Riobot Blodia toy from Cyberbots. Showing all manner of new shots of the figure, which emphasises its use of diecast (see above), and a promotional video that shows of its various gimmicks. All told, it looks fucking amazing and is definitely going to be the best Blodia figure we’ve ever had. Whilst it is somewhat pricy (10,290 yen) it is a lot cheaper than many of Bandai’s high end outings, which is impressive. It will also be available in 2P colours as well (blue basically). The toy is released this July and you can pre-order yours here.