Over at the AmiAmi blog they’re covering the Tamashii Features event, which is basically an orgy of Robot Damashii toys all neatly arranged for the discerning mecha fan. Out of the many toys on display, the Yutaka Izubuchi designed RGM-79SP GM Sniper II caught our eye. Not only because it’s a lovely design but also due to its presence in the excellent Dreamcast game Rise from the Ashes. Thankfully, Bandai are producing both colour schemes of the mobile suit (as it originally appeared in Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket). No word on a release date as yet but the good news is that it won’t be prohibitively expensive. We’ve also included a video of the GM Sniper II in action from the Rise from the Ashes Premium Disc below…

Update: GA Graphic also have a nice report up for the Tamashii Features show.

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Resin kit maker Authorize have created a wonderful and fully transformable kit of Yoji Shinkawa’s design for the Vic Viper LEV from Anubis. Now, we’re not very big fans of the ZOE games but we still adore Shinkawa’s designwork for them (so this kit is very much welcomed).

It’s also worth clarifying that this is resin kit, which means it’s much more fragile than your average injection plastic efforts from either Bandai or Kotobukiya. You need to be a very experienced model kit builder in order to put this together. You can make your order at Tokyo Hunter, but move quickly as orders close tomorrow. The kit will be released on the 7th February for a very affordable 7000 yen and it’s a Wonder Festival 2010 Winter event exclusive.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the Variable Action Zephyr from Hao Taikei Ryu Knight, a very successful anime series from the mid-90′s. The Zephyr was also recently featured in the quite excellent Super Robot Wars Neo. Interestingly, due to its already rather distorted proportions, the Zephyr wasn’t rendered in SD in Neo compared to many of the other featured mecha.

Due to the nature that this is a toy, all pictures shown are of the item out of the box. Click on to read more…

Over at Game Watch, they’ve covered off the extra parts that will be available in Last Raven Portable. Now, bear in mind that the original Last Raven had a parts list that was already very expansive so having even more parts to play with is almost always a good thing. In addition to the new parts, listed below, many of Last Raven’s features have been recreated with the limb destruction making a welcome come back not to mention the somewhat scary Pulverizers. In any case, the game is still scheduled for its March 4th release in Japan and if you haven’t already you can pre-order it here.

Extra Parts List »

The official Armored Core 5 site has been updated with a trailer for the game. The more observant of you will notice that this trailer was already shown when the game was announced a few weeks ago. However, this version lacks the shaky hand cam issues and as such you can see the new Over Weapon transformation a lot more clearly. In any case, no word on a release date as yet but it will be gracing both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 upon its inevitable release. You may also want to keep an eye on From Software’s YouTube Channel too, if you’re already Armored Core inclined.

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Over at GA Graphic they’ve previewed the upcoming release of the 1/60 scale DX Chogokin VF-27 Lucifer. This is the main antagonist’s variable fighter in Macross Frontier and one that has to be piloted by a cyborg, not only due to the extreme g-forces it exerts upon the pilot but also because of its unique VR cockpit. Much like the VF-25 Messiah, the VF-27 Lucifer is also based upon the YF-24 Evolution developed by Shinsei Industries (the same company that developed the YF-19 in Macross Plus in case you’re wondering).

The VF-27 was also featured in both Macross Ace Frontier and Macross Ultimate Frontier, though with the latter it was thankfully easier to attain. This new toy looks to be as sturdy as the other Bandai 1/60 scale entries though and it’s managed to convey the design pretty decently too. Admittedly, it is unavoidably bulky in places but that was always going to be an issue with this design. In any case, you can pre-order it here.

A landscape gardener in Taiwan has built a large statue of Optimus Prime in his backyard. Apart from holding up the washing, the design used is the one from the recent Michael Bay films. Now this version of Optimus does make our eyes bleed but the statue has been somewhat restrained in its use of scrap metal. It’s not the horrifically busy nonsense you see in the films but actually something decently mechanical.

There are games for these films obviously but you’d best stay clear really, as none of them are very good (though oddly for entirely different reasons). We’re still holding out for the High Moon developed War for Cybertron to be at least moderately decent, but the Transformers franchise generally has a pretty bad track record when it comes to games.

Our personal favourite home built mecha is still this rendition of Kazumi Fujita’s Hyper Zeta Gundam though, mostly because it has an actual cockpit and can walk.

With the run up to Gundam Unicorn’s release, the wondrous Anime News Network will be streaming the entirety of Zeta Gundam (in Japanese with English subtitles, in case you’re wondering) until April 22nd. Admittedly, this doesn’t include the three re-animated movies that were released a few years back, but all 50 episodes of probably one of the most renowned Gundam shows isn’t to be scoffed at. Naturally, Zeta has been featured in numerous games over the years from Super Robot Wars to Another Century’s Episode and multiple Gundam game tie-ins (with the excellent Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus being no exception).

Following Zeta, the original Gundam and SEED will also be streamed via the same service later this month. In any case, if you want to start watching Zeta, then go here.