One of the most potent “original generation” mecha in Super Robot Wars is finally getting the figure treatment. Specifically the RaiOh from Alpha 3 will be released in June of 2010 for 15,750 yen. In addition, this is a Dengeki Hobby magazine exclusive item with a fixed pre-order period ending on the 15th February. Thankfully, Tokyo Hunter is taking orders so you’re not completely stuffed when it comes to tracking one down. There’s no word of RaiOh’s upgraded form, that of DaiRaiOh, making a similar leap to toy form but we can always hope. In any case, we’ve also included some game footage from Alpha 3 below of the RaiOh and DaiRaiOh taking a few names.

In addition, Terada-san (one of Super Robot Wars’ producers) recently announced in the series’ official blog that a new and as yet unannounced game will be released sometime in 2010. Here’s hoping it’s a shiny new 2D effort on either the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

You may remember a while back that we posted about a collection of classic mecha gaming gashapon released by Takara Tomy. Truth be told, most of the figures in the set were pretty woeful but a few weren’t. Notably, that of the assaults suits from both Leynos and Valken. It seems that the Japanese online shop, AmiAmi, is releasing a custom desert camouflage Valken figure from the same line. In addition to sporting a new colour scheme the toy also has the booster pack attached to its rear. This was seen in the second mission of Assaults Suits Valken (or Cybernator as it was released in the West). The figure will be released in March 2010 for 1000 yen, though you can pre-order it now from AmiAmi. Many thanks to Matthew Hawkins (aka Fort90) for pointing this out.

The upcoming Heavy Guard Type II kit from Border Break has been previewed over at GA Graphic. As with all Kotobukiya kits, the sculpt appears to be very accurate and the Heavy Guard Type II will make a nice addition to the other, almost released, Border Break kit; the Cougar Type I. We’ll also be reviewing Border Break in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that. This kit will be released in March 2010 for a very reasonable 3675 yen, you can also pre-order this kit here.

For those that have followed the Armored Core games over the years, many of you will know that Shoji Kawamori penned much of the mecha design. However, in the newer games such as Armored Core 4 and For Answer his role was almost non-existent. Instead From Software opted to use the very talented in-house illustrator, Yuzo Kojima. That said, in the case of For Answer, Kawamori was called back to create one specific design; that of Line Ark’s White Glint.

Due to the fact that it was such a strikingly elegant design, White Glint consequently adorned all the packaging and was exclusively featured in the opening CG movie (which we’ve included at the end of the review). So, when Kotobukiya were announcing they were releasing a model kit of the design earlier in the year many fans were suitably happy with the news. What follows is a photo review of the kit in a partially painted form, followed by fully painted photos.

Over at GA Graphic, they’ve previewed the upcoming 1/100 scale Hi-Metal Fire Valkyrie toy from Macross 7. The toy is interesting on several counts, firstly is that it’s rebooting the Hi-Metal line from the early 80’s and second is that the finish is especially accurate for a toy of this size. The Fire Valkyrie did already receive toys and kits around the time of Macross 7’s release but the toy was woefully proportioned and the kits required almost total disassembly for transformation. This toy, on the other hand, is remarkably accurate to the original design and isn’t overly large either (normally detailing requires larger moulds). Naturally, the Fire Valkyrie was featured in both Macross Ace Frontier and Ultimate Frontier on the PSP but the unit obviously had to play very differently as Nekki Basara doesn’t actually shoot any enemies in the series, instead choosing to sing at them whilst piloting his custom Valkyrie with a guitar. In any case, the toy is released in January 2010 and costs 7350 yen, you can buy it here.

Over at GA Graphic, they’ve reviewed the upcoming release of the DX Chogokin Macross Quarter from the recent Macross Frontier series. The Quarter is aptly named as it’s a more compact size Macross class ship, which makes it more manoeuvrable amongst other things. In the series, it acts as SMS’s base of operations within the auspices of the Frontier colony fleet. As toys go, this looks to be rather good as it uses a lot of diecast in the mould and boasts a full transformation. It’s quite expensive though, coming in at 20,790 yen.

For those that played the recent and excellent Macross Ultimate Frontier, the Quarter is also playable believe it or not. Unlocked by completing the final Extra mission, “Ultimate Bomber”. Unsurprisingly, it’s a pretty epic unit when compared to the other variable fighters. So if you had fun with that then you may want to make a pre-order for its release on the 19th December. To finish off, it seems only fair to show a little video of the Quarter kicking a large amount of Vajra behind as well as footage of the toy itself. Enjoy!

In order to clear out some of their stock for the holiday, HobbyLink Japan are holding a sale on a bunch of items made by Yamato toys. Over the years, Yamato have made a name for themselves as a high quality collector’s toy manufacturer (rivalling the monolithic Bandai). Considering the recent release of Macross Ultimate Frontier, as well as the semi-recent Yuke’s developed VOTOMS game there’s enough in the sale to keep the discerning mecha gamer interested.

In any case, this sale features a lot of very cool items at a suitably affordable price (as Yamato’s line-up are normally pretty expesnive). So if you’ve always wanted a nice VF-1J from Macross or a Scopedog Turbo Custom from VOTOMS, then you better move quickly!

Over at Dalong.net they’ve reviewed the recently release PG 00 Raiser kit in suitably brilliant detail. It’s clearly an amazing piece of engineering and they’ve even done a parts breakdown too. The 00 Raiser is exclusively featured in the just released Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus and it’s a beast of a unit. If you’re thinking of picking up the PG kit though, then head over to HobbyLink Japan as they’ve still got them in stock.

Bandai have released their MG, or Master Grade, kit of the LM312V04 Victory Gundam. This was the initial titular mobile suit of the 1993 TV Series V Gundam, though it was later replaced by the LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam. The design also featured a lot of quite complex transformation and combination aspects in the series and the kit seems to reproduce this functionality very thoroughly, which is quite impressive. This kit was also personally supervised by its designer, Hajime Katoki (hence the “Ver Ka” suffix, as that stands for “Version Katoki”). There’s a nice unpainted review of sorts here for the kit and as always you can buy this MG at HobbyLink Japan. This particular design is also featured in the recently released Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus, which we will be reviewing shortly.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a kit from the original Virtual On to review. Specifically, Kotobukiya’s 1/100 scale Viper II. This was a lightly armored and mostly airborne focused virtuaroid, that also sported a very powerful secret attack – in the form of its “SLC” (or “She’s Lost Control”) dive. Like the other VR’s in the Virtual On series, Viper II was designed by mecha design magnate Hajime Katoki.

Our review covers the kit in its out of the box and unpainted form but we have also included painted photos towards the end. In addition, to give the kit some context, we’ve also captured some gameplay footage of the design in action from the recent SEGA AGES PlayStation 2 port.