The official Riobot blog has a new entry on the upcoming Gurren Lagann toy they’ve made. Set for an April release next year, they’ve started the PR early on this one. However, it seems warranted as the toy is very impressive in terms of its articulation and is also suitably gimmick ridden (for instance the eyes in the chest follow the head movements). Whilst the retail price of 9,500 yen seems a bit steep for only a figure that’s barely 14.5 cm tall, the guys at Sentinel really do excellent work. Plus the figure comes with the great wing accessory as standard. In any case, we’ll be picking this beauty up on its release next year and you can pre-order yours here.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent a toy from GUNxSWORD to review. Specifically, the Robot Damashii Dann of Thursday. In addition, to give the toy some context, we’ve also linked some anime and gameplay footage of it in action in Super Robot Wars K at the end of the review.

We probably enjoyed GUNxSWORD more than we should have, despite the voluptuous ladies present the series was an interesting one. Almost as though Trigun had high fived Cowboy Bebop and then had mecha babies. Set on the “Planet of Endless Illusion” our story follows the plight of a chap called Van, who’s on a mission to find a man with a claw hand. The same man that murdered his bride to be.

Over the course of the series, the planet is revealed to be actually an ancient prison world that was governed by a set of mecha named the Original Seven. One of these seven is Dann of Thursday, piloted be none other than Van himself. Launched from an orbital satellite, Dann embeds itself in the ground as a giant sword and then transforms into a suitably hard as nails mecha. Curiously, Dann is also filled with special blue G-ER fluid that acts as a form of advanced musculature. Overall, the mecha in this show were pretty interesting.

As for this new figure, this is not the first toy of Dann to grace the shelves. As Max Factory back in 2007 unleashed their own similarly non-transformable figure. Whilst a lot larger than this Robot Damashii offering, the articulation was a bit awkward in places and for the money it criminally lacked any form of diecast.

So when Bandai announced Dann would be part of the Robot Damashii line, we did our happy dance. After thoroughly enjoying its potency in Super Robot Wars K, it’s nice to finally have a really nice action figure of the design. So it seems only fitting at this point to say “wake up Dann!”.

Toy: Dann of Thursday
Price: 3,230 yen
Size/Weight: 19.5 x 19.5 x 6.0 cm / 190g

The articulation of the figure is exemplary, almost to the extent that’s been overdone. Considering how lithe the design is in the series though, this zeal in regards to articulation makes a lot of sense. Even despite the lack of ratcheted joints, like in a Revoltech, this figure holds poses very well indeed. In addition to the two part sword, the figure comes with multiple hands and different lengths of red piping, the latter is to allow the figure to bend its knees and still have the pipes connected properly.

Due to the nature of the design, the toy itself isn’t really gimmick ridden and also lacks the transformation ability seen in the show. That said, this is entirely made up for by an excellent sculpt and good paintwork. Even the G-ER fluid is rendered nicely via see-through blue plastic. Considering the very reasonable price point of this figure, especially when compared to the much pricier Max Factory effort, this comes thoroughly recommended to fans of the show. Like with all Robot Damashii figures this is also a toy that’s meant to be played with.

XSEED Games, quirky localization company and lovable bastards responsible for putting out niche-within-niche Japanese games for the American audience, have ensured their place in Mecha Valhalla with their announcement of a North American release for Solatorobo. The press release says the game is coming out this fall, while the Amazon page, which is taking preorders, lists the release date as September 27.

We’ve often sang the praises for Solatorobo, eventually got the game into our own grubby mitts, and when a European release was announced we just about lost it. I wouldn’t call living without a game about a mercenary dog in a transforming steampunk mecha taking on pirate cats in airships as really living, and the game has a new subtitle now, “Red the Hunter,” which shows that neither this game nor XSEED are messing around. This sure ain’t your daddy’s dog-on-cat, floating steampunk island mecha platformer. Unless your daddy played Tail Concerto, in which case then, yeah, he’s played the spiritual prequel.

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It finally seems that Solatorobo will be given a Western release. Though weirdly it appears to be only in Europe at present, specifically for July 1st. In addition, Nintendo are handling the European release rather than Namco Bandai, who published the game in Japan. From what we played at last year’s TGS, the game was really interesting. We’re just glad it’s finally getting localised. The official English trailer is shown below.

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The next in the Composite Ver Ka toy line will be the wonderful Cybuster from Super Robot Wars. Unlike the other Ver Ka figures, this one lacks the overt decals and seems to keep more traditional proportions. Whether the Super Robot Chogokin toy of the Cybuster will still surface after this remains to be seen however. The Ver Ka Cybuster is planned for a Jully release at 5,800 yen and You can preorder the toy here.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan we’ve been sent the book Valkyries Second Sortie to review, featuring the work of the very talented Hidetaka Tenjin. Unsurprisingly, this new book is very much focused on the more recent work Tenjni has undertaken for Macross Frontier. We’ve naturally taken a few select snapshots to show off the truly stunning content within it.

Almost six years ago, a rather wonderful book hit the Japanese shelves. Entitled simply Valkyries, it featured the wonderful work of Hidetaka Tenjin. From his model kit box art to actual production work on Macross Zero. It was a fascinating insight into Tenjin’s clear obsession with all things Macross and showed the palpable talent he could exert.

So what does Tenjin’s work have to do with gaming then? Well, despite him penning the cover for games like Gradius V as well as the first two Artdink’s Macross PSP games, Tenjin’s main area of expertise is 3D CG art coupled with more traditional methods. In short, Tenjin is hugely influential to how mecha are treated in games, both in terms of the materials and how they are sculpted.

What with Macross Frontier’s success, it was only a matter of time until we were met with yet another brilliant book showcasing Tenjin’s work. Like the first book its 100 plus pages are graced with amazing imagery, sumptuously rendered on large glossy pages.

Toy: Valkyries Second Sortie
Price: 3,429 yen
Size/Weight: 30.0 x 22.1 x 1.2 cm / 680g

The book also finishes off with a lovely interview with Yoshiyuki Takani. For those unaware who he is, he basically penned the vast majority of Macross model kit boxes during the 80′s (amongst many other series). He was even responsible for the Japanese box art for Omega Boost. In any case, Takani is a monolithic figure amongst Japanese anime artists and the interview very much comes across as Takani passing on the torch to Tenjin.

In summation, this is a brilliant book and any self-respecting Macross fan should grab this while they can.

It’s been reported that veteran director/producer Toshiro Tsuchida will be leaving Square Enix. Tsuchida is effectively the founding father for the Front Mission series. There have been rumours that Tsuchida was quite ill during the development of Final Fantasy XIII, so this departure may be in part due to that. In any case, we dutifully doff our cap to a man that has helped shaped mecha gaming to what it is today and wish him well. Thanks to Chazumaru for the heads up.

According to Variety, some THQ published Voltron games are on the way. These are to coincide with a new animated TV show set for a US release later this year. Voltron is actually the Westernised version of Go Lion, a 70′s super robot show where the mecha combines from five robotic lions (hence the name really). As you’d expect, Go Lion recently made it into Super Robot Wars W on the DS so this isn’t the first time it’s been in games.

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Following on from Hidetaka Tenjin’s previous Valkyrie themed book, it seems that we will be graced with yet another wonderful entry called Valkyries Second Sortie. As the cover suggests, it seems that this edition will also be more focused towards the recent Macross Frontier. As with all of Tenjin’s work, this will be a must buy on its release later this month. Make sure to pre-order it now!

What with Wonder Festival 2011 Winter going on, a bunch of places online have been reporting the event. Whilst the unnerving majority of the figures being shown are of scantily clad ladies, there are also still a fair few mecha on display. Specifically the announcement of a RIOBOT figure of Detonator Orgun, that was featured in Super Robot Wars W, to the somewhat more niche Cloud Breaker 01 kit from Murakumo.

Whilst this is yet another cool looking kit from PLUM, of prior Leynos fame, the Murakumo mecha are curious due to the man who penned them. Specifically, that of Takayuki Yanase who’s had a rather gilded career as a mecha designer in his own right since he left From Software. Something that From Software have been keen to capitalise on, as this design was featured (albeit modified) in the first Another Century’s Episode, not to mention the Ixbrau units Yanese exclusively designed for Another Century’s Episode 3. He even worked on the OG mecha for Super Robot Wars W too. In any case, whilst Murakumo was a pretty wonky game the designwork was lovely. So this is yet another kit that’s been added to our wish list.

If you want to have a gander at the remaining reportage for the current Wonder Festival, then GA Graphic and AkibaHobby (pages here and here) should satiate your needs. A mild warning though, as some of those links aren’t exactly work safe. We’ve also included some videos of the Cloud Breaker 01 in action below.

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