Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the 1/35 AS-5E3 Leynos kit from Assault Suit Leynos. Our review is also of the kit in its unpainted form, followed by painted pictures after. In addition, to help give the kit some context, we’ve also included some video footage of it from the original MegaDrive game at the end of the review.

The original Assault Suit Leynos (aka Target Earth) graced the MegaDrive way back in 1990, it was a then new type of side scrolling shooter featuring a terrifyingly fragile real robot type mecha. Terrifying in the sense that its armor was paper thin and death came very easy. It was the first in the Assault Suits series and many games would follow, with it’s Super Famicom sequel Assault Suits Valken (aka Cybernator) garnering more mainstream appeal (partly on account of its obviously reduced difficulty). More recently Leynos was added to the Wii’s Virtual Console service, so the game is thankfully very much still available.

This is the first kit we’ve reviewed made by PLUM too and we’re very impressed. The overall sculpt is wonderfully beefy and all the joints are very sturdy. Once assembled it feels closer to an action figure than a kit, even compared to Bandai’s almost kit-toy Master Grade range. That said, unlike the Bandai injection kits PLUM’s approach doesn’t really use much in the way of snap fit assembly. So you’ll definitely need glue to hold everything together.

Kit: 1/35 AS-5E3 Leynos (Player Type)
Price: 6,210 yen
Size/Weight: 28.0 x 19.2 x 13.2 cm / 580g

As you can see, even without paint it looks surprisingly decent. The Leynos mecha itself is very much a grizzled and industrial design, so the detailing is really nicely done from the surface markings to piping. The joints, as said, are very sturdy and hold poses well. It’s not really a gimmick ridden kit though, as it’s meant to just show the design off but in a more tactile way. Below are the pre-painted shots of the kit (not taken by us).

Overall, this is a really great kit of a classic gaming mecha design. Whilst it’s clearly aimed at those that played the original game over 20 years ago, it’s still got real production value for something that’s meant for a more nostalgic market. The cool thing that caught our eye though is that this is the first in a series of Assault Suit kits, so with any luck we may even see the Valken at some point in the near future. In the meantime, any self respecting mecha gamer should definitely pick this kit up.

At the 27th Kanazawa Model Exhibition a fair few toys and kits have surfaced. From more Border Break kits to Armored Core as well as a nice little set of new gashapon (which we mentioned a while back). Even seeing the Flintlock from the classic Xexex also cheered us up. However, the big show stopper was the appearance of the AS-5E3 Leynos kit from the genre defining Assault Suits Leynos (aka: Target Earth). The manufacturer behind this suitably regal kit is that of Plum, who’ve also handled the recent Silpheed and Darius Burst kits. What’s different and impressive here though is that this is the first mecha kit the company have made. That said, judging from some of their blog entries, the sculpt and articulation look absolutely bloody amazing. No word on a price or a release date but this is a kit that is made from the purest of DO WANT!

Update: GA Graphic has a nice article on the kit as well, with some cool close up shots.

America has finally received a game from the long-running Sakura Wars series. It may have taken a decade or so longer than the fans had anticipated, but I’ve got a copy of the PS2 Premium Edition in my grubby little paws right now, and can confirm that, yes, this this release has actually happened, after years of false hope, wild rumors, and constant delays.

We’ve written about this game before, but for those of you who haven’t been playing along at home during the thirteen-year wait to see one of these games in English, here’s the short version: Sakura Wars is a strategy RPG series that started out on the Saturn and was one of the few landmark titles that Sega was able to develop for their ailing competitor to the original Sony PlayStation, and quickly grew to popularity in Japan because of its (then) unique combination of sexy, steampunk robots and sexy, talkative women, with game mechanics that rewarded the player for their ability to chat up girls with better units to use in the strategy RPG portion of the game. While it did well enough to get live theater performances in Japan, anime hadn’t yet hit any sort of popularity in America and at the time no one was willing to take the chance on what would be an incredibly niche product.

Times have changed, though, and Nippon Ichi’s American branch announced they were bringing over Sakura Wars 5 as Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love on both the PlayStation 2 and the Wii, and unlike all the other false starts over the years, I have physical evidence that the game is out in my native language. After all these years, it’s finally here.. While our younger audience probably fails to appreciate why Sakura Wars’ strategy RPG gameplay paired with visual-novel style focus on relationships was so shocking to gamers on this side of the Pacific back in the nineties, old men like myself (23 years old) remember when both strategy RPGs and dating sims were extremely niche genres, never mind a game containing both. Seeing a game in the series make it to market not only fulfills a personal dream of mine, it also shows how cosmopolitan the video game marketplace has become. So what are you waiting for? Grab either the PlayStation 2 or Wii versions now!

Expect us to review this at some point in the future, although given the site’s nature, we’ll probably have more to say about the pretty robots than the pretty girls.

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…

There are quite a few fantasy based shows in the mecha pantheon, from Dunbine to Galient and even Escaflowne. Fantastical mecha have a rather wonderful lineage. Ryu Knight was one such show but instead of approaching the mysticism in a serious way, like in Dunbine for instance, it was very much aimed at children. From the adorable mecha designs to upbeat characters, Ryu Knight was a suitably sweet and endearing show.

The narrative follows the cheeky but quite chivalrous Adeu and his quest for the Earth’s Blade, a sword so massive that it stretches into the sky itself. He meets lots of friends and foes along the way, many of which want to steal his more advanced mecha. The Zephyr is Adeu’s personal mecha.

The show was wildly successful and spawned multiple OVA’s. What’s also very interesting is that the mecha were penned by the very talented Junya Ishigaki, who gamers will appreciate also designed the mecha in the much loved Xenogears and Xenosaga games. Ishigaki also went on to work on Escaflowne shortly after Ryu Knight too in case you’re wondering.

Toy: Variable Action Zephyr
Price: 5000 yen
Size/Weight: 20.4 x 20.1 x 10.2 cm / 430g

The toy itself is very focused in terms of its features, so it’s ultimately very poseable and the sculpt is also very accurate. In addition, this is meant more as a display piece for fans of the show who are know much older (as Bandai released their own toys around the time of the show’s original release). The paint job is consequently far more detailed and accurate to the show and the articulation is a lot more involved compared to the Bandai efforts too.

However, it’s almost entirely plastic in terms of its construction. With the only metal being a few screws to hold it together. This isn’t really an issue though as Megahouse have made a decent toy that’s pretty sturdy. The toy also comes with extra hands, a display base and the Zephyr summoning card.

Overall, this is a very accurate and tactile toy that’s meant for fans of the show. It’s also competitively priced and in many ways is of a higher production standard than many of the Robot Damashii figures. In any case, it’s a wonderful little toy of an endearing mecha design and it won’t break the bank either.

Courtesy of our good friends at HobbyLink Japan, we’ve been sent the latest in Bandai’s Armor Plus toy range; Tekkaman Blade. This titular mecha was also repackaged abroad as Teknoman and, due to the series’ high production standards, enjoyed a large amount of popularity across the world. Earlier this week, Capcom finally released Tatsunoko vs Capcom Ultimate All Stars (which you can buy here) and it features Blade as a playable character. So Bandai’s release of this toy is timely indeed.

Due to the nature that this is a toy, all pictures shown are of the item out of the box. However, we’ve also included comparison shots of the recently released Soul of Chogokin Spec Tekkaman and Pegas set (sold separately). In any case, it’s worth clarifying here that this toy is one of the few that falls under the category of “impossibly awesome”. Click on to read more…

In the mid-90′s Tatsunoko Productions were in the process of rebooting several of its successful franchises from the 70′s. The original Uchuu no Kishi Tekkaman series was one such show that fell under this remit. What was birthed wasn’t quite just a simple reboot, as Tekkaman Blade was a very thorough re-imagining and took the license into new territory. To the extent that Blade now defines the Tekkaman mythos almost more than the original.

Blade’s narrative shifted away from the focus on exploration for a new home in the original show and was distilled into a more straightforward plot based around Earth being invaded by an alien threat, known as the Radam. In addition to these potent insect-like aliens there were also humanoid enemies that were part of the Radam forces, these were known as the Tekkamen. It was shortly revealed within the show that the Tekkamen were actually a captured human family that were modified by the Radam. The protagonist, Blade, was spared from the final stage of this process allowing him to retain his free will and a large amount of motivation to avenge his family.

The series is actually remarkably poignant for show ultimately aimed at teenage boys and Blade was by no means indestructible either. Towards the end of the narrative, his life is threatened by the sheer nature of changing into a Tekkaman. To the point he is left almost a cripple by the series’ conclusion. If anything, the whole premise displays the gruesome consequences of physical self-sacrifice for the survival of others, as Blade inevitably has to kill each member of his family in order to save the Earth’s populace. Regardless, Tekkaman Blade both as an anime series and its protaganist have entered the pop-cultural psyche across the world.

Unsurprisingly, this also means Blade has been a fair few games over the years. Obviously the Super Robot Wars series has featured Blade in a few of its iterations (notably J, W and Gakuen). Not to mention a GameBoy and a Super Famicon shooter around the time of the series’ original airing in Japan. However, the recent addition to the Tatsunoko vs Capcom line-up probably captures the character and his abilities best, as ability set was mostly close range.

Toy: Armor Plus Tekkaman Blade
Price: 7500 yen
Size/Weight: 32.2 x 20.1 x 7.4 cm / 600g

This toy is actually quite special. Part of Bandai’s Armor Plus range, it allows the owner to affix Blade’s armor across his body. The reasoning for this is that Blade’s transformation into a Tekkaman has a few stages and this is something the toy uniquely caters for. What’s most surprising, despite the wonderfully accurate sculpt, is that most of the attachable armor is actually diecast and not plastic. This gives the toy a wonderful sense of permanence, as well as a hefty weight, and the subsequent paint job is all the more muted as a consequence.

Diecast armor aside, the articulation and gimmicks are also suitably impressive. As this toy is actually based around Bandai’s other action figure lines, so this poseability is hardly surprising. The real bonus though is how wonderfully the toy is sculpted as it’s remarkably faithful to the original design. It’s one of those rare toys that truly encapsulates its inspiration in an almost uncanny way.

That said, it’s not without its faults. As changing the hands is quite a fiddle as the armor on the arm slides around. Plus the spiky nature of the design makes pushing in the hands quite painful. In addition, the ball joints that the hands snap onto are potentially quite fragile and too much pressure could snap the joint. It’s also worth pointing out that in much of the toy’s promotional material it shows the eyes glowing, in reality there is no internal light source. However, the internal eyes are reflective and are visible upon closer inspection.

Overall all though, these faults are ultimately quite minor in the face of such a faithful recreation and its high production quality. There are very few toys that are quite this good and especially not at such an affordable price. After all the Soul of Chogokin Spec set actually costs double the Armor Plus version, so you really are getting an amazing bargain. If you’re in any way a fan of the series or just like really nice toys, then you’d be certifiably daft to not get this. It’s a toy with genuine tamashii.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas used to be where video game movers and shakers in North America made all their grand announcements, until a dedicated game show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, came along. But now that E3′s stock has significantly decreased for a variety of reasons, a few publishers have come back, though mostly American based ones. Like Microsoft, with the only real news being their avatar arcade initiative, hence why this year’s CES was a bit of a snoozer. So it was easy to miss Capcom’s presence, who passed along a few new images from Lost Planet 2. Click on to read more…

What you see above and again below is one of the many (at least one would hope to be the case) new VSs (or Vital Suits, which is the mecha in the Lost Planet franchise) that will be featured, the GAF-14, which distinguishes itself from most other models by allowing multiple users (1 pilot and 2 gunners).

And here we have the GAH-42BS, a tiny one person VS that gains considerable agility as a trade-off for mass.

Finally a reminder, that the localized version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom comes out next week, January 26 to be exact. It features the PTX-40A from the first Lost Planet as the behemoth for the Capcom side; the sole character takes up both available slots due its immense power and size.

Thanks to the Lost Planet Wiki for some technical clarification.

Much like the other Valken figure we recently mentioned, this one features the same booster pack but in the traditional green colours (instead of desert camouflage). This was released at last year’s Winter Comiket as a special figure. Thankfully, Tokyo Hunter is taking orders and at 1000 yen it’s a very nice bargain to boot.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, the steampunk mecha SRPG from Nippon Ichi America, has a pre-order for the game available at their store, Rosenqueen. Most notable is the fact that Sakura Wars preorders from Rosenqueen include a hardcover art book, which is a different item from the PS2 Premium Package’s artbook, so if you pre-order the PS2′s Premium edition from Rosenqueen you walk away with no less than two different artbooks, as well as a poster and an extra disc containing the Japanese voices (the standard edition is English dub only). Considering that the price point for all this is currently only $50, this feels like one of the old Working Designs packages, just without that old Working Designs premium price. Definitely a good last hurrah for the ageing PS2 platform.

The Wii version is also still a go, but other than the hardcover artbook you get from pre-ordering at their store, you don’t get any of the extras the PS2 version gets. To make up for this, it’s available for $40, pretty nice for a next-gen release and a lot better than the other shovelware that gets released for the system at the same price. There’s also a fan art contest (more info here) for you artistic types.

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.

We mentioned not that long ago about a new line of commemorative gaming releases for Gundam’s 30th Anniversary. Well, they’re now out with places like Play Asia stocking a fair few. Our personal recommendations would be Gundam MS Sensen 0079 an FPS on the Wii, pictured above, and Gundam Battle Universe a third person shooter on the PSP. Neither of these games will probably see a Western release so you’d best acquire them now whilst they’re available at their new reduced price point. We will be reviewing both games in the new future though, so also keep an eye out for that.