Well at least SOMEBODY'S going to give us a Beta.

Roger Harkavy sends along a link to a series of photos at Yaco's Blog from this winter's Wonderfest 2007, where CM's is showing off a Genesis Climber Mospeada Legioss & TLEAD set, an upcoming entry in their Brave Gokin series, which has previously featured robots from GaoGaiGar, Patlabor, and the main robot from GoShogun (which aired here in the States as Macron One).

The two are smaller than their Toynami ROBOTECH counterparts, but the visible moving parts -- and the visible hands on the TLEAD -- seem to indicate full transformability. No price has been set, but previous entries in the Brave Gokin line have been anywhere from about 13,000 to 20,000 yen ($130-200) depending on size and complexity. This is probably going to be at the higher end, I think. Scheduled for release sometime this summer (AWESOME!).

Be sure to follow the link to Yaco's Blog to see ALL the photography. The connection and transformation seem somewhat inelegant, but I think this is the first time CM's has had to deal with a smooth mechanical transformation like this, so I'm willing to cut them a little slack. It's an ambitious looking product, to say the least. Can't wait to see it in full glorious color.

Though, y'know, I think this hurts our chances of seeing Toynami's Beta Fighter released. Anyone who would have been willing to pony up approx. $200 for a Toynami Beta is probably savvy enough to find an import shop from which to pick this baby up and check it out, and if it satisfies their Beta Fighter jones, then that's one less potential customer for Toynami's version.

Ah well. C'est lavie.

Update (4:05 p.m.): Roger e-mails me again to say that Matt Alt has seen the Legioss prototype in person and it's about the same size as the Toynami Alpha Fighter. Well then ... this sucker's going to be expensive, isn't it? *sigh*