- The Art of HMM - Book Interview
After the reveal of the HMM König Wolf's prototype, this page was added for the interview that was featured in the ZOIDS - ART OF HMM (2006 ~ 2020) book. This book collects various concept art, box art, and even stories from the HMM series, and catalogues them into an incredible art book. I highly recommend ordering your own copy if you'd like to see art from kits that you don't yet have.
Please note! This page uses automatic translations, which are bound to have mistakes! They're provided only for convenience, as an easier way to read these translations, until such a time that better ones become available.
There are, however, a few segments of this interview that have been properly translated by Falcarius. Those segments will be highlighted in blue italics.
"After 14 Years of History" HMM Zoids Roundtable
One day in 2020, the core members of the HMM Zoids series gathered at Kotobukiya's Tachikawa Headquarters to look back on the history of the last 14 years. The host was Shun Watanabe (A Creative at Shogakukan) and Sekai (Writer) who was in charge of editing.
- Participants
(In order of commentary, titles omitted) |  |  |
HMM Planning Officer, Oka |
HMM Designer, Ashizawa |
HMM First Planning Manager, Kamei |
- HMM Developers
Shogakukan Creative's Watanabe: Thank you for gathering here today. First of all, a little about the beginning of the planning for this book. I was in charge of the planning and editing of Shogakukan Creative's "New Edition - Machine Beast New Century" *1, which was published in 2019, and I contacted Kotobukiya for advertising cooperation. I found the products and the package illustrations fascinating, and planned this book thinking, "This needs to be compiled into an art book!" Now, please introduce yourself.
Kotobukiya's Oka: I'm Oka from Kotobukiya, and I'm currently in charge of product planning for the fifth generation of HMM Zoids. My job includes selecting the product lineup, reviewing and determining product specifications, supervising and coordinating with Takara Tomy, designing decals, etc. I've also been writing blog posts since before I became in charge of planning.
I was probably the latest among the members of this roundtable to get involved with Zoids. In 2001, when the "Zoids New Century /ZERO" anime was being broadcast, my younger brother was buying all the Zoids he could get his hands on, and I was also buying them, as his sibling. I love Zoids as a whole more than I love Zoids individually.
Kotobukiya's Ashizawa: My involvement with HMM Zoids involves the manufacturing process that brings Oka's planning to the actual prototype design and production stage. Since joining Kotobukiya, I've been involved with the Liger Zero Jager (released in February 2012).
The production of the Liger Zero started shortly before I joined the company, but while helping with the CAS units, I was also in charge of the entire Dibison Thoma Version (released in December 2012.)
Until then, Kotobukiya had been making prototypes by hand, but from around the time of the Jager, we began producing Zoids using 3D data.
The product that I'm most attached to is the Gojulas (released in December 2013), in the sense that I love it and will never forget it. I put a lot of effort into making it, but even more than that, the fact that I designed it and finished it with that many parts makes me quite emotional.
Kotobukiya's Kamei: I'm Kamei from Kotobukiya, and was in charge of the first HMM Zoids project.
I learned a lot about Zoids after joining Kotobukiya, and I was able to work on the launch of HMM and its first work, the Shield Liger.
Masashi Katahira: The first Zoids came out when I was in elementary school, but I wasn't really aware of them at the time, and back then, I was only building Gunpla. However, a friend of mine had a Shield Liger and a Gojulas, and I was impressed by their workmanship.
After that, I wasn't involved with Zoids again until I entered the workforce, but after joining the current company, I was approached by Tomy about animating and re-releasing Zoids, and that's when I became actively involved.
I created the ZOIDS Logo and markings using CG. I was asked to design various Zoids toys, but the only ones that were accepted were the Hammer Head and Dragoon Nest.
Later on I was introduced to HMM, and when Gojuyana told me that they were going to make an awesome Shield Liger, I designed it, and that's how I came to be in charge of it.
If I had to pick a favorite Zoid, I'd say the Shield Liger, Molga, Cannon Tortoise, Gun Sniper, and so on.
Mercy Rabbit: My name is Mercy Rabbit, and I do the box art for HMM Zoids.
I first encountered Zoids around 1988 when I was working part-time at a toy store, moving samples and selling merchandise.
There was a pedestal that Tomy was sending out to retail stores at the time, that you could set the Zoids on and watch them move while suspended in the air. When Mad Thunder was released for the year-end sales season, the store manager ordered me to build it for display, and that was the first time I built one of the kits. When I assembled it, I found that even though it was so large, there was tons of intricate molding, and the parts were numbered in a way that made them easy to understand, so it was easy enough for someone who hadn't assembled a plastic model kit in a long time to build them. I was also shocked at how cool it looked when it moved.
Later, when I came of age, the Zoids anime started, and I bought Zoids that I couldn't afford in the past because they were going to be re-released.
At the time, I had no idea that I would later go on to paint box art. (laughs)
And that was my chance encounter, working part-time at a toy store.
My favorite Zoid is the Sea Panther. I love small and medium-sized spring / motorized Zoids. I also like Black Rhimos and Hound Soldier, which I first fell in love with during Zoids Genesis. Until then, I hadn't been a fan of the white Zoids from the end of the first phase of Zoids, but after Hound Soldier was released in dog-like colors, I could see the design clearly, and after coming to like the Genesis version, I also started liking the colors of the old version. After I bought the Gunbluster, when it was re-released, I looked at the old version and thought it looked cooler with the shining golden guns. I bought the King Gojulas when it was first released with Rebirth Century, and was impressed, thinking "What's this!" In a way, the Zoids from the first era have been relived quite a bit. Because there's a solid foundation behind Zoids, even if the shapes of the dinosaurs have changed over the years alongside the changes in academia, the charm of their designs isn't affected, which is something I've studied while being involved.
Gojuyana: My generation was around the Strike generation of the Gunpla boom. I was baptized into Gunpla and real robot animation when I was in junior high school. It was a time when all the junior high school boys went to model shops on the weekends to buy Gunpla, and I was crazy about real robots that were expressed in a way that depended on scale models. I knew about Zoids, which had been on the market since 1983, and was interested in them, but since the toy section was for children, we made the conscious decision to aim for something higher. But I still couldn't resist, so I bought a Guysack and Cannon Tortoise.
Later, when I was a college student, I bought an Iron Kong on a trial basis and was shocked to learn for the first time that such great Zoids existed out there. After that, I began to collect Zoids like I was devouring them, and by the time I became a working adult, I had collected quite a few different kinds of Zoids and had become quite knowledgeable about them.
((A living example of HMM Zoids, Gojuyana)) |
When it came time to actually release new products, Yutaka Tajima, a.k.a. Dr. T, who was in charge of Tomy at the time, asked me to help him, and I was in charge of the Blade Liger, Hammer Head, and Gun Sniper designs.
I also proposed the coloring design for the released products, and decided to make the colors of the Imperial and Republican Armies easy to understand: blue, gray, white, and green for the Republican Army, and red, black, purple, and metallic for the Imperial Army.
This is how I was involved with Tomy's development of Zoids, which led to the HMM Zoids series. I like the stance of Zoids, which stubbornly refuses to do humanoid models and continue to pursue animal models. I think it's because we've been doing this for nearly 40 years that some people have come to recognize that animal mecha = Zoids, and I think that's wonderful.
My current position in the HMM Zoids series is as an on-site director. I take orders from Kotobukiya and order designs from Katahira, box art from Mercy, and text from Fuchu Hommachi.
Corporal Fuchu Hommachi: I'm Corporal Fuchu Hommachi, in charge of the text for HMM Zoids.
To be precise, my first encounter with Zoids was in 1983, when I saw the Mechabonica exhibit at an event held at the Tokyo International Trade Fair Hall in Harumi, so I guess I've been watching Zoids since its inception. The following year, the Bigasauro and eight smaller varieties of Zoids were on display. After that, I fell in love with the movements of the Bigosauro after seeing it demonstrated and sold at a toy store in Ueno, with the commercial playing. Since then, I continued to purchase new products immediately after they were released, and have become a collector, currently owning more than 1,000 Zoids.
There was a Gunpla boom before Zoids, and at the time I was only making Gunpla, but I was fascinated by the fact that Zoids had canopies that could be opened, allowing people to ride them, and that they moved. The Zoid Red Horn was released in 1984 as part of the Empire side. When it was released, the turrets moved, and it was faster than the earlier Zoids. From then on I was on the Empire's side. That's why my favorite Zoid is the Red Horn. Until then, I had liked the small Zoids like Garantula, an enhanced version of the Guysack.
After the Zoids anime had ended, the rush to reprint old Zoids began, and at the time, the Helic Memorial Box 1983 reprinting project was followed by the Zenebas Memorial Box 1984, and my first involvement was providing Tomy with materials for that project.
I started working on the text in earnest with the Storm Sworder, but before that I was also in charge of proofreading texts written by other people. Therefore, I was involved with HMM Zoids from the beginning, and it was my suggestion that the model number of the Shield Liger be changed to "03". In the Tomy kit, the model number of the Shield Liger was RPZ-02, and since the Gustav, which was released before it already covered RPZ-02, I guessed that the original registration number was supposed to be "03" (the third medium-sized motorized Zoid) and suggested it.
- Notes
* 1 This is the new reprint of the Zoids Chaotic Century manga.
- Thus Began HMM
Watanabe: Please tell us how HMM Zoids got started.
Gojuyana: While working on Zoids with Tomy, Zoids New Century /ZERO finished airing (June 30th, 2001) and the next anime began. At the time, I had several opportunities to make suggestions for the ever-changing Zoids. Some of them were commercialized, while others went on unreleased.
In 2001 ~ 2003, the world was in the midst of a full-fledged trend of adults buying toys, and after the action figure and shokugan booms, toys started arriving in convenience stores. *2 There was a discussion that Zoids shouldn't only be toys for children, but that there should also be products with a high-grade design sense and modeling that were more suitable for adults, and this was the beginning of the HMM Zoids project for Tomy.
We decided to start with the Shield Liger, which was the main character of Heisei Zoids. *3 We asked Katahira to start with the design, and at the time, we made a prototype of the design by hand.
However, work was halted when Zoids Fuzors (broadcast from October 3rd, 2004, to April 3rd, 2005) and Zoids Genesis (broadcast from April 10th, 2005, to March 26th, 2006) began.
The HMM Zoids took a long time to design, but the prototypes took even longer, and the anime came to a complete halt in the meantime. After the anime was finished, we resumed work and when it came time to decide how to commercialize the product, Tajima, who had been in charge of the Zoids series, was transferred to a different department, the Content Business Strategy Division. Tajima's mission in the new division was to expand the Zoids brand beyond the toy business, so he sought to commercialize Zoids in the Boys Division and Tomytec at the time. Even so, I heard that although the Zoids were well received within the company, for various reasons, Tomy was unable to commercialize them.
After the anime ended, the Zoids business was shrinking, but I, as well as Tajima from Tomy, felt that it'd be a shame to leave things as they were. I felt that if we continued producing Zoids content to keep the exposure going, fans would stick with us when we ultimately continued the Zoids business with Tomy, so we began to move in the direction of releasing Zoids from other companies.
In fact, I had been a customer of Kotobukiya's ever since I was a student, working part-type and as a prototype sculptor. At that time, Kotobukiya had started plastic models for the Super Robot Wars and Armored Core series, so I approached them about making HMM Zoids. The person who responded at the time was Kamei, who became the first person in charge of the project.
Kamei: The managing director at the time gave me the final decision and said, "Start this project", and there was no way I could resist that, so I started it. (laughs)
Gojuyana: To add to that, Kotobukiya had borrowed characters from Super Robo and Armored Core at the time, and since they had the time, there was talk within Kotobukiya about having at least three pillars to their product lineup.
It was at that time that I brought up the subject of Zoids, and since Zoids was famous for its long-lasting content, it seemed like a good fit within Kotobukiya as well.
Although Tomy's products were focused on plastic model kits, from the perspective of an actual plastic model manufacturer, their safety standards were geared towards children, so some parts were thick with rounded edges. We thought that if we made the product more like a plastic model, we could create something that would appeal to a different demographic, as well as to the children who were around when the anime was broadcast.
Kamei: Super Robo was like the kings road *3 and Armored Core was in a position where you could buy multiple models and play with them by reconfiguring them. I'm slowly remembering that there was talk at the time to make scale models, HMM Zoids, that would include all of the above. (laughs)
However, it was a very difficult start up at that time. Decals, springs, and other various materials were new to Kotobukiya, and HMM Zoids were filled with many experimental elements.
Gojuyana: When we decided to release HMM Zoids, we wanted to make a product where people who weren't already Zoids fans could still buy and understand the characters, world view, and background.
So, we included everything that we could, from design drawings in the instruction manual to explanatory texts like the battle story on the product itself. We also used various materials for the figures, and even the Zoid Cores.
Half of the appeal of Zoids up to then had been their movement, but we included all of the information we could think of to show that the characters were fully viable even without that, and even if they lost their movement, we tried to make up for it in other areas, to create a character that was more than 100% even as is.
Kamei: That said, HMM Zoids weren't the prototypes for plastic models, but at the time, Chinese factories were cheap, and there wasn't much of a sense of cost within Kotobukiya, so we had abundant budgets and could do things freely. The people running the line now are doing so under cost restraints, so I think that must be really tough.
Gojuyana: Kotobukiya was already leading the project from the time we produced the Command Wolf (sold June 2007). After it went on sale, I asked Kotobukiya "How did it sell? Did you make much?" and got the answer "100 yen"... (laughs)
Kamei: 100 yen after it took two years to make...?
Gojuyana: I thought "oh no, I've made them do something terrible". (laughs)
Kamei: Production was tough, but it was fun to make. That wasn't a time where we had some level of well-ordered model production rules that we followed within Kotobukiya like we do now, so in a certain sense, the planning team could do whatever they wanted without taking any account of costs. Though I don't remember that time very well because of the trauma... (laughs) *4
- Notes
*2 Shokugan are food toys. These are affordable products that package a toy with some type of food item, often candy or gum. A good example of this is the Zoids Wild Chess Piece Collection, where each box contained 1 rubber chess piece and 1 piece of gum. They're usually sold for 100 or 200 yen ($1 ~ $2) at check out isles and the like.
*3 Referring to the Heisei era of Japan, which started in 1989.
*4 There have been claims that Kotobukiya made 100 yen for the entire first phase of products. This seems to be a misinterpretation of the section above. It's not clarified if that 100 yen is for the Command Wolf product as a whole, or the more likely possibility of 100 yen per unit (kit sold).
- Package Art Is An Imagination Activity!
Watanabe: How was the box design for HMM decided?
Gojuyana: Kotobukiya decided to use box art for the first Shield Liger, and we proceeded with the project from there.
We asked Yuji Kaida to do the box art because we remembered how excited our generation was to see his plastic model box art in the 1980s. At first, we thought we would rotate asking various people to do the work.
Kamei: Another reason was that Kaida had asked us to work with him on Super Robo.
The HMM box uses a lot of white to create a luxurious feeling, and I wanted to incorproate this into the package as if it were a picture frame. However, if we made it look too much like a frame, it'd lose some of its power, so we added an effect that made it look like part of the image was extending out of the frame.
Eventually, we were asked to decide on a name for the series, so I asked Gojuyana to come up with one since I didn't know what it should be (laughs).
Katahira: When Gojuyana asked me about it, I said "High-end is very popular these days, so why don't you add that?"
Gojuyana: I felt that "High-end Model" was short for "HM" and lacked that "bang for your buck" impression, so I thought, "Let's put 'Master' in there," and thus changed it to "High-end Master Model." I had completely forgotten about it, but only recently did I remember that I named it myself (laughs).
Kamei: Back then, Kotobukiya didn't have a group of people who made plastic models, so it was a two-person team, with myself doing the planning. Therefore, I had to rely on others for design aspects, so I asked Gojuyana to take care of the practical aspects, including logo, package design, and instruction manual design.
Gojuyana: I started asking Mercy to do the package art because I saw his illustrations for Zoids Generations in Dengeki Hobby Magazine, and thought his mecha were very dynamic. I was introduced to Dengeki because I had contacts there.
Mercy Rabbit: At the time, Gojuyana was near my house, so I rode my bicycle to our first meeting (laughs). My first request was for four Command Wolf models, one normal, one AC, one red, and one Irvine.
Gojuyana: When I first met Mercy, I knew that he was a Zoids fan and very knowledgeable, and I felt that he'd understand my ideas immediately.
Mercy Rabbit: My first box art was of Liger Blue Souga, the lead Zoid in the serialized Zoids Generations series, and I was asked to do the box art for a limited edition event product.
In that sense, my first debut into box art was Liger Blue Souga. I used to love plastic models, and looking at the box art while assembling them, I'd think "I could never draw something like this." It was fun and made me happy to be able to take on the challenge, but on the other hand, I felt that my skills weren't quite up to par, so I was conflicted on what to do when I was asked, and I went through a great deal of trial and error. Even with the HMM Zoids Command Wolf, I felt like I had to learn more because this time it was a regular line of plastic models and not just a limited edition.
Gojuyana: At first, I asked Mercy for something that'd be easier for them to draw, like a manga style, and he came up with a great picture.
Mercy Rabbit: Actually, drawing the lines and painting the color is a two-step process. It takes a lot of time to get the lines right and a lot of time to create the shading, lighting, and texture through color. The Command Wolf LC Zenebas Imperial Army spec. took about a month and a half.
At that time, I still had time to spare, but I was beginning to think that I should lose the main lines myself. In the mean time, Koji Nakakita took charge of the Blade Liger.
Gojuyana: Nakikita is more of a designer than an illustrator, but I didn't want to ask Mercy to do literally everything and end up burning out, so I was thinking at the time that I'd ask Nakakita to work on it alongside him.
Mercy Rabbit: I really wanted to draw the Blade Liger myself, but I couldn't due to various constraints...
(The roundtable discussion (Shogakukan Creative's Watanabe on the left))
Gojuyana: Next, I asked Mercy to draw the Geno Saurer, but that was a difficult project.
Mercy Rabbit: At that time, I was still struggling with test shots and trying to figure out how to draw the package art, and in addition, I caught the norovirus right before the deadline, which caused me a lot of trouble.
From the following Shield Liger MK-II, I was able to establish my own way of drawing. Now, I draw them while referring to Katahira's design drawings and test shots.
Gojuyana: HMM Zoids start with Kotobukiya deciding on the characters to be commercialized, and then Katahira draws the designs. It takes about three years from deciding on the character to the sale of the actual product.
Ordering the packaging from Mercy is the last step, which is usually done about six months before the product goes on sale.
Oka: We place orders with Mercy right around the time that we start taking reservations for our products. At that time, we already have test shots and 3D printed products, which we give to Mercy for reference.
Mercy Rabbit: We want the package art to be an imaginary image of the product in action.
The box art is the first visual impression you get of the plastic models you're about to assemble, and its also been my personal experience, so I want customers who buy HMM Zoids products to feel that as well. I want to focus on dramatic scenes, showing how those characters are playing their roles.
To tell the truth, when I drew the Command Wolf LC & AC Barad version, it was the fifth time I'd drawn a Command Wolf package, and unlike with humanoid robots, the composition of animal mechs is always somewhat fixed, so it was a very difficult project to complete.
In the end, I drew a situation that wasn't depicted in the anime but one that could've happened in real life, and then drew the Liger Zero next to it, which wasn't included in the product.
Since then, whenever we released /ZERO HMM Zoids products, we always drew the Liger Zero with them so that people could recognize it as a character from the /ZERO series, and understand that these machines were fighting together.
- 3 Most Popular Announced!
Watanabe: What are the top three most popular HMM Zoids that have already been released?
Oka: If we're basing this purely on quantity, it would be the Liger Zero. However, the Blade Liger AB Bang Version, which is very popular, was only sold in limited quantities, so if they were competing on the same playing field, I'm not sure which one would win. Next would be the Berserk Führer, followed closely by the Geno Breaker Raven Spec.
Kamei: In the early days of the HMM Zoids series, we thought it'd be a good idea if we just had a lot of low-priced Zoids in the lineup. However, it became difficult to sell cheap Zoids, and we realized that we could not do without high-price-per-unit products to continue the series, so we continued with high-price-per-unit products such as the Iron Kong and Red Horn.
Gojuyana: I think the main HMM Zoid that saw an immediate jump in numbers was the Blade Liger AB Bang Version? The figure itself was first released with the Command Wolf Irvine Version, but this product is much closer to the anime with figures of Bang, Fine, Sieg, and a figure of Sieg fused with the Zoid Core like in the show.
Kamei: I realized once again that the anime had an amazing influence.
Gojuyana: I had been involved in Zoids for a while and wasn't aware of how popular the anime was, but I realized at that time that the current popularity of Zoids was supported by the popularity of the anime.
When we were releasing the Iron Kong, we estimated the price at 15,000 yen, but the sales staff at Kotobukiya told us that we couldn't sell it for more than 10,000 yen. I couldn't understand why they were trying to sell it for less than 10,000 yen when we were supposed to be releasing high unit price products to continue the series (laughs).
Kamei: I think it was because at that time, the internal structure had changed, and the planning department started looking at the sales figures instead of just the number of units sold.
Thanks to that, the Iron Kong sold well, but to be honest, we were worried, so we released the Blade Liger AB Bang Version in the same month (December 2009), saying that now it'd have to sell (laughs).
Oka: I joined Kotobukiya in May 2010, completely unaware of such circumstances, and we held the Kotobukiya HMM Zoids 1st Open Product Planning Meeting at Shinjuku Loft Plus One on May 15th, 2010. There, we unveiled the Lightning Saix's box art.
Mercy Rabbit: This was a time when we were trying to increase the exposure of HMM Zoids, and I heard that we were trying to involve fans by holding events and creating an accomplice relationship with them (laughs).
Oka: From December 19th to the 27th, 2009, we held the Kotobukiya Zoids Festival at the old Radio Hall in Akihabara, and it attracted more people than we expected, so we figured we should hold an event in a proper place this time. Thus, it was held at Shinjuku Loft Plus One.
After that, we held the 2nd Open Product Planning Meeting on December 29th, 2010, and the 3rd Open Product Planning Meeting on June 5th, 2011 at Tokyo Culture Culture.
After Kotobukiya Akihabara was established in July 2011, we also held a private exhibition and signing session for Mercy on February 25th, 2012.
Mercy Rabbit: I remember being rounded up every time a large product was released (laughs).
- Thinking About Nothing But 1/72 Scale
Watanabe: Why did you decide to make HMM Zoids 1/72 scale, the same as the Tomy Zoids?
Gojuyana: The first HMM Zoid, Shield Liger, was an updated version of Tomy's Shield Liger, so we wanted to make them the same 1/72 scale, and we wanted to be able to compare them and see how they had changed. Therefore, we didn't consider any scale other than 1/72.
Kamei: The HMM Zoids are said to be 1/72 scale, but they aren't 1/1 with the scale of the original Tomy Zoids. So, rather than trying to scale them up or down, we wanted to show that we could present them this way by posing them, and we didn't want to upset the customer's concept of size at the time.
Oka: The HMM Zoids have a much larger number of parts than the Tomy Zoids because they have joints inside, the legs aren't a single part, and there's a lot of color coding. This is why the package is also larger.
Kamei: In the old days, there were a large number of parts because we had to deal with the division of parts to add details, but it was a tough time when the cost was also high. Now we're focusing on ease of assembly, So, for example, parts that used to take 30 parts to assemble are now 20 parts.
Ashizawa: We used to make prototypes by hand, so when we sent them to the factory in China, the parts were divided into batches at their own discretion. Because there'd be so many details, they were supposed to be divided into batches. In which case, while the details could certainly be reproduced, it'd be difficult to rebuilt, so we started putting in precise detailing without separating the parts. It's not possible to properly recreate the shape of the product unless it's made using data.
Once you replace something that you made by hand with data, other people's interpretations come into the mix, so now we control this by creating the objects from data in the first place. In the past five to six years, we have been aiming for precision, fewer parts, lower cost, and ease of assembly.
Oka: We decided to make the Wild Liger (an HMM Zoid scheduled to be released in October 2020) in 1/35 scale, the same scale as the Takara Tomy version, partly because we wanted the joint caps to be compatible with each other's products and partly because we wanted to be able to put an Arashi Figure on the Wild Liger.
We could have decided to release the figure in 1/72, but that would have made it seem overpriced for its size, and we wanted to avoid that.
- HMMs Contain Car Parts!?
Watanabe: When selecting the characters, do you envision releasing different variations?
Gojuyana: Of course we envision a certain number of different variations in the lineup, but we can't judge whether we can continue releasing them or not until the first one sells well, so while we do imagine releasing them, it's not a definite decision. However, if we don't envision variations at the design stage, it'll cause problems later on, so we tell Katahira that and have him design the product for us.
Oka: That part is still true. With Wild Liger, we also anticipated releasing the Fangtiger in advance. The colors of the runners are also divided with variations in mind.
Ashizawa: Wild Liger was designed by Katahira with variations in mind, but in consideration for the armor when making Fangtiger, we added hard points.
Oka: In terms of the development process, the base design is Katahira's, which is then used as the basis for creation. The planning side orders Katahira to draw the design, saying things like "This part should move like this" or "These parts will be replaced later."
Katahira: When designing, I try to recreate the anime as a reference. I started out going all out with the arrangement, but as I saw the market reaction, I felt that it was better not to go too far.
Gojuyana: In the first Shield Liger, Katahira was into cars, so car parts and details were included.
Katahira: I still love cars, so for example, there are tail lights and other car parts included. In the past, even if the Zoids had joints, the design had to be adjusted because it wasn't possible for them to move with the design as-is. The Zoids that appeared in the anime series were well-designed, but there were a few areas that had to be redesigned to make them movable.
Incidentally, the location of the Zoid Core was not explicitly stated in the anime, and the design limited the number of places where it could be placed, so it was usually my own decision.
Gojuyana: Tomy's Zoids were solid at the initial design stage, but because of the motorized gimmicks, I think there were parts that had to be changed from the design during the actual manufacturing stage. Since there were no motorized gimmicks in HMM Zoids, the first concept was to bring them back to the original position of their design.
- The Gojulas Development Story
(KOTOBUKIYA HMM ZOIDS 2nd Public Product Planning Meeting)
Watanabe: What was the most difficult product to produce?
Ashizawa: I don't need to tell you that the number one most difficult product was the Gojulas!!
(Everyone laughs)
Ashizawa: The second one would have to be the Wild Liger. Unlike the mecha-like lines of the past, this line had a biological feel to it. I tried to match Katahira's drawings, and find the right balance for the whole design while taking the different axes and range of motion into account, but some things didn't fit well together, so the calorie count for this project was quite high, especially when considering that we also had to make figures to add to the mix.
The Death Stinger was also large in size, which meant that it required more information. The larger the size, the more gimmicks you can put in, but the more weight you have to put in, the harder it is to make it stand on its own.
Mercy Rabbit: The Gojulas is so hard for me that I wish they'd stop making them (laughs).
The first time I drew it, I drew it vertically, but now there are so many things on its back that the layout gets pretty demanding, and I have to draw it horizontally, but at this point it's getting harder to balance showing the whole thing with a good-looking pose. I'm glad that, unlike the packages, this book was printed without a white frame.
Ashizawa: If it's too large, it's impossible to verify.
To release the product to the world, I take the data that I made and print it out using a 3D printer, then try to assemble it myself. From there I verify everything, including whether it can stand on its own four legs and whether it can move the way I want it to or not.
Up to the mid-sized Zoids, the models can stand on their own. We can verify things such as how the axis work, whether it's fine with the 5 mm parts for the legs, or if the legs are limp because we used 3 mm parts, and so on. But when it comes to Death Stinger and the like, they're too large to be verified with a 3D printer. We try to get as large a diameter as possible, but the 3D printer is useless for verification, which is quite scary. The product is usually heavier than the 3D printed versions made of resin or other plastics. If the 3D printed version can stand on its own I think the final product will be fine, but if it's something in the Gojulas' class, it goes beyond the limitations of the 3D printer. In that sense, Gojulas was quite the troublesome product (laughs). I'm happy to have made something that unique in my life. Afterwards, the Gojulas the Ogre was released (in December 2016).
Oka: When producing the Gojulas, it also puts the factory under pressure, so it seemed that we also had to stop producing plastic model lines that weren't HMM Zoids (laughs).
- Now It's Time To Make HMM Zoids
Watanabe: Is there anything else going on behind the scenes?
Oka: In terms of the most recent one, the Rev Raptor, which was announced at Stand River Battle on April 27th, 2019, it was originally planned to be released before the Wild Liger.
However, after that, there was talk of starting a new series for Zoids Wild, so we decided to release the Wild Liger first.
Takara Tomy did a lot of checking on this Wild Liger, and the face in particular had to be corrected twice. Thanks to this, the lines around the eyes are now instantly recognizable as Wild Liger.
Ashizawa: Of course, Takara Tomy had already checked our products in the past, but they were especially careful with the Wild Liger.
Kamei: The /ZERO products were selling well, so we decided to add the Dark Horn Harry Special to the lineup.
The Gun Sniper Leena Special's shopping basket also wasn't included at first, but because someone asked for it, we decided to add it.
Mercy Rabbit: Did you plan to release the Godos and Iguan from the time that you released the Pteras Bomber Jamie Version?
Gojuyana: At that time, we were producing only large Zoids, so we thought it'd be a good idea if we could produce several types of small-scale Zoids that shared some parts. I asked Katahira to design it that way.
Katahira: So I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to make the wings fit on the back of the Godos.
Corporal: When Gojuyana told me about this at the time, I remember saying "Frost Iguan, a modified Zoid from the old battle story, has Pteras Wings on an Iguan, so this is a great idea."
Watanabe: Corporal, what do you keep in mind when writing the text portion of the book?
Corporal: I try to explain everything in a way that might feel a little tedious, keeping in mind that people who buy HMM Zoids for the first time are very interested in them.
Oka: When we asked for the text for Godos, Gojuyana sent us two versions of the text, one as written by Corporal, and a slightly shaved down version, but we decided to use the first one because Corporal's text was so passionate and we could publish it without any space issues.
Watanabe: I have a question for you, Corporal, since you're quite knowledgeable about Zoids and are highly regarded by all those concerned, which Zoid would you like to see commercialized? By the way, I'd like to see the Liger Zero Caeser the King from Machine Beast New Century ZOIDS in HMM Form (laughs)!
Corporal: One thing that hasn't changed over the years is the original Geno Hydra from the Zoids Saga series. It's an unusual Zoid, as it's a Zoid of the Geno lineage, but also has a part swapping function.
Watanabe: Ashizawa's face seems to have clouded over (laughs).
- The Future of HMM
Watanabe: And finally, please tell us the outlook for HMM Zoids from now on!
Oka: HMM Zoid releases began in 2006 and the series has continued for 14 years up to 2020, so next year will be the 15th year, but I'd like to keep on going to 20 and then 25 years.
I've got blueprints in my head up to about 2030, so although there'll be some adjustments depending on the actual situation and designs, I'd like to continue. By the way, the popular Zoids in surveys are Death Saurer, Liger Zero X, König Wolf, Ultra Saurus and Rev Rapter, and out of these, Rev Rapter has been fortunate enough to get a kit announced just recently.
Mercy Rabbit: There aren't many other character-based plastic model series outside of Gunpla that have lasted for 14 years, so in that sense, it feels realistic to reach the 20th anniversary or have blueprints up to 2030.
Ashizawa: To be honest, the production side doesn't have nearly enough of an output, so if you're wondering if we can churn out all the designs Katahira-san has drawn for us, it's not that simple a product, and if we focused on speed, the fans would probably feel like they were being taken advantage of.
That means it necessarily takes quite a bit of time to create one design, which narrows down the amount we can release in a year.
Oka: It's a very high-calorie job, but it helps a lot that I'm supported by my love for Zoids.
Watanabe: Thank you for your valuable words, which let us feel the weight of 14 years of history!
- Profiles
- Oka Soushi
Joined Kotobukiya Radio Kaikan Store (closed) as a part-time worker, and after working as an opening staff member of the Akihabara building, he came to be in charge of the Kotobukiya Shop limited items and special offers, and developed the chrome Customize Parts sets and Armored Suit advancing campaigns, while also acting as a writer for the HMM Zoid's blog. He has taken over the 5th generation HMM Zoids projects, starting with the release of the Gojulas the Ogre.
Although he goes by the name "Gensui" on the HMM Zoids blog, he claims that he originally forgot to add a name when he first took over as the writer, and that it was what Kamei, who was in charge of HMM Zoids planning at the time, named him. It wasn't a self-proclaimed name.
- Kamei Takafumi
General Manager, Planning Division, Planning Department, Kotobukiya Corporation
Hes been involved in the planning of the HMM Zoids series since its inception. His main products include the Super Robot Taisen series, Gurren Lagann series, and more. It has already been 14 years since the release of the Shield Liger, which was unveiled at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in May 2006. Although he's now retired, he'd like to thank all of those involved, and the fans who supported them for the continuation of the project that they had launched.
The HMM Zoids series has had many stories to tell as we developed products, and after several minor changes, we've come to the present. Thank you for your continued support and patronage.
- Ashizawa Masaru
Prototype Team Leader, Development Group, Planning Division, Kotobukiya Corporation
Born on June 16th, 1982. His direct involvement with HMM Zoids began with the creation of additional armaments for the Dark Horn. Since then, he has worked on the Dibison, Gojulas, Death Stinger, etc., and has been involved in most of the prototypes and designs of Kotobukiya's Zoids products (including non-HMM Zoids), including direction work. His most recent product is the HMM Wild Liger. He was in charge of building the infrastructure for Kotobukiya to develop prototypes using 3D data, and he aims to incorporate this technology into HMM to make the HMM series more precise, cooler, and easier to assemble.
Our recent supreme mission is to nurture the next generation of young HMM creators. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
- Gojuyana
Belongs to a certain toy planning and development company
Born in Tachikawa, Tokyo in 1968. He graduated from Masushino Art University. Since he was a student, he went to Tsuya to work part-time in GK prototypes and printed materials. After he graduated, he got a job at a general company, but he couldn't stop thinking about the model industry, so he changed jobs, and participated as a founding member of the current company. In the Heisei Zoids period from 1999 onwards, he was contracted by Tomy to take charge of parts of the planning, designs, prototypes and so on. When the series was on-track, he was mainly involved in designing and mocking up colourings, and producing dioramas for events and the Battle Story. For the Zoids Core Box, he was in charge of editing the Zoids Bible, and afterwards became a discussion partner for new Tomy product projects as "someone who knew a lot about Zoids". (HMM Zoids were born during that process, and although he'd almost given up on the plan at one point, it made a miraculous revival through Kotobukiya and ended up becoming the longest-lived series he was involved in. He's truly thankful to everyone involved and all the fans.)
Representative Takara Tomy items: Gun Sniper (design), Liger wild form (design/prototype), Zoids Art Statues (planning/prototypes/direction), Bio Zoids (planning/design/prototypes), Zoids Neo-Blox (project development), Rebirth Century series (project development), etc.
Representative Kotobukiya items: HMM series (design direction), Hexa Gear series (draft collaboration, design direction), Zoids ZA series (design direction), etc.
- Fuchuhonmachi Gochou
Born March 5th, 1973. Freelance Writer.
Formerly a regular customer of Kotobukiya's Tachikawa store during the Daiichi Department Store era, he was recruited for his extensive knowledge and love of Zoids. After providing materials for several products and creating settings and flavor texts, he participated in the launch of Kotobukiya's new HMM brand. He has been in charge of supervising settings and worldviews from the Shield Liger to the present. He's now in charge of creating the full flavor text.
- Illustrator Profiles
- Yuji Kaida
Illustrator. Since his childhood, hes been familiar with Japan's unique culture of giant characters, and after debuting as an illustrator, he has consistently created numerous illustrations, mainly of Ultraman, Godzilla, Gundam and other characters, as well as for plastic models, video and music packages, card games, movie boosters, and more. His recent representative works include the Japanese domestic poster for "King Kong: God of Skull Island" and "Ready Player One."
- Masashi Katahira
Born in 1970 in Shizuoka Prefecture. Belongs to a certain toy planning and development company.
After working for a game company, he moved to the current company. Currently working in the design field. His representative works include mechanical designs for the anime "Super Express Hikarian". He uses the handle "Marukata" in his doujin works.
"I usually draw sketches for projects, so it's hard for me to draw pictures that people can see, but I'm both very happy and very embarrassed that people can see my work with HMMs. I remember that I also did the original designs for the old Zoids, such as the old Cannory Unit and the Large-Caliber Beam Cannon, so I was very happy to have the opportunity to refine them for HMM!"
- Kozi Nakakita
Born in 1971. Designer and illustrator. He mainly designs mechanics and creatures such as video works, games, and model toys. Major participating works include "Dancouga Nova - Super God Beast Armor", "Super Robot Wars: Original Generations", "Gatchaman Crowds", "infini-T Force", "infini-T Force Movie", Assault Lily, etc.
- Mercy Rabbit
Box art for Kotobukiya's HMM Zoids, Bandai Bamco's DCD Gundam Triage card illustrations, box art for the Riobot series, card illustrations for Bandai Namco's "OG Crusade", 2nd character design for Konami's "Armed Goddess Light Armor", design works for Kadokawa Media Works' "Zoids Generations", etc. He draws copyright pictures and designs of plastic models, cards, and games, focusing on illustrations of mecha and beautiful girls.
