This week we have some non-anime concept art! Starting with the Bazootle sketches, the Genospino sketches, and some Pachycedos sketches. As a fascinating last note, Shinohba, who worked on the old Zoids web comics, posted two concepts of the Quad Liger, one of which we have seen photos of before. These are beautiful, clear images of this Zoid's design process. Quad LIger can always use some more love!

- Zoids Wild Zero Concepts

 When you move on to Wild Zero concept art, there is a heaping ton of it. So let's begin! Fortress City Mosaic, Brigadier General Seeger, General Garrett, Lapis Island, Genospino Restoration Site, Imperial Army Weapons, Abandoned Town at the bottom of the cliffs (sky view), Sniptera Cockpit, Brigadier General Collins, Frank Land, On-board the Science Ship, Leo's All-purpose Armament, Baan, Diaz, Jo Aysel, Lieutenant Knox, Beast Liger Cockpit, Imperial Army Training Area, and finally, the Genospino Cockpit.

 Zoids Wild 2 has released its first book! You can buy this on Amazon for 662 yen. There have also been a couple of teaser pages released on twitter.

 Zoids Wild BCH has released its 5th expansion, with all new variants, including Beast Ligers based on the Murasame evolts! There are also a ton of images posted to twitter. Let's cover as many as we can. WR Beast Liger ABU, CoroCoro Genospino, Beast Liger ABU, Hunter Wolf Sylpheed, Cannon Bull, Rising Liger, Genospino, and Gatling Fox, Blade Liger Gibeon, Blade Liger Zeolite, Fangtiger Schwarz, Sniptera BRU, WR Wild Liger Thunder Lion Form, WR Death Rex Magnum, SP Genospino, Death Rex Buster Magnum, Beast Liger Zero ABU, Command Liger Woodland, WR Command Liger Woodland, Rising Liger Mugen and Blade Liger Gold, Gatling Fox, and Sniptera Storm.

 Aside from the card images, they have also posted the artwork for the secret rares Sniptera and Cannon Bull! While not necessarily news for BCH, Zoids will also be releasing a Beast Liger card as part of a collaboration with Duel Masters.

 A recent article from Startt featured an interview with Hazuki Senda, the voice actress of Sally Land in Zoids Wild Zero. She was attending an event in Tokyo at the time, and discussed her childhood enthusiasm for the franchise, etc. You can read the article here~

 The Zoids Official twitter has posted a few of the profiles that air at the end of each episode of Zoids Wild Zero. So far they have posted the Gatling Fox, the Beast Liger, and the Stylaser.

- 500th Issue Anniversary Geno Spino!

    In celebration for reaching their 500th issue, the December issue of CoroCoro will contain a massive raffle. A grand total of 1,000 winners will be selected to receive a variety of prizes, from different series that are covered by CoroCoro. Although we don't yet have an official name, one of these Zoids has been teased on CoroCoro's announcement. A Geno Spino with bright red armor.

- ZW33 Geno Spino!

    Geno Spino has popped up on the TakaraTomy Mall! The kit is scheduled to be released on November 16th for 7,700 yen retail, though you can find better prices ordering through the typical stores. Dengeki Hobby Online posted an article containing some additional pictures of it and the Gatling Fox. TT posted a Twitter video of the Wild Blast. CoroCoro has posted an early build video as well as their typical build/review video, seen below.



    CoroCoro posted a picture from the November issue, showing off the Geno Spino page. It seems this Zoid is being treated as a true swimmer! It'll be a cool new take on a bad guy Zoid. While some (Death Stinger, etc.) have traveled in the water in the past, it was hardly exemplified to be a notable gimmick of theirs. The November issue also included a 3D Art Box (seen in the same link), which they posted a video of here.

- ZW34 Gatling Fox!

    Gatling Fox is up on the TakaraTomy Mall! You can view the box art and images. It's scheduled for a November 23rd release, for 3,850 through their shop. Dengeki Hobby Online posted an article containing some additional pictures of the Gatling Fox as well as the geno. TT posted a Twitter video of the Wild Blast. CoroCoro/TT have posted mirrors of the same standard build/review video, but the TT version (seen below) includes weapon customization examples.

- Beast Liger Limited All Clear Ver.!

    CoroCoro has posted an article on their upcoming all clear Beast Liger kit. As usual, there are 100 being released through the November issue of CoroCoro. They also posted a video (seen below) showing it off in a diorama format! The builder shows how he made the giant ice sculptures behind it.

    The internet has been flooded with images of Zoids Wild kits from Hasbro. Fans have been waiting for this for a long time, and a lot has developed in the last few days. Where is this leak from, and what do we know? We'll go over everything below.




    We first learned about Hasbro's handling of Zoids Wild at Mipcom. We saw a brand new logo, which matches these boxes. The tag line was "Build Them To Life!", which has been changed to "Build Them To Battle". We also recently heard from TakaraTomy's 2019 financial report that they planned to see Zoids Wild aired on tv and toys distributed in the UK and US markets during fiscal 2019, which in Japan lasts until the end of March. So, this leak was released at a good moment to fit in with our current timeline.

    It originally surfaced from In Demand Toys on Facebook, a shop in the UK that sells a variety of products. They responded to inquiries about the source, answering that the images came from Hasbro itself. This likely means a mass dispatched catalog sent out to stores and distributors.


    What do we know about the toys themselves? Well, to start with, they'll be in plastic packaging with a small window, showing viewers that the kits come pre cut, with no hassle or sharp tools needed. The toys will also have some minor differences from the Japanese release.

    The first and most minor is that the bodies of the model kits appear to be split into two different colors. Black and a faint brown. The clear caps also seem to have different colors, shades, and transparencies from their overseas counterpart.

    Second, out of the five different kits we saw this week, two had significant mold changes. The most notable is the Gannontoise, which is a complete overhaul. Some fans have theorized this is due to the strict regulations of how gun toys must look in the US, but at this time that is only conjecture. We've color coded the changes below.

    Gannontoise Changes: See Image
    - Hinge joint on neck is changed (blue)
    - Gun barrel is changed (purple)
    - Gun attachment is changed (pink)
    - Back cover now attaches using a large hinge on the lower back (orange)
    - Spine no longer opens up with back shell (yellow)
    - Attachment for side armor is changed, may or may not still open up (green)
    - Caps have become a more solid color (cyan)

    Spideath Changes: See Image
    - Back armor plate now covers entire abdomen
    - This covers the black body underneath (red)
    - It also fuses the detail plate on the top (pink)
    - A weapon peg has been removed from both sides (green)
    - The caps have been changed to a less transparent purple (orange)

    These changes are hit or miss, and not all fans are happy. Especially those who have been waiting for Wild to come overseas so that they could buy the same kits without paying international shipping fees. On the other hand, people who want both versions will be happier knowing that they will have some differences between them.

    Aside from that, the renewed boxes are excellent. The amazingly detailed artwork will draw immediate attention to these toys, along with their crisp packaging design. It's a huge step up from what Hasbro has offered in the past. Even if some names are uh. Interesting.

    - Gannontoise --> Tanks
    - Gilraptor --> Ruin
    - Kuwaga --> Pincers
    - Raptor --> Rapterrix
    - Scorpear --> Needle
    - Spideath --> Phobia

    Perhaps most hyped about this announcement is the appearance of small pilot figures to ride on the Zoids. Though these are not 100% confirmed, they are present on the unpainted, unfinished product photos, which strongly implies that they'll be a part of the kit. Fans have wanted the individual pilots since Wild began, and if they are present, it's a big difference between domestic and international releases.

    It's important to remember that these aren't likely marketing product photos. They've not been painted or touched up, and some details may change between now and their final release.

    Zoids Wild: Battle Card Hunter will be holding its first "Great Treasure Excavation Competition" event! During this event you'll be able to find hidden excavation points, where you'll obtain an application ticket for the battle. Each ticket will have a unique number where participants can enter the code at the bottom of the campaign page. At the end of the event, the winners will be announced!

    150 lucky winners will receive the Wild Liger Crystal, a limited kit cast entirely in clear plastic. 1,000 other winners will receive the Assault Boost Unit Clear Ver., also cast in clear plastic. There will also be limited time cards of the campaign Zoids found during this period. We've not yet seen what these look like, but they'll probably feature the beautiful cover art.

    Although this is somewhat old news, TakaraTomy recently posted their Annual Report 2019, which had some interesting bits of information regarding Zoids. We're going to include all of the relevant info below.

    Zoids Battle Card Hunter has added a new set! This time they've differentiated it as a new 'series' of sets, so we'll see what it beholds. You can view the current lineup on the official website. So far, the legendaries remain Blade Ligers.

- Wild Liger Crystal!

    TakaraTomy Arts has uploaded a commercial for the new arcade game set. Most interesting, it includes a Wild Liger Crystal, which will be obtainable by redeeming part of the Beast Liger card as a lottery ticket. There doesn't seem to be an official campaign page yet, but it should be coming up soon.

    Battle Card Hunter has a series of new cards, both limited and otherwise. We mentioned this before, but a special Beast Liger M was available at McDonalds when buying the Happy Set All-Star Water on August 31st ~ September 1st. This set also included a limited DVD with a number of series on it, but we don't yet know what was on this. Probably advertisements. TT posted a custom painted model to advertise the card.

The Fang Tiger White Tiger Form limited card has also been retired, and replaced with the Hunter Wolf Flame Wolf. Similar to the prior card it has a foil embossed flame effect, allowing the fire to shift colors depending on the angle. This card became available on September 5th, with only 10 cards available from each machine.

There's also a new campaign starting from September 19th, where users will be able to encounter the Death Rex Death Metal Ver. As a final note, the Death Rex Buster, a Zoid first seen as a custom model in Zoids Wild Battle Wars (a CoroCoro diorama battle story, which never got off the ground) has joined the game. Like normal BCH Zoids, it has a N, R, SR, and WR card. You can view them all on the main site.

    TakaraTomy has posted a new PV for Zoids Wild Zero! This video was originally shown at the C3AFA Tokyo event, where photography was not allowed. Now that it's posted online there's so much to take in! We see a lot of new colored Zoids or those with weapon customizations. Cockpits appear to materialize around pilots, with a much more complex user interface. We see two logos for the Republic and the Empire. The animation is amazingly detailed in all regards, and all in all, it's shaping up to be an excellent series!

- Preview Video

- Discussion

    So, with the trailer having so much interesting content, I thought it'd be fun to take a closer look at it. Everything in this discussion section is pure speculation. I've got no insider info, it's just random stuff observed while rewatching the trailer!


    As we enter the trailer we see a lot of beautiful background art. Some of the shots stand out as a prestine urban environment with carefully groomed grass, well kept streets, and a skyline made of glass. Yet, as you look to the background of Image 1, we see a devastated ruin environment. The city facing away from it. This ruin zone seems to be heavily policed by Zoids of the Empire.



    This ruin environment isn't just inhabited by the Empire, however. It seems skeletal Zoids, lacking in armor also roam the streets, exhibiting extreme aggression towards humans. This may very well be because of their tension with the Imperial army Zoids, but the animation for them is excellent. Even the raptor in the background seems to shy away, reluctant to attack as its allies get gunned down. We can certainly hope to see more of this in the show, with an animation style that seems to imply an overall budget increase for this second series. Furthermore, what is this green substance that seems to glow from inside the Zoids?



    We know from earlier interviews that the series will consist of two major groups, a Republic and an Empire. This power balance echoes earlier series, and the character designs definitely echoe a civilian Vs. Empire mind set. We catch a glimpse of their logo on the pilot interface, as well as an obscured shot of the Republic's logo behind the Republican Army text.



    In an interesting turn of events it seems as if pilots of the Empire, at least, link up to their Zoids to activate the Machine Blast. Not only do we see a suit diagram, but two large screws on the back of Luc's suit appearing to bolt in a cable that likely links to the Zoid. Upon the activation of the Machine Blast, the visor that covers the Zoid's natural eyes generates a glitchy graphic and the ability activates.



    This link setup seems to be absent for Leo, who pilots the Beast Liger. While he's left with basic controls, it seems that cockpits for both Zoids (regardless of alliance) are forged of energy and appear to generate around the pilot once the interface is activated. This open air look will provide a lot more immersion for the pilots.



    Last but not least, it's apparent through most of the trailer that Leo is piloting a customized Liger, featuring two large tanks on its back. How does this relate to the Beast Liger he's piloting later in the episode? Does it perhaps "evolt"? Is it a full customization? And why is Leo out in the ruin zone to begin with?


    There are a lot of things to look forward to with Zoids Wild Zero, and many unanswered questions. The environment looks interesting and engaging, especially to old time fans who often like these opposing environments. The Zoids are well animated, and post processing has taken a big step to better blend them with a dynamic environment. The character art is so reminescent of older series, and while I found the character designs underwhelming to begin with, this trailer makes them really grow on you. It's exciting to watch. Perhaps I'm way overhyping a simple trailer, but there are a lot of things for us older fans to love about this, and I hope people don't mind the long ramble here on the news page!

    Once again, the series is scheduled to start airing on October 4th! Let's look forward to seeing this exciting new development for the Zoids franchise!

    TakaraTomy hosted a booth at the recent C3AFATokyo (Anime Festival Asia) event, announcing some new details about Zoids Wild Zero! This upcoming anime had several subsequent articles from various sources that were posted around the same time. The booth itself hosted an impressive Beast Liger 3-dimensional display, where users could view the Zoid going through some of its animations. Thanks to Vig for capturing this video!

The booth also had a BCH machine near by, and gave out event-limited Hunter Wolf cards along with cooling pads, to help battle the hot weather. Several staff and voice actors were announced, which we'll list below.

    The series was announced to begin broadcast on October 4th, at 5:55 pm (JST) on TV Tokyo.

- Staff

    There are some big names returning to the franchise, including the director, lead writer, and character designer from Chaotic Century and New Century /Zero. The character design in particular is notably the "Zoids" outfit style, and it's nostalgic to see so many familiar faces after such a long time.

    Director: Takao Kato (Director of Chaotic Century & New Century /Zero)
    Character Designer: Tadashi Sakatsuki (Character designer of Chaotic Century and New Century /Zero)
    Lead Writer: Kenichi Araki (Lead writer of Chaotic Century and New Century /Zero)
    Acoustic Director: Yuki Matsuoka (Zoids Wild and Wild Zero)
    Music: By Yoshihisa Hirano

    One of the most notable names dropped is Takao Kato, who is returning as the director. Takao was also the director of Zoids Chaotic Century and New Century /Zero. Character designer Tadashi Sakatsuki and lead writer Kenichi Araki will also be returning, having worked on the two earlier series as well.

- Voice Actors

    A list of voice actors was noted in articles and event information, with a list below. An article from Natalie notes that the lead VA, playing the part of Leo, also watched Zoids back in elementary school. They never dreamed that after 20 years they'd be playing the lead role in the new series.

    Leo Conrad: (Beast Liger Pilot) Played by Naoki Minamo
    Sally Land: Played by Hazuki Chida
    Buzz Cunningham: Played by Makoto Homura (Also Deed in Fuzors)
    Jo Aysel: (Raptoria Pilot) Played by Yoko Hikasa
    Christopher Giller: Played by Toshiki Masuda

- Teasers

    Dengeki Hobby Online posted an article during the event showing off some brand new screen shots! This even shows a new version of Beast Liger, which shares simularities to the underwater variant shown in the booklet, with some key differences in the leg armor design. The background art, from what little we can see seems to be a big improvement, with post processing effects really bringing out the dynamic action shots that we've seen.

    While the Anime Site technically opened a short while ago, they officially launched during the event. A new story page was added, giving some fascinating looks at earlier lore! It's very possible that Wild Zero will pick up on the Concept Art Book lore. Falcarius was kind enough to provide the translation below.

    "Zoids are metal lifeforms with the will to fight, which live on the far side of the galaxy. With their planet coming to its end, mankind aimed for Earth as a second home, but due to runaway Zoid Factors and an unforeseen time warp, Zoids suddenly appeared on 21st century Earth. Earth was temporarily devastated by repeated tectonic shifts and destruction from the Zoids.

    "Leo excavates the Beast Liger, and with it as his partner, he sets out on an adventure with a girl called Sally that will affect the future of Earth."

    Starting on August 29th, the Awakened Fang Tiger Saber will be appearing as a limited time boss in Battle Card Hunter! The BCH twitter has also posted the Blade Liger Secret Rare card, which features Blade Liger fighting against the Geno Breaker in the style of the Concept Art Books.

    Zoids Wild has posted two of its big weapon sets online! The ZW30 and ZW31 designation numbers are reserved for these two different sets, but it doesn't end there. Zoids Official has been subtly teasing us with photos of Wild customs, which have weapons that'll be featured in future releases, either through sets or promotional products. Two mentioned here are the Long Assault Cannon and the Mega Lance.

    The versitility of these weapons is excellent. They all have pegs and holes that allow them to be combined, stacked, etc. There's truly no limit to what they can be used for.

- ZW30 Assault Boost Unit

    ZW30, the Assault Boost Unit is the first officially designated weapons set released for Zoids Wild. It is scheduled for an October 5th release, for a price of 972 yen. The set features several weapons that were originally modeled on the Beast Liger and see in the September issue of CoroCoro.

    ZW30 Assault Boost Unit: Image reference
    A-Z Anti-Aircraft 4 Barrel Cannon x1 (bottom left)
    A-Z Impact Cannon x2 (upper left)
    All Weather High Power Booster x2 (bottom right)
    Ultra Electromagnetic Blade x2 (upper right)

    Now, I'd be remiss not to point out that we saw leaked silhouettes of ZW30 much earlier through a youtube video that has since been removed. The AZ 2-Barrel Cannon (upper right) was moved to the ZW31 Buster Radar Unit, and the chain saw was removed. The large cannon also appears to have some differences, if it is the same weapon. These were replaced with 2 additional weapons, perhaps because they fit well together. We do see a chainsaw on the Gilraptor custom (linked above) but the design is different.

- ZW31 Buster Radar Unit

    ZW30 is immediately followed by ZW31, the Buster Radar Unit. It has the same release date (October 5th) and price (972 yen), and was first seen modeled on the Sniptera in CoroCoro's September issue. This set has a surprisingly larger part count for being the same cost, with 11 equipment items compared to ZW30's 7 count. It also includes 2 articulated arms, which will be amazingly useful for customizing. It gives weapons free movement similar to the claws of the Geno Breaker.

    ZW31 BUster Radar Unit: Image reference
    A-Z 2-Barrel Cannon x2 (upper right)
    A-Z 3-Barrel Cannon x2 (lower left)
    A-Z 10-Shot Maneuver Missile x2 (center)
    A-Z Anti-Aircraft Gun x2 (upper left)
    Extensive Radome (disc)
    Flexible Arm x2 (bottom)

    CoroCoro has posted a build video of the Sniptera! This includes the build of the model kit as well as a full review of its motorized features, from start to finish. The video confirms a long hoped ambition from fans that the Sniptera would be our first pteranodon to feature actual wing walking. This motorized gimmick is very clever, using the wheels on the side to simulate natural movement. While those same wheels look a little odd in flight mode, the actual animation of how the wings and body move are superb.

    In celebration of Zoids Wild 2, which came out in the September issue, CoroCoro is posting the Japanese pages for Zoids Wild Volume 1 and 2 online! These are from the previous manga, and currently only up to chapter 3 has been published beforehand. Now you can view up to chapter 8! I highly recommend checking it out even if you don't know Japanese, because some of the Zoids art is awesome.

Chapters:
    - Chapter 1
    - Chapter 2
    - Chapter 3
    - Chapter 4
    - Chapter 5
    - Chapter 6
    - Chapter 7
    - Chapter 8

    We've added a new section under Games for Zoids Wild: Battle Card Hunter. This area isn't entirely up to date, and doesn't include everything we hope to do with it yet. For now it includes a section for Set 1 & 2, with checklists of the ones I've personally collected (sorry for the obnoxious grayed out images.) There's also a page for special armors and products related to the game.

    Finally, after eons, our first Zoids Wild kit review! I've not been keeping up with reviews in quite some time, but am working on getting back into it with the newer kits. Unlike earlier reviews, the Wild reviews will be split into several pages, with easy navigation at the top and bottom of the page. The page will default to an info page, which includes the official TT information, build video, etc. Reviews (detailing kit opinions) will be on their own page, and so will instructions. Instructions are separated a bit differently; instead of chronological order they're in categories, so that you can find the exact page that you need easier.

    The final page is a Modify page. Here I'll be posting various part combinations, such as swapping around different armor colors, swapped weapon examples, etc. Right now it includes a basic guide on swapping out the middle claw part of the Wild Liger's backpack, so that it matches the swapped parts. Later I'd like to include other basic info, such as which kits share similar parts (and this armor placement).

    Before we ever saw the teaser on Zoids Wild Zero, we knew another manga series was about to begin. Information before now introduced us to the main character, Kai, and the rest of the cast. It's clear that Wild 2 will contain an entirely separate set of characters from Wild Zero, and that's all the better! Two unique storylines, running at the same time. CoroCoro posted an introductory article, announcing that the manga will begin in the September Issue (released this month.) The Zoids Official twitter has posted a couple of teaser pages and the artist posted some others, all of which were seen in the August issue of CoroCoro Comic.

- Chapter 1 Free Online!

    CoroCoro has also posted Chapter 1 online, available for free viewing! This introduces us to the main character, a young boy named Kai, and how he meets his partner: The Beast Liger! Falcarius has provided a character list for Chapter 1.

    Zoids Command Force: a Zoid crime countermeasure organisation, uses Raptorias as mooks

    Juuki Kai: the new protagonist, a ZCF maintenance worker with a multipurpose robot "Z-Arm" and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Zoids

    Juuki Shuuza: Kai's older brother and ZCF's number-1 ace "Beast Knight"

    Davis Miles: ZCF's governor-general

    Red Cerberus: a Zoid terrorist group wanted globally, uses weaponised Zoids such as Bazootle

    Preddy Rhapsody: a Red Cerberus member who rides a Cannon Bull

- Official Teaser