As many of you already know, the HMM Green Horn is set to release at the end of the month, and one of Koto's stores has posted some new images of what the kit looks like out of the box! The look of the attack boosters fanned out looks quite dynamic, even for a Red Horn variant.

 HMMZ_Art, the account associated with Kotobukiya's Art of HMM art book, has announced that there will be a sequel to this amazing collection of Zoids art and lore! We don't know many details yet, but updates will continue to be posted on the account.

 Kotobukiya recently attended the 61st All Japan Hobby Show, where they showed off our first look at the HMM Salamander! The art was displayed in an intended life-size scale next to the HMM Gojulas, with staff estimating it to be around Iron Kong size. Zoikino was awesome enough to post a more in-depth look at this event, so please check them out.

 The HMM Redler Booster Cannon is officially up for pre-order! This adorable little dragon is scheduled to release in February of 2024, for 8,030 yen. As we learned earlier, it'll also come with the clear colorless parts needed to paint them special colors!

 The HMM Konig Wolf released over the last couple of months, sporting some of the best articulation we've seen in years among traditional Zoids! Hobby Japan published an article looking at this amazing kit I'm not biased you're biased. Kotobukiya Akihabara store has a display featuring the default wolf and the Heavy Arms version, and also posted a Heavy Arms photo shoot. A LABO article shows off even more photos.

 The HMM Geno Saurer was also announced to be rereleased in February 2024.

 Last night Kotobukiya hosted a live stream where they built an HMM König Wolf. A straight build, with no trimming of parts, was accomplished in just two and a half hours! We're seeing a big simplification of parts in newer Kotobukiya designs. Different people have different views on this, but personally, I love this. I haven't had the time to build HMMs in a long, long while. The idea of being able to build the HMM Wuf in a day, without having to spend literally all day doing it, is so exciting. This will also be a blessing for customs.

- Build Stream

 Kotobukiya posted a new LABO article that finally introduces the unpainted samples for the Redler Guylos Ver. This includes box art, waterslide images and applied examples, box art concept sketch, and more. In this blog we also got to see a beautiful clear view of the upcoming Redler BC. Many people wondered why the Redler didn't already come with clear colorless parts, and Koto has answered this question: Prices have been on the rise due to manufacturing demands and limitations, and including these parts would've made the Redler even more expensive. The upcoming Redler BC, which'll be a Koto Direct exclusive, will contain these clear colorless parts, as well as be packaged with the Booster Cannon set. The decals will be the same as the Redler Guylos Ver. + Booster Cannon CP.

 The blog also introduces the first online (official) look at the HMM König Wolf box art. We saw pictures of this on Twitter when it was shown at the physical Stand River venue, but this is our clearest look thus far! Wolf is right around the corner, releasing around July 29th.

 During the stream, Kotobukiya announced the upcoming Red Horn Marking Plus! This was an interesting choice, because Red Horn was released as recently as 2020 with a box art and design that have both stood well against the test of time. It seems that the Marking Plus will also be including a brand new sprue, which'll contain the Search Light parts for the head seen in Dark Horn variants. Normally these are part of a much larger sprue, but Koto decided to make a tiny 4-part sprue just for these to better match Katahira's gorgeous concept art (seen in the banner above.) This is a lovely shout out to one of their contributing artists.

 There's a number of other kit rereleases that've been announced through various sources over the past while. Here's what we've got coming up!

 October: HMM Sturm Tyrann (13,500 yen)
 November: HMM Buster Tortoise (4,800 yen)
 December: HMM Saber Tiger Marking Plus Ver. (7,200 yen)
 Firm Release Not Decided: HMM Gojulas Marking Plus Ver.

 The various Kotobukiya twitters have been posting this set of photos showing off what the HMM König Wolf is going to look like out of the box! With white-armor Zoids you're always battling a negation of details as armor lines disappear against the stark white armor, but the extra darker divits in the wolf armor goes a long way to break it up compared to its Tomy brethren.

 When Stand River was hosted I was, unfortunately, rather busy handling things offline. There were a few new kits announced though, and the first one we'll be mentioning is the HMM Guysack!

 This kit was announced to have a Normal version and a Heavy Armor version. Many of us grew up with the Zoids anime series, so to us, the most recognizable Guysack is the Heavy Armor version, which will feature additional tail armaments including additional weapons, radar, and a gun seat, as well as featuring an angular cockpit and tanks on the sides of the body. This will likely reuse the same whitehead style cockpits already established in the Godos variants. The Normal Type featured in the battlestory used the more rounded cockpit, simpler tail equipment, and what looks to be an additional cylinder/gun/missile on the sides.

 While fans of the series had many ideas about what might be announced or revealed at Stand River, nobody was expecting this one! Kotobukiya announced its intentions of making and HMM Salamander, an absolute monster of a flying-type Zoid with a huge wingspan. Though we don't have any pictures of this kit or its overall design yet, the Salamander is already packed with details, so we're looking forward to seeing what liberties they take with its design. Hopefully it has better luck than the MSS Salamander!

 Kotobukiya has announced an upcoming HMM Redler BC, which will be packaged with the Booster Cannon CP! When the HMM Redler variants released, a lot of people turned a curious glance to the lack of clear colorless parts, which have become a standard of most Kotobukiya releases. Well, now we know why! This combined variant will include the clear colorless parts people have been hoping for. This kit will be a Kotobukiya Shop exclusive.

 After the initial release of the HMM Gojulas, the next release was the Ogre, followed by the Gunner. The original Gojulas itself, however, never actually received a rerelease. Kotobukiya has announced that they'll be rereleasing the limited Gojulas Marking Plus Version!

 The HMM Green Horn pre-orders are well underway, with the model kit expected to release in October of this year for 12,000 yen (13,200 with tax.) The kit is estimated to have 400 ~ 600 pieces, and will include new frill pieces and the new updated version of the Attack Boosters (which will be releasing as a separate CP as well, scheduled for October at 2,400 yen.)

 In addition, Kotobukiya posted a LABO Article going over this kit. For those who aren't aware, the Attack Boosters are based on the Delusional War Record (web comic) appearance, where the Horn was equipped with Attack Boosters as an equipment test. "Wouldn't boosters be useless on a Horn?" Not if you need a durable Zoid to make sure they don't blow up first! The blog points out the Anti-Charged Particle Shield Generators that replace the frill pieces, the additional tail parts, the new composite sensor on the back, and the variety of connection points that the Attack Boosters use.

 During their discussion of the Attack Boosters, they mention that there were two reasons for remaking this equipment. One was to introduce additional connection points, allowing them to be installed to more than just the Blade Liger. The second was to remove the seam lines in the top of the booster cover, while also redesigning the internal mechanisms. In doing so, they reduced the restrictions on how much the part could move and reduced the risk of parts breaking. The boosters can open wider and have additional movement points (diagonal or horizontal deployment). Both the AB and the Green Horn AB will come with clear colorless parts in addition to the clear colored pieces.

 Several new reissues have been announced! These include the Saber Tiger Marking Plus Ver. (December / 7,200 yen), the Buster Tortoise (November / 4,800 yen), and Sturm Tyrann (October / 13,500 yen).

 As an aside, Kotobukiya has posted a notice addressing what a lot of people have been noticing as of late, a significant increase in prices. It's quite obvious what lead to these price increases, but to summarize, a rise in the price of crude oils, infection preventative measures taken in their manufacturing bases in China affecting material supply, and the rapid depreciation of the Yen have all made it far more costly to procure everything needed to output a finished product. Kotobukiya has thus had no choice but to significantly raise the prices of products, starting with their own original IP products being released in July. Hopefully matters will calm down in the future~!

 There's a lot going on this year, and as usual, Mercy Rabbit is enthusiastic about the developments, sharing various works from over the years! Here is a closeup of the Shield Liger Bang HMM art, showing the pilots. There's another showing Irvine from the Command Wolf Irvine box. The classic Murasame Liger art has also been reshared in celebration of the AZ-03 Murasame Liger.

 Throughout the 40th Anniversary Project Animareal has been involved in creating dynamic promotional images to spark the imaginations of fans. Modeler SigemikanZ on Twitter has been sharing quite a few photos of the custom model kits that go into creating these images! As well as others.

 40th Anniversary Key Visual & Logo: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Blade Liger: Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Liger Zero: Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Murasame Liger: Link | Link | Link
 Additional Customs: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link | Link

 Kotobukiya has released the product page for the Kotobukiya Shop Exclusive Rev Raptor Night Patrol, which is scheduled to release in September for 7,800 yen! It'll include some clear colorless parts in addition to the clear green. The decals for this kit are the same as the Rev Raptor + Pile Bunker unit.

 For those wondering about the price, this kit will include both a basic plastic cast gold Pile Bunker as well as a gold-chromed version, based on the old motorized version of this kit released. The price is the same as Raven Raptor + Pile Bunker~ This was truly an unexpected variant, but a welcome one. Pre-orders are already opening, and western fans can pre-order through places like USA Gundam Store, which will receive the kits a bit later, but allow you to order these exclusives without the need of a proxy.

 Kotobukiya's notes from the product page also wish to remind people that chroming will make parts thicker. In other words, be sure that you carefully trim the chrome off of pegs when assembling this kit, to avoid parts not wanting to go together or snapped pegs.

 The HMM Redler Zenebas Empire Ver. has just been released in Japan. The Guylos Empire Ver. is scheduled to release next month for 5,800 yen, so let's go over some of the posts covering these kits over the last few months. There was a livestream for building the Zenebas version which also showed off the Guylos Version box art. There's also some out-of-the-box photos. A post by Mercy Rabbit over on Twitter discusses thoughts on the box art concept. A recent LABO article also discusses the model kit.

 Kotobukiy has announced the upcoming release of the HMM Rev Raptor Night Patrol! This was a limited kit from the old Tomy motorized line, and featured a black and purple Rev Raptor with a gold-plated Pile Bunker. The kit was discussed near the end of the Redler Assembly Stream as well as at the end of the recent LABO blog, with pre-orders planned to open soon!