In the recent RMZ preview videos, we learned that Trinity Liger is actually the next RMZ after the previously-announced Saber Tiger Schwarz! This is really exciting, as while we knew of the Trinity's potential in this series from the announcement silhouettes, there are tons of anime Zoids that could've been made before it. It's nice to see video game Zoids being given some priority to run alongside the anime kits, instead of waiting. What we see from the preview looks great, but check out the RMZ Helcat and Molga videos below for a full view of this image.

 The Command Wolf Irvine will be following on the heels of Trinity Liger, introducing an iconic anime Zoid! Irvine's Command Wolf always had a degree of respect as a combat Zoid in the original anime, especially compared to later wolves, and if any wolf would look good with the bulkier RMZ design, it's this one. Like the Trinity Liger, this teaser is from the end of the Helcat and Molga videos.

 The RMZ Helcat now has an official page on TakaraTomy's RMZ website. As usual, this shows off tons of images of the kit, which is expected to release in late April 2025 for 2,970 yen (roughly $21). We also now know that the Helcat will come with an action stand for different poses. The stand appears to have two connector types and three different pole lengths for more dramatic posing.

 The page also shows off a concept art image that contains several interesting details. We see in the concept art that it had a new type of gun mount, but it seems that the team was able to secure this range of motion even with the traditional design, which looks nicer imo. On top of that, the concepts show what the Helcat would look like if it were equipped with boosters from the Gun Sniper. It seems the gun mount still has two pegs on the sides, so if we ever get a Gun Sniper, it might be possible to recreate this concept.

- Preview Video

 There's also an official page for the RMZ-005 Molga! Tons and tons of images of the kit as well as some concept art showing off the missiles and cockpit. Among the various articulated parts, I was particularly happy to see that the gatling guns on the head are attached to an armor piece that can rotate up and down, making this weapon less of an ankle biting height. While the Molga includes a slot for one, it actually doesn't come with the action stand. You'll need to buy the Helcat if you want a stand for the Molga. This kit is scheduled to be released in late April 2025 for 2,750 yen (roughly $19).

- Preview Video

 The Synergenex collabs Spider Zoids Spider-Man Special and Spider Zoids Black Spider-Man Special are hitting stores, so check your favorite shops of choice! They now have their own pages on TT's website, showing off both the action figure and the Zoid kit. Both kits are scheduled for late April for 4,400 yen (each, roughly $31).

 Just before Synergenex's main announcement, Takara Tomy also announced a Spider-man x Zoids collab! This caught the interest of older fans who remember the Spider-man and Zoids comics from back in the day. Though these comics weren't quite what we think of as a collaboration today (the two series were separate, but printed in the same magazine) it's still a name that rings nostalgic with many fans. Both kits were shown off at the Tokyo Toy Show.

 Now we're getting a genuine collaboration, featuring two Spideath recolors: Spiderman Special, colored in Spider-Man's classic red and blue, complete with the webbing design of the suit, and Black Spider-Man Special, featuring black, white, and blue coloring. The kits also come with miniature articulated Spider-Man figures, which is just such a fun addition. Especially for kids who only got into the Zoids franchise during the Wild launch. Both kits are slated for a September 2024 pre-order and a post by media outlet The River JP shows off some art for the collab!

 Zoids Official posted a teaser image of the next new Zoid in the Advanced Zi series, the Geno Saurer! I'm excited to see how the proportions of this kit shake out, especially with seeing how high the AZ Death Saurer is able to stand compared to its normal posture. For now, many fans are wondering if it'll be the normal purple or the red Raven version, but given the reference (teaser on the left, anime screenshot on the right) I'm guessing we'll be starting with the classic purple.

 We have a new Review video for the AZ-01EX Blade Liger Leon Toros version! This is a painted sample painted over the blue AZ Bladey, but still highlights the lovely color seaparation that we can expect from this kit, with two tones of red. As a reminder, this is a Takara Tomy Mall exclusive, so you'll need a proxy service like Rabbit Japan to order. It's scheduled to be released in February 2025 for 11,000 Yen (roughly $76).

- Review Video

 At the end of the recently-released RMZ-003 Command Wolf preview video (see below) TT showed off concept art for the 6th installation of the RMZ line, the RMZ-006 Saber Tiger Schwarz Special! This kit follows RMZ-004 Helcat / Hell Cat and RMZ-005 Molga. More than that, it's our first look at the Saber Tiger platform within the RMZ line. We'd seen silhouettes of what appeared to be the normal Saber Tiger and Great Sabre when the line was first announced, so it's a surprise to get this anime-specific kit jumping the line. Surely welcome, though, as there are lots of anime variants we'd all love to see!

 The RMZ-003 Command Wolf page is now live on the official website! Get a glimpse at some concept art and a ton of images showing off the kit's overall articulation. I really love how tough this kit looks compared to regular Command Wolves. It's scheduled to release in March 2025 for 3,800 Yen (tax included, about $26). We've received a couple of videos showing off the articulation as well.

- Review Video

- Preview Video

 We've now got box art for the RMZ-001 Blade Liger and the RMZ-002 Geno Saurer! This is actually the first RMZ box art we're getting to see, and it sets the standard for what we can expect going forward. A gritty, semi-realism style in the same tone as the recent Monster Hunter collabs. We also got to see a post from the store account of Vivion Blue, showing off a size comparison between the RMZ Geno Saurer and its HMM counterpart.

 An interview with Katayama, one of the lead developers in the Zoids franchise discussed the new RMZ kits. Some key points of the interview include:

• The RMZ line was designed with the idea of being easy-to-collect and assemble kits with a high degree of articulation. They were also conscious of time economy, a common issue for model kit collectors, and wanted to design products that you'd get more mileage out of in that regard.
  
  
• Katayama expressed how he'd like to someday, if possible, be able to release larger figures to anime scale. It's a fun idea.
  
  
• He teased that they're working on something else that'll surprise people, though I'm not sure if that something was any of the stuff thats been revealed since July.
  
  
• He reiterated their desire to eventually be able to line up different scale Zoids in the RMZ series, such as the 1/35 Zoids Wild Series and 1/24 Zoids. These would all be introduced in 1/100 scale, allowing you to see the real size difference between them.

- Interview Video

 Zoids Official has posted a colored preview of the upcoming RMZ-004 Helcat and RMZ-005 Molga kits! This highlights a lot of detail. The Helcat has taken on a more aggressive looking helmet design with reimagined paws while also having nice body articulation, and the Molga has a fluid range of motion. The Helcat is also now confirmed to come with a stand with various height attachments as well as swappable paws that have extended claws! A display at the Tokyo Toy Show showed off the prototypes, early test shots, and some of the sprues for the Geno and Blade Liger. Dengeki Hobby also posted tons of photos of the various T-Spark booths.

 The HMM Garantula now has its own page on Kotobukiya's website! This little guy is scheduled to release in December for 4,500 yen and is a Koto Direct exclusive. It should be a nice, simple kit, sharing some sprues with the HMM Guysack. It's also nice seeing OJR Zoids get some much-needed love.

 Hobby Japan has posted digital versions of its article from the September 2024 issue, featuring a customized HMM Guysack based on Blu's from the Anime. They've also posted an article on the Tokyo Toy Show 2024, with photos of the various booths.

 During Kotobukiya's build stream for the HMM Guysack they hit us with a surprise announcement that nobody was expected, the HMM Garantula! Everything that follows is drawn from my understanding of the auto-generated subtitles, so please take with a grain of salt.

 This new kit will be hitting pre-orders on July 23rd, the same day that the HMM Guysack releases, as a Kotobukiya Shop exclusive. It's expected to be released in December, and sounds like it'll come with a clear smoke canopy as well as clear red for the various sensors. They showed off a few images including this familiar impression, and a classic spider splay to show off the articulation of the legs. Check out the stream for more stills as well as them showing off the test shot.

 They briefly discussed a variety of other topics. Evidently, the HMM K Wuf's initial release reported the highest sales in HMM history. As an unashamedly biased K Wuf fan, this was exciting to hear. Updates on HMM Salamander also list it as working through the prototype stage. They expect to display it sometime this year at an event.

 Breaking away from stream details, I'm happy to see Kotobukiya maximizing their mileage towards making small Zoids by lining up kits that could share common parts. It's an interesting solution to the challenges small Zoids face. (It's also a funny detail, because it matches the HMM lore, which leans into standardizing parts shared between Zoids to make them easier and faster to repair.) Garantula was a big surprise, and a nice shoutout to our OJR fans out there.

 Two new videos dropped for the RMZ Blade Liger and Geno Saurer, featuring voice overs by Zoiko. If you've already seen the earlier RMZ videos that introduced the articulation, you've probably already seen most of this, but it never hurts to get more coverage.

- Blade Liger

- Geno Saurer

 Hobby Search has posted a new product interview with Katayama, a major player in the Zoids franchise, and Naito, who's in charge of marketing! They brought up a lot of interesting details about the development of the Realize Model line, and some insights about their choices on it. I highly recommend giving it a read. Here are some of the key talking points.

• Planning for RMZ began around winter 2021. They surveyed fans from all eras, finding an even split of older fans who wanted motorized kits and younger (anime) fans who wanted poseable kits. Though they tried to combine motorized actions into a movable kit they found that trying to do both eliminated the best aspects of both.
  
  
• Geno Saurer and Blade Liger were chosen as the first kits to honor the 40th Anniversary's focus on fans who entered during the anime phase.
  
  
• Realize Models focus on making the kits simple, requiring only the number of parts needed for all of the articulation points. The RMZ Blade Liger has around 200 parts.
  
  
• The series is named "Realize Models" with the hope of bringing fan's dreams for their kits to reality. They want the model kits to closely resemble the anime they remember, expressing all of the gimmicks from the series, while even including effect parts that compliment what people imagine when they think of these Zoids, such as the Blade Liger's blade effects.
  
  
• 1/100 scale was chosen to better suit Japanese residential environment, making these kits small and easy to collect without having to worry as much about space. Compared to 1/72 kits, Realize Models aim to fit several kits in the same amount of space while being able to assemble and even detail them in the same amount of time. Their goal is for RMZ to be assembled in less than an hour.
  
  
• Because they want to keep these kits as affordable as possible, they've currently opted not to include display stands, but they're hoping to release them at a later time.
  
  
• Gimmicks have a focus on being functional even at this small scale, without the need of replacement parts. (The obvious exception being option parts like Geno Saurer's nose guns, of course)
  
  
• They've already planned this line out fairly far into the future, mentioning that they do indeed plan to release kits of the silhouettes displayed in teasers before now. They also hope to release more kits that never got to be made into poseable models.
  
  
• They hope to be able to release something almost every month.
  
  
• Though the series starts off with anime-specific kits, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Zoids, they're also looking to include products for people who got into the franchise through the Battle Story, Games, and Zoids Wild.
  
  
• They've contemplated releasing Customize Parts such as Iron Kong SS's gatling gun, but haven't yet decided if this'll be doable. It would, however, allow them to bridge the gap for anime-specific variants that may not be worth releasing a whole new kit for, but could be sold as option parts. One example given is the Command Wolf Urban Warfare Spec.
  
  
• They mused at someday even dreaming of releasing anime scale Zoids such as Ultra Saurus and Death Saurer, sold as separate parts such as the head or torso. This is not confirmed for the series.
  
  
• Other Zoids that they'd like to eventually release include different scale kits that could be displayed (in scale) alongside the original Zoids, such as Zoids Wild or 1/24. A couple names dropped were Wild Liger and power up forms such as Murasame Liger's evolts.

 Pre-orders for the first two RMZ kits are up, starting with the RMZ-01 Blade Liger! Bladey here is scheduled for February 2025 for a retail price of 4,950 yen (tax included, about $30 USD.) You can find these on all your typical pre-order sites. AmazonJP, HLJ, AmiAmi, USA Gundam, and more. The official page for this kit (linked above) contains a couple pieces of concept art and a heaping ton of images. Blade Liger will come with effect parts for the Dual Laser Blades. It'll also come with sitting pilot figures of Bang (Van) and Fine (Fiona) as well as a general pilot figure.

 They've also released a video on the RMZ Blade Liger narrated by Bang's VA, detailing its various points of articulation. This stood out as an especially cool video to me. Moveable gimmicks tend to be broad stroked, focusing mostly on a few key poses and the actual equipment. After all, covering all moving pieces would take forever. Seeing a video that puts the articulation itself on display is a breath of fresh air and makes me nostalgic about doing Zoid kit reviews. I look forward to seeing more of these going forward.

 Zoids Waiting Room
 About a month ago they also held a Zoids Waiting Room discussion corner where people involved in the Zoids series got together and talked about the new line. It shows off a lot of stuff, such as staff members interacting with the AZ-07 Death Saurer and size comparisons of the RMZ kits with the traditional motos. Prototypes of the next 3 RMZ Kits, RMZ-003 Command Wolf, RMZ-004 Helcat, and RMZ-005 Molga also get shown off in the video.

- Preview Video

- Zoids Waiting Room

 The next up in this 1/100 scale poseable model kit line is the RMZ-02 Geno Saurer. Scheduled for February 2024 alongside the Blade Liger, its got a retail price of 6,600 yen (about $41 USD.) The Geno Saurer's page has two pieces of colored concept art, comparisons of movable gimmicks to the anime, and a ton of pictures. The kit will come with effect parts for both the Charged Particle Cannon and the Long Range Pulse Laser Rifles. It'll also include a seated Raven figure and a generic pilot figure.

 Honestly, this may be the best-proportioned Geno Saurer we've ever gotten. The poseability of this kit is something else. The joints are so well hidden, and the tail movement in particular looks so fluid with no unsightly gaps. The tail vents are also a neat design, and its good to see this often-forgotten feature included on a smaller scale product. The video is likewise narrated by Raven's VA.

- Preview Video

 Molga was first teased with this diorama image. Well, the kit has now officially been posted on TakaraTomy's website! (Does AZ not have a dedicated page on the TT website?) The page has a piece of concept art and goes over all the new features of this kit. Pre-orders are already up. The kit is scheduled to be released in February 2025 for a retail price of 4,950 yen (about $30 USD.)

 First and most noticeably is that the AZ-08 Molga comes with a brand new piece, the Jamming Horn. This is a part original to Advanced Zi. It is not seen in any other canon. The part itself is based on the osmeterium organs of swallowtail larvae, which release a foul-smelling chemical repellant to ward of predators. The kit also has a surprise motorized function: Forwards and backwards movement. A rotating gear on the back adds an extra detail during movement and the kit has all of the manual gimmicks expected of a Molga.

- Preview Video