With Kuwaganos planned to appear in the next episode, now's the time to cover their info! The Kuwaganos is a subspecies of Kuwaga, which differentiates itself by the ability to crystalize sap. This crystalization forms an unknown type of metal, which is used for the Amber Jaws and Amber Wings. Components made out of this Amber material have a self-healing ability, and will repair within minutes if damaged.

 Wild Blast: Storm Scissors
 Length: 4.9 m
 Height: 2.0 m
 Weight: 9.6
 Maximum Speed: 212 km/h
 IQ: 42

 Equipment List: Amber Jaw, Amber Wing, Big Jaws, Radar Tube, Wings

 TakaraTomy has posted a couple of images showing off this Zoid next to the original Kuwaga. From earlier images it looked like the Amber equipment would have a rough texture, but in these unpainted photos it is super sleek, looking like genuine amber. It's a cool distinction! The Zoid is also up on the TakaraTomy Mall and is scheduled for a February 22nd release, for 1,500 Yen. Dengeki Hobby also happened to post an article on it, with some additional photos. We've already set up this Zoids page over in the Wild model kit section if you want to read more!

- Build Review Video

 We heard earlier about the PSO2 (Phantasy Star Online) collaboration with TakaraTomy, which would allow players of PSO2 to obtain Wild Liger helmet items in-game. This collab would also feature a special sticker sheet for the Wild Liger based on one of the game's characters, Ash. This variation is now available on the TakaraTomy Mall, scheduled for a March 5th release at 3,300 yen. It includes a special sticker set and the ZW01 Wild Liger model kit.

 Kotobukiya displayed their HMM Wild Liger at Wonder Festival last weekend, this time with the Wild Blast on display! Still no colored example, but it's looking cool so far. Kotobukiya posted an image of the display on Twitter. You can see the Wild Blast flame effect part (which will be green, hopefully transparent) and the Mane Claws extended. The Arashi figure also has a Wild Blast look! Dengeki Hobby Magazine posted three more pictures here, here, and here. We still don't have an exact price or release date, but it was originally estimated for June or July. That time may be subject to change.

 In a recent LABO article, the box art for the HMM-16 Blade Liger AB was released! As usual, this article was filled with references and beautiful photos, but also with some concepts for other poses that the box art could've had. They went with one of the most iconic scenes, and it was an excellent choice! This kit is scheduled for a February 17th release, for 7,800 yen. It will feature a transparent, colorless sprue for both the Blade Liger canopy and the Shield Liger canopy + other transparent parts, in addition to the transparent orange.

 There are many battlestory references in this box art, which we'll cover below!

 
• The original promo poster is based off of the cover of Official Fan Book 2.
  
   
• A Geno Breaker on the left hillside references Arthur Borgman's fight against it just before discovering the Stinger.
  
   
• The heap of dead Zoids underneath of the Death Stinger reference the Zoids graveyard, in the ruins where it was found. As an aside, these ruins were also featured on the Death Stinger box art!
  
   
• The change in color tones, towards the eerie blue, was meant to give the impression that the valley was filled with the spirits of fallen Zoids.
  
   
• They even kept the red and blue moon, which matches the Blade Liger's first confrontation against the Geno Breaker. A pose concept from the Labo article also referenced this scene! In this way, they fused the two scenes, to preserve the essence of both.
  
   
• The pose chosen for the Blade Liger was a tribute to the very first ever HMM Blade Liger box art, which was drawn by Koji Nakakita. His Blade Liger was iconic for its white-trimmed cockpit, and this detail was ommitted as a reference to the original Tomy kits, which had a fully transparent canopy. The diagonally-angled Blades are a reference to numerous Battle Story images, including the one on the back of the original Tomy box art.
  
   
• Last but not least, while this isn't visible in Koto's photo, those who get this kit may notice that the box art features a pilot, visible through the canopy. This pilot has a rather distinctive beard~

 In a surprise announcement, Kotobukiya informed us that they'll be releasing an HMM Iron Kong Yeti! This is the first Kong we've had in a while, and it has quite a unique color scheme. It is scheduled for a June 2020 release, for 16,000 yen. The kit comes with a clear colorless canopy and other transparent parts, in addition to the clear green. It also comes with additional decals, and alternate right shoulder equipment. Most notable, the gatling gun which closely mirrors its optional equipment from the Delusional War Record online comics, better known as the old Zoids Web Comic.

 Amazingly, when this kit was announced, the artist for its original web comic, Tanimeso posted two tweets with beautiful, clean images of it from the web comic. This shows the alternate equipment as well as some of the characters that appeared in the comic.

 It's worth mentioning that at the time of this announcement, a Twitter user posted images of other webcomic Zoids like the Geno Breaker Jet, Gojulas Mariner number 17, etc. Some users mistook this as a confirmation or teaser that these Zoids were going to appear as the next webcomic / Yuji Kaida HMM kits. This is not the case. It was another fan's musings about if it was possible that we'd get these kits too. HMM has done a number of kits from this series, and it is more than possible that they will do more in the future, but I wanted to clear this up because it has been thrown around as fact in a couple of circles.

 During Wonderfest we learned that the Good Smile Company, known best for their Nendoroid series, will be releasing a huge Blade Liger action figure as a part of their Hagane Works line! This is a brand new series of figures with only two other products released prior: The Demonsbane mech and a related additional parts set. As such, it seems Hagane Works will span various series. The standard so far (from what little we know) is that these are large, fully painted, part plastic -- part diecast metal poseable action figures.

 The Blade Liger's price is unknown, and although it was mentioned to be 1/72 scale, viewers of the figure at Wonder Festival noted that it was closer to the size of the Yamato Shield Liger. Which means it'll actually be larger than the traditional Tomy kits. It has an esthetic close to the anime Blade Liger, with a proper number of slats to the Shield Generator, narrower fangs, and a double-seater cockpit. It comes with 2 pilots, which seem to be standard Republican pilots, not existing characters.

 In the reveal image we can see bits of diecast metal along the body. For the Demonsbane kit, this was cited to be almost a full pound of diecast, so this kit will come with a significant heft. Interestingly, the kit was also announced on the Good Smile US twitter, although it is possible that this twitter account also covers big reveals from the Japanese side of things. There is no confirmation yet if it will come to the US, but that would certainly save on shipping.

 Price wise, we do not have a confirmed cost. Our only reference is Hagane Works' previous figure, the Demonsbane, which cost roughly $160. The additional parts set for Demonsbane was roughly $40 ~ $50. This isn't a bad price, considering Good Smile is known for high quality, beautifully painted products. It's worth noting that they are also known for having pre-order bonuses for ordering directly from their store.

 We have a variety of custom examples based on official Zoids! We have Rising Liger Flight Prototype, Cannon Bull Anti-Air Long-Range Artillery Spec., Stylaser Cold District Spec., and Bazootle Heavy Artillery Medium-Range Bombardment Spec. (which also has a WIP post). An article from Dengeki Hobby covers WIP shots of some of the older custom examples.

- New Opening Theme!

 Zoids Wild Zero has been announced to be getting a brand new opening theme, which can be heard on various streaming services starting April 1st. The new opening is Player, by MAGIC OF LiFE. You can hear examples of their music on their Youtube channel. It's really wonderful! This also confirms that the series will go for quite a while longer. Surely Blu-Ray announcements cannot be far off?

- Anime Site Update!

 The official website for Zoids Wild Zero has had a huge update! It now includes a wide variety of character and Zoid profiles, instead of just those from the first couple of episodes. This includes character stock art and Zoid images of both the basic and Blast forms.

- Concept Art!

 We have lots and lots of concept art posted by the anime twitter account! the Empire's small communication device, Sally's Pendant (which contains a tiny Zoid Core, it looks like!), Raptoria's Cockpit, Imperial Empress Fiona's everyday clothes, Aysel's expressions, Col. Diaz's Parents, Col. Shelley, Republican President Crestwood, and most beautiful of all, the Republican Immigration Ship!

 Multiple teaser pages have been posted from the recent Zoids Wild 2 chapters, including ones that show off modified Zoids and the Rising Liger!

 We have some new card & art images from Zoids Battle Card Hunter! Rising Liger and Genospino Rampage Form. Rising Liger comes from CoroCoro, but there's also codes on the back that can be used to get the Genospino card. Then we have the basic Genospino, Bazootle Lagoon, and the secret rare card for the Genospino.

 Zoids Wild EX-ZERO, the side-story produced for Hobby Japan Magazine, continued with its second chapter in the March 2020 issue! HJM also held their own panel at Wonder Festival, where they went over important information for the series. This included the fact that EX-ZERO will be a bi-monthly series, published every 2 months. It takes place before Zoids Wild Zero, which is an interesting time in the series' history.

 The booth also featured a Gilraptor Cutter Spec. that isn't featured in the actual story, though we've yet to see pictures of this Zoid surface online! Similarly, they displayed anime-style character artwork that we hope to see soon. Chapter 2 features a Stylaser, and a keen customization continuation from Chapter 1. The Armd Liger not only keeps its captured weapons from Chapter 1, but is more battle worn from the fight!

 Mono Magazine in Japan published an article on Zoids Wild in their February 2020 issue. This features an image of the Rising Liger based off of a very old Saber Tiger image of the same theme, which you can see in the comment section!

 The World Hobby Fair just happened in Japan, so we're going to go over some of the event details! This year's theme is customizing, and as such, the 30 finalists from the My Zoids Contest were lined up at the venue to be voted on. The event also had a customizing booth for visitors to display their Zoids in and add assorted equipment, as well as various other entertainment, such as music and BCH events.

 The customization contest gave the opportunity to win a number of prizes, including the Awakened Wild Liger, Kabtor Rare White, Kuwaga Rare White, Gilraptor Rare Bone, and Fang Tiger White Tiger Form.

- Weapons from WHF!

 The event had a number of weapons you could obtain through various methods, with a total of 9 separate parts. You can expect to see more of these weapons in the future, so don't worry if you aren't able to obtain them!

Remodeling Booth: You could bring your Zoids to the remodeling booth and customize them with various items! The event may have gone by a ticket number system if it turned out to be crowded. From this base, you could obtain the: Horn Blade, Arc Knife, Grinder Cutter, Attachment Frame, Auto Saw, and Panzer Faust.

Voting For The Contest: By voting for the contest, attendees could get the Wing Cutter (one per person.)

Purchase Bonus: By purchasing Zoids Wild Series products at the sales corner inside the Zoids booth, you could obtain the Square Shield and the Mega Lance.

- Beast Liger Optical Camouflage Spec.!

 The Beast Liger Optical Camouflage Spec, a former CoroCoro 100 limited was on sale at the venue for 3,850 yen. Zoids Official posted some photos of this kit, an all clear Beast Liger.

- Wild Variation Diorama & Art!

 The bottom of the event page also posted some of the artwork from the instruction manuals, which show alternate versions of the Zoids! It's awesome to see clean digital images of these variations, some of which we've seen on twitter. The twitter posts were accompanied by custom model kits of the variations, a few of which appeared in a display at the WHF event.

 The customs displayed at the event were part of a huge diorama, which showed off stock kits, variation customs, and repainted kits. It was an impressive display! Also on display were the Armd Liger and friends from the new Zoids Wild EX-ZERO story that was published in Hobby Japan Magazine. The Armd Liger was customized into the Heavy Armor Custom, which had Cannon Pull's cannons and shoulder armor equipped. This lines up with what happened at the end of the first story.

 Zoids has seen the start of its first crowdfunding campaign! Measuring at a massive 50 x 44 cm, ZOIDSWILD The ART of BATTLEFIELDS is a book that showcases tons of the beautiful Zoids works seen in CoroCoro Comic and other outlets. It's wonderful to see these beautiful photos without all of the text that clutters them in the accompanying magazine.

 In addition, if the project is funded, everyone who pledged the required 11,000 yen (roughly $110) will receive the Fang Tiger "White Tiger Form" armor parts set, a set that was currently one of CoroCoro's 100 limiteds. They will also receive a special poster of the cast from the Chaotic Century manga. The poster is printed in the same size as the book, so there will be no creases in it.

 The cover of the book features a 1/1 scale Wild Liger cap, which is fitting for the recent series. The book also has a double fold to see the panorama style diorama images.



 So, what do we need to know? First off, the crowdfounding is available to residents of Japan only. If you try to support from another country, your pledge will be cancelled. However, services like From Japan, Celga, and White Rabbit Express will be able to help you relay your support. The project is currently 15% funded with 27 days to go, ending on January 31st.

 Breakdown:
  End Date: January 31st
  Crowdfunding Rewards: * Pledge costs 11,000 Yen
   x1 "ZOIDSWILD The ART of BATTLEFIELDS" book (50 x 44 cm)
   x1 Fang Tiger "White Tiger Form" armor parts set
   x1 Large Poster by Michiro Ueyama
  Proposed Schedule: (In the event of successful funding
   Project Starts December 27th, 2019
   Project ends January 31st, 2020
   Book Delivery planned for mid April 2020
   Armor parts delivery planned for late May 2020
 * Crowdfunding schedules are subject to change
 * Price includes shipping and taxes



 The Zoids Crowfunding Twitter account has posted a lot of the interior art, at a nice, clear resolution. Definitely take a look, and expect even more beautiful pieces in the actual book, should it get funded~

 Wild Liger, Fang Tiger White Tiger Form, Wild Liger, Death Rex, Gatling Fox, Kid Lineup, CoroCoro Weapons, Hangar Lineup, Empire Zoids, Beast Liger, Liger Poster, Battle Wars, Book size comparisons.

- Crowdfunding Video

 The crowdfunding isn't the only momentus occasion! Zoids Wild released its first Fan Book on December 27th! You can purchase it here for 990 yen. So, what all is in it? The book contains profiles featuring images from earlier issues of CoroCoro, along with small fact files. Many of those profiles contain a tiny thumbnail of concept art for the Zoid as well. There are a couple custom examples.

 Aside from that, the book also contains a new chapter of Zoids Wild 2, featuring how Kai (as a child) first encountered the Beast Liger! It contains a second manga chapter, this time from Ueyama, telling the story of how Irvine met Tornado.

 The book also comes with a carrying case made out of thin plastic, which is large enough to fit a medium scale Zoid. This should be perfect for people who like to travel with a kit! A limited card of the Rising Liger is also included.

- Example Video

 We have a ton of Wild and HMM kit news to sort through, so let's start with the Drei Panther! This cat was released on December 26th, for a price of 4,000 yen. It gets its name (Drei - German for Three) from the three blades hidden inside of its Shadow Shields. The whole unit is designed to emphasize stealth, silently sniping enemies with the guns on its back. As a side note, the Drei Panther is the smartest of all currently released feline Zoids in Zoids Wild, by far.

 TakaraTomy posted a couple of videos of its Machine Blast on twitter, and you can view its images and box art on the TakaraTomy Mall. It has a build video up on youtube already. You can also check out this tweet to see its beautiful smile~

 Technical Information:
  Wild Blast: Drei Slasher, Length: 8.1 m, Height: 4.2 m, Weight: 49.8 t, Max Speed: 206 km/h, IQ: 145

 Equipment:
  3-Barreled Silent Gun
  A-Z Drei Blade
  Air Intake
  Horizontal Armour
  Night Vision Scope
  Shadow Claw
  Shadow Shield
  Stabilizer Armour
  Z-O Visor

 The ZW36 Rising Liger was also announced! This kit is scheduled to be released on January 25th for 4000 Yen, and has been one of the more heavily debated kits thus far. Originally leaked with an unpainted photo, the kits colors left a lot to be desired. However, as it turns out, the Rising Liger will be released in a beautiful painted gold (for all gold parts except the Evo Blast unit). The recent product photos make the kit look worlds better, and not only was it featured as the cover to the Zoids Wild Fan Book, but many theorize that it will (quite likely) have a major role in the anime soon.

 This kit is focused on a revolver scheme, with a spinning chamber and a gunblade on the front. It has a lot of heavy armor, and a new paw design. It is known to puff up its Rising Frill (Mane) and intimidate enemies with the Roar Cannon (unlisted). You can see a build review video with customization examples on TakaraTomy's channel, and a shorter build review video on CoroCoro Next. Here are some other posts on this Liger! Evo Blast Video, Photos, Close Up, Another Photo, and the Dengeki Hobby Article (with additional product photos).

 Technical Information:
  Wild Blast: Rising Gun Slasher / Rising Buster Blade, Length: 8.7 m, Height: 4.8 m, Weight: 53.5 t, Max Speed: 225 km/h, IQ: 107

 Equipment:
  A-Z Autocannon
  A-Z Mane Blade
  Heavy Tail
  High Efficiency Radiation Fin
  Impact Revolver
  Rising Armour
  Rising Claw
  Rising Frill

- Rising Liger Commercial

 TakaraTomy has announced that the Death Rex Purple Dragon Form will see a wider rerelease! This kit is already up for sale through Pal-Shop, Shogakukan's web order shop, for 8,250 yen (tax included). This set comes with both the purple dragon armor and the base Death Rex. There are a limited quantity available and orders will begin shipping out in late January, in the order that they were received. You can use proxy services like From Japan, Celga, etc. to order this kit!

 The Beast Liger "Optical Camouflage Spec.", which was originally announced as a CoroCoro 100 Ltd., has already been announced for a rerelease at the next World Hobby Fair! This event will take place on January 25th, and the Liger will be on sale at the event for 3,850 yen.

 Zoids Wild Battle Card Hunter has released its new armor parts set, the Beast Liger Zero! This set features all new gold pieces to replace most of the red on the Beast Liger, along with transparent white armor. Paying homage to the Liger Zero, it's a kit worth picking up! A video showing off this kit was posted on CoroCoro Channel.