In an exciting turn of events the HMM Fire Fox is up for rerelease in the form of a Marking Plus kit! It'll be rereleased in March for 6,820 yen. The Fire Fox was released back in April of 2013, so its rerelease has been a decade-long wait for many members of the franchise.

 Starting on December 15th, Kotobukiya began giving away HMM Zoids Package Art Special Desk Calendars with every purchase of an HMM Zoid from their store front. This campaign is until supplies last, so I'm not sure if it's still ongoing.

 The HMM Green Horn has gotten its LABO Article, which features example sketches of early box concepts and a look at the decals. It isn't the only one, though. There's a blog for the Red Horn MPV released on January 18th. It covers the differences, such as the inclusion of the round parts from the Green Horn / Dark Horn, the inclusion of clear colorless parts, and the transition from stickers to water slide decals. This blog also gives some insight to development, such as their move away from decal guides to prevent the kit from needing to be delayed further simply to make these charts, and how they strive to make decal sizes match those of old Tomy Zoids, making them cross compatible with the old motorized kits wherever possible. Supposedly, the next blog will introduce their latest completely new item.

 Last but not least, the HMM Death Stinger is up for rerelease in May for 16,280 yen (tax included) and Pteras Bomber in June for 5,280!

 The Hunter Wolf MPD is now available on the TakaraTomy Mall for 4,950 yen, with a release date set for June. It also had a preview video made!

- Product Review

 In an exciting change of events, Zoids Official has announced a Machine Beast New Century Zoids Core Box! Machine Beast New Century was a term used later in the NJR era model kits, and what this box could contain is anyone's guess. The former Zoid Core Box contained the Zoids Mammoth model kit, a set of the Zoids Battle Story (OJR era books), Avenge of Proitzen book (mostly the story of OFB4 with different stats files), a set of metal pins featuring the Helic, Guylos, and Zenebas insignias, and a series of large print cards called the Zoids Bible, which featured the core lore of the franchise that many people still refer to today. It was quite a collection, and a holy grail of mine for many years (obtained a while back, actually!) Planning for this product has begun.

 When Hunter Wolf MPD was exhibited at the Big Zoids Expo, it was in front of a screen featuring a promotional video. This has now been posted online, along with a look at the weathered model kit by SigemikanZ and a dedicated Collaboration Page containing lore content!

- Video

 The AZ Shield Liger received its own promotional video, this time animated from the perspective of Raven analyzing the Zoid from his Saber Tiger. This was a fun take on the existing promo video style, and it's nice to see the Tiger running around.

- Video

 Zoids Official posted a nice look at the Wild Liger Kokuoh, which now has a dedicated product page.

 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.

 The Big Zoids Expo 2023 is shaping up to be the largest Zoids event in history, and merchandise announcements have been rolling out non stop. There's a lot to cover, so I'll try to itemize things the best I can, but first lets cover the details of the event itself! The event will begin from October 7th and run until October 22nd, held in Tokyo, with some exhibits set to swap out on October 16th.

 Ticket sale prices are 2,200 yen for one visit or 3,200 yen for two. Elementary and junior high school students get in for 1,000 yen, and free for preschoolers and caregivers, up to one per person. We mention the tickets because, for each ticket purchased, participants will receive 1 random Battle Card Game Card-style card. Those who enter during the first phase (before October 16th) will receive a random card from Republican Set while second phase participants will receive a random card from the Empire set.

 Though not necessarily expo specific, IT Media also posted an article discussing the 40th Anniversary, which looks over the history of Zoids leading up to now.

Exhibition Contents

 The exhibit itself will have over 500 Zoids toys on display over the course of the event! In addition, over 100 concept art and prototypes will be shown at the venue, giving a look into the development process of Zoids. One example given so far is the Starfish, shown off in beautiful quality. The venue will also include a Blade Liger photo spot where people can take photos as if they're riding inside of the cockpit, a diorama spot to take photos of your own Zoids, new dioramas, and more. Large art exhibits will also be there, such as this HMM Gojulas MPV art.

 The 40th Anniversary Zoids Exhibit, which was previously traveling around Japan, will also be present. This means a resale of traveling exhibit goods, such as standees and mugs. Great news for those who missed items the first time around!

 We've also seen our first preview of what the venue is going to look like. A new diorama even includes references to the Official Fan Books, complete with customs from it.

 Bub, a Japanese company selling products such as bath salts, will have their own corner at the venue, featuring a custom Bub Liger display.

- Exhibit Goods: Model Kits

 Wow there's a lot to unpack here. Many of these Zoids have been teased on Twitter, but since they'll be hitting sales and pre-orders at the venue first, I'll be listing all of their news and updates in this post. For general goods, please see the new Big Zoids Expo page, where I've put a list of the items and their price. This post shows off the two gorgeous pendant necklaces that'll be available.

 For the model kits themselves, the most important thing to know is that some kits that were announced earlier have been said to be event exclusives, meaning they'll only be available for purchase / pre-order at the event. Only extras that didn't sell at the venue will be available for later purchase, but if they sell out, there will be no later sale.

AZ-04 Shield Liger

 The AZ-04 Shield Liger, which is modeled after Van's Shield Liger from Chaotic Century, will be available for pre-order at the exhibit for 11,000 yen. This Liger includes Van, Fiona, and Zeke figures, and those who pre-order the kit will also receive a Battle Card Game style Shield Liger card as a special bonus. This bonus is only available for pre-orders placed at the venue. General pre-orders will open up after the venue, with the scheduled release date being in late June 2024.

Hunter Wolf Metropolitan Police Department Spec.

 The Zoids x Patlabor collaboration kit, the Hunter Wolf Metropolitan Police Department Spec., will be available for pre-order at the venue for 4,950 Yen. People who pre-order through the venue will receive this special postcard bonus. There's also been a preview of it at the expo. As you can see, this wolf sports a number of cool unique parts. A custom of it will be shown off by SigemikanZ.

Gatling Fox Shirakami Fubuki Version

 The Gatling Fox Shirakami Fubuki Version will be available for purchase at the venue for 6,050 yen. Today's the first time we're seeing what this Zoid actually looks like. For this kit, however, the only sale that will happen after the event is excess stock. If it sells out at the venue, no further kits will be released afterwards. The fox features white armor with a black-tipped tail and faded-blue accents and caps. The kit comes with an acrylic standee of Fubuki in a Byrne Blood costume, referencing the Gatling Fox's pilot in Zoids Wild Zero.

Wild Liger Kokuoh

 Wild Liger Kokuoh, or Black King, has finally been teased and will be exhibited at the venue starting on October 7th. This Liger features black armor with gold and red accents. We don't yet have sales information on it.

40 Troopers of Horizon

 This series of blue-themed Zoids Wild kits features Rising Liger (4,950 yen), the leader of the platoon, Dimepulsar (4,400 yen), who specializes in electronic warfare, and Catalga (5,500 yen), who specializes in transport and demolition. They will be available for purchase at the venue, and if sold out, will not have a later sale. Excess goods will be dumped into Takara Tomy Mall.

HMM Gojulas Marking Plus Ver.

 The HMM Gojulas, which released during Zoids' 30th anniversary, is getting an MPV version with new parts included! These include the clear colorless parts and new decals that've become known for MPV Zoids. Everyone who pre-orders this kit at the venue will receive an HMM Zoids Special Emblem Decal set, the same as the one distributed in the summer of 2020. The kit itself is scheduled to release in April of 2024. Pre-orders will also become available through Kotobukiya's stores after the exhibit is over. The price is 27,500 yen. Last but not least, Mercy Rabbit's amazing box art for this kit has been published, and will be on display at the venue!

 Zoids Official has confirmed that the AZ-01 Blade Liger, the first Zoid of the series, will be reissued! This is exciting news for folks who didn't get it the first time around, as we all know how much merch is closing in on the wallet right now! Pre-orders are available on the Takara Tomy Mall and the kit is scheduled to release in late March of 2024.

 Though not necessarily news, Zeros have just started shipping out. Product sample photos were posted recently. For those who are expecting Ligers, remember that batteries for the LED claws aren't included by default, so be sure to pick up some LR44s if you want to test out this feature right away.

 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.

 A video was posted by TakaraTomy for the AZ-03 Murasame Liger. This shows off the gorgeous colors of this kit. The video uses a finished example (custom detailed) but the color shift as the product turns is incredible. If this is in the physical kit, it will be the first Murasame Liger to actually attempt to come close to the anime colors, with former products being straight blue or seafoam. The video also gives us a good look at the chrome plated Murasame Blade.

- Video

 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.

 Customizer SigemkikanZ has been posting more images of high-detailed Zoid customs, including the Murasame Liger seen in the 40th Anniversary Key Visual, the Death Rex that was used in some of the Zoids Wild promotional material, and a shot of Wild Liger and the Death Rex.

 Hey guys! I've been gearing up for a cross-country move happening in the middle of the year, so updates have been quite slow. I've still got some updates being worked on, but they're not ready to push yet, and meanwhile official news is heaping up! So, today we're going to do an infodump on what's been going on these last few months, just to get it all organized into one spot. There's a lot to look forward to!

 Perhaps the most exciting thing to note is the announcement of the Large Zoids Expo 2023!! For those who aren't aware, the Large Zoids Expo was possibly the largest event ever held for the Zoids franchise, and it's now being revived in 2023 for the Zoids 40th Anniversary, boasting to be the largest Zoids event ever yet again. I talked about the former event over on facebook when the traveling exhibit was announced, but to simplify, the event featured tons of products, announcements, prototypes and early concept sketches, Zoids statues, a life-size silhouette cutout of the Seismosaurus, exclusive merchandise, and more. The event doesn't have much information yet, but updates will continue to be posted on the Expo Twitter Account, which has so far been covering the traveling exhibit.

 An announcement video was posted for the event, but not much information is given. However, we do get to see Perfect Human Katayama introducing a full scale CG Murasame Liger as he talks about the features of the upcoming Anniversary kit!

- Announcement Video

 Photos and product information for the AZ-03 Murasame Liger have dropped! Several details have been pointed out about the kit over on Twitter. The Pile Bunkers on the front legs are movable. The eyes and core have LED lights. The cockpit has been modeled after the anime, including a forward-leaning Ruuji figure. The Murasame Blade, which will be chromed, features a telescoping joint and can extend to both sides, unlike the former motorized kit, where it could only extend to the left as part of the spring-loaded gimmick. This kit is scheduled to release in Late January 2024, for 14,300 yen (tax included.) An article from Dengeki Hobby features some additional photos. Earlier on, we saw a teaser of the Murasame Blade which, aside from having the script normally seen along the edge of the blade, also features the 'Murasame' kanji at the base of the blade! Other prototype shots included a face view, a 3/4 view, and a shot with the blade extended.

Bikkuriman Collab

 On April Fools, Zoids Official also posted about a collab with Bikkuriman, a product line from Lotte that focused on collecting stickers that are typically packaged with wafer snacks. During this announcement they mentioned a sticker that showed off Murasame Liger and Super Zeus, Bikkuriman's mascot character. Looks like this sticker will be packaged together with the AZ-01 Murasame Liger when buying through TakaraTomy Mall!

- Review Video

- Preview Featuring Ruuji's VA