A huge update has been rolled out for the HMM Model Kit section! This section has now been updated to mirror what we've got going on with the Zoids Wild section, where every thumbnail is now clickable, even if we don't have a review for that kit. Reviews are now on a separate page, which you'll see linked at the top of each individual Zoid's page. Their main page, however, is for the official product info and includes a full stat list (almost all translations are courtesy of Falcarius!), as well as the stock images, box art, etc.

 This section is still undergoing some fine tuning. We've still got a couple pages to fix and upload. A select few Zoids have story bits translated by Falcarius (Saber Tiger Gold, Blade Liger Leon, etc.) In the future I'll be posting google translated stories for the rest (each page has the appropriate warning), but this will come much later. There are also plans to update with blog entry information, relevant links, and additional promotions that aren't covered on the official pages, like Jager's special painted claws.

 Kotobukiya has posted a couple of blog entries for the upcoming HMM Wild Liger! The first introduces our first look at a fully painted sample kit, which also introduced the fact that the armor will have removable 3mm pegs for adding equipment, or hiding the holes when not necessary. The second article talks about the Wild Blast gimmicks, with plenty of photos. In the HMM version of Wild Liger, the radiator fins on the legs can also open up, like the earlier Blade Liger.

 Kotobukiya has announced a rerelease of the Lightning Saix, in the form of a Marking Plus Version! Like other MPVs, this will come with clear colorless pieces in addition to the normal clear orange, additional decals, and a general pilot figure. These new decals include the Lightning Saix BS decals! The kit is scheduled for release in September, for 5,200 yen.

 Not long ago, Kotobukiya made a cheeky mention of something upcoming for HMM Zoids, that was not a new model kit. Not long after, an ZOIDS ART OF HMM Twitter Account was created! Although we don't know the full details, it is something to keep an eye on. Perhaps an art book? Who knows!

 Kotobukiya posted a blog entry on the HMM Great Sabre Marking Plus Ver., which confirms the same box art and shows off some excellent examples of the kit with new decals. They also mention that their next blog post will cover upcoming MPV Zoids, and that the next will be a Zoid in similar color to the Great Sabre. This seems most likely to be the Lightning Saix, but we shall see!

 We have some exciting new updates for the HMM Wild Liger! In lieu of colored product photos, Kotobukiya has set up the Wild Liger page with some high-detail CG images. They have assured us that the CG images, however, all use poses that are 100% possible with the physical model. HMM Wild Liger is scheduled to release in August, for 8,800 yen. Ordering from Kotobukiya Direct will get you the Z Caps Freedom Blue Ver.

 There's also a LABO Article discussing the kit, and what we can expect!

 Liger Details:
 ●The kit is 1/35 scale.
 ●The colors are based on the anime-version, including tail tip, rib color, etc.
 ●The joint caps and eyes will use clear parts.
 ●It will include a Zoid Core.
 ●The tail is split into 7 different sections, on a 3mm axis joint for maximum articulation.
 ●Many of the pose images are based on anime-specific scenes.
 ●The eyes are on a vertical axis and can be rotated forwards and backwards.
 ●The eye direction can be reversed to reveal a 3mm hole for the Wild Blast attachment.
 ●HMM Wild Liger has roughly 350 parts.

 Arashi Details:
 ●The included Arashi pilot also has alternative parts for the Wild Blast.
 ●A 9mm Zoid Key is included and can actually be jammed into the Wild Liger's neck.
 ●The fully painted Arashi figure is one of the big contributors to the Liger's price.
 ●Arashi comes with 3 parts: Normal Head, Wild Blast Head, and body.
 ●Some details have been excluded from the painted figure (Freedom badge, etc.) but are included as decals.

 Other Details:
 ●August will have no other Zoids/Rereleases, so users can afford the Liger more easily.

 Kotobukiya has published on article on the HMM Geno Saurer Repackage Ver., revealing its brand new box art! This is a beautiful image depicting the aftermath of the Geno Saurer's test battle, which funny enough, we just covered in Official Fan Book 2. This was a suitable scene to choose for a mass rerelease of the original kit. "Mass produce the Geno Saurer immediately."

 The LABO article shows two other concepts for the box art. The pose sketches depict a scene based on the original motorized kit's box art, and a second scene featuring the Geno Saurer standing in front of the large core capsule, thought to contain the missing piece of the Organoid System. Also from Fan Book 2! A tweet from one of Kotobukiya's shops has a much larger photo of the box art. A final footnote of the article mentions that their next post will be about the Wild Liger~

 Kotobukiya has announced a reissue of the Dibison, in the form of a Dibison Marking Plus Ver.! Like other Marking Plus variations, it contains new decals, a standard pilot, and clear colorless parts in addition to the standard color. It will also contain a new silver color for the horns and hooves, based on the silver used for the Gojulas Gunner. It is scheduled to release in July, for a retail price of 9,800 yen, but you can find it cheaper in your online store of choice.

 To set this Zoid apart, the Dibison is using the old registration number, RBOZ-006 instead of RZ-031. The decal set is the same as the Saber Tiger, with the exception of the Republican logos and registration numbers (which include both RBOZ and RZ designations.) You can read all about it in Kotobukiya's LABO article.

- HMM Model Kit Reissues

Aside from Dibison, Kotobukiya also announced a few reissues for July. This includes the Iguan (4,200 Yen), which is seeing its first ever reissue, along with the Gojulas Cannon Set Customize Parts (4,800 Yen) and the Berserk Führer Repackage (8,800 yen). There are no physical differences between this Repackage and the last one released, but Kotobukiya decided to reissue it so soon because of how fast it sold out the last time. It will supposedly include some decals that were missed the last time, though.

 As a final footnote, Kotobukiya mentioned that they'll soon be making more progress on the prototype (Wild Liger) displayed at Wonder Festival last month.

 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.

 Kotobukiya has been teasing us about some upcoming images that aren't done yet, but soon! Perhaps this is related to the unpainted Wild Liger we saw earlier. Either way, let's go over other HMM news from the past couple of months while we wait.

- Great Sabre Marking Plus

 The Great Sabre is scheduled for a rerelease as the Marking Plus version! Like other Marking Plus, this will contain new decals as well as clear (colorless) parts in addition to the normal clear eye color, etc. It is scheduled to release in April 2020, for 7,800 yen.

- Saber Tiger Marking Plus

 Aside from Great Sabre, the original Saber Tiger was released a month or so ago, with modified box art. This box art contains a new atmosphere, and suits the Saber Tiger incredibly well! It also contained new decals and clear eye, etc. pieces.

- Shield Liger DCS-J

 The HMM Shield Liger DCS-J was released in November for 7,800 yen, and Kotobukiya has posted a blog post. This post shows off the kit as well as several different pose concepts, concepts that could have been for the box art! I think they chose the best one. It carries so much gravity for the battle story. We will get back to work on the Official Fan Books soon!

- Gojulas Gunner

 The Gojulas Gunner was released in November, for 29,800 yen. This kit was a Kotobukiya Direct exclusive. If you pre-ordered the kit you'd get all of the parts that came with Gojulas the Ogre, but if you purchased the kit after the release date, you only got the typical "Gunner" parts, which excluded some of the Ogre equipment. Kotobukiya made a blog post showing off this kit, along with its box art!

- HMM Rereleases!

 Kotobukiya has announced a slew of rereleases over the coming months! In April we have the Command Wolf Repackage for 4,800 yen. This is the white Command Wolf that comes with all of the different weapon loadouts. Also being released in April are the Molga and Molga With Canory Unit, as well as the Molga AA & Molga Carrier. Both Molga sets are releasing at 4,200 yen. Finally, we have the Storm Sworder rereleasing in May for 8,300 yen.

- Geno Saurer Repackage Ver.

    The HMM Geno Saurer Repackage Ver. is now popping up for pre-order! The kit will be released in March 2020, with a retail price of 8,200 yen. There's an article up on Kotobukiya's blog detailing the changes. The mold is the same as the latest Geno molds, for the most part. So let's go over the minor changes!

    - Now has a peg hole to support flying bases/stands
    - The transparent parts come in both clear red and colorless clear plastic
    - It contains a large number of decals compared to the original
    - The Repackage comes with a standard pilot
    - It includes the Raven spec. changes, which means it can completely straigthen out for the CPC pose.

Bone Geno & Gun Sniper Release!

    The two bone Zoids, originally on pre-sale at Dino Expo 2019 in Japan hit Kotobukiya Direct today! 4,620 yen for the Gun Sniper and 9,020 yen for the Geno Saurer. Since they are a Koto Direct exclusive they won't be reaching stores like HLJ or AmiAmi. You can still get the kit by going through a middle man service, so let's take a look at the options. The fees are the service fee only, not the banking, domestic shipping, etc.

    Celga: $10 fee for each item, with unlimited free storage. Orders are stated to take up to 1 ~ 2 business days. In my past 10 purchases, all were placed within 24 hours.

    From Japan: $3 service fee (basic) or $7 protection plan fee (includes domestic shipping insurance, check item service, international shipping insurance). Free storage for up to 45 days. No paid extension, item is discarded after 45 days. Items are purchased within 24 hours.

    White Rabbit Express: $13.44 fee for Geno, $9.33 for Gun Sniper. 30 days free storage, $1 per day after that. Orders are processed within 24 hours, aside from weekends and holidays.

    People who have sent in orders for the items through White Rabbit Express have been courteous enough to give us the price they paid, for those who have trouble working out fees! This price is not including shipping costs.

    - Both kits ordered at the same time totaled $155.33 USD, or $230 AUD
    - Ordering just the Geno Saurer totaled $103.94

    The release date for the Shield Liger DCS-J has been pushed back to November. So those who are expecting to pay this month, remember to set that money aside!

    A page is now up for the Godos Old Republic Spec.! You can view it on Kotobukiya's website We already knew that this version came with the traditional Godos canopy style, but it'll also be coming with additional decals and an extra sprue for the orange parts, cast in clear colorless plastic. With transparent paints you can create your own canopy colors! Aside from that it includes the parts to make the Standard type and the Heavy Armor Type. If you don't use the Heavy Armor parts, you can even convert it into an independant rover!

    Kotobukiya posted a blog post detailing some of their recently released Zoids, as well as discussing a few upcoming reissues. They confirmed that there will be no further update to the designs of the Geno Saurer and the Shield Liger, which is something many people have wanted, as both kits are known to suffer from some stability issues.

This also debunks any hopes that the DCS-J will feature an improved mold with better parts fitting. While Kotobukiya is aware of the wish for small updates like this, they also feel that the expectation for new kits is stronger than ever, and they hope to focus on expanding the HMM line as much as possible going forward, starting with the group of Zoids announced at the Second Stand River Battle.

    A very subtle footnote at the bottom of this post shows a teaser for the Godos Old Republican Spec., with more information expected in September.

    Saber Tiger Marking Plus Ver. is now online at the Kotobukiya Website, where it lists a December 2019 release date at a retail price of 6,000 yen. Not only does this kitty include new decals, but it also comes with both clear green and clear colorless eyes. This gives customizers the ability to make transparent eyes in any color they want!

    The Gojulas Gunner has been posted to the Kotobukiya website. This is a Kotobukiya Direct exclusive, meaning you'll need to go through a proxy to buy it, unless you buy a second hand Zoid. The retail price is 29,800 which means you may be paying close to $500 by the time you get through import fees. Keep this in mind when shopping through sites like Ebay, etc. The markup may seem high, but be sure to factor in service fees, international shipping, etc.

    The two bone Zoids featured at the Dino Expo have been posted online! This doesn't yet include pre-orders, but they're expected to open after the Dino Exp ends. Which likely means sometime in October ~ November. The Geno Saurer will be listed for 8,200 yen. It includes alternate color sprues for black or gray weapons, giving you quite a lot of customization options. The Gun Sniper will be listed for 4,200 yen retail price, and includes a Wild Weasel Unit. Both will be listed in the Koto Direct store, making them both exclusives.

    Kotobukiya has announced some new reissues, including the Dark Horn, Beam Gatling Set, and Death Stinger! Dengeki Hobby has the Dark Horn and Beam Gatling Set both scheduled for a November 2019 release, at 6,800 yen and 2,300 yen respectively. The Death Stinger is scheduled for a December 2019 rerelease at 14,800 yen retail price.