The Links Section has had the banners from the respective sites added. We've also added an Article page that archives the fancy banners previously put out by the TakaraTomy website, as these seem to change every month and some of them are quite cool!

    The Photo Contest page has uploaded images of some of the unpictured prizes, including the Silver Plated Great Sabre and Liger Zero. They are looking fantastic! See the page details here.

    HMM Iguan has been released! But that is not the point of this section.

    According to some magazine interviews in the Great Mechanics magazine it is rumored that Kotobukiya will be taking a hiatus after the release of Gojulas (supposedly -- there are no 2014 releases currently scheduled). It is unclear if they will continue to rerelease old kits or new variations during that time, and how long the dormancy period will last.

    Some mentions giving the Zoids Original line time to stand on its own two feet while Kotobukiya and Mercy Rabbit prepare for "Chapter 2". No inklings on what all that implies just yet but I suspect it'll be months before we have specific information.

    We've also added a section for Hobby Japan Magazine! I am undecided if this will be a regular or not. We'll be getting the November issue in about a week but depending on the quality of the content it may not stick around permanently. HJM October includes a second image size comparison of the HMM Gojulas compared to the NJR Motorized Gojulas.

    Both the September and the October issues of Dengeki Hobby Magazine are uploaded to the Articles section. There isn't a lot of new content but there are size comparisons of how the HMM Gojulas matches up to the standard Gojulas.

    While we're talking about HMM Gojulas, Toy-Wave.com has listed the Zoid to be 3500 grams which is 1,000 grams heavier than the Iron Kong SS. Depending on the size box you can assume that shipping to the North-West United States will be around $60-$80 with EMS to Washington appearing to be roughly $65. Who knows though, if the box is large it may skyrocket in price.

    We're a little late on getting Zoids SS up, but Chapter 4 can now be found in the Zoids SS Manga directory! DHM and HJM were just released so you can probably expect another chapter in just a couple of weeks. This chapter and the next appear to continue on with the main Geno Ritter story.

    A review for the Blade Liger 2013 Blu-ray BOX Ver. as been uploaded to Model Kits. This includes a lot of photos but at this point not the box or the instructions. Hopefully I'll get those done soon.

    The new Zoids Concept Book has been uploaded to the Zoids Art Books section. This includes the main story but at the moment none of the profiles. You may notice that a lot of the pictures are seen in the TakaraTomy online continuation. They are more or less identicle, with the actual book having more content. Even though the text in the book is different from the text on the web page there are some sentences that match up exactly. The text that doesn't match still reads the same as the concept book -- as far as I can tell there is no difference at all in information conveyed.

    We may have bitten off more tahn we can chew with the last update. I want to let everyone know that we are temporarily putting Zoids Original content on old. This includes all of the profile pages (including Command Wolf RGC) and the story pages. Another group is covering this content so we feel that our efforts are better spent on projects that allow us to further expand the available content for members! Zoids SS will continue to be translated and posted on The Iron Bible.

    To start off that endeavor we have opened a new area in the Manga Section! We are extremely excited to present the Zoids Web Comic section. Some of you may remember these interactive flash comics from years ago. We have been sent some video recordings of these original comics and are working to provide a translated video format of them for our English viewers.

    Since the video is years old the quality is not always readable. There are gaps missing and possibly mistranslations. The Jet comic has some minor errors (Idabel is the older sister, not Florable) in the comic itself and some major gaps in the Jet profile. If you are able to read Japanese (kanji, no furigana) and would look to help us fill in the gaps please visit our contact page!

    A review of the NJR Liger Zero has been uploaded to the model kit section. This review includes translations of the box and battle story.

    A partial review for the Blu-Ray Box has been uploaded to the DVD section (Which we will ammend with BR soon enough). This includes details on the extras, special features, and also includes a rip of the special video that is included as an opening credit for each volume of the Blu-Rays. A review for the holotech Liger Zero is in the works and will be posted soon.

    The Zoids Original website has hosted the second story chapter for Geno Ritter, seen here. A page dedicated to profiles for the Zoids and characters can also be read here. So far there is no video for the Command Wolf RGC.

    The Zoids Blu-Ray box has been released! An unboxing was posted on the Zoids HMM Blog (seen here). We hope to have a review done for this by the next update, but there are a lot of things to go over for it in this news post.

    Below you'll see the unboxing image posted on the Koto blog and a couple of example screenshots. We'll go into quality in the bottom post.

    When it comes to physical extras the Blu-Ray set comes with a small Encyclopedia, a bit smaller than the Viz Zoids CC Comics. This contains more or less copied information from the original Zoids Encyclopedia with virtually no additional details.

    The case of the DVDs are in a book-like form and each disc gets its own book with the character images printed on the front (congratulations, Thomas! You get to be the very last disc!) and art printed on the sides. The quality is quite nice and contains the stock production art you've seen on other sites.

    If you ordered the Limited Production version you also received the clear HMM Blade Liger, which is cast in all transparent plastic. The quality of this kit seems much superior to the Holotech Shield Liger parts that were released earlier by Koto, and does not crumble like it did!

    Now for the actual Blu-Ray extras. The discs are all in Japanese. So far I've found no trace of a closed captioning track. It has no subtitles, Japanese or English, and no dual languages, as it is marketed only in Japan. The quality is by far better than the DVDs but scaled up you can see a sort of noise-reduction filter applied to the Zoids that gives them a watercolor feel, especially when in motion. You can see this clearly in the example images.

    The image below shows a comparison of the Blade Liger. On the left is the Blu-ray version and on the right is a screenshot directly from the DVDs. Even though a noise reduction effect is on the blu-rays, and sometimes detracts, the quality is still much superior. The colors contrast differently from the DVDs with reds leaning closer to true red or pink, while on the DVDs they appear orange and more saturated. There is no editing or digital touch ups in the comparison photo at all, with the exception of the blu-ray being resized to match the DVD size.

    The on-disc extras include a new CGI opening that we'll be uploading a low-resolution video of with the review next update! High quality scans of the CGI images used for postcard releases on the DVDs are included on Disc 10, along with small cgi turn-arounds of one or two Zoids. The final disc contains creditless opening and endings. Sorry to ramble at great lengths over the Blu-Rays! This concludes today's update.

    First views of the finished MSS Command Wolf can be seen on the official site here! The kit is shaping up to look great, with excellent proportions and nicely painted details. The Zoid is up for pre-order on AmiAmi for 2,200 yen, scheduled for a late October release.

    The Zoids Original website has updated with a complete profile for the Command Wolf RGC. It is shown that this Zoid will not only come with the RGC cannons, but with equipment to make three additional variations. The first is the basic Command Wolf. The second is the Command Wolf Interceptor which uses the LC cannon that is sold with the Irvine special originally. The third is the Command Wolf Zappa Version (Late Model) which is piloted by Commander Zappa from the Republican Trap Commando unit, as soon in the Concept Art Books and Zoids SS. Unfortunately they do not include the unique gun or shoulder armor seen to these Zoids, but it does include a new canopy cover for both the face canopy and the LC gun.

    You can view the full profile in Japanese on the Zoids Original site here. The TakaraTomy company has also upgraded a video on Youtube (seen here) which illustrates all of the movable parts, including a collapsable cannon. So far this Zoid is shaping up to be much better than the first impressions!

    The Zoids Zi Ultimate Battle Cards deck has been uploaded to the Zoids Games section under card Games. Not much to say about this, it's a basic 52-card deck and features Kugo from the Zoids Planet Zi comics.

    Command Wolf RGC has a page in the Zoids Art Books > Zoids Original section. This includes a translation of the original image that was shown on the Zoids Original site. Unfortunately we do not have the full profile completed but this will be uploaded with the next update!

    Zoids SS Chapter 3 has been released! The full chapter is translated and uploaded in the Manga section. Sadly this one is only 15 pages, compared to the earlier 24. It makes up for it with some very nicely drawn Zoids and plot though! It is still unclear how the continuation of the story will go.

    The review second includes two new reviews: The first Zoids Original kit "Mirage Fox" and the NJR Konig Wolf. Both Zoids include box and battle story information which can be viewed by clicking the collapsable header image underneath of their box scans. This will reveal the translated story for both.

    This is a long one. The official Zoids site (Link) is going to be holding a photo contest. This is strictly for Japan residents ages 15 and up but I felt the need to go over the details here. Entries permit photo editing and there are categories for HMM, MSS, and Zoids Original. Entries opened today on July 26th and close on October 15th.

    This news is of particular interest because of its prizes. They will include several plated (chrome) Zoids, several translucent Zoids, and also some model kits. Below is a list of the prizes. I suspect they will be one of a kind, but that is only because I didn't see a mention of multiple winners for each category. There very well may be multiple entries! But you'll want to keep an eye out on Yahoo Japan auctions for them just in case.

Zoids Original Grand Prizes:
    - Plated Mirage Fox
    - Mirage Fox Clear Version
    - Zoids Original set of 2 (Model Kits)

HMM Contest Grand Prizes:
    - Plated HMM Liger Zero
    - HMM Godos (Clear Version)
    - HMM Iguan (Clear Version)
    - Decal set of 10 pieces (Randomized contents, cannot be chosen by winner)

MSS Contest Grand Prizes:
    - Plated MSS Great Sabre
    - "Natural Color" MSS Great Sabre (Painted, maybe? Not sure)
    - MSS Great Sabre model kit