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.

 HMMZ_Art, the account associated with Kotobukiya's Art of HMM art book, has announced that there will be a sequel to this amazing collection of Zoids art and lore! We don't know many details yet, but updates will continue to be posted on the account.

 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.

 Hobby Japan posted an article looking at the CAS Units coming out for the Chogokin Liger Zero. This article features early samples, with the final version said to be even more polished. As is, the units look great, maintaining the dynamic movable parts known to the their respective forms.

 After the previous Zoids Wild Zero crossover, Medarot is holding another collaboration with Zoids! The game will feature new characters based on the Blade Liger, Command Wolf Irvine, Shield Liger, Geno Saurer, and Death Saurer. There are also character costumes featuring Van and Raven costumes.

 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.

 We have another wave of Zoids Episodes! In Genesis, this is the episode where we meet Kotona and her Zoid, the Rainbow Jerk. Matu over on Twitter, apparently part of the animation team in the earlier and later episodes of Genesis, gave their perspective of this episode.

- Zoids Chaotic Century Episode 10

- Zoids New Century /ZERO Episode 4

- Zoids Fuzors Episode 4

- Zoids Genesis Episode 4

 A dedicated page has been added to cover the 40th anniversary Traveling Exhibit. This was made primarily to list the goods and keep track of what ones appeared at what intervals, as well as provide names so that western fans can see what the products actually are. It currently has not been updated to include the Fukuoka Venue, but that'll be added soon. It also includes links to the direct site and twitter account, which you can follow for more up-to-date information.

 The Fukuoka Venue has launched as part of the Zoids 40th Anniversary Traveling Exhibit! This venue contains many of the same eye catch pieces, including the elaborate dioramas, character cutouts, and early concept art. The tweet covering this venue (linked at the start) also shows a clearer look at some of the concept pieces. In addition, the Fukuoka Exhibit launched with a wave of new Zoids products (see page 7 ~ 9). This includes Ritz Runstedt from Official Fan Book 2, which is a nice match up for the Arthur standee, and also includes Emperor Rudolph, the Irvine suit from the Zoids Hunter episodes, and so on.

 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

 Hobby Japan has announced that it'll be covering the Chogokin Liger Zero CAS units in the August 2023 issue! If you're interested in picking it up, the issue is still available to order on Amazon JP.

 The next wave of Zoids Episodes are up! Since these expire week to week I'm going to limit the number of news posts displayed on the front page to only be what's still relevant, so that the front page isn't flooded with 'video no longer available.' Please also note that I'm posting these once every series has updated, so by the time you see this news post, there's only a few days left to watch some of them!

- Zoids Chaotic Century Episode 9

- Zoids New Century /ZERO Episode 3

- Zoids Fuzors Episode 3

- Zoids Genesis Episode 3

 As we near the end of the story segment, Chapter 6 of Official Fan Book 4 has been added! The Dark Continent War is ending, but as Hermann stands on the battlefield, he has a startling realization of what this vicious fight was for. We have 3 more chapters of this book!

 The Zoids Anime section has received a revamp. This may be a big change at first, but one of my goals was to reduce the amount of unnecessary scrolling required to get to relevant info. The quick links to different sections have stayed, but the DVD info has been moved to dedicated pages for each series. These pages will be further expanded over time to include things like random facts about the series, notes from staff members, opening/ending screenshots, and more.

 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.

 The next wave of Zoids Episodes have hit Youtube, but I'd really like to talk about Fuzors! Fans who saw the earlier western release of this series may remember the underwhelming feeling. Fuzors isn't to a lot of people's taste. However, when the series aired in Japan, it had tons of differences, from changes in lighting effects to a copious amount of redrawn frames. Surprisingly, the entirety of Episode 2 was remade to be much darker in aesthetics and theme, really upping the visual impact of this battle. I highly recommend watching at least this one, to see the one episode you might've missed when watching the Western Release!

- Zoids Chaotic Century Episode 8

- Zoids New Century /ZERO Episode 2

- Zoids Fuzors Episode 2

- Zoids Genesis Episode 2