Takara Tomy's AMZ Berserk Führer has been getting a lot of coverage over these past couple of months, including being displayed at Yodobashi in Japan. The official product page collects tons of images showing off each form and its poseability, and it seems they've taken some extra steps towards quality of life additions, such as a hangar frame that, similar to Chogokin, allows you to display the unused armor separately. The standard AMZs were shown off at the Tokyo Toy Show. Here are some details from the recent updates.

• It's scheduled to be released in March 2025 for 44,000 yen (roughly $300 USD)
• It measures about 350 mm from nose to tail tip
• It includes a Zoid Core
• Includes a gold pilot figure
• Includes a Hangar Frame (display stand) as well as additional armor frame.
• This is a painted figure / kit
• Die-cast parts are mostly included in the legs to help keep the Zoid balanced
• LEDs are included for the eyes and Charged Particle Cannon

Hobby Watch Interview

 An interview with Nakase, the man in charge of this product was held by Hobby Watch. As always, they never fail to deliver some interesting tidbits about the development process and what went on behind the scenes. Below I'll list some of the details, but I highly recommend checking out the article itself.

• Takara Tomy was planning to start an alloy line around the same time that the Chogokin collab was in talks.
  
  
• The first Zoid in the AMZ series was originally going to be Murasame Liger, but because of the ongoing AZ series, the idea was shelved. Afterwards, it came down to the Berserk Führer or Geno Saurer, but again, with Geno Saurer being involved in another upcoming line (RMZ), Führer became the new flagship Zoid.
  
  
• The Wild Form's eyes are a larger clear red piece that also forms a 'brain' inside the head. Wild Zoids traditionally have their brains inside the Zoid Core, making this purely for aesthetics. However, the team wanted owner's of the AMZ to feel the lore behind wild Zoids, as if they were building them up from their wild forms to their weaponized forms.
  
  
• AMZ is intended to continue as a line even after the second figure, the AMZ-02 Blade Liger. They'd like to explore additions such as CAS units and other Zoids. Which brings us to our next news post...

- Review Video

- Preview Video

 The Hobby Watch article above mentioned an interest in exploring CAS units for the Berserk Führer, but specifically hinted towards ones that may've only existed previously as illustrations... Well, now they've officially announced that the Sturm Unit and Jagd Unit are entering the planning phase! This is exciting news, because the Jagd has never been manifested as an official kit or figure before, making this a momentus occasion. The fact that Takara Tomy as a whole is exploring Zoids that never got to be a kit elsewhere has spiked imaginations, leaving us wondering what comes next in the best possible way.

 We knew some sort of announcement was coming on the 8th relating to a mysterious logo that Zoids Official (and other brands like Transformers) posted on Twitter earlier this week. I'm sure none of us expected it to be quite such a large announcement, however! Takara Tomy has announced their new brand label T-Spark, a larger project that covers a wide variety of brands and franchises. This includes the new Adamas Machina (Steel Machine God), Realize Model, and Metamor Verse brands. More on them below.

The 62nd Shizuoka Hobby Show (2024) was just held, and these projects were all put on display. See photos of the event in Dengeki Hobby's coverage.

- Project PV

 The first major announcement is Adamas Machina, a brand of diecast alloy model kits. This series will branch out to different franchises beyond just Zoids. They first announced the AMT-01 (Adamas Machina Transformers) Rodimus (Prime) and the AMT-01 (Adamas Machina Zoids) Berserk Führer. This line seems to celebrate the history of Zoids lore, creating alloy models with interchangeable forms.

 The first form, Wild Mode, includes armor meant to resemble wild Zoids of the past. Though not the original designs featured for these Zoids, it's a neat nod in that direction, with armor meant to mirror a more natural look.

 The second form, Frame Mode (mistranslated as Flame Mode in some of the supporting media) features what looks to be an unarmored form of the Zoid. We're used to this with the Berserk Führer, but it'll be interesting to see their take on other Zoids.

 The third form, Weapon Mode has the Zoid all geared up with armor and weapons. The final forms as we know them. This line looks like it takes a lot of inspiration from their earlier Chogokin collab with Bandai, with edgier design language.

 At this time we do not have a price. Pre-orders are scheduled to open in fall of 2024 with the product aiming for a 2025 release. Zoids Official posted photos of the actual product shown in Shizuoka, which also shows us the bare body that's underneath of both the wild and frame modes.

 The second figure in this lineup has already been revealed as the Blade Liger! This comes as a surprise to some as Liger Zero would've been expected, being the rival and all, but I think it's just too close to the release of the Chogokin Liger Zero. Blade Liger will challenge the concepts set forward by the Berserk Führer, and it'll be interesting to see how they reimagine things like the Wild Mode and Frame Mode.