The Big Zoids Expo is still going strong! Kotobukiya posted their own review of the event up 'til now, covering many of the exhibits. We're just about to round the corner toward the second phase of this event, with exhibits scheduled to swap out today. We've already seen teasers of the new model exhibit and the new concept art exhibit so it'll be interesting to see what new content is revealed for this event~

 As for status updates, the Murasame Liger Letter Opener increased from 4950 yen to 6600, but at a glance, that's the only price change we've been able to find. Some items have been noted out of stick, including the black logo T-shirts, purchase bonus stickers for the first half of the event (Republic), Blind Character/Zoid Badges, OJR Logo Shirt, Blind Box Art Acrylic Blocks, Blade Liger Face Shirts (below XXL), and Anniversary Shirts (besides M and XXL), Geno Saurer Raven Shirt (Large), 40th Anniversary Shirt (Medium), Zoid Core Pies, and Entry Bonus Cards. There have also been delays on the Tattoo Stickers, Character Stickers, and Blind Character Cards. (Huge thanks to Falc for tracking this!)

 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!

 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

 The traveling Traveling Exhibit has been going for a while now, and man, the amount of products coming out of this is insane. Acrylic Standees from every anime and a wide variety of other products. Some have been surprising, such as standees featuring battle story characters (Arthur, Ray, Anna, and Wolff, featuring their existing art), or standees of Bio Tyranno and Volcano showing them in a cel-shaded style instead of their typical fully 3D look. There are so many products to cover that I don't know if it's feasible for a news post, so I'll work on a dedicated page for this event soon.

 There are several posts covering the event and its displays. Part of the event was a series of dioramas featuring anime scenes reimagined through model kits, including a rather impressive Hover Cargo. There were plenty of products, and some character cutouts. Even a bit of concept art.

 Some of the products specifically shown off on Twitter, including character acrylic standees for Arthur, Ray, Anna, Wolf, Bit, Zero, Zoiko (Who was the twitter mascot during the MPZ days!), an Irvine Eye Mask, T-Shirts including a Geno Saurer and a Blade Liger shirt, a 40th Anniversary Stainless Steel Mug, a Rainbow Jerk Fan themed after its tail feathers, a Fiona/Fine Mug, and a Postcard Set. A lot of products are to be expected, such as the standees and can badges, but some of them are also just really cute ideas, such as Irvine's Eye Mask and the umbrella that looks like you're looking out of an E-Shield Generator at the Saber Tiger.

 When Stand River was hosted I was, unfortunately, rather busy handling things offline. There were a few new kits announced though, and the first one we'll be mentioning is the HMM Guysack!

 This kit was announced to have a Normal version and a Heavy Armor version. Many of us grew up with the Zoids anime series, so to us, the most recognizable Guysack is the Heavy Armor version, which will feature additional tail armaments including additional weapons, radar, and a gun seat, as well as featuring an angular cockpit and tanks on the sides of the body. This will likely reuse the same whitehead style cockpits already established in the Godos variants. The Normal Type featured in the battlestory used the more rounded cockpit, simpler tail equipment, and what looks to be an additional cylinder/gun/missile on the sides.

 While fans of the series had many ideas about what might be announced or revealed at Stand River, nobody was expecting this one! Kotobukiya announced its intentions of making and HMM Salamander, an absolute monster of a flying-type Zoid with a huge wingspan. Though we don't have any pictures of this kit or its overall design yet, the Salamander is already packed with details, so we're looking forward to seeing what liberties they take with its design. Hopefully it has better luck than the MSS Salamander!

 Kotobukiya has announced an upcoming HMM Redler BC, which will be packaged with the Booster Cannon CP! When the HMM Redler variants released, a lot of people turned a curious glance to the lack of clear colorless parts, which have become a standard of most Kotobukiya releases. Well, now we know why! This combined variant will include the clear colorless parts people have been hoping for. This kit will be a Kotobukiya Shop exclusive.

 After the initial release of the HMM Gojulas, the next release was the Ogre, followed by the Gunner. The original Gojulas itself, however, never actually received a rerelease. Kotobukiya has announced that they'll be rereleasing the limited Gojulas Marking Plus Version!

 Zoids Official posted a video featuring the Ankyrox Rare Bone Ver. in motion. As a funny aside, it seems the boxes for the Ankyrox shipped out with it being marked as an Ankyrox type instead of an Ankylosaurus type~

 Zoids Official has announced that Zoids Chaotic Century will re-air in Japan! This is the first time the series will be publicly available in 24 years, and they're even working on bringing it to other countries. This will surely bring new fans to the franchise, fans who will appreciate the classic designs during a time when the 40th Anniversary is focusing on the older shows. We've crossed two months in 2023, and it'll be interesting to see what else is in store for the 40th anniversary going forward!

 TakaraTomy has posted a video introducing us to the Dino Expo kits, showing us what these kits look like out-of-the-box (no additional painting). The bone colors look good, especially with the red eyes.

 By the way, the poll will remain open for 2 more days! This poll will help us decide what projects to prioritize over the spring and summer months. So far, HMM Lore is leading the book-adjascent category, with the FOR manga ranking top for manga projects! If you'd like to provide your own input, feel free to vote~ (This poll does not mean other projects will stop, it'll only help me decide what gets priority.)

 TakaraTomy has made a dedicated page on their website for the Rare Bone Ver. 2023 kits, which shows off additional images of each, and some nice dino-themed graphics. These two kits are scheduled to release at Dino Expo on March 14th, for 3,850 yen each (tax included.) I haven't seen a confirmation of an after-event resale, but the former Gilraptor Rare Bone was sold on TakaraTomy Mall after the initial event sales.

 Dinosaur Exhibit 2023 is starting on March 14th, running until June 18th! During this time, tons of dinosaur-related exhibits will be on display in Japan. This year, the key graphic for the exhibition is Zuul Vs. Gorgosaurus. To celebrate the exhibit this year, TakaraTomy will be releasing Gilraptor Rare Bone Ver. 2023 and Ankyrox Rare Bone Ver. 2023! These are the closest kits within the same series to mirror the main graphic, and they both look excellent in the bone scheme. Although the Gilraptor has already seen a Rare Bone release, this one will be brand new colors. We've thus far seen the package design and stock photo for each of these kits.

 Stand River has concluded, and the battle ended in the Republic's victory, with 704 points to the Empire's 579. There were so many amazing customs entered into both sides, which you can view here. I highly recommend browsing through all of the pages, because there are some amazing gems hidden in there, like the Bigasauru Mk-2 and the King Liger inspired kits! I'll leave the news post containing a link to the stream beneath all of the announcements if you want to check it out.

 In a suiting turn of events, the first new Zoid announced at Stand River is the Shield Liger Marking Plus Ver.! Shield Liger was also the first HMM Zoid to be announced, and according to Koto's website, it hasn't been rereleased since the launch of the series in 2006. From first glance it looks like the MPV might be a slightly darker, richer blue, closer to the original Tomy motorized kit, but this is hard to confirm with photos alone.

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 Fans have been asking for more flying Zoids for a long time, and Redler has been high on that list! Now we have official announcements, starting with the EHI-7 Reddra! This kit has a ton of seamless articulation, which adds so much personality to it. The default Reddra comes with two beam guns for the wings.

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— ?????_??????? (@kotobukiya_p) December 18, 2021

 A separate release has been confirmed for the EZ-005 Redler! Aside from sporting new colors, this version of the Redler will also include additional weaponry. What we saw in the stream was a gun for the chin and two sets of missiles for the wings. At the moment the Redler is still in development, so its equipment specifics may be subject to change.

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— ?????_??????? (@kotobukiya_p) December 18, 2021

 With the announcement of our two Redler variants, we also got an announcement for a Zoids Customize Part Booster Cannon Set! This CP shows some great developments in the handling of Zoid-specific weapons. It uses standard 3mm hardpoints which means that it can be equipped to a wide variety of Zoids. The attachments can be configured differently so that, for example, the weapons are oriented in a wider / flatter position for a more streamlined appearance.

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— ?????_??????? (@kotobukiya_p) December 18, 2021

 Continuing their trend towards Yuji Kaida kits, Kotobukiya has also announced a Green Horn AB! This kit came with some surprises. It features a new frill (an anti-charged particle shield) and additional tail equipment. Many people have anticipated the Green Horn for a while now, and it's looking great~

 (By the way, we have been receiving inquiries about fixing our webcomic links. I'll try to get that done soon! Sorry for the inconvenience in the mean time.)

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— ?????_??????? (@kotobukiya_p) December 18, 2021

 With the Green Horn came the announcement of a brand new customize part, featuring the Blade Liger's Attack Booster! However, this kit will include some improvements over the original Blade Liger version. It will now make use of more universal connector types, meaning the Attack Boosters can be equipped to multiple other Zoids, not just the Blade Liger.