So over the past few years we've been enjoying US distributors getting ahold of Kotobukiya kits, and even some exclusives. Well, in an exciting turn of events, both Takara Tomy's T-Spark and Kotobukiya have both officially launched western support for the franchise!

 One of the nicest things about T-Sparks website is that, while it doesn't have many Zoids now, you can view the elaborately decorated official pages for them in English and pre-order directly from the site. It's worth noting that there's occasionally content on both sites that's present on the JP version but not the English, such as concept art, so keep an eye out.

 While Takara Tomy's US store may not have many kits at the moment (seemingly looking forward rather than covering already released kits), Kotobukiya's been carrying TT merch for the past while even in Japan, so they've got you covered. Many of the RMZs, AZs, and other kits are now available state-side through Kotobukiya US (not to be confused with Koto US). The store has competitive arrival times for pre-order items, and like other state-side distributors, it carries exclusive. There's also a free shipping deal for first time buyers spending over $50.

 This event, T-Spark Zone was held from January 17th to January 19th, giving an early look at some of the products announced at the time. It included displays for RMZ, AZ, AMZ, etc. Zoids Official posted a view of the Zoids stands as well as close ups of AZ Sea Panther, RMZ Command Wolf Irvine, RMZ Canory Molga which was replaced as RMZ-009 by Iron Kong, but will get here eventually, AMZ Fuhrer (including wild form and frame). Dengeki Hobby also posted an event overview with some Trinity Liger closeups, and Hobby Watch posted another overview.

 The popup tour has been going strong, longer than I think anybody expected! Fukuoka (January 31st ~ February 11th) featured Moonbay and her Gustav, including them as a cute little ramen stand. Saitama (February 19th ~ March 3rd) featured the Desert Arcobaleno Gang and Storm Sworder and a nice mid-day lunch scene. Niigata (March 14th ~ March 23rd) featured Irvine and his Command Wolf and a scene of him having lunch with the Helic Republic crew. Hiroshima (April 3rd ~ April 16th) features a lovely autumn scene with Raven, Rease, and their Organoids and Zoids, as well as the Geno Breaker along with a lunch scene. At this venue they've also launched a new diorama addition, featuring the Blade Liger being fired out of the Gravity Cannon! They still plan to hold venues at Hokkaido, with even more beyond that! With all the custom illustrations these tours have been an absolute delight.

 You can view a full list of goods on their website. A special mention goes out to these adorable Sieg and Shadow plushies.

 We've got our first look at the painted sample of the RMZ-008 Command Wolf Irvine! The RMZ Command Wolf already looks so good, and this is no exception. Pre-orders are expected to start in February.

 On the 17th ~ 18th, Takara Tomy will be hosting a T-Spark Zone event. For those who aren't aware, T-Spark is the grand label that currently encompasses a lot of the current Zoids products, including AZ, RMZ, and more. The promo page for the event shows us a new image for the Trinity Liger, which highlights the leg armor's gimmick of flipping forward to deploy two blades over the paws. A second post by Dengeki Hobby shows the Liger in a roaring pose.

 In another big twist for the upcoming Zoids lines, Advanced Zi has announced its next kit, the Sea Panther! Now this is an interesting choice. Takara Tomy had commented about wanting to convert their old wind-up Zoids into motorized ones, and thus far, the Molga was our main example of that. Now a new wind-up kit is being transformed, and we can't wait to see more! The Sea Panther has been a long-requested kit by Mercy Rabbit, who reminded us of some Sea Panther promotional art they did back in the day. Tanimeso also showed off their Sea Panther Zi-girl promo art. The T-Spark Zone page mentioned earlier also shows off our first painted sample of the kit.

 The popup tour has been in full swing, moving from one location to another. Each location has gotten its own custom art for products and promotions, including Dogo Onsen (here's another, Umeda Loft, Gairosu-tei, Sakae Loft (with Organoids, and Sendai Loft. They've also posted lots of various product images as well as some photos of the venue itself.

 The 25th Anniversary is in full swing, with a popup tour currently ongoing! There's also a dedicated page for a special talk show coming on September 14th. The event will include live dubbing by the main cast, behind-the-scenes stories, and more. Attendees will receive an original tote bag and two Wixoss x Zoids collaboration cards. They also held a poll to see which episode people wanted to see shown at the talk show.

 Aside from the talk show there's also the popup tour. There's a huge list of goods being sold at the event shop and other displays at the venue including production art, character billboards, and more. In addition, the show started streaming (on Japanese streaming services) on the 15th of August. You can get a look at a lot of the event goods and such from this helpful Famitsu article. Pictures of the venue show off some amazing anime scene dioramas, including the Episode 33 scene of the Blade Liger Vs. Geno Saurer, the episode 34 defeat of the Death Saurer, the episode 41 battle between Schwarz's Iron Kong and Thomas' Dibison, and the triumphant episode 48 scene where the Lightning Saix finally throws off its armor!

- Promo Video

 It seems Wendy's First Kitchen (in Japan) is now collabing with Takara Tomy. During this event period, diners can receive one of three promotional postcards. The restaraunt also has some of the old VHS cover art up for display as well as story boards and the upcoming AZ Death Saurer model kit!

 The second brand launched under the T-Spark label is the Realize Model series, a series of highly poseable 1/100 scale model kits with a huge potential lineup for Zoids. Unlike the Adamas Machina brand, this one seems focused on the Zoids series. Two painted samples (Blade Liger, Geno Saurer), three prototypes (Command Wolf, Helcat, Molga), and a variety of other Zoids have been teased, including Shield Liger, Command Wolf LC (Irvine?), Saber Tiger, Great Sabre / AT, Iron Kong, Red Horn, Dibison, Hel Digunner, Red Horn BC, Lightning Saix, Storm Sworder, and most excitingly, Trinity Liger.

 These silhouettes are at this point just teasers. We don't know if these are final decisions for the line (after all, we saw other silhouettes that never manifested as kit products before, such as Command Wolf being teased at the start of Zoids Wild.) The potential of getting game Zoids is a thrilling possibility, and with enough support for this series, we may just get there!

 For those curious about the size, 1/100 is the same scale as Kotobukiya's (not Supernova's) Zoids Aggressive (ZA) action figures.

 Zoids, the classic TV anime series is celebrating its 25th anniversary and it seems Takara Tomy has plans to do a variety of projects for it. We don't yet have images of any of it. However, this includes a collab with Wixoss, a card game in Japan that formerly collabed with Zoids Wild, which produced some rather cool art. (Fun fact, the same artist who worked on the Wild cards does a lot of Digimon stuff too, for those Digimon fans out there.)

 A special talk show is also planned for around September 14th, which we're looking forward to. There's also a pop-up tour which we don't know much about yet, but is planned for August 29th ~ September 18th. Paid streaming of the series is expected to begin this summer.

- Project PV

 There was a TV Anime "Zoids" Staff Talk Show" held on the 22nd of March, where people could go and hear members of the original anime staff talk about the series. This event got a unique graphic (seen in the link) as well. They discussed matters such as development and the CG process, but unfortunately, they didn't allow media coverage at this event so we know virtually nothing about what was discussed. Here's hoping for a review later!

 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!