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.

 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.

 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!

 The HMM Green Horn pre-orders are well underway, with the model kit expected to release in October of this year for 12,000 yen (13,200 with tax.) The kit is estimated to have 400 ~ 600 pieces, and will include new frill pieces and the new updated version of the Attack Boosters (which will be releasing as a separate CP as well, scheduled for October at 2,400 yen.)

 In addition, Kotobukiya posted a LABO Article going over this kit. For those who aren't aware, the Attack Boosters are based on the Delusional War Record (web comic) appearance, where the Horn was equipped with Attack Boosters as an equipment test. "Wouldn't boosters be useless on a Horn?" Not if you need a durable Zoid to make sure they don't blow up first! The blog points out the Anti-Charged Particle Shield Generators that replace the frill pieces, the additional tail parts, the new composite sensor on the back, and the variety of connection points that the Attack Boosters use.

 During their discussion of the Attack Boosters, they mention that there were two reasons for remaking this equipment. One was to introduce additional connection points, allowing them to be installed to more than just the Blade Liger. The second was to remove the seam lines in the top of the booster cover, while also redesigning the internal mechanisms. In doing so, they reduced the restrictions on how much the part could move and reduced the risk of parts breaking. The boosters can open wider and have additional movement points (diagonal or horizontal deployment). Both the AB and the Green Horn AB will come with clear colorless parts in addition to the clear colored pieces.

 Several new reissues have been announced! These include the Saber Tiger Marking Plus Ver. (December / 7,200 yen), the Buster Tortoise (November / 4,800 yen), and Sturm Tyrann (October / 13,500 yen).

 As an aside, Kotobukiya has posted a notice addressing what a lot of people have been noticing as of late, a significant increase in prices. It's quite obvious what lead to these price increases, but to summarize, a rise in the price of crude oils, infection preventative measures taken in their manufacturing bases in China affecting material supply, and the rapid depreciation of the Yen have all made it far more costly to procure everything needed to output a finished product. Kotobukiya has thus had no choice but to significantly raise the prices of products, starting with their own original IP products being released in July. Hopefully matters will calm down in the future~!

 There's a lot going on this year, and as usual, Mercy Rabbit is enthusiastic about the developments, sharing various works from over the years! Here is a closeup of the Shield Liger Bang HMM art, showing the pilots. There's another showing Irvine from the Command Wolf Irvine box. The classic Murasame Liger art has also been reshared in celebration of the AZ-03 Murasame Liger.

 Throughout the 40th Anniversary Project Animareal has been involved in creating dynamic promotional images to spark the imaginations of fans. Modeler SigemikanZ on Twitter has been sharing quite a few photos of the custom model kits that go into creating these images! As well as others.

 40th Anniversary Key Visual & Logo: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Blade Liger: Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Liger Zero: Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Murasame Liger: Link | Link | Link
 Additional Customs: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link | Link

 Kotobukiya has released the product page for the Kotobukiya Shop Exclusive Rev Raptor Night Patrol, which is scheduled to release in September for 7,800 yen! It'll include some clear colorless parts in addition to the clear green. The decals for this kit are the same as the Rev Raptor + Pile Bunker unit.

 For those wondering about the price, this kit will include both a basic plastic cast gold Pile Bunker as well as a gold-chromed version, based on the old motorized version of this kit released. The price is the same as Raven Raptor + Pile Bunker~ This was truly an unexpected variant, but a welcome one. Pre-orders are already opening, and western fans can pre-order through places like USA Gundam Store, which will receive the kits a bit later, but allow you to order these exclusives without the need of a proxy.

 Kotobukiya's notes from the product page also wish to remind people that chroming will make parts thicker. In other words, be sure that you carefully trim the chrome off of pegs when assembling this kit, to avoid parts not wanting to go together or snapped pegs.

 The HMM Redler Zenebas Empire Ver. has just been released in Japan. The Guylos Empire Ver. is scheduled to release next month for 5,800 yen, so let's go over some of the posts covering these kits over the last few months. There was a livestream for building the Zenebas version which also showed off the Guylos Version box art. There's also some out-of-the-box photos. A post by Mercy Rabbit over on Twitter discusses thoughts on the box art concept. A recent LABO article also discusses the model kit.

 Kotobukiy has announced the upcoming release of the HMM Rev Raptor Night Patrol! This was a limited kit from the old Tomy motorized line, and featured a black and purple Rev Raptor with a gold-plated Pile Bunker. The kit was discussed near the end of the Redler Assembly Stream as well as at the end of the recent LABO blog, with pre-orders planned to open soon!

 A while back we finally got to see all of the glorious HMM König Wolf product photos! This followed the reveal of some CG Images. This kit is scheduled to be released in July for 12,000 yen, and we see from the photos that it has an amazing range of articulation. A LABO article takes a look at the relevant kits, and one of the nicer pose possibilities is the ability to do a classic wolf howl pose with the head angled much higher than usually possible.

 The Customize Part Dual Sniper Rifle & AZ 5-Shot Missile Pod Set will also be released that month, for 3,800 yen, and is compatible with a variety of Zoids thanks to the evolutions in Kotobukiya's attachment part standards.

 While Heavy Arms gets some coverage in the same articles as the standard wolf, it also got some CG teaser images earlier on. Once the kit was fully announced, Tanimeso, an artist who worked on the Zoids web comics, also posted some of the old Heavy Arms art!

 A variety of HMM kits are up for rerelease in the following months, including the Storm Sworder (March / 8,800 yen), Shadow Fox (April / 5,400 yen), Iron Kong PK (May / 19,000 yen), Customize Part Gojulas Cannon Set (June / 5,400 yen), and the Dibison Marking Plus Ver. (June / 11,000 yen).

 The HMM Green Horn received a Prototype reveal during Kotobukiya's Hobby Show event. This gives us a look at the unique parts used in the frill, as well as the newly-updated Attack Boosters that'll be launched alongside the Green Horn!

 We've got several new machine-translated HMM segments available over in the Model Kits section! By sheer coincidence, this is Command Wolf week, with the stories and lore for the HMM Command Wolf, Command Wolf LC (Empire Spec.), Command Wolf AC, and Command Wolf Barad now available on their respective pages. These stories were interesting, taking on an actual story format instead of strictly reviewing their military history.

- HMM Section Updates

 There's also some general updates to the HMM section. For starters, we've added bookmarks (seen left) beside Zoid names for pages that include lore information, making it easier to find these pages at a glance. Gold for full lore (instruction story + concept art) and silver if it only has one of these.

 In addition, the HMM page as a whole has received another universal update to expand the information on each page. This includes a new section on the base kit page to include any Marking Plus or Repackage versions and the differences of. You'll also find box art discussion, a notes section for random facts that've surfaced through books, social media, and blogs, and a detailed explanation of "pre-order" / Koto Direct bonus parts that came with that Zoid. You may enjoy these sections if you've ever wondered what a particular box art is referencing!

 As a final note, the main HMM page includes a F.A.Q. section at the bottom and an Extra Details section discussing details about the series that aren't specific to one kit.

 Kotobukiya has posted the final product pages for the HMM Redler "Zenebas Empire Ver." (February 2023, 5800 Yen), the HMM Redler "Guylos Empire Ver." (March 2023, 5800 Yen), and the HMM Zoids Customize Part "Booster Cannon Set" (March 2023, 2200 Yen) ! Scheduled for early next year, they're already available for pre-order in most stores.

 On top of the product pages, Kotobukiya also live streamed a first look at the two Redler types, exhibiting their articulation. It was quite impressive to see how many points of articulation there are, as well as how well hidden the joints are. There's so much to these kits that doesn't quite get noticed in still photos, so I highly recommend checking it out!

 As a final note, Kotobukiya has announced a reissue of the HMM Shadow Fox Marking Plus Ver.! It's scheduled for April 2023, at a price of 5400 yen.

- HMM Redler Video

 Kotobukiya has announced a reissue of the HMM Storm Sworder! This iconic air combat Zoid will be rereleased in March for 9,680 yen retail (tax included). A pre-order link has been included down in our preorders table.