Finally, information about the upcoming Zoids Core Box has dropped! An article was posted by Tower Records, a popular store for Japanese media. The box is scheduled to release mid-to-late December for about 27,500 yen. It's available on Amazon JP as well. Don't forget to factor the AZ Death Saurer into your budget schedule, as it releases only a couple weeks before the Zoid Core box! So, without further ado, let's get into it!

 Zoids Official Fan Books Reprint: Volumes 1 ~ 4 are being reprinted as part of this box!

 Zoids OFB Volume 5! The original story published through CoroCoro and other media is being compiled into a new Zoids Official Fan Book volume 5, which is suggested to contain new information about the story that we've never seen before! It'll also include diorama style images to match the other Official Fan Books, such as this image which is a recreation of the events in the second Official Fan Book EX.

 AZ-02EX Liger Zero Ray Gregg Spec. (Republic Color): The kit being released with this Zoid Core Box is the blue Liger Zero piloted by Ray Gregg. For those who aren't familiar with the battle story, he was one of the most important characters of the NJR era (what this box is based on) and important to the story's conclusion. The kit will come in a blue color, while also including a Ray Gregg pilot figure.

 Panoramic Seismosaurus Poster: A poster originally released through CoroCoro is also being reprinted! It's a neat one to have. The poster is quite small height wise, but still neat. At least, if it's printed at the same size.

 Perfect Visual Clips: Are making a return! This was a DVD in the old Core Box containing commercials and promos. Now, NJR era commercials will be accessible through a code found in the box.

 Big Zoids Expo 2023 Archive Footage: Footage of the Big Zoids Expo will be released in a 3D AR-style format.

 The AZ-07 Death Saurer, which is closing pre-orders on the 9th* has received an updated commercial that uses the original Deathy's commercial audio! There was also an interview video which discusses the Zoid's development, echoing a lot of thoughts we saw in earlier interviews. The kit was also displayed in a diorama setting at the Shizuoka Hobby Show.

 * Pre-orders in Japan regularly close earlier than elsewhere, so don't worry about this.

- Updated CM

- Updated CM

 A couple days ago Hobby Watch posted an interview with Takashi Nakase of Takara Tomy, a key figure of their Zoids projects. This interview also included our first look at the AZ Death Saurer kit in motion, with a video of its motorized walking features. The interview is full of interesting details, a few of the talking points being:

• When they first started talking about the next kit to commercialize, both Gojulas and Death Saurer were recommended. Ultimately, Death Saurer was chosen for commercialization.
  
  
• The interview contains numerous pieces of concept art in a nice, clear viewing size as well as a photo of the prototype.
  
  
• Advanced Zi will continue as a model kit series, and they're considering many different options. For example, they're obviously looking at popular antagonist Zoids, but also as kits that didn't get a chance to appear in the animes of the past.
  
  
• They've also expressed interest in tackling some of the wind-up Zoid designs, with the idea that they'd be reimagined and released under Advanced Zi as now-fully-motorized kits instead of relying on main spring power.
  
  
• The closing statement included a vague mention of exploring new categories of products, so we'll see what comes later! This is an interesting note since they have a section for various 'brands' on the new website that currently only holds AZ. (This is purely speculative, but it's fun to think about what might come next!)

 After the interview, they posted a commercial of the kit that recreated the classic advertisement from its original release! Just tonight, a Review Video was also posted featuring Zoiko. This shows us more of the finished product and its motorized features, including the Display Mode, and gives us our second look at a size comparison. This new comparison seems to place it at about the same size as Death Saurer (it appears smaller in the video because it is leaning forward for its firing pose.) One thing I quite liked about the video is the inclusion of the old motorized kit, showing off how various sections have been updated in design. This highlighted lots of details I hadn't noticed before.

- Advanced Zi Commercial

- Original Tomy Commercial

- AZ-07 Review Video

 Over the last day or so the AZ-07 Death Saurer has gone up for pre-order! You can find it on other sites, too, not just on Amazon Japan. This kit is scheduled for a late November release for a retail price of 33,000 yen (though many sites are getting it for closer to 27,000) and what a beast it is. There's an overwhelming amount of information to cover on this thing, so let's get started.

 First, the product page. This is the largest product page we've gotten for AZ kits yet, and wow does it go into detail. There's tons of concept art images displayed, discussions about the development process, and beautiful images compiled into a huge gallery. This kit looks amazing. Another concept art image was shown on Twitter a while back.

 Now let's talk features. The AZ Death Saurer comes with a seated Prozen pilot as well as a standing one. Standing pilots are a nice addition for the AZ line. It also comes with a standard pilot, to be seated in the cockpit in the stomach. The Zoid design is updated with more realistic details including a more dinosaur-like posture, the body raised off of the ground, etc. The hydraulics of the legs all move as the Zoid does. It contains LEDs in the core and the Charged Particle Cannon. The Charged Particle Intake Fan has an option part to change it into the Charged Particle Converter as seen in the anime. There's a forward-leaning firing pose meant to mirror the anime.

 The kit also has a Display Mode, which allows you to display it with the LEDs on. This is an awesome idea that I'm really excited about, and will make enjoying the kit so much easier. I've been keeping the AZ kits on my desk, with batteries alternating between my favorites just to swap them on every now and again. I have so much appreciation for the engineering of these kits, as well as how up front staff is about the development process (which is always a fun read.)

 * Some details in this news post have been updated to fix mistakes.

- PV Video

 TakaraTomy has announced a brand new portal site! This is a place to find all the newest information of Zoids, from products to events. This is an exciting development as it implies there's a lot more to come.

 Speaking of that, as of the Death Saurer, the "AZ" in "Anniversary Zoids" has become "Advanced Zi" with Death Saurer listed as the forerunner. What does this mean going forward? It certainly sounds like there might be grand things in store for the Anniversary Zoids, which have been my personal favorite Zoids products to come out in almost two decades. I greatly look forward to seeing where they go in the future.

 We've missed some updates for the Liger Zero Phoenix along the way, too. This post from Zoids Official shows off the BLOX joints, which look quite nice. They also included a neat detail that the armor piece on the face is split into two parts, so you can make it into the white-armored version from the anime or the black-frame version from the original model kits. As a reminder, this kit is up for pre-order in late September for 17,600 yen (tax included.)

- Review Video

- PV Video