Okay, now that the hype has died down a little and I've had a chance to look through all the news posts, there's quite a few things to get excited about! This writeup will mostly be based on
Dengeki Hobby Magazine's extensive coverage of the reveal event.
The event started with Takara Tomy's president Kazuhiro Kojima revealing that the mysterious "Project Z" was indeed a new Zoids line by the name of "
Zoids Wild". He then passed the mic to Yutaka Tajima, head of Takara Tomy's "Boys' 1st Project Department" and leader of the Zoids team during the NJR, who discussed the history of the Zoids franchise. "Phase 1" (what we call "the OJR") ran from 1983 to 1991, with a total of 19 million products shipped and 39 billion yen in sales. "Phase 2" (from 1999 to 2006, so "the NJR" + Fuzors + Genesis + Neo Blox) was even more successful, with 25 million products shipped and 44 billion yen in total sales. This year they'll be launching "Phase 3", and they want to make it the biggest yet, aiming for over 50 billion yen!
Next, department manager Toshio Hirai took the stage to explain the details of Zoids Wild. Their main target demographic will be boys aged 10 to 12, but they will also be targeting fans of the earlier lines who are now in their 20s and 30s. Since a core element of Zoids is that they're "living organisms", the new designs will be themed around skeletons (such as in
this concept art), and their construction will include elements of "excavation" and "reconstruction". In practice, this means the kits will no longer come on sprues, instead being provided as an "excavation pack" full of bones to be "reconstructed" into a skeleton, and a second bag full of armour to bring out the Zoid's full capabilities (as shown
here and
here). The models will be motorised and able to move around even in their skeleton form, but adding the armour will allow for the line's other big gimmick: the "Wild Blast", a special attack in which the Zoid "unleashes its fighting instincts and transforms into an attacking form". It appears that this will require manual moving of parts on the windup kits, but may trigger automatically on the motorised ones. The first two kits, Wild Liger and Gilraptor, will be released in June for 3000 yen (+ tax) each.
There's going to be far more than just new kits, though. Takara Tomy is planning on a "360-degree multi marketing" strategy to push Zoids into every possible medium children might be interested in, including anime, manga, arcade and console games, apps, special stores and licenced goods, all linking back to the toys. As for the toys themselves,
this site says they will be sold through a wide range of outlets, including toy stores, department stores, internet shops, and a "Zoids Base" official shop. On top of this, Takara Tomy "wants to work with their global partners in North America, Europe and Asia to bring Zoids Wild to children around the world", which bodes well for Zoids returning to the west!
(No mention of Australia, though.)Here is the
lineup of kits announced so far:
ZW01 Wild Liger (lion type)
Class: M-size, motorised
Wild Blast: Mane Claws flick forwards and move up and down, mouth opens and closes
ZW02 Gilraptor (Deinonychus type)
Class: M-size, motorised
Wild Blast: Wing Shotels move forwards and backwards in cutting motion
?? (rhinoceros beetle type)
Class: S-size, windup
Wild Blast: chest armour transforms into Giganto Horn, both horns move in pinching motion
Scorpear (scorpion type)
Class: S-size, windup
Wild Blast: Poison Spears deploy forwards
Gannontoise (Proganochelys type)
Class: M-size, motorised
Wild Blast: shell opens to reveal Gannon Cannon, which moves in firing motion
Gabrigator (Sarcosuchus type)
Class: M-size, motorised
Wild Blast: Crumble Jaw enlarges and bites
?? (stag beetle type)
Class: S-size, windup
Wild Blast: Dual Scissors deploy forwards
?? (Brachiosaurus type)
Class: XL-size, motorised
Wild Blast: stops walking, deploys Hammer Bones on either side of neck, slams head down as a hammer, resumes walking
A
diorama at the event also featured a
ninth design called Death Rex and an alternate black (or dark purple) colour scheme for Gilraptor, but little else is known about them so far. Information on the various tie-in products is also limited, but here's what was announced...
The anime will be starting in "summer" (likely July) 2018 on MBS and other TV stations, and will be directed by Norihiko Sutou (director of Pokemon Advance Generation, Diamond & Pearl and BW), composed by Mitsutaka Hirota (did series composition for the 2011 X-Men anime, The New Prince of Tennis and Nanbaka) and animated by OLM (animators of Youkai Watch, Inazuma Eleven and various Pokemon series). According to a teaser shown during the event, the anime will be set on a "desolated Earth" in "20XX", and will feature "fierce life-and-death battles for survival" between Freedom, "a young team tied together by their bonds with their Zoids", and Death Metal, an empire that "controls Zoids by force". Characters from Freedom will include Arashi (Wild Liger), Onigiri (Gannontoise) and Penne (Scorpear), while Death Metal characters will include Gallagher (Death Rex), Dorake (Gilraptor) and Caviar (Gabrigator - spelled "Gabriator" on the slide, but pronounced "Gabrigator" according to the katakana).
The manga will launch in April in Coro Coro Comics, telling an "adventure story of boy(s) and Zoid(s)", and accompanied by articles about Zoids Wild. "Zoids Excavation Bases" will be set up in storefronts to promote the models. Various licenced goods have been proposed, including clothes, bags, accessories, eating utensils, jigsaws and snacks. There will be an official Zoids Wild app, which will provide assembly help, a mission-based game, and something called "ZFX". The ZFX feature will allow users to record footage of completed models, add various special effects, and upload the resulting videos to the internet where they can be rated by others. Uploaders of highly-rated videos may earn special prizes (represented as a golden Command Wolf silhouette in
this image). Finally, a child-oriented arcade game is "under development", and they've "begun a project" for a Nintendo Switch video game.
So much exciting new stuff on the way! I'm a bit disappointed that they probably won't be bringing back any of the existing kits, but hey, at least we (hopefully) still have the HMM line...
