MEDICOM TOY and Nike Bring Back Their BE@RBRICK Air Force 1, This Time Dressed in Gold

A fifteen year old sneaker collision is getting a new colorway, timed to land right as MEDICOM TOY closes out its 30th anniversary year.

Word is circulating out of Japan that MEDICOM TOY and Nike are preparing a new Air Force 1 Low Premium built around the BE@RBRICK name, this time finished in gold, with a release window pointed at the end of 2026. Details beyond the colorway and general timing have not been made official yet, which is normal for a pair still working through Japan’s release calendar rather than a confirmed global drop.

What makes a gold BE@RBRICK Air Force 1 worth a second look is not the color alone. It is who is making it. MEDICOM TOY does not hand its bear out to just anyone, and the brand’s history with this specific silhouette goes back further than most current sneaker collectors have been paying attention.

A gold Nike-themed BE@RBRICK figure is displayed behind glass, framed by a colorful bed of fresh flowers as part of a curated exhibition.

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The Air Force 1 and BE@RBRICK go back to 2010, when MEDICOM TOY and Nike released a two colorway Air Force 1 Low Premium pack built entirely around the toy line, one in black and one in an off white finish. Both pairs used a full pony hair upper, a gold lace lock, and a branded tongue tag, produced in a run limited enough that original pairs still change hands among collectors today. That release sat inside a longer relationship between the two companies, one that runs mostly through Nike SB and has produced Dunks, Air Force 1s and other silhouettes carrying the bear’s likeness since the early 2000s.

MEDICOM TOY’s own footprint has only grown since then. What started as a Japanese collectible toy company built around the BE@RBRICK figure now sits at the center of some of the most sought after crossovers in streetwear, spanning art, fashion and footwear collaborators far beyond its original toy aisle roots. A gold Air Force 1 would not be the brand’s first use of that finish either. Metallic and gold BE@RBRICK editions have shown up across the toy line for years, usually reserved for premium or milestone releases rather than the standard rotating series drops.

Nike’s side of the relationship has been just as steady. Beyond the Air Force 1 pack, the two companies have worked through multiple rounds of BE@RBRICK themed Dunk Lows and Dunk Highs under the Nike SB banner, along with Lunar Force 1 and Zoom Dunk Elite pairs that rarely made it far outside Japan’s own retail network. Most of those releases share the same visual language the original Air Force 1 pack introduced: heavy pony hair or faux fur uppers, a bear branded tongue tab, and finishing details that nod to the toy line rather than to typical sneaker branding. A gold Air Force 1 would slot into that pattern rather than break from it, applying a finish MEDICOM TOY already favors to a silhouette it has worked with for well over a decade.

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The timing here is difficult to ignore. MEDICOM TOY is currently in the middle of celebrating its 30th year, marked most visibly this week by the MEDICOM TOY 30th Anniversary Exhibition running July 25 through July 30 at Omotesando Hills in Tokyo, a showcase pulling together three decades of the brand’s collectible output in one space. A gold edged Nike collaboration landing before the year is out would fit neatly into that anniversary framing, giving the brand one more moment in a year already built around looking back at what it has released.

None of that confirms the gold Air Force 1 is officially tied to the anniversary celebration. MEDICOM TOY has not linked the two publicly as of this writing. But the pattern holds regardless of whether the connection is intentional: a brand marking thirty years tends to reach for its most recognizable finishes, and gold has been one of MEDICOM TOY’s go to choices for exactly that kind of moment.

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A handful of details remain unconfirmed, and it is worth being upfront about the gaps rather than filling them in. No style code has surfaced publicly. No retail price has been set. Nike has not listed the pair through its own SNKRS release calendar, and neither company has issued a formal announcement beyond the general “end of 2026” release window currently attached to it in early reporting out of Japan. It is also unclear whether the release will follow the two colorway pack format of the original 2010 release or arrive as a standalone gold pair.

Given MEDICOM TOY’s history of limiting quantities on its Nike collide, and the brand’s Tokyo retail network being the most reliable first stop for its releases historically, a Japan first or Japan exclusive rollout would not be surprising. Anyone hoping to secure a pair should expect updates to arrive through MEDICOM TOY’s own retail channels first, well ahead of any wider international listing.