One Piece isn't old news in Japan right now — it's mid-surge. The anime just rolled into the long-teased Elbaf arc, the manga quietly crossed 600 million copies in print worldwide, and Universal Studios Japan is throwing a multi-month event around the Straw Hats through the fall. If you've noticed more One Piece merch showing up in Japanese stores this year, that's why.
Chopper, in particular, keeps landing near the top of every character popularity poll Shueisha runs — including the "WORLD TOP 100" vote currently underway. Bandai clearly knows it: the Figuarts Zero line just added another Chopper variant, this time in his "Wataame Daisuki" (loves cotton candy) pose, mid-jump with his post-timeskip look.
It's a small, display-shelf-sized figure rather than a big-ticket collectible, which makes it a low-risk way to grab a genuinely current piece of the character's merch lineup instead of an old rerun sculpt.