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Zoids are fantastic toys, which you put together like a model, but after which will normally wind up or do something interesting. They never cease to amaze me in their intricate design and the mechanics involved, not to mention how incredibly accurate to the TV show they are (something I always like ^_^). In short the toys are miniature works of art and extremely cool! And here you can read reviews on the toys I own, either out of interest or to help you decide if you want buy them yourself :P
These are my Zoids (the ones underlined already have their reviews written), I don't own all the Zoids toys there are, and will only be writing reviews on the ones I own, so if it isn't listed here I probably don't have it, sorry. However, when I do get more Zoids, I will update the list :)
Zoid Models:
Zoid Action figures:
Microids:
Blireg
PVC Figures:
Zoids Mini Collection: Side of Republic
Other Games and Merchandise:
Berserk Fury
Review coming soon.
Blade Liger (Red)
Number: #028
Model height: about 14 centimeters (5 and a bit inches)
Zoid alignment: Helic Republic
Comments: Leon's special limited edition RED blade liger!
Appearance:
As far as I know, it's only different from the blue version by the colour, and what it comes with (in terms of extras, like pilots and such). The red itself isn't the dark red from the TV show, but a much lighter red, which still doesn't look too bad, only the Orange of the view screen is too close in colour to the new red and looked considerably better on the show. Strangely enough, the tail has a piece which is painted and is the same red of the show, and looks rather odd in comparison with the lighter red.
The teeth aren't painted, some which are made from golden plastic are gold, but the smaller ones stay the red of the plastic. I payed the same price for this as I did my Liger Zero, and it's teeth were painted (admittedly it's a slightly different make, but still, same model size and price) and they did paint the tail piece of the Blade Liger, so the least they could've done was spare some gold paint for the teeth (now I'm making it sound like the Zoid needs fillings :P). I used gold pen (which incidentally didn't stay very well on the plastic and needed several coats) and think it looks a lot better.
Basically it's the Shield Liger frame, with Blade Liger armour (they share a LOT of the same plastic sheets), as such it looks a little odd, and, well for lack of better word, fat. Especially when seen from above. Side on it doesn't look so noticeable, but having it next to other Ligers just emphasises the effect. maybe if it hadn't been put over the Shield Liger's frame it would've looked better in that aspect.
It really does look awesome though, much as I might go on about the bulk and colour (I'm kind of picky about things being show accurate, and Zoids normally are ;P If you aren't you'll probably love the Zoid), it's an exceptionally cool looking Zoid, which makes up for it's little differences.
Stickers/decals:
Plenty of stickers for you to use, and they fit the Zoid well. They might have shown up better on the darker red of the TV show though, or the blue of the original blade liger, as most of them are white, but all in all they look good, and there were enough for me to use on almost every flat surface and have quite a bit left over.
Movement:
It ambles about and it's mouth opens and shuts like it's roaring. My Blade Liger likes to walk in circles... I'm not sure why. I had problems getting it to work properly at the start, and ended up taking it apart and putting it back together a few times (though it turned out the batteries were too flat for it). Even now it still tends to walk in circles, though at least it walks, and I don't mind. It's probably something only unique to my Blade Liger, but I'd be interested to know if other people have problems with theirs.
Oh, it also uses two AAA batteries (at least mine does) which are more expensive and harder to get here than the AA kind, which is annoying, but it needs rather fresh ones or else it makes odd clicking noises and refuses to walk at all...
Poseability:
Ah fun! now we get to the blades! :D ok, each one folds out to the side and can be moved about a fair bit, that is you can move the blades themselves forward and back, and out to the sides. Basically there isn't much you see the Blade Liger's do on the TV show with their blades that the toys can't. The rest of the toy however, isn't nearly as poseable. The tail moves up and down, but that's it, boosters fold out of the back of the model, and pieces on it's shoulders, at the top of it's hind legs, the sides of it's face, and it's head all fold out, which is neat, but the basic frame of the model will not pose. Although you can freeze the motion of the Blade Liger part way through walking (by turning it off) and pose it a little that way.
Downsides:
It's not as show accurate as most Zoids (being no where near the shade of red it was in the show), and tends to look bulky. It comes with two tails though (one from the original Shield Liger) and using the longer one tends to help make it look less bulky.
A piece of the boosters seems to fall off almost every time I open them out, which is a pest. And it didn't come with any pilot! Most of them come with a little pilot, which really isn't essential (one of my command wolves came with two pilots so I used that) but it's a neat touch, and as one of the more expensive of the Zoid models it seems cheap that one wasn't included. The original blue Shield Liger I think, came with a small Fiona, Van, and Zeke, but they haven't even slipped in a replacement generic pilot (or even better, a little Leon!) for taking these out (I would've liked the little Van, Fiona and Zeke, even if they weren't from the same series as the red Blade Liger). They didn't paint the teeth either (trust me, they look a LOT better painted), it's like they were trying to save as much money as possible on it, which is sad.
Durability:
Bulky though it may be, it seems pretty strong, and little pieces don't generally come off if it gets dropped or hit (apart from the small white ones around each foot).
Over all:
I really like Blade Ligers and was kind of disappointed at it not being the same red as Leon's (or anywhere near that really). The bulky look isn't all that great, but I suppose the blade ligers are more bulky than the shield ligers (just not that much, but oh well). And it would've been nice if they'd payed a bit more attention to detail, it being one of the more costly Zoid models out there, but I still like it! :D It looks awesome, even though it isn't the right shade of red, it's not a bad colour, and you can get used to the bulkiness. The lack of possibility is kind of a pain (someone else has commented to me about this) but it's not too much less poseable than the majority of similar kinds of Zoids and doesn't bother me much, and it makes up for it with the blades.
It's Leon's, it's red, it's cool :D I really like this Zoid and it's definitely something liger fans will want to complete their collection. Be warned though, the red ones are limited in number ;)
Command Wolf
Number: #042
Model height: 10.5 centimeters (4 1/3 inches) not including back cannon.
Zoid alignment: Helic Republic
Comments:
Brad's Command Wolf :D NOT for throwing off of cliffs! >:( *scowls at Brad Hunter* Throwing your model command wolf over a cliff will not result in you magically being given a Shadow fox :P
Appearance:
It has awesome metallic looking cobalt blue paint :) The tail is blue (unlike the black tail of Brad's wolf) but I think it looks better this way, and apart from that, the whole model is very show accurate :)
It also comes with boosters and two different cannons, and two pilots, so one can pilot the zoid, and the other operate the smaller cannon :) (great if you bought a red Blade Liger, which comes without a pilot). It also has another piece which you can attach to the underside of the zoid and attach weapons from other Zoids on.
Stickers/decals:
It could probably do with a few more decals, but the ones it does have suit the wolf very well. I'm not sure about the rose one with the B though o_O
Movement:
One of the absolute fastest Zoid models, wind up or otherwise, and, it also goes two speeds! With the head down it will go slowly, head up, and it'll rocket along. Other than the walking and speed change it doesn't really do much (though it has to be one of the only Zoids I know of that goes two speeds :)) The feet do kind of slide along the ground instead of lifting as with the larger zoids, but it still looks alright, and as I've mentioned, it's FAST :)
Poseability:
Super poseable, the tail goes up and down, as does the neck, the head tilts backwards and forwards, and the mouth opens and shuts, as well as the cockpit opening. It's great, even the main weapon is slightly poseable, and you can make the wolf look like it's tracking, howling, or snarling, and pretty much anything in between :) The larger weapon is also quite poseable.
Downsides:
The plastic breaks very easily, mine broke twice, just trying to remove it from the frame. Because of the metallic look, when you cut into the plastic, it removes the sparkle, so, be really careful when cutting it out of the frames (which you should do, twisting it out of the frame will most likely cause the plastic to break!). And the peg on the back where the weapons fit, looks like it would break off easily (mine hadn't when I wrote this, but it has now, thanks to some help from my brother *frowns) a peg which all the weapons it comes with need -_-;.
Durability:
I've mentioned the plastic, once you've put it together it really isn't too much of a problem, but keep it safe, it's still really fragile (you might want to get two, so you can patch it up if something happens). And the peg >_< it's likely to snap, and there goes your weapons :/
Over all:
This is a great zoid! :D from the model point alone it's probably one of my absolute favourites :) the colour, the decals, the poseability, the speed, and ability to go two speeds! It's just so cool ^_^ show accurate, and as far as Zoids go, not too expensive :) The plastic does break really easily though :/
Command Wolf Irvine
Number: Zi-024
Model length: 20 centimeters (about 8 inches)
Model height: 10.5 centimeters (4 1/3 inches) not including back cannon.
Zoid alignment: Helic Republic
Comments:
Irvine's command wolf! :) Amazingly more common in some parts of the world than the blue command wolf model was, despite the fact that theres only ever one in the series...And again, feeding your Command Wolf Irvine to a Genosaur will not result in you automatically being given a Lightning Saix ;)
Like the Gustav and the Genosaur, this Zoid comes with it's own specific pilot, two small Irvine figures of reasonable likeness to the character (also, like the other figures, unpainted) one sitting and one standing so you can have Irvine pilot the Zoid, or stand next to it.
Appearance:
Much like Irvine's command wolf in the show, strangely enough, with roughly the same mold as the regular command wolf, except with a different weapons and extras. It boasts a greater colour variation than the blue command wolf but unlike it does not have metallic plastic. The smoke dispensers have painted silver pieces and parts of the shoulder armour have been painted black as well.
Stickers/decals:
It comes with a comparatively small sheets of stickers, the ordinary command wolf has much more, though, Irvine's command wolf has a much larger range and variation in its colours (not all blue and black, in other words), so the lack of stickers isn't a big deal. Even with the small amount of stickers I only used a few. There are the standard Zoid number specific stickers, a few unique to the zoid alone, and several which are like those on the regular command wolf only in a different colour set. All come in either white, red, or yellow, and suit the various colours of the zoid well enough.
Movement:
As with the other command wolf it has the ability to go two speeds, fast, or slow. Moving the neck changes the speed and the wolf will amble along slowly or shuffle along at a fast pace (very fast, for a windup zoid). The feet do slide instead of lifting like with most larger zoids, but it's still cool.
Poseability:
Quoting from the other Command wolf review since in this aspect they're the same: Super poseable, the tail goes up and down, as does the neck, the head tilts backwards and forwards, and the mouth opens and shuts, as well as the cockpit opening. It's great, even the weapon is slightly poseable (rotates), and you can make the wolf look like it's tracking, howling, or snarling, and pretty much anything in between :)
Durability:
Since it's not made of the metallic plastic the blue command wolf is it doesn't suffer the same problems in breaking. The pegs which the weapon attaches to could still be a problem, but have greater chance of not breaking due to the kind of plastic it's made from (mine hasn't broken, yet) and otherwise it looks fine.
Over all:
Comparing it again with the blue command wolf ;) This is a great zoid! Essentially the same basic model as the blue command wolf, but with several different colours, more durable plastic, a different weapon, good show accuracy in terms of colour and representation, different decals and two Irvine pilots! I don't usually like buying repaints, but this is almost another Zoid in its own right and one I really like. Even if you have the blue command wolf it's probably worth getting, especially if you're a ZCC fan and as long as you're not expecting anything new movement-wise :)
Click here for the next page of toy reviews.
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