Tags and Stuff

This one originally came with gold underbits, but I did not want that, so I grabbed a Command Woof AC for the black parts. Much nicer.

This was a Fuzors limited that was sold at a convention in early 2005. Those nasty red pieces will make your eyes bleed, so get a spare NJR for swaps. The last pic is a really ugly flash shot, but it shows the shiny plastics that many Fuzors kits had.

1-5: I didn’t like the red bits on the Command Wolf HT, so I swapped them with parts from an NJR woof.
6-10: Lately I’ve been interested in the idea of clear bits over shiny bits (like the G1 dinobots). Then I remembered I had some leftover gold bits from my leoshop Woof. I know that your eyes are hurting right now.

I got this off the Yahoo Japans, mainly because it was the cheapest way to get an OJR smoke colored canopy (got it for 1000 yen). Turns out it’s a very sweet repaint here. Good detailing, though oddly the dood didn’t trim the stickers (it doesn’t hurt the model any).

CP-22: Dual Sniper Unit  /  CP-23: AZ-5 Missile Unit

I somehow lucked out and got the two CPs right before they disappeared. The secret was getting them the DAY they were released. I usually just have CP-22 applied, because both is overkill. I do want to paint the missiles in CP-23, though…

When this one came out, it was good news for everyone who had missed out on CPs 22 and 23. I originally only got it for its swapping potential, but recently a lack of new kits drove me to revert this one to its stock configuration. If you like colors, this one has them. All of them! I took these pics with the flash on, which really shows how insane the colors are.

Of interest: the “fart cannon” pieces have a slight mold change from the NJR version. The mount’s hardpoints were changed to be the standard blox hardpoint size, to aid in “fuzing” possibilities.

Sword Wolf is one of the hero zoids of the anime. It’s a recolor of Whitz Wolf, with added swords and such. I had W.W. back when it came out, and wasn’t impressed, so I ignored this release until I saw a photo at the right angle and realized it was cool. The swords really complete the kit. I’m going to repaint this one–some day. (Thanks to Alteka for the “SHAWINGUUUU” text in the last pic.)

285 pieces, how!? I decided to detail this one as I built it, but after all that work (15 hours building and panel lining), I have no energy left for the application of stickers. I’ll wait a while for that. Best thing about this kit is the choice of canopy colors: orange for the newschool fans, and smoke for the oldsters. Take your time deciding, because prying apart these pieces is nearly impossible without casualties. Worst thing about this kit is the minimal jaw movement. I modified mine based on this guy’s work, and got a bit more movement (enough to make me happy, at least).

One year later, and I’m finally finished. All the time I was putting off doing stickers, I was also bothered by the ham-fisted panel lining job this poor guy got. My previous gold and silver markers were a piece of crap, so I redid the teeth and hydraulics too. Either this project was cursed, or HMM kits really don’t stand up do disassembly, because I broke three pieces AND lost one. I replaced the lost one (a cap-like piece that holds the shoulder armor on) with a leftover Armored Core weapon. Just what the crap it’s supposed to be, I don’t know.

Well, Irvine’s gun has never looked better. Empire Command Wolf LC was the second limited kit from the HMM line, released summer 2007. It is a recolor of the regular Command Wolf, but it also includes a new weapon—the long range cannon (like Irvine’s variant in the NJR). It sold out quickly, teaching a valuable lesson: if something’s limited, don’t hesitate! I hesitated, so I had to pay a lot more on the secondary market.

What to glue, what to paint, check it out, check it out!

Thanks to a sale at HLJ I was able to pick this up for cheap(ish).

If you take out 3/4 of the colors used in the Fuzors MK-II, you get a pretty decent Woof. Especially if you have some extra black caps lying around. The last pic shows what you get when you do the opposite swap: USA! USA!

I must say, this guy looks a hundred times better with stickers applied! But not good enough to keep it from being sold when I got the HMM version.

How many Command Woofs do you need, anyway? Yes, but this one has a blue metal-flake finish, and comes with CP-04. Plus I have an affinity for the number 42.

People seem to either love or hate this woof, but it has a special place in my heart, since it was the first zoid I got after a zoidless year of abject brokeness. For silliness, see the Hasbro box: no umlaut, and “fart cannons” facing forward! Semi-silliness: why does a giant mechanical wolf need giant “night vision” goggles? Night jiggling? I guess because of the cardinal rule of anime/mecha: it looks cool!

I swapped out the white caps for black ones, and also painted the feet black, to give it more contrast. The figure is prepainted and came from a gashapon set I got off Yahoo Japan.