Last Modified: 2015-12-07
First Posted: 2008-06-08
Back when this set came out (late 2002, along with Redhorn and Deathsaurer), it was quite a big deal, especially for clear-obsessed me. Now, with Hasbro’s holotechs, and the Genesis DVD set limiteds, it’s almost commonplace. I still love them, though. (These were never officially known as “crystal” zoids, but the name stuck.)
Since the crystal horn dye went so well, I thought I’d do my Molga (I went with the Genesis color scheme). It did not go as well. The body halves warped a little, and the greys are darker than I wanted, but it still looks kind of cool. Last three pics were taken on a light table.
I’ve been doing this one off and on forever (I work slow these days). Who knows when I’ll paint, so I present this one “in progress”, with bonus “making of” pics. The main thing holding me back was what to do about the wings, but then I tried out Savinga’s blades and was finally happy. A bonus with the blades is they make the bee look like a living Prozen Knights bee logo.
The other limited from Wonderfest ’08, and another lucky catch from Toy-Wave. I didn’t know until recently that there were two shades of armor—black and wonderful wonderful gunmetal grey. Blacklight pics to come are now up, of course.
Due to a lucky find from a US shop, the inflated prices of Rebirth zoids, the horrible exchange rate, and shipping costs, I somehow managed to get this LIMITED version for about as much as the regular version would have cost me. This was supposed to be one of those “faction switch” limiteds, but it came with the regular sticker sheet, so it’s still an Empire model despite its bright Republic color scheme.
In other news, Valga reminds me of an updated Robocaterpilas.
I got this in the not-expensive lot with the Reddra. The Wave reissue is identical, except that this one has the sweet clear blue bits (the Wave’s are orange) and blue caps (grey on the Wave).
Here are a few pieces from the Baratz series. I don’t have any of the others, because they were expensive as crap to get. There were 13 Baratz in all: six designs, each with two colors, and then the obligatory “chase” figure.
These came out in early 2006, along with the first Neo Blox (with which they can combine). The theory is that they were originally to be released as “Baratz 2: Electric Boogaloo”, but got postponed until the Neo Blox release for whatever reason.
Another ebay catch. I like the color scheme on this. I think the pilot lady suffered a bit when shipped from Singapore, but otherwise this is a sweet find.
Sometimes has serial number EMZ-03. The original. I can’t think of anything to say about Molgas that I haven’t said in all the other variant entries, except that they’re pretty sweet.
I have too many Molgas. I got bored with taking so many pics of these, so I drilled some wider holes in these missiles from CP-26. Nice, eh?
Demantis is incredibly fragile, and I finally got tired of pieces falling off every time I looked at it, so I glued the “fins” and clear red bits on. I like the little binocular mans. He sees what you did there.
Is there anything blacker than this spider? No, none more black. Well, if I could have popped the transfer ring cockpit’s glass off, I could have used the Z2’s smoke one, but Starrior canopies are usually glued on. Another option (see #5 and #6) is to use a clamshell cockpit (Zillon and Molga Canory have black ones).
Tied with Kreep for best color scheme! Tied with Zabat and Hebby Rhimos for worst stickers, as far as actually sticking to things goes. Some people haven’t had problems with the stickers on Genesis kits, some have. Quality Control was very spotty in this line. More pics when I sort this sticker mess out AH, SCREW IT.
This kit was actually a two-fer, coming with a regular Molga, and one in Genesis colors with the Canory Unit. The HMM-ified Molga loses the secret missile compartment in the back, but gains a TON of flexibility, plus little grub-legs. I’d say it’s a fair trade.
Since there weren’t enough pitfalls to warrant a full build review, I’ll just say it here: the brown plastic pieces that make up the wheel retracting mechanism are very fragile, and a tight fit. Trim the pegs a bit, to ease stress!
Aaaand here’s the other half of the HMM Molga two-fer. The Canory unit has a lot of detail and looks great, but a lot of it is made from the semi-fragile brown plastic. Mine is showing stress lines where the arms mount to the gun, and also where the “jewel” under the barrel goes. Also because of that plastic, I’m keeping this one’s wheels permanently in anchor mode, since the mechanism for them is extra fragile.
I combined my crystal Molga with a RoboStrux Kreep to make a half and half zoid. It’s easier to see the internal workings now, but the Kreep is kind of ruined, because the pieces didn’t fit quite right.
I finally got one of those Guylos Molga limiteds, and the first thing I did was take the glowy bits off the sprues and put them on my clear Molga. This is a swap I’ve wanted to do forever! Maybe I will have to build my spare clear Red Horn, and do a similar swap with it and a Dark Horn.
Part of garage kit company Wave’s set of 24-scale OJR reissues. It comes with some extra pieces to make “full armor mode”, as well as a build-it-yourself 1/20 unpainted pilot. A few months before this one came out, Toy’s Dream Project also reissued Deathpion, with the original cap and lens colors (blue-purple and clear blue, respectively).
This one’s mostly MIB—my OJR version is borrowing a couple pieces right now. Priorities, you know. They’re identical, except for the clear parts (orange here) and caps (grey here).
I remember wanting this one as a kid but not getting it for whatever reason. I think they disappeared too quickly.
The first mantis type. It has an interesting walking mechanism: the legs are mainly decoration, and the real work is done by some stubs directly under the body. In bad news, the front section droops with age, doh!
I really waited too long to get one of these, especially given how much I like bugs. I want to paint it gloss black and do a zoids version of the album art from Massive Attack’s Mezzanine.
My Tarantulon was missing the fangly guns, so I used the leftover Shield Liger guns from Blade Liger BI. Phenotype sent me an extra set along with an auction I won, so I didn’t have to worry about hacking up my set. Hoo-ah! I think I like these guns better, but I’d still like to get some originals (for completeness’ sake).
There’s only one thing you can say about the color scheme: they sure are some colors. Whoever owned this kit before me was the worst applier of stickers ever! I had to get rid of 2/3 of them just to make this guy presentable.
This is one of the odder zoids out there. It’s a pillbug that pulls two trailers, for carrying other zoids, or spare parts, or smeat. The armor contracts as it rolls, and the radar dish spins. The kit comes with a sprue of anime characers, but you have to paint them yourself. Or get the gashapon figure set!
One of the highly sought-after mini pullback zoids. I’ve wanted a super deformed Molga for a while. I got two of these in an auction. They were a steal because the motors were busted. My friend calls these “silly deformed”, because they are. This one and the Glidoler are a lot easier to find than most of the rest of them (you don’t even want to know what the Barigator goes for).
