Last Modified: 2009-11-04
First Posted: 2008-07-03
This one came with the Japanese game Zoids VS (for Gamecube). It has lots of custom stickers, as well as two different colors of caps—blue and orange. The only problem is that half of the orange caps are discolored, due to poor mold cleaning!
Recently I discovered a set of stickers for giving Zakus shiny mono eyes. Turns out they also make good raptor eyes. To add to the effect, I drilled a hole in the head, and put a piece of fiber optic inside, so light could shine through. Another quick and dirty mod is to use the tip of a mechanical pencil for the gun barrel in the mouth.
Being abandoned swap ideas, all I have are the crappiest pics imaginable. Actually, 6–14 aren’t totally abandoned. I’m hoping that posting these horrible ancient pictures of awesome swaps will shame me into taking better pictures. Seriously, my phone has a better camera than the one that took these.
1-7: This is the combo I didn’t think of, but ended up being the best one.
8-14: This didn’t turn out as nice as I expected (and is a pain to photograph), but it does look good in the dark! (#14 is all glow power, no blacklight.)
This was the first limited model from the Genesis line. It glows in the dark, and kind of always has a semi glow to it in light. It also comes with a small pvc figure of Char Aznable Zairin, the Megaraptor’s pilot and sometime bad-guy of the series.
To get this guy, you had to buy each of the three Genesis DVD box sets (which each came with a clear hero liger, and cost around $300), then send the proofs of purchase off. Or wait until they hit Yahoo Japan (much cheaper!). The best part of this one (for me) is the clear pilot. I’ve wanted one of those forever! I also got some fun night/blacklight shots.
This is the limited “Commander” version of the Bio Raptor, which was easier to obtain than the regular version, and only slightly different in color (WORST LIMITED EVAR). As you can see by the comparison pics, this is a wee fella. I kind of want a whole army of them.
Sometimes has serial number EMZ-01. The last pic shows the evolution of “raptor-type” zoids!
Before the Bio Zoids, I would have been annoyed at something that didn’t have a motor and didn’t even look like a zoid, but this was too cool to pass up. #7 was done with a laser pointer. #8-9 are of the handy display stand. Last six (added June 2006): I messed around with some new poses, finally taking advantage of Bio zoids’ flexibility. This one is based on a pose my “special lady” made, which worked out well since this guy’s legs are totally loose now. For a while he sat atop my monitor at work.
Finally got me mitts on one of these guys. My only beef is the lack of clear eye pieces. They went the lazy route and just painted them.
Some versions of this zoid came with a black head, and others came with a grey one. Both of mine came with grey, lucky me. So I borrowed a black one from Zillon, for illustrative purposes. Before I got a Zillon, I wanted something black, so I used the head from a Clawgut (which is actually a Starrior). Pic #4 shows the alternate weapon, for suicidal pilots. The last pic shows the garish stickers that come with all Zoids2 kits, that I choose not to apply.
Short review: WOOT! Long review to come. I love this little guy.
For now, check out the build review.
This was a fun build, with very few tough parts (which weren’t even that tough). The main thing with these smaller kits is having to do a lot more painting than with large kits, if you want that “looks just like the box!” style. I think Kotobukiya’s getting better at engineering these things, because there were not as many parts that needed gluing to keep the kit stable.
1-6: An OJR Merda and a RoboStrux Runna can make an all silver runner. The leftovers make a red/blue oddity.
7-12: Throw a Zoids2 Hellrunner in the mix, and you get these two! The blue/black one almost looks like something that could have come out in the NJR (except that they wouldn’t have bothered to make a black head, with all the silver-grey ones laying around). The red cockpit is from an OJR Sinker, btw.
Released in 2000, one of the first brand new designs since the OJR days, and sadly it’s a turkey. The main problem is the poor molding, which pretty much ruins ol’ Gunsnipey. A year later, this was one of the first Hasbro releases, which meant it could be purchased right off a shelf, instead of paying an arm and a leg for shipping from overseas.
Before this was released, it was referred to as “Gun Sniper MK-II”, which made me think (and hope) they would have redone GS with decent molds this time. Instead it was a complete redesign. It comes with red or blue caps, plus matching stickers for each.
