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Post by timeoftheoath on Apr 25, 2011 22:06:18 GMT -5
...is that a Gremlin in the background? Yes! Good eye. It's a distant dream of mine to buy and restore one one day.
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Post by zed on Apr 27, 2011 4:46:44 GMT -5
So Mammoth. One of the few Zoids I was never tempted to buy. Why ?
I was brought up on the UK comic, and Red Mammoth was a very prominent character in the Mutant leadership, along with Red Horn and Krark. He was far more interesting than Gore in terms of personality, but as a model I never liked it. It was just too skeletal and fugly: a box with four legs and a few, sparse bits of armour. IMO the legs, head and trunk also looked too organic. In comparison, Gore and Red Horn had the required bulk to make them look powerful, and their armour was subtly curved and sleek.
In terms of design, I much prefer the Elephander, but I do concede it lacks size. If you could stick it through the 3D Photocopier at +20% it woudl be pretty much perfect.
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Post by timeoftheoath on May 4, 2011 11:28:22 GMT -5
Hmmm, I guess I kind of like the whole skeletal look, I mean, Giant Zrk is pretty much the most bare-bones zoid ever released and I love that zoid. To me, it makes it seem old, and kind of majestic in a way. Like how old cars are to the cars we have today. Sure, a new Honda Civic has more bells and whistles than a Chevy Fleetline could have ever dreamed of, but as far as personality, the Fleetline is leagues ahead of the Civic. I feel that way about the older zoids when compared to the new ones too.
New review coming up soon!
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Post by Maethius on May 5, 2011 15:09:37 GMT -5
Gotta remember that you are speaking different generations, though. Zrk/Bigasauru was made when Zoids were supposed to resemble more machine than animal. Red Horn, Gojulas, even Gordos are actually second generation designs. Gore/Iron Kong is 3rd Generation (D-Day) designs when Zoids went from extremely mechanical forms with animal movement to vaguely resembling animal types and finally to being mechanical adaptations of specific species. Mammoth is 1st Gen, clearly, but what surprises me (and pleases me) about Elephander is that it's really a 2nd Gen design... more machine styled than many of its contemporaries while more biologically correct than the old 1st Gen white heads. I, too, would love to see a slightly larger Elephander... or at least an HMM Elephander.
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Post by zed on May 6, 2011 5:59:28 GMT -5
HMM Elephander ? Please don't tease !
Gordos was another Zoid I never picked up, until the Canoneer version came out, for the same reason. I'd like to see Zoids revisit some of the old forms with newer technology. A Red Horn sized stegasurus or triceratops would be great, plus some medium to large sized aquatic dinosaurs. I'd be happy to not see another liger, T-rex or raptor for a while.
I regret not picking up the Dark Nessios when they came out.
zed
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Post by Maethius on May 6, 2011 10:45:13 GMT -5
I would actually love to see the HMM re-engineering of many of the older kits, like Gordos and the old windups. I mean, how cool would an HMM Geruder be? And it would be an affordable kit! Make the 5-Zoid Helic and Zenebas memorial kits in HMM!
Okay, pretty much redo the whole line... and get me a second job to afford them....
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Post by timeoftheoath on May 7, 2011 11:21:03 GMT -5
I would actually love to see the HMM re-engineering of many of the older kits, like Gordos and the old windups. I mean, how cool would an HMM Geruder be? And it would be an affordable kit! Make the 5-Zoid Helic and Zenebas memorial kits in HMM! Okay, pretty much redo the whole line... and get me a second job to afford them.... Man if there was an HMM line of those...I'd need a second job as well! I have yet to get an HMM just because it seems like it's only liger and tigers. Sure there's molga and Red/Dark Horn, but besides that, nothing really that grabs my attention and says "buy me!" An hmm Gordos? I'd be all over that.... Expect a new review on Monday/Tuesday. I have a camera, but my Mac doesn't recognize it so I upload the pictures on a different computer and I won't have the chance until then. Maybe I'll do two review to make up for the wait?
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Post by adamassc on May 12, 2011 23:07:21 GMT -5
I would actually love to see the HMM re-engineering of many of the older kits, like Gordos and the old windups. I mean, how cool would an HMM Geruder be? And it would be an affordable kit! Make the 5-Zoid Helic and Zenebas memorial kits in HMM! Okay, pretty much redo the whole line... and get me a second job to afford them.... Man if there was an HMM line of those...I'd need a second job as well! I have yet to get an HMM just because it seems like it's only liger and tigers. Sure there's molga and Red/Dark Horn, but besides that, nothing really that grabs my attention and says "buy me!" An hmm Gordos? I'd be all over that.... ....You sir, have just spurred my Ire. There is a lineage of greatness that has been meticulously crafted in the HMM line that no zoider should be without. I speak, of course, of the Gun Sniper.
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Post by timeoftheoath on May 17, 2011 8:49:13 GMT -5
I'm sorry for the wait folks, so in rreturn, I have two reviews today! And one of them is whopper.... Yup, Seismosaurus! Now Seismo is an interesting zoid. He falls into the category of "ultimate death machine beaten by a Liger" and his construction is one of the most invovled of any non HMM kit. I fell in love with Seismo as soon as I saw a picture of him online, but he was always a little expensive and out of my reach. After I finally saw the Fuzors anime, I decided screw the price, I want that Seismo. After getting outbid on ebay for a seismo at over a hundred dollars, a fellow zoider on this site directed me to a Japanese site where I got one, new in box, for only $70! So listen to what people have to say here. Here's the head and neck, which I actually assembled upside down the first time and had to rebuild it. Yeah, I don't know how I did that either. Here's the body, with a picture of that pullstring, which is exclusive to Seismo as far as I know. I had to get a second person to actually pull the string taught when I assembled the pieces that encased in in the tail. This is the contruction table, which as you can see, is quite the mess. The zoid had a lot of sprues, up to N I believe. It may have gone up to o though, I can't remember. All I know is they filled the whole table up when I first laid them out! Oh, and the mandatory energy drink for hour long building sessions. Finally fully assembled and ready for display. This sucker is as long as a house cat(though thankfully it doesn't ahve the bad habit of jumping on shelves and knocking off other zoids like said housecat). I can't remark on the motion, as I don't usually put batteries in my zoids(batteries are expensive!) But all in all, the Seismo is an impressive zoid, and if you surround him with little windups like molga, gator, snipe master, etc like I did, he towers over all of them in a monstrous fashion. A close up of the head. The cockpit actually ends up being on the small side, a lot smaller than say, a ligers, and it's probably the same size as my Dimetropteras now that I mention it. Still, I like the look. Here is one of the three pilots, the other two being in the cockpit and the similar looking pod directly behind this guy, but facing towards the rear. All in all, Seismo is a fantastic build and I give it my full recommendation. Grab one if the opportunity presents itself. You will enjoy the build, and the Zoid will take up an impressive place in your collection. Also out there is the Ultimo and Beserk Seismo, and even a blue one that I am immesnly jealous of if anybody owns that. As it stands though, you couldn't go wrong with any of them. and now the promised second review! Probably my favorite blox zoid, the Stegoganzer! Now I'm a sucker for stego zoids in general, so I had to have this guy regardless. But if you don't like blox, Stegoganzer may change your mind. I built him a while ago, and seem to remember having a little trouble with some parts (but maybe that's because I was trying to build him in a rush) but overall he is on the easier side of zoids. THe pilot isn't in the head, but between the plates, which offers better protection. He is also a cool gold pilot as well. Stegoganzer has some massive cannons for a zoid his size. And being a blox, he is great at posing for pictures. While some don't like his choice of color scheme, I actually think it's pretty cool. I recommend this zoid to anybody, especially those that don't like Blox, because this guy may change your mind.
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Post by zed on May 17, 2011 11:30:07 GMT -5
Ah the Sissy - one of my favourite Zoids. Its definitely worth putting batteries in, even for just 5 minutes, to watch the majestic swinging sideways swinging motion of the neck and tail. I love the details: the gunner pods, toes and the squillion mini gun turrets, even if they are REALLY annoying to cut out and clean. My only complaint (and I always have a complaint) is the colour scheme. Lavender and beige ? What were they thinking ? The black and red Fuzor/NAR version is a vast improvement, but I'm sure pretty impossible to find now. My Sissy has been sat on top of my fridge for years, and has never had the urge to leap.
I agree Stegoganzer is a nice design, I'm also a Steggy fan myself. Though I think Fuzors Gorhecks takes the prize, for having police lights and the rising cockpit design. In fact, quite a few of the Blox and Neo-blox looked really good. Its just a shame they were not very stable. A light bump and it would look like they've been break dancing. Ball and socket joints are great for articulation, but just too wobbly for other parts.
That my two pennies. Another great review, keep going !
zed
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Post by timeoftheoath on May 27, 2011 12:52:47 GMT -5
Not much interest in the seismo and stego, huh? Hmm, maybe I can revive this thread by doing something a bit differently.... Wait, that's not a zoid?! That's totally tue...it's a Lego! I have decided to post this lego review because, well, I'm sure all you other zoiders like to build other models too, right? For me, I enjoy building Legos just as much as zoids, okay, maybe that's a stretch, but Legos are defintley fun. They're fun to put together, and are quite awesome to display when you have all the legos of a particular set together. This particular Lego is my personal favorite, one that took me almost fourteen years to finally pick up. It's called the Sting Ray Stormer, and belongs to the Sting Ray theme. It's a gigantic lego, and construction is reasonably involved and very fun. The finished product is very intimidating, and it is one of the best display models of anything, zoid, lego, or otherwise, that I own. Size comparison with molga, which is a small zoid of course, but hopefully is helpful to try and gauge the size of this beast. It's wider than any zoid I own, and about as long as Gordos. A picture of the tail and a side shot. The cockpit opens up, which is where I stuck a couple of the Sting Ray minifigures. A couple of action shots showing off some of the things the Sting Ray Stormer can do. Overall, this in an awesome model, and with each day its becoming rarer and harder to find, and the price as well is skyrocketing. If you enjoy constructing models, not just zoids, then I give this a wholehearted recommendation and if you find one for a decent price do not hesitate to spring on it! The Stign Ray Stormer is a centerpiece in any collection and is truly impressive. Next time will be an actual zoid, I promise!
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Post by Snowflake on May 27, 2011 17:24:28 GMT -5
I remember trying to build some zoidlike mechs in lego designer, and EVEN THERE you really can't. Lego needs to work hard on its joints.. well there was that one anime-mech-inspired thing, which would've been okay if it wasn't so mediocre and terrible and they had ACTUAL WEAPONS. seriously lego.. more weapons.
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Post by adamassc on May 27, 2011 19:51:32 GMT -5
I liked Exo-Force. I agree more weapony weapons would have helped, but it still probably couldn't have saved that line from apathetic lego builders.
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Post by zed on May 31, 2011 4:34:53 GMT -5
I started picking up Lego again a few years ago "for my son" of course ! Since then, he has a couple of every theme going. After a year or two of Lego Agents, he now bounces between Hero Factory and Ninjago. We have a lot of the red and green Atlantis sets, with the great robo-creatures and distinct, vertical submarines. He decided the red and yellow ones were not very good.
Exo-Force was a little before our time, he has the Red Dragon walker and a couple of second hand minifigs off eBay. The minifigs are kinda cool in a Jumping on Anime Bandwagon kind of way, and the humanoid mechs looked great. But humanoid robots tend to fall over constantly and therefore lack in play value.
The worst thing is he's just discovered Pirates of the Caribean Lego (thanks to a free Jack Sparrow boat given away with a daily newspaper) but there is no way on earth I'm letting a six year old watch a film about skeletons which appear in moonlight !
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Post by Maethius on May 31, 2011 11:30:02 GMT -5
/.... should have bought stock in Lego... who knew they would take over the world as one of the most successfully licensed products EVER?!
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