Latest Zoid Acquisitions

[Lionel]

And another poster. I already had the full version, and there was an empty one for sale.




Lionel

[Zoidmagnite]

Just in, today. Trying to decide which one to start with first. ^^

[dchan]

Whoa... didn't know they were out yet, congrats!

[Snowflake]

I'd love to know what changes they've made to them beyond ruining the tortoise's gun. So far it seems they tend to break up a lot of the black understructure by making some of it gray? I ordered one just because the small kits are so cheap, but the price shoooots up above that size class (not paying 20 bucks for an altered turt)
I'm really tempted to mess with spideath though, the only problem is the legs are all too swept forward (and it's clearly not a huntsman or crab spider so that doesn't work) so maybe you could alter the peg holes and point the rear four legs back a little? But the motorized leg movement is still reallly unsatisfying

[Zoidmagnite]

Snowflake:

I haven't bought Spideath, yet. After learning about possible changes, I stayed away from the reviews until I got at least some of the Hasbro Zoids.

I built Phobia first, with no knowledge of Spideath.

What I can say is that Phobia does indeed appear to be a Zoid of suitable design. The merits to the Hasbro release are of course the painted anime figures, of which Phobia's pilot is done quite well.

After building Phobia, I reviewed Darth Escargot's build of Spideath, and I can say I will definitely be ordering a Spideath. However, I did not feel that Phobia is a lesser Zoid. Rather, I find Phobia to be an acceptable design variation--and I wonder if the changes to the abdomen were necessary to help Phobia hit a lower price point (currently $9.99 msrp).

I know what you mean about the swept forward legs, which are necessary because of the spider's drive mechanism. It's a caveat of the design mechanics, so to speak.

However, it does throw the center of gravity off from a design analysis, but given a little poetic license in design, I find that after messing around with Phobia for a bit, that the caveat is acceptable.

Perhaps TT will come out with a new design in the future that is even better--though I would think they would have to increase the size of spideath/phobia to make the legs have a position more true to life.

There are color changes as well, some of which I find amicable, or useful to customizers. After looking at Darth Escargot's Spideath review, Phobia has different colored caps, and does not contain the clear figure (because of the painted anime figure). Also of note is that Phobia does not have any "extra caps", which I found a little surprising.

So, my conclusion is that in the spider world of ZW, Phobia and Spideath are two design variations of a similar Zoid, and neither is a lesser of the other. They are simply two variants.

An advantage that I think Phobia has to customizers is that Phobia is cheap, which means if a modeler wishes to do a diorama of a damaged/destroyed Spideath, that trashing a Phobia saves a few dollars for a Zoid to have to trash. Another solutions are competing factions with two different spiders doing battle during their development.

Of course, these are just my humble opinions. I will definitely be getting a Spideath, but I do see Phobia as a valid Zoid design, and an alternate take on the artist's concept drawings.


dchan: Thanks.^^ I can't wait to build them all, though it is unusual not to have to cut the parts off of sprues. That said, I am happy to support the 1/35 Zoids with a hope that we can see some of our beloved 1/72 kits return as well in the future. ^^ Now to figure out which one to build next. hmmmm ^^

[JES]

Wait, does this mean that if I went shopping at my local Wal Mart today, that I'd probably be able to pick one up? In the US? Edit: They came to Zoidmagnite in a box. Maybe they aren't in stores after all...


May 26, 2020 6:37:23 GMT -8 Lionel said:

May 26, 2020 9:37:23 GMT -5 Lionel said:

So... Here is one of the most difficult to find, and the last I was missing :



And now, I have the full OER MIB set !!!! Something I began 13 years ago.



Shield Tiger and Spinefin are the most difficult to find. I managed to get Spinefin 5 years ago, and here, a seller had both of them. A chance !


Lionel

I know that this is an old post, but I had to comment on it, because it was so cool! I find it pretty ironic that the last Zoid you had to get to complete your OER collection was a Zoid that became so common in the NJR/NER/NAR that just about every collector has at least one example of them in their collection.

I also find it interesting that unlike most of the OER lineup, that the last of the Zoids didn't have any color variants. You can tell at this point that Tomy was about to give up in Europe. Which is a shame, since the European line chose some of the best colorations in any release. The OER lineup's color choices were so handsome, and it would have been interesting to see which colors would have been for the European versions had the line hung in there. A red Shield Liger and Command Wolf, similar to Krark the Prince of Darkness? A Black and Grey Black Rhimos and Dimetrodon?

The change in factions also creates an interesting side-story in my Head Canon, where Helic insurgents use stolen Imperial Zoids along with their Command Zoids and the Blue Pirates to engage in a guerrilla campaign (hey, got to use something when your Zoids have been destroyed in a blitzkrieg, and what better way to give the invaders a middle finger than to repaint and relabel their primary assault Zoid?), while the Zenebas military employs former Republic Zoids from captured military bases and Zoid factories. It's not like there aren't attempts by both factions in the Battle Story to steal each others Zoids.

If you're going to continue collecting OJR Zoids, I humbly request that you make scans on the backs of the packages, where the variants are, and make a section for them on your website. I think that those are a very cool part of Zoids lore. If I ever could ever afford a OJR collection, I know that is what I'd do.

[Zoidmagnite]

For those that are curious, I bought my ZW Zoids online via Hasbro Pulse, and had them delivered to my door. Shipping was cheap, too, which is quite a nice thing compared to my international searches, which are also quite fun. ^^

[JES]

Feb 19, 2021 10:58:09 GMT -5 Zoidmagnite said:

For those that are curious, I bought my ZW Zoids online via Hasbro Pulse, and had them delivered to my door. Shipping was cheap, too, which is quite a nice thing compared to my international searches, which are also quite fun. ^^

 Oh, just asking because it would be cheaper if I didn't have to pay shipping costs in the first place. Still wouldn't address my other obstacle, which is very little space, but oh well. One of these days, I need to get a number of display cases, and give my current collection a dusting.

[Snowflake]

Feb 18, 2021 18:32:26 GMT -5 Zoidmagnite said:

Snowflake:

changes to the abdomen

Can you elaborate? I'm curious how these differ

[Zoidmagnite]

Feb 19, 2021 17:05:17 GMT -5 Snowflake said:

Feb 18, 2021 18:32:26 GMT -5 Zoidmagnite said:

Snowflake :

changes to the abdomen

Can you elaborate? I'm curious how these differ

I think so.

To begin with:
In spideath, the abdomen has the under body, the large upper armor, and the two lower armors.

Now put those all together, fuse the whole assembly, and then cut it in half, and that is Phobia's abdomen, with two additional notes. The pegs on the sides of the abdomen are gone. The two pegs are still on top, but the side pegs are gone. So, Spideath has 5 parts to its abdomen, and Phobia has only two.


Details:
In looking at photos of Spideath, and comparing that with Phobia, it would appear that the detail vents and etc are identical, for the most part. The molds must be multipart and as such, reconfigurable.

It appears that all of the detail lines are there as well between the two models--with the exception of the two missing side pegs.


Summation:
Without knowing what Spideath looked like, I didn't notice anything unusual about the build of Phobia, which is why I think they work as just two derivations of the same artist concept. Phobia even has the rear key to wind it, like Spideath has.

Also, the eyes are pre-installed on the head, but look identical to Spideath's head. Armors, legs and underside in the middle and front of the Zoid also look the same.

Imho,
IF someone needed to catalog Zoids, they would have to create an entry for Phobia, because the change is significant enough to warrant a different model. Phobia actually looks quite nice, imho, as long as one treats it as its own model. I'll be ordering Spideath, or finding one from a fellow collector that has a spare. But I will build Spideath with the mind that I am building Spideath, and Spideath is not Phobia, per se.

[Hanyoutai]

One thing I noticed with Spideath is that the side pegs were not very functional to begin with, so it was more beneficial to the design to remove them. The curvature of the body meant there just wasn't room for most weapons to attach. Crisis over on Twitter posted some comparison shots here to give a clearer idea of how they are different.

For those looking to pick these up for cheap, Amazon has the small guys in stock for $9.99 each, with free shipping if you order more than $25 worth. So aside from tax, would be as cheap as picking up in the store. Unfortunately, right now, they are not in brick and mortar stores, only online.

[Zoidmagnite]

Thanks for the Link, Hanyoutai.

So the back armor has been fused with the head mount on Phobia, as well.

And the top mounted hard points of Phobia are closer together than on Spideath.



Another tidbit that I thought was interesting between these two kits.

When I reviewed Darth Escargot's video, I noticed that Spideath comes with Stickers relevant to the anime.

Phobia comes with the anime pilot, but also does not have any stickers.

So if one wanted to do an Anime accurate Zoid, it would require both kits to get that job done, at least right now, unless TT plans to release the anime figures separately.

I've started Needle next. And there are some interesting things there as well.

[Snowflake]

Interesting! What a strange thing to do, since it would require making a brand new mold instead of a copy of tomy's mold. I guess they must always do that, since they make alterations like blunting sharpness and changing the trademark stamp area, but you'd think such a profound change would be much more expensive and accomplish diddly squat

[Zoidmagnite]

Snowflake: Perspectives are what they are. Though, in looking at the back of my Hasbro ZW boxes, I don't think they're going to have much trouble recuperating any minor costs associated with new molds. What I can say about the back of the box is that there is the Takara Tomy logo, right next to the Hasbro logo. I remember seeing that quite often with another worldwide release for a different franchise...what was the name of that? Transformers??? I'm not sure, but I have a funny feeling TT and Hasbro probably know what they're doing with Zoids--like they have done this before. They could answer your questions much better than I could on that subject ^^ In looking at my Hasbro Zoids Wild Zoids, they still say Tomy on the plastic...just like the NAR sprues and electric motors always did. That, I know quite well.^^ Given what I have seen, it appears that Spideath just costs more to make. And Phobia fits right into Hasbro's apparent $9.99 price group, and we Zoiders get a new design to catalog! Seems like a win, to me. ^^

[Lionel]

Feb 19, 2021 10:38:21 GMT -5 JES said:

I also find it interesting that unlike most of the OER lineup, that the last of the Zoids didn't have any color variants. You can tell at this point that Tomy was about to give up in Europe. Which is a shame, since the European line chose some of the best colorations in any release. The OER lineup's color choices were so handsome, and it would have been interesting to see which colors would have been for the European versions had the line hung in there. A red Shield Liger and Command Wolf, similar to Krark the Prince of Darkness? A Black and Grey Black Rhimos and Dimetrodon?

There is a gap too, the 1987 OJR line wasn't released in Europe. The only one that was planed was Ultrasurus repaint in Red. I don't know what would have been done if they has released Storch, Twin Horn, Sea Panther, Double Sworder and Wardick. Imagine a black Twin Horn...


Lionel