King Liger Redesign WIP...And Something New

[JES]

 
And the link if you prefer...  


Okay, so where to start, since this is one of the first times that I've actually posted something Zoids related in a while: First Spino Razor? It's a Warthog type, intended to take on a role similar to Black Rhimos, but with a more advanced package, and a Geno Spino-like gimmick with a buzzsaw. It is a real razor back! A what if Zi Arms continued to manufacture new Zoids besides Parablade, Death Raser, Brastle Tiger, and the miscellanea.



I started on this, but stopped in favor of my Swallow class. And then I TONYFFH on Reddit started working on a battle royal type of game, and chose to include both Zeekdober, and then King Liger at my insistence (because fighting a Zeekdober in a Shield Liger would probably be suicide), only to find out that making sense out of King Liger's strange physiology was a bit of a challenge. Modeling King Liger as is without a neck would just look goofy, and so TONYFFH asked artists for help, which you now see above.



Obviously, King Liger needed a neck (still a work in progress), but I figured that integrating those blades into the neck would not make them realistic when it came to using them. I will admit that I took a lot of inspiration from Aurora Liger's interpretation of King Liger: www.deviantart.com/auroralion/….



But I wanted to take the design even further. In my mind, the top pair of blades remain on the sides of the head, but towards the back, I added some radiator fins to add to the design. This helps to connect King Liger to both it's predecessor (Shield Liger) and Liger Zero (even if the latter will be an Imperial design, the armor if I'm not mistake was designed by the Republic). This mane of fins would aid in cooling either the e-shield, blades, or probably both. The bottom pair of blades are mounted on a pair of thruster packs, mounted somewhat like either Geno Breaker's thrusters, or Liger Zero Jaeger's. Even though thrusters are not mentioned as part of King Liger's equipment, it isn't uncommon for new equipment to be added to a Zoid's HMM version, and it makes sense that King Liger would have thrusters to take full advantage of it's e-shield and blades, much like the later Blade Liger, which in my mind is just a less advanced version of the King Liger.



The Machine Guns I left unfinished, since I wanted to post something before I went outside to wash my car (we'll see if I don't procrastinate further!). When finished, I picture them taking some influence from the M56 from Aliens Resurrection. I picture these as being not simple projectile weapons, but the revival of weapons used in Earth's last great war before they began to use directed energy weapons: rapid-fire projectile weapons that magnetically throw explosive shells at their targets, perfect for getting rid of unwanted Ice Armor, as well as their wearers.

[dchan]

Love the warthog sketches and the "real razor back" idea!

[Maethius]

Oh, this looks very interesting! I love the razorback idea, and I have always loved King Liger as well (I actually have one set aside for customizing). I can see the Aurora Liger inspiration... AL is a fantastic designer!

[Snowflake]

So glad people are drawing zoids!!

[JES]

Thank you all. Turns out that maybe working a job at the time of New Century Rebirth wouldn't have been such a bad idea, but then again, King Liger wouldn't have been my first choice even if I did have the money, which means I've been having to scour the internet for images of this illusive Liger. The Razor Back is one the backburner as I turn my attention fully to redesigning this enigmatic Liger.



 There is still a lot of work I have left that I want to do, but I'll be working six days in a row, and probably won't be getting much done next week either, because I have another part time job for my days off, so I wanted to post an update of what I have.

 The Aurora Lion influence continues, while my attempts to design the neck in the middle right has been influenced by the great Moruga9 found on Pivix. But I also wanted to make King Liger as a more worthy successor to the Shield Liger, as well as something that I feel that would actually be worth picking up if a Model Kit. Think what if they made an anime series for Rebirth Century, but this time starring King Liger, perhaps even piloted by a young Dan Flyheight? What if King Liger were designed to be mascot of the series, much like Shield Liger, Blade Liger, Liger Zero, Murasame Liger, and later Wild, Beast, and Rising Liger? It would need a design with many features to make it a popular kit worth picking up.

 Already visible is the radiator blades in first pass for the front leg, which would flip out when active, much like it's Shield Liger predecessor and the later Blade Liger, and a mane of radiators not unlike Liger Zero, presumably for dissipating the heat produced by the top blades. I've also added micro-missiles not unlike the ones found in the shoulders of the later Gun Sniper, as a call-back to Shield Liger's missile armament. Finally, I started designing the bottom of the chest, which has a pair of shock cannons that switch out of doors in the chest, not unlike HMM Lightning Saix, giving King Liger some punch at close range.

 Finally, there is the cockpit, which I'm in the middle of designing to be a lot like Murasame Liger's mechanism. Presumably, the design would be revived along with Hound Soldier during the Age of Technology, supplementing Liger Zero, since they are around the same tech level, and then Liger Zero and King Liger would then go on to influence what would become Murasame Liger. With this in mind, I want to integrate design elements from Murasame Liger to fill in the gaps, and King Liger's canopy seems to be a good place to start. I still want to also design the canopy so it is compatible with supporting King Baron's forehead weaponry, even if King Baron's weaponry is a bit excessive in my opinion.

 Maybe I'll do that after finishing the cockpit mechanism, and then do some color tests on the head if I have time for that.

[Maethius]

I've always found it challenging to joint a short neck, especially one surrounded by a "mane" or other components... and the King Liger has both a main and guns. Using Murasame Liger to fill in the gaps is pretty inspired. ^_^

[JES]

Jun 29, 2021 13:12:45 GMT -5 Maethius said:

I've always found it challenging to joint a short neck, especially one surrounded by a "mane" or other components... and the King Liger has both a main and guns. Using Murasame Liger to fill in the gaps is pretty inspired. ^_^

 That means a lot coming from you. Thank you Maethius. But I'm also starting to integrate some aspects from Wild Liger as well. So far, it's actually worked rather well with King Liger's wild design, if I do say so myself. I still want to also copy and past the head to make color variants, one of which will be based off of the Mk-II color scheme, but I need to finish the head blades and cheek cannons first! I've decided that King Liger's turtleneck is too much of a pain, and so I've decided to follow HMM precedent, and give the damn thing a neck. I realize that I still need to redesign the neck while hopefully somehow keeping that distinctive air intake. I guess maybe I'll use Lightning Saix for inspiration, proportion wise... I think I should at least finish the body first, because those are the really hard parts, before moving back to the head portion, especially while I still have an idea of which direction I should head in. 

[Maethius]

Nice!