Rai K. The Kit behind the Rai.

(I will get pictures for this as soon as I can.)

Alright, first up on my list of Zoid reviews is the Takara Tomy RZ-041 Liger Zero - motorized. I chose this one first because it was the first Zoid that I ever built and it’s very recognizable. What Zoids fan hasn’t seen this guy before:

Anyway, on to the review. (everything is on a scale of 5)

Difficulty: 3
Durability: 2
Accuracy: 5
Pose-ability: 1

When I first built Liger Zero I was nine years old and thought it was the most difficult thing I had ever done. Looking back on it now, and having built a second Liger Zero much more recently, I can tell you that that is definitely not the case. The legs and body have a very nice, simple design, and while some of the parts are easily mistaken for others before construction, this is easily seen when you try to piece them together.

The one part I still do not enjoy about putting Liger Zero together (or most Ligers, for that matter) is constructing the head. The bottom jaw is connected to the motor by a small tab, it is then sandwiched between the two sides of the head by inserting the two small rods that stick out from it into the corresponding holes on the head. I don’t know what Tomy was thinking, but normal humans only have two hands. It is rather difficult and very frustrating to keep the jaw in place while getting it into the correct hole and making sure that you don’t break the two halves of the head in the process. It can be done, but it takes a lot of patience and maneuvering.

Now for durability. This Zoid is not one that is meant to be played with. The small piece at the end of the tail wears out very quickly, and the small pegs on LZ’s sides that hold on his balancers/wings break off very easily, especially when switching armors. If you are switching the armors around, it is very easy to break off the small pegs on the pieces and get them stuck in the corresponding holes. You also have a high probability of breaking the tabs beneath LZ’s head that hold on his chin armor. Also, depending on how often you turn on LZ’s motor, you’re going to have a problem with the gyro caps that hold the legs on wearing out.

So, basically, Liger Zero should just be a shelf model, or possibly used in photographs. I would also suggest choosing one armor for him and sticking with it. He really isn’t one for playing.

Accuracy, in this case, means how close the model resembles the animated Zoid that it is based off of. In this case, Liger Zero does a wonderful job. From number of teeth to body proportion, this model matches its inspiration perfectly. The convertible armor pieces come off exactly the way they did in the show as well. I honestly have yet to find a way that the LZ model is different from the animated one, except for the fact that if left out in the sun his pieces start to yellow a bit. XD

The LZ model has almost no pose-ability what-so-ever. The most you can do with his legs is turn on the motor to get them in a different position, and his toes can be either fanned out or squished together. The tail moves up and down, his thrusters open, the balancers can fold down, cheek pieces fold out, and the cockpit can be opened. And that’s it. LZ was quite obviously designed to walk, and that’s it. You can get a few other options by swapping out the armors, but not much. Schneider probably has the most moving pieces. If you decide not to use the motor, there is also the option of removing some pieces from the inside of the legs and getting a better range of motion for them, and I have seen skilled modelers scrap the motor and make LZ completely pose-able. However, I would not recommend this to anyone that has not done it before and is worried about destroying the model. If you want poseability, I’d suggest looking around for the LZ action figure, or the ‘king of flexibility,’ though he’s really expensive nowadays.

As for moving parts on the other armors:
Jager: the boosters open, the little things on the side can be folded out (though I don’t think they’re actually supposed to), and the cheek pieces can be folded out
Schneider: The large blades have a ninety-degree range of motion and the arms can folded out. They do not have the ability to flip forward like they did in the anime. The head blades have a 180-degree range of motion and be fully flipped forward. A word of caution, though, as these easily fall out. The small boosters can be opened, the blades on the tip of the tail be opened or closed, the cheek pieces fold out and extend, the chin piece extends, and the crown pieces can move forward and extend. (When the blades are forward and the top pieces up and extended, LZ looks a bit like a deranged bunny. XD)
Panzer: The hybrid cannon can be moved up and down, the missile pod on his shoulders can be opened and rotated. The missile pod on the tail, as well as the forward ones on the back legs and two on the hips, can be opened. The cheek pieces and crown piece can fold out. The missile pods on his sides be folded down.

So, uh, that’s pretty much it for Liger Zero. I’ll get shots of him as soon as I can, but it might be a while. I won’t be going home for another few weeks, and I don’t have him with me. But I will post the photos as soon as I have them.