Rai K. The Kit behind the Rai.

So, continuing with another small Zoid, today (or tonight, rather) I’ll cover the RZ-020 Stealth Viper, wind-up version by Tomy.

Difficulty: 4
Durability: 4
Accuracy: 3
Pose-ability: 3

Though the Stealth Viper is a wind-up, and should therefore be easier than its motorized cousins, but this little fella is certainly a hand-full. Case in point - I’ve had my Stealth Viper for eight years or so, probably going on nine, and only this January did I figure out why in the world he didn’t actually work! There are quite a few pieces involved with the wind-up motor, and if the flashes on said pieces aren’t properly removed, the Viper will not move. It’s also slightly complicated to fit all of the pieces together - the parts fit isn’t all that great - and can be really frustrating if you don’t have the patience to work with this guy.

So, despite the difficulty of this little guy, he is extremely good in the next area - durability. Once put together, you can pretty much only break this guy if you do it on purpose. His pieces overlap lick bricks in a brick wall, giving strength to the body. He does have small pegs to keep the guns on, but they don’t seem as fragile as the ones on larger models. The one part that seems like it might be easy to break is the neck. The head rises above the body, and some of the strength of the neck seems to have been sacrificed to achieve this effect. Other than that, this guy is a trooper and can stand up to any but the most rambunctious of children.

From what I’ve seen of the animated Stealth Viper, this guy is somewhat accurate, but is less-accurate than many of the others. What I find extremely disappointing is that a lot of the Vipers in the anime are extremely colorful, while the model is rather bland. There is also the fact that most Vipers in the anime have custom armaments, so there’s pretty much no way to know if this guy’s armaments are the standard ones or just what Tomy wanted to put on him. Either way, and accurate or not, the Stealth Viper is an awesome model.

Maybe it’s obvious, the Stealth Viper being a snake and all, but this guy does have a bit more pose-ability than the other moving models. You can bend the tail and neck in different directions. He can’t quite make a circle, but that’s alright. All of the guns have a 360 range of motion, unless they’re the ones closest to the ground. The head can move up and down and the cockpit can open. This may not seem like much, but considering how much you can really pose a snake, it’s a lot better than what Tomy gave the four-legged models.

Other Stealth Viper options: I have the Tomy model, but there is also a Hasbro one. I don’t know how much of a difference there is between the two, but as I’ve said before, the Tomy models are usually more durable than the Hasbro ones. Despite that, I’d still grab the Hasbro one if it’s what’s available, or less expensive.