Just Keep Rebooting!: The Crazy History of Zoids
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Technozoids (テクノゾイド, Tekunozoido), or simply Zoids (ゾイド, Zoido), is a Japanese science fiction media franchise created by Tomy that feature giant robots (or "mecha") called "Zoids". A Zoid is essentially a large mechanical animal, with designs being based on animals; including dinosaurs, insects, arachnids and mythological creatures.
The franchise started with a model-kit-based toy line and includes five main anime TV series (Chaotic Century, New Century, Fuzors, Genesis and Wild) as well as several video games and manga products.
From Zoids World to Zoids: Chaotic Century and New Century to the mystery of Zoids: Genesis, the comics, the video games and reboot after reboot.
Zoids is big.
But how could it be anything less than the most successful toy line and media franchise today?
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I remember watching the show as a kid (I believe it was New Century). The High End Master Model kits are amazing. While Zoids is not as widely known as Gundam, it still has a charm to it.
New Century Zero to be exact.
If you visit Takara-Tomy's channel, they're finally doing a Zoids/Gundam crossover or collaboration with Bandai.
I still collect zoids, I've even made a mini deathsaurer from 30 minute missions kits (mainly options sets)
Im like 69. Yes im gonna buy that 800 dollar gorilla zoid at the mall and put it next to my MGs
@@dwaynewrighton8547 Pics or it didn't happen. I want to see that thing.
I lived in England for a couple of years and Zoids were a much bigger thing there than they were in the U.S. Great toys, great comic.
Certainly was! Early work from Grant Morrison. And there was a pretty good computer game too for the ZX Spectrum and C64. Had some terrific Rob Hubbard music.
I could have just waited for the end of the video, of course, since Dan mentions both, but that would only have made sense...
The comic was unrivalled.
A shame that today Zoids gets practically no love in the UK. You cant find the animes, toys or practically any of the videogames. We got Wild on Switch. And I had a US imported GBA game. But we didn't get the 360 game, mobile game or pretty much anything.
It really upset me that the comic stopped mid-story.
Also, the Black Zoid looked awesome!
they weren't that big here
I discovered this show on Toonami during college when I would get home from class and there was nothing else on. I was hooked immediately by the visuals with the CG fight scenes
Same here
Same. I was fresh into college when I caught a glimpse of zoids on Saturday mornings and I was hooked. It was many times better than the transformers series (Robots in Disguise) on that same year, aired on the same network and same programming block. That surprised me as I’m a huge fan of G1 and was hopeful that Hasbro would find a way to bring back the magic that made G1 special at the time (they never did although the 2018 bumblebee movie was a step in the right direction)
Yes, the first show that they had on Toonami with the Bit Cloud character was the one that I watched in college myself. I thought that the show was really cool, and what got me interested in seeing it to begin with was that I remembered having one of the toys as a kid, but I never remembered there being a show or anything for it because there wasn't anything but the toys. I had a small one that was an alligator and it had a tiny wind up motor that would make it walk and the tail would swing side to side and the jaws would move up and down. It was a neat little toy, and I think that it was packaged under that "Robostrux" line that Dan mentioned instead of the Zoids line proper, but it was definitely one of them.
I don't believe that I ever saw any other Zoids animated series after that though until I watched Zoids Wild on Netflix, and it was awful! It had some potential in the storyline, but the villains were just so cheesy and there was just no real conflict or stakes to anything. This is why the whole rebooting of this property with every new series is just not good imo.
I was a senior in high school when this show first aired, excellent show, even have a VHS tape and it still has the decal that came with each tape in it!
Dude the music. The fucking battle music from new century zero especially during the strike laser claw sequences was TOP NOTCH.
As someone who's been along for the Zoids saga from the beginning, I appreciate the amount of exhaustive effort put into this episode. 👍
You gotta have a look at the Zoids HMM line of model kits. They started with those back in around 2005 and still come up with new designs. They are expensive as heck but the detail on them is absolutely stunning. Also Did you know that Zoids Wild: Zero has been written by the guys that made the first Zoids Anime, Chaotic century? Hench the less kiddie approach and more war and mysterious adventure plot of the series.
The HMM models are fragile as hell though. Not worth the money. The motorized kits are better quality. The plastic is more durable than the HMM plastic.
The Rob Hubbard soundtrack for the Commodore 64 Zoids game is burned into my brain. Masterpiece!
Fuzors also refers to the eventual ability of the Zoids to combine with the Damn Trash Can. For example, your mom discovers that your Liger Zero can fuse with the Damn Trash Can to create a less messy Fuzor called Since You Can't Clean Up After Yourself I Threw Liger Zero in the Damn Trash Can
I remember ZOIDS as a kid. While I had none of my own, a friend of mine had a ZOID, but he wouldnt let me touch it. Something about his parents spending a lot of money on it, and didnt want it broken,
In before watching to drop my only item of Zoid knowledge: I believe Grant Morrison wrote the original Marvel Comic series for Zoids.
Please do the history of The Tick, and as an aside, please find out why the US DVD releases were missing certain episodes.
Looks like my item was already in the video.
I had a few Zoids. I never cared for the windup feature. I just wanted anything that had to be built and customized.
I had a Robo Strux Gordox as a kid, but had completely forgotten about it until this video. I never knew there was a related cartoon.
Ima a huge Zoids fan probably 1 of the most serious ones and I can say that PEOPLE NEVER GAVE THIS A CHANCE.....it has so much lore that it hurts the animals have personalities and the humans (old zoidians) are half metal half human from advancement in tech that's why animals in that universe are metal also humans they only eat vegetables in Zoids barely meat lol notice in show how there's no regular animals!!!!! Love yall Zoids fan
When I was a kid in the '80's, the small hardware store that my Dad frequented sold Zoids (and later Starriors) for some reason. That was the only place that I remember seeing them. As a kid who was all about the "lore", I found the lack of story to be confusing, but also strangely fun. I had a large HO scale train layout, and the tiny figures inside the Zoids seemed to be close in scale to my train set people. I quickly sat about using Zoid models to terrorize the good citizens of train town, and later added some 1/72 scale infantry figures as resistance. It was probably some of the most imaginative playing that I ever did.
IIRC, Cartoon Network actually ran Zoids(at least Chaotic Century) in the early morning (around 5AM) before bringing it to Toonami.
The only Zoids show I’ve ever watched is Zoids: New Century back when it aired on YTV in the early 2000s. I miss the days when cable tv was good.
For those interested in the Zoids storyline (tied in to the mid-video ad in this video and referenced near the end of the vid) from the Marvel UK comics Secret Wars featuring Zoids and Spider-Man & Zoids, it goes a little something like this.
Zoids began in Marvel Comics UK in Issue 12 of the UK reprint of Secret Wars as a 6-page insert comic and then six issues later in #18, the Zoids comic story began. It ran for the remaining 12 issues of the Secret Wars comic (Secret Wars was spread over 30 issues in the UK) and then moved on to Spider-Man & Zoids.
Many millions of years ago, on the planet Zoidstar, the Zoidaryan race were a people who believed in one thing and one thing only. Heroic combat. They were a warrior race born and bred to fight. But generations of combat led to the race starting to die out as their combat had only one rule. To the death.
To counter this they built the combat machines known as the Zoids and, initially piloting the machines themselves, they later built android pilots for them. Figuring out that with these machines they could potentially conquer the universe they stopped fighting each other and started fighting everyone else. And this was the case ... until the machines developed sentience and turned on their masters. The Zoidaryan race were wiped out ... except for one.
Mid-conquest, the Zoidaryans built a colony on Zoidstar's lifeless frigid Blue Moon, leaving a squadron of Zoids there to harvest resources. They too developed sentience. They also mutated. Their shells started to develop heat. Their blue shells became red ... and the Red Zoids were born. Unlike the original Zoids on Zoidstar, who would become the Blue Zoids, effectively the good guys in the storyline, who went back to fighting each other after the Zoidaryans were wiped out and their freedom was assured, the Red Zoids gathered behind their imperial leader, Redhorn the Terrible and returned to Zoidstar seeking conquest of the anet they now felt they were forcibly exiled from, and, with the help of a Blue Zoid that turned his back on his brethren, Mammoth the Destroyer, the Red Zoids overwhelm the Blues' scattered and non-united forces.
But then a leader for the Blues arrives from the desert. His name is the Mighty Zoidzilla. The Blues unite behind him and the battle rages on, with no end in sight.
One Zoidaryan remains. Known only as The Namer, he is a warrior-historian and the last of his race. His sole purpose in life is to keep the Zoidaryan legend of Heroic Combat, and to name the Zoids as he meets them.
And then ... he sees something fall from the sky. It is the Celeste, a prison ship from Earth. Captained by Drew Heller, a troubled soul who lost his wife in a horrific tragedy, the crew feature his teenage son Griff, a computer and robotics genius, Rollo, the ship's mechanic, and the chief prison officer, Silverman, a name that is more true than we will think. Earth is dominated by a robotics conglomerate formed by the merging of the Pentagon and the US Government. And the Celeste is under orders to ditch prisoners on this desolate planet. The Namer saves the crew from their first encounter with the Zoids and befriends them - although Heller is sceptical.
Inadvertently capturing a Spiderzoid, it's discovered that Griff has a natural affinity with piloting Zoids. But it is later revealed that Silverman is in fact a Terminator styled android ordered to kill the crew and capture a Zoid and bring it back to Earth for military purpose. His true intentions are discovered by Namer and the crew kill Silverman, after leading him to be crushed underfoot by Zoidzilla. He is gone. Or so they think.
Silverman is in fact still alive and creates his own Zoid, the unkillable Black Zoid, who in turn mows down both Redhorn and a Griff-piloted Zoidzilla. Griff is driven insane by the pressure of piloting the kill-crazed Zoidzilla and never recovers. The Black Zoid is later destroyed by a united army of Blue and Red Zoids but Silverman survives. This story is never resolved. Heller will later discover he himself is half android. His right arm and leg were severed in the incident that killed his wife and replaced with android limbs. Again, never resolved. As is a new story in which the robotics conglomerate who sent the Celeste now sends a team of marines to Zoidstar.
Spider-Man & Zoids was cancelled after 51 issues and Zoids got its own comic for the first time, Zoids Monthly. But this itself was cancelled after 6 issues and the story was never continued afterwards.
Thank you for the info. Such a shame so many plot points were never resolved.
I feel like New Century would have caught on if they did just one more season. Seriously, it was a perfect mix of comedy, action and the story was just getting interesting.
It was great. The mithology and characters were very good. I was sad to see the next zoids series (the one with liger zero) didn´t continue the story of new century. It was an ok series and i liked it after a while, but it was nowhere near New Century
The first time I saw Zoids as a kid on Cartoon Network I immediately thought this would make a cool Armorcore style game if the kept the settings and story.
For so long I thought the Zoids show was a dream I had because I couldn't remember anything except the blue robot, which I wasn't sure was a wolf or a lion.
Why is the word "blast" bleeped out @18:28? Anyway, I had the brontosaurus-looking toy in the 80s and was literally and totally unaware of anything else mentioned in this video, lol. I had Starriors, too. I guess I swam in the weird end of the toy pool...
I love Chaotic Century, Guardian force and new century.
Van flyheight is like the Amuro Ray of Zoids.
I mean Van flyhight has to be the most on the nose anime protagonist character name for a show like this.
It would be like having a fighting character called Jonathan PunchFace or something.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Compared to Marty McFly in his flying car?
@@andrewcarter9649 lmao
Here in the UK (I’m from Scotland) Zoids were bigger though never massive. The brand was supported by the Spider-Man & Zoids comic from Marvel UK. It wasn’t a team-up, but 2 separate comic stories in one package. The most notable contributor was one Grant Morrison who set up the Zoids mythos as warring factions (Red Vs. Black etc).
Dan has the same haircut as the FBI agent from The Frighteners
"My body is a roadmap of pain"
I remember Zoids better than I did Gundam Wing, despite loving both. I remember getting one of the battery-powered model kits as a kid and my dad putting it together since I was too dumb. Years later, I end up buying both the simple battery-powered kits and the high-end model kits.
I really love Zoids. I wish it was more popular.
This, truly
It lost popularity because of the American Transformers otherwise ot would have been huge. Zoids inspired transformers. That's a secret my kid. Good night.
Excellent video - I applaud your ability to make some sense of a mangled IP!
I remember I got the t-rex model and the package was damaged. I was just too happy to get one after
seeing those crazy commercials and after hours of trying to assemble all the parts...I realized it was missing a lot of parts and was basically useless and that taught me a valuable lesson about not buying damaged marked down toys...needless to say I was deeply disappointed....wasted money on a box of miscellaneous box of random toy parts and the store was either too greedy to care or just had no idea that it was missing the motors and parts to the set(probably both).
Van Flyheight is a name that definitely follows the Gundam main character naming convention.
I remember the advert at 10:15 very well from childhood. I had a few of the pocket money sized ZOIDS, but always dreamed of Zoidzilla, and Gore (Ihe original Gorilla one). Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
I was born in the uk in 87 and I don’t remember zoids in shops.
Which I feel maybe I just blanked it out as a kid I ignored anything you had to build like Lego.
Quite obviously, I love robot animals, and Zoids is an especially beloved one of mine, especially the New Century, the Chaotic Century, and Fuzors.
Never saw Fuzors, but did see the other two when they were on Toonami and own the entire dvd collection for both too.
Back in 2004 I found a copy of the Zoids opening story or pilot episode on VHS. The video tape was available alongside a basic two-pack with a pilot toy and a creature. I watched that tape a ton growing up. I didn't have cable yet, so for a long while I watched that same episode over and over. The comic definitely sounds a little lackluster. I'm not entirely sure Spider-man and Zoids in a full-out story would work. I think it would largely depend on who was writing it and on the real control that Marvel had over the story. I'm a huge Spider-man fan. I haven't heard of that particular title before this but I have kept up with the webslinger's stories a lot over the years. Being the strong Spidey expert I am, I can tell you his best stories usually focus more on Peter and only have him going into action when the tension starts flaring up. Peter Parker is who a lot of the readers really connect to and a lot of the stories hinder on his experiences. I've looked at other versions of Zoids throughout the years however I've missed a lot. I never got a kit, but I loved to try one someday. You certainly did another great video here. top notch job!
I loved Zoids New Century Zero, it was my first exposure to Zoids and still my favorite. Always wanted the Master Grade Liger Zero kits, especially with the Jaeger and other additional sets. Such a cool set of kits. Shame they could never make a solid arena battle game with this IP, seems like such an easy mash-up.
That advert at 10:35 brings back memories!
I had a small Zoid called "Terror-Red" as I recall. Sadly the small, silver pilot got lost 🙁
Zoids Battle Legends was released in the US for the GameCube and it's actually a fun game. The controls are questionable and the campaign is infuriating at times but it's actually fun. And it looks fantastic. Especially in emulation with upscaling and AA.
It was one of the first Gamecube games that I got, but controls to me were terrible and I couldn't get into the story especially since the other 3 games that I got first for Gamecube were Resident Evil 0, Pokemon Colosseum, and Viewtiful Joe which were much better games in my opinion.
@@michaellilly965 The controls actually improved as your pilot leveled. And once you got enough money to get the Z-capsule upgrade everything just sort of worked properly. It was kind of silly but yeah. A lot of Japanese mech games seem to run on the premise that "the controls are horrible until your pilot levels up and then they're crisp as they should be". The PS3 Gundam games were the same way. At the start of the game the controls were laggy and unresponsive and terrible but by endgame you were zipping around.
I had it. I cheated the last level of the New Century using a Cannon Tortise with the largest cannon I could drop on it. Put in every mod possible to make it jump higher. Hid up in the stadium and just did nothing but potshots and won.
I remember that - that was a fun game! Never used the Snipe Master for sniping, since it was essentially a hopping "ball" of giant shredding claws.
@@GladeRiven The Shadow Fox and the Koenig Wolf were my favorites. That one campaign mission with the Lightning Siaxs, I was only ever able to beat it with the Shadow Fox because it's agility vs the Siax's speed. Infuriating, but fun!
I had no idea zoids even existed before the early 2000s such a long history
I used to collect Zoids and the Spiderman & Zoids comics when I was in school. That storyline will always be the true Zoid story in my mind.
Thanks for covering one of my favourite childhood toy lines.
Loved that comic, wish they'd reprint the story.
@@Halbared a couple years back I did find them uploaded online.
The Zoids RP forum Metal Machine Music was home to my first real online 'community' for YEARS. I still get nostalgic about it. Essentially a Role Playing MMORPG with live judges essentially DMing individual battles and weeks of repairs per zoid after a battle.
Was a crazy time, those early 00s!
I still have my Liger Zero, the Sabertooth, and the Berserk Fury from the New Century series. Always a good laugh when Tigers Team is constantly called "Fuzzy Pandas" Team, it's one of the reasons I got that particular model. Got the DVD set too. My only regret was not getting a D-Bison or the Sniper Raptor.
I remember watching the show on Toonami, both New Century Zero (though it wasn't called that at the time) and Chaotic Century. Fuzors, too, but like you said, it got cancelled half way through. Rewatched them all recently (found the rest of Fuzors that I never got to see) and gotta say CC and NCZ both hold up pretty well, but Fuzors wasn't as good.
I had a single model kit as a kid, the Dark Horn (basically a rhino with a gun on its back). I think it was one of only a few I saw at Walmart and I was only allowed one and I liked it the best of what they had (don't remember the others). And they weren't even at a Walmart close to my house, we just happened to be at one about 30 minute away near my Aunt and Uncle's house.
I also had Zoids Battle Legends for the Gamecube and I loved that game. I want to hook it all back up, but I can't seem to find where my GC memory cards are. I do remember in the story mode there was one level I never could get past, and I could never find a walkthrough for the game, either.
I had the mechanized walking Iron Kong when I was a lil kid (about 7 or 8). It was my favorite thing at the time and the first model kit I ever built. I was really proud of myself for managing that.
Currently putting together the HMM König Wolf and WOW this kit is incredible. At least MG Gunpla quality. I had so many of the Hasbro Zoids back in the day, and they have certainly come a very long way. while I wish they were more popular (and less expensive 😒) I am very satisfied with what they are now.
Wow, I remember 1st seeing the gold silver and black series zoids, you could only find them at David Jones (wannabe upper class retail store) I think I ended up getting the shield liger, it had battery movement and flip out back mounted twin linked cannons and side fold out missile pods. I also managed to get the large hero z-knight model. Love to see a quick video on them as I'd assume they're a spin off of zoids.
I saw the ''Zoids: New Century'' on TV. I also remember seeing commercials for the toys, which looked expensive. For a long time I did not know they were related.
Zoids were a part of my Transformers universe in the mid 80s. I loved taking them apart and putting them back together
The closest I ever came to this line was picking up the Zoids C64 game at a car boot sale somewhere. No instructions though, so unfortunately it was pretty impenetrable, and despite Zoids apparently being popular in the UK I had no idea there was a toy line attached to the brand. Shame really, since I'm pretty sure I would have loved them.
Great video as always! Also I’m sure it’s been asked a million times, but I hope we get a history of Jackie Chan Adventures at some point- such an amazing show
Zoids were my favourite toys of the 80's... and they're the only ones I've hung on to. Transformers, G.I. Joe/Action Force, Star Wars, Matchbox... all sold on... but my Zoids are still in storage, awaiting a bit of TLC and dedicated display room.
My intro to Zoids was the Marvel UK comic book series, which was super-dark for a toy tie-in and thus appealed greatly to me, since - as most people of the world already know - British children are violent psychopaths. The Black Zoid storyline did actually wrap up, it just left lots of dangling plot threads that were supposed to be carried forward into a monthly Zoids comic book meant to be released in the US as well as the UK where it would be produced, but that book never materialised - though an uncoloured ashcan/dummy of the first issue can be found online.
Cracking comic. The Silverman story and the crashed prison ship was so good.
This was an early work by future comics superstar Grant Morrison
@@keithchristmas7315 would have liked to have seen more of it. Must be about time for a reboot!?
The Black Zoid was an amazing storyline.
I loved the idea of the last Zoidarian keeping himself sane by walking around the planet and naming everything
the toy I've been waiting on you to cover! Loved Zoids when they hit in the early 80's, really loved them when they came back as RoboStrux and as Techno Zoids.
I only watched New Century, I remember loving every second of it. Couldn’t wait til the next episode. After it ended they started a new series and I just couldn’t get into it
I'm pretty sure everything after the first two seasons is pretty meh.
Guardian force was ok, but fuzors obviously wasn't great as it was canceled halfway through.
@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Nobody liked Fuzors but Genesis course corrected pretty well, Wild was eh, but Zero was ok.
@@ag9953
I'll take your word for it.
Honestly I think I was barely aware of everything after the first two seasons,nothing really stuck.
Honestly though zoids had it's place but that time has passed.
If they could somehow revitalize it I would at least take a look but I usually do things like this just don't really work when they attempt to relaunch or reboot them.
Chaotic Century was awesome. Van versus Raven forever.
I love that you're covering Zoids, especially the early stuff. I grew up with Zoids in the early 90's in Europe (we got the Zoids and Zoids 2 toylines - I notice you didn't cover Zoids 2) so it's very nice seeing Zoids get some love here.
That's what my channel is all about too, reaching out to Zoids fans and trying to introduce more to the franchise.
I love ZOIDS Chaotic Century and New Century. The original ZOIDS was an interesting series to watch. My favorite characters would be Van, Fiona, Moonbay, Irvine, Bit Cloud, Brad Hunter, and of course Raven.
Fuzors ended pretty suddenly. Less than a week after the last episode they showed aired, I saw the Energy Liger in a store for the first time and it was already on clearance.
Zoids, unknown to most - yet thriving
It's a weird duality
Zoids: New Century is one of my favourite animated series. I really wish they'd continued the story with them going up to the next class in the competition.
You and me both.
This guy gets it!
That would be legendary
Those other stories will become a zoid multiverse
Watching this while putting together the HMM Blade Liger AB kit...I remember watching chaotic century as a kid that was some real forming media right there. Surprised you never mentioned the fact that the last three episodes of the second season were never run until they had them run ONCE on toonami one weekend. I still remember watching them in my room with my door and windows closed because I wanted zero distractions. I wasn't disappointed. Those were good times.
Loved Zoids as a kid. I feel like here in the UK the original line lasted a few years. I remember having them for a good few years at least. I swear there was one that was a big snail thing and it left a trail of slime behind. Dunno if it happened in the US but Zoids spun off into a toyline called Z-Knights here that was the same thing but with big robotic knights. They were incredibly cool.
Also, thanks to this, I have Moonbay's song from Chaotic Century stuck in my head.
I loved liger zero with the mod kits. Panzer, Schneider, Jaeger, Plainer lol. He could be a tank, bladed attack force, speed demon. And plain white organoid system working overtime because plain has no visible advantage. Loved also how the cabin changed for each mod and how there were disadvantages for each mod used.
Absolutely love them! Still put together Zoids to this day! Have most of them as well. Understandable that you didn’t go too much into the Asian variants of the show. Nice overview overall.
I have put together many Zoids, as a child in the 80s or early 90s I found a number of them at a car boot sale, I'm not sure what the US equivalent term would be, but in the UK that is where people pack their car boot (I believe trunk in US English) and meet up in a field somewhere, to sell the stuff, and thoroughly enjoyed disassembling them, so I could assemble them, I was the sort of child who got a screwdriver and enjoyed disassembling my Transformers, and was able to fully reassemble them without assistance.
A few years ago I discovered the Highend Master Model Zoids line, basically a non-motorised, extremely highly detailed and posable line of Zoids model kits, comparable to Perfect Grade or Master Grade Gundam kits, they are great fun, now I'm getting several of them a year them as they release (or more often re-release) kits that I don't already have.
I had DOZENS of the Hasbro-branded Tomy kits in the early 2000s. Chaotic Century and Guardian Force were my jam, used to watch them in the mornings before school when they were airing on CN at like 6:30am.
Now I’ve got a HMM Blade Liger kit waiting to be built and I can’t wait to see how it compares to the old Tomy design.
17:34 That cover is wild.
I loved the models when I was young. I didn't know there was an animated series until I had put together quite a few sets and then I was hooked on both
the Zoids toys were so freaking cool to me as a kid.
Early Zoids kits were the bomb! I was putting them together long before the well known animated series came to air. I'm a bit of a TOMY toy nut personally (I have three Astro Shooter Pinball machines). The anime is pretty good! The more current kits are great as well.
I really loved the newest series kits. They assembled a lot like the older ones but had more detail and feel more like robot animals rather than animal themed robots.
I remember the Zoids where they fought in competitions. I remember random things about it and couldn’t tell you what the story was.
I also remember seeing the other two Zoids shows but I don’t think I saw it all.
As a kid in the early 80's I was given the T-rex and building it was great, playing with it felt a bit fraught as it would fall apart all on its own though. I low- key loved all the individual parts.
Being cautious, it took me a year or to conclude that I really wanted the other robot wind-up dinosaurs shown in the fold out catalogue that came with it (and I still had in pristine condition), but there just wasn't a way to get them any more.
The one with Liger Zero holds a special place in my heart.
I loved my Zoids (and Starriors) as a young kid. I actually had an original Zilla Zoid too (I was 5 or 6, so either '83 or '84 - mine was black so I don't think it was the Terox re-release) but it was missing parts. We took it back and got a refund because it was sold out. I've been butthurt and traumatized about it to this day. I need to get myself a Zilla Zoid now.
There's gonna be a new Zoidzilla later this year from Kotobukiya. Look up GOJULAS THE OGRE
As Nethilim1977 said, the Kotobuikya HMM Gojulas the Ogre (what in the original western Zoids release was called Zoidzilla) re-release looks great, but it is not a simple model kit, it's huge, about 37cm (1'3") tall by 60cm (2') long completed, made with more than a thousand parts, and amazing posability and detail (although I'll be painting mine as I'm not crazy about the colour scheme), but it is far from cheep, and don't expect it to march across your desk unassisted.
I expect it will take me weeks to build to my satisfaction, but it will be the centrepiece for my Zoids collection (about 15 strong with another 8 sitting on a shelf ready to assemble).
@@terryforsdyke306 Yeah I'm so excited! Already pre-ordered it. I had the original as a kid, but sadly it broke. This will be a worthy replacement.
I got into the series through super early rereleases of Chaotic Century and then watched New Century Zero when it was part of Toonami. Good times and I collected a lot of model kits. I maybe lost two in various moves, but I'm happy to have them all and the majority are in a display case right now.
For those wanting more Zoids action; Kotobukiya has their HMM model kit line and it's fantastic. I love the details and building the kits. I put together Leena's Gun Sniper over several days and highly reccomend it.
One thing that Zoids didn't do was go upscale and grow with the audience. Something Gundam did.
Here's hoping for a someday HD rerelease of all the Zoids anime series. I still have my DVD set of New Century Zero, but a remastered release would be cool.
The Zoids fans are still active and wanting more. Hopefully they make it happen sooner than later. Tomy has an army they just need to activate
i remember being a kid in 2001 and getting on AOL to search for information about zoids and being really disappointed that most results were just porn. What a time.
My first Zoid was a 'Tank' zoid and my brother got the 'Serpent' zoid. Got Zoidzilla and Gore the Lord Protector (Iron Kong) later. Loved these toys. RIght in my top 3 along with Transformers and Lego. Chaotic Century was a great cartoon too with a great storyline.
I remember when Zoids first aired in 2001, and as soon as I found out that there were toys, I knew I had to have one. Many years later, and I have 30+ examples, including the Gil Vader that is my profile image, bought during the unfortunately too-short Rebirth Century line.
I still have an unbuilt Rising Liger and Bazootle, because I resolved to build them like how they appear on the Japanese boxes, and it turns out detailing and ink-washing takes hours upon hours. Trouble is I've resolved to start actually drawing more (which also requires hours upon hours). I might have time to set aside for both, if not for neither of them paying the bills! Stupid bills!
Speaking of detailing, most Japanese series also release some form of equipment sets called Custom Parts to enhance their abilities, while there is like an entire subculture where modelers will recolor or outright customize their model kits using parts and weapons from other Zoids or even model kits from entirely different series. Some even scratch-build parts, often based on video game and anime-exclusive variants. And the Battle Story also include variants for different combat roles and upgrades, some of which have been released as actual model kits, such as the Gojulas Mk-II and Great Saber, most of are only obtainable online.
I also had an idea a while back to try to make a TH-cam channel for the series, only to find that was too time-consuming, and attempting to facilitate a cooperation with other Zoiders just drifted into development hell.
Another Great Video, Dan! For my Birthday in 1983, among my presents was the Zoids Giant Zrk! It was one of my favorites and I literally played with it until it fell apart. Good Times!
thank you so much for doing this show!!! zoids is by far my fav part of my childhood tvshows!!
Anyone in England remember the Woolworths 3 Zoids for the price of one sale? Happy days.
In the 80’s I had a couple, the stingray was supposed to float… but quickly sank in the bath.
In the releases that came with the cartoons which I quite enjoyed I got back into them and got a fair sized collection. Building them was quite a lot of fun. Fuzors left me cold though, it felt like too much of a gimmick and felt too childish, both in the cartoon and the designs. I expect I’d have felt that way even if I’d been a kid at the time.
Did you include the styrofoam inserts?
Yep. But they weren’t buoyant enough.
I adored the “found future” aspect of Zoids a kid.
It was fascinating seeing people in the anime use machines that had qualities unknown or not well understood to their current owners.
I loved Zoids: New Century back when it was on Toonami, but didn't get to see as much of Chaotic Century.
My first official kit was the ZBuilder Ray Saurer, but I REALLY got into building them with Zoids Wild. I have all of Team Freedom's Zoids, plus Zaber Fang and Demise.
Didn't watch the cartoon but owned several early Zoids as a kid. I still own my original Robo Strux Brutox (I believe it still works too). It sits proudly in my studio along with 7 Starriors. It's an awesome looking robot!
Great deep dive into the history of this line!
I had the original elephant and spider. I loved those things! Even after the windup motors fell apart, they were great. Didn't even realize the Zoids I bought at Walmart in the mid 90s were the same thing until I saw the tiny pilots that were the exact same piece.
Holy crap. I had forgotten about these. I had the original 3 Zoid wind up toys, and later acquired the bronto Zoid kit (which was the pride of my toy collection at the time)
Good times
Transformers, zoids, just need Yu-Gi-Oh and you nailed the Sky One early Saturday morning check list of shows i used to watch and be up at 6am to see.
Keep up the awesome work 👌👍
Do those wind-up Zoids remind anyone else of Dino Riders?
. . .
Yeah, me neither.
Lol I didn't know Dan was a Japanese import himself 😅
Another great Zoids vid!
That must be where he got his planetary destruction point 👉 power!
Great vid, was wondering if you'd cover the UK Spider-Man & Zoids comic? It was my comic book as a kid and is the reason why Spider-Man was, is & always will be my favourite super hero.
Loved watching both Zoids Chaotic Century and new Century zero on toonami, here's a fever dream of a show I'd like to see an episode on, captain Simian and the Space Monkeys
In my school vr game there was a zoid mission called dread where you play as 00 calamity goalius and he took out 666 zoids and destroyed death liger but he escaped when liger zero enter the fray
Zoids hit the US at a perfect time in my life (hitting around age 11). I had no idea it had such a long and rich history, thanks for sharing!
Here's a bit of trivia from an X-Xebec employee...
When they were developing the story for Zoids Chaotic Century, it was also Xebec's first time to purchase 3D Software... namely Softimage XSI (no it was likely Softimage 3D then). The Writers, and the studio were so enamored with the tech that they named the 3 Organoids - Ambient, Specular and Shadow after the 3 basic parts of a 3D Shader - that which makes up color and lighting on a 3D object.
The only exception to this naming scheme is Zeke, the Van's own Organiod.
Oh now this is a nostalgia trip! I watched the New Century anime as a kid and Blade Liger was my favourite 😆😆😆
Thanks for a fun video Toy Galaxy and go hug your animal friends folks 💙🐱💙
Loved Zoids New Century Zero (although I think it was actually referred to as Zoids Zero Century here in the states), best storyline start to finish in my opinion! Chaotic Century was good too, but I still prefer New Century Zero.
I've never watched any of the Anime, but I had one of the first ones in 1983, very simplistic and small Dinosaur-like Zoid,, but it was awesome....oh wow Mecha-Bonica, that's what I had. I guess the name Zoid was just easier to market 😎
For me it's the exact opposite, only ever watched the anime never touched the toys.
I would probably get the original Japanese model kits or something for this kind of stuff.
The stuff that came out in the US I think was pretty cheap and I haven't heard anything particularly good from anyone commenting about it.
I'm only familiar with Zoids from discovering the fact that Grant Morrison wrote a few stories for them in British comics before making his name in US comics.
I remember finding these at flea markets in the late 80s/early 90s, and wondering why anyone would want them. I would later be enamored of the cartoons on Toonami.
The show was great, I never touched the toys.
I don't regret that either. From what I heard the 2000's toys were great especially outside Japan.
I remember watching one commercial for the New Century Zero toys,having a neighbor who had a few toys from the show,& watching one episode of it on Toonami
The old 80s era Zoids were heavily shown, among other Tomy products, in the film "Where The Toys Come From". Zoom, a camera wind-up, wasn't too fond of the Zoids.
new century zero remains my favorite Zoids show format.