Post by Blaze on Apr 6, 2013 10:51:32 GMT -5
Got the Saber Tiger all built and it honestly took longer than I thought it would, though mostly because I was being really careful cutting out the parts and trimming the flashes. Overall it's a nice little kit and makes it a lot easier to find a display spot. This is the kind of build/kit that I always wanted to see from Zoids though I think it would have been better as a 1/100 scale kit.
The build is exactly the same style as a 1/144 Gundam kit, but if you've built some HMM kits, you won't find anything new here. You have 9 frames of parts and another frame with two long black bars which the instructions having absolutely nothing about them, so idk about them. I didn't come across any parts that didn't fit well or was a pain. Just be careful with the teeth though cuz they are SHARP. The little things are basically needles. Places to glue would definitely be the tail armor pieces, the back gun mount onto the back (mine will not stay on at all) and the armor piece that goes on top of the neck. Other than that it's staying together quite well. The shoulders seem to like to pop out sometimes but unlike the Kotos, it's really easy to just stick the legs back on.
Next I'll talk some about the poseability. There's definitely a mix of absolute awesome and can be improved here. Where the poseability excels is in the waist and the shoulder/hip joints. The waist joints are very much like the neo-blox where you have the 3 sections connected by ball joints. The head and neck are ok. The most you can get is a sort of glance to either side. It's very slight. Now the biggest problem is the feet which really have no movement to either side, so even though the legs can spread out for an awesome low fighting stance, the paws won't be able to move enough to be placed the ground. You can cheat this even though it looks weird by turning the whole paw. I think the paws would have benefited from a double ball joint more or have it like Koto where you have the piece inside the paw to turn it but have the other joint to replicate the swinging motion.
Lastly I'll talk about the colors since most of you probably won't paint. The color is a nice deep maroon. I only ever got the yellow Saber so I can't compare it to the old Tomy one. I know a lot of the stock photos look bright candy apple red because of being in a light box. Honestly there's no color that looks off and looks fine for display right out of the box. There are a few decals already printed on. You do get a nice variety of waterslide decals to use though.
Oh and here's the base... it uh... exists.
Thought this was cool. What would have been cooler is if they got rid of the lame base and gave you extra parts to make your Saber look like these other versions instead. Also to add these faction logos to the decal sheet.
That's about all I can think of right now. For me I'll probably just stick to my favs. I do love how you can display them almost anywhere due to their small size. Mine's currently hanging with my little TFA Megs that you can see in the background in the pics. I seem to always pair my zoids with matching colored TFs...
The build is exactly the same style as a 1/144 Gundam kit, but if you've built some HMM kits, you won't find anything new here. You have 9 frames of parts and another frame with two long black bars which the instructions having absolutely nothing about them, so idk about them. I didn't come across any parts that didn't fit well or was a pain. Just be careful with the teeth though cuz they are SHARP. The little things are basically needles. Places to glue would definitely be the tail armor pieces, the back gun mount onto the back (mine will not stay on at all) and the armor piece that goes on top of the neck. Other than that it's staying together quite well. The shoulders seem to like to pop out sometimes but unlike the Kotos, it's really easy to just stick the legs back on.
Next I'll talk some about the poseability. There's definitely a mix of absolute awesome and can be improved here. Where the poseability excels is in the waist and the shoulder/hip joints. The waist joints are very much like the neo-blox where you have the 3 sections connected by ball joints. The head and neck are ok. The most you can get is a sort of glance to either side. It's very slight. Now the biggest problem is the feet which really have no movement to either side, so even though the legs can spread out for an awesome low fighting stance, the paws won't be able to move enough to be placed the ground. You can cheat this even though it looks weird by turning the whole paw. I think the paws would have benefited from a double ball joint more or have it like Koto where you have the piece inside the paw to turn it but have the other joint to replicate the swinging motion.
Lastly I'll talk about the colors since most of you probably won't paint. The color is a nice deep maroon. I only ever got the yellow Saber so I can't compare it to the old Tomy one. I know a lot of the stock photos look bright candy apple red because of being in a light box. Honestly there's no color that looks off and looks fine for display right out of the box. There are a few decals already printed on. You do get a nice variety of waterslide decals to use though.
Oh and here's the base... it uh... exists.
Thought this was cool. What would have been cooler is if they got rid of the lame base and gave you extra parts to make your Saber look like these other versions instead. Also to add these faction logos to the decal sheet.
That's about all I can think of right now. For me I'll probably just stick to my favs. I do love how you can display them almost anywhere due to their small size. Mine's currently hanging with my little TFA Megs that you can see in the background in the pics. I seem to always pair my zoids with matching colored TFs...
Mystery parts (the black bars) always confuse me. Though I suppose it'd be great for kitbashing, but then again, it's like ... erm. yea. 
