- Figutto! Shield Liger Girl
Well, this Zoid is definitely a selective taste. It was released by the Figutto! Company and is based on the same style of Zoid Hybrids that were seen in Dengeki Hobby Magazine and Zoids Generations. The armor is quite well done, and it is equally surprising that, panties aside, the Shield Liger Girl really isn't that slutty.
The armor is a beautiful metallic fleck paint and the cockpit looks excellent. The design overall is pretty good and the painting is very precise with few color blades in general. The only thing I really had problems with for this was that the waist, hidden under the skirt and armor is actually kind of loose, so the figure can flop forwards or backwards. I suspect you could probably tighten this up if you tried though.
For the price, if you like this sort of thing, I'd say it's worth it, but personally it wasn't my taste, and I'm sure many would say the same. Even so, the detailing is impressive. The size of the figure is relatively small compared to average Zoids.
Pros:
-Very nice paint detailing (metallic fleck for armor)
-Interchangeable parts for different expressions/poses
-Additional shield parts
-Very poseable
-Comes with additional stand and base
Cons:
-Not really the type of item the normal Zoids fan is after
-Loose parts in the torso make the figure wobbly
-Tail attaches to the back of the head. Very poor design factor in my opinion.
-Several loose parts, including the tail
- Additional Parts
The Shield Liger girl comes with a few additional pieces for minor customization.
The head itself is separate from the helmet, and once removed (just pull downwards) the hair actually detaches from the back of the head as well. The hair that comes with the figure is shaped to fit in the helmet, but if you wish you can remove the helmet part entirely and put the additionally-included hair on so that it doesn't have the add square shapes in the back.
There are two additional faces which hav different expressions. The paint for the eyebrows actually have a slight metallic sheen to them which doesn't show up well in photographs.
Several additional hands are included with this kit. Two sets of spread hands (One with the shield equip peg and one without) and one set of pointing hands. The ones that are equipped to the figure already are fists. Two large shield generated panels are also on the kit. The hands that are attached can be removed and the fists pull right out if you wish to install these.
Last but not least the figure comes with a stand that holds it up very well. It isn't loose at all, and the sleek black base looks pretty nice. Maybe not a bonus, but the cardboard backing of the box also makes a very nice backdrop, with shield generator patterns lining the back.
- Gimmicks
Head:
The head is on a ball joint so technically it should be able to move around a bit, but the pipes hinder movement, and the head comes off really, really easily.
Shoulder Joints:
Seen in the first photo the shoudler is attached on a ball joint that juts forward into the body. If the parts don't seem to move correctly make sure everything is turned the right way. Some of the ball joints are actually two halves- and trying to twist them the wrong way could break them (though it'd take some force to do this.)
Hands:
Both hands are on a big on the inside. They can turn inwards, turn outwards, and spin all the way around, which is a pretty good range of movement.
Side Panels:
The long pieces of cloth (or whatever it is) on the sides of the hips can turn straight out, but they don't stay in place very well. The silver pipes that are on the top of them also tends to come out easily on the front part.
Leg Articulation:
The first photo shows the range of movement for the legs. Unfortunately the skirt restricts the movement a lot. You could probly move it up a bit, though. The knees are made with a part in between the two leg portions so that it doesn't look too bad when the legs are bent.
Leg Articulation:
In terms of up/down rotation the feet have a very small range of motion, but they turn side to side quite far.
Tail:
The tail is packed separately inside the packaging. It is a flexible wire-like material with a plastic coating, and can be posed pretty much every way you want. The down side to this is that it can sometimes look a little warped if it's not smoothed out well enough. The part also attaches to the pack of the head, which to me looks very bad. I feel like this would've been an easily switched feature.
