- Revoltech Red Blade Liger
This limited version of the Zoid was sold along with the Dengeki Hobby Magazine, and is considered a very rare exclusive. You won't find them very often and if you do you can expect them to go for well over $100. The figure was packaged in a box that was more or less identicle to the Blue Blade Liger and even featured the blue version on the back. It has no special name and was written only as "Blade Liger", not "Red Blade Liger" or "Blade Liger Leon Special".
Like the Blue Blade Liger this is an amazing figure. Its paint photographs very poorly so in many photos online (and even some of ours) you'll see that it looks like a very bright, flat, high gloss paint. In person this kit is actually a slightly darker red with slight sparkliness in the paint. You'll see this most prominently in some of the shadowed out shoulder shots.
Revoltech articulation is fantastic. I'll go over most of it below but I was barely able to cover enough in time. They are the most posable kits I've ever seen and stay together very well, with very few loose parts. Only the Blades and Tail come loose, and that's only with a lot of fiddling. Their scale is only roughly half the size of a normal Blade Liger.
Pros:
- Beautiful dark red sparkle-paint
- Extremely high level of articulation
- Few loose parts
- No 'sulking' from age
Cons:
- Extremely high place
- Hand painted figure has some globby/uneven paint, as well as 'spray' outside the lines
- No unique packaging
- Paint can be damaged relatively easily, as this kit is a very soft plastic.
- For all the other gimmicks, cockpit does not open and is solid painted.
- Gimmicks
Antennas:
I'm not sure if this was an intended gimmick or not but the ears seem capable of swinging sideways/outwards a little tiny bit. This can give a nice flowing/windswept look in some cases.
Mane Panels:
The mane pieces on the sides of the face are able to shift outwards at the bottom, and move forward just a tiny bit. The difference isn't very visible here, but the range of motion isn't much better than it appears, either.
Jaws:
Blade Liger's jaws open and close. The range of motion can be adjusted by lowering the bottom mane panel.
Lower Mane Panel:
The bottom mane piece can also shift up and down a little. As nice as this is the piece seems to get in the way a lot, either catching on the jaws or the chest cannon.
Shield Generator:
The top Shield Generator panel can flip upwards. The one that is supposed to go on the lower neck piece is just part of the overall molded piece, sadly.
Head:
The head can swing left and right just a little bit, and can also rotate on the ball joint to give a tilted head look.
Neck:
Illustrated above the neck of the Revoltech Blade Liger can stretch out extremely far. Sometimes it's actually harder to get it to fold into a shorter position-
Vents:
Vent panels on the sides of all four legs can flip out but they sometimes catch on the caps, preventing them from folding straight out like they'd be able to do on the model kit version.
Shoulder Socket:
The articulation of the Revoltech lets the leg swing forwards and backwards, as well as fold in and out an inch or so. This provides a lot to the overall poseability of the Zoid.
'Elbow' Socket:
This part of the leg can rotate up and down a little bit, but more importantly it can turn inwards and outwards, so that the legs can be placed closer to the center of the gait for a more natural walking/running position. In these photos you'll also see some of the worst cases of overspray on the hand painted details. Especially on the gold.
Paws:
The paws can rotate up and down a very good distance. While the ball socket is fully exposed when they are rotated down it actually helps to add mass to the ankle when the paws are flipped downwards. A big problem with many articulated kits is that the points of articulation leave unattractive gaps in the figure.
Rear Leg Socket:
Pretty much the same notes as the shoulders. Folds in and out and can rotate forwards and backwards. The only draw back here is that it snags easily on other pieces which can dramatically limit its range of motion. Also, because the rear legs are strangely socketed, sometimes if these sockets are turned the wrong way the leg will 'jam' and not let you position it in the correct way. To fix this get a pair of tweezers or something and rotate the ball socket on the inside of the leg.
Rear Leg Articulation:
The lower segment of the rear leg can rotate up and down a fraction, but like the elbow joint it can rotate inwards and outwards as well, almost at a broken leg angle. This means that the Revoltech can give an extremely realistic laying down pose.
Laser Blades:
There's quite a lot of movement in these. They can flip forwards and backwards at the middle point. They can also fold outwards, but the point where they connect on the side is on a single peg in the middle, allowing them to rotate all the way around at the connection point. This hasn't been seen on any other Blade Liger figure so it's especially awesome.
Boosters:
The red plate over the boosters flips upwards and the boosters flip up as well. The boosters are molded in silver like a lot of the surrounding chassis.
Mid Section:
At the center of the body is a large ball joint socket which allows articulation inside the main body. This lets the Zoid bend upwards or downwards a little bit, and also lets the body 'twist'.
Tail:
Lastly the Blade Liger's tail is on a ball joint, which allows it to fully rotate. There are two other segments in the tail that articulate in this same way, and the tip of the tail is on a similar ball joint so it can spin fully. This means the articulation is excellent, but can look a little disjointed if the tail pipes aren't lined up nicely.
