- HMM-024 Gun Sniper Leena Special

Release Date: March 26th, 2011 Retail Price: 4,500 yen Product Length: Roughly 200 mm

- Stock Images

- Introduction

The HMM Zoids New Century /ZERO's hero team will now include the Gun Sniper that's affiliated with the Blitz Team, but Leena Toros Spec.

Its biggest feature is the heavy fire power armaments, the highest in class of the HMM series so far! The Gatling Gun & Anti-Zoid 3-Barrel Cannon are newly created parts, made to fit the size of the Gun Sniper. In addition, you can enjoy all of this equipment, which could be called a "moving arsenal", with missiles and such equipped to each part.

A Weapons Basket is also included for the fans, to recreate that famous scene from the anime.

A painted pilot figure, Leena Toros, is also included.

When placed side by side with the Liger Zero and Command Wolf LC & AC Barad, you can enjoy the brave appearance of the Blitz Team.

- Technical Data

Stats:
Length: 11.9 m
Height: 7.2 m
Weight: 25.0 tons
Maximum Speed: 200 km/h

[Weapons]
3-Barrelled Beam Machineguns (Arms)
6-Barrelled Beam Gatling Guns (Middle-Size) (Big Gats)
AZ 144mm Pulse Laser Gatling Guns (Weasel Unit)
AZ 144mm Sniper Rifle - Custom (Tail)
AZ 180mm 2-Barrelled Beam Guns (Bottom of Weasel Unit)
AZ 3-Barrelled Linear Cannon x2 (Sides of big gats)
AZ 80mm Beam Gun (Chest)
Bite Claws (Hands)
Bite Fangs (Mouth)
Booster Scram Pods (8-Shot Missile Launchers) (Back)
Short Beam Guns (Small guns from Weasel Unit)
Strike Anchor Claws (Large foot claws)

[Equipment]
All-Range Dual Sensor (Tail Tip)
Leupold Scope Sensor (Middle of back)
Multi-Blade Antennae (Head)
Multi-Packs (Shoulders)
Radome Unit (Dome on back, from Weasel Unit)
Smoke Dischargers (3-Pod blocks on side of Weasel Unit)

[Features]
Zoid Core (Chest, Internal)

- Battle Story

- RZ-030 Gun Sniper Rinon Special

Translation for the Battle Story segment courtesy of Falcarius~

Zoid Battles are fighting competitions held under fair rules, with desolate land as the battlefield. Today, once again, the passionate "Zoid Warriors" put their prides on the line and compete with one other. Battle Mode approved! Field scanning complete! Battlefield set up! Ready, fight! [From the anime starting narration.]

- Team Blitz Machine Introduction Meeting

Rinon: "This is great, papa~. The 'Iron Kong Mk-II' is won-der-ful! From melee to shooting, it's perfect."

Steve: "Rinon~. Pick a more swooshy, cool, stylish Zoid! How about this, the "Command Wolf Irvine Replica"? It's a replica model of a famous pilot's Zoid. It's so cooool!"

Rinon: "Noooo way! Not a plain machine like that. My Zoid would match Ballad's, and heavy weapons wouldn't suit it! So how about this one, this 'Gunbluster'?"

Steve: "Whoa, nicely spotted, Rinon! This is cool..."

Jamie: "Doc! Rinon! The Gunbluster is super-rare. It costs a hundred times as much as the other Zoids. Look closely!"

Rinon & Steve: "Hey, you're right~."

After finishing their lunch, in the lounge of the Hover Cargo that served as Team Blitz's mobile base, pilot Rinon Toros and her father and team owner Steve Toros were selecting a Zoid to replace her Dibison, which had been destroyed in a Zoid Battle with the Backdraft Group. While fighting over the "Zoid Battle Commission-Issued Zoid Catalogue" instead of sharing it, they continued to exchange suggestions for what machine to choose, until Jamie Hemeros, Pteras pilot and tactical planner, cut in with some advice and their conversation went back to square one. Jamie gave some opinions of his own, but the other two wouldn't listen at all. They had repeated this act countless times, and their two stunned teammates, Bit Cloud and Ballad Hunter, had already vanished from the room.

Jamie: "Well, I'd better get onto making dinner. Take your time!"

Finding his job cut out for him with the Toros family's conversation, which showed no progress whatsoever, even Jamie left the lounge, leaving his half-read magazine on the desk.

Rinon: "Even Jamie was reading something else while talking to us! Think about this seriously, would you! Hmm? 'Monthly Gun Sniper'? So there are books like this..."

Located among the lightweight Zoids, not only could the "Gun Sniper" could be bought cheaply due to its high manufacturability despite being an excellent machine, it also had a wide scope for customisation. Because of this, it and the Velociraptor-type Zoid "Rev Rapter", which was of a similar class and style, had many regular users, from the general public to Zoid Warriors, and it was popular enough to have its own specialist magazine published.

Steve: "Rinon, a Gun Sniper would also be good, wouldn't it? It's cool, and it's cheap..."

Rinon: "No way! I'd have the same Zoid as Naomi!"

"Naomi Fluegel" of Team Fluegel, who had gained excellent results in Zoid Battles, was a famous contestant who drove a red Gun Sniper. As a female Zoid Warrior like Rinon, there was a sense of rivalry between them. It was natural that Rinon would be averse to piloting the same machine as Naomi. But the article printed on the page of Monthly Gun Sniper that Jamie had been reading had such an impact on Rinon that it blew away that aversion.

"Papa, look at this..." Rinon showed the page to Steve, her wide eyes sparkling.

"Let's see, then..." When Steve saw it, he too instantly switched to a serious expression, getting stuck into the page.

- The Strongest Gun Sniper

Written in the page's headline were the words "Our Dream! This is the Gun Sniper Wild Weasel Full Burst Custom!" And in the article...

The Gun Sniper version equipped with maximum firepower, said to have been used by certain special forces in the Helic Republic Army during the Continental War. Making the maximum use of the "Octo Weapon System", the weapon extension function of the "Wild Weasel Unit" (W2U) which was developed as dedicated additional equipment, it was equipped with 4 "2-Level 8-Shot Missile Pods", which were additional armaments made by the Republic Army, as well as 2 "6-Barrelled Beam Gatling Guns (Middle-Size)" and 2 "Anti-Zoid 3-Barrelled Linear Cannons", which were armaments captured from the Guylos Empire Army, in addition to the W2U's standard weaponry, 2 "AZ 144mm Pulse Laser Gatling Guns" and 4 "AZ 180mm 2-Barrelled Beam Guns". Its main body was also given a reinforcing tune-up, focused on the body frame and leg joints, in order to hold this overloaded equipment. With this, they succeeded in giving the small-scale Zoid Gun Sniper firepower superior to a medium-scale Zoid. But although this machine could be called a "running armoury", it had poor operability, so it was a special mission Zoid used by a handful of excellent Zoid pilots depending on the strategic situation.

...this explanation was spelled out, along with hypothetical composite images.

Steve: "The Gun Sniper Wild Weasel Full Burst Custom! Ohhh, the heavy equipment is so cool, and even just its name is cool too!!"

Rinon: "A running armoury! Ohhh, it would feel so great firing all these weapons at once... I'd be like, 'Weasel Unit, Full Burst!' Ahhh, it's so wonderful. This is great!!"

Steve: "Are you okay with this, Rinon? It'd be the same Zoid as Naomi Fluegel, right?"

Rinon: "With this, I could be the points leader in the lightweight class! I'd shred Naomi into spaghetti with my 'Gun Sniper Rinon-chan Custom'! Anyway, Papa, I want this heavy weapons version, but will we have enough credit?"

Steve: "Well, we can trade in the Dibison, and we've got some leftover prize money that we got from the Backdraft Group earlier... plus it's cool, so it'll be fine!"

Rinon: "Then it's settled, Papa! Let's search this book for a Gun Sniper shop and send them an order right away!"

Rinon & Steve: "It's decided! Gun Sniper! Gun Sniper!~"

Having decided on a machine, the Toros family danced around the lounge. Someone was watching them from the shadow of the door.

Jamie: "Whew, thank goodness, they decided on a Gun Sniper. Our team has heaps of debts, and with Rinon always wrecking her Zoids, it takes up money on maintenance and repairs too... But that's the Toros family for you. Those two are even simpler than I thought."

They had been led to the good solution of introducing a "Gun Sniper" to Team Blitz by the level-headed Jamie, who also gave his attention to managing the team.

Jamie: "In the end, repairing the Dibison was never an option in their minds. Poor Dibison..."

Jamie hadn't had any words that could persuade the Toros family to rebuild the scrapped Dibison. He regretted that.

- A Good Result = Disaster for Jamie

Ballad: "Nice follow-up, Rinon!"

Rinon: "You too, Ballad!"

The match with Team Raptor came to an end in the form of Ballad's Command Wolf AC and Rinon's Gun Sniper W2U-FB compensating for the frozen Liger Zero Schneider.

Ballad: "Your Full Burst shots at high speed are more stable than before, aren't they?"

Rinon: "The old man at the Gun Sniper shop told me that I should swap the shock absorbers with ones from an air battle Zoid. They suit me perfectly! Now my settings are just right. I am the greatest!"

Ballad: "Hang on, aren't those..."

Ballad's prediction was right on the mark. The answer became clear with a scream from Jamie as he entered the hangar.

Jamie: "Waaugh, my Pteras...!"

Despite having finally completed the repairs on his beloved air combat Zoid, the "Pteras Bomber", a few days ago, it had been left in pieces with the shock absorbers removed from its legs. The act of making Rinon choose the Gun Sniper had brought disaster for Jamie. But the disasters falling upon him did not stop there. As Jamie had expected, Rinon's damage rate and maintenance costs decreased with the introduction of the Gun Sniper. This was good as far as giving Team Blitz some room in their budget, but in exchange, it lit the flames in Doctor Toros' greedy soul. He would later purchase the new air combat Zoid "Raynos" and trade in Jamie's dearly beloved Pteras without asking him, but there was no way he could have known this at the time.

- Release Notes

- Rereleased in January 2012
- Rereleased in February 2014

- Disclaimer

Please note! While the stats and equipment list on this page is properly translated by Falcarius, the remainder of the info on this page (including the story) relies on automatic translation done by this site. It likely contains errors, and exists only to give users the gist of what is being said, where better translations are currently unavailable.

Review

HMM-024 Gun Sniper Leena Special

Number of Pieces: 341 | Number of Frames: 32 | Additional Figures: Leena

Based on Leena's Gun Sniper from the popular anime New Century Zero, this is an overgunned variant that defies all laws of gravity. The name "Linnon" is a differently translated "Leena", translations of Kotobukiya names frequently being different. It was actually corrected to Leena on the box in subsequent releases.

The Gun Sniper itself is an awesome kit with great balance and pose ability. The additional weapons really hinder that ability. While it can stand and pose a bit it's not uncommon for it to fall over or for the legs to buckle if they're in the wrong position. The weight of the weapon assembly itself is also too great, meaning that the guns are constantly falling apart into 3-4 segments that have to be reassembled.

As a note I lost one half of the last armor segment for the tail, so that is missing in the review photos. I apologize for that but I didn't want to wait much longer when I have no idea where it is. I also forgot to photograph the missile basket! I'll try to do that someday.

Gallery

Pros:
-A huge number of additional weapon aprts
-Able to stand, even if not well
-Comes with an additional basket that includes missiles

Cons:
-Weapons add too much weight, heavily hindering mobility

- Box Art

Gimmicks

- Cockpit

The cockpit of the Gun Sniper swings open. The control panel that sits over Leena's lap is 'stapled' in with pegs, and does not rotate like it does on some of the canine Zoids.

- Jaws

The jaws open up quite a bit. The teeth of the Gun Sniper have been redone as an angular square that looks like a sharpened razor blade, which is really unique for a Zoid.

- Head

The head of the Gun Sniper can swing up and down where it connects to the neck. The rubber pipes that run down the neck make the movement a little stiff.

- Neck

Seperate from the head articulation the neck can also rotate up and down, and even tilt left or right, giving a nice natural range of motion.

- Shoulders

The shoulders have a 360 range of motion, not counting when they bump into the legs. The white panel on the top also opens up to reveal a set of missiles.

- Arms

The elbow range isn't that great, but still not bad. The gatling guns are attached on a peg that can swing left and right.

- Legs

The rear legs can stretch to almost a straight line, which oddly, doesn't look that wierd on the Gun Sniper. It can even stand just fine in this pose. The white armor at the top of the legs reveals another, albeit unusual missile pod.

- Feet

The feet have a nice up/down range of motion and the claws are all seperately articulated with their own huge range of motion. The flat feet help to balance the Zoid in even dynamic poses.

- Tail

The tail of the Gun Sniper is based on ball-jointed attachments for each segment, meaning each segment can swing up and down, or sideways. Unfortunately it really can't straighten out as nicely as in the show, and if you try the armor pieces will go flying (which is why mine is missing those last two armor halves.) The tail as a whole moves up and down at the base as well.

- Ears

Well, they're not ears, but still. These parts swivel up and down, but sadly cannot stand straight up like they do in the show.

- Weapon Assembly

The additional Weapon Assembly attaches to a connection piece beside the two boosters. It is on two bars that can rotate forwards and backwards so that the guns can lean inwards or swing out to the sides. It is also attached to a rotating disc that allows it to move up and down.

- Gatling Guns

The gatling guns at the top of the assembly can move up and down. This is one of the weapon parts that lieks to come undone a lot.

- Cannons & Lasers

The larger 3-barrel cannon on the outmost side can also move up and down, and the small laser gun that is attached to it rotates seperately.

- Three-Barrel Weapon

This smaller weapon on the center of the weapons unit swings up and down.

- Rifles

These two guns on the bottom of the assembly can rotate left or right. The attachment is kind of iffy and they like to fall off a lot while being posed.

- Radar Dish

The blue bar on the top of the dish swings left and right, and anchors flat against the black when the dish itself is raised up. The mount that the dish is on can bend or even out straight.

- Booster Missile Pods

The white front of the boosters opens up to reveal a set of missile pods. There are 8 shots in each pod and they are unpainted from the rest of the part.