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- HMM-022 Liger Zero
Number of Pieces: 419 | Number of Frames: 29 | Additional Figures: Bit Cloud
Liger Zero is the most widely released kit of Kotobukiya due to its unique CAS Conversion ability. This has been a long standing traight of Liger Zero kits but how well it carries over to Kotobukiya is subjective. I've personally not broken any parts, but then I haven't taken the armor off of my Ligers since I got them. In general HMM kits tend to have a weaker plastic than NJR and may not hold up as well to having armor parts constantly taken on and off.
The kit itself is neat, especially for an early design. The aesthetics are up to opinion. I personally don't prefer the stub-nosed look of the HMM kit compared to original motorized kits but it's still an awesome design. The details could have been better done; such as the face fins able to actually stand straight out like they are intended to.
One major flaw of HMM Liger Zero kits is that they suffer from sulking. Every Liger Zero kit I have (which includes two standard Liger Zero and all 3 CAS armors) has suffered from the back buckling. This is caused by parts coming loose in the torso. To tighten these parts up again you have to disassemble the body around it in 5-10 pieces and tighten the parts. I've not been able to tighten them effectively without disassembly.
All in all the aesthetics of the kit are nice but I feel like the quality and detailing suffers, where it could have easily been prevented.
This review uses warm-colored photos because erasing the background would cause a large loss of image quality. The colors accurately represent the Liger Zero, which is still a yellow-white color.
Pros:
-Very good pose ability, especially in the main body and paws
-Very little marbling
-Inter-changable armor
-Custom Bit Cloud pilot included
Cons:
-Many loose parts that may need to be glued
-Mane pieces do not move as much as they should
-Main body caves in over time, but is fixable (Supposed to be glued)
- Fixing Sinking Torso
Some people notice their Liger Zeros sagging around the torso, where the parts become loose and they can no longer maintain their pose. This is related to the parts of the Zero that need to be glued in Step 14 ~ 15, but as the icons are rather small, it's easy to miss them.
Here's a quick guide to disassemble your Liger with as few pieces as possible to find and address the problem. It may also be worth while to check out our main HMM info page for a guide on what the icons in the instruction manuals mean.
- Steps
The green lines indicate the edge of the piece, so that you know which part is being spoken about. The arrows either show where it connects, or which direction (at what spot) to lift.
Step 1: Pull outwards along the white chest armor to remove the whole section with the legs.
Step 2: Lift up on the upper back piece to remove the neck. Bottom plate not necessary to remove.
Step 3: Here you can see the gap where the piece has come loose, straight down the middle.
Step 4: Turn your Zero body upside down, and remove the brown plate to remove the side pieces.
Step 5: The problem piece is now completely exposed. Open it up a bit so that you can see where the sliding parts are. You don't want to get glue on them. Once you're confident where the sliding part is at, carefully place glue along the gaps. Squeeze the piece tight, and wipe away any excess glue. After it dries, reassemble the pieces.
- Box Scans
- Armorless Version
Liger Zero's armorless version has a pretty nice design overall. It especially shows off the unique separate articulation points of the shoulders. The tail is, of course, optional. I tend to leave it on the armorless version because I like the design look better.
- Customize Parts
In person, seperately, it is hard to tell the difference between the Pearl armor and the regular armor. In the duo pics you can see this much more clearly; the CP kit is the shiny, more blue-ish armor. There is not quite a transparency, but a thinness in color of the plastic that allows the chrome parts to shine a warm, almost glow through some parts.
The red caps should work on most large-scale HMMs and the claw CP kit also includes silver discs that go between the legs and the main body.
All chrome parts from Kotobukia must be trimmed excessively to fit. Pegs, if attaching to normal armor should have all chrome shaved off. If you are attaching a chrome peg to another chrome part you will need to shave off some of the connecting plastic, as well, since the chrome on the inside of the hole will add just as much width as the chrome on the peg. Be careful doing this, and if you do not shave enough, and the part gets stuck, use a thin nife to slide in between the middle of the part and gently judge it upwards, do not try to pull from one side.
When all of the Customize Parts go together it really does look stunning! I would thoroughly recommend that you pick these kits up if you can find them for a good price.
[HMM CP-018: Strike Laser Claw & Laser Fang]
Sprue: Includes upper part of claws (Chrome Gold), Gold Teeth
Sprue: Includes lower part of claws (Chrome Silver), Silver chrome leg discs
[HMM CP-019: Joint Cap Red Plating (for Liger Zero)]
Sprue: Red Chrome Caps
Includes enough sprues for a second Liger Zero
[HMM CP-020: Type Zero CAS (Pearl Version)]
Sprue: Includes pearl armor for all white parts
[HMM CP-024: Liger Zero Plating Parts Set]
Sprue: Silver chrome claws (lower parts only), Silver Leg Discs
Sprue: Red chrome caps
Sprue: Colorless transparent eyes
Sprue: Gold chrome claws and teeth (Upper part of claws only)
Sprue: Gold chrome pipes
Sprue: Scattered Black chrome parts, Black Chrome Boosters
Gimmicks
- Cockpit
Unlike other kits of the Liger Zero the Kotobukiya version only has the triangular part of the cockpit open. The upper mane pannels remain in place and do not rotate with the rest. Liger Zero comes with bit but I forgot to picture that, oops. See the pearl Customize Parts section for a photo of the pilot!
- Upper Mane
This part normally rotates with the cockpit on other Zeros, but while it does not do so for the HMM kit it does have a slight up and down movement.
- Side Mane
Normally these parts are supposed to flip straight out to other side, but they don't on the HMM and this really bothers me. Instead they slightly lean outwards, and the middle part flips forward more than the rest.
- Jaws
Liger's stumpy face has some pretty ferocious looking teeth. They are thick, much more than the normal kit, and just as capable of biting as your household cat.
- Lower Mane
The bottom part of the mane flips forward and tucks in close to the throat, but it can come off kind of easily while posing.
- Head and Neck
Liger Zero's haed can both swing up and down and tilt a little to either side. The neck also rotates where it attaches to the torso, moving up and down.
- Shock Cannons
The gun on Liger Zero's chest attaches to a peg and can rotate up, down, and swing side to side.
- Shoulders
The very top part of Liger Zero's shoulder rotates seperately from the rest of its upper leg. This is a strange feature but it makes it look so much better with natural poses.
- Front Leg
The bottom half of the lower leg also has a forwards/backwards movement with a decent range.
- Thighs
Like the shoulders the upper part of the rear legs rotate forwards and back, seperate from the main leg. This lets the armor tilt in ways that look much more dramatic and anime-ish.
- Rear Leg
As you can see both the middle section and the bottom section of the rear legs can bend. The brown bars on the back of the legs kind of stand out in color, though.
- Paws
Liger Zero's claws are a pain in the ass to put together and they don't look very good with the dual tones, but I love the pose ability of the paw. It bends down in a very natural looking way, even if it can't rotate back (not that any HMM Zoids can, but-). The paw also tilts side to side due to the ball joint it attaches to.
- Ion Boosters
The boosters are attached to the upper back, and rotate up and down. When you open them up the booster rockets extend from the white base.
- Downforce Stabilizers
Liger Zero still has his side wings, and they can not only lay flat at the sides but also lean down quite a bit further than other kits.
- Tail Panel
This part above the tail moves up and down so that it doesn't hinder movement.
- Tail
Liger Zero's tail is both cool and very annoying. The way that it bends looks very unnatural and broken, but the attachments themselves are kind of neat. They allow bending sideways and twisting of the tail, and the end gun redesign is nice. In the instructions it specifies to build with three tail segments but there are four in the kit for a longer tail. Unfortunately the tail also comes apart very easily.
