- HMM 019 LIMITED Saber Tiger Gold
Release Date: February 26th, 2011
Retail Price: 6,800 yen
Product Length: Roughly 290 mm
- Stock Images
- Introduction
This color is a testament to The Emperor.
Kotobukiya is releasing the pinnacle of the Guylos Empire in the HMM Zoids series.
The Emperor's exclusive machine, the Saber Tiger Gold is joining the lineup.
The Emperor's exclusive machine, Gold, is reproduced with painted armor, and you can recreate a finish close to the original setting just by assembling it.
On the back is the High-Mobility Unit, reproducing the heavy firepower with items such as the 8-Shot Missile Unit.
In addition, two pre-painted figures of the Guylos Emperor, Rudolph, are included in the same scale as the kit.
* This product is only distributed by Irisawa.
- Technical Data
Stats:
Length: 15.8 m
Height: 11.5 m
Weight: 90.0 tons
Maximum Speed: 240 km/h
[Weapons]
20mm Solid Rifle (Flat gun on right)
8-Shot Missile Pod (Upper back)
AEZ 20mm Beam Gun x2 (Chest and Right side, top)
AEZ 20mm Linear Lasers (Tail)
High-Pressure Concentrated Sulphuric Acid Spray Gun (Furthest right)
Killer Sabres (Fangs)
Strike Claws (Claws)
Surface-to-Surface Missile Pod (3-pod weapon on back)
Triple Shock Cannon (Chest)
[Equipment]
Composite Sensor Unit (Left side, antenna)
Electromagnetic Wave Reflection Type Exterior (Ears, a sensor?)
Ground Sensors (Feet)
Infrared Laser Searcher (Box on chest gun)
Sensor (Nose)
Sub-Generators (Diamond shaped tanks)
Tail Wing Stabilators (Tail) *They might mean Stabilizers
Wing Balancers (Wings)
[Features]
Cockpit (Head)
Zoid Core (Chest, internal)
- Battle Story
- The Bloodstained Monster VS The Great Gold Tiger
Translation for the Battle Story segment courtesy of Falcarius~- ZAC 2101/November, the Dark Continent of Nyx -
Around the Imperial capital of Valhalla, an inconceivable scene had been painted in a brief span of time. A united battlefront formed by the Guylos Empire's regular army and the Helic Republic Army. The armies had come to a ceasefire the moment that Prozen's ambitions became clear. An allied army had been born that would act to take back the capital from the source of their malice. The allied army drew near to the royal court, their coordination unthinkable from people who had been enemy and ally until a few hours ago. However, the attrition from their battles until now made the forces' mobilisation harsh, and the iron-walled determination of Prozen's private army and elite force, the "PK Division", stood in their way, as if increasing the height of the ramparts before them. But even the tenacious PK Division was gradually cornered by the fierce attacks of the allied army. The ramparts were broken through. Battle began in the royal court. Meanwhile, a noble duel was unfolding in an underground hangar. "Rudolph vs Prozen", "the Guylos Emperor vs the Neo Zenebas Emperor", "the Saber Tiger Gold vs the Bloody Death Saurer". Expressed in writing, one could say that this battle would go down in Zoid history. But its appearance was more like "an adult playing with a child". If anyone had been watching this battle, they would probably speak of it as "the most foolhardy and cruel of battles".
The Saber Tiger Gold had been given blows that soundly impeded its functions, while the opposing Bloody Death Saurer merely had some damage to its outer armour. The battle had gone on for less than five minutes. The Saber Tiger Gold's body looked as if it had endured several days of fierce combat, and from the distortion of its frame, it was no longer in any state to withstand repeated melee combat. Its missile launcher had suffered an obstruction in the firing device with a few shots remaining, and its feebly gasping Zoid Core could not even afford to supply energy to its beam weaponry. It was truly covered in wounds. But the fact that Rudolph, who had never moved a Zoid on his own, had continued combat until it reached this state was a miracle. "If I can remove even a single pipe from its back...!" The many cables extending from the Death Saurer's back were directly connected to immature Zoid Cores installed in important locations across Valhalla. The Bloody Death Saurer was designed to make them internally collapse simultaneously, releasing the enormous energy generated by the Zoid Cores at once and causing them to function as a gigantic bomb - truly a "fighting detonator". Prozen would draw the majority of the Empire and Republic's forces into Valhalla and use the city itself as a bomb to annihilate them. At the same time, he would eliminate Rudolph, descendant of the Guylos royal family. Prozen was planning to carry out the majority of his revenge plot in that instant. "I have to stop him!" But with the Saber Tiger Gold lacking its mobility, catching it was no trouble for the Bloody Death Saurer. Metal arms began to crush the Saber Tiger's head from either side like a vise. Not instantly but slowly, little by little. Prozen was clearly enjoying the fact that the Guylos royal family line was about to be severed at his own hands. "I- I can't- give up yet!" Inside the cockpit, which was groaning as it led him towards death, while Rudolph did not fully understand, he calmly adjusted the devices and distributed the machine's power. Prozen felt slightly moved by Rudolph's style of fighting and his attitude as Emperor. Putting his own feelings into running with his Zoid, Rudolph unmistakably had the makings of a true Zoid pilot. If he were to grow into an adult, he would probably become a splendid Zoid pilot rivalling the Empire's long-serving heroes. But all of that would end here. "Now, let's finish this, Rudolph." Prozen's cold-hearted words echoed through the Death Saurer's arms.
- = The Black Saviour
Just then, the factory wall behind the Bloody Death Saurer was destroyed and a "black giant" suddenly appeared, extending a rescuing hand. It was the "Iron Kong SS" driven by "Major Karl Lichten Schwarz", a Guylos warrior who swore loyalty to Rudolph. "Your Majesty!" He couldn't see inside the cockpit through the armour. But he instantly sensed Rudolph in the Saber Tiger before his eyes. "Prozen, you bastard!" The Kong's fist became a hammer using the machine's weight, slamming into the Death Saurer's body along with Schwarz's fury. Unable to withstand it, the Death Saurer staggered, and the Saber Tiger slipped from its hands. Immediately regaining its stance, the Death Saurer struck a blow from its tail, the Added-Gravity Impact Tail, into the Kong, as if to pay it back twofold. The blow was so powerful that the Kong ceased functioning for a moment. Its huge body was flung away like a rubber ball, slamming into the wall of the maintenance facility. The Death Saurer once again targeted the escaped Saber Tiger. A voice reached the Saber Tiger's cockpit from the Iron Kong as it rose unsteadily to its feet. "Your Majesty, please ru..." Rudolph's order flew, interrupting Schwarz's words. "Schwarz, cover me!" Schwarz responded immediately to that powerful voice. "As you wish!" Forgetting that they were clearly at a disadvantage, Schwarz wiped away the blood leaking from his lips and chuckled. The Saber Tiger Gold mustered its strength and leapt forwards. "Grovel before me, Rudolph - no, Guylos!" With words loaded with his hatred towards the blood flowing in Rudolph, Prozen unleashed the Death Saurer's whip-like tail. But Rudolph instantly predicted the Death Saurer's next action from the movements of its legs and dodged the flash of the swinging tail, leaving it cutting fruitlessly through empty air. Using the fully swung tail as a foothold, the Saber Tiger slammed its Strike Claws into the Charged Particle Intake Fan on the Death Saurer's back. The Death Saurer lost its balance, exposing its head in front of the Iron Kong. "Schwarz! Now!" With Rudolph's call, Schwarz fired the large-scale Beam Gatling Gun located on the Kong's shoulder. The trajectory was drawn into the Death Saurer's other weak point, its mouth, the firing port of the Charged Particle Cannon.- = The Avenger's Last Moments
Schwarz's attack did not manage to destroy the head completely, but it dealt major damage to the cockpit where Prozen was held. Running wild after the shot to the head, the Bloody Death Saurer was in a state where they might have been able to silence it in one more hit. Schwarz's voice called from the Kong, which was clinging to the Death Saurer's leg and trying to keep it from moving. "Your Majesty, finish it!" But after regaining his stance, Rudolph's attack target turned to the cables extending from the Death Saurer's back. "Keep the explosions from the Zoid Cores to a minimum. That comes first!" It was purely in the realm of "conjecture". But he wagered on it. He prioritised protecting the Guylos citizens over finishing off Prozen. "Go, Gold!" The Saber Tiger leapt at the back cables with all its might, and caught several of them in its mouth. The cables were strong. But... "Now!" It was for this moment that he had been adjusting the energy supply to the "Killer Sabre" fangs, even when it seemed his cockpit would be crushed. Emitting temperatures high enough to melt even those fangs, the full-power Killer Sabres bit through the "steel of fate". As Prozen's life was about to come to a close within the Bloody Death Saurer's cockpit, wrapped in blazing flames, the image of a peaceful Planet Zi with people living under the flag of Neo Zenebas filled his mind. Picturing "leadership through conquest" after his "personal revenge", the man ended his life by pressing the switch of his self-ordained fate. Light leaked through the gaps in the Bloody Death Saurer's armour. It was the phenomenon of a Zoid Core on the brink of collapse. Knowing what would happen afterwards, Schwarz immediately pushed the Saber Tiger into a Zoid underside tuning area that was a level lower than the floor of the maintenance facility, and covered it with the Iron Kong's body. At that moment, an explosion intense enough to destroy the hangar broke out. But the explosion of the Bloody Death Saurer at ground zero was not as powerful as they had assumed. Its energy had flowed into the other Zoid Cores through the remaining cables, giving a great blow to the Imperial capital of Valhalla. However, it was far from the explosion that Prozen had planned; he had been unable to accomplish his revenge. It was thwarted by the hands of the young Guylos Emperor...When the shockwave died down and Schwarz regained consciousness, he used the arms of the Kong, which was no longer moving as he wanted it to, to wrench open the armour hatch of the Saber Tiger Gold. "Your Majesty, are you safe?!" After a moan, Rudolph responded. "Schwarz, are your wounds alright?" At that kind question, Schwarz realised once again that it was worth risking his life to protect this man.
- = A New Battle
Explosions occurred in several places across the Imperial capital of Valhalla, and flashes rose high enough to pierce the heavens. And there were some who saw that light as a beacon to begin action. "Wolff Muroa", orphaned son of the Neo Zenebas Empire's founding Emperor "Gunther Prozen Muroa", and the Neo Zenebas Empire Army he commanded, centred around the "Eisen Dragoon", an elite combat group brought up alongside his father Prozen. "All forces, move out! We and our comrades in the old Zenebas territories will annihilate the Guylos/Helic allied army! The objective of our charge is the Helic capital on the Central Continent, Helic City!" Even after Prozen's death, his revenge and ambitions were continued. Now, the curtains rose on a new battle, "the Neo Zenebas Empire vs the Helic Republic".- 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.- Saber Tiger Gold Instructions
Review
- HMM 019 LIMITED Saber Tiger Gold
Number of Pieces: 544 | Number of Frames: 30 | Extras: Box Art Poster | Custom Pilot: Rudolph
Saber Tiger Gold is, indeed, based off of Prince Rudolph's Gold Saber Tiger from the battle story. It is a regal Imperial Zoid, with beautiful gold pain and a sheen you won't find in most Zoids. Because of the unique color that Kotobukiya wanted to use, this Zoid is painted.
There's a lot of confusion about the color. Many pre-release photos showed this Zoid as being very bright, almost yellow-gold. However, have no doubt, Saber Tiger Gold is actually a bronze gold. The first photo shown below is the closest to the real colors, but because it is hard to photograph, colors in this review may vary. But don't be discouraged. The color is amazing in real life, and online photos cannot do it justice.
Now, there are some concerns about the scarring. Yes, it does scar. However, the plastic underneath is still molded in a light yellow. I wouldn't say the scarring is as bad as the scarring on darker colored plastics that you'll encounter. It can be harder to mask, though.
As you know, the reliableness of a kit can vary from production run to production run. Saber Tiger Gold has been a very sturdy kit as far as Kotobukiya Zoids go, but I've currently only got the original Saber Tiger to compare it to.
Pros:
Beautifully painted. This effect could never be produced with molded colors.
Excellent attention to detail and color placement.
Gold paint carries shadows well, so not much panel lining is required.
Very sturdy build, with few loose pieces.
Cons:
Painted plastic does scar, to some extent.
Weapons can sometime complicate each other's movement.
Some sprues are marked in Katakana Vs. English lettering.
Weapon belts are made out of fragile rubber. Expect snapping in the future.
- Box and Inserts
Like the Blade Liger Mirage, Saber Tiger Gold now comes with a beautiful B4 size poster of the box art. This still has the Saber Tiger Gold logo and some minor legal disclaimers, but it's still worth hanging on your wall.
Unfortunately, while it does include waterslide decals, there are only two decals for the entire kit. Those decals are white Imperial logos for the shoulders.
- Gimmicks
- Jaws
Pretty basic here. Saber Tiger's jaws open and close. However, as a smilodon, there's no lower jaw piece to hinder movement, so it can look kind of... freaky looking, if it's open all the way.
- Cockpit
The cockpit also opens, to show the pilot inside. A small pilot figure of Rudolph is included with the kit, confirming that this is his Royal Saber Tiger.
- Head Movement
There's quite a range of motion in the head. The front is attached by a big that goes into the back of the head, so that the Saber Tigercan turn its head all the way around. At the base of the neck there's a little wiggle room for the neck to turn left or right.
- Neck Armor
Armor on the back of Saber Tiger's neck can also flip forwards. This is kind of fiddly, though. If ya mess with it too much it's going ta fall off. Nonetheless, it helps the neck look ... not so broken.
- Shoulders
The front legs can pivot inwards and outwards, just a little bit. This is pretty cool for poses.
- Thighs
The thighs also pivot in and out. They can also stretch out a little, so with the adjustability of the leg, it's very posable.
- Elbows
Both front legs can bend on a hinge at the half way point. This moves pretty well. Sometimes the plates on the legs pop off, but this is usually because the leg isn't built tight enough.
- Back Legs
Similarly, the back legs have hinge joints. This is at a couple different points though. One, the 'knee', can move pretty far. So can the one on the heel. This lets the Saber Tiger lie down, or stretch out.
- Paws
And last on the legs; the paws. Each claw is attached separately, so each one can move up or down. Attached on a big, which is attached to a hinge joint, they can also twist sideways/inwards, and rotate up and down.
One minor annoyance worth noting, is that the plate on top of the paws can very easily pop off as you're adjusting their position. It doesn't interlace properly with the rest of the armor.
- Body
There's a lot of flexibility in the body of the Saber Tiger. It immediately revolutionized the posability of it's predecessor, the Shield Liger, and set a standard for all future HMM felids and canids. It has an extra section in the middle so that it can turn further than the earlier Zoids, but the legs and weapon packs can sometimes get in the way. I've had some problems with the side armor falling off, but this may just be my kit that's got the problems.
- Chest Weapons
There's two weapons on the chest. Normally, both can rotate a little, but there's an obstructive piece on the thinner gun. You'll notice it as the block that attaches to the right (inner) side, and indicated in the instructions, you can probably leave this piece out if you don't want the guns movement to be hindered. Since it's pretty well hidden, you can just leave it off. Mine, however, has the piece, so sadly, no range of motion pictures.
- Front Right-Side Gun
Pretty simple; this weapon can be rotated up and down. It has no obstructive pieces around it, so it can rotate all the way backgrounds.
- Upper Right-Side Gun
This one can rotate out to the side~ Like the front-right side gun, it has a full range of motion, and can rotate all the way around.
- Main Right-Side Gun
Set between the others, this large gun is the main focus of the Saber Tiger's front-right weapon arsenal. As a whole, the entire thing can rotate up and down, thereby granting the two weapons attached a much wider range of motion.
- Barrel
An ammunition drum on the bottom of the main weapon can rotate sideways, too.
- Missile Unit
Now this is the big one. It's set right beside the main gun, and with a pretty unique set up. There are 8 missles on the surface, and the unit is attached by two arms, which can lift up at the base. After that, the missile unit can rotate in a wheel-like motion to face any which direction. When inactive, push the unit back and downwards to place it back in the main 'seat'.
I found that the two arms connecting it often come loose when posing. This gets kind of frustrating, since you have to be careful not to drop any parts, and it really can't be glued without limiting the rotational abilities.
- Rear Boosters
I'm not sure if this is meant to be a gun or a booster, so I'll just leave it at saying that it's able to rotate. Like the missile box, it stands on an arm that can be lifted upwards. Unfortunately, it can only rotate sideways, since it's set on a peg.
- Wing Stabilizer
This is my favorite part of the whole Zoid, and I'm not sure why. The wings are set up to be able to rotate at the base, so they can sit upwards, or fall flat at the sides. They're also able to rotate outwards, in a 'deployed' position.
If you're having trouble with these not lining up right, it's because they're set on a track inside of the armor. You'll have to fiddle with it to get it to move on that track, though, or it'll stay uneven. Fortunately, the back of the armor is open, so if you've got a light, you can see what you're doing more clearly.
- Tail
The tail itself has a decent range of motion. Where it connects to the rear, it can rotate up or down. Half way through the tail, there's another peg piece, this time seting into the top of the tail, so it can also rotate sideways. This is what you'll see in the different angled weapon pack photos.
- Tail Guns
There are two guns on the tail that can rotate up and down. The stabilizers themselves don't really have a range of motion.
