RMZ-001 Blade Liger

Design Concept Sketches

RMZ-001 Blade Liger

The silhouette and design, as well as the details of each individual part have been updated based on the setting for the kit released in 2000 as well as the anime, creating new, uncompromising Blade Liger proportions.

* Check out the official page for this product! The page you're viewing now exists purely for achival purposes, as countless Zoids products pages and their images have been lost to time over the years.

Details 01: Movable Gimmicks

Each part has a movable gimmick
The action plastic kit approach allows for a wide range of motion, enhancing the realistic movements of animals.


Head It's possible to express a number of poses such as roaring, threatening, and looking around.	Body The newly designed movable points allow for poses such as bending upwards, offering more natural curves while using fewer joints.

Shoulders The position of the newly designed movable axis allows for poses like striking a threatening stance with the shoulders tensed up.	Legs The legs can move in two ways: Inwards and outwards. Thus it can take on fierce standing or hunkered down poses, just like a lion.

Tail The base of the tail is equipped with a ball joint, allowing for it to bend up, down, left, and right, expanding its range of motion and allowing for natural posing from the neck to the tip of the tail.

Details 02: Movable Gimmicks

It's equipped with movable gimmicks even down to the smallest details, such as each joint and the claws. In addition, interchangeable head parts are included, allowing for a variety of different expressions.


Legs: Elbow and Knee Joints The newly designed movable points allow for great movement in the elbow and knee joints.	Legs: Claws Multi-axis movement allows for detailed posing of the claws.

Completion Refrigerators The Completion Refrigerators on the leg armor can be opened and closed.	Head Parts By replacing the E-Shield Generators, it's possible to switch to a dedicated machine.

Details 03: Recreating The Anime

The movable gimmicks featured in this kit enhance its ability to express memorable scenes, such as the Blade Attack state and the Pulse Laser Gun firing state depicted in the TV anime.


Blade Attack State You can recreate the scenes from the anime, like when the blades are deployed on either side for the Blade Attack, as well as thrusting the blades forward for a charging posture.	Boosters Deployed State The cover on the back opens, allowing you to recreate the scene from the anime where the boosters are deployed.

Pulse Laser Gun Active Firing State It's also possible to recreate the scenes in the anime where the blades extend forward and fire the Pulse Laser Guns.	E-Shield Deployed State It's also possible to recreate the scene where the E-Shield is activated by unfolding the mane pieces on the top, bottom, and sides.

Bang & Fine 1/100 Scale Figures The cockpit hatch has an opening and closing gimmick and also comes with 1/100 scale pilot figures (Bang & Fine, as well as a regular soldier!)

Details 04: Optional Production Parts

This kit comes with special parts that allow you to realize your dreams and enhance your recreations of famous scenes from the anime.

Blade Attack Parts

Blade Liger Specs

Release Date: February 2025
Retail Price: 4,950

Model Number: RZ-028
Type: Lion

Total Length: 25.9 m
Height: 12.2 m
Weight: 124.0 t
Max Speed: 305.0 km/h

Weapons: (Clockwise from upper left)
E-Shield Generator
Multi-Blade Antenna
3D Dual Sensor
Pulse Laser Gun x2
Laser Blade x2
Completion Refrigerator x4
Strike Claw x4
AZ 2-Barrelled Shock Cannon
E-Shield Generators
Laser Sabre x2

Gallery

RMZ-001 Blade Liger Review

Introduction

The RMZ-001 Blade Liger is the first in a series of articulated model kits released by Takara Tomy in 2025. Realize Models are 1/100 scale, meaning they're smaller than the old 1/72 motorized, Kotobukiya, and AZ Zoids.

A product line featuring articulated models was actually a dream of Tomy's way back in 2005, even though at the time they received equal parts support and disapproval for the idea. Many people felt that non-motorized Zoids weren't actually Zoids. They discussed this in magazines, and only a year later, Kotobukiya released the first Zoid of their High-End Master Model Series, the Shield Liger. HMMs would go on to become perhaps the most powerful line in the franchise, releasing one impressive kit after another. They drastically helped to improve public opinion of articulated kits in the Zoids franchise. Even so, seeing Tomy finally take a shot at making their own articulated model kits has been exciting. This series started with a boom, announcing some 8+ kits before their first had even released, with intentions to have monthly product news.

So, what's my first impression of the RMZ series? Honestly, that they've become the gold standard of not just poseable model kits, but also in fandom appreciation. These models benefit from their smaller size by being solid kits that you can comfortably pose without fear of them falling apart. The range of motion is superb. When Tomy then also takes the time to include love letters to the fans in the form of effect parts, anime-specific variants, and more, it just makes this series sing all the more.

In the following paragraphs I'll expand more on these opinions.

* The stand depicted in this review is an old Revoltech stand and is NOT included in the kit.

Pros

Includes effect parts for the Laser Blades
High-quality plastic with sharp details in spite of the small molding size
More space and cost-friendly than larger kits
Extremely high degree of articulation
Sturdy while posing, little to no parts shedding
Includes anime-specific pilots (* Unpictured because I immediately lost them. Shut it, they're tiny!)
Included extra mane parts for the anime-specific version
Box and instructions include English translations for international fans

Cons

The thin casting on a couple tiny parts makes them easy to bend or crumple
Over-reliance on PC parts, which are likely to not age well
Paw joints can be stiff and hard to rotate

Quality of Life Improvements

RMZ kits have perhaps the smoothest build of any models I've built thus far. Their parts count is somewhere around Advanced Zi. If you count all spare parts and caps, RMZ Blade Liger has roughly 175 parts compared to Tomy's motorized 97, HMM's 628 and AZ's 224 (though AZ and HMM both have a ton of spare parts since they both followed Shield Ligers.) The improvements to the build process mean these kits can easily be built in a night, if you've got a few hours. Between the price, footprint, and build time, these are great kits for adult collectors who struggle to find time and space for the hobby.

There are also some build improvements added to the RMZ series. For example, left and right parts are often marked, which is convenient for those of us who like to cut at least a couple pages of pieces at a time. All sprues (thus far) are consistently numbered from upper left to bottom right, meaning you don't have to search around the sprue to figure out where a part is at. It sounds like a small thing, but it cuts down significantly on the build time. The builds are smooth. Pieces just slide into place most of the time. However, due to their poseable nature, some pieces take a lot of pressure to push together. This is where the sharp edges can be a bit of a pain (literally).

Thoughts and Concerns

Overall, RMZs have the best poseability of any model kit to date. HMMs are a bit more restricted, but don't forget, as larger kits they have more of a weight burden and some concessions are made to accomodate that. While Kotobukiya has begun moving further away from PC parts, which haven't held their weight well over the years, RMZs are leaning heavily into them. It'll be interesting to see how these kits age, and if the PC parts hold up better at this smaller scale. However, I fear they'll go the route of other smaller-scale figures and kits and end up pretty floppy, as happened with MSS's model kits and Kotobukiya's Zoids Aggressive action figures. I really would've liked to see more parts use plastic.

Speaking of plastic, the quality overall is great. However, at this scale, I feel that they really shouldn't be doing sharp details. These are great, in theory. In practice, however, sharp points like the Blade Liger's white mane pieces or the Geno Saurer's claws easily crumple at the tips if you're not paying special attention to them.

A lot of people have noticed the Blade Liger's canopy doesn't like to close completely flat. It seems that the angle the canopy attaches at is just ever-so-slightly off. I found you can get it to lay mostly flat by opening the canopy all the way, then pressing down on the nose-end of the canopy until it tilts forward just a smidge. This will let it sit flat enough that it won't be noticeable at display distance.

Support For International Fans

One of the most exciting things about the RMZ line is the support for international fans. Both the box details and the instructions include both English and Japanese. Takara Tomy has also launched an English T-Spark website, hopefully including RMZ kits down the line. With Kotobukiya simultaneously launching their official US-based store it's a good day to be a western Zoids fan.

Effect Parts

The RMZ kits often include special bonus parts to set the kit apart. In this case, they added effect parts for the Laser Blades! This is such a cool addition and man, I wish we got them for more kits. Funny enough, though, they can kinda wedge onto the blades of larger Blade Ligers, too. The color is rich and vibrant, but be sure to use the edge of pliers or something to push them on because man, those energy waves can be stabby!

Gallery

Model Gallery

Detail Shots

Size Comparisons

The first image shows the Blade Liger next to the HMM Blade Liger Leon (left) and the Tomy Blade Liger (right). The RMZ is quite slender and agile looking by comparison, and while it's smaller, I feel like it's a good display size still. The second image shows it just next to the Tomy motorized. The third image shows it next to the Anniversary / Advanced Zi Blade Liger, which is a beefy boi even by 1/72 standards.

Last but not least, the two right images illustrate the difference in size between the RMZ Blade Liger (right) and the last 1/100 scale figure we got, the Zoids Aggressive Blade Liger AB action figure by Kotobukiya. The RMZ is larger by a decent bit.

- Gimmicks

- Mane

The side mane of the Blade Liger rotate inwards and outwards. These parts can be fragile towards the tips, so be careful when trimming them. They aren't brittle, but can bend.

- Cockpit

The cockpit opens on a hinge joint, revealing a double seater cockpit! The kit actually comes with a mini Bang & Fine figure, but unfortunately they're microscopic and I lost them immediately after building the kit, so, see the product info from the first section of the page for images.

- E-Shield Generators

The E-Shield Generators rotate up and down. Though understated, this piece is actually one of the extras thrown in as a shout out to fans. You can assemble the kit with either the generic four-pronged generator, or with the anime's five-pronged version. The head was obnoxiously difficult to pry apart to swap this piece, so I recommend building with the one that you want from the get go.

- Jaws

The jaws open and close. I do wish the teeth had somehow been integrated into the fang piece, as the two on the side are actually part of the internal head part. This means they're black instead of gold, but mismatched teeth aren't new to the Blade Liger.

- Completion Refrigerators

These panels on the legs flip inwards and outwards. I always love seeing this part made movable, but do kinda wish they rotated outwards a bit more.

- Head & Neck Articulation

The head can tilt up and down a little bit, but the real impressive part is the neck. The neck as a whole can rotate up out of the body on a plastic plate, and can spin 360 degrees where it connects to said plate. This looks a little eldritch horror at first glance, but actually allows for the Blade Liger to raise its head way higher than most others.

- Leg Articulation

The front legs are articulated at the shoulders, elbows, and paws. In the first and third image you see the legs fully folded as far as they'll go, then in the second and fourth images fully extended. Though I forgot to get pictures specifically of the joints, the legs are attached to articulated arms that can lean out of the body. This moves the legs further out so that the distance they can lean inwards and outwards is dramatically improved.

- Paws

The paws can rotate up and down, and are also attached on a peg that allows them to swivel 360 degrees. This joint is rather stiff, so you need to manually rotate them if you want the feet to sit flat on the ground. They're a bit looser on other kits, which makes it easier to press the paws flat after posing.

- Blades

Blade Liger's signature weapon is beautifully painted in metallic gold. They're articulated in all the normal places, able to rotate forwards and backwards at the cap and extend outwards at the side.

- Body Articulation

The body is articulated at two points. It can bend upwards and downwards right behind the chest. A second joint in the waist can twist left and right by quite a distance. This allows for some pretty natural-looking cat poses.

- Rocket Booster

The cover of the Rocket Booster flips upwards and the boosters can extend on an arm. They can also rotate up and down at the connection point.

- Tail

The tail is attached to a ball joint that lets it rotate up, down, and tilt sideways. At this size, articulation options for a thin part like this are limited, especially when it's a high break risk. While I've grown attached to the wire option explored in some kits, if they have to go for a solid piece, I actually really like how this is designed, with the sharp bend at the top. It means the different poses look more dynamic, like the tail is swishing behind it.