- ZOIDS "Build Them To Battle"
- Zoid List and Reviews
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Mega Battler Needle |
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Mega Battler Phobia |
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Mega Battler Pincers |
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Mega Battler Rapterrix |
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Mega Battler Ruin |
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Mega Battler Tanks |
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Giga Battler Tryke |
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Giga Battler Alpha Shadow |
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Giga Battler Liger |
- List of Zoids
Mega Battlers | Giga Battlers |
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Needle
Phobia Pincers Rapterrix Ruin Tanks |
Alpha Shadow
Liger Tryke |
- Reconstructing Zoids!
Zoids "Build Them To Battle" is Hasbro's reimagining of the Zoids Wild line released in Japan starting in 2018. This series has seen overwhelming success, and with Hasbro taking up the mantle for Zoids in the US, a number of design changes have been made to make their release distinctly different from the original. They feature fully painted pilots, eyes molded into the body to avoid any annoying finnicky parts, and new colors that add more detail to the kit's overall appearance.
This series of model kits comes pre-cut from the sprues and already trimmed, so unlike other model kits, absolutely no additional tools are required for building. They're simple builds and good for kids who are starting out with model building. The only thing not included are batteries, which are required for the larger kits. The small ones use wind-up motors, but the small ones also seem to struggle on most surfaces.
- Build Them To Battle!
A new gimmick in Hasbro's release of the Zoids Wild kit is the introduction of a play mat! Pictured above, a unique battle mat is included in each kit as a fold-up paper sheet. Pit your Zoids strength against another Battler kit by placing them on the mat, and seeing which of the two can wrestle the other Zoid off of the platform first. Originally, the series was divided into 3 types, Beta Battlers, Mega Battlers, and Giga Battlers. Upon the official release they were merged into Mega Battlers and Giga Battlers, which have 3 standard price points.
ZOIDS BATTLE RULES
1. Start with Zoids battler on the orange hexagon with all feet on the mat.2. Ready, Set, Unleash! Knock your opponent's battler off the mat to score 1 point. Having 2 or more feet off the mat means the battler has been knocked off.
3. First battler to 3 points wins the match!
- The Release of Zoids Wild in the West
When looking at the Hasbro kits, it seems as if they had big plans for the series. Extra miles were taken that never needed to be, such as improving the build process (clearly marked parts using symbols that wouldn't stand out), providing painted pilot figures, gorgeous box art where product images would have sufficed, and even dedicated artwork drawn exclusively for the instruction manuals by the original Zoids Wild manga artist from Japan, Moritya. So what happened?
I'd love to do a proper write up about the situation someday, but in short, Hasbro suffered major setbacks in the two years leading up to Wild's release. Among these setbacks were the cancellations of important events, where Hasbro was supposed to release information on their products. With these events cancelled, they had to scramble to reorganize the release and information of major franchises under their management.
In 2019 we saw internal stock management entries for stores like Walmart, which listed the Wild kits as cancelled. The following year, the global pandemic related to Covid 19 began. Manufacturing saw major delays, more events were cancelled, and in the end, it seems that Zoids Wild may have been a victim of corporate triage. Realistically speaking, the franchise hadn't even launched in the US yet. With such major setbacks, it was a realistic choice to cut. After all, while we may love Zoids, there wasn't enough support in the west for what Hasbro wanted to achieve with Zoids Wild. Especially given that almost all fans in the west were adults, which had a very outspoken hatred of Zoids Wild and a complete reluctance to accept any Zoids product aimed at children. Yet, reaching a younger audience was vital for Hasbro renewing interest in the franchise, bringing in a new generation in the same way that Tomy did.
So why release the Netflix series before the kits? It's very possible that the global situation delayed the kit release, while pre-established contracts forced them to air the series on a specific date. We'll never know for sure, but business contracts are no joke, and don't always work out the way they're intended. While they could have done a lot more (like, basic advertising-) I suspect that by the time they even announced the series, they already saw the writing on the wall. In this harsh environment, Wild wasn't long for the western world.
So I can only sit here and ponder how things might have gone, while admiring the wonderful efforts invested by the team, even if they weren't able to meet their original goals. I can only hope that Zoids will get another chance in the future, when the global situation is not so severe.
