| SHIELD LIGER GALLERY |
Today Henshin Hobby brings you Kotobukiya’s Shield Liger. I know what you're thinking, and yes Zoids is traditionally a Tomy
line. It makes sense when you remember that K-T (Koto/Takara) products are nothing new, so the relationship carries on in the
new Takara Tomy incarnation. The Shield Liger is part of the new High Master Model line (or HMM.) The name is obviously
meant to stir images of Bandai’s Master Grade line; though whether or not this Liger is worthy of the title ‘Master’ is yet to be
seen. For building materials I used only snippers to liberate the parts from the frames, an X-acto knife to clean the burrs, and
one black Gundam Marker for detailing. Now without further gilding the lily:
Packaging:
Fairly typical plastic model packaging. The top of the box has a nice piece of art showing the Shield Liger in a classic coloring
style. One side has photos of a spruced up assembled kit and the opposite has what I assume to be a blurb about the unit.
Kotobukiya clearly took their lead from Bandai more than from Tomy on the presentation. Inside all the frames are in clear
plastic bags, along with the manual and an insert about the online Zoids game. An uninspiring, if tried and true, style.
Score 3/5
Assembly:
First we talk parts count. The old Tomy RZ-007 (Republican Zoid model 7) consisted of five frames of parts. The HMM
version is spread across 26 parts frames, 4 frames of hard Z-caps, and 4 poly-cap runners, bringing the grand total up to 34
frames, plus eight loose springs and the clear red Zoid Core. I compare this to the Gundam Mark-II 2.0 sitting next to my work
table which has 14 frames (including one for the launch pad) and one frame of polycaps. I dug out my old manuals and it seems
the Perfect Grade Zaku used 23 frames and a small pile of loose parts. The high parts count is a major benefit for one because
it means that all the components can be cast in their true color, effectively eliminating painting. This also means you’ll be in for
a bit of a marathon. It took me a week of semi-hardcore building to finish (devoting one day off, a few hours after work, etc) but I
didn’t need to make it my life to finish it in a timely fashion (remembers the Spring Break when all of my daylight hours were
spent working on my Perfect grade Wing 0 Custom.) The manual clearly outlines the assembly process and no reading is
required to figure anything out (for us poor, deprived English-readers.) My only gripe with the instructions is that in the attempt
to minimize space, sometimes the manual shows what is rightfully three or four steps in one picture, leaving the builder to
decipher the proper order. This is particularly true in the building of the legs. The only coloring I did during this build was to
highlight the panel lines and details with a fine-tip black Gundam Marker. The difference can be seen here with the two halves
of the head:
A more readily available alternative that is popular are fine-tip permanent markers (Sharpy, et al.) I personally find that they
have worse consistency and are less forgiving of mistakes. Included with the kit is a sheet of decals much like those that come
with typical Tomy models. They are, however, regular stickers like the Tomy ones, not dry-transfer. As a result the modeler
must very carefully trim them or they will be surrounded by a cloudy area where the not-quite clear parts are. Personally, I go
for anime accuracy and leave them off entirely.
Score: 4/5
Sculpt:
When it comes to model kits, this category is the biggy. Sharpness is always something to look for in new kits, and
Bandai’s been upping the bar with their recent kits like F-91 and Crossbones. Koto proves themselves more than up the
challenge. Every part is crisp and fine. A picture is worth a thousand rants, so I’ll let this comparison of the Koto Liger and its
cousin the Blade Liger do the talking (sorry, I got lazy and never actually brought a Tomy Shield Liger)
The first reaction is “Wow, it’s smaller.” The HMM Zoids are in fact 1/72 scale, same as the Tomy standard. The difference is
size is comparable to different grades of Gundam (ever put the old Wing 0 Custom High Grade next to the much newer MG?)
Look a bit closer and you’ll see the HMM Liger is in fact much finer and more precise, giving it a much more realistic look. The
details are all there, but much sharper than before. Sharpness is the right word too, since the teeth can actually give you quite
a nasty scratch (I was kinda hoping they would cut me so I could show you the picture, but oh well) Also note subtle details like
the elimination of the molded hanging wires on the legs and other places. This adds a touch more realism to the design,
minimizing exposed vitals that would make battles foolhardy.
Score:5/5
Parts Fit:
The last thing a kit should ever look like is a kit, just a pile of parts. Being a snap-together kit, parts fit is an issue that must be
addressed. For the most part the parts line up and snap firm. The joints are all tight, but not overly so. Many MG’s and
PG’s often give me pause to pose, lest I apply too much force the wrong way and snap the one solitary peg connecting two parts
of the leg together or some such nonsense. When building the Liger I noticed no such obvious weak points, giving confidence
to pose and repose the Liger. Two spots merit note. The first is the vents on each of the thighs. There blue vents lock into
dark grey parts, and while they are in solid, I can’t quite get them to stay flush, as shown here:
The other spot is the panel that goes on top of feet food right above the claws. Part of the way the two halves of the foot lock
together is the panel over top of them. It’s meant to lock-on via two ridges on the foot plugged into two groves in the pad, and
there is not much for them to grip onto. I didn’t fight it much; I just went ahead and took the easy way out and glued the buggers
on. Other than that, the Liger seems to hold firm and I have no fear of parts popping off, either while on display or through light
handing.
Score: 4/5
Coloring:
Being a frequent seller of model kits at Conventions the first question which starts to grate my nerves is always, “Do I have to
paint it?” The answer for your average Gundam MG is usually “Not really.” Meaning not too much Most look great built straight
out of the box, but as a bit of a perfectionist I always find myself doing little things like painting boosters, touching up vents, etc.
As for the HMM Shield Liger, here are some comparisons of the anime and my kit, which has not been touched by a drop of
paint:
As your can see there is more color in the kit than there is even in the anime! The pistons are colored metallic gold and silver
and the main body is two-toned with dark grey and black. The biggest visual issue you’ll encounter here is the danger with any
non-white kit: burrs. I cover this here because I consider it more a coloring issue than a sculpting one. The spots where the
parts were connected to the frame, even when carefully cut and trimmed, are still notable. Luckily, the Liger is mostly grey and
black, so I recommend using the detailing pen used for the line work to cover the burr. Generally I apply some color and then
wipe it right off, so the color just fills the indentation. The ideal is to have grey marker to do this, since black stands a bit, while
grey blends into more colors, even dark blue. While many pictures show the kit with various degrees of weathing and added
detailing like silver lining around the cockpit, out of the box the kit is BETTER than accurate.
Score: 5/5
Articulation:
Not all of us modelers like complicated models because we enjoy straining our eyes for hours on end with some random DVD
commentary running in the background (Return of the King! Woo!) For fans of the series the kit is based on, it is all about the
payoff: the completed piece. Now what is the biggest draw of the HMM Zoids line? Poseability! That is why these kits are such a
big deal: 1/72 scale super-poseable Zoids! So how is the delivery? Above and beyond. The easy stuff is there: the knee and
ankle joints that were once motorized are now jointed to move freely. The ‘hip’ joints, pictured below, are designed to swing
back-and-forth and up-and-down, giving it universal motion with out resorting to ball-and-socket joints. This is both sturdier and
more realistic.
Ball-and-socket joints do play a role. As one expects, that is how the head gets its movement. But interestingly they have
another part to play. The ‘torso’ is actually in three parts, connected via ball-and-sockets. This gives the body a much more
cat-like range of flexibility, which Liger-type Zoids in the anime are often shown as having. Of particular interest are details such
as the wires which come off the triple shock-cannon on the belly. The cannons are on the front part, but the wire connects to
the second. The part which receives the wires doesn’t actually clamp on, but hold the wires, allowing them to slide in and out so
the motion is not hampered. Bugger that’s cool! The tail is made of a series of angled bars that slide into the following part.
This Kaiyodo-esque jointing allows the tail to hold many different positions in a more sturdy fashion that other approaches such
as small ball-and-sockets (can everyone here say ‘snap?’) It can never actually achieve an at-rest- position, flat on the ground,
however.
Score: 5/5
Gimmicks:
An odd category for a model kit, but one worth exploring. Shield Ligers are mostly known for their . . . anyone? Shields! The
Shield Liger (along with its Bladed cousin) has four panels on the head and one on each leg which flip out, which in the anime
activates a forward energy shield. A nice bit of thought on the part of the designers can be seen underneath the panel on top
of the head. There is a circular device, which I think is safe to assume is the shield generator. The panel on the Liger’s back
flips up to reveal the Ligers 20-mm double-barreled beam cannons. The cannons move omnidirectionally freely. In a much
needed bit of detailing, the actually barrels are drilled out, unlike even the most recent Tomy pieces. The Shield Liger’s
strongest armaments are the missile pods which flip down on either side of the torso. Here you find the Liger’s only ‘functional’
hydraulics. This leads to my biggest gripe with the kit: the decorative details. The legs feature hydraulics on the front and sides
resembling shock absorbers, the sides even having real springs visible. This really helps the look of the Liger. However I was a
bit disappointed to find in building the kit that these are entirely for show and that they are fixed in place. I think they look great,
but they do make the modeler in me think “what-if.” What if this Liger, which has so many parts, actually had real shocks, like
some Perfect Grades? It wouldn’t have taken much to have them, and I don’t think it would have harmed the kit at all. The final
nice touch for fans is located just under the neck in the torso. A part slides out of the body which holds the clear red Zoid Core.
In the anime the core is both the heart and brain of all Zoids; they are the life in the metal body. Such a detail is a wonderful bit
of heart that shows that the designers of these Zoids know their Zoids mythos and want these to be the ultimate in Zoids kits.
Score: 4/5
Style:
There are some things that cannot be broken down to raw statistics. The Shield Liger’s sculpting is first rate, the poseability is
great, but the question remains: just how good a Liger is it? The HMM takes the original Tomy design mixes in a bit of the anime
and gave us something better than ever existed before, creating a new definitive version. There is a lot of license taken with the
design, but instead of making it more fantastical, the designers elevated what was child’s toy and turned it into a precision
mechanical model.
Score 5/5
Value:
The retail on this kit is 4000 yen, which at current rates is $35.54. Import prices will vary, of course. This is the same price
as the Mark-II 2.0, and right between the regular Crossbones (3500 yen) and the Full-Cloth version (4500 yen), so it I similarly
priced with Bandai’s Master Grade line. This kit which has more parts that some Perfect Grade kits and requires no painting
easily holds its own at this price point and is more worth it for modelers, if anything for the change of pace from humanoid robots.
Score: 5/5
Final:
As I told “Kabuto” while I was building this kit, this is one of the most satisfying kits I’ve worked on in a long time. My Gundam kit
moods were becoming start and stop as my nerves frayed. This kit reminded me of the pleasures of modeling, of putting
together a finely-designed kit and appreciating all the work that went into it. Kotobukiya has shown the next two members of the
Zoids HMM collection: a Command Wolf and a Saber Tiger. While I’m lukewarm on the Wolfy, I’m counting the days till I have the
Shield Liger’s eternal rival, the Saber Tiger, on my doorstep and on my work desk.
MOBILIZE!
line. It makes sense when you remember that K-T (Koto/Takara) products are nothing new, so the relationship carries on in the
new Takara Tomy incarnation. The Shield Liger is part of the new High Master Model line (or HMM.) The name is obviously
meant to stir images of Bandai’s Master Grade line; though whether or not this Liger is worthy of the title ‘Master’ is yet to be
seen. For building materials I used only snippers to liberate the parts from the frames, an X-acto knife to clean the burrs, and
one black Gundam Marker for detailing. Now without further gilding the lily:
Packaging:
Fairly typical plastic model packaging. The top of the box has a nice piece of art showing the Shield Liger in a classic coloring
style. One side has photos of a spruced up assembled kit and the opposite has what I assume to be a blurb about the unit.
Kotobukiya clearly took their lead from Bandai more than from Tomy on the presentation. Inside all the frames are in clear
plastic bags, along with the manual and an insert about the online Zoids game. An uninspiring, if tried and true, style.
Score 3/5
Assembly:
First we talk parts count. The old Tomy RZ-007 (Republican Zoid model 7) consisted of five frames of parts. The HMM
version is spread across 26 parts frames, 4 frames of hard Z-caps, and 4 poly-cap runners, bringing the grand total up to 34
frames, plus eight loose springs and the clear red Zoid Core. I compare this to the Gundam Mark-II 2.0 sitting next to my work
table which has 14 frames (including one for the launch pad) and one frame of polycaps. I dug out my old manuals and it seems
the Perfect Grade Zaku used 23 frames and a small pile of loose parts. The high parts count is a major benefit for one because
it means that all the components can be cast in their true color, effectively eliminating painting. This also means you’ll be in for
a bit of a marathon. It took me a week of semi-hardcore building to finish (devoting one day off, a few hours after work, etc) but I
didn’t need to make it my life to finish it in a timely fashion (remembers the Spring Break when all of my daylight hours were
spent working on my Perfect grade Wing 0 Custom.) The manual clearly outlines the assembly process and no reading is
required to figure anything out (for us poor, deprived English-readers.) My only gripe with the instructions is that in the attempt
to minimize space, sometimes the manual shows what is rightfully three or four steps in one picture, leaving the builder to
decipher the proper order. This is particularly true in the building of the legs. The only coloring I did during this build was to
highlight the panel lines and details with a fine-tip black Gundam Marker. The difference can be seen here with the two halves
of the head:
A more readily available alternative that is popular are fine-tip permanent markers (Sharpy, et al.) I personally find that they
have worse consistency and are less forgiving of mistakes. Included with the kit is a sheet of decals much like those that come
with typical Tomy models. They are, however, regular stickers like the Tomy ones, not dry-transfer. As a result the modeler
must very carefully trim them or they will be surrounded by a cloudy area where the not-quite clear parts are. Personally, I go
for anime accuracy and leave them off entirely.
Score: 4/5
Sculpt:
When it comes to model kits, this category is the biggy. Sharpness is always something to look for in new kits, and
Bandai’s been upping the bar with their recent kits like F-91 and Crossbones. Koto proves themselves more than up the
challenge. Every part is crisp and fine. A picture is worth a thousand rants, so I’ll let this comparison of the Koto Liger and its
cousin the Blade Liger do the talking (sorry, I got lazy and never actually brought a Tomy Shield Liger)
The first reaction is “Wow, it’s smaller.” The HMM Zoids are in fact 1/72 scale, same as the Tomy standard. The difference is
size is comparable to different grades of Gundam (ever put the old Wing 0 Custom High Grade next to the much newer MG?)
Look a bit closer and you’ll see the HMM Liger is in fact much finer and more precise, giving it a much more realistic look. The
details are all there, but much sharper than before. Sharpness is the right word too, since the teeth can actually give you quite
a nasty scratch (I was kinda hoping they would cut me so I could show you the picture, but oh well) Also note subtle details like
the elimination of the molded hanging wires on the legs and other places. This adds a touch more realism to the design,
minimizing exposed vitals that would make battles foolhardy.
Score:5/5
Parts Fit:
The last thing a kit should ever look like is a kit, just a pile of parts. Being a snap-together kit, parts fit is an issue that must be
addressed. For the most part the parts line up and snap firm. The joints are all tight, but not overly so. Many MG’s and
PG’s often give me pause to pose, lest I apply too much force the wrong way and snap the one solitary peg connecting two parts
of the leg together or some such nonsense. When building the Liger I noticed no such obvious weak points, giving confidence
to pose and repose the Liger. Two spots merit note. The first is the vents on each of the thighs. There blue vents lock into
dark grey parts, and while they are in solid, I can’t quite get them to stay flush, as shown here:
The other spot is the panel that goes on top of feet food right above the claws. Part of the way the two halves of the foot lock
together is the panel over top of them. It’s meant to lock-on via two ridges on the foot plugged into two groves in the pad, and
there is not much for them to grip onto. I didn’t fight it much; I just went ahead and took the easy way out and glued the buggers
on. Other than that, the Liger seems to hold firm and I have no fear of parts popping off, either while on display or through light
handing.
Score: 4/5
Coloring:
Being a frequent seller of model kits at Conventions the first question which starts to grate my nerves is always, “Do I have to
paint it?” The answer for your average Gundam MG is usually “Not really.” Meaning not too much Most look great built straight
out of the box, but as a bit of a perfectionist I always find myself doing little things like painting boosters, touching up vents, etc.
As for the HMM Shield Liger, here are some comparisons of the anime and my kit, which has not been touched by a drop of
paint:
As your can see there is more color in the kit than there is even in the anime! The pistons are colored metallic gold and silver
and the main body is two-toned with dark grey and black. The biggest visual issue you’ll encounter here is the danger with any
non-white kit: burrs. I cover this here because I consider it more a coloring issue than a sculpting one. The spots where the
parts were connected to the frame, even when carefully cut and trimmed, are still notable. Luckily, the Liger is mostly grey and
black, so I recommend using the detailing pen used for the line work to cover the burr. Generally I apply some color and then
wipe it right off, so the color just fills the indentation. The ideal is to have grey marker to do this, since black stands a bit, while
grey blends into more colors, even dark blue. While many pictures show the kit with various degrees of weathing and added
detailing like silver lining around the cockpit, out of the box the kit is BETTER than accurate.
Score: 5/5
Articulation:
Not all of us modelers like complicated models because we enjoy straining our eyes for hours on end with some random DVD
commentary running in the background (Return of the King! Woo!) For fans of the series the kit is based on, it is all about the
payoff: the completed piece. Now what is the biggest draw of the HMM Zoids line? Poseability! That is why these kits are such a
big deal: 1/72 scale super-poseable Zoids! So how is the delivery? Above and beyond. The easy stuff is there: the knee and
ankle joints that were once motorized are now jointed to move freely. The ‘hip’ joints, pictured below, are designed to swing
back-and-forth and up-and-down, giving it universal motion with out resorting to ball-and-socket joints. This is both sturdier and
more realistic.
Ball-and-socket joints do play a role. As one expects, that is how the head gets its movement. But interestingly they have
another part to play. The ‘torso’ is actually in three parts, connected via ball-and-sockets. This gives the body a much more
cat-like range of flexibility, which Liger-type Zoids in the anime are often shown as having. Of particular interest are details such
as the wires which come off the triple shock-cannon on the belly. The cannons are on the front part, but the wire connects to
the second. The part which receives the wires doesn’t actually clamp on, but hold the wires, allowing them to slide in and out so
the motion is not hampered. Bugger that’s cool! The tail is made of a series of angled bars that slide into the following part.
This Kaiyodo-esque jointing allows the tail to hold many different positions in a more sturdy fashion that other approaches such
as small ball-and-sockets (can everyone here say ‘snap?’) It can never actually achieve an at-rest- position, flat on the ground,
however.
Score: 5/5
Gimmicks:
An odd category for a model kit, but one worth exploring. Shield Ligers are mostly known for their . . . anyone? Shields! The
Shield Liger (along with its Bladed cousin) has four panels on the head and one on each leg which flip out, which in the anime
activates a forward energy shield. A nice bit of thought on the part of the designers can be seen underneath the panel on top
of the head. There is a circular device, which I think is safe to assume is the shield generator. The panel on the Liger’s back
flips up to reveal the Ligers 20-mm double-barreled beam cannons. The cannons move omnidirectionally freely. In a much
needed bit of detailing, the actually barrels are drilled out, unlike even the most recent Tomy pieces. The Shield Liger’s
strongest armaments are the missile pods which flip down on either side of the torso. Here you find the Liger’s only ‘functional’
hydraulics. This leads to my biggest gripe with the kit: the decorative details. The legs feature hydraulics on the front and sides
resembling shock absorbers, the sides even having real springs visible. This really helps the look of the Liger. However I was a
bit disappointed to find in building the kit that these are entirely for show and that they are fixed in place. I think they look great,
but they do make the modeler in me think “what-if.” What if this Liger, which has so many parts, actually had real shocks, like
some Perfect Grades? It wouldn’t have taken much to have them, and I don’t think it would have harmed the kit at all. The final
nice touch for fans is located just under the neck in the torso. A part slides out of the body which holds the clear red Zoid Core.
In the anime the core is both the heart and brain of all Zoids; they are the life in the metal body. Such a detail is a wonderful bit
of heart that shows that the designers of these Zoids know their Zoids mythos and want these to be the ultimate in Zoids kits.
Score: 4/5
Style:
There are some things that cannot be broken down to raw statistics. The Shield Liger’s sculpting is first rate, the poseability is
great, but the question remains: just how good a Liger is it? The HMM takes the original Tomy design mixes in a bit of the anime
and gave us something better than ever existed before, creating a new definitive version. There is a lot of license taken with the
design, but instead of making it more fantastical, the designers elevated what was child’s toy and turned it into a precision
mechanical model.
Score 5/5
Value:
The retail on this kit is 4000 yen, which at current rates is $35.54. Import prices will vary, of course. This is the same price
as the Mark-II 2.0, and right between the regular Crossbones (3500 yen) and the Full-Cloth version (4500 yen), so it I similarly
priced with Bandai’s Master Grade line. This kit which has more parts that some Perfect Grade kits and requires no painting
easily holds its own at this price point and is more worth it for modelers, if anything for the change of pace from humanoid robots.
Score: 5/5
Final:
As I told “Kabuto” while I was building this kit, this is one of the most satisfying kits I’ve worked on in a long time. My Gundam kit
moods were becoming start and stop as my nerves frayed. This kit reminded me of the pleasures of modeling, of putting
together a finely-designed kit and appreciating all the work that went into it. Kotobukiya has shown the next two members of the
Zoids HMM collection: a Command Wolf and a Saber Tiger. While I’m lukewarm on the Wolfy, I’m counting the days till I have the
Shield Liger’s eternal rival, the Saber Tiger, on my doorstep and on my work desk.
MOBILIZE!
The Toy from Planet Zi...
-review and photography by Casval