Zoids
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Zoids is a series of plastic toy models (for the most part) that look like animal-shaped robots, as well as five anime series and three manga series based, for the most part, on the toys.
The original line of toys, resembling dinosaurs, was released in Japan, Europe and the United States in the 1980s. Initially, the Zoids had a "Battle Story" that was told in text on the back of the model boxes, and in "fanbooks" and catalouges. New versions of the toys today are tie-ins to the anime series.
Zoids fans in the UK were also treated their own storyline, featured in the comic Spider-Man and Zoids, that differed considerably from that depicted in the more recent anime. Planet Zi is not mentioned, and the zoids are divided into warring Red and Blue factions, with humans caught in between.
Model Kit lines
There have been a number of different Zoids model lines over the years, both in Japan and other countries.
Mechabonica
Released in 1982, Mechabonica was technically, not a Zoids line. It consisted of three models that would later be re-released as the first three Zoids, the Garius, Elephantus and Glidoler. The line was not very successful, and quickly dropped by Tomy.
Original American Release
Tomy re-released the Mechabonica line in the US in 1983 under the name Zoids. The line was far more successful then Mechabonica, which lead Tomy to reintroduce the line in Japan under the new name.
Later, a pair of original Zoids were created in North America, the Power Zoids Tank and Serpent which were never released in Japan. Other Zoids like the Bigasaur (renamed to Giant ZRK) were also released. Radio Shack released the Mammoth Zoid in the US at the same time. While not a part of the release, it is generally counted with them.
The Original American Release is commonly abbreviated as OAR.
Original Japanese Release
In 1983, following the success of the OAR, Tomy reintroduced the Zoids line in Japan. The relaunched Japanese line, now entitled “Zoids” was a success, running from 1983 until 1990. The Zoids line had its own story that was told on the backs of the model boxes and in catalogues, known as the Battle Story.
Initially, the Zoids were divided into two distinct factions, the Helic Republic and the Zenebas Empire. In 1989, the Zenebas Empire was replaced with the Guylos Empire. At the same time, Tomy introduced a sub-line of Zoids called “Grade Ups”. These Zoids featured special motorised connection ports on their backs that allowed them to connect to extra weapons systems with motorised features.
The Original Japanese Release is commonly abbreviated as OJR.
Original European Release
Zoids were released in the UK and Europe, as well as Australia, from 1984 to 1987 by Tomy. The models in the release were a mixture of ones directly ported over from the OJR, as well as recoloured Zoids. Additionally, the Tank and Serpent Power Zoids from the OAR were released. Most of the Zoids in the line were renamed.
The Zoids in the release were divided into two distinct factions, the Blue Zoids and the Red Mutants. The line had its own story, told in the UK Zoids comic.
The Original European Release is commonly abbreviated as OER.
Robostrux
Robostrux were released in the US by Tomy in 1985-86. All the Zoids in the line were recolours of OJR Zoids, however, some were directly imported from the OER. The Zoids were divided into two factions, the Blue Guardians and the Red Mutants. However, there was no accompanying story or media.
Due to the lack of marketing and the relatively high prices of the models , Robostrux was rather short-lived.
Robostrux is commonly abbreviated as RS.
1/24th Scale Zoids
In 1988, Tomy launched a sub-line of the OJR featuring smaller-scale Zoids. The 1/24th line featured Zoids of similar size to existing ones, but scaled for larger pilots. Each kit came with a 3 inch tall action figure of the pilot. Like the regular Zoids line, the Zoids were divided into Helic and Zenebas factions.
The 1/24th Zoids were not a success, and discontinued after a year.
Zelve
In 1990, Tomy re-released several of the 1/24th Zoids in a new line called Zevle. The Zoids were recoloured from the OJR versions, and came with detailed, fixed-pose pilot figures instead of the action figure ones of the OJR. Zevle featured its own “Battle Story” on the boxes, but was unrelated to the Zoids battle story.
TechnoZoids
Kenner acquired the rights to release Zoids in North America, releasing the TechnoZoids line in 1995-1996. The Zoids in the line were all recolours of earlier Zoids released in the OJR, although some were directly imported from the Zoids2 line. There were no distinct factions for the Zoids, and no backstory given.
The Technozoids line was a failure, lasting less then a year before being discontinued. A number of Zoids were left unreleased at the end of the line, with only one of them believed to have come close to production.
TechnoZoids is commonly abbreviated as TZ.
Zoids2
Tomy released another line of Zoids in the UK and Europe and also Australia in 1996. The Zoids2 line featured very bright colour schemes, with all the Zoids having chromed parts. The Zoids2 line did not feature distinctive factions for the Zoids, but did have a backstory loosely based on the UK Zoid comic.
Like TechnoZoids, Zoids2 was a short-lived failure.
Zoids2 is commonly abbreviated as Z2.
New Japanese Release
In 1999, Tomy relaunched the Zoids line in Japan. Initially, the line consisted of just recoloured re-releases of older Zoids, but Tomy quickly began producing new Zoids designs. The Zoids were divided into Helic and Guylos factions, with the Zenebas Empire returning later. The OJR battle story was continued on the NJR boxes, with the Zoids Anime and Manga expanding on it.
In 2002, Tomy introduced a new sub-line of non-motorised Zoids called Blox which featured flexible construction. Blox Zoids can be easily disassembled and combined with each other, as well as with regular Zoids.
The line was abruptly halted in mid 2004. By the end of the line, there were still some thirty-three Zoids from the OJR that were yet to be re-released.
The New Japanese Release is commonly abbreviated as NJR.
New American Release
Following the launch of the NJR, Hasbro licensed Zoids for release in North America in 2001. Like the NJR, the line was divided into Republic and Empire factions, with the Anime and, to a lesser extent, the battle story providing the backstory. Initially, the Hasbro line consisted of just re-releases of Zoids and Blox from the NJR. However, they later began developing their own Zoid designs, as well as co-developing others with Tomy. Additionally, Hasbro had planned to re-release several OJR Zoids that had not been released in the NJR.
In 2004, Hasbro suspended the line due to poor sales with a number of Zoids unreleased, including most of those not yet re-relased by Tomy. Several of them were released by Hasbro in Australia and the UK. The line is still, however, the largest and most successful non Japanese Zoids line.
The New American Release is commonly abbreviated as NAR.
New Pacific Release
In parallel to the NAR, Tomy began releasing Zoids in Australia and the Philippines. The Zoids released by Tomy in these countries were identical to Hasbro Zoids, but were Tomy branded and manufactured. While the line mirrored the NAR, a number of Zoids scheduled for release in the NAR only came out in this line. Similarly, a lot of Zoids released in the NAR were never released in the Pacific region. The line was effectively dead as of 2004, with a few stray items appearing on shelves in early 2005.
New English Release
In 2003, Tomy began releasing Zoids in the UK. Like the Pacific release, the Zoids were identical to Hasbro-released ones save for the logos on the boxes. The UK release featured several Zoids designs and colour scheme that were not available in the NAR.
The line was cancelled in mid 2004, due to poor sales. This was largely due to very poor marketing, very high prices for Zoids and the Zoids anime never showing on UK television.
The New English Release is commonly abbreviated as NER.
Fuzors
In late 2004, Tomy launched a new Zoids line to tie into the Zoids Fuzors anime that was then showing on Japanese TV. The line was composed entirely of recolours of older moulds, but there were some minor mould changes and a few new parts added, mainly to allow different Zoids to connect (or “fuze”). The line also featured a number of Zoids that were previously only released in North America.
The line was abruptly halted in early 2005 with several items unreleased.
Fuzors is commonly abbreviated as FZ.
Genesis
In early 2005, another new Zoid line was launched to tie into the Zoids Genesis anime. The line consists of a mixture of old designs, new designs and older designs with new parts.
So far the line has been mixed; the re-releases (Which included several Zoids not previously re-released) have been well received. The New designs have not done so well, however. The newer designs have been plagued by quality control issues and production errors, and there has been a lot of criticism of the substantially “pre-built” nature of a lot of the models.
Genesis is commonly abbreviated as GZ.
Battle Story plot summary
Original Battle Story
On the planet Zi, mechanical life forms known as Zoids exist. One type of Zoid, known as Zoidians evolved into a dominant life form. Over time, the Zoidians learned how to alter the other types of Zoids, transforming them into huge war machines. Eventually the central continent of Delpoli would be divided between two groups of the Zoidians population, the Helic Republic in the east and the Zenebas Empire in the west. The two nations have been at war for over a century, using powerful mechanical animals known as Zoids as their main weapons.
In ZAC 2029, a ship from Earth, the Globally 3, crashes on Zi in the middle of the continent. The survivors join both the Empire and the Republic, using advanced Earth technologies. The force of the war increases, as new Zoids like the Gojulas and Iron Kong are deployed. The two sides battle for nearly a decade, until in ZAC 2039, the Republic deployed the super-heavy Ultrasaurus Zoids. With the Ultrasaurus, the Helic Republic were able to defeat the Zenebas Empire.
Emperor Zenebas himself fled the Empire, travelling to the Dark Continent of Nyx. Once there, he made a bargain with the emperor of the Guylos Empire to rebuild his army. In ZAC 2042, the Zenebas Empire returned, invading the Republic with a force of new Zoids. The Zenebas forces quickly advanced and, with the rollout of the Deathsaurer in ZAC 2042, crushed the capital of the Republic.
The Republic’s government survived, however, and planned a counter-offensive. In ZAC 2048, they deployed a new Zoid, the Mad Thunder. With the new Zoid, they were able to defeat the Deathsaurer armies and destroy the Zenebas Empire.
Zenebas fled again, but before he could reach the Dark Continent, he was ambushed by the forces of the Guylos Empire. Zenebas was killed, with his daughter Elena captured by Guylos, who used her to force Störmer, a top Zenebas ace, to serve him.
In ZAC 2051, after two years of peace, strange events begin occurring on the Central Continent. Rivers began to dry up, plants began to wither, animals began to die and the ground itself became dry and cracked. The source of these events was revealed to be the Guylos Empire’s Dark Zoids, which launched attacks on the Helic forces. The Guylos Forces devastated the Helic troops with their terrifying new weapons.
In response, the Helic army launched an invasion of the Guylos homeland, the Dark Continent. The Helic forces landed in ZAC 2053, and fought their way through to the Godcry, an immense canyon. Once there they became bogged down in an eighteen month stalemate with the Guylos Empire, battling back and forth in the Devil’s Maze, a massive network of canyons.
Finally, in ZAC 2055, the Helic army broke through using the new Salamander F2 and the Mad Thunders. However, in an instant the Helic forces were wiped out by a new Guylos Zoid, the insanely powerful Gilvader, piloted by Störmer. Having wiped out the invading force, Störmer and the Gilvader force launched attacks on the Central Continent.
To defend itself, the Republic created the Ouridous to fight off the Gilvader. A force of Ouridous attacked the Gilvaders, and were able to defeat them, apparently killing Störmer. With the Gilvader force defeated, the Republic deployed the King Gojulas, a monstrous Zoid that decimated the Guylos forces. The King Gojulas advanced on the Guylos capital, with only a few units left to hold it off.
Before the final battle could take place, however, a meteor struck one of Zi’s three moons. The moon was shattered, raining meteors down on Zi. The Central continent was sundered into three sections, while the Dark Continent was shattered, with half of it sinking into the ocean. A huge magnetic stom, known as Triangle Daras formed between Delpoli and Nyx, separating the two from each other. Most of the wild Zoids, as well as the Zoidians themselves, were wiped out.
New Battle Story
In ZAC 2096, after decades of peace and recovery from the devastation, Emperor Guylos died. As his grandson, Rudolph, was too young to rule, his chief minister, Gunter Prozen was named regent. In ZAC 2099, Prozen declared war on the Helic Republic, and launched an invasion of the Western Continent of Europa to attack the Republic. The Republic’s forces launched a counterattack, but were overwhelmed.
The Empire found the ruins of an ancient civilisation containing a Deathsaurer as well as other technologies. The Guylos Empire began work on restoring the Deathsaurer, as well as deploying new Zoids like the Geno Saurer. The Republic also developed their own new Zoids, and began to slowly turn the tide against the Empire.
In ZAC 2100, the Republic reactivated the Ultrasaurus, and used it to attack the Empire’s forces on Europa. The Empire countered with their newest creation, the Death Stinger. However, the Death Stinger went berserk and attacked both sides, destroying all in its path. Eventually, the Death Stinger was defeated, but not before causing incredible damage.
The Empire’s troops retreated to the Dark Continent in ZAC 2101, followed by the Republic army. Once there, however, the Republic Army were attacked by a new empire force, the Eisen Dragoon, and suffered horrible losses. The Republic’s forces battled heir way through to the capital, where they found that Prozen’s personal unit had launched a coup. Prozen, the son of Emperor Zenebas, tried to overthrow the Guylos Empire. However, the Deathsaurer he was using overloaded, and destroyed both his forces and the Republic army.
In the aftermath, the Eisen Dragoons took over the Guylos Empire and re-formed it as the Neo-Zenebas Empire, under the rule of their leader, Wolff Muroa. They invaded the Central Continent and, with the new Seismosaurus Zoid, conquered the entire continent in ZAC 2106.
However, in ZAC 2109, the Republic’s forces returned from their exile on the Eastern continent. They drove the Empire’s forces back using the Liger Zero Phoenix, Jet Falcon and Gai Ryuuki. The battle ended with the Republic freeing their capital, and forcing the Zenebas empire back to the Western half of the continent.
Three Tigers Battle Story
By the year ZAC 2230, there have been no wars in decades, instead Zoids are owned by private citizens and fight each other in arena battles. Two large Zoid manufacturing corporations, ZOITEC and Zi-Arms have become considerable powers on Zi.
The two corporations discover the cores of three ancient tiger Zoids, and recreate them as new machines. ZOITEC creates the first one, the Whitz Tiger. Zi-Arms counters with their own new Zoid, the Dekault Dragon. The two corporations clash over the ownership of the remaining two cores. ZOITEC succeeds in creating another Zoid from the second core, the Rayse Tiger.
Zi-Arms responds by recreating the third core as the Brastle Tiger, and launching an attack on ZOITEC. With the data they gain from the attack, they combine the three cores and use them to recreate a Deathsaurer. Unfortunately, the Deathsaurer goes berserk and attacks the Zi-Arms forces, destroying the Dekault Dragon.
The three Tigers join forces to fight the Deathasaurer. By using their various abilities, they are able to destroy it, ending the threat. Then tigers then vanish, returning “back into legends.”
Anime plot summary
The five anime series pertaining to Zoids are: Zoids Chaotic Century, Zoids Guardian Force, Zoids New Century/0, Zoids Fuzors, and Zoids Genesis. All of these series take place on the planet Zi, and in all series the Zoids are metallic lifeforms which are used by people as workers and weapons.
Chaotic Century
Zoids Chaotic Century follows a boy named Van Freiheight (romanized as Flyheight in the English version); the series starts with him being chased by bandits into some old ruins, where he finds a girl named Fiona and a small silver Zoid, which he names Zeke, in old capsules. Zeke, who is later found to be an Organoid, helps Van and Fiona escape the bandits by reactivating a broken Shield Liger and helping Van pilot it out. As the series progresses, Van meets various opponents, such as Raven, and friends, like Moonbay and Irvine, and eventually ends up helping Fiona in her quest to regain her memory and to find the Zoid Eve.
The manga is published in English in North America by Viz Communications, and it is published in Singapore in English by Chuang Yi.
Despite featuring a lot of similar situations and sharing characters, the Chaoitic Century Anime and the Battle Story are nothing alike, and have completely different backstories.
Guardian Force
Zoids Guardian Force is the sequel to Chaotic Century, taking place approximatly 2-4 years after Chaotic Century, though the later date seems to be the more viable one. Van has been training for the past few years under the direction of an officer in the Helic Army. Due to several events and assumed terrorists arising, the Helic Republic and Guylos Empire form a joint military task force, which is called the Guardian Force. Van soon meets up with Fiona, who has been searching for Zoid Eve along with Dr. D, a seemingly insane and childish genius. They set out to find Zoid Eve together again, and, along the way, meet up with both old and new friends and foes.
While the last series to be screened in the US (before Fuzors), Guardian Force was for a long time the most popular. Despite this, Guardian Force has been heavily criticised for its somewhat nonsensical plot, its rather one-dimensional chracters and that the romance between Van and Fiona wasn't touched upon, leaving it up to the fandom.
New Century
Zoids New Century/0 takes place several centuries after Gaurdian Force, where Zoid battles have become a sort of tournament-based league of sorts. The main character is Bit Cloud, a junk dealer, who runs into the Blitz Team. As Bit interferes in a match with the Blitz Team he comes across the Liger Zero, a Zoid possessed by the Blitz team which no one can pilot. Bit and Liger form a partnership and end up joining the Blitz Team in their various league matches. He is aided by his team mates, Lena Toros, Brad Hunter and Jamie Hermeros, as well as their leader, Dr. Steve Toros.
The Liger Zero is revealed to be a unique Zoid - it contains a "Black Box" or "Organoid System", in essence an Organoid that is permanently bonded to its core. This makes the Liger Zero far more intelligent then other Zoids, and able to learn from its battles.
Along the way, Bit's unique Zoid gets the attention of the Backdraft group, an organisation who is trying to take over the Zoid battles. The Backdraft attempts to acquire the Liger Zero by any means possible. They eventualy unearth the Beserk Fury, a powerful Zoid that also contains an Organoid System.
Fuzors
Fuzors is not a direct sequel to New Century Zero, but rather is set in its own continuity. Technology has progressed quite a bit compared to the other series. Now, it has been discovered that Zoids can fuse with other Zoids and create more powerful combinations. The story follows the team Mach Storm as they fight against opponents on the ever changing battlefield. This series follows the story of RD, a novice pilot for Team Mach Storm. His teammates are Helmet, Sigma, Doc, and Sweet. RD commands the Liger Zero also and eventually meets up with the Fire Phoenix. When they combine they form the Liger Zero Phoenix. RD's main rival is Blake, a pilot on Team Savage Hammer.
About half-way through the series it was canceled due to poor ratings and stopped airing on Cartoon Network, but continued to show in Australia and began to show in Japan. The plot, character development, and battles for the first part of the series are were considered by some to be rather disappointing and boring, especially in the English version that aired in the US and Australia. However, the series is accepted by a somewhat large amount of fans to have redeemed itself in the latter half of the series, to the point where some fans prefer it over any of the other series.
Genesis
Zoids Genesis is a new series that began in April 2005. As yet, the continuity between it and the previous shows is unclear.
Natural disasters have devastated planet Zi, killing off almost all life. A thousand years later humans have gradually re-established civilization, salvaging ancient Zoids through diving and mining efforts.
The story begins in a village whose most precious item is a giant sword which they worship as a holy symbol. Ruji, a teenage boy discovers an ancient Liger-type Zoid while on a deep water salvage operation. Suddenly the village is attacked by skeletal "Bio-Zoids" intent on stealing a powerful generator located in the village. The Bio-Zoids are piloted by robots. Our teenage hero awakens the Liger and discovers that the town's sacred sword is the Liger's weapon, together they fight off the mysterious Bio-Zoids, saving the day. At least for now.
The reactions to the show so far have been very mixed. Its animation and style are substantially different from the other Zoids animes, and it features very stylised characters with exaggerated proprtions. The younger characters, like Ruji, feature disproportionately small bodies and large heads. These stylistic changes have been well received by some, and not by others. Also, the plot of the first episode has been derided as rather cliche, and drawn comparisons to the start of Chaotic Century.
UK Zoids Comics Outline
The Zoids were created by a blue-skinned humanoid race native to the planet Zoidstar, who used these mechanical behemoths to conquer and enslave other worlds in a Zoidarian Empire. Most powerful of these war machines was the Giant ZRK.
However, the Zoidarians were a warlike species, and delighted in battle. Thus, once this Empire was pacified their lust for the fight remained unsated, and so they used their battle machines in epic duels to the death.
This was the era of Heroic Combat, considered a golden age by the Zoidarians. But, this combat led to the dwindling of Zoidarian numbers, as ever more succumbed during duels. So it was decreed that henceforth androids should pilot the zoids, and the Zoidarians would sate their battle-hunger vicariously. Thus the golden age ended.
On the outer rim of the Zoidaryan Empire, battlefleets still patrolled their subdued populations, periodically returning to the home system. One such battlefleet miscalculated its return, and crashed onto the Blue Moon of Zoidstar. There was a single Zoidaryan survivor, pulled from the wreckage by android technicians, and given a protective exoskeleton to restore his crippled body.
On the icy moon, the marooned zoids were incapacitated by the frigid temperatures, and the androids set about converting them to more resilient forms. Eventually, the surviving Zoidaryan returns to Zoidstar to find that his people have apparently been wiped out, and that automated factories have produced legions of zoids that continue to battle on, even though their creators have disappeared.
Realizing that he is the last of his kind, the Zoydarian adopts the moniker "Namer", and gives each of the warring machines an apt title to describe its capabilities, for example: "Small and fleet of foot, yet cunning and deadly in battle; thus I name you Spiderzoid." With his naming, the Namer issues a stark prophecy, that when the remodeled Zoids from the Blue Moon return, then there will be an ultimate battle.
(It is confusing to note that the Zoids from the Blue Moon are actually the Red Zoids, such as Redhorn the Terrible, and those that remained on Zoidstar, such as Zoidzilla, are the Blue Zoids).
Into this melée crashes the Celeste, a human prison ship filled with convicts in "sus" (suspended animation), that is knocked out of orbit by a huge fireball. The survivors of the crash band together, and are joined by the Namer, and attempt to survive the rigors of Zoidstar.
While the Blue and Red Zoids clash, a third force is looming over them. The rengade red Zoid, Krark, is building his own army of Zoids from both the Red and Blue armies. While the two armies are content to beat each other to oblivion, Krark wants to leave Zoidstar behind and build a new Zoid Empire, ruling over the enire Galaxy.
This story has no continuity with the Japanese animes, as, for one reason, it was created a number of years before the animes ever existed. It was created to go along with the original UK (and, subsequently, Australian) release of model kits.
Internet Communities
Online RPG Boom
Various online RPGs were created in response to the mildly popular Zoids New Century/0 anime which aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami. In response to the show, which portrayed a world where zoids fought in matches much like modern day professional fights. This world was so open ended in the fact that many time-lines and characters (or "teams") could be created without disrupting or conflicting with the original storyline. And so, many fan fictions were written. These writers immediately began to form online RPGs in the form of online Forums in which people buy and own zoids, upgrade them and fight them on teams. Many of them were released within Zoids New Century/0's first year of release and most of them became inactive within that year, however a few sites are still actively maintained with hundreds of members from many different countries.
Message Boards and Groups
Like the RPGs, a great amount of Zoids-related message boards and groups started popping on the internet up after Zoids enjoyed relative popularity. The vast majority of these are now rather slow, and a large percentage are also pretty much dead. However, there are some that, all things considering, are fairly active and have decent membership, such as Phenotype's Zoids Forum, Metal Machine Music, Zoids Endless Battle, Zoids Evolution Forums, Zoids GC Message Board, and the ZoidFans Smartgroups boards.