Pure nostalgia. I remember looking on hopelessly at those big, amazing looking zoids in the toy shops knowing full well they were too expensive, even for Christmas.
I just stumbled on your channel @Mangus Wilson, and I have a short anecdote to tell. Back in the late 80's I formed a Zoids club here in the UK, and wrote off to Tomy to ask permission to use the name. They responded well with tips on how to grow the platform and eventually sending me a package of a re-fuelling station. Consisting of platforms (re-coloured Scavenger plates), girders and small droids to pump the fuel (orange stationary men), they asked me to critique their newest idea. I replied. noting the fragility of the components but a good idea all-round if they could strengthen those spindly supports. As is the nature of childish things, I put it away when I discovered girls and nothing more was said about it. The club drifted away, but I still have a fondness for Zoids - even though I haven't purchased any in 30 years. A wonderful piece of nostalgia dude. Thank you for this video.
thats amazing mate and pleased you liked the video - its not spot on accurate, but when I couldn't find anything on Zoids and thought why not do ione myself!.. Long Live the UK Zoids Club!!
@@manguswilson5829 It's long dead I'm afraid, but it did fuel some great ideas - like a board game and ideas for a trading card game too. It's amazing what you can do with a few mechanical components and a male brain.
@@alexojideagu Sorry for the delay, but I got back eventually. I have no idea where that refuelling station is anymore. Likely went in the trash. Maybe I could've made it rich if I'd kept my childhood toys, but I'll never know now :(
Wow! I was just looking online at Zoids videos as I am just about to get my collection from the UK that I left there And all of a sudden there's a pic of my actual collection at 6:50 in this video. Where did you get that pic from? I must have posted it somewhere a while ago. lol!
Actually, Ultrasaurus Red wasn't released. Only the paited prototype of the OER 1987 catalog exist. The one seen on ebay in 2003 was a painted Zoids2, like the one in the video. There are 52 different OER Zoids. To answer to davey1602, it is not the first time I'm hearing about this story. Tomy was planing to release the OJR diorama bases in Europe (DZ-01 to 05), and there were test done with children. But there wasn't a good reception about those bases, so it was canceled.
Mate, I bloody loved these things! Your video has brought back so many memories and I saw so many of the Zoids that I used to have. I definitely owned the snail one amongst many others. I also remember that the little men pilot's could also fit into the cab's and cockpits of the Transformers line. Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
I love Zoids and the pre-1999 toyline is my fave out of the entire franchise. I even rebranded my UA-cam channel to show off my Zoids, going all the way back to the original Mechabonica line. One day I wish I could own the Red Ultrasaurus.
Takara made Diaclone (Transformers) and Tomy made Zoids. They were two of the hugest toy companies in Japan at the time, and very much, competitors. The merger between the two giants is a relatively recent thing, and this really should be noted.
i got Terox for christmas from an uncle, and I still have about 80% of it somewhere in storage. I remember being a noticing how perfectly the little chrome pilot that came with terox fit into the pilot seat of the transformers wheeljack car, and i figured there had been some kind of relationship back in japan
My grandparents got me a red Mammoth when I was 6 or so, and being used to LEGO I took it apart trying to build something else from the parts. It never became whole again :(
Red Zoids where way cooler in design and colour scheme than blue ones. Curious how the leader of the good guys, Zoidzilla, was a Tyranossaurus Rex based beast ( yes, Godzilla is a big thing in Japan but even so...) and the leader of the bad guys, Red Horn ( without a doubt the coolest ) was based in a Styracossaurus, a herbivore pack dinossaur.
DUDE! Thank you for remembering me, I just couldn't remember what these were called, I loved them at the mid of the 80s. I was born in 78 in a small village in northern germany and all the other boys liked tractors, cigarettes and farming-shit but I loved my japanese monsters with wind-up motors, that nobody could understand. Thank you for reminding me. I wonder where all the bullies are today who broke my Zoids? The funny thing is, today they wouldn't come near me LOL That's all so long ago, feels like several lifes removed... As I remember that hypocritical shit-dump village, they either drank themselves to death or are currently in the process to do so, because that's what everybody did there & that's why we fled there as soon as possible. I'm so glad that I never sat a foot back into that dump, but the toys were so cool in the 80s, they had a crude, but wonderful aura.
I used to chew on the little rubber pegs. If you bit them they were like suction cups, sticking to your tongue or the side of your mouth. Hours of stimming fun. Oh, yeah and the toy was cool too.
I am so thankful for the people that held onto all these things...the commercials, the guides, etc etc and bring them back in videos like this. Zoids could be totally forgotten at this point, if people had not held on to what they had
I had Zoids back in the day, like Redwing, Zoidzilla, Ultrasaurus, as well as the Gorilla, Stegosaur and Triceratops ones, though I don't recall their names at the time. I know depending on the time and region the names differ.
Takara and Tomy did not merge until 2006. Tomy conceived of and manufactured the original zoids toys, but they contracted the design work out to Takara's in house design team as Tomy often did with their most successful releases. Tomy had previously seen success producing educational toys, but Zoids was their first entry into the hi tech sci fi/military genre. As for Takara's influence, Takara was licensed to make star wars toys for the Japanese market in the late '70s (such as a transforming x-wing, wind up walking r2d2, and a missile firing die cast c3p0) and the tiny gold chrome pilots in the Zoids cockpits where a leftover mold from Takara's x-wing fighter. Hence the x-wing pilot details on the Zoids pilot; you can see the horizontally ribbed flight vest and the control panel in the center of the chest if you look closely.
It was a great series. Had a great father/son storyline with some pretty well developed periphery characters too. Crazy to imagine Marvel ever published something so well written given how hard they've fallen in recent times
It shared a comic publication with a certain wall crawler in Spider-Man and Zoids. That's where I read it and yes it was great. They added humans marooned on the planet among the warring machines but both were hostile to the survivors making all Zoids effectively bad guys. Marvel UK did a few decent comics for toylines in the eighties with Transformers and Action Force (GI Joe) too. I preferred them to the cartoons.
@@theultimatek.i.m.m1504 In the UK, yeah. I was about 11 at the time but thought it was great. Don't know if it still holds up. It was one of the first things Grant Morrison worked on.
1:10 these are the three that i remember as a kid, mum bought me garius and gladolo She never understood Sci/Fi but she knew I loved loved that sort of stuff so if it was cheap she'd always surprise me with something Heart of gold that woman, heart of gold
Went to my local Goodwill last week and I couldn't believe what I saw. A Techno Zoids Evil Pegasus on the shelve. The box was beat up but the kit was never open. It is going for around $500 online but I got it for $3.00 at Goodwill. I don't know if I want to keep it or sell it.
Great Vid. I actually didn't know much about how it went in the US, Robo-strux and all that. On a rare occasion it seems if you were living in Europe at the time, you got the better version of the Range. I did eventually get hold of an Ultrasaurus, but I think it was part of the Zoids 2 line.. The one I always wanted, and unfortunately never got was Krark -Prince of Darkness. Saw one at a convention a few year's ago, but I had run out of money for the day. Also the gentleman in the comments talking about how the Marvel UK comic's story went, brought back some missing memories. Amazing. I got hold of a Re-issue box set a few year's ago now, it had Hydra, StegoZoid, Cosmo, Brontozoid Mantazoid and another winged one I can't remember the name of right now. I'm looking for Red Zoids at the moment such as Hellrunner, Slitherzoid and Scarab. Pinned down a complete Redhorn too. Great Vid man, I would like to see more on Zoids 2 though, and I'm watching this 1999 series on UA-cam at the moment, with the White Liger. Still looking for more modern or contemporary takes on Zoids for reference. Seen some new pictures of Fans with their recent collection's and the latest ones just look amazing. Glad to see there's still Zoids Fan Community's out there, in the wild.
Peter Rees please you enjoyed the video! If you just hunt on eBay and set up some search alerts you’ll eventually find all you need, just be prepared for breakages in the post and buy some decent glue!
@@manguswilson5829 finally got a Krark unbroken and working among many others. Watched some new series too. Zoids is still going strong. Just not in the UK unfortunately
Damn, it's so weird comparing the original Zoids from this video to the ones I grew up on through the reboot. Even weirder seeing that with the storyline from the original, though there were two factions, they were there own entities vs in the reboot, they were piloted by humans. It gives me even more appreciation for this. Still a huge fan of the reboot, seeing as that was what I had as a child, but more curiosity and wonder and excitement for the original Zoids that started it all. I love the video.
Dang this was a great video, I think I came on to the Zoids seen with the 1999 rebooting so its really neat to see the history further back. I had no idea Zoids were older than I am XD
A BRILLIANT walk down memory lane. I cannot believe how many of these I had! Dude your pronunciation of some of this was pretty dire. But he vid was Inspirational!
As a 90s kid I found it eerie how I've been playing with toys in 80s, it truly ages well and now detailed model kits are made from kotobukiya. I still wish there is some real game with all these big pieces.
yeah it had the same gozliza one... the tail is just shit so it break out and i had to superglue them... now.. it just rotting away somewhere since the plastic is just cheap... got horizon on ps4 for cheap and just download it on pc...
I had Slitherzoid (the little caterpillar) and my younger brother was given Gore (big gorilla) and Gorgon (big stegosaurus) when on clearance. We might have been allowed more if we weren't into so many other toylines in the 80's.
I love Zoids, i grew up with the Zoids 2 line, i was born a little too late to catch the original european line, but i still managed to grab a gustav from the OER in a store.
Hey thanks for posting! I was a fan of Zoids back in the 80’s and found my old ones in a dusty box at my folks house spent a while rebuilding them to their former glory but didn’t realise how complicated the toys started out between relaunches and reboots.. talking of which when is Hollywood going to get round to a big screen adaption of the comics version!
I used to have a large Zoid collection as a kid. I remember that the late 80's had some unusual ones, like a smaller ape zoid and a tortoise one. Never seem to see those anywhere.
Remember buying them when I was younger, still got some up in the loft. Makes me want to dig them out play with them again. Even at the age nearly 50…lol
This brought back so many great memories from the 80's. Zoids was one of the toys line that I love as a kid. I had a few small ones but the holy grail that I always want was the T-Rex.
It's wild how many zoids switched factions while the Zoids were finding their footing and establish their story. A "Republic" Deathsaurer and "Empire" Ultrasaurus nearly made me choke on my drink.
Loved these things man, building them up was so rad, they also cost like hardly anything in toys R us, like they were super cheap for some reason compared to other toys then they went up in price as newer ones came out, they still kept them up the back of the store though where no one would go, I got the sabertooth one as the battery powered one I got, and like lots of the show ones, just the show related for me though since that is what I loved.
One of the many things I really loved about Zoids was the pilots. If Zoids were scaled up they'd be enormous. I used to imagine the climb into Zoidzilla!
I had that Zoids comic! Collected Comics 1. It turned out to be the only edition. The Marvel Zoids story ran originally as a back-up strip in the UK edition of the original Secret Wars comics, running from issues #12 to #28. The strip then moved to be the co-main story of the comic Spider-Man & Zoids before that was cancelled after 51 issues. Zoids then got its own monthly comic, Zoids Monthly, which just ran for 4 issues. From there the Marvel comic strip died. The storyline that ran in Collected Comics 1 is known to Zoids fans as "The Legend Of Heroic Combat". The first part is told through the eyes of The Namer, the last of the race of humanoid beings known as Zoidaryans from the planet Zoidstar, on which the story is based. Once built as robotic gladiators for the amusement of the people of Zoidstar, the machines rebelled after robotic pilots were introduced to stop Zoidaryans being killed in the battle. After the rebellion, some of the machines were self-exiled into the deserts of Zoidstar while others were sent to Zoidstar's sub-arctic Blue Moon. In the deserts, the Zoids that remained continued their battles against each other. On the Blue Moon, the Zoids mutated into naturally heat-generating machines, their blue shells became red, and the Red Zoids were born. They mercilessly struck down their Zoidaryans captors and the Namer was the only survivor. He ended up becoming the last of his race, taking it upon himself to document the return of the Red Zoids to Zoidstar and the beginning of the war between Blue and Red. And to give the Zoids their names. It's as the Namer witnesses the first battle between the Blue Zoids' invincible leader, the Monarch Of Machines known as Zoidzilla, and the Imperial Commander of the Red Zoids, Redhorn The Terrible, that the Namer spots something in the sky. What he thinks at first is a meteor is in fact a prison ship from Earth - the Celeste. It crashes on Zoidstar, and the Namer helps the surviving crew - Captain Joseph Heller, his son Griff, prison warder Silverman (who turns out to be a homicidal cyborg who later creates his own Zoid, the invincible Black Zoid), mechanic Rollo Evans and only surviving prisoner Grant Carradine - to survive the Zoid Wars, along with a rogue Spiderzoid they capture Along the way, each of the human characters is killed off one by one, either by Silverman and the Black Zoid, or after getting caught in the Zoid crossfire, leaving Heller, who to his horror later finds out he is part cyborg himself, and the Namer, all alone while the Zoids try to conquer each other. forever more. Because of the cancellation of Zoids Monthly, the story, which had gotten to a point where a second ship from Earth was on its way - this time a military mission to capture a Zoid and bring it back for military research - was never resolved.
I grew in the late 90s and early 2000s so I grew up with the 99 reboot of the franchise not the original runs. But I've had a healthy love of this franchise ever sense. While I no longer have my original model kits from when I was a kid, last year I started collecting the hmm line of zoid models partly for nostalgia and partly because I think they have fantastic mechanical designs and the engineering that goes into that line is incredible. They don't have motors like the classic models, instead they go more for articulation and mechanical detail. While I definitely wouldn't call them beginner friend my models i highly recommend them for experienced model builders and fans of the zoid franchise.
Me an my brother got these zoids for Christmas in 89 or something I got the gorilla am my brother got a dinosaur type. We bloody loved them. I still love them
There are still some Zoids occasionally sold on eBay bearing the Woolworths sticker 'Buy One Get 2 Free' for both the big and small Zoids - if you bought Zoidzilla for £19.99 you got Mammoth and Redhorn _free!_ Smaller Zoids were £2.50 with the same deal! You could build a collection really quickly at that price... and If you saw Zilla onsale (£12.99) the deal still applied and it would have cost even less to build a collection!
Loved Zoids growing up. I do remember that red ultrasaurus being advertised too! (Unless this is a great example of the Mandela effect lol) I loved the back story comic too, if you remember, it came with an audio cassette narration which was bloody very eerie to listen too. I think my favourite was runner and Zoidzilla (til the father kicked it by accident answering the door 3 days after Christmas 😂) love the 80's
Ten+ something years ago I found a little plastic red twin gun and a little plastic grey twin gun at my parents'. (I had a vage picture im my mind to which kind of toys they belonged and was searching for a while now until I found this video.) What I found back then were the backside twin turrets of *INAKE* and *Trooperzoid* of the OER-Line. Sadly, that was all that was left of the ZOIDS. I remember now having owned *IORE* as well and my cousin had *GORE THE LORD PROTECTOR* of the OER. He always had the bigger toys XD. I still keep these two turrets in a little toy shrine as remembrance, alongside with a Transformer, some Mattel-toys, Matchbox- & Hotwheels cars that made it over the years.
I had Glidoler back then as a kid, which was already packaged/rebranded as Zoids; I had fun playing with it despite the fact that I was really wishing for Stang. Anyway, I didn't know that they eventually made them, particularly the large ones, battery-operated. I actually would've preferred them as wind-up -- spare me from the trouble of having to find spare batteries.
And where your story ends mine begins. Both as a collector of the models and as an anime fan. Even now my fingers are eagerly hovering over the buy now button on Amazon for Garachisaurus and Sonic Bird. Among the entries in my already sizeable (30 units or so in the modern one, and I had at least 10 more that I never found again as an adult) are: Gildragon, Ultrasaurus, and the legendary King Gojulas. In fact Mad Thunder is the only one of the 4 largest models ever made that I don’t have due to lack of foresight at a con years ago (I’ve always regretted it). Others include Liger Zero Blue Souga, Energy Liger, Seismosaurus, Salamander, Dino Expo Raynos, and Storm Sworder FSV. Ones I’m missing from when I was a kid include Red Horn, Venomous Viper, and Pteras.
I never even knew the History went soo deep.. I was one of the newer gen that got into that 99+ series and toys.. Though I got the Motorized Berserk Fury and Gustav, its mostly the HMM kits I obsess over.. 🤌 When I heard this year was the 40th Anniversary, I was like... wait a minute.. lol.. and looked up its entire history, incredibly humble and inspiring beginnings.. 🃏
I used to have so many Zoids from ages 10-14 and when I moved I lost everyone of them. I even had a Mad thunder which is gone forever. I started with them from around 99-04
The T-Rex one at about 0:27 is what Trypticon should have looked like. I could easily see a lot of Zoids having either robot or base modes. Especially the dinosaur based ones like the oh-so-lovely King Gojulas, which is CLEARLY based on "you know who."
Amazing. Zoids were the ones that got away. I loved them. I still have my Krark and the entire run of the Spiderman & Zoids comics and always felt that the UK comic storyline would make for a great TV show or film. It'll probably never happen but hey ho.
Brilliant video really informative lots of stuff there I've no idea about and made me really enthusiastic about zoids. Also makes me really regret selling zoidzilla redhorn and krark...doh
So Zoids got a lot more history in the States than I realized. Somehow the line really flew under my radar, and it seems my friends, as I didn't notice it until the Technozoids versions in the 90's. And one of my friends didn't know about it until I told him a few weeks ago. And was upset when he saw how much Iron Kong's go for now. Good for him I still had my old one, and owed him for a PC. The Battlesaurus however shall remain in it's place of honor atop my dresser.
I used to have loads but swapped for other toys. I still have quite a few and started collecting again for a while in the late 90s early 2000s (tempted again, tbh). I remember the comics coming out as a kid in the UK in the 80s. It was around the original Secret Wars and the black Spiderman suit in 80s Marvel. I did find the whole comic online because I always wondered how it finished.
Damn those things were so cool. Had a whole bunch of them as a kind. Including the big Zoidzilla and the Krark one. It was always such fun putting them together. Maybe that's where my current new hobby of Gunpla building comes from... hmm.. food for thought.
Had no idea about the actual origins of Zoids. Even less of an idea that it went THAT far back. Damn near 20 years before the anime. That's insane. Although it's freaking cool to see the "prototypes" for some of the later standard model zoids and where their names came from.
Pure nostalgia. I remember looking on hopelessly at those big, amazing looking zoids in the toy shops knowing full well they were too expensive, even for Christmas.
I just stumbled on your channel @Mangus Wilson, and I have a short anecdote to tell. Back in the late 80's I formed a Zoids club here in the UK, and wrote off to Tomy to ask permission to use the name. They responded well with tips on how to grow the platform and eventually sending me a package of a re-fuelling station. Consisting of platforms (re-coloured Scavenger plates), girders and small droids to pump the fuel (orange stationary men), they asked me to critique their newest idea. I replied. noting the fragility of the components but a good idea all-round if they could strengthen those spindly supports.
As is the nature of childish things, I put it away when I discovered girls and nothing more was said about it. The club drifted away, but I still have a fondness for Zoids - even though I haven't purchased any in 30 years. A wonderful piece of nostalgia dude. Thank you for this video.
That must be worth something then if it didn't go into production
thats amazing mate and pleased you liked the video - its not spot on accurate, but when I couldn't find anything on Zoids and thought why not do ione myself!.. Long Live the UK Zoids Club!!
@@manguswilson5829 It's long dead I'm afraid, but it did fuel some great ideas - like a board game and ideas for a trading card game too. It's amazing what you can do with a few mechanical components and a male brain.
@@alexojideagu Sorry for the delay, but I got back eventually. I have no idea where that refuelling station is anymore. Likely went in the trash. Maybe I could've made it rich if I'd kept my childhood toys, but I'll never know now :(
If you still have an interest Davey please look at joining my Facebook group Zoid Maniacs.
Be good to have you.
I loved the booming narration of the fluff cassette: "I am the Namer! The last of the Zoidaryans..." etc etc
Wow! I was just looking online at Zoids videos as I am just about to get my collection from the UK that I left there And all of a sudden there's a pic of my actual collection at 6:50 in this video. Where did you get that pic from? I must have posted it somewhere a while ago. lol!
Actually, Ultrasaurus Red wasn't released. Only the paited prototype of the OER 1987 catalog exist. The one seen on ebay in 2003 was a painted Zoids2, like the one in the video. There are 52 different OER Zoids. To answer to davey1602, it is not the first time I'm hearing about this story. Tomy was planing to release the OJR diorama bases in Europe (DZ-01 to 05), and there were test done with children. But there wasn't a good reception about those bases, so it was canceled.
Mate, I bloody loved these things! Your video has brought back so many memories and I saw so many of the Zoids that I used to have. I definitely owned the snail one amongst many others. I also remember that the little men pilot's could also fit into the cab's and cockpits of the Transformers line. Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
I love Zoids and the pre-1999 toyline is my fave out of the entire franchise. I even rebranded my UA-cam channel to show off my Zoids, going all the way back to the original Mechabonica line.
One day I wish I could own the Red Ultrasaurus.
Takara made Diaclone (Transformers) and Tomy made Zoids. They were two of the hugest toy companies in Japan at the time, and very much, competitors. The merger between the two giants is a relatively recent thing, and this really should be noted.
i got Terox for christmas from an uncle, and I still have about 80% of it somewhere in storage. I remember being a noticing how perfectly the little chrome pilot that came with terox fit into the pilot seat of the transformers wheeljack car, and i figured there had been some kind of relationship back in japan
He doesn't know this, the man can't even pronounce Takara (Tackyara) lols, and Tommy, rather than Tomy
Thank you for the memory lane. :)
Absolute pleasure - I made this video as I couldn’t find anything on Zoids! My research was a bit cobbled together but hope it does the job ok!
Left my zoids at my parent’s place inside a box… Unpacked it after almost 20 years… Pure nostalgia…
Thanks so much for the history lesson. I have grown up on Zoids, myself but unlike the toy collectors I knew them mostly for the show.
My grandparents got me a red Mammoth when I was 6 or so, and being used to LEGO I took it apart trying to build something else from the parts. It never became whole again :(
Red Zoids where way cooler in design and colour scheme than blue ones. Curious how the leader of the good guys, Zoidzilla, was a Tyranossaurus Rex based beast ( yes, Godzilla is a big thing in Japan but even so...) and the leader of the bad guys, Red Horn ( without a doubt the coolest ) was based in a Styracossaurus, a herbivore pack dinossaur.
Omfg! I had those toys! I thought they werent like the proper zoids but had no idea of any of this as a kid!!!!! I used 2 love those toys so much😎
DUDE! Thank you for remembering me, I just couldn't remember what these were called, I loved them at the mid of the 80s. I was born in 78 in a small village in northern germany and all the other boys liked tractors, cigarettes and farming-shit but I loved my japanese monsters with wind-up motors, that nobody could understand. Thank you for reminding me. I wonder where all the bullies are today who broke my Zoids? The funny thing is, today they wouldn't come near me LOL That's all so long ago, feels like several lifes removed... As I remember that hypocritical shit-dump village, they either drank themselves to death or are currently in the process to do so, because that's what everybody did there & that's why we fled there as soon as possible. I'm so glad that I never sat a foot back into that dump, but the toys were so cool in the 80s, they had a crude, but wonderful aura.
I got the Zoidzilla for Christmas. I still have it.
Takiyara Tommy made all my favourite toys! Gro-Bots, Voltaroltaron and Fundamn. Ta-ka-ra Toe-me, say it with me.
Yeah, every time he said Takiara or Tommy I was like please dude, c'mon.
I used to chew on the little rubber pegs. If you bit them they were like suction cups, sticking to your tongue or the side of your mouth. Hours of stimming fun. Oh, yeah and the toy was cool too.
I got my first Zoids in 1987 when we visited the Gerngross shopping mall in Vienna. It was a wind-up Spider :) I fell in love with these toys.
I am so thankful for the people that held onto all these things...the commercials, the guides, etc etc and bring them back in videos like this. Zoids could be totally forgotten at this point, if people had not held on to what they had
I’ve still got my zoidzilla
I had Zoids back in the day, like Redwing, Zoidzilla, Ultrasaurus, as well as the Gorilla, Stegosaur and Triceratops ones, though I don't recall their names at the time. I know depending on the time and region the names differ.
i want more of zoids history, do more man!
ill try!
MOAR
Fantastic. I had Red Horn the Terrible back in the 80s and tons of comics possibly still in my mums attic. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!
Wanted to see some of the old toys I used to have. Actually pretty interesting. Neat stuff dude.
my favorite toys of the 80s
Takara and Tomy did not merge until 2006. Tomy conceived of and manufactured the original zoids toys, but they contracted the design work out to Takara's in house design team as Tomy often did with their most successful releases. Tomy had previously seen success producing educational toys, but Zoids was their first entry into the hi tech sci fi/military genre. As for Takara's influence, Takara was licensed to make star wars toys for the Japanese market in the late '70s (such as a transforming x-wing, wind up walking r2d2, and a missile firing die cast c3p0) and the tiny gold chrome pilots in the Zoids cockpits where a leftover mold from Takara's x-wing fighter. Hence the x-wing pilot details on the Zoids pilot; you can see the horizontally ribbed flight vest and the control panel in the center of the chest if you look closely.
'Takiara Tommy'.... priceless 😄
I had a few of the European ones and the Marvel comic was amazing! It really got in depth with the storyline surrounding these massive war machines :)
It was a great series. Had a great father/son storyline with some pretty well developed periphery characters too. Crazy to imagine Marvel ever published something so well written given how hard they've fallen in recent times
It shared a comic publication with a certain wall crawler in Spider-Man and Zoids. That's where I read it and yes it was great. They added humans marooned on the planet among the warring machines but both were hostile to the survivors making all Zoids effectively bad guys. Marvel UK did a few decent comics for toylines in the eighties with Transformers and Action Force (GI Joe) too. I preferred them to the cartoons.
Wait...there was a Marvel comic!?? HOW did I miss this?
@@theultimatek.i.m.m1504 In the UK, yeah. I was about 11 at the time but thought it was great. Don't know if it still holds up. It was one of the first things Grant Morrison worked on.
1:10 these are the three that i remember as a kid, mum bought me garius and gladolo
She never understood Sci/Fi but she knew I loved loved that sort of stuff so if it was cheap she'd always surprise me with something
Heart of gold that woman, heart of gold
Went to my local Goodwill last week and I couldn't believe what I saw. A Techno Zoids Evil Pegasus on the shelve. The box was beat up but the kit was never open. It is going for around $500 online but I got it for $3.00 at Goodwill. I don't know if I want to keep it or sell it.
KEEP IT!!!
tonykeo83 500 is the asking price. Who in their right mind pays that?
@crgzero then collectors are stupid
The whitney houston bit killed me hahahah
Great Vid. I actually didn't know much about how it went in the US, Robo-strux and all that. On a rare occasion it seems if you were living in Europe at the time, you got the better version of the Range.
I did eventually get hold of an Ultrasaurus, but I think it was part of the Zoids 2 line..
The one I always wanted, and unfortunately never got was Krark -Prince of Darkness. Saw one at a convention a few year's ago, but I had run out of money for the day.
Also the gentleman in the comments talking about how the Marvel UK comic's story went, brought back some missing memories. Amazing.
I got hold of a Re-issue box set a few year's ago now, it had Hydra, StegoZoid, Cosmo, Brontozoid Mantazoid and another winged one I can't remember the name of right now. I'm looking for Red Zoids at the moment such as Hellrunner, Slitherzoid and Scarab.
Pinned down a complete Redhorn too.
Great Vid man, I would like to see more on Zoids 2 though, and I'm watching this 1999 series on UA-cam at the moment, with the White Liger.
Still looking for more modern or contemporary takes on Zoids for reference. Seen some new pictures of Fans with their recent collection's and the latest ones just look amazing.
Glad to see there's still Zoids Fan Community's out there, in the wild.
Peter Rees please you enjoyed the video! If you just hunt on eBay and set up some search alerts you’ll eventually find all you need, just be prepared for breakages in the post and buy some decent glue!
@@manguswilson5829 finally got a Krark unbroken and working among many others.
Watched some new series too. Zoids is still going strong. Just not in the UK unfortunately
Damn, it's so weird comparing the original Zoids from this video to the ones I grew up on through the reboot. Even weirder seeing that with the storyline from the original, though there were two factions, they were there own entities vs in the reboot, they were piloted by humans. It gives me even more appreciation for this. Still a huge fan of the reboot, seeing as that was what I had as a child, but more curiosity and wonder and excitement for the original Zoids that started it all. I love the video.
I learned so much about the Zoids toys from this video. Very informative. Cheers!
Great video! Really sparked my interest in Zoids once again (1999 era)
Dang this was a great video, I think I came on to the Zoids seen with the 1999 rebooting so its really neat to see the history further back. I had no idea Zoids were older than I am XD
Great memories. I was addicted to Zoids. All still in the loft! Must put on display! Thanks for the video.
A BRILLIANT walk down memory lane. I cannot believe how many of these I had! Dude your pronunciation of some of this was pretty dire. But he vid was Inspirational!
Omg I still have 3 of the original 5! And Badox! Well, parts of them at least. :( Cheers, mate!
Posted in my Facebook group Zoidmaniacs (UK+Worldwide)
As a 90s kid I found it eerie how I've been playing with toys in 80s, it truly ages well and now detailed model kits are made from kotobukiya. I still wish there is some real game with all these big pieces.
"Robostrux. They're just looking for a fight." LOVED my Gojulas back in '85 SO much I bought another one the moment I saw it at a flea market in 2003!
The new game Horizon: Zero Dawn in 2017 looks like it was inspired by Zoids.
BlackArro Cartoons it was
yeah it had the same gozliza one... the tail is just shit so it break out and i had to superglue them... now.. it just rotting away somewhere since the plastic is just cheap...
got horizon on ps4 for cheap and just download it on pc...
100% agree and that's why I'm here to refresh some of my greatest childhood memories :-)
I built so many goddamn Zoids when I was a kid in Japan between 84 and 88. I miss Zoids!
am I the only one who saw the "pre-hysterical" written in the box ?
I had Slitherzoid (the little caterpillar) and my younger brother was given Gore (big gorilla) and Gorgon (big stegosaurus) when on clearance. We might have been allowed more if we weren't into so many other toylines in the 80's.
Amazing mate - I had Gore too!! Might get him back one day!
I had the entire set of the originals, battery powered and wind ups :D
I love Zoids, i grew up with the Zoids 2 line, i was born a little too late to catch the original european line, but i still managed to grab a gustav from the OER in a store.
I had the blue saber tooth tiger it was my favourite & the best zoid i owned! & thanks 2 ur video i now know he was called shield tiger😎
Hey thanks for posting! I was a fan of Zoids back in the 80’s and found my old ones in a dusty box at my folks house spent a while rebuilding them to their former glory but didn’t realise how complicated the toys started out between relaunches and reboots.. talking of which when is Hollywood going to get round to a big screen adaption of the comics version!
i wrote to Takara many years again and again. Once they released the Wild Zoids and i was so happy, it felt just the birthday of my kids.
awesome post. bought back a lot of memories.
Had the original 3. That gorram t-Rex would hobble until he completely toppled. Loved those bastards.
Had no idea zoids is that old loved the show and the model kits
Mind blown, never knew the early zoids
I used to have a large Zoid collection as a kid. I remember that the late 80's had some unusual ones, like a smaller ape zoid and a tortoise one. Never seem to see those anywhere.
zoids was my childhood toys back in early 2000s and growing up with them is just so memorable!
Remember buying them when I was younger, still got some up in the loft. Makes me want to dig them out play with them again. Even at the age nearly 50…lol
I so remember having the windups and battery powered ones. They were so fun to put together.
I was too young to have seen the toys in the 80s and was introduced to the toyline in the early 2000s by the anime.
This brought back so many great memories from the 80's. Zoids was one of the toys line that I love as a kid. I had a few small ones but the holy grail that I always want was the T-Rex.
That flipper water OG windup toy was one of my favorite bathtoys.
It's wild how many zoids switched factions while the Zoids were finding their footing and establish their story.
A "Republic" Deathsaurer and "Empire" Ultrasaurus nearly made me choke on my drink.
I had a few of these as a kid. I remember having the manta ray red and silver one and the small blue brontosaurus one.
Zoids is still going. I've been loving it since I was a kid
Loved these things man, building them up was so rad, they also cost like hardly anything in toys R us, like they were super cheap for some reason compared to other toys then they went up in price as newer ones came out, they still kept them up the back of the store though where no one would go, I got the sabertooth one as the battery powered one I got, and like lots of the show ones, just the show related for me though since that is what I loved.
The Giant ZRK also appeared as part of the OAR, I got one for Christmas one year as a kid
I own some of the tomy zoids most of them are reissues, I also have some original kits one ore zoid scorpion and one really rare 1/24 zealves bolide.
I remember these. Early 80s. Had a few.
One of the many things I really loved about Zoids was the pilots. If Zoids were scaled up they'd be enormous. I used to imagine the climb into Zoidzilla!
That's originally what Transformers were in Japan (called Diaclones) they were piloted. The west removed the pilots.
I had that Zoids comic! Collected Comics 1. It turned out to be the only edition. The Marvel Zoids story ran originally as a back-up strip in the UK edition of the original Secret Wars comics, running from issues #12 to #28. The strip then moved to be the co-main story of the comic Spider-Man & Zoids before that was cancelled after 51 issues. Zoids then got its own monthly comic, Zoids Monthly, which just ran for 4 issues. From there the Marvel comic strip died.
The storyline that ran in Collected Comics 1 is known to Zoids fans as "The Legend Of Heroic Combat". The first part is told through the eyes of The Namer, the last of the race of humanoid beings known as Zoidaryans from the planet Zoidstar, on which the story is based. Once built as robotic gladiators for the amusement of the people of Zoidstar, the machines rebelled after robotic pilots were introduced to stop Zoidaryans being killed in the battle. After the rebellion, some of the machines were self-exiled into the deserts of Zoidstar while others were sent to Zoidstar's sub-arctic Blue Moon.
In the deserts, the Zoids that remained continued their battles against each other. On the Blue Moon, the Zoids mutated into naturally heat-generating machines, their blue shells became red, and the Red Zoids were born. They mercilessly struck down their Zoidaryans captors and the Namer was the only survivor. He ended up becoming the last of his race, taking it upon himself to document the return of the Red Zoids to Zoidstar and the beginning of the war between Blue and Red. And to give the Zoids their names.
It's as the Namer witnesses the first battle between the Blue Zoids' invincible leader, the Monarch Of Machines known as Zoidzilla, and the Imperial Commander of the Red Zoids, Redhorn The Terrible, that the Namer spots something in the sky. What he thinks at first is a meteor is in fact a prison ship from Earth - the Celeste. It crashes on Zoidstar, and the Namer helps the surviving crew - Captain Joseph Heller, his son Griff, prison warder Silverman (who turns out to be a homicidal cyborg who later creates his own Zoid, the invincible Black Zoid), mechanic Rollo Evans and only surviving prisoner Grant Carradine - to survive the Zoid Wars, along with a rogue Spiderzoid they capture
Along the way, each of the human characters is killed off one by one, either by Silverman and the Black Zoid, or after getting caught in the Zoid crossfire, leaving Heller, who to his horror later finds out he is part cyborg himself, and the Namer, all alone while the Zoids try to conquer each other. forever more. Because of the cancellation of Zoids Monthly, the story, which had gotten to a point where a second ship from Earth was on its way - this time a military mission to capture a Zoid and bring it back for military research - was never resolved.
I grew in the late 90s and early 2000s so I grew up with the 99 reboot of the franchise not the original runs. But I've had a healthy love of this franchise ever sense. While I no longer have my original model kits from when I was a kid, last year I started collecting the hmm line of zoid models partly for nostalgia and partly because I think they have fantastic mechanical designs and the engineering that goes into that line is incredible. They don't have motors like the classic models, instead they go more for articulation and mechanical detail. While I definitely wouldn't call them beginner friend my models i highly recommend them for experienced model builders and fans of the zoid franchise.
Me an my brother got these zoids for Christmas in 89 or something I got the gorilla am my brother got a dinosaur type. We bloody loved them. I still love them
One of my favorite toys as a child, even I only got the smaller models.
Good vid man.
Takes me back to toys My mum n dad wouldn't let me have.
Go G1
cheers bro! there's still time!
I had a blue chompz that came in a zoids branded box, still remember getting in in the 80s
There are still some Zoids occasionally sold on eBay bearing the Woolworths sticker 'Buy One Get 2 Free' for both the big and small Zoids - if you bought Zoidzilla for £19.99 you got Mammoth and Redhorn _free!_ Smaller Zoids were £2.50 with the same deal! You could build a collection really quickly at that price... and If you saw Zilla onsale (£12.99) the deal still applied and it would have cost even less to build a collection!
I had the skinny T-rex one!. While my rich friends had the Zoidzilla and all the other big flashy ones. :(
Loved Zoids growing up. I do remember that red ultrasaurus being advertised too! (Unless this is a great example of the Mandela effect lol)
I loved the back story comic too, if you remember, it came with an audio cassette narration which was bloody very eerie to listen too. I think my favourite was runner and Zoidzilla (til the father kicked it by accident answering the door 3 days after Christmas 😂) love the 80's
Despite the minor inaccuracies and mispronunciation... this is a good video!
Nostalgia runs deep with this video...
i watched this video when i was 8 lol
Ten+ something years ago I found a little plastic red twin gun and a little plastic grey twin gun at my parents'.
(I had a vage picture im my mind to which kind of toys they belonged and was searching for a while now until I found this video.)
What I found back then were the backside twin turrets of *INAKE* and *Trooperzoid* of the OER-Line. Sadly, that was all that was left of the ZOIDS.
I remember now having owned *IORE* as well and my cousin had *GORE THE LORD PROTECTOR* of the OER. He always had the bigger toys XD.
I still keep these two turrets in a little toy shrine as remembrance, alongside with a Transformer, some Mattel-toys, Matchbox- & Hotwheels cars that made it over the years.
I had Glidoler back then as a kid, which was already packaged/rebranded as Zoids; I had fun playing with it despite the fact that I was really wishing for Stang. Anyway, I didn't know that they eventually made them, particularly the large ones, battery-operated. I actually would've preferred them as wind-up -- spare me from the trouble of having to find spare batteries.
And where your story ends mine begins. Both as a collector of the models and as an anime fan. Even now my fingers are eagerly hovering over the buy now button on Amazon for Garachisaurus and Sonic Bird.
Among the entries in my already sizeable (30 units or so in the modern one, and I had at least 10 more that I never found again as an adult) are: Gildragon, Ultrasaurus, and the legendary King Gojulas. In fact Mad Thunder is the only one of the 4 largest models ever made that I don’t have due to lack of foresight at a con years ago (I’ve always regretted it). Others include Liger Zero Blue Souga, Energy Liger, Seismosaurus, Salamander, Dino Expo Raynos, and Storm Sworder FSV.
Ones I’m missing from when I was a kid include Red Horn, Venomous Viper, and Pteras.
I still have the Leo Gator unpacked in my possession. But never had the time nor the patience to build it
I never even knew the History went soo deep.. I was one of the newer gen that got into that 99+ series and toys..
Though I got the Motorized Berserk Fury and Gustav, its mostly the HMM kits I obsess over.. 🤌
When I heard this year was the 40th Anniversary, I was like... wait a minute.. lol.. and looked up its entire history, incredibly humble and inspiring beginnings..
🃏
I used to have so many Zoids from ages 10-14 and when I moved I lost everyone of them. I even had a Mad thunder which is gone forever. I started with them from around 99-04
The ones I had: slithor, stunner, chomps, kreep, spider, elephantus
and 3:05 top right (looks like ultrasaurus). My fav: spider, slithor, stunner.
The T-Rex one at about 0:27 is what Trypticon should have looked like. I could easily see a lot of Zoids having either robot or base modes. Especially the dinosaur based ones like the oh-so-lovely King Gojulas, which is CLEARLY based on "you know who."
Amazing. Zoids were the ones that got away.
I loved them. I still have my Krark and the entire run of the Spiderman & Zoids comics and always felt that the UK comic storyline would make for a great TV show or film.
It'll probably never happen but hey ho.
Wow... this video is 2 years old. I really wanted another video! Will it be coming?
Zoids toys were the BOMB!
great video, the european branding / styling was the best. These were great toys, the marvel comic had a good storyline too.
Brilliant video really informative lots of stuff there I've no idea about and made me really enthusiastic about zoids. Also makes me really regret selling zoidzilla redhorn and krark...doh
So Zoids got a lot more history in the States than I realized. Somehow the line really flew under my radar, and it seems my friends, as I didn't notice it until the Technozoids versions in the 90's. And one of my friends didn't know about it until I told him a few weeks ago. And was upset when he saw how much Iron Kong's go for now. Good for him I still had my old one, and owed him for a PC. The Battlesaurus however shall remain in it's place of honor atop my dresser.
Great video 👌
I used to have loads but swapped for other toys. I still have quite a few and started collecting again for a while in the late 90s early 2000s (tempted again, tbh). I remember the comics coming out as a kid in the UK in the 80s. It was around the original Secret Wars and the black Spiderman suit in 80s Marvel. I did find the whole comic online because I always wondered how it finished.
I have the first 5!!! And the mammoth and super long neck dinosaur one
Damn those things were so cool. Had a whole bunch of them as a kind. Including the big Zoidzilla and the Krark one. It was always such fun putting them together.
Maybe that's where my current new hobby of Gunpla building comes from... hmm.. food for thought.
Had no idea about the actual origins of Zoids. Even less of an idea that it went THAT far back. Damn near 20 years before the anime. That's insane. Although it's freaking cool to see the "prototypes" for some of the later standard model zoids and where their names came from.