Why Zoids?

Zoids have been a part of my life for the better part of the last 3 years. They were not my first choice into the mad world of modelling and toy collecting, but they have certainly been the ones that have consumes the most of my time and the ones that I am most passionate about.

A little bit of history; from a young age, I discovered that I was a little obsessive compulsive when it came to my hobbies. Strike that. Make it very obsessive compulsive. From my massive He-Man collection (now long since gone and donated to some orphanage) to the numerous modifications I made to my racing bicycle, it was safe to say that when I got interested in a paticular subject, I went all out to get as much info and to build on my hobby as much as possible.

In my twenties, I got my first PC, and entered the world of computer gaming. My first fling was with a little game called Quake 2, a game I adore to this day and to whose soundtrack I still listen to when I feel the need to be inspired. I amassed a massive collection of PC games, most of which I dabbled in a little before returning the discs to storage. When I was headhunter abroad, I left my faithful PC behind and spent a miserable month away from gaming until I stumbled upon a games console. This is it, I thought. Perfect for my gaming fix, something that I could plug into my hotel room TV and get my high. That, my first console was not the PlayStation, not the ps2. No it was a humble Dreamcast. To this day, I thank Sega for producing what was and in some ways still is, the perfect state of the art next gen console. Many, many consoles and hundreds of games followed....

A few years ago, while back at my wife ‘s hometown, I was feeling bored so decided to pick up a small toy from the aisles of the local hypermarket. It was a 1/144 scale no grade Freedom Gundam. Not knowing how to build the box of plastic, I pilfered a spare scissors from my mother in law and proceeded to cut away and snap on the pieces. After about an hour, I produced my first model kit a plain nondescript Gundam. I was plain, not many colours but the sight of that little robot awed me. The next day I returned home abs subsequently blew a load buying Gundam kits. After finishing my 1/60 scale force impulse Gundam, I was hooked. This is a great hobby I said. I was so passionate about this new hobby that soon, all other passions were put aside. I even joined the local plastic modellers society so that I could improve my skills.

This reached a plateau soon after when I joined the local Gundam Seed contest and won the new contender prize (actually I tied with another chap who had been modelling for many years).I then tried my hand at many subject matters, building tanks, planes even small dioramas. But Gundams were still the most fun. One eventful day, Litt Tak, the local toys distributor held a warehouse sale I decided to visit thinking I could grab some cheap model kits. I picked up some Gundams and bought some Zoids on a whim since they had some nice discounts. I bought a Command Wolf, a Blade Liger, and a Brastle Tiger. That night, I built the wolf, wound up the engine and let it go. It was magic. I was head over heels in love ( see a pattern?). I went back the next day and cleared their inventory.

My timing could not have been more perfect. I did not know it at that time but Tomy was phasing out the line at that time due to low demand. Litt Tak was getting out of distributing Zoids and was clearing their leftover stock. Over the next few months, I bought a huge volume at significantly low prices. My army grew and grew. I eventually joined a few forums Zoidspoison and the Lowyat Zoids community and made many new Zoid friends.

Today, I can safely at that I am a true zoider. I love these robotic Dinos and can still stare in awe at the ingenuity and brilliance of the toy designers. With the 25^th Anniversary of Zoids and the launch of the Rebirth Century Line. I sincerely hope that Tomy continues the line for a long , long while.