Manufacturer:
Tomy, Kenner
Model toys have a long and honored history. You could sit there for hours, if not days, painstakingly gluing and painting tiny parts, fitting them together, to finally wind up with…a toy that sat on the shelf.
Enter the Zoids. These were the next generation of model toys – robotic dinosaurs, wild animals and insects whose pieces fit together with simple snaps in just a few hours. No matter that the instructions were in Japanese – the handy pictures showed you exactly how each part fit together. But most importantly, when they were done they didn’t just sit there. Just flip the handy power switch and your Zoid was off!
Zoids were best sellers in Japan in the early ‘80’s, but when toy company Tomy introduced them to the U.S. market, with the names RoboStrux and TechnoZoids, they didn’t seem to catch on. By the early ‘90’s, sales in Japan had also started to drop. But newfound interest in both countries came roaring back with the introduction of a Zoid cartoon series in Japan.
They Zoid backstory began on the planet Zoid, which had a lot of metal veins in its landscape, Subsequently, the Zoid animals had high metal ion densities as they evolved, creating a kind of metal cell structure. There were humans on Zoid, but they weren’t metallic – they were divided into the Republic and Imperial sides, and they trained their robotic animals to fight. There were good Zoids and bad Zoids, and each had their own interests and personality – some fought, some didn’t.
Zoids added weapons, sleeker armor plating, and cooler color schemes and names in the late ‘90’s. They came in various sizes, from the 4-inch wind-up Godos to the 12 1/2 –inch tall, 18-inch long Death Saurer, which required batteries. They were so well detailed that they looked more metal than plastic. They each came with a little human pilot sitting in hidden gold cockpits, and an array of decals, so you could personalize you own Zoid.
Finally, after all the snapping and stickering, you could assemble your Giant Zrk, Garius, Elephantus, Radox, Geno Saurer, and Iron Kong, flip their power switches, and watch your creations take off!
