Wild Liger Diaz Custom, or the Wild Liger that shows up in Zoids Wild Zero.
The moment this thing showed up in the show I looked at my backlog and remembered I still had an unopened Wild Liger. And because I decided to sacrifice my Cannon Bull to make another custom Zoid, I had a spare Cannon Bull backpack. The large stash of Zoids Wild weapons I had helped too, I had spares of the long range rifles to utilize and the rear leg missile launchers.
And with the resources at hand I got to work!
Finally articulated the Liger and figured out how to have everything move correctly. Now it was time to paint.
In summer 2018 Zoids relaunched with the Zoids Wild line. I told myself I was going to buy two Wild Ligers. One to keep as is and one to articulate.
That I did. And the project would open a pandora’s box I cannot close back up. Articulating Wild Zoids is a thing, an awesome thing. An awesome thing a lot of people all over are enjoying.
As of this writing it’s been nearly 2 years since the line has launched and over a year and a half since I’ve finished the intial custom. Compared to my more recent projects, there’s some room for improvement despite de core formula remaining the same. The most important lesson learn, don’t use Megablox/Mega Contrux joints. Those don’t hold well over time. Use Lego, Lego fares excellently to the test of time.
As Wild Liger was my first venture into articulating a (Takara) Tomy kit, I didn’t have much prior experience articulating, and didn’t want to invest to much in parts I wasn’t sure where going to work. All I knew was kitbashing Tomy models with Kotobukiya models and did spend many hours trying to make a Liger Zero out of Lego, which introduced me to the world of Lego joints. Oh and the little Lego Chima articulated animals. I spend a lot of time with those too. Because of the lack of experience articulating Zoid models at the time, I deicded to go with the parts I had, which where mostly Megablox/Mega Contrux joints and some Lego.
Hours of playing with these things years ago would be what’d open the door to using Lego in many of my Zoid projects from this point forward.
These are some of the oldest images I could find of this custom. If I find any actual work progress photos I will update this page.
A closer look at the joint breakdown. Feet show the Lego and Megablox joints. Torso and head are large Lego/Bionicle type joints. Tail is Megablox. The legs/ankles are the mixed joints, both types are actually about the same size.
One thing I’ve yet to figure out correctly is how to give more articulation to the rear legs without destroying them. This applies to both the feline and canine bodies.
Wild Liger became the first of several articulated Wild Zoids I’ve done since then. So far I’ve figured out how to articulate about 5 of the body types.
While I’ve articulated pretty much every cat from the Zoids Wild line so far, it would be some time until I articulated another true Wild Liger…..
Let’s look at the Wild Liger from Zoids Wild Zero! The Republican Diaz Custom!
The original Wild Liger, the flagship model kit of the intial Zoids Wild run and protagonist of the first anime. The red caps and white armor feel like a tribute to Liger Zero, while the blue armor bits on the shoulder and hip armor are obvious references Shield Liger, and the blade can be interpreted as nods to Murasame and Blade Liger due to their placement and colors.
The model does a well job of introducing us to a new Liger protagonist with it’s simple yet streamlined look. The model is a simple yet solid build. No longer do the ligers feel like they’re going to fall apart as soon as you hold them.
The concept of the bone mode is both the most ingenious, but the most limiting. Ingenious in the case of having the right creativity in design can allow for many different looking feline Zoids to all have the same bone body. Limiting in the sense that, they all have the same bone body. Great cost effective idea, that can also be a crutch to the longevity of this concept.
Orignal Wild Liger and Awakened Wild Liger.
While the original, there is an improved version out there. ZW 15 Awakened Wild Liger, with a faster motor and shinier blue armor. The ZW 15 has become pricier since its release as it was a one of print run. ZW 15 goes for about 70 USD, while the standard goes for half that. The Wild Liger has become widely recognized and a kit most fans of all ages end up picking up.
Blue Thunder was another sticker campaign distribution, and probable the second easiest to obtain.
I actually find the sticker quality of this version to be the best out of the campaign distribution sticker sets. It’s also the one from the standard distributions to cover the most parts of the Liger.
Stickers and Instructions:
Unfortunately I never got to scan this set. The website and documentation of Zoids wasn’t on the planning board for me at the time I got this. I do plan to get a second set and scan that in the future.
Blue Flame is actually one of the first sticker sets, if not the first. It is easily the most obtainable out of all of them. One of the early distributions the sticker set came with stickers fro Wild Liger, Grachiosaurus and Death Rex.
The First Kitchen sticker sets where distributed through Wendy’s as a promotional campaign. Most likely in a similar vein to Happy Meal toys.
Considering the nature of their distribution, the First Kitchen stickers don’t have that many parts to cover the liger like the Sky Flight and PSO variants.
All four First Kitchen Ligers
Sticker Scan:
Despite lacking in stickers for the Liger itself, the sheets brought plenty of other stickers.
The First Kitchen sticker sets where distributed through Wendy’s as a promotional campaign. Most likely in a similar vein to Happy Meal toys.
Considering the nature of their distribution, the First Kitchen stickers don’t have that many parts to cover the liger like the Sky Flight and PSO variants.
All four First Kitchen Ligers
Sticker Scan:
Despite lacking in stickers for the Liger itself, the sheets brought plenty of other stickers.
The First Kitchen sticker sets where distributed through Wendy’s as a promotional campaign. Most likely in a similar vein to Happy Meal toys.
Considering the nature of their distribution, the First Kitchen stickers don’t have that many parts to cover the liger like the Sky Flight and PSO variants.
All four First Kitchen Ligers
Sticker Scan:
Despite lacking in stickers for the Liger itself, the sheets brought plenty of other stickers.
zoidsuniverse.com 