Blade Liger

The Blade Liger is a type of Zoid, a race of mechanical lifeforms from the fictional Zoids universe. The Blade Liger features heavily in the first anime series, Zoids: Chaotic Century, as it is piloted by the main character, Van Flyheight, as well as in the Zoids: Chaotic Century manga. It also plays secondary roles in the Zoids: New Century Zero and Zoids: Fuzors anime.

Overview

While the Shield Liger's capabilities were solid for its day, the Blade Liger improves upon them, being faster and more agile than its predecessor. It also gains new weaponry, the most noticeable being a pair of laser-edged blades. Its energy shield is enhanced with the addition of four cooling units located in the white "fins" of its shoulder armor. Like the Shield Liger, it sports a shock cannon, and the Pulse Laser Guns found on the blunt sides of the blades add to the Zoid's limited ranged-combat ability.

Media appearances

Battle Story

The Blade Liger was developed as a counter to the Geno Saurer, using the enhanced AI and power boost granted by the Organoid System to completely revamp the Shield Liger of old. When the Empire countered with the Geno Breaker, the Blade Liger replied with the Attack Booster upgrade, and continued to see service until wide deployment of the Liger Zero, whereupon it seems to have been phased out.

Two rivals—one the test pilot for the first Geno Saurer (later Breaker) and the other an ace Blade Liger pilot—were instrumental in the defeat of the first rogue Death Stinger, teaming up to defeat it at the cost of their Zoids and the Liger pilot's life.

Anime

Chaotic Century

The Blade Liger first appeared in Zoids: Chaotic Century mid-way through the series. After Van's Shield Liger was destroyed by Raven's Geno Saurer, his Organoid, Zeke, and the Ancient Zoidian, Fiona, merged with the wreck. The Zoid "evolved" into a new form, over the course of several days, to create the Blade Liger, a completely unique Zoid. Van used the Blade Liger for the remainder of the series, defeating both Raven's Geno Saurer and Prozen's Death Saurer with it.

Van continued to use the Blade Liger throughout Zoids: Guardian Force. During the course of the series, the Blade Liger was upgraded to include several completely new weapons, such as a system that could quickly switch out the Pulse laser guns attached to the blades for sniper rifles or gatling guns. The Blade Liger also sported the CP-12 upgrade boosters for a short time.

Over the course of the series the Liger survived many what should have been fatal attacks. Still, Van used the Zoid to great effect throughout the series, at one point even having to upgrade the Blade Liger in order to keep up with his own speed.

New Century Zero

Leon Toros used a red Blade Liger during Zoids: New Century Zero. This Zoid proved to be powerful in close combat, but was not without its defensive limitations. Oddly enough, given the Blade Liger's very specific origins in Chaotic Century, nothing is stated as to where Leon's Zoid came from. It was stated, though, that the Blade Liger was a rare Zoid, and a red one was even rarer.

Fuzors

The main appearances of the Blade Liger in Zoids: Fuzors were associated with Rastani and the Black Impact Team. Unlike in the previous series', the Blade Liger was depicted as a common Zoid, albeit a high-performance one. These Blade Ligers are notable as being the first Zoids to fight against a Fuzor, the Killer Spiner, which was able to destroy all three of them effortlessly.

Manga

Chaotic Century

After Van's Shield Liger, Caesar, is heavily damaged during the fight to protect the town of Porto from Raven and the Genosaurer, it becomes snagged on a power line leading from Wendeen (the ancient Zoid that provided wind power to Porto). Due to the combined efforts of Fiona and Wendeen, Caesar is encased in a heart-shaped cocoon on Wendeen’s body. Wendeen then acts to evolve the Caesar into its Blade Liger form.

Caesar continues to work in its Blade Liger form until during the fight against the Death Stinger, in which it is again heavily damaged.

In the manga, there are a handful of changes to the Blade Liger's abilities. The main one is that the E-Shield can be focused in any direction, and can be used to support the Blade Liger over water.

Models

New Japanese Release

• Assembly required. (Snap-together, no glue needed. Scissors or X-acto knife recommended for trimming off excess plastic bits.)
• The model's colours are moulded into the plastic, and it does not need any paint; however some details are pre-painted.

The Blade Liger kit comes on six frames (two of which are shared with the Shield Liger), along with a battery-powered motor (based on that used by the Shield Liger), a semi-transparent canopy cover, sixteen rubber caps, and a frame containing mini figures of the Zoids anime characters Van, Fiona and Zeke. The Zoid's teeth and claws are made out of metal. The Blade Liger is moulded in blue, black, and grey, with gold teeth and claws and an orange canopy, and features a painted white trim.

The Blade Liger’s construction isn't overly complex or difficult, putting it roughly in the middle of the range for Zoid complexity. Due to the number of frames shared with the Shield Liger, there are several parts left over when built. The Blade Liger uses a pair of "AAA" sized batteries for motion. Once activated, the Zoid walks forwards with its jaws chomping. The Blade Liger also features two movable panels on its mane, a pair of retractable boosters, and a pair of blades that can be moved into a variety of positions.

The Blade Liger's moulding has been somewhat inconsistent; many Blade Ligers have loose or poorly-fitting parts, especially the head. There is no real consistency, with individuals within production runs having different issues. In some cases, different parts of each Blade Liger may or may not be painted, and two different canopy colours have been seen in production. Later examples of the NJR production run replaced the metal components with plastic equevilants. The Zoid's cockpit is specially designed for the anime pilot figures, and as a result a normal Zoid pilot figure will not fit properly.

Blade Ligers sold in secondary markets, (like China) commonly have plastic teeth and claws, instead of metal ones like the Philippines.

TOMY also released an upgrade kit for the Blade Liger, the CP-12 Attack Boosters. The Boosters are mounted on the Blade Liger's blades, and can be positioned to act as boosters or a second pair of shock cannons. Additionally, the Blade Liger can also use the CP-15 Assault Gatling Unit.

Blade Liger Leon

A limited edition version of the Blade Liger was released as a magazine exclusive in 2000, based on the version Leon Toros used in New Century Zero. The Zoid was recoloured in red and black, and lacked the frame of anime figures, instead coming with a standard grey Zoid pilot figure.

New American Release

The Blade Liger was re-released in North America by Hasbro in 2001. This version was based on the Blade Liger Leon, although the red is a lighter color, while the legs are light grey instead of black. Additionally, the Zoid came with plastic teeth and feet, and did not have any pilot figure supplied.

The Zoid was also re-released in near identical packaging as a part of the New Pacific Release.

Blade Liger Mirage

This limited edition version of the Blade Liger was released in Japan in 2003. It was recoloured with white armour and black legs, and the white trim repainted red. Additionally, it included a repainted CP-12 Attack Booster. This version had a standard pilot figure.

New European Release

TOMY released the Blade Liger in England in 2003. This version was identical in colouration to the NJR version, but had plastic teeth and fangs. Like the NJR version, the NER version suffered from very inconstant production.

Limited Blade Liger

Hasbro created another version of the Blade Liger for North American release. This version was coloured metallic grey with black legs, as well as a standard blue pilot figure. The Zoid was scheduled for a late 2003 or early 2004 release, but due to the cancellation of the line, the Zoid never reached production. A few prototypes, complete with packaging, are known to exist.

Forest and Night Fight Blade Liger

This limited edition Zoid was released solely in Asian markets in 2004. The Zoid was recoloured in dull brown and light blue, with a lime-green trim and a yellow canopy. This version came with the same sprue of anime figures that were released with the New Japanese Release Blade Liger, and had plastic teeth and claws.

Blade Liger Black Impact

This limited edition version was released in 2004 as a part of the Fuzors model line. Based on the Blade Ligers in the series, this version is identical to the unreleased Limited Blade Liger, and may have been produced from left-over unreleased stock. This version had metal teeth and fangs, and came with a standard pilot figure.

Kotobukiya Blade Liger

Also known as the HMM (High-End Master Model) Blade Liger, this 1/72 scale model was released in 2007. Highly detailed and composed of a far greater amount of parts, it exchanges the motorized action of the original kit for complexity and posability.

Kotobukiya Blade Liger Leon

Much like its motorized counterpart, this release is recolored in red to match Leon Toros' Zoid. It also includes a set of redesigned Attack Boosters, even though Leon never used them in the anime.

External Links

Sho-Pro's official anime site, CGI references for Blade Liger, Blade Liger Leon, and Blade Liger BI