Glaive Quama

I had glanced at this guy a few times and thought it looked kind of neat, but I wondered what the heck it was based on. One day, I read that it was a 'longis quama' type, so I looked it up on Google. Turns out it was this lizardlike critter from prehistoric times that sparked debate about the whole birds evolved from dinosaurs thing. Some people thought it had feathers and some though they were scales, and some thought they were for gliding, and others thought they were for display (like showing off to potential mates, or something). I wonder if the little lizard-y thing that ended up being that fossil could have known all the debate it would cause. It was probably hopping along, munching on insects, la la la la la...and *splat ack thud*...future fossil. Poor fellow. Or girl. But I digress...I think Glaive Quama's original price was around 400 yen (3-4 dollars?), but it's out-of-production, so you'll probably pay more on eBay and such.

The Glaive Quama comes in a smaller box, with parts including clear red ones for the top of the head and eyes and the cockpit. It doesn't have a motor-it's part of a group of non-motorized smaller Zoids that instead have nice articulation...not to be mistaken for those new Blox Zoids, which are different...I don't have any of those. Yet, anyway. Glaive Quama also come with some red decals (as well as the typical ones)...they're apparently for markings, but I never use the decals, so I just kept them with the others.

This guy was easy for me to assemble...none of the steps gave me trouble, and it went pretty quickly. One thing I'd watch out for, though, are the clear plastic parts. They seem like they'd snap more easily, so I'd be careful cutting them out of their frame. It comes with a couple of extra figures besides the pilot...all three are on a frame with some purple parts, so they're purple as opposed to the typical blue or darker grey. One of them is some guy that looks like he's holding a clipboard, and I was tempted to have him fly around in the Glaive Quama as Clipboard Man (cue spoof of Batman theme)...I don't think he'd fit in the cockpit, though...

Once together, the Glaive Quama can rotate its legs about midway and at the body, move its head and tail up and down, and have its wings either up like it's on the ground, or down like it's flying. The two back feet can flip farther back so it looks more like it's gliding/flying. Also, if the head's down, the wings can be moved up or down freely, but if it's up, two little plastic pieces make it so that the wings will stay either up or down until you move the head. I thought the clear piece that forms the eyes and part of the top of the head was a nice touch-the red catches the light pretty well. It looks all nifty and lizardlike to me, especially when it's sitting perched somewhere.

It also has a hook/clip thing on its belly that folds out so it can hold a bigger hook thing that the instructions had it carrying around a Demantis with, but I didn't have one at the time I wrote this, and I haven't tried it out yet now that I have one.