Gravity Saix

Gravity Saix is one of the first two Zoids powered by a flywheel motor. They use a ripcord, much like Beyblades (well, I've never bought a Beyblade, but the cord/system *look* similar.) There's some controversy as to whether these guys are exclusively Hasbro designs, or Tomy helping them, or Tomy making a Hasbro concept, or what. I'm not sure myself, but I'd lean towards more Hasbro. I do hope they'll see a Japanese release so we'll get reliable technical data, though.

Gravity Saix's box is...eh. The photo of it makes it look horrible, which is something of a theme on many Hasbro boxes. Come on, guys, a good angle goes a long way into making a Zoid look nice-I know you can do better. Anyway, it may look yellow-orange on the box, but it's not. It's blinding day-glo orange, the sort of color you either love or hate. Me, I love it, when it's used well-with black and white, like on the Schneider or limited Snipe Master.

Unfortuneately, they went with silvery grey on Gravity Saix's trim, and used off-white for the white. Still, Gravity Saix doesn't look too bad color-wise if you can stand the orange...I bet it would look a lot nicer with an ink wash and the silver parts painted black, but my must-have-one-stock-first compulsion holds me back. For now...*eyes it*

Assembly was really, really simple-the legs are just one piece plus a foot, for example. Once together, Gravity Saix is around the same size as a large wind-up. It's a lot heavier, though, and that's what does it in. No matter how quickly you get the darn flywheel spinning, the poor thing can only go a few feet. I'd be surprised if it went a meter. It doesn't look too bad when it's still moving-it does have pretty smooth movement for something with as few pieces as it has in its legs.

Oh. The spatula...I mean, sword-missile. It hardly flies, and it's got a goofy rounded tip (hence me calling it a spatula). Too bad it looks like it'd be annoying to take apart and replace with a better spring like Salamander has with its missile launcher. Now *those* things are cool. It's supposed to be able to hold the spatula in its mouth for some reason (by the way, don't close its mouth all the way-it's annoying to get back open if you do). I say it's really a cooking Zoid. Now for...Cooking with Gravity Saix!

If it is Hasbro's first attempt at designing a Zoid, Gravity Saix isn't half-bad. All it needs is a little repainting, and maybe some better weapons. I'm tempted to go with a Descat-like scheme if I paint one, as it looks vaguely like Descat...which might explain why I like it despite its flaws and a lot of people don't.

Pics

(note that it's wearing a piece from the Flexible Booster Unit on its back...I stuck it on randomly to help break up the orange and off white)

Gravity Saix out for a stroll in the morning sun...
Pretty sun... Darn thing kept falling off the chair when I was taking that.
Hey! Are you laughing at me!? Poor Gravity Saix, somebody's insulted it.
DIE! Spatula of DOOOOOOM! Complete with glowy eyes.