Raynos (OJR)

(pictures coming soon, honest)

Old-school Raynos is rather ferociously rare, or at least ferociously expensive: one can usually expect to pay seventy to a hundred plus USD for one in good shape. Model-wise, it's one of the last windups in the old line along with Cannonfort and Heldy, and the only Raynos not to have a blindy orange cockpit. Story-wise, it was piloted by Krüger in fanbook!continuity, and in all takes on its life was used to scout out the Dark Continent, proving important with its recon-fu, agility, and ability to arrive at the last minute with shiny Zoids in tow.

So how did I wind up with one? Part lots on eBay are your friends, especially when they contain things suspiciously birdlike and blue. Indeed, it's blue...a color like nothing new that has to be seen to be grasped. The closest is probably Rayse, who is darker and deeper. To assign names, I'd say it's a bit like wedgewood - but blue only, not the blue-green with a hint of grey I see most often called wedgewood. Or maybe it's a dark periwinkle. You decide!

In addition to this mysteriously blue blue it sports dark grey underbits, white caps and trim, and a smoke cockpit. I have to wonder if this is the reason these guys sell for so much, as there's no way to replicate that pretty very-slightly-purple smoky color short of casting your own. The white caps and pieces are somewhat problematic - all white plastic yellows, but they seem to do so particularly badly going by both Raynos and old-school Shieldy. It may be the chemical composition of the plastic itself, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any Zoids sporting this white in minty mint condition. My Raynos is edging into beige. I replaced the caps with black Shadow Fox caps, having used the remainder of my spare white caps on a built Aquazoid.

The stickers are also quite stylish, if you're lucky enough to have them. This particular Raynos' original owner stickered it pretty well, and as old-school stickers are sturdy things I was able to save the lot of them. The wings, for the curious, say "315215" - a number of other OJR stickers have numbers and random phrases in Zoidian, which is really just Japanese written with different squiggles.

Negative points in all this? A bum motor with the gear thing in the wrong spot, so the wings don't flap when my Raynos walks. I have no idea if it originally came this way. It also sports a number of nasty stress marks from the plastic getting bent (especially where the claws attach and on the tail), though only one was bad enough to require glue. Whether the blue plastic was brittle to start or this particular Raynos had a tough life, I don't know. It's also missing the radar dish, but we can say Dark Horn ate it.

So is it worth the money? Hell no, unless you're an OJR nut or character Zoid geek/Krüger fangirl who can't spring for an Orudios. Can't bear the green and want something with class? Get the museum version. Just want something cool? Go Holotech!

But is it spiffy? Hell yes. If you ever get a chance to rescue your own beaten-up Raynos, do - then watch it shuffle free again, blasting bravely at Death Saurers and running recon for your Gunblusters. You do have Gunblusters, right?

Written November 21st, 2006