Rayse Tiger

Like Energy Liger, I didn't like Rayse Tiger much when I first saw pictures of it. But then Tomy had to go and make it glowy...I'm a sucker for shiny and glowy and blinky things. It's like a moth to a light, without the bonk-ouch-my-head part.

So, I bought one very shortly after they were released, and waited impatiently for it to show up...

It's a good thing it was glowy after all-Rayse Tiger's a very nice design. Like EL, pictures don't do it any justice. It has a good deal of pieces...some typical of cat Zoids, others not. The motor, like the Saix's, has a good amount of deatil already on it, so there's no body halves. Also interesting are the legs-just a couple pieces each, but with a heck of a lot of armor and detail pieces around them. They're still obviously cat Zoid, but not the same old same old. The whole Zoid has that feel to it, in fact, and that's a *good* thing.

The most unique thing, though, is how they got the LEDs to work. They're inside the motor, and you have to stick clear plastic tube pieces in this box thing you build so that the ends come in contact with the LEDS and make them light up. Take note of which tube is which. It's important. I didn't find that all that hard, but putting the piece on the back that gets them where they're going later was annoying, since they don't *want* to bend very much.

That comes later, though-you actually build the head, tail, and legs first. The little piece that attaches the tail is a Blox-style connector...and make sure you put it in the right way and not upside-down, lest you spend several minutes fiddling with the tail trying to get it together (as you may guess, I speak from experience). The legs aren't hard, in my opinion, but they do have a good amount of pieces for all the armor and stuff. They were pretty interesting to build, actually...different from those Liger Zero legs any collector with even something of a completist streak has been compelled to build 50 times. The feet do like to fall off a bit, which seems a common thing with newer cat Zoids...

Next are the sides-and that interesting lighting stuff. You pull it through into the side pieces, then smush it into place...not too tricky, but with the back piece, I had a bit of trouble getting it to curve where it was supposed to. Then it's on to sticking on the legs and the top armor for them (interesting, again-lots of glowy bits)...and we're done.

Switch on, and Rayse Tiger's green tubing all lights up-pretty well, too. It's not blinding, but it's not dim either. To get the full effect, build at night and first set the thing loose on the floor at 3 AM with all the lights off after leaving it under one. Verrrry nifty. (Note: this site does not actually recommend late-night insomnia-induced Zoid-building-fests. Nor does it condone hyphen overuse, despite what the previous statement would indicate. Thank you.)

Speaking of the glow-in-the-dark bits, they're pretty bright when fully charged up, and last for a decent amount of time. They're also very hard to photograph...I swear, I'll get better pics someday. Don't expect to read by them, but they're still pretty good. It's about the same as these glow-in-the-dark toothbrushes I liked as a kid...however helpful that is. The green ones, not the pink ones. The pink ones never worked as well, dangit!

The actual walk isn't all that interesting...the jaw doesn't even move, since the head and tail are on Blox connectors. It's smooth, though, and the rings around the top leg caps spin. The Blox connectors leave the head slightly poseable and the tail a good deal so-it's the only cat Zoid I know of that can swish its tail from side to side.

If you like cat Zoids and/or glowy things, I'd say buy it. Now. You know you want it. It's glowyyyy...

Pics

(with apologies for the very poor glowy ones...)

Generic shot
Front view "What are YOU looking at?"
Side view
From above (it's listening to "Stockton Gala Days" from 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged, for the curious)

With ~~naked~~ unarmored Liger Zero, for scale: side - front - top

Scale pic with a bunch of other cat Zoids

Those weird feet...
With Gairyuuki (note the similar colors)
Lookit the little tiger...
Glowy meets shiny.

With Saix boosters (blurry, sorry)
With Saix boosters again [Saix/Tiger joke goes here]

Glowy bits
Glowy bits, fading
Glowy bits, fading, with lights on
Lights on