Redler

I like dragons...especially the sleek four-legged ones with spiffy wings. In other words, dragons like Redler. I'd thought it looked interesting for a while, and my other critters were all animals (except for the Geno Breaker I had on order)...so why not add a dragon to the mix? I think its orginal price in yen was around 800, but since it's out-of-production, I got mine on eBay for about 15 dollars.

Redler came in the same size box as my Command Wolves and Shadow Fox did, with the typical parts, pilot, motor, etc.. It didn't have that many parts, but one of the sheets of parts (the ones for the 'eyes' in the cockpit and the wings) was this interesting translucent color...I'd say grey with a touch of red-charcoal. I also got two sheets of decals by mistake...I don't use the decals, though...so I suppose I'll keep it in case I need it sometime in the future or someone else I know does... [later note: Hah, Rocke needed Redler decals. funny how stuff like that works out, eh?]

After having recently assembled the Geno Breaker, this thing seemed quite easy...but I think it would have seemed easy either way. There weren't any hard parts, and the smaller amount of pieces made for a quick assembly. I was pretty impressed with how the wings went together...with just a few pieces, they got them so that they'd flap and fold in and out as they were raised and lowered. Once the wings were on, all I had to do was assemble the legs (which hardly had any pieces either) and stick them on the body.

I think Redler looks pretty cool for as simple a Zoid as it is, and it continues looking cool when it walks. It's not as fast as the speedy Command Wolf or Shadow Fox, but it moves along nicely, its wings flapping and folding in and out. It doesn't have too much in the way of articulation-the head can move up and down and open up to show the cockpit, and the tail blade can be flipped out to about a 90-degree angle or retracted into Redler's tail. The wings can be moved, too, although they will go back to where they were when you let go-they aren't frozen in place by the motor or anything. I think I like the original red better, but bright purple works for Redler too. I did notice that it has a lack of any sort of ranged weaponry...all I could see listed on the package was the tail blade and the claws. One would think you'd want a fast flying Zoid to have some sort of distance weapon to surprise enemies with...which is why I like the idea I posted in my LiveJournal ramble-Redler should be able to breathe fire. (FOOM!) It fits the whole dragon thing, and if Salamander can have a flamethrower...