Rev Rapter (Raptor)

I like pointy things, and I like small bitey dinosaurs like velociraptors. With that in mind, I wonder why I waited as long as I did to get one of these guys :p. I bought mine at the same time as Death Saurer, since they could share shipping. I know some people don't like the small velociraptor class of dinos (Rev Raptor, Gun Sniper, and Snipe Master), but I can say that I like them all now that I've built all three.

Rev Raptor's got the same size box as many a small Zoid...nothing all that different there. Its name is also mis-romanized on the box-"Rapter" isn't a typo. Upon looking at the red plastic, I noticed something I'd never seen in photos-it's slightly translucent, letting just a bit of light through. Cool. The colors are pretty dark overall, with the brightest parts being the medium silvery-grey that makes up parts like the blades. The cockpit isn't silver as it appears in the anime and some photos, but a dark shiny charcoal color, painted on one of the red sprues. And unlike Shadow Fox's cockpit, when I cut Rev Raptor's off the frame, it didn't leave a big visible spot.

Speaking of which, Rev Raptor was easy to assemble, following the same sorts of steps as other small dino Zoids. The blades were the only remotely fiddly part, but that was mainly because I put the caps on first and then dicovered that you have to put the parts that move the blades on the body first, resulting in me having to take them apart.

Finally, a small dino Zoid that walks at a good pace and not in circles...Rev Raptor is by far the smoothest-walking of that class of Zoids in my collection. It's no Helcat, but it moves along at a decent clip, blades moving back and forth slightly as it goes. It looks sleeker than Gun Sniper (although it doesn't have the nifty ears), and the colors, while dark, go together well. The eyes have a habit of falling off if the cockpit's open, but that's a minor quibble.