Graphics 07: Seapanther
Who sees what you did there? Yes, everyone's favorite hermit crab Zoid saw a Graphics release, and it's here to watch you.
The later small Zenebas windups like Storch, Twinhorn, and Seapanther were hard to find for years. First we got Storch in the regular line, recolored but done well. Then we got a Graphics Twinhorn, and fans rejoyced while eBay scalpers sitting on piles of them lost a lot of potential profit. Finally came Seapanther here, completing the set o' small rarities. While the first run sold out very quickly, Tomy seems to have done at least one more, making them pretty available for the moment.
Like the rest of the Graphics line, it comes with bonus parts and a booklet, the latter being notable for containing parts of the actual Rebirth Century story instead of rehashed material—in this case, a flashback to the end days of the OJR, with Helic taking King Gojulas against some Gilvaders (as flanked by Krüger, who's aquired a different first name but seems to be the same guy who got very lucky with an Orudios). King Gojulas proves surprisingly nasty, having (among other things) an interface system that ties it to the pilot, and Helic orders its self-destruction after the meteor stuff lest its technology fall into the wrong hands. Of course, it will anyway, so we can have a pre-NJR arms race! The bonus parts, on the other hand, are half of the old whitehead weapon set: little guns and missiles and whatnot, cast in grey. The entire lot of them can fit on a Snipe Master with a little creativity, and they look pretty cool that way, but they'll go on anything with small pegs.
The actual kit is in two colors: silver-grey and a very bright red. You also get the typical clear red cockpit glass, silver pilotman, and those funky Zenebas-y greyish teal caps. Plastic quality is decent—nothing to write home about, but not flaky or breakprone. More problematic are the stickers, which are printed on low quality foil, leading to dull colors and poor stick. I'm not the stickering type, but it's disappointing, especially when the other Graphics releases I have don't have this problem. Otherwise it looks to be a faithful replica of the original, and it's a damn sight cheaper than what the OJR ran for on eBay, so I'm not about to look a gift crab in the mouth.
Seapanther, you find out early on into the build, cheats. It doesn't walk on its crab legs, it rolls on wheels. The legs, though, are all linked to the motor, interlocking cleverly with moving bits to scuttle along with a very realistic motion while the wheels turn. Once you've got them all together and added a more crablike head in front of the cockpit, you build the shell around Seapanther's rearward half and add the missile box and gun. This seems pretty simple in writing, and it is...but it's pretty intriguing, and the result is unmistakably hermitty and wonderfully scuttly.
I have two minor gripes: one, Seapanther likes to tip backward onto its shell, or mine does; two, I'm so used to reading the clamshell cockpit + glass combination as "eyes" it's a bit distracting to have it directly behind the actual head. A second clear piece for the fronts of the eyes or sommat would have been a nice touch, but it is a small windup. Those of you who like to detail things, a bit of paint will work wonders here, and the shell's nice detailing practically begs for some good panel lines anyway.
While it's still not my favorite late Zenebas windup (I bet you can never guess which that is ;p), Seapnther is unique in both design and looks, and if you're a small windup fan, the Graphics release is a good chance to grab one before they scuttle off again. It's pretty customizable and detailable, too, and I've seen people do some pretty awesome and unique things with it. The bad stickers are a bit of a letdown, but the booklet and the bonus weapons make up for it.
Written December 2009
