History Franchise / Zoids

* MsFanservice: Kotoha Elegance.

* ABoyAndHisX: X = Various dinosaurs (Griff and most notably Great Gorgon, Mighty Zoidzilla.

* GoodBadTranslation: Zoids Legacy, the only English GBA title. Every sentence in the game either comes out grammatically incorrect, uses an exceedingly weird word or is just plain nonsensical. This verges on the hilarious when Zan is shot down and he, verging on tears, declares "Can't hear Zoids". And then there's the lines like "Prince Gard, use me please!"

* CombiningMecha

%%* MightyGlacier: Many, but notable examples include all the Gojulas types, Death Saurer, and Ultrasaurus.

[[folder:Tropes Used in ''New Century/Zero'']]
* ABoyAndHisX: Bit and Liger Zero.
* AceCustom: Brad's Command Wolf, Leena and Naomi's Gunsnipers, Harry Champ's Darkhorn.
* BroadStrokes: New Century/Zero treats Chaotic Century and Guardian Force this way. New Century seems to take place quite some time after the earlier series, and their plots don't mesh much besides the occasional Continuity Nod.
* CallingYourAttacks: Done mostly with Bit an Liger Zero's various attacks, but Leena likes to do it as well.
* ChivalrousPervert: Harry Champ.
* ContinuityNod: New Century/Zero has a number of these to Chaotic Century/Guardian Force. Notably, the final battle which takes place on top of the original Ultrasaurus.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: This is Bit in some episodes but especially the second one where he beats the crap out of two thugs and makes it look like an accident...and then proceeds to, in the upcoming battle against a sniper, waste all six of his allowed shots into the cliff face below her mech. Later we find that this has weakened it enough to send her plummeting down the cliff, allowing the Liger Zero into close-range combat - where it excels.
* CutShort: New Century was cut down from a planned 30+ epsiodes to 26.
* TheDragon: Vega Obscura for the Backdraft Group.
* EvilCounterpart: Berserk Fuhrer to Liger Zero.
* {{Expy}}: Bit is this to Van, and Brad is this to Irvine.
* FacialMarkings: Not as many people have them as those in Chaotic Century.
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Bit with Liger Zero.
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Leena Toros, who likes to think she's the cute and adorable but enjoys blowing things up in her Zoids way too much.

* HotBlooded: Bit.
* MadScientist: Dr. Leon in tends to come across as one.
* MechaExpansionPack: The Wild Weasel unit Leena gets (then adds additional rocket launchers and a pair of gatling guns nearly as large as the mech itself!) and the CAS parts of the Liger Zero.
** Liger gets a Panzer upgrade at one point, turning it into a walking tank with ''really'' devastating attacks, but the armor and missile systems burden it to a crawl. It's rid of in the final attack, wherein it fires ''everything''.
* MsFanservice: Naomi Fluegal.
* MultiformBalance: Liger Zero had different equipment modes that changed it into different types depending on the situation. "Panzer" mode became a MightyGlacier, "Schneider" is a GlassCannon and the "Jager" unit is a FragileSpeedster.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Berserk Fury.
* NoSwastikas: No actual Nazi imagery exists, but the Japanese DO call it the "Berserk Fuhrer" rather than the "Berserk Fury".
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Bit Cloud is the master of Obfuscating Stupidity. He obfuscates so hard that even many fans consider him a straight up IdiotHero (see CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass above), much less characters within the show. Of course, as the series progresses, CharacterDevelopment kicks in, and he starts relying less and less on being underestimated as time goes on.
* PityTheKidnapper: Leena's kidnapping by the Backdraft Group. When they call the Blitz Team to extort them into an unsanctioned battle, the team leader has to repeatedly yell at his men to keep Leena under control. He ends up getting hit in the face with a flying object when she continues to cause trouble, has to put the Blitz Team on hold to go deal with the situation, and when he returns his hair is disheveled, his clothes torn and his CoolShades cracked in several places. He handles this with admirable dignity. Leena later escapes on her own... blowing a large hole in the Backdraft Group's Whale King in the process.
* PlayingCyrano: Used recursively. The rivalry between Dr. Laon and Dr. Toros began when Laon asked Toros to write a love letter to his crush on his behalf. Toros, however, doesn't feel up to the task himself, so he asks their mutual friend Oscar to do it for him. Unfortunately, Oscar mistakenly signs the letter as Toros instead of Laon, leading Laon to believe that Toros deliberately stole the woman he loved.
* ProductPlacement: Doc Toros is often seen building/playing with Zoids kits, complete with authentic instruction manuals/foldouts that seem a tad out of place with the rest of the art.
* RunningGag: Whenever Jamie's Ptearus is used in a battle, it is totalled. Complete with Jamie crying out for his beloved zoid.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Harry, who proclaims himself to be "A man destined to be king". Leena also counts to a degree, having answered an anonymous e-mail asking who the greatest Zoid pilot is with "ME!".
* SoLastSeason: Zoids progressively get new upgrades, and some characters have to upgrade their Zoids themselves or be left behind. Or leave the Zoids behind and get new ones entirely; i.e. most every New Century/Zero protagonist barring Bit.)
** In a more meta sense, ''three'' Geno Sauruses, a Zoid that was quite feared in Chaotic Century, show up towards the end of New Century/Zero to take out the Berserk Fury. They fail to even scratch it and are taken out in [[WorfEffect one shot.]]
* SpamAttack: Hello, Leena!
** MacrossMissileMassacre: Liger Zero Panzer's "Burning Big Bang", Leena's "Wild Weasel Unit Total Assault".
** MoreDakka: That would be Leena again.
** ATeamFiring: Still Leena.
* SplitPersonality: Jamie's "Wild Eagle" state.
* StalkerWithACrush: Harry Champ is constantly stalking Leena and trying to get her to reciprocate his feelings.
* TheStoic: Brad Hunter and Jack Cisco.
* SuperRobot: The "Ultimate X" Zoids (Liger Zero and Berserk Fuhrer) come very close to being true Super Robots, being considered largely rarer and somewhat more sentient than normal Zoids.
* TriggerHappy: Leena. She takes out her own teammate in the third episode with a barrage.
* WaveMotionGun: Liger Zero Panzer's Hybrid Cannons, which are roughly as powerful as a Charged Particle Gun, albeit not with a continuous stream like the CPG.
* WorthyOpponent: Bit got a worthy opponent for each Liger Zero variation he had, each matching the type of zoid it became: FragileSpeedster, MightyGlacier, GlassCannon, JackOfAllStats.

[[folder:Tropes Used in ''Fuzors'']]
%%* CombiningMecha
%%* GladiatorGames
%%* TheWorfEffect: Rastani from is the walking embodiment of this, right up there with [[TropeNamer Worf himself.]]
[[/folder]]

%%* AbortedArc: What ever happened to the Gilvader?
%%* AGodAmI: Emperor Jiin.

%%* BathKick: Felme does this in some of her bubble bath scenes.
%%* TheDragon: Zairin to Jiin.
%%* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
%%* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Ruuji with the Murasame Liger. (Literally)
%%* HeelFaceTurn: Zairin and Felme.
%%* HollywoodTactics
%%* HotSpringsEpisode: Episode 9.
%%* KidHero: Ruuji.

%%* MsFanservice: Kotoha Elegance.
%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Felme]].
%%* TokenMiniMoe: Re Mie.

%%* ABoyAndHisX: X = Various dinosaurs (Griff and most notably Great Gorgon, Mighty Zoidzilla.
%%* AbortedArc: The comic ended with no real resolution.
%%* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway

* HeroWithAUniqueName: Af first played straight with Arashi (being the OddNameOut of the EdibleThemeNaming), but [[SubvertedTrope turns out]] that he follow a "different thematic" outside of the common one. Also, his rival's name is Drake, which is [[Understandment totally not a food.]]

* EdibleThemeNaming: So far, most of the characters are named after foods, like Penne, Onigiri and Bacon.

* HeroWithAUniqueName: Arashi, being the OddNameOut of the aforementioned ThemeNaming. But there's also [[TheRival Drake]], so...

* EqualOpportunityEvil: Death Metal certainly doesn't certainly discriminate based on sexual preference if the StarterVillians show anything.

[[folder:Tropes Used in Wild]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/81zuyjct0el_sl1500.jpg]]

[[quoteright:319:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zoids_2_8513.jpg]]

** In a more meta sense, ''three'' Geno Sauruses, a Zoid that was quite feared in Chaotic Century, show up towards the end of New Century/Zero to take out the Berserk Fury. They fail to even scratch it and are taken out in [[WorfEffect one shot.]]
* SonicStunner: King Gojulas, Wardick.

%%* TriggerHappy: Leena.

A spate of video games take place in their own pocket continuities, {{Mega Crossover}}s of several of the above, or some combination of the two. Notable entries include the TurnBasedStrategy game ''Zoids Assault'' for the XBox360 and the ''Zoids Saga'' RolePlayingGame series for UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance and UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo DS}}, along with a Commodore 64 game simply titled ''Zoids'' and released during the kits' original 80s heyday. Genesis is also included as one of the series in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'', which is considered a good sign for Takara Tomy and Bandai to work together.

* {{Mooks}}: Rev Raptors are like the Zaku of Zoids: numerous, used extensively by the villains, and easily destroyed.

A spate of video games take place in their own pocket continuities, {{Mega Crossover}}s of several of the above, or some combination of the two. Notable entries include the TurnBasedStrategy game ''Zoids Assault'' for the XBox360 and the ''Zoids Saga'' RolePlayingGame series for GameBoyAdvance and {{Nintendo DS}}, along with a Commodore 64 game simply titled ''Zoids'' and released during the kits' original 80s heyday. Genesis is also included as one of the series in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'', which is considered a good sign for Takara Tomy and Bandai to work together.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Harry, who proclaims himself to be "A man destined to be king". Leena also counts to a degree, having answered an anonymous e-mail asking who the greatest Zoid pilot is with "ME!".

** All the anime protagonists possess [[RuleOfCool sentient mecha]].

* {{Badass}}: Karl Schwarz in the Battle Story, he charges Prozen's Deathsaurer in an Iron Kong and kills it. An Iron Kong '''killed''' a '''Deathsaurer'''. A Zoid that normally requires Madthunders or an Ultrasaurus to kill.
** Ray Gregg survived through the entire history of the Ray Force, whether against Berserk Fuhrers, Seismosaurus, Energy Ligers. You name it, he survived it.

'''''Zoids''''' (dub title '''''Anime/ZoidsChaoticCentury'''''), was aired in 1999 and was the first anime series. Taking elements from the Battle Story, Chaotic Century focuses on [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Van Flyheight]], a boy who comes across a small Zoid known as an Organoid, which he names Zeke (Sieg in the original Japanese), sleeping in a pod hidden in an old ruin. He also discovers a [[MysteriousWaif mysterious girl]] he names Fiona (Fiine), who happened to be sleeping in the pod next to Zeke's. Zeke has the ability to resurrect Zoids, so after restoring an abandoned Shield Liger to life, Van takes it to help Fiona find "Zoid Eve". Along the way, they meet up with the smuggler and trader Moonbay, the mercenary Irvine, and end up getting caught up in the war between the Helic Republic and Guylos Empire that takes priority over finding Zoid Eve.

The second season of Chaotic Century, '''''Zoids: Guardian Force''''', takes place two years after the end of the first season. Van is part of a special forces unit founded to help keep the peace between the Republic and the Empire. As he reunites with Fiona, they find themselves opposing a mysterious group that seeks to cause chaos all over the planet. While ''Chaotic Century'' had concluded its story, it left a lot of the backstory concerning Fiona and Zoid Eve a mystery. ''Guardian Force'' delves heavily into the backstory and finally gives a conclusion to the characters' timeline. The show had such a fan following that Cartoon Network actually relented to fan complaints that the last four episodes were not aired during its Toonami run and ran a marathon of those last four episodes.

'''''Zoids''''' is set on the planet Zi, a mostly desert-like world where the human population lives with Zoids, native mechanical lifeforms that can be turned into deadly fighting machines.

The second anime series, '''''Anime/ZoidsNewCentury''''', takes place centuries after the previous two, events from the first two seasons only [[BroadStrokes vaguely being canon]] and confirmed as such by voiceovers left out of the dub. The world is more or less at peace, and battles between groups of Zoids are now a national spectator sport. The story focuses on Bit Cloud, a wandering Junk dealer seeking to build the perfect Zoid. Bit runs afoul of the Blitz Team, one of the competing teams of Zoid warriors, and while imprisoned, ends up befriending the Liger Zero, a tempermental Zoid that usually doesn't let anybody pilot it. The Liger Zero seems to like Bit, however, so the Blitz Team allows him to work off his debt by piloting the Zoid for them. As the story progresses it reveals an organization that likes to break the normal rules, calling themselves the Backdraft Group.

The third series, '''''Zoids: Fuzors''''', was similar in theme to ''New Century'', but set in its own continuity. It shows off the concept of the Fuzors, smaller Zoids that can [[CombiningMecha combine with the larger ones]] to boost their power or give them new abilities. ''Fuzors'' was also aired on Toonami, but was canceled after only 13 of its 26 episodes aired. Eventually, all 26 episodes were shown in Australia. In a curious change, the series was shown in Japan ''after'' its US release. The Japanese version had new animation added, to the point where the second episode is completely different.

The fourth series, '''''Zoids: Genesis''''', is also in its own continuity, and is [[AfterTheEnd set after a]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt terrible cataclysm]] wrecks the civilization on Zi. This series only had a limited release outside Japan.

It also spawned a SpinOff model line called '''''Soukou Kyoshin Z-Knight''''', which is about Earthlings' humanoid HumongousMecha developed from Zoids. It was moderately successful, but was ultimately discontinued in 1993. It also has a short promo {{OVA}} by Creator/{{Sunrise}}.

* TriggerHappy: Leena.

* CombiningMecha
* GladiatorGames
* TheWorfEffect: Rastani from is the walking embodiment of this, right up there with [[TropeNamer Worf himself.]]

* AbortedArc: What ever happened to the Gilvader?
* AGodAmI: Emperor Jiin.

* BathKick: Felme does this in some of her bubble bath scenes.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Ruuji and the gang try a sneak attack on Digald's base at Torafu and accidentally give their position away for a brief moment. One of the commander's aides spots this but decides it was just his imagination. The commander's response? Send out patrols to that area.
* TheDragon: Zairin to Jiin.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Ruuji with the Murasame Liger. (Literally)
* HeelFaceTurn: Zairin and Felme.
* HollywoodTactics
* HotSpringsEpisode: Episode 9.
* [[DemotedToExtra Isn't It Sad]], Felme? All that work to make you into a DarkActionGirl and it all gets blown away in one rather pathetic death scene.
* KidHero: Ruuji.

* MsFanservice: Kotoha Elegance.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Felme]].
* TokenMiniMoe: Re Mie.

* ABoyAndHisX: X = Various dinosaurs (Griff and most notably Great Gorgon, Mighty Zoidzilla.
* AbortedArc: The comic ended with no real resolution.
* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway