Zoids

I liked both Chaotic Century/Guardian Force and New Century, though I preferred New Century in general. Never did get around to watching Genesis or Fuzors. I should do that at some point...

I'm not sure if Fuzors is even worth watching. The dub didn't really impress me, and as I said, the animation seems to be lacking compared to the two previous series.

Haven't had any issues with Genesis though.

Did a google search, I thought Genesis was the "first half" of Chaotic Century when Vaan was still a child. Turns out I was wrong, so I never saw Genesis.

(3) I never knew Wild Flowers was even a thing. It's a good song though, not as nostalgic, but not bad. I always find it funny when I'm watching the localized version of an anime for years, and then I find out the Japanese version was something completely different.

The few things I never got about this series:

• Was there every any other connection between Chaotic Century and New Century Zero besides the Zoids themselves? Were these actually the same planet/timeline? For some reason I'd always thought it was like Gundam and New Century Zero was just a separate timeline.
• How did the pilots get into the mechs? New Century Zero is the only one I remember having any sort of loading dock. I mean I assume the Zoids would just lower their heads but I don't remember them ever showing this.

And the things I always wanted to see but never did:

• That girl in the sniper/bull/toros mech actually win a fight.
• Vaan in the Shield Liger vs Bit in the Blade Liger
  • Same with the The Lancer's from CC and NCZ - the guys with the wolf/fox Zoidst. They were my generic definition of "cool" back then and I was always disappointed that they'd never meet.

edited 14th Dec '17 5:54:02 PM by Soble

Well, I can't quite give you the exact fights you're looking for, but there's this thing I found on youtube that will give you something. Some kind of weird PV of the New Century cast (with Vega as a part of the team) taking on the Chaotic Century/Guardian Force Cast (with Raven and Reese being oddly chummy with them) in a Zoids battle.

Here's Brad vs Irvine, but now Command Wolfs for either of them: Brad has the Shadow Fox, while Irvine pilots the Lightning Saix, Zoids they both earned near the end of their respective series.

And here's Bit vs Van, but once again, not exactly how you'd like it: both are piloting their respective voids (the Zero, in it's Jager formation and the Blade Liger). I haven't watched this one fully, so I got no idea if Bit keeps the Jager through the entire battle.

And here's the entire thing. It's also got Thomas vs Leena in her Gun Sniper, and Raven vs Vega.

Not sure who did this, but I might fully check it out myself one day.

I think the difference is that in CC, Zoids are built for war. In NC, they're built for competition.

There are direct connections between Chaotic Century and New Century, yes. Most notably, the charged particle cannon that the Backdraft Group uses to shoot at the judge satellites at the end of New Century is the Deathstinger's tail assembly, and the final battle of the Royal Cup takes place atop the Ultrasaurus from the final battle of Chaotic Century (gravity cannon still attached).

There are also other, smaller references — Moonbay's Gustav shows up at one point, for instance (complete with the replacement armor panel and the rocket boosters). I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I remember off the top of my head. It's also implied (but never directly stated) that the Liger Zero and Berserk Fury are actually Zeke and Shadow permanently fused with the Blade Liger and Geno Breaker, respectively.

edited 14th Dec '17 9:22:51 AM by NativeJovian

I think when I was young I made the connection that the Shield Liger that Van finds in the first episode of CC is the same Shield Liger that used to belong to the Blitz team in the first episode XD Though idk which comes first.

Chaotic Century comes first, so there's no way that Shield Liger could be Leon's.

You know, maybe I'll give Fuzors a look after I'm done with Genesis. I know there's apparently not much good about it, but I might as well go through the entire franchise.

By the way, how come there are no subbed eps of Chaotic Century / Guardian Force, New Century, or even Fuzors? Seems like those three only have dubs online.

Likely because the dubbed versions were the only ones available in the US, and no one has bothered to get the original Japanese versions and sub them when the dubbed version is much easier to find.

I guess that makes sense. It's just...there was a time when someone would have tried. It's been how many years now, and only Genesis is subbed, and that's because it's literally the only series that never got a dub.

Double post.

I seem to have actually committed myself to watching Genesis. Not sure why.

Also catching eps of Chaotic Century on youtube.

...I might just go all in and catch what I can of Furors. Even less sure about that than Genesis, but what the hell. Rob's thresh-hold for pain is monumental.

Still morbidly curious as to how the Murasame Blade of the Murasame Liger stands up to the laser blades of a Blade Liger...or any laser blades period.

Still watching both Genesis and Chaotic Century (now into the Guardian Force half).

Gotta say...how Van beat the Deathsaurer was bullshit of the highest calibre. Stuff like this makes me wish that when the heroes tried it, they just died horribly, for no other reason than pure spite.

Meh. What can you do?

In Genesis, we've finally seen the Hayate Liger. Honestly, while I like the Murasame (though I'm not sure why as it has an awful run animation compare to my boy the Liger Zero or even the Blade Liger), I was never really a fan of the Hayate or Mugen. Kinda wish they were left out, but again, what can you do?

o_o

Fans are amazing.

edited 24th Dec '17 6:07:20 PM by Soble

Wait, how did Van beat the Deathsaurer again? I don't remember that particular bit.

The first time, or the second time?

Cause the first time, he just jumped at it with the shield on and the blades pointed forward, and I think that nullified the charged particle canon.

The second time, he was fired out of the Gravity Canon...and that's about all I know, but I assume it was similar to that first time, only on steroids.

Edit: As I continue to watch Genesis, it comes to my attention that the Rainbow Jerk is an odd flying Zoid.

First, there's that name. Nobody is ever taking that bird Seriously.

Second, it seems to act like an actual bird, with the flapping of wings and everything, as opposed to all other flying Zoids that fly via The Magnesser system (barring the Raynos apparently).

Also, I just watched the episode of Chaotic Century / Guardian Force that was my first ever. The one with Rudolph's fiance. This was my first introduction to the characters...and Thomas didn't come out of it very well considering he got a Charged Particle Canon to the face.

I caught the next ep after this too where Moonbay comes back. And soon, I'll be back in uncharted territory.

edited 27th Dec '17 6:20:37 PM by HandsomeRob

I meant the first time, since that's presumably what you were referring to. I definitely remember the second time, which was hilariously nonchalant and over the top at the same time.

Fiona is preparing to sacrifice all zoids everywhere (and maybe herself in the process? I don't remember) by destroying Zoid Eve in order to shut down the True Deathsaurer. Van's like "nah, I'll just kill it by launching myself out of a cannon". And then while Fiona's like "wait what", Van just... does it. And it's awesome.

Actually, regarding the first round against the Deathsaurer, didn't they gimp its charged particle cannon by jamming the intake fan on its back first? I think I remember the two Storm Sworder pilots doing that at some point, but I don't remember when in the battle it happened.

They did, but just before Van was able to launch his attack, the Deathsaurer was able to unjam its intake, so when Van launched the attack, he was tanking a full powered blast.

I think there was some sort of mumbo-jumbo about the particle energy from the Shield Liger's blades nullifying the energy of the cannon.

Pretty much. they tried to use the same trick against Raven's Genosaurer when he came back, but Raven just added the canons on his back to the equation.

Oh, and now he's got himself a Genobreaker. I once visited a forum where many referred to it as a nuclear rooster.

...I kinda see it.

The Geno Breaker is of course stronger than the Genosaurer but I missed how the Genosaurer used its CPC. The whole Zoid turned into the gun and it looked awesome.

I love CC/GF, GF especially since I think it's perfect from start to finish while CC has a really rough opening. The soundtrack is also just so unbelievably good for the anime, much better than NCZ's.

Why is this amazing OST in this stupid show about robots? I don't even consider Zoids a guilty pleasure but it...it works in spite of itself almost. I could criticize it for days but I love it so much.

Hiltz was a fun villain. Also helped he had by far the best voice in the English dub.

So more of Genesis and CC / Guardian Force:

• Kotona is a ninja;

• Hiltz is the smuggest piece of crap in existence. I mean, his every scene is him standing at a distance with a know it all smile on his face. I want to see it punched into mush.

Also, Death Stinger too stronk. Plz nerf.

I fuckin' LOVE Hiltz and the Death Stinger. In his first few appearances there's some shit that goes down and our heroes win but he just stands there going "That was interesting" in the most self-satisfied and unconcerned tone ever. He doesn't give a single fuck.

And the Death Stinger is so OP, it's great.

Hey Rob, did you play Fallout:New Vegas? I hear none of these dub voice in almost anything else nowadays but then I randomly heard Prozen as a character or two in New Vegas and it was so weird. It took me a long time to figure out where I knew this voice from.

edited 1st Jan '18 8:50:16 PM by Nikkolas

Speaking of Hiltz, in the japanese dub, he is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai. Yeah, Sakurai did Hiltz before he did Naruto's Sasori.

Even more amusing, Hiltz's voice also did Bit Cloud. Talk about a huge Heel–Face Turn for Sakurai...

edited 2nd Jan '18 10:35:40 AM by AerialQueen

Just finished CC / Guardian Force.

Hiltz, you never stood a chance.

Van's plan was so stupid it had no chance of failing. Even the Deathsaurer can't stand up to Shonen hero bullshit.

And hey everybody, Raven and Reese get a happy ending...now what about all the people they both murdered huh? Where's their happy ending?

Fucking bullshit man.

Beyond that, this was fun. I still prefer Zero, but that' probably due to it being the first Zoids series I really watched (though I'd seen some eps of Chaotic Century before hand, as I've mentioned before).

Nah, I saw Chaotic Century first and I still think New Century is better. The whole "mecha bloodsport" thing worked better than trying to have an actual dramatic war story, plus the action was generally higher quality.