If you remember Zoids Battle Legends on Gamecube, you’re a real one

"Zoids titular robots aren't built by engineers or scientists, no they're actually the native inhabitants of the planet and are actually living machines of war." Ah ok, so this is the future Horizon universe after Hephaestus escapes to another planet.

New Century was the Zoids I was familiar with as it was on TV here - and I'm pretty nostalgic over it - while I got into Chaotic Century years later. Still, I was pleasantly surprised with Chaotic Century. It really feels like a good mid-90's JRPG. Your Grandias, Lunars, or Wild ARMseses. While It more or less follows the conventions you'd expect, it does it pretty well and throws in enough unique elements to be memorable.

I remember as a kid, Zoids kits being like... used to battle my various Gunpla in plotlines I made up to tie into the UC. There was a praying mantis mech that I remember being my favorite, I thought of it as the Zaku II of Zoids despite knowing very very little of the actual series.

New Century got me into this Franchise, but Chaotic Century deepened my love for this franchise.

Sadly New Century Zero is more of the standard kids anime you thought Chaotic Century would be.

Zoids let's go 🔥🔥 that used to be my jam growing up 😂 strike Lazer claw!!

I remember waking up at 6 in the morning to catch the bus to school, popping in a blank VHS, and recording an episode of Chaotic Century to watch when I got home. This show was underrated and should have been on the afternoon block with New Century.

One of my fondest childhood shows! Btw you should do a video on Eureka Seven and it’s numerous strange alternate universe movies… as one of the first fully digital shows Bones did, it still looks good to this day

Hell yeah, used to watch this at like 6:30 am before the bus came

The theme song for the English dub was one of the best parts of the show

While I liked New Century better, Chaotic Century was still fun. Though my favorite but, by far, was the joke where Moonbeam and Fiona had to sneak across a bridge and all she could say was "I have to get to my sister's wedding" in various emotional tones.

There was a lot great toy and model lines that got started in 1984. Transformers, Zoids, and Battletech all turned 40 this year.

Luckily for us in Costa Rica, the Latin American Spanish version dubbed done in Mexico, was made from the original Japanese script, as is most of the anime we get on Latin America. In I'd say 70% to 80% of the anime we get is dubbed from the original Japanese script, that was the case with Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball /Z/GT/Super, Ranma 1/2, Captain Harlock, Ulises 31, Sakura Card Captor, Sailor Moon, Samurai Warriors (Ronin Warriors), Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, to name some. The shows that we did get the Spanish dubbed made from the already adapted US version were series like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Duel Masters, Voltron, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Robotech, Macron 1, 1987 Nippon Animation's Little Women, to name a few.

I had the big silver gorilla Zoid as a kid. Someone bought it and it sat around the house for ages until I opened it and put it together on my own. It was pretty cool.

Leena from New Century was a first crush for me. Loved me a spirited redheaded anime girl

I used to watch Zoids before school on Sky 1. God I feel.old.

God I missed this show. I'm putting a date on my age - but I was able to watch it in its original run in the 90s. And finished it just before i went to Animation School. in the late 2000s I worked for (now closed) Xebec Animation Studio while I was living in Tokyo and I was working directly under the 3D Lead of this show. Here's a bit of trivia: Zoids was one of Xebec's first shows to incorporate the 3D Graphics, using the back then hot software called Softimage(you can even see it mentioned in the end credits), a competitor to Maya. The studio was so enamored by the tech, that they incorporated it into the story. Ambient, Specular, Shadow - the names of the 3 villain Organoids - got their names from 3 of the 4 important parts of a 3D Material Shader, (the fourth one being Diffuse) . I was big into Zoids as an 80s kid. It's sad how far the IP has fallen, especially current Zoids is just terrible. This could have been anime Horizon levels good had they played their cards right. BTW where can we legally watch this now? is there a streaming platform that has it?

Actually, zoids are created by scientists, *wild* zoids are naturally occurring, but (and this is fairly morbid) they harvest the wild zoid's core and place it into the machines the scientists make to give them their sentience.

This was one of the first anime shows I loved. Used to wake up extra early to catch it before school

The Guyzac looks a lot like the Robot Wars robotic scorpion, just with better pincers and no stupid commuter bus on top.

I do not know why there aren't more likes... it's ZOIDS. Thank you!!!

I remember watching Zoids as a kid and had several zoid toys as well with a red blade liger being my favourite.

Zoids was a show I remember fondly but almost forgot; however, it is what got to building my first model at age eleven.

The Van pronunciation hurts, but I once called Double Zeta Gundam ‘Zee Zee’ Gundam so I can’t really talk 😅 Hope you enjoy Guardian Force and give New Century a crack, it’s short but bloody sweet

I've completely forgotten about Zoids. I used to LOVE this show!

Oh, something to talk about re: Shield Liger! sure, it is pulling an A-rank mecha rigt off the bat, but to put it in Gundam terms: It is more the equivalent of a GM Sniper or a GM Kai, a commander unit, not a unique prototype like the Gundam.

Hell yea Zoids! Between this and the weird animal transformer series, the late 90s to early 00s had all the shape shifting machine animals a boy could ever hope for, great pick man!

Ah, the Zoids series. Not long after the Gundam shows, I remember watching this, Guardian force and New Century. And rather sad a bit as they didn't really seem to take off. And this nearly faded into memory had it not been the occasional mention or model.

Hearing the Zoids Battle Legands music in the background awakened so many core memories!!!

thank you for being a blessing to everyone, your work ethic and enthusiasm is marvelous ❤

Awesome video dude! Really enjoyed this show as a kid as well and have nothing but high praise for it!

Love zoids Saw zoids zero first then discover the amazing chaotic century thanks for this video

You should do a video based on what is known as the Battle Story. It's even more Nauanced than what the show actually showed and really goes into the history of the world that Zoids comes from.

New Centry and Chaotic Centry are directly responsible for turning me into a mecha fanatic as a kid. I was super into nature and construction vehicles, so the idea of giant robot animals battling was unfathomabley cool. It's a travesty that the other seasons failed to capture the magic and mystery of the original two seasons.

Well this vid got me to sub 😊. Zoids is the reason i gor into plamo as a kid, and the og line dying out crushed my kid heart, but as an adult it made transitioning to gunpla so much easier. I hope to see your guardian force soon and maybe you can do a vid on why zoids kinda died off over time, i always wondered why

Zoids lets gooooo!

Hey, another Retcon video on a show I haven't seen! Always a nice surprise.

Zoids are awesome and each anime is very unique

The Armored Core music was a nice touch 😊

the shows writing is absolutely some xenogears final fantasy just full on squaresoft era writing and it really really shows how influential squaresoft games from the 80s/90s were in anime at the time writing wise the show feels so much like it could be a sick jrpg from that era w all the good tropes and vibes of that time encapsulated so nicely in a really solid show and the follow up new century is the same zoids is one of those really awesome shows that has held up pretty well w its cg writing and animation and its fan following gets overshadowed alot by gundam but it def stands out from other mecha ips at least for chaotic and new century where the newer zoids shows have just become well digimon almost or start leaning into the absurdity of yugioh level writing

This was a great video! helped me clean my room lol but also got me familiar with a show that i only seen handful of episodes of WAY back in the day

Zoids is my comfort mecha series next to Gundam franchise and Blade Liger is iconic just like the RX78-2 Gundam.

Great video, thanks!

I been waiting for this one

Ahhh Moonbay in a red dress. Lil me loved Zoids even more lol. Miss this show.

love your content

Thanks for covering this show! It'd be cool to see you react to Zoids New Century and Zoids Genesis as well. They're both very different shows, which keeps things pretty interesting.

Playing the Zoids Legacy/Saga music at the start too. SOOO awesome! If you've only ever played the one released in North America, it was the second game of a Trilogy their are 3 others released in Japan only with one being made for the DS that more or less complies the previous 3 games. Good times!

Hope you get to New Century which was my personal zoids. Also hoping for thr Transformers Armada trilogy, Code Geauss, and Eureka 7.

Can confirm, Stinger is just as psycho in the dub. Even though I miss the cut scenes I actually prefer the dub, I just find it to be one of the rare instances where the English voice work feels superior.

Yea that Soundtrack was really good... really hits nostalgia

Zoids Wild has more of the Pokémon kid show vibes if you’re looking for that

Absolutely love this series. Great review. I wish they’d do a bluray release for it.

“Vaughn Flyheight”💀

Yesss this is my jam!!

Zoids? Heck yes! I only caught this one when I had to wake up super early, but I was super into the sequel show that was more of a tournament battle style show that was on after school.

THANK YOU

It wasn't until 7 minutes in that I realized you call Van Vaughn.

ZOIDS LETS GO!!!! But ya, not being familiar with the property isn't surprising, particularly because Zoids doesn't exactly have a consistent timeline. Chaotic Century could lead into New Century but its not like they're really linked at all, and then Fuzors does its own thing. The games are a hodgepodge of the timelines and the whole thing is this weird mess. Its a shame too cuz it could easily have been one of the big Mecha properties off the back of the great designs. Edit: Dub watcher here, Stinger was nuts there too.

Great show

Great video! Is that Zoids Legacy soundtrack in the background? Zoids was my favorite as a kid. Can't wait for Guardian Force to be covered. And hopefully New Century Zero and Genesis too :)

The first zoid series i seen was the one with the white liger and then i seen this one. Later on i remember watching a zoid series when they fusing together (i think).

Leaving a like and a comment. Will be back for a watch later!

I'll take the live review, wasn't going to ask for ibo until that was on the table

Thinking of Zoids as the place holder before DBZ hits home for me on so many levels

I love zoids chaotic century.. watched it a lot during high school

Fond memories unlocked

one of my favorite growing up! i wish the kits were more affordable tho haha

There was a very fun Gamecube/PS2 game as well.

Zoids is one of the more "kid show" animes that had more mature like themes & darker tones. Also after Zoids I really would love to see Code Geass & Full Metal Panic covered

I'll never understand why it's model kits so expensive

Awesome, although every time I hear the name as "Fiona", a part of my soul is painfully chipped away... Loved the anime at the time... I would classify it almost as a kid-friendly version of a military mecha

🎉 chaotic has to be my favorite

Now I wanna buy a Zoid again

Century zero was my personal favorite

I hope you eventually do New Century as well!

You forgot the related toy line, Starriors, that was called Zoids: R.A.T.S. (Robot Anti-Terror Squad) by Tomy in some regions

I'm gona bet a lot of people who voted in the poll though this would be the other Zoids anime they remember.

One of those series, you expect to be a simple kids show with Good and Evil battling it out. I mean the bad guys are "The Empire". Surprisingly, the show doesn't just treat all Imperials as pure evil, as we meet good Imperials even early on. It's not on the level of Gundam in that regard, but it still went well above and beyond what you would expect. Also, the Zoids are pretty cool.

Sephiroth look a like = evil What a way to make a point hehehe

Theres a 1990 movie called Spaced Invaders and there's a seen with a Zoid sitting on a table. Good movie you should watch some time. Free to watch on KZfaq

Fun fact Van's liger has a name Caesar and in the Manga becomes a liger zero and eventually becomes a variant called Liger Zero Caeser the king.

New Century Zero and Chaotic Century are S tier and in my opinion are peak Zoids anime. Guardian Force is ok and we don't talk about.........Fuzors gag.

Digimon World music also, awesome. Almost sure is Gear Savanah theme.

AN interesting thing about Chaotic Century, the first "Superweapon" you see is working for the good guys: The Gojulas.

I remember back in middle school waking up early and watching this before I got on the bus. I got to school in the morning hype af. Also even though in America we didn't get the Wild Flowers opening it always played when it mattered

Never watched Zoids. Too much of a Gundam zelot in my younger years. Your retrospective makes me regret that... good job brother.

watching while listening to Wild Flower instrumental

I never really watched the show, but I remember playing some like Xbox 360 zoids game that was like a tactics came that was a ton of fun

New century and liger zero was my intro into zoids. Chaotic centry came after and i stopped there.

37:32 Nice use of playonline music in the background lol. Long live final fantasy 11.

WE HAVE THE SAME IDEA there is a Store here with a Gojulas the Ogre When I visit the Store I always touch it for Good Luck

I liked the crab zoid in the original series. That's about it. This show, like many on toonami, came too late for me, I was already an adult and couldn't stand watching it. However, that tanky crab with thw massive miniguns in it's claws was cool.

I loved this show and new century when I was a kid. It was odd that they played new century first on tv. I also had a ton of the toys from both shows.

Seems like a decent show. I remember having Zoids Legacy for Gameboy Advanced. Just a shame my only memory is playing the early game over and over because saving never worked for whatever reason.

Dubstalgia is so real

Before the show, Red Raptors were melee only in the little storybooks that came with model kits.

The kits package have a different story calles 'Battle Story' it mentions a lot of the characters and the events from the anime. Its basically a different story will be amaxingof they animate that. BTW.. in the 80s American version of Godzilla there ia a short scene qhere a kid is playing with a Gojulas

Oh Phiona, my first waifu.