Rambling #18

A different kind of morning pages

When I was a kid, one of my first loves was a franchise called Zoids.

It was this animated cartoon and toy-line of a brand which featured mechatronic animal-like figures. The toy-line was a delight for my neurotic brain; I loved building these things and I would stage them in large battles as often they’d have some form of simple engine built into them where they would actually move. Although I do remember in the battles I’d pretend playing with them, I don’t think anybody actually died; in fact, I think when it got down to just two Zoids left to fight each other, I’d opt in to them resolving their conflict with a hug.

As with most things, I’ve revisited this series as an adult (although, admittedly, quite a few years ago). The toys are long gone, I believe sold at a garage sale when my Dad was moving out of his house. But the series persisted.

What I remember watching as a kid: a series of ancient civilizations, inexplicable mecha-monsters and powers used by nations to try and siege control or defend from invading brutalization. Many of the mechas were based around dinosaurs and some of the more popular animals out there — sharks, tigers, lions, buffalo, etc. In fact, I think there was an entire line of flying Zoids who were all, basically, pterodactyls with slightly different colors.

What Wikipedia reveals to me: Zoids as a franchise began in 1983, a whole ten years before I was born. The first show of it aired in 1999, where the general plot and story of the Zoids canon was restricted to little information/history cards within the toy sets known as “Battle Cards.” Eventually, from how I understand it, the story for the first series had basically been written within the various battle cards over 10-15 years, and as such, a show was spawned to animate these adventures.

There have been five series of the show at this point: Chaotic Century (the original, which is what I was most familiar with) in 1999, New Century (2001), Fuzors (2003 and cancelled about halfway through the series), Genesis (2005), and most recently Wilds (2018). New Century has the plot of good versus evil, empire versus republic that was so immensely popular through the turn-of-the-century as though Y2K was going to cleanse power-hungry gubernatorial structures and create utopic representational leadership that would result in a healthy world. New Century, Fuzors, and Genesis all have a vague plot of effectively: Zoids are now a sporting spectacle, except sometimes evil people sneak into these highly destructive semi-living weapons and use the sport as a cover for their nefariousness.

Well, I shouldn’t include Genesis in that bunch as Genesis has a stated plot description as: At a certain point in time, there was a great quake on Planet Zi. An enormous crack ran through the planet, stretching as far as the seabeds to the high mountains. Volcanoes erupted with fire, and the sky was covered in darkness. Many cities were destroyed as they were swallowed in large areas, sinking underwater. This was known as "God's Fury."

Before this large series of natural disasters, all civilizations were at their peak. All were destroyed by the disasters, and it was several thousand years before the inhabitants of Zi were able to re-establish themselves in any meaningful form. Survivors of the disasters gathered together and formed new civilizations; these groups searched for Zoids that are buried underground for human use. I haven’t seen Genesis, but I really, really like the premise that all civilizations were at their peak, got eradicated by natural disaster, and it took literally thousands of years for people to organize back into effective civilization. In 2005! Imagine if the creators of the show knew then what we are seeing now from climate destruction.

I have yet to see Wilds, too. A bit too recent for my blood. But the most notable description for it is that instead of Zoids having cockpits where they are piloted symbiotically, Zoids now have a mount and are ridden with a harness.

Honestly, the lore.

I promised you all ramblings. Here’s the spectrum of my ramblings: last night you got scholarship on eleventh century religious texts on love, tonight you get an update on where the 1983 franchise Zoids has gone in its 41 years of life.