Kit Review

Straight build

I forgot to take a size comparison shot with a cigarette pack. I'll add one soon! ^^;

Head and back section

The cockpit hatch opens up too, and there's an adorably tiny pilot figure inside.

Articulation of the neck structure and back blades

D Style Blade Liger - The back cover opens as well. Though unlike the HMM Zoids, the inner structure inside the cover doesn't

The back cover opens as well.
Though unlike the HMM Zoids, the inner structure inside the cover doesn't move.

The blades are detachable, and you can slightly adjust how far they extend out.

The neck has quite a wide range of up-and-down movement.

It can also rotate nearly 360 degrees.

Tail up-and-down articulation

Front-and-back leg articulation.
The middle joints don't move. ^^;

Running action pose

D Style Blade Liger - Cute little charming pose. (1/4)

D Style Blade Liger - Cute little charming pose. (2/4)

Cute little charming pose.

D Style Blade Liger - Pull the blades out, rotate them 90 degrees, and reattach to spread them out like wings. (1/5)

D Style Blade Liger - Pull the blades out, rotate them 90 degrees, and reattach to spread them out like wings. (2/5)

D Style Blade Liger - Pull the blades out, rotate them 90 degrees, and reattach to spread them out like wings. (3/5)

Pull the blades out, rotate them 90 degrees, and reattach to spread them out like wings.

With the gold-plated parts included exclusively with the Hobby Club Special limited edition.

D Style Blade Liger - Ooh, looking great~ (1/4)

D Style Blade Liger - Ooh, looking great~ (2/4)

Ooh, looking great~

D Style Blade Liger - Cute sitting-down pose (1/4)

D Style Blade Liger - Cute sitting-down pose (2/4)

Cute sitting-down pose

Grrrr~

D Style Blade Liger - It can also be placed on the Kotobukiya display stand. (1/3)

It can also be placed on the Kotobukiya display stand.

Together with the HMM Zoids Blade Liger.

Looks just like father and son..

Together with the D-Style Ingram.

Compared to other D-Style kits, it sits lower in height.

The full D-Style lineup so far!
So incredibly cute..^^ A different kind of charm from Bandai's SD line..

The Blade Liger from the Zoids series has been released as the 8th entry in the D-Style lineup. Unlike the robot-type SDs we've seen before, turning a Zoid into SD form feels like a pretty fresh and fun idea. ^^

As you can see from the photos, the design just oozes that signature D-Style cuteness. There's no partial painting applied at all, so the color combination differs quite a bit from the official scheme.. but if you set that aside, even as a straight build it has a nice little compact and pretty look to it. Being a Zoid, it has that low, wide-spread silhouette, which somehow makes it look even smaller — and even cuter because of it.

The legs are solid pieces so the middle joints don't move, but the head, tail, back cover, and blades all have articulation. The neck and ankle articulation in particular are quite good, which really helps with pulling off a variety of poses. Overall joint strength is solid enough that there's nothing that'll give you trouble from being too loose.

In particular, the D-Style Blade Liger got a special limited edition release from Hobby Club, the Korean distributor, which includes a gold-plated parts runner that was previously only available as an optional extra. It's a few thousand won more than the standard version, but getting those hard-to-find gold-plated option parts right in the box makes it a pretty attractive deal.

As expected from a Kotobukiya kit — and especially a D-Style one — the price is a bit steep relative to the contents and size, which is a shame.. but the absolutely insane cuteness once it's finished is more than enough to make you forget about the value-for-money question. If you love Zoids and you love cute kits, this one comes highly recommended. :-)

D Style Blade Liger | 2011. 8 | ¥1,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.