16bit.com Figure of the Day Review: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-14 Stegosage Figure Kit

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Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-14 Stegosage Figure Kit Takara-Tomy, 2018

Day #3,094: July 9, 2026

ZW-14 Stegosage Stegosaurus Type Zoids Wild Small Wind-Up Toy Kit Item No.: ??? Manufacturer: Takara-Tomy Includes: Stickers, pilot Action Feature: Walks, opens mouth, has saw-cutting spikes Retail: $23ish (3,600 yen) Availability: December 2018 Other: Dark Metal Empire
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The original US Zoids were not age-appropriate for me in the 1980s, but RoboStrux were. I got three, and really loved them. The line was dead in America quite quickly, but not in Japan - so my dad would bring me back a couple of kits on business like Gorgodos FOTD #263]. Getting a new Stegosaurus like Stegosage is pretty exciting. This one is - well, was - an entirely new model with a black skeleton and matching thagomizer accessorized with silver plates and green armor. He has red painted eyes set in his skull, and he can walk with 1 "AA" battery. Truly, the toy of champions.

This is a big guy, and he's roughly 13-inches from nose to tail. Compared to other toys of his era, he was a pretty good deal too - comparably tall Transformers in America were about $50 and they weren't even motorized. Due to being a little overwhelmed with new stuff, the kit sat in a box for a few years - and now seems as good of a time as any to open it.

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While most Zoids Wild kits have a clear, unpainted figure molded in a "jockey" position, this one has the pilot in a more traditional seated pose. Like the others, it's impossibly generic with no facial features. You do get shoes, pants, a helmet, and what I guess could be a figure you could paint. Hasbro's US releases of other kits had painted pilots, so I would say those were a bit better - but Stegosage was exclusive to Japan, so you're out of luck there. He sits on the dinosaur's neck, which I think took away a bit of the charm of the toy line. The old kits had little cockpits or specialized seating, this guy just kind of hangs out like a random dude on a horse or an elephant.

If you can get beyond that? It's a joy. It's such a big kit, even its relative simplicity won't bother me. The results are so good. After a little more than a half hour, you'll have built a pretty nifty chunky robot stegosaurs without having to trim any parts from frames. (I kind of miss that, since they labeled the parts better on frames.) A big motor body plugs into a second unit to bulk him up and add on some specialized mechanisms, specifically a unique back gimmick. which I had initially misinterpreted. As he walks, the lumbering beast opens and closes his mouth and sweeps his mighty tail. After a few steps you'll notice a sawing motion of his back plates, and the side ones eventually fold down and start a sawing motion while a newly-revealed center row does the same. It's actually really cool to see, and I assume kids the world over would have loved it as some sort of robotics/STEM toy. It's a pretty simple thing, but it's fun. As a kid Zoids always struck me as a "big kids" toy while Transformers were more "for all ages," since kids like Stegosage include careful placement of stickers and actual reading of instructions.

These guys start to feel a little more fragile when Takara-Tomy makes bigger ones, so be careful with this guy. There are actual moving parts here.

Those looking for realistic (or faux retro realistic) dinosaurs should look elsewhere. This is a more fantastical design that seems to be inspired from decades of mecha and sci-fi, with a longer, nastier head and an upright but not quite so stubby tail. The model holds it up rather than drags it along, with militaristic green armor to highlight the head, back, and limbs and orange twist-bolts (minus the twist) to hold it all together. I really miss this kind of toy, and I hope someone out there puts out robot model kits for the masses. Takara-Tomy has a lot of kits on the market today, most of which are articulated (not motorized) minus a few redeco/retool kits. As far as I can tell, Stegosage hasn't been reissued or tweaked so you're going to be paying a premium for one on eBay.

I like this one a lot. If you can get it at or under its original issue price, pay it. I'd even say double is a pretty good deal since it's a big beefy toy that is bigger and almost more fun than a figure that just stands there. You can flick a switch on top of his tail and he'll just start marching across the room - I miss that so much. There isn't a lot of heavy detail here, but there are hooks for upgrade kits if you just happened to pick any of those up. Sadly, I didn't, but I'm not disappointed - what we got out of the box is plenty good. If you ever get the chance to buy a Zoids kit with a battery-powered or wind-up motor, I highly recommend the experience. Especially this one. For a toy produced in 2018, it still embodies the best of what the line had to offer - minus the pilot figure. I really did prefer the smaller, chrome 1:72 scale pilots. I'm glad I ordered this guy and sat on it until I needed a kit to build - it was absolutely worth the very delayed gratification.

--Adam Pawlus

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