Armored Gator RMZ-005 Crocodile-Type Techno-Zoids Wind-Up Toy Kit Item No.: Asst. ???? No. 64802 Manufacturer: Kenner Includes: Stickers, 3 pilots Action Feature: Walks Retail: $7.99 Availability: ca. 1994 Other: American Republic
PREVIOUS	RSS	NEXT

Thanks to the wild surge of popularity from BanDai's Power Rangers, we got one last big shot of Zoids in the 20th century (before Hasbro gave it a shot a few years later.) Kenner's Armored Gator is one of many recolors of Barigator. I still wish I had the original Japanese kit, but I remember rushing out to the store to find any of these kits when the rumor was going around that Kenner was bringing them back. The last Robo Strux Chompz kits were gone by 1987, and a few random Japanese imports showed up at Hobby Bench. Any time something old you thought was gone forever comes back is pretty exciting! Or at least, it was, before things stuck around forever.

Along with Big Bad Beetle Borgs, Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, VR Troopers, Masked Rider, The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, and even Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, there were a lot of Super Sentai-influenced toys on the market. Techno-Zoids came and went pretty fast, but they stuck around at better (worse) Kay-Bee toy stores' clearance racks for years, which was handy for me down the road. But back in 1994, I got this guy, because why wouldn't you want to build your very own wind-up toy alligator?

Click here to check availability at eBay.

Kenner's

This guy measures around measures about 9-inches long, and cast in some bizarrely selected colors. Many of the Helic Republic kits were gray or black, some are blue and white with gold. But not this guy - Kenner said "how about gold with an orange base?" And clearly people said "Great idea!" This wasn't too far out of line with how some Transformers of that era looked, and G.I. Joe was also dabbling with animal prints and neon colors in the first half of the 1990s. I wouldn't say it's inspired, but it really stands out and even in a cabinet of random kits I find this to be the one to grab me first.

The stickers don't seem to be from a specific existing croc, and are a mix of die-cut labels that fit and some that have the dreaded clear overage. It's still a nice kit, and the stickers more or less fit where I put them without a fight. This isn't a complex build, thanks in part to the blasters not being geared. The small wind-up motor powers the head, tail, and legs, causing the jaw to open while he marches along your nearest flat surface. The cannons on the shoulders move with the legs, but the rocket launchers near the tail only move when you move them. They're also on 3mm pegs, so you might be able to use them with other toys with similarly sized pegs.

This was also one of the last lines with chrome pilot figures. The 2000-ish Hasbro relaunch opted to just mold them in color. (There were a few exceptions.) This set has a gold driver, but he's pretty pale gold. It's a great design and you've probably seen (or lost) similar driver figures in your old Starriors or Z-Knights toys.

I recommend getting some form of this toy, particularly if you've never experienced Zoids. Assembled kits are pretty cheap on eBay, and they have the benefit of being tested. Not all old wind-up motors work, even ones from mint-in-box samples can sometimes be dead on arrival. If you want the experience of building the model, Hasbro's US release of the Barigator is currently around $35-$45 sealed. While not exactly cheap, it's not a terrible price for a 2002 remake of a 1983 toy that has been reissued several times. While the colors and stickers are different, Tomy (and Kenner, and Hasbro) were smart and kept cycling these toys in and out of the American market for over 20 years. The same molds kept making a comeback, along with some new ones, for several generations of children.

Some kids didn't appreciate them, while others went out of their way to keep them out of harm's way and still have them all in pristine condition, plus or minus a bum motor. I love these things, and would just delight in seeing the old 1980s molds trotted out again as low-priced STEM toys in the 21st century. Takara-Tomy re-released several of these in the last decade, but now seems focused on newer, fancier, improved versions of the olds molds. They're still awesome, but there's something to be said about the charm, simplicity, and low price of a simple kit you put together with a white-knobbed wind-up motor.

Additional Images

See more Kenner figures in Figure of the Day:
Day 98: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Noctorro Action Figure
Day 99: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Air Hammer Action Figure
Day 100: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Torca Action Figure
Day 101: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Terragator Action Figure
Day 102: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Quickstrike Action Figure
Day 114: Kenner Total Justice Mail-In Superman Action Figure
Day 133: Kenner Q*Bert Wind-Up Q*Bert Action Figure
Day 138: Kenner Jurassic Park Chaos Effect Compstegnathus Action Figure
Day 172: Kenner Jurassic Park The Lost World Chasmosaurus Action Figure
Day 195: Kenner ALIENS Arachnid Alien Action Figure
Day 211: Kenner Predator Cracked Tusk Predator Action Figure
Day 234: Kenner ALIENS Scorpion Alien Action Figure
Day 250: Kenner ALIENS Panther Alien Action Figure
Day 256: Kenner ALIENS Gorilla Alien Action Figure
Day 261: Kenner ALIENS Bull Alien Action Figure
Day 285: Kenner ALIENS Hive Wars Warrior Predator
Day 317: Kenner ALIENS vs. Predator 10-Inch Alien Action Figure
Day 346: Kenner Jurassic Park Ian Malcolm Action Figure
Day 356: Kenner Action Masters Predator
Day 359: Kenner ALIENS Hive Wars Acid Alien Action Figure
Day 365: Kenner ALIENS Vasquez Action Figure
Day 366: Kenner Jurassic Park Ellie Sattler Action Figure
Day 381: Kenner ALIENS Action Masters Ripley
Day 397: Kenner ALIENS Mantis Alien
Day 398: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Clayface
Day 408: Kenner Legends of Batman Future Batman
Day 421: Kenner Bone Age Crag the Clubber Action Figure
Day 437: Kenner SilverHawks Copper Kidd Action Figure
Day 441: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Harley Quinn
Day 443: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Machine Gun Joker
Day 444: Kenner Batman: The Animated Movie Mask of the Phantasm Phantasm
Day 446: Kenner Legends of Batman Knightquest Batman
Day 457: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Ra's Al Ghul
Day 533: Kenner Jurassic Park Chaos Effect Amargospinus
Day 848: Kenner Transformers Beast Wars Terrorsaur
Day 903: Kenner Transformers Beast Wars Rattrap
Day 956: Kenner Transformers Beast Wars Claw Jaw
Day 1,140: Kenner M.A.S.K. T-Bob with Scott Trakker Action Figure
Day 1,180: Kenner Jurassic Park Alan Grant Action Figure
Day 1,198: Kenner Jurassic Park Tim Murphy Action Figure
Day 1,212: Kenner Jurassic Park Chaos Effect Ian Malcolm Action Figure
Day 1,248: Kenner M.A.S.K. Condor with Brad Turner Action Figure
Day 1,445: Kenner Transformers Beast Wars Cybershark
Day 1,452: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Fuzors Injector
Day 1,486: Kenner Beast Wars Transformers Spittor
Day 2,179: Kenner Aliens Wild Boar Alien Action Figure
Day 2,190: Kenner Batman: The Dark Knight Collection Tec-Shield Batman Action Figure
Day 2,199: Kenner Batman Returns Penguin Commandos Action Figures
Day 2,217: Kenner Batman: The Dark Knight Collection Iron Winch Batman Action Figure
Day 2,622: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Killer Croc Action Figure
Day 2,645: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series The Riddler Action Figure
Day 2,813: Kenner The Adventures of Batman and Robin Pogo Stick Joker
Day 2,833: Kenner Batman: The Dark Knight Collection Sky Escape Joker
Day 2,863: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Scarecrow
Day 2,878: Kenner The New Batman Adventures Wildcard Joker
Day 2,932: Hasbro Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Ecto-Glow Heroes Collector's Set Egon Spengler Action Figure
Day 2,968: Kenner Batman Returns The Penguin Action Figure
Day 3,013: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Catwoman
Day 3,023: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series Bane
Day 3,068: Hasbro Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Ecto-Glow Heroes Collector's Set Peter Venkman Action Figure
Day 3,078: Kenner Batman: The Animated Series The Joker Action Figure
Day 3,114: Kenner Zoids Armored Gator Figure Kit

See more Zoids, Robostrux, and Techno-Zoids in Figure of the Day:
Day 170: Tomy Zoids Wardick
Day 263: Tomy Zoids Gorgodos Action Figure
Day 364: Tomy Robostrux Brutox Figure Kit
Day 382: Tomy Robostrux Slithor Figure Kit
Day 406: Tomy Zoids Twinhorn Action Figure
Day 484: Tomy Robostrux Brox Figure Kit
Day 486: Tomy Zoids 24 Scale Neptune Figure Kit
Day 1,352: Tomy Robostrux Batlar Figure Kit
Day 1,422: Tomy Zoids Gator Figure Kit
Day 1,471: Takara-Tomy Zoids Masterpiece Shield Liger
Day 2,000: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-05 Gannontoise Figure Kit
Day 2,008: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-01 Wild Liger Figure Kit
Day 2,013: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-03 Kabtor Figure Kit
Day 2,017: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-04 Scorpear Figure Kit
Day 2,039: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-06 Gabrigator Figure Kit
Day 2,075: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-07 Kuwaga Figure Kit
Day 3,089: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-13 Gusock Figure Kit
Day 3,094: Takara-Tomy Zoids Wild ZW-14 Stegosage Figure Kit
Day 3,099: Tomy Zoids Sinker Figure Kit
Day 3,104: Hasbro Zoids Dark Horn Figure Kit
Day 3,109: Hasbro Zoids Molga Figure Kit
Day 3,114: Kenner Zoids Armored Gator Figure Kit

Featured Toy Video