Iguan Iguanodon Type Zoids Small Toy Kit Item No.: No, n/a Manufacturer: Tomy Includes: Stickers, chrome pilot Action Feature: Wind up motor scoots dino robot along Retail: ??? Availability: ca. 1986 Other: Zenevas Empire
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There's something about Japanese Tomy Zoids from the 1980s that is just kind of perfect. Iguan was something my dad brought back from Japan when I was a little kid, and it's a gem. It has that clamshell head we saw on a lot of Zenevas Empire kits, but it also was just a little bit better than the 1999 reissue. You see, the stickers were foil and properly cut. The clear stickers of the later reissues were generally unpleasant and required a steady hand, a sharp knife, and an unintentional blood sacrifice.

All you had to do with the earlier Zoids was to twist (or snip) parts from frame trees and then peel the perfectly cut stickers yourself. "But what about the challenge?" Look pal if you want me to slap you, I can do that. This thing is great, if a little silly, and feels like a warped, more whimsical cousin to American toys of that era like G.I. Joe. This is clearly a militarized weapon of some sort, but it's a dinosaur, so it's fun and cute.

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In the 1980s, the best toys often had sculpted detail when the lesser ones would rely on sticker detail. Sure, there are printed sticker symbols and "DANGER" warnings, but the Tomy artisans carved deep grooves and big vents to make these guys look a little more "real." Dinosaur robots aren't real as such, but they helped to give these guys a sense of scale when you're working with a silver and maroon robot for children that doesn't even reach five inches high.

Tomy loaded this guy up with six maroon cannons, a four-barreled hand blaster, and an extra hardpoint for expansion and customization. The earlier Japanese kits would often show suggestions for paint or parts, although I'm fairly confident most of those parts were never mass-produced for the brand. Maybe there was some WonderFest kit or MASER tank somebody borrowed.

The Iguanodon has "evolved" from a four-legged discovery, to a two-legged dinosaur, to more of an animal that now is thought to be able to walk on all fours or on two legs. This is from the two-legged era, which is where my dad's toys came from when he was young and how I think everybody saw these guys up until the release of Disney's Dinosaur. While armed to the teeth, Tomy left out the dinosaur's most distinctive weapon - the thumb spikes, which we as kids assume or were told would be for stabbin'. It does have a sort of a trap door over the tail, the purpose of which is some sort of booster. Provided yours isn't worn down from play, friction does a good job keeping it up. It doesn't actually make it walk faster.

This is more of a mid-1980s-style Zoids kit, without the white heads from the early days or the increasingly pointy kits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. If someone asked for a kit to start with, this would probably be the one I'd suggest to try. Tomy reissued it in very similar colors around 2000, and while I dislike the new stickers it's functionally the same kit. The vents and grooves all look just as good, but the gums in the head are blue rather than red like the original. Kotobukiya and others made new kits based on this design, so check the boxes or fine print. Original sealed box ones are still over $300 on eBay, and I don't see many reissues for sale.

This is a wonderful kit for its original prices around $10 or $15. I'm not seeing any under $100 right now. Zoids were incredibly easy to find on markdown around 2003 or 2004, but the line's cult following picked up thanks to the anime and, I assume, the never-ending mystique around cool Japanese toys. This guy has beams on his feet to keep him walking upright, and drags the tail to balance him out. It's very old-school, and now how scientists have later decided how these guys would walk. The dinosaurs, not the robot dinosaurs. As far as I know, the scientists are not working on that yet, and that's why their government funding was pulled.

If this kit gets reissued again, go get it. It's fun to put together wind-up toys. If the concept of robot dinosaurs is unappealing you best go to a toy site that won't look its nose down at you. I'm kind of amazed the very idea of pilotable dinosaur mechs as toys never became a permanent fixture of the global toy marketplace. I was driving around the other week and there's no shortage of dinosaur toys or movies with dinosaurs to sling at the kids. This sort of thing always struck me as a perfect toy and the kind of thing you should find in every store. Is it me? Am I so out of touch? No - it's the children who are wrong.

Additional Images

See more Tomy toys 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 3,099: Tomy Zoids Sinker Figure Kit
Day 3,119: Tomy Zoids Raynos Figure Kit
Day 3,124: Tomy Zoids Iguan 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
Day 3,119: Tomy Zoids Raynos Figure Kit
Day 3,124: Tomy Zoids Iguan Figure Kit

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