Brachios 012 Brachiosaurus Type Zoids Wind-Up Toy Kit Item No.: No. ???? Manufacturer: Tomy Includes: Stickers, 1 pilot Action Feature: Walks, opening cannon doors, articulated cannon Retail: 800 Yen Availability: 1999 Other: Guylos Empire
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I saw the original release of this late-1980s Zoids kit in a Japanese catalog, and always wanted one. Brachios was reissued at the end of the 1990s, in similar (but different) colors and new (worse) stickers. I'm just not overly keen on the clear stickers Tomy wound up going with as time went on, as they required more trimming and just weren't as cool as the foil ones we got in earlier lines. The kit, though, is pretty much the same toy. More kits were distributed globally at surprisingly low prices, so I was pretty happy buying reissues of impossible-to-find overseas releases for cheap. (HLJ was great.)

This wasn't the first Zoids sauropod - it was at least the third after Bigasauru/Great Zrk and Zatton/Brox. It's colored similarly to the original Japanese Zatton kit, and a bit different from the original Brachios.

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For this release, the red is a little bit brighter and the silver is a bit more gray. Unless you see a comparison photo, you probably won't see a significant difference from the original release. He has a clear red jewel topping his skull, a red hatch for the driver, and matching red caps on the sides of the knees. The clear red doesn't always pop against the red body, but it does contrast nicely against the silvery gray armor. As with most kits, it's unpainted - unless you paint it. All deco comes from the decals, which say things like EZ-012 (Empire Zoid, #12) or "CAUTION." It's a military unit, after all.

It's been over 25 years since I got it, but I remember it being easy to assemble. I was really delighted by the split-open hatch, because you can pose the cannon and turn it around. It's not geared to the walking mechanism, so it's easy to display however you want - much like Zatton/Brox and the slide-forward chest guns.

The stickers were cut well and applied easily, or so is my memory. All of the parts move nicely, with the wings and legs propelling it Sculpting is pretty great, but you can see the design aesthetic change from some of the simpler, earlier kits. This was a late 1980s design, where things generally got pointier with deeper cuts and more vents or v-shapes in Transformers and other similar toy lines. I wouldn't say this one was "extreme" yet, but you can see the departure from previous kits with the backs of the legs. Exaggerated teeth make this stand out from some of the earlier wind-up kits, too, particularly for a robot herbivore.

The tiny blue pilot drops right in the body - not the head - which is something of a departure for most kits from this era. As a kid I always thought a robot dinosaur would be driven from inside the body, but that's mostly because of where you had the most room. Aside from the cannon, pretty much everything else moves with the motor. You don't need to pose much of anything, you just wind it up and let it march across the table.

If you want to upgrade this kit, there are a few hardpoints where you can attach blasters from other kits or upgrade packs. The chest has a couple of blasters on it, plus what looks sort of like a deflector dish. I'm sure they all have specific in-universe functions but I didn't save the box. Hasbro's American packaging did not specify if they had any particular fantasy function, but hey - we can pretend.

You can get an assembled late-1990s or early 2000s Brachios fairly cheaply on eBay. Boxed US Hasbro samples are pretty inexpensive. $40 may feel like a lot for a 7-inch tall walking dinosaur, but it's pretty old. It's been discontinued for a while. Get one if the price is $30 or less, especially if it's unassembled. These things are fun to put together, but it's not as ridiculously impressive (or expensive) as the Ultra Saurus kits, which are getting new (and seemingly different) production in the very near future. But those are closer to $300, so maybe go with what's cheap.

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
Day 3,129: Tomy Zoids Brachios 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
Day 3,129: Tomy Zoids Brachios Figure Kit

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