Tilly's Zoids

"It seems I chose my time well. The battlefield below is strewn with the bodies of Blue [Zoid] warriors. No-one remains to stand in my path. No-one but Mammoth! Let the traitor beware! Let him live in fear! For I am Redhorn the Terrible! I am remade, renewed! And my enemies shall be as dust beneath my feet."

Offsite photo: Should I poke this?

In-comic, Red Horn the Terrible was nasty, uncompromising, and ruthless, especially if he felt betrayed. (This may have explained the name, or one hopes that was the explanation.) And betrayed he was: Mammoth plotted to do him in and take leadership of the red Zoids. He was successful about the do him in half, but not in keeping leadership. Red Horn was rebuilt with added pointy horns by Scavenger, and returned to give Mammoth a good dramatic dismembering.

From a battle story perspective (as the OJR Horn is pretty much identical, box aside), Red Horn was also Zenebas' ride of choice for some time—same with his bodyguards. Considering his personality type, this is quite appropriate with the comic's Horn, and the design itself is in my opinion it's the single best expression of the Zenebas Empire's design aesthetics. Sabre Tiger does a pretty good job, but Horns are stompy, angry, and stubborn. They just feel Zenebas-y.

I had an NAR Horn already when I got my OER (though I later traded it to someone who needed a Horn variant); in fact, it was one of my first stompy Zoids, picked up at a KB Toys after its clear cousin really impressed me. You can blame Gambino, you can blame the comic. Whatever it was, a combination of old marketing, character attachment, and my love of Red and Dark Horns latched onto my brain and made me want this thing. Because I'm cheap and MIB examples aren't exactly common, I grabbed a built Red Horn The Terrible off a UK seller.

I always disassemble-clean-reassemble if I can, and in the process the tail clip and dying stickers gave out—those tail (and neck, in Gordos' case) clips are breakprone on just about anything that uses them, and one of the main problems with early Zoid designs. Superglue fixed the former easily, and the latter I did my best to save two Zenebas/red Zoid logos.

There's not a terrible amount of color difference between this guy and my cheap KB Toys NAR, but what difference there is really shows in the right light or with them side by side. The red is much richer and a bit more ruby, having a definite depth to it that makes the new Horn look almost washed-out. It's one of the best reds I've seen on a Zoid, with only the shinymetalflakeZenebasred on EL beating it out for coolness factor. The charcoal cockpits also look awesome with silver pilots in, though two of them have migrated elsewhere since my newer Zoids are shiny-starved. One of them went to a Redler that soon flung itself at Red Horn in an obvious attempt on its life, causing me to move the pilot to Gildy instead. Bastard.

Horns still are fun to build, even though I can do it from memory. They're a very pleasing combination of simplicity and engineering like many Zoids of that era, with the legs being especially creative in how they got such a good shape out of so few pieces. They don't take long to build, but it's a fun trip, and they're one of the most addictive variants I've ever encountered, on par with Command Wolf and Redler. They're similarly awesome in motion. Walk, chomp jaws, and spin a gun isn't much on top of what most battery-ops manage, but Red Horn is a master of the stompy, clomping along on the floor with a steady rhythm you can actually hear on most surfaces. It may be Liger-sized, but it carries itself like a far larger Zoid.

If you don't have some kind of Horn, get one. I really mean it. It doesn't matter which, though I'd avoid the Hasbro Dark Horn if you can't get a CP-03 too. If you're already a fan, picking up an OER Red Horn is worth your trouble should you see a fair price. The differences are subtle at a glance yet good, and, like lizards, Horns are always better in swarms. Just watch out for Zoids2, where "Red Horn" actually means "recolored Black Rhimos"—sadly, there is no Zoids2 Red Horn recolor.