This mecha belongs to the directly-controlled force of the Dark Continent Army. It packs two photo particle guns showing terrific power, and in melee it slices up enemies with the Hell Blazers on its back. With its excellent mobility, it's at its strongest in high-speed shock warfare. Furthermore, its body has stealth abilities, letting it also engage in intelligence gathering via espionage activities. With the use of its booster, it can run at its max speed of 350kph. Its total battle power is usually 30 ZEP.
Zeekdober, better romanized as Siegdober—and formerly mutated to Gac Dorbel by Excite—it's everyone's favorite baby-eatin' Dobermann-type Gradeup! And it's a mass rerelease, available to anyone willing to shell out ￥2500...which is nearly double the original price, but a hella lot cheaper than what old ones run for now. I traded for mine. Thanks, Hellhound09 :D.
Besides the very different box, there's a few important changes from the old-school version. One is the motor box: instead of being a build it yourself affair, it takes a cue from Hasbro's Battle Cougar and prebuilds the whole assembly...and unlike Battle Cougar, I couldn't get mine apart. Considering old Gradeups have a habit of gettin' loose or corroded in there, this is a bit ominous. The other is the guns. Old Siegdobers have little bits of cable molded into the tops of their particle guns and the bottom of the assgun. Previously, these were separate. Instead of removing them entirely (see: Gunbluster and Deadborder), they added very visible bits of solid plastic between them and the main guns. It's thick and not readily removed, and...well, it doesn't look so hot.
On the better hand, the plastic quality is quite good, especially for a newer release. You get a frame of grey guns-and-bits, a small frame of gloss yellow details (and separate eye/cockpit piece), a frame of bright satin red paws-and-such, and two frames of matte black, which make up most of the Dober's body and legs. I think I'd have liked to see the red as matte too, considering it's meant to be a sneaky bugger (radar-scattering paint, perhaps?), but the colors work.
Building comes easy. Since there's no motorbox-making funtime with metal bits and gears, there's nothing that's even remotely tricky. The chomping jaw works off a single bit of plastic (which moves thanks to some of the untouchable gears), the legs are made of a whopping three pieces each, and there's not a single frustratingly fiddly part. Worth mentioning for fellow detail geeks is the head. Most cockpits either leave the Zoid's ears behind when they open or bring them entirely with, but Siegdober's does neither. The big pointy radar ears lift up, pretty much splitting its face in two...while the lower parts of the ears remain on the lower half of the head. It's freaky, man. The whole head kinda is, with its huge amounts of angles and pointy. The teeth almost line up like dog teeth should when you press them together, though, which is a nice touch. (Small warning: The bits where you'll be removing the cockpit cover/ears piece from the frames are along the already-angled sides, so be careful trimming if you want to maintain the sleek.)
When you're done, the result...well, it's very Gradeup. Siegdober is too big and hefty to be a large windup (though its engineering is more like one), and too small to stand alongside later battery-op dogs and cats other than the Saix. The blades are anything but small for its size, though: they're almost as long as one bit of BF's eggbeater bits, and made of thicker not-squishy plastic. They're also the first Zoid blades to do the flick-out-to-side deal—hell, Siegdober and its Kingliger rival were the first regular release Zoids to pack blades at all. Much as I like the mobility of Blade Liger's, without the imaginary laser charge involved Siegdober's look more imposing, and you have to admire the guts of anyone crazy enough to drag them through an opponent at speed ;p.
Besides the pokey, the guns are posable, the back ones having joints at the body and gun itself and thus more mobility than I expected. If you lower the mounts too much, mind, they get in the way of the blades. The tailgun can be moved from the usual alert raised posture to near tucked-between-legs, which I was not expecting but appreciate. Tails are important to doggy body language, yanno.
Final random observation: Siegdober's stickers include lots of things with Zoidian numbers, a "Dark Force" logo with a dude and a lance...and something labeled "Letraset. In". Bwuh?
Movies, which are compressed H.264 style. Use VLC, Media Player Classic, SMPlayer, etc.
Motor running - With Gungy's pulse cannon - Walk, top view - Walk, side view
Like Gungy, Siegdober was never high on my must-have list. Now that I've built one, I rather like it. It's not an engineering marvel like its dragon buddy, but it has a very canine feel goin' on in its leg and body proportions without much for-walking fudging. It looks fast, too, like the Jäger, rather than just tellin' you it's fast in the stats. If you're fond of the gradeup line, want a quick lazy-afternoon build, or just want a dog rather than a wolf, I'd recommend it. My only real gripe other than the gun changes is the lack of Pulse Cannon to go with it, being as Gul Tiger got its hover fans, but I'll take what I can get.