Zoids: Rebirth Century

Rebirth Century
Rebirth Century logo
Start Date	2008
End Date	2009
Includes Zoids From	Zoids
Regions	Japan
Designation	HRZ, GRZ

Zoids: Rebirth Century is a Zoids line that commemorates Zoids' 25th anniversary.

Overview

Most of the Rebirth Century Zoids features redesigns of old models, with a handful of totally new Zoids, such as the Valga and Dos Godos.

Release

The line went on sale in 2008, and continued through 2009.

Zoids

• HRZ-001 King Gojulas
• GRZ-002 Gil Vader
• GRZ-003 Hel Digunner
• GRZ-004 Dark Nessios
• HRZ-005 Dos Godos
  • Z-01 Dos Godos (Godos colours)
• HRZ-006 Ex-Gurantula
• GRZ-007 Zeek Dober
• HRZ-008 Barigator TS
• GRZ-009 Valga
  • Z-02 Valga (Republic colours)
• HRZ-010 Tiga Godos
• GRZ-011 Crimson Horn
• HRZ-012 King Liger
• GRZ-013 Gul Tiger GC
• Merda TS (limited)
• Gravide Valga (unreleased)

Battle Story

The story of Rebirth Century was originally told in 5 chapters in the booklets included with later Zoids Graphics kits. From October 2008 to April 2009, TakaraTomy began adding these chapters to their official Zoids site as a set of Flash slideshows, followed by 3 extra chapters unavailable elsewhere.

The story begins with the Helic Republic's final attack on the Dark Continent in ZAC 2056. In order to finally defeat the Guylos Empire, President Helic Muroa himself sets out in the King Gojulas, a Zoid recently completed by using advanced gravity technology from the wreck of the Globally III. Although it begins to affect Helic's mind due to an "unfinished system", it is able to destroy great numbers of Guylos Zoids without taking any damage. However, before it reaches the capital, a huge comet called Thorne collides with one of Planet Zi's three moons, destroying it and raining fragments down on the planet as meteors. President Helic tries to save all the nearby people by shooting down the meteors, but even the King Gojulas finally falls. The President is safe, however, and self-destructs the Zoid to prevent its technology from falling into Guylos hands, before returning to the Central Continent with the remnants of the Republic army - including his escorts in the invasion, Rieden Krüger and Rog Weiss.

By ZAC 2057, both countries are beginning to rebuild their damaged nations. Although no truce was made between them, the constant magnetic storms (a side effect of the catastrophe) prevent large Zoids from moving, interfere with Magnesser Systems so aerial Zoids cannot fly, and greatly reduce the performance of every kind of Zoid, making battles impossible. However, the Republic is already running tests on the Dos Godos, an experimental design that can operate among the magnetic storms. Meanwhile, the Guylos Empire holds a funeral for Zenebas Muroa, who died of unknown causes during the disaster, in order to encourage the captured Zenebas soldiers to work for the Guylos army. During the funeral, Guylos scientist Kenneth Oldvine holds a secret meeting to explain his plans - to dig up the wreck of the King Gojulas and reverse-engineer its technology for use by the Empire.

Later that year, the two countries agree to hold a peace talk on the neutral ground of the Western Continent. Helic's trump card is Elena, the daughter of Zenebas, who he found and rescued while escaping from the Dark Continent. However, the Empire knows of Elena's existence due to a spy, and instead of negotiators, they send in a force of Hel Digunners, led by Major Faust Ramberg in the new Valga, to assassinate her and Helic. In response, the Republic sends out a bodyguard force of Ex-Gurantulas, led by Captain Will Craig in a Dos Godos. The Republic force is hard-pressed by the Valga's Gravity Attack but manages to buy the time for Helic and Elena to escape, and realising this, the Guylos Zoids retreat. However, it is now clear that both sides have Zoids capable of fighting in the magnetic storms, and that the Empire has obtained the gravity technology from the King Gojulas.

In October 2059 (later retconned to 2058), in an attempt to destroy the "supertechnology", the Republic decides to land on Levante Island, an Imperial research station. Most of the Imperial aquatic Zoids are now endangered, so the Republic uses only a group of upgraded Barigators (using Ice Metal from the destroyed Hel Digunners to strengthen their armour and Bite Fangs) as an aquatic escort. However, the Empire has worked around their lack of aquatic Zoids by remodelling their old Brachios frames and including Plesiosaurus-type Zoid Cores, creating the Dark Nessios. The Barigator TS force struggles to fight back until Colonel Rog Weiss comes up with a plan: use the new Bite Fangs to bite into the necks of the Dark Nessios and force them to come to the surface, where they can be more easily dispatched. In this way, the Republic force makes it to Levante Island, where they are met with the next challenge: Major Ramberg's Valga. While Will Craig fights the Valga, the Barigators and Ex-Gurantulas (led by Major Rieden Krüger) quickly dig trenches. Craig then lures the Valga into a trench, where there is no room for it to use the Gravity Attack, and finishes it off with the Dos Godos' Turbo Acceleration Kick.

Then the real threat arrives, in the form of a Crimson Horn (piloted by Rowan Zaguli) surrounded by Zeek Dobers. Faced with the first operational large-scale Zoids since the meteor strike, the Republic force decides to use the "Turbo Acceleration Hammer Attack" - a Barigator bites onto the tail of a Dos Godos, and the Dos Godos uses its thrusters to spin around and slam the reinforced Barigator into the enemy. In this way they are able to wipe out most of the Zeek Dobers, and soon realise that the Zeek Dobers aren't learning to avoid it because they are unpiloted, remote-controlled drones. Republic scientist Ril Meryl turns up in her new King Liger and explains that the control system is too big for a Zoid to carry, and must be in the nearby laboratory. When the Dos Godos force tries to break in, they are met by the incredibly powerful Crimson Horn. Then Krüger's Ex-Gurantula jumps onto the Crimson Horn's back, risking its life, and starts destroying the turrets at point-blank range. It is followed by Weiss' Barigator TS, and the two soldiers urge Craig to continue while the Horn is distracted.

But as soon as the Dos Godos force begins to enter the laboratory, their Zoids are crushed by an invisible "Gravity Wave Attack System". Ril Meryl recognises it immediately and shows the surviving members how to escape it (using the Gravity Power Assist on the Dos Godos at the right moment), causing suspicion among the group. After destroying another group of Zeek Dobers and losing most of their Zoids, the Republic force makes it into the laboratory's main room, where it is revealed that Ril Meryl is Kenneth Oldvine's daughter and a spy for the Empire. The Crimson Horn appears with Zaguli and Ramberg on board, and they explain that Levante Island itself is a trap - the only way to wipe out the laboratory is to destroy the Valgas inside, but they are using their gravity systems to hold up the entire island. They retreat with Oldvine, leaving behind an impenetrable wall of gravity, but Will Craig uses his Dos Godos to kick away the Valgas and escape with Ril Meryl, who has realised that Oldvine didn't want to help people, he only wanted power. The main story ends with the remains of the Republic force returning to the Central Continent, alive but unsuccessful in their mission.

The first of the extra chapters is set in January, ZAC 2059. Ril Meryl is still on trial for her actions as a spy, while President Helic is inspecting a research facility on the Central Continent. Will Craig is also at the facility, running tests on the prototype Tiga Godos (an anti-Valga Zoid with Magnezer drills and a reinforced cockpit for safety), and elsewhere in the facility is a captured Valga which engineers have optimistically painted in Republic colours, although they still haven't cracked the encrypted control system. When the engineers take a break, the Valga activates without any pilot and starts to rampage, threatening the President. In order to stop it, Captain Craig jumps into the Tiga Godos and uses the untested Magnezers to destroy the Valga. The chapter ends with Helic musing on something Ril Meryl said during her trial - that their own technology is gradually catching up with the "supertechnology" from the Globally III.

In February, while it is still winter, Colonel Weiss and Major Krüger hold a meeting in an abandoned air base. They announce that the extensive shelf ice this year provides a pseudo-land route to the Dark Continent, so they intend to send a small party of King Ligers on a scouting mission to prove that they are the fastest operational Zoids (all the Zeek Dobers were destroyed when Levante Island collapsed). The party is confronted by a Gul Tiger, but Weiss' King Liger is faster and decapitates it with its Laser Blades. Retreating after their successful scout mission, one of the Ligers is pursued by a group of Hel Digunners, but it easily outruns them. The group returns safely, satisfied that the King Liger is the fastest Zoid around.

In the third and final "extra" chapter, officials in the Empire refuse to oppose the King Ligers, knowing that if they can survive through March, the shelf ice will melt and the scout missions will stop. But an engineer called Vasily Magnen has a better idea: although the magnetic storms prevent Zoids from flying with a Magnesser System, they should have no effect on GyroCrafters, which use huge fans to provide lift. With a GyroCrafter equipped, the heavy and clumsy Gul Tiger will be able to hold out against the faster King Liger. Led by Magnen, a group of 6 Gul Tiger GCs intercept a King Liger patrol and shoot down the Zoids one by one with their Particle Cannons. They let one King Liger escape (coincidentally, the pilot is Colonel Weiss) to carry the news of the massacre back to the Republic, and return to the base without any losses, having brought the war back into the Empire's favour.