Review – Zoids Barigator Artstatue

Manufacturer: Tomy * Year: 2003

This is the third in the Zoids Artstatue blind-boxed toys that we’ve looked at here at battlegrip.com Back in December I posted a review of the Shield Liger (review here) which was cool enough that I was kicking myself for having not bought more of the toys while I was in Hong Kong in 2010. And then, while in Hong Kong in January of this year, I bought more of the toys and then posted a review of the Gojulas Giga toy last month (review here).

Unfortunately, that Gojulas Giga statue had some real problems and I started to worry that maybe the Shield Liger was the only good toy in the bunch. Well, it is most certainly not alone, because this tiny Barigator is also a pretty sweet little robotic creature toy.

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Click to expand the photo in a new window.

The Barigator page at the Zoids wiki describes the creature as:

The Barigator is a Crocodile-type Zoid used by the Helic Republic. The Zoid is amphibious, and succeeds in swamp, marsh, and shallow aquatic operations.

This little statue shows the Barigator on a rocky outcropping, the leg of some unidentified Zoid poking up from the swampy base of the piece as a red bird-like creature watches the gator-like machine/animal hybrid. It’s an attractive piece that snapped together easily; a huge improvement over the headache I had assembling the Gojulas Giga statue.

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Click to expand the image in a new window.

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Click to expand the image in a new window.


Great Paint

As with the other toys in this series the Barigator is pretty small, but this time around we get a bit more in the way of paint apps than we did on the other toys I’ve reviewed. The semi-clear green plastic base also adds color to the toy, but it’s the dark green wash over the base that the creature is resting on and the gold visor and red bird that show that some effort was put into painting the tiny statue. Even the leg poking out of the swamp has some painted details while the plantlife growing along the edge of the base gets the same dark green wash as the base under the Barigator. The toy may be small, but the team behind the design sunk more paintwork into it then we’ve seen on some Marvel Universe action figures. Nice!

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Click to expand the photo in a new window.

Not a Lot to Say

Once you’ve reviewed a couple of tiny statues in a series you fast hit a point where there’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said before. This Zoids Barigator Artstatue looks great and makes a decent addition to my growing army of Zoids toys, but all that these statues are really doing is making me think it’s about time I sink my jaws into a meatier and more substantial Zoids toy.

After all, small statues can only be so much fun before you need some articulation and size. Right?


Philip Reed still needs to bring his Zoids Revoltech toy out to play. Maybe after the PAX trip is over . . .