My Thoughts on Zootron...

#foldabots #Zootron #TheFoldabotsBlog

Today is the death anniversary of 'You-Know-Who'... I'm not going to mention his name, but you'll get the idea anyway.

Regarding the Hooded Cloak's Foldabots Review Show, it is still on hiatus until now, after we've already passed Tindig and Bisig. I also saw him took that DeviantArtist Questionaire (it's DeviantArt's 15th anniversary at that time, BTW...) two weeks ago, the only thing I don't know is when will he come back doing the reviews again.

Now, I decided to make Zootron myself after seven long months of collecting the parts, which lead me to completing the gestalt. I will post the images someday, once it's done.

NARANJA - The design of this Lutabot is remarkable, especially his animal mode. The robot mode, there was a flaw in it, where he has two left arms than having the other arm mirrored to make it better. (Reason why they were rushing this pattern.) Unlike the Saurobots or the Yelobots, the tiger legs are more useless than in Tulos where he had the hind legs used as robot legs. I strongly recommend gluing the right arm the other way around so Naranja will not suffer from its design flaw.

GADYA - Out of all the Zoobots, Gadya is overall my favorite. Unlike Naranja, Gadya utilizes his elephant limbs for robot mode. However, when forming him as the torso of Zootron, I find the picture to be a little incorrect, where I also found out that flipping his arms would do the trick just fine. Still, Gadya is perhaps the most perfect Zoobot in the pack.

LEONATOR - Based on Naranja's pattern, this king of the jungle is perfect when it comes to design in both lion and robot modes, whereas Naranja only suffered from having two left arms. Likewise, Leonator also suffers from the same case where the limbs are useless. Both of them can be swapped when in leg mode whereas the arms are locked in their positions. I also omitted the slits on Leonator to make him more reinforced.

KOMANDO - Probably the easiest one to build, I too was curious of what's the black connector for and how will I form Zootron's arm with this. Simplicity, this is what I found with Komando's design in Komodo Dragon mode, but in his robot mode, he becomes complex due to his robot mode design. I also found out that some parts were not made from stock parts and designs.

BALUTI - You may think he stands alone in the gestalt, I would think he can attach to Zootron even in his ball form. His armadillo mode may look odd, but his robot mode stands out more. Most of us Folda-Fans would like to curl him into a rough ball shape, which I personally dislike. What I do is to fold the armadillo limbs and the tail sleeve, so it's hidden when curled. Then I tuck the head onto the tail sleeve in the opposite direction, until I got a more compact and more round ball mode. In addition Zootron can also hold him by inserting Komando's robot head onto Baluti's tail sleeve, whereas the hand just sits there like holding that ball.

TINDIG - Based on Komando's pattern, he has given long Batikron legs and a huge sword which doesn't store inside Tindig very well. I do like both of his giraffe and robot modes in general, but the sword causes the weight problem, unless you find a way to make him stand with it. Also, the giraffe neck can help balance Tindig by forming a very long spire on his back.

ZOOTRON - Combined, the gestalt looks a little off, especially if you followed the instructions. But if you follow my configuration, it will have twice as much awesome points than before. To do this, you must have built all six Zoobots leaving the gestalt parts uncut. First, do all the steps except for step 4, where instead of gluing the right hand on the back of Tindig's head, we're supposed to glue this in the opposite side. There, you can utilize the hand as a cover so that you can hide the robot head easier and less awkward. For Gadya, you can clip his arms to widen Zootron's chest, at the same time, it loses the steps in attaching Tindig and Komando using Gadya's paperclips. However, I also found out, that Tindig and Komando's black flaps insert firmly onto Gadya, and it stay on well (You can also add two more paperclips if you want the arms more reinforced.) For Leonator and Naranja, leaving their front cat legs as is from their animal modes, can act as heels, which gives him extra support. You may also use the fireball effect piece on other characters like Magmatron with extra firepower, place Kidlat (with the blue flame stickers) on top of the flame so you can have him burning hot.

September is just around the corner, and we still don't have updates regarding Toy Book 8. Probably, we'll get a glimpse of the first fan-made Foldabot (Not Lutabot since Stormicus holds that title) gestalt, aside from reissuing the Sporticons and the L-Diads. I'll be back soon with the September issue, more speculations on TB8, and hoping for a Foldabot gestalt once more. Until then, this has been The Foldabots Blog, we'll see you next time!