Zoids: It Just Bugs Me

[Steve]

This is the thread where we come to note the things about Zoids that just bugs us; not the huge plot holes or wallbangers that make or break a series for us, but just the little, irksomel nitpicks that don't detract from our love of the show.

For me... it's always been the tendancy for characters to just casually leap several stories out of the cockpits of their Zoids and not completely destroy their legs. XP

[Adlas]

Oh, yes. That. That has been bugging me since I watched the show.

[Tilly]

Zi's gravity is apparently lower, but still.  Whut.

If we're talking injury, how come EVERY injury results in a bandaged head in Zoids?  Especially when it's characters that are in harness more than seatbelt.  How are they all bashing their heads?  Vega hitting his on the colsole was a rarity, not normal!

...and then there's the way even a minor concussion should have someone feeling pretty darn crap, but ignoring that's a fairly common trope in fiction anyway.

Also: how come people fall out of their Zoids in Fuzors when they're defeated?  I would think you'd want the cockpit to stay shut unless opened by choice after your war mecha was disabled.  Stray fire, that kinda thing.

[Liger Zero Lindsey]

hahaha, LOL at the people falling several feet xD
That was something I always wondered.

And I agree with Tilly, wtf was with the bandaged heads? Just makes you wonder? hahaha

[Sabre Liger]

This always bugged me, Berserk Fury's size-changing head. I swear it was HUGE, but when the armor goes on its normal, THEN when Zero tears off the head armor and its still small. How tight is the armor on the head?

[Zeke]

You know, I've noticed that as well, with the whole "look, I just jumped four stories out of a Zoid and not a single scratch!" and Fury's head-changing size. xD I mean, if I even jump from a haywagon, my knees at least feel the impact. People on Zi must have some really good reflexes or something. As for the bandaged heads...  It made me laugh every time.

[Liger Zero Lindsey]

I have never noticed Fury's head changing size...kinda want some comparison photos hahaha.

[Sky Dragon]

More than anything, what annoyed me was the Death Saurer and how it seemed to fluctuate wildly between "twice-the-size-of-a-GenoSaurer" and "Holy-Crap-It's-Godzilla-huge".

[avenger]

In Genesis when they show the Bio Raptor Gui's, often instead of a jet they have the sound of prop driven aircraft (they sound like Zero fighter planes).

[Liger Zero Lindsey]

hahaha, I noticed that to. And Death Saurer's roar kinda bothered me...Dinosoaur/Whale King? WTF

[Steve]

On the subject of bad sound design in Genesis, they seem to be really fond of this one particular heavy impact "cymbal crash" noise they use all the time. It sounds like something out of a Hanna Barbara cartoon and it really annoyed me. xp

[Tilly]

The English version of /Zero the BF's CPC sound effect hurts my ears.  Not because it's badly done (it's a perfectly good FIRE MY DOOM LASER noise), it's just...something about the actual sound that feels unpleasant.

[Steve]

Okay, this one actually *is* a major gripe but I can't really justify starting a whole new thread about it, so meh.

Hell armour. Holy crap is Hell armour overrated.

Hell armour wouldn't bug me as much as it does if they had merely said something along the lines of "Biozoids have really tough armour"; it would be a more subjective statment and the discrepancies wouldn't be so glaring. But instead they had to make a falsifiable statement by saying that Hell armour is immune to everything except Metal Zi, something which Genesis *loves* to remind us about at every opportunity.

Over the course of the series Hell armour is crushed by falling rocks, shattered by cliff faces, crushed by Elephander feets, melted by thermic blasts, and blown apart by Decalto Dragon's beam cannons. None of these are Metal Zi. The latter two are particularly glaring since they stated outright that Hell armour is immune to beam weapons. Never mind that this so-called indestructable armour merely outlines the Biozoids' bodies in a skeleton motif, offering nowhere near enough protection to be very effective even if this stuff was as invincible as it's hyped to be.

Soyeah. Hell armour is only as strong as the plot needs it to be. That really pissed me off. X:

[hdorriker]

Chemically: Hell armor would be a hillariously difficult material to work with.

-Impermeability to 99% of projectile weapons, as well as perfect shock-absorbtion (as demonstrated by the sniper shot to the BioTyranno in the last episode), implies that Hell Armor is the single most ductile material ever to exist.

-Resistance to beam weapons implies that it is either extremely reflective OR superconductive, either way, it is somehow avoiding thermal absorbtion of the energy being applied to it. (if it is superconductive, that energy has to go somewhere... and it has to get there VERY FAST)

-Resistence to thermal breakdown, such as that which would be wrought by energy weapons, implies that Hell Armor is extremely stable and must have either ridiculously strong electron bonds between it's constituent elements. Or if it is elemental itself: then it must have the most stable, immovable, outer valance electrons ever. Similar to a noble gas (Helium, Neon, etc...)

-Resistance to high energy particles, such as alpha and beta particles, is assumed because no energy weapons seem to effect it: means that Hell Armor must have either an extremely small, stable nucleus which is lighter than Iron, or a superstable nucleus of an element heavier than iron, but with such an ideal nuclear geometry that it is highly resistant to picking up or loosing protons and neutrons.

This third one presents a bit of a problem
Because:

-Hell Armor doesn't absorb anything, meaning that it either reflects it, or is transparent to it. If it reflects Alpha particles: then the nucleus must be big enough to get in the way of the alpha particle, and must also be so incredibly stable that it does not absorb it.


The problem is:
Shielding and reflection of high energy particles generally requires something dense enough to obstruct the rays. When it comes to gamma rays, which for sure must be a component of any beam weapon which is intended to be lethal and actually penetrate something, then the only way to obstruct these is with something heavy and probably metal. Such as Lead, or Gold.
This contradicts the impermeability to projectiles. Since lead and gold are both very soft metals. In general, the most effective metals for shielding of charged particles are soft metals. (as opposed to harder, but far lighter metals like Titanium) With a powerful enough grenade: you could probably penetrate this. Or you just lure it over a bridge and let natural gravity take care of it.

So perhaps it is also wrapped or part of a composite with kevlar or some nanomaterial. Ok fine. But.

Composites have break-down temperatures because at some point, one of the composite materials ends up melting (or bursting into flames) or otherwise changing in a manner which is destructive to the integrity of the material.

So then, perhaps, wailing on it for an evening with the entire collective firepower of everybody in a series long enough will eventually cause the tungsten fibers vaporize, and then it just goes down hill from there for the super villain.


But the thing that bothers me about Hell Armor is:

They made a specific claim. And this is not something which holds up very well in the realm of specifics.
But I am purposefully over-analyzing this