ExoSquad Zentradi Officer's Pod

Allegiance: Zentradi
Series: ExoSquad - Robotech Series
Year: 1995

In many ways I could copy & paste the review I have recently written for the ExoSquad Zentradi Battle Pod. The Zentradi Officer's Pod, another Robotech vehicle originally released by Matchbox in the 80s, was reissued as part of the Exo-Squad Robotech series in the 90s. Fans of the Battletech / Mech Warrior role playing game, though, might recognize this design as the Marauder, one of the most famous battlemechs from that gaming franchise.

When FASA created the original Battledroids game in 1984, they licensed several existing Mecha designs from Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross, the Japanese version of Robotech, from a licensing company called TCI (Twentieth Century Imports). In the 90s, however, legal issues arose as TCI was apparently not legally authorized to sell these licenses in the first place. The whole thing was settled out of court in 1996 and FASA stopped using the original designs of the Marauder (and other mechs), heavily modifying them instead.

As a toy, the Zentradi Officer Pod bears a lot of resemblance to the standard Battle Pod, only with a more elongated design and, of course, the addition of a big autogun on top and a pair of arms also ending in big guns. It also has a cockpit scaled for Exo-Squad figures (slightly smaller than your average Star Wars and G.I.Joe figure), where a figure from Dino Riders has taken place for the pictures below for lack of alternatives. The Zentradi mecha were non-transforming, of course, so what you see is what you get. The Officer's Pod can move the legs, twist in the hip, and move the arms, too. For a flight mode you simply fold the legs backward.

Being both a Robotech and a Battletech fan, I love this design and was very happy to get it for my birthday. Even if you are unfamiliar with both franchises, though, you are getting a kick-ass battle mech here, so if you can find one for a good price, I advise you to grab it.

Rating: B+