Shield Liger

The Shield Liger (シールドライガー Shīrudo Raigā) is a liger type Zoid featured prominently throughout the Zoids universe. The Shield Liger plays a central role in Zoids: Chaotic Century, and appears in some fashion in most of the anime series, manga, and video games

Overview
The RZ-007 Shield Liger is a Liger-type Zoid, created by the Helic Republic, and used during the various wars on Zi.

The Shield Liger's design was inspired by that of the Sabre Tiger, with the two designs sharing a number of components. While not created in direct competition to it, the Shield Liger proved to be a sufficient match for the Zenebas Zoid—the two had comparable arsenals and performance. While fast and agile in its day, the Shield Liger's performance has been exceeded by more modern Zoids. However, the Shield Liger remains a capable and versatile Zoid.

The Shield Liger's most distinctive feature is the Energy Shield built into its mane that gives it its name. The Shield Liger was the first Zoid to use an energy shield, at the time giving it an unparalleled advantage. The Shield covers the Liger's forwards half, protecting it from enemy weapons fire. In addition to a defensive measure, the Shield can also be utilised for high-speed ramming attacks.

The Shield Liger would also serve as the basis of the Blade Liger design.

Shield Liger Mk II
The Shield Liger's principal weakness lies in its weak ranged weapons. To counter this shortcoming, the Republic developed the Shield Liger Mk II. This variant mounted a pair of heavy beam cannons on its back, greatly improving its firepower and performance. The extra weight of the cannons did reduce the Zoid’s overall speed, but this was seen as an acceptable trade-off. In some Zoids video games, this variant is also referred to as the Shield Liger .

Shield Liger DCS-J
A more advanced derivative of this Zoid is the Shield Liger . This version includes the beam cannons from the Mk II, but features greatly enhanced performance (with a new top speed of 285km/h) and improved defensive systems. The changes also render the Zoid very difficult to control, with only the most experienced pilots able to use the Zoid.

While the TOMY model of the DCS-J was also known as the "Leomaster", Zoids VS II features a pair of Leomasters as unique Zoids with significant improvements over their predecessor. The red "Leomaster A" and the green "Leomaster B" are essentially equivalent to the DCS-J with the "A" model being designed to withstand more damage and the "B" model designed to move faster.

Desert Liger
The Desert Liger is a Shield Liger variant designed to be particularly well suited to arid environments. Though it's standard armament does not differ, it does feature improved mobility and durability and no differance in speed.

Liger Aero
A specialized variant of the Shield Liger designed for high-speed combat and bearing a head redesigned to minimize aerodynamic resistance (Granting it a top speed of 280km/h) also appears in the Zoids Saga and Zoids VS video games. Though not released as a model kit, has been released as resin custom parts in very limited numbers. Its appearance in the battle story isn't much, but it did have an E-Shield more powerful then both the Blade Liger or the Liger Zero Schneider.

Spark Liger
Another specialized version of the Shield Liger, Spark Liger only appeared in the Zoids Saga series. It featured almost the same armament as the basic Shield Liger, but dabbed into electronic warfare, now using electron bite fangs and electron strike claws.

Battle Story appearances
The Shield Liger was first fielded by the Helic Republic in ZAC 2042, during the second Helic-Zenebas war. The Shield Liger quickly became an invaluable part of the Republic's forces, its Energy Shield and performance making it one of the few Zoids able to stand against the Zenebas onslaught. However, even it proved to be ineffective in combating the Deathsaurer.

In ZAC 2044, the Helic army introduced a new model, the Shield Liger Mk II. This version featured improved weaponry, greatly improving on the design's capabilities. The Shield Liger Mk II was an invaluable part of the Helic army's force used to retake its capital and eventually defeat the Zenebas Empire. The Shield Liger remained in service afterwards, but was eventually replaced by the King Liger.

Following the meteor strike of ZAC 2056, the Helic Republic lost the ability to produce high-performance Zoids like the King Liger. Instead, they began production of a new model of Shield Liger for their forces, based on the original model rather than the Mk II.

The Shield Liger was used during the Western Continent War against the Guylos Army. During that conflict, the Shield Liger had the dubious distinction of being the first Zoid to face off against the Genosaurer and the resurrected Deathsaurer. In response to the annihilation of the Shield Liger force by these two Zoids, the Helic Republic developed an upgraded version, known as the Shield Liger DCS-J featuring considerably improved performance. However, the Zoid proved to be difficult to control, and was discontinued in favour of the Blade Liger.

Chaotic Century and Guardian Force
The Shield Liger initially appeared in Zoids: Chaotic Century. In the first episode, Van found a derelict Shield Liger in the desert, which was restored to life by his Organoid, Zeke. Van used the Zoid to fight off members of Rosso's Desert Alcaveleno Gang, and later defended his village against the full gang, including a Red Horn. Van continued to use the Shield Liger for the first half of the series, until it was destroyed by Raven's Genosaurer. The Zoid was subsequently resurrected by Zeke as the Blade Liger.

Other Shield Ligers appeared during Chaotic Century and Guardian Force, used by the Helic Republic's army. Several characters, including Colonel Kruger and Captain Hermann, piloted them in various episodes. Some of these Zoids were coloured the same as the OJR 'Shield Liger Mk II' release (white and dark blue), as well as blue ones similar to Van's. Van's Shield Liger, however, had gold feet, whereas the rest had silver feet. This could be seen as a kind of foreshadowing of the Blade Liger, which also has gold feet.

New Century Zero
Leon Toros used a blue Shield Liger in the first two episodes of Zoids: New Century Zero, before he left the Blitz Team. He used the Zoid while travelling, until it were damaged in a battle. He later replaced it with a red Blade Liger.

UK Zoids Comic
Shield Liger's only appearance in the UK comics was limited to a promotional flyer of dubious canonicity. Like the other large Zoids in the UK comic, it was depicted as being a unique character.

Chaotic Century
In the Chaotic Century manga, Van does not encounter the Shield Liger for several issues. When he does, he finds it guarding the tomb of its former pilot, Moonbay's older brother. Despite the Zoid's initial hostility to Van and his companions, Van is eventually able to win over the Zoid, and becomes its new pilot. The Shield Liger piloted by Van is named Caesar.