Trip Down Memory Lane

Someone I know very kindly provided me with videos from an anime I have mentioned here before. Zoids: Chaotic Century is not well-recalled outside the die-hard fans of the show and those who sort of, kind of, remember watching it on Cartoon Network and then Toonami. As one of the die-hard fans, this author is due for another re-watch of the series. I had to interrupt the last one and so I ought to start again from the beginning.

Anyway, my friend happened upon some old Toonami advertisements for the series and duly sent them on to me. I vaguely remember a couple of these, but it has been a long time, so I am not surprised to find they did not stay in my memory the way that the series did. This is the first advertisement with which I was presented by my friend:

Zoids Chaotic Century Toonami Intro

The Toonami character is silent in this ad as he plays short clips from the series as a teaser for an upcoming (or ongoing) episode. Since it is so short, and I was usually eager for the episode to either come back or start, I am not surprised that I don’t remember it well. Advertisements were more annoying than entertaining sometimes, and if the show had just reached a critical moment, I wanted them GONE so we could get on with the story already!

In truth, this next advertisement is one that I do not recall clearly, either. But the voiceover – holy cow. I forgot that he voiced the Toonami bot!

Toonami-Classic Zoids Long Promo

“Now, there’s a reason to rumble…” Indeed, there is, Mr. Cullen! Wow. Optimus Prime voiced over ads for my favorite anime! And since my first experience with Optimus was Gary Chalk’s portrayal in the Unicron trilogy, I never noticed! Wow!!!

Yes, I am a fan girl. By now, you should have noticed what you were dealing with here, readers. Knowing my favorite franchises mixed, however fleetingly, is reason for me to celebrate.

I think the ads show at least some of how and why I became so interested in writing mecha stories. Along with the short episode you may find in The Guardian Cycle, Vol. 1: In Dreams and Other Stories,* you can find my tale Lupus One in Cirsova’s 2021 Summer Issue.* Do you remember when I said that it had illustrations? They are beautiful, and so is the cover art….

Ahem. Right. There is still one more video to go.

Zoids Chaotic Century Final Four Marathon Toonami Promo

The last four episodes of Zoids: Chaotic Century did not air in the U.S. for, if memory serves, nearly a year. I was watching the show build to its climax – and it ended on a cliffhanger!! I despise cliffhangers with a passion largely because a number of my favorite shows growing up ended on cliffhangers and were never renewed. Brisco County Jr.* and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World* are two of the worst offenders in this case, as they were killed before they could finish the story.

The cliffhanger in The Lost World was particularly devastating to me as a child. All the heroes are scattered through time and space, most of them on the verge of being killed. Roxton is being hunted by Conquistadors, Marguerite is going to be sacrificed on a pagan altar, Challenger is about to have his brain removed, and Veronica has been revealed to have some unexplained magic power that might save everyone. Then the world appears to end in a flash of light and we never learn if they survived or not!!!!

(Okay, the creators revealed what the next season would have entailed, but that’s twenty-odd years too late for the child in this author. I got left hanging, and it wasn’t the writers’ fault, I know. That does not mean I have lost my mental hiccup over cliffhangers that essentially leave the audience dangling emotionally by their fingernails from a precipice. It is sheer manipulation and I hate it.)

Ahem. Based on this, my reaction even twenty years later, I’m sure you can imagine my response to Zoids’ apparent cliffhanger ending. There was quite a bit of crying involved, I can assure you. I was miserable. This was my favorite show, and I didn’t know how it ended! What if the heroes all died? What if some of them died and others became moody, broken, despairing wrecks because of that?! AAAAHHHH!!!! I wanted to know what happened, but the show was over, so I would always be left hanging!

After a year or more of thinking that was the end and I would never know the truth, suddenly it was announced that “the final four” episodes for Zoids would be playing after a marathon to catch us all up on the series. Needless to say, my butt was on the couch and I was glued to the tv screen to see the finale for most of the day.

It was a great day. I got all my questions answered satisfactorily, the series ended well, at which point I promptly began crying again. I loved Zoids and didn’t want it to end! But it had ended, and content I must be with that fact.

Suffice it to say it took a while. I was young, all right? But I got over it, and watching the finale doesn’t make me tear up or cry anymore. (Famous last words, just you watch!) Zoids is still one of my favorite series, and I hope it will stay that way until I meet the Almighty at the end of my days. Here’s hoping He has copies upstairs and we can watch them together!

This trip down memory lane has reached its finale now. I shall leave you to enjoy the videos and pick up my stories so you can see how the mecha I love keep running around in my head. Hey, they want to play! Who am I to say no?

As I sign off, I will leave you with the English intro for the series that had me dancing in my seat every time I watched it. (Yes, I would mime air-guitar movements when the theme music played, too. I was little, all right?) See you on the battlefield, readers!

Zoids Chaotic Century Opening

*These are Amazon affiliate links. When you purchase something through them, this author receives a commission from Amazon at no extra charge to you, the buyer.

If you liked this article, friend Caroline Furlong on Facebook or follow her here at www.carolinefurlong.wordpress.com. Her stories have been published in Cirsova’s Summer Special and Unbound III: Goodbye, Earth. She has also had stories published in the Planetary Anthology Series. Another story was released in Cirsova Magazine’s Summer Issue in 2020, and she had a story published in Storyhack Magazine’s 7th Issue, Cirsova Magazine’s 2021 Summer Issue, and another may be read over at Ember Journal. Vol. 1* and Vol. 2* of her series – The Guardian Cycle – is available in paperback and ebook as well. Order them today!

Like Caroline’s content? Then consider buying her a coffee on Ko-fi to let her know you appreciate her work. 😉