Berserk Fury
The Berserk Fury (Berserk Führer in the Japanese release) is a type of Zoid, one of over 200 species of biomechanical life forms around which the Zoids model, anime, and game franchise is based. The Berserk Fuhrer is a major Zoid the Zoids: New Century Zero and Zoids: Fuzors anime series (both times as the "rival" of the Liger Zero) and plays a significant role in the Zoids Battle Story.
Overview
The Berserk Fury is a Tyrannosaurus-type Zoid, created by the Guylos Empire, and used during the various wars on Zi.
Like the Liger Zero, the Berserk Fury is directly derived form a wild Zoid type, rather than being an artificial body. In this case it is derived from a wild Tyrannosaur Zoid. As a result of this, the Fury is very agile and responsive, and more intelligent than a normal Zoid. The Fury's speed and agility are further enhanced by the numerous thrusters mounted on its body, which allow the Zoid to hover a short distance above the ground. Its power is said to surpass its predecessor, the Geno Breaker.
The Berserk Fury is armed with a Charged Particle Cannon as its main weapon, based off the Death Saurer's most potent weapon. As a backup, it is equipped with a pair of multi-function blades known as the Buster Claws. Each Buster Claw can act as a powerful beam cannon, a high speed Magnesser drill or an energy shield generator. They can also be used to enhance the power of its main cannon. In the anime, as well as in the games and the TOMY Promo footage, the Buster Claws have the additional function of secondary Charged Particle Cannons, allowing it to fire three Charged Particle Beams at once.
Storm Führer
The Berserk Fury's CAS unit is designed to enhance the Zoid's already formidable speed and agility. The CP-27 Storm Unit removes the Buster Claws, but increases the Zoid's speed to an incredible 450 km/h. In addition, the CAS adds a pair of claws similar to the Geno Breaker's X-Breakers.
Battle Story appearances
The Berserk Fury was initially developed alongside the Liger Zero by the Empire. However, when the Zero was stolen the program was considerably delayed. As a result, the first appearance of the Berserk Fury was during the Helic Republic invasion of the Dark Continent of Nyx in ZAC 2101. The Eisen Dragoon Unit, under the leadership of Wolff Muroa, was equipped with Berserk Furys and sent to halt the progress of the Liger Zero-equipped Flash Division. The Flash Division was almost wiped out by the Dragoons, and only the arrival of Helic Gunblusters prevented the unit's total destruction.
During the Eisen Dragoons' uprising in ZAC 2102, the Berserk Fury was used against Guylos forces as well. The Zoid again proved its effectiveness in combat, managing to effortlessly destroy other Guylos Zoids, including its predecessor, the Geno Saurer.
The Eisen Dragoons' coup of the Guylos Empire was a success, reforming it into the Neo-Zenebas Empire. The subsequent invasion of the Central Continent routed the Helic Republic, the survivors retreating to the Eastern Continent. Upon arrival, they encountered a group of scientists from the Guylos Empire and the ZOITEC corporation. The three groups combined to rebuild the Republican army, and during this period the Berserk Führer platform was developed in a new form. The Gairyuki was the combination of the Berserk Führer's base form with ZOITEC-designed Blox armour and the Republic's recently developed Ray-Absorbing Charged Particle Cannon.
Ironically, the Neo-Zenebas Empire chose not to use the Berserk Fury, despite its successful contribution to the coup, due to its Guylos influence. Instead, it was replaced in service by the uniquely Zenebas Seismosaurus and Energy Liger designs. However, a small number of modified Berserk Furys would continue to serve some Zenebas units under the guise of Sturm Tyrann.
Media appearances
Anime
New Century Zero
The Berserk Fury features heavily in the final six episodes of Zoids: New Century Zero, discovered by the Backdraft Group and piloted by the child prodigy, Vega Obscura. It is the rival of the Liger Zero piloted by Bit Cloud, and is also a unique Ultimate X Zoid. Also like the Liger Zero, it has a mind of its own and a desire to fight a worthy opponent. When not under Vega's control the Berserk Fury becomes feral and even more dangerous.
In its first appearance, it defeated both the Blitz and Lightning Teams without even its base CAS system installed. Before it could inflict the coup de grace with its charged particle cannon, the Berserk Fury retreated at the command of Vega's manager, Sarah.
The Berserk Fury would then be equipped with its armour by the backdraft and go on to compete in the Royal Cup tournament. The backdraft planned to overthrow the Zoids Battle Commission by using the Berserk Fury to defeat all the competing teams while the Backdraft headquarters used a Death Stinger's charged particle cannon to shoot down all the judge satellites. The Berserk Fury laid waste to everything it faced, even simultaneously defeating three Geno Saurers sent by the traitorous Alteil to destroy it after surviving a combined assault from all sides by their charged particle cannons.
The final episode features a two-against-one battle between the Berserk Fury, and the Blitz team's Shadow Fox and Liger Zero Panzer. Initially dominating its opponents, the Berserk Fury finally met its match when the Liger Zero transformed into its base armour and faced off against it one-on-one. Fighting atop the back of an old Ultrasaurus wreck, the Berserk Fury went out of control, trying to defeat the Liger Zero on its own after Vega was knocked unconscious. Eventually, a prolonged strike laser claw to the throat finally disabled the Fury, foiling the backdraft's nefarious plan and leaving the Blitz team's Liger Zero as the champion of the Royal Cup.
Fuzors
The Berserk Fury also appears in Zoids: Fuzors. The Berserk Fury is piloted by Blake of the Savage Hammer Team, and is capable of combining with the Buster Eagle to form the Buster Fury Fuzor. Fusion with the Buster Eagle grants the Berserk Fury access to its missiles and buster cannons, as well as granting it full-flight capabilities. However, the Buster Fury, like all Fuzors, has a time limit on how long it can stay combined before running out of power. The Buster Fury would serve as a counterpoint to RD's Liger Zero Phoenix.
Originally, Blake piloted a Geno Saurer, which was destroyed in a battle by RD's Liger Zero. Sandra, of Savage Hammer, convinced Blake that RD sabotaged his Zoid, causing him to lose, and offered him the Berserk Fury and a place on Savage Hammer. Thus, a heated rivalry between Blake and RD was born. Blake would use this Berserk Fury to attack RD on several occasions, as well as to battle the Mach Storm team. In episode 3, Blake would also be given the Buster Eagle, to fuse with his Zoid.
The Buster Führer was destroyed in a sneak attack by the Energy Liger in episode 13. In the next episode, the Zoid is declared destroyed beyond repair, and unsalvagable for parts. It is replaced later in the episode by a Gairyuki. Even though no other Berserk Furys were seen during the series, it was implied that Blake's Zoid was by no means unique (though its ability to combine with the Buster Eagle is). Fan speculation is that the Gairyuki was rebuilt from the wreckage of Blake's old Berserk Fury, though Luke stated he had made Blake a new Zoid.
Manga
Chaotic Century
After being defeated by Van and the newly evolved Caesar, Raven disappears for a time but soon reappears with the Berserk Fury Shadow Edge. This new Zoid (which resembles Shadow) is first seen effortlessly chopping up a custom Iron Kong made for the Prozen Knights and the Geno Breaker piloted by Hanna of the Prozen Knights. Its last appearance is in Alca Canyon where it does battle with Van's Liger Zero Caesar the King.
Zoids: Saga Games
In the Zoids: Saga series of Game Boy Advance games, the Berserk Führer possesses an additional two CAS forms. The three forms are Strum Führer, Berserk Fury Z and Jagd Führer, corresponding to the Liger Zero's Schneider, Panzer and Jager forms respectively.
Zoids VS series
Both the Berserk Fury and the Sturm Fuhrer make an appearance in the Zoids VS games. In the English-language release of Zoids VS II (Zoids: Battle Legends), the Berserk Fury's name remained the Berserk Fuhrer, despite several other Zoids going by their New American Release names, such as the Sabre Tiger (Zaber Fang) and Salamander (Pteramander). The Sturm Tyrann is also erroneously referred to as "Strum Tyrann".
Models
New Japanese Release
- Assembly required. (Snap-together, no glue needed. Scissors or X-acto knife recommended for trimming off excess plastic bits.)
- The model's colours are moulded into the plastic, and it does not need any paint.
The Berserk Fury kit comes on fifteen frames, along with a battery-operated motor, two body sections, two jaw pieces, a semi-transparent canopy cover, twenty-four rubber caps and a small blue pilot figure. The Berserk Fury is moulded in lavender and black, with silver teeth and claws, and a red canopy. A number of the frames were re-used in the Gairyuki. Interestingly enough, while the Zoid was meant to be a part of the Eisen Dragoons unit, due to a printing error, it came with Prozen Knights stickers.
The Berserk Fury is one of the more complicated model kits in the Zoids line and is rather difficult to build. The Berserk Fury uses a pair of "AAA" sized batteries for motion, and is rare amongst Zoids that it has two motorised modes. In the first mode, once activated, the Zoid walks forwards with its arms waving and the tail sweeping side to side. In the second mode the Zoid stands still, but opens up the intake vents on its tail while deploying its Charged Particle Cannon. In both modes, the Berserk Fury's Buster Claws can be manually positioned and opened.
TOMY also released an upgrade kit for the Berserk Fury, the CP-27 Storm unit. The kit took the form of an additional set of armour that could be connected onto the Berserk Fury's body in place of the units existing armour, drastically changing its appearance.
The Berserk Fury was released in 2001, with production continuing semi-regularly until about 2004.
Several other versions of the Berserk Fury have been produced. They are detailed below.
New American Release
The Berserk Fury was released in the United States by Hasbro. The Zoid's name was changed from "Berserk Führer", as the NJR name was deemed to be offensive. There was only one change made to the model, the Buster Blades were made of soft rubber as opposed to hard plastic. No changes were made to the sticker sheet, which still shows its original name in katakana; the name on the box changed, and oddly, its maximum speed was printed as 390 km/h instead of 340 km/h.
The Zoid was also re-released in near identical packaging as a part of the New Pacific Release.
Sturm Tyrann
In 2003, a limited edition version of the Berserk Fury was released in Japan by TOMY. This version, known as the Sturm Tyrann, was recoloured in red, black and gold. The sticker sheet was redesigned to display the Sturm Tyrann as a Neo-Zenebas Zoid, and the model came with a similarly recoloured version of the CP-27 Storm Unit CAS.
Fuzors
The Berserk Fury was released as part of the Fuzors line, under the name Buster Fury. A new frame was included that contained a modifed backpack to accommodate the recoloured Buster Eagle that was supplied with the model, as well as new feet that would allow it to walk with the eagle mounted on it. The Zoid came with a new sticker sheet and a miniature figure of Blake instead of the regular pilot figure.
Related Zoids
Berserk Fury is part of a 'Fuzor' known as Buster Fury. This Fuzor Zoid combines the Fury and the Buster Eagle. Further information on this combination can be found in the Buster Eagle article.
The Gairyuki is a derivative of the Berserk Fury design. The core body of the two Zoid models is shared, and in the Battle Story, the Gairyuki is based on the same Wild Zoid as the Berserk Fury.
ja:バーサークフューラー