More Medabots! More Power!

When you watch a series and a young'un, you often like it, no matter what the content. The true test is to view it as an adult, and see if it holds up. One such series that fits this description is Medabots! More Medabots! More powers!

     In an unknown year sometime in the future, 3 foot tall fighting robots are all the rage among kids. Everyone has one except Ikki Tenryo, our lead. All the kids at school battle them, and Ikki just has to stand by and wait. He finds a medal, the brain of a Medabot in the river, but it takes a situation where his best friend Erika is outnumbered in a MedaBattle (robot fight) for him to break down and buy and older model, an outdated KBT type- Metabee! What he gets is more than he could ask for, a super strong Medabot, with plenty of attitude.

    As most anime series of it's era that were brought over to air on Saturday mornings, this show is pure wish fufillment. Kids fighting with midget robots to save the fate of the world. Not yet, but we'll get there. The first half of the series is Ikki and friends fighting their robots, and gaining experience. The second half, is of course a tournament. It was aired out of order in America, for reasons no one other than Nelvana will ever understand. Especially since it created continuity issues, and made you think you missed episodes. It aired on Fox Kids, and Fox Family over here. Medabots Spirits only aired on Fox Family, as Fox Kids was dead at that point.

The main cast is as follows:
Ikki Tenryo- the lead, kind of an idiot, but he is a kid. The third ranked Medafighter in Japan.
Metabee- a Medabot with an attitude and a rare metal.
Erika- Ikki's photographer best friend, her Metabot is Brass.
Karen- A rich ginger girl, everyone has a crush on her. He Metabot is Nuetranurse. She is undefeated.
Koji- a rich Medafighter, ranked second in Japan. His bot is Sumilidon.
Henry/Hikaru/Phantom Renegade/Space Meda Fighter X- He's awesome, and you could never hope to be half as awesome. A convience store worker who is also a thief who steals rare medals, and the top ranked Medafighter in Japan. His bot is Arc Beetle, a protoype with a rare medal.
Rokusho- A rogue Medabot with a rare medal, and no trainer.

    Medabots was created shortly after Pokemon as a game-boy game about fighting robots instead of monsters. I never really could get into the games, but the anime adaption, now that was something I could get behind. Maybe someday I'll give them another go, but who knows if they're worth it. I heard in the later games Ikki works at a convenience store. That's kind of a let down. Still someday I may be bored enough to give it a go.

   The series obviously take many cues from Pokemon, complete with a gang that steals rare metabots- the rubber robo gang! They're much funnier than team rocket, I assure you. The first third of the series involves them attempting to steal rare medals, Ikki and Metabee stopping them, and repeat. The second arc involves Ikki trying to qualify for the world robattle championships. Ikki needs to be ranked third, as each country takes the top  three Medafighters, and puts them on a team together. To move up in rank, you can only battle new people, so many of Ikki's victories come from fighting the members of the rubber robo gang under their true names. The final arc is the world tournament.

   As the series continues, it becomes apparent that Metabee is a special robot- he can use something called the Medaforce. He essentially charges up, and fires a golden blast of energy, as seen in this gif:

These were all the rage in 2000

  Rokusho, Arc Beetle, and Sumildon also can use this attack. It requires a rare medal, except in
Sumildon's case, where he just has an ancient connection to it. The final arc deals with some actual plot points. During the last tournament, all Medabots went crazy and rebelled, in what will be known as the ten days of darkness. This was caused by Henry's/Hiakru's original Metabee. Something about his rare metal caused all Medabots to go berserk, and the ten days of darkness only lasted that long due to Henry looking for a way to stop the chaos, other than destroying his Metabee's medal. Arcbeetle has this medal, without his memories of that time. The dub screwed up explaining this for whatever reason.

Metabee, ArcBeetle, and Sumilidon.

      The tournament involves Henry giving his Space Medafighter X identity to random Medafighters, as he is wanted by the police, only showing up when he must.To add to the problem some of Henry's old team mates are in the tournament, and still bear him a grudge.This is easily the best part of the series, with all the intrigue and plot twists. Can our team win the tournament ? Will Metabee cause another ten days of darkness ? Who knows! I do, and maybe you too!

    There is a manga as well, but it's not soo good. The art is horrible, and the Medaforce makes you some sort of berserker zombie with mind control over other medals. There's really no plot twists or anything, and the art makes it hard to suffer through. It's for hardcore fans only. The anime is highly recommended to any 90s kids, or the young at heart. If not "it's time to kiss your bot goodbye! MEDAFORCE!!!!"

    I had almost forgotten about the mess that is Medabots Damashii (spirits)! Imagine if they took a show you really liked, changes everything, took out all the characters you loved, and made a boring series! Yep, that's Damashii! Only Ikki, Metabee, and Erika carry over. There is an Arc Beetle, but it's a different one, and a Rokusho known as Rocks. The premise is this spoiled brat named Cam creates Kilobots- souless medabots with jacked up power. The Medaforce does nothing to them, as it relies on the soul of the medabot to take damage, so Medabee gets an upgrade that allows him to transform into an RC car. This somehow helps him, though God Knows why. Eventuallly through love and friendship, the day is saved. I hate this series so. I've seen it through twice, and it's wholly forgettable.

Medabots anime- 9/10
Medabots Damashii- 3/10
Medabots Manga-5/10