Hi all!
The Amateur Collector here and today I have am awesome collectable figurine to show off from an old show I use to love watching as a wee wipper snapper (okay, maybe not THAT old, but fairly old).
This is a figure of Metabee from the Medabots franchise.
First a little bit about the franchise: Medabots, alternatively Medarot, is a Japanese cartoons, manga and video game franchise based on large sentient robotic toys used to fight each other by children. It's essentially Pokémon with robots, but there is a twist to it (that I shan't spoil!)
Metabee here is the main character from the cartoon series. He is fiercely independent, snarky and temperamental, but very hard working and does develop a strong bond with his human "owner" Ikki.
Now for the toy itself. This one was developed by Bandai, for the D-Arts collection. Although I do not see anything about it on the packaging itself, it seems to have Revoltech maneuverability to it (not sure if that technology was applied to it).
I found this guy in Guangzhou's Comic City area, in a small shop and if memory serves well he cost me about 250RMB (roughly £22) if not cheaper. The box was not in wrapping seal, leading me to believe it is either second hand or taken from the factory. This is sadly pretty common in China. It could just be however that the wrapping seal was taken off to allow customers to look inside and inspect the goods beforehand, something they allowed me to do many times before making a purchase.
Anyways, without further ado, here are some pictures:
The box is a nice bright yellow to go with Metabee's colouring. The little window to view the toy inside is shaped like a Medal (the Medabot's soul/computer chip) which is pretty cool.
The box is a little damaged as you can see, but the figure within is secured very well.
The sides of the boxes are pretty cool. I'm particularly fond of the one that appears to give you Metabee's height measurements.
And here's what's inside!
I won't bother going into too much details in regards to the accessories. Instead I'll just show them on the figure itself via mostly cool poses! =P
Out the packaging...
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... and ready to Robattle!  
Throwing a tantrum again!
  
Time to cool down, remove his medal!
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The movability and pose-ability of this figure is great. The details are also great, not so much in that the figure looks "realistic" or anything, but that they included details in places you wouldn't think they'd need to bother, such as the exoskeleton of the face behind the visor!
I must admit that one of the joints is sadly looser than the other but it doesn't affect the poses, so it's a small fault that I can live with. It is however not the only fault my Metabee came with. As mentioned above, there's a good chance this is second hand or a factory reject that was taken, some of the paint on the sides is worn off and one of the "eye visors" has a blotch on it. Luckily, the paint is not noticeable unless you look closely, and the eye blotch is not visible once put on the face.
I'd like to point out how awesome it is that the Medal is included as part of the accessories! I should warn you though, it's veeeerrrry small, so make sure to keep it safe and secure so not to lose it!
Eye blotch! Luckily not noticeable once on the figure.
Teeny Tiny Medal, barely a fraction of my palm.
Behind the mask.
Overall this is a purchase I'm quite happy with. I've seen this figure around on ebay, usually from a HK seller, with the toy itself usually going for around £35 and the shipping being ridiculous (international shipping, amaright?)
This figure is a must for anyone who has nostalgia for this old TV series, or who still follows the franchise (it's still surviving in Japan). It is very posable, not too expensive as far as D-Arts figures go and pretty unique as far as mechas go.
Good news to anyone who want more than just Metabee though, he has one of his old friends/rivals joining him in this collection =D
I'll leave you with that last picture above as a hint to what my next figurine post will be about ;)
Also don't forget that my next Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures series is coming up soon, preparations are on the way!
Lots to do, lots to open, lots to show!
See you all next time!
