"Then it's agreed! I officially declare this match a submission robattle! As such, I, Mr. Referee, will act as referee so no one gets hurt. Medafighters ready? Medabots... Robattle!"
Medabots, also known as Medarot, was originally a Japanese video game series that was later released as an anime. The first videogame of the series was released in 1997 for the Game Boy, and it also led to several spinoffs coming in the next 7 years. The main series had a resting pause of 5 years before having a new entry in the franchise, known as Medarot DS, released in 2009 for the portable console, Nintendo DS. In 2012, Medabots 7: Kabuto ver./Kuwagata ver. was released for the Nintendo 3DS. There's currently a campaign to get Medabots 7 a Western localization.The anime series is supposed to be about robots who fight each other, but most of the show is just wacky hijinks. It's the heartwarming tale of robot dog fights, ridiculous plot devices and poorly edited on-screen text. It stands out from other 90s dub anime for its surprisingly dark undertones, relatively solid plot, and the fact that it wasn't afraid to poke fun at itself.In 22nd century Japannote in reality, 202X, everybody and their grandmother (literally) has a Robot Buddy, manufactured by the Medabot Corporation and creatively called Medabots (robots powered by medals which effectively serve as their brains).Ikki Tenryou is a plucky ten year old whose parents won't buy him a Medabot, and he refuses to save his allowance for one. One fateful day, he finds a medal in the river near his house. He takes what little money he does have and buys an extremely outdated model called Metabee from the Hop Mart store clerk Hikaru (Henry in the dub), and promptly activates it. It then proceeds to quite beautifully not work. Up until the point where Ikki calls him a piece of junk and quickly realizes why you shouldn't call Metabee that. The worst part is that Ikki can't even eject Metabee's medal to make him stop. The good news, Ikki finally got his Medabot. The bad news, the Medabot has a serious attitude problem.Wacky robot hijinks ensue, including characters with multiple (and mistaken) identities, long repeated flashbacks, and a of course a Tournament Arc. Oh, and they save the world at one point. From... themselves.A sequel series, Medabot Spirits (Medarot Damashii) followed up the original, but is largely considered to be inferior due to a majority of the characters being dropped without any explanation, while Ikki and Metabee (the latter given a Shonen Upgrade) remain the main characters.Not to be confused with medibot.
TV Tropes! Ro-Battle!:
A Day in the Limelight: Rokusho gets his own spotlight episode in "I Dream of Hushi", where we learn about his past and helps a widow defend her husband's Oak Tree with Ikki and Medabee as supporting characters.
Both Spike and Cyandog have their own spotlight episode in "Cyandog Bites Back".
The Abridged Series: A rather... surreal one known as Metabridged which re-imagines the series as an attempt to make a web-series.
Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Student Council in Ikki's school is an averted version of this. Not only the Student Council President's Doctor Study/Dr. Bokchoy lost to Kikuhime/Samantha's Peppercat, and lost their Council Room... they also reccur to Ikki to recover it.
Ace Custom: In the anime, Arc-Beetle is one of the strongest Medabots in the world and has never lost a single Robattle. It should be noted the Arc-Beetle is powered by a rare medal and his Medafighter is Space-Medafighter X/Phantom Renegade aka Henry/Hikaru Agata
Affectionate Nickname: Some characters who are in strong friendships with their Medabots, will give them a name, aside from just referring to them as their official serial type/number; the greatest anime example is Arika, who calls her SLR-1 Sailor-Multi, Brass. In games universe Ikki himself is the greatest example, as his friendship with Metabee is limited to the medal itself, so the bodies KBT-1 Metabee, KBT-50 Saikichis and KBT-4 Arc-Beetle, are all Metabee to him. Kirara is another example carried on in the videogames, since her Sailor-Mate is called Alumi.
Alternate Continuity: Boy howdy, does the franchise ever run on this. Not only do the anime and manga's plots slightly differ, but the games pretty much retell the main plot for each sequel (if a different cast of characters isn't involved)!
And Then What?: When the Rubberrobo Gang tricked Metabee into thinking Ikki abandoned him, they temped him with a chance to revenge. It wasn't enough as Metabee asked what he'd do after that.
Angrish: Metabee, in the English dub at least, generally accompanied by the "Ki!Ki!Ki!" noise he makes when excited or under stress.
Animation Bump: "Welcome to Ninja World," 7th episode of the second dub season and 14th of the first Japanese season, has a noticeably different art style and animation tone, with the characters moving much more exaggeratedly and the battle being way more dynamic and detailed. Consequently, a good chunk of the opening, the English one anyway, uses action scenes from this episode, much more so than any other single episode.
Anti-Hero: Kaitou Retort/Phantom Renegade. Despite being a thief, he has his own motives to rob medals, and such he has done some heroic things in the process, such as rescuing Rokusho from the Roborobo/Rubberrobo Gang, and helping out Ikki and his friends in the Final Battle.
In the games this is also played as a help for the main character (that being mostly Ikki or Azuma when the former asumes the Kaitou Retort role) because he also wants to stop the Roborobo (or their later incarnation). Lady Retort/Phantom Lady is also an example for being a sidekick of sorts to Retort (she does not appear in MDS or M7).
Art Evolution: From Horumarin's Medarot designs used in the first videogame in 1997, through the manga adaptation and for the next 7 years, his art has changed notoriously. Even more when you see Medarot DS designs that he worked in 2008-2009.
Art Shift: Episode 14 was drawn in a much different art style. Given that the Episode was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, of Gurren Lagann fame.
Berserk Button: Do NOT call Metabee defective. Or a piece of crap.
Betty and Veronica: Hikaru's relationship with Kirara and Nae in Medarot. Kirara is Betty and Nae is Veronica. Of course this change since the events of M2, since Hikaru is in a relationship with Kirara.
Bishie Sparkle: Lampshaded Played straight, but over-the-top.
Broken Ace: Somewhat averted with Uchuu Medarotter X/Space Medafighter X. Or should we say, Hikaru Agata? Hikaru was a great medafighter when he was a kid, then the Ten Days of Darkness happens. He not only lost his best friend (Metabee) in the course of it but his friendship with American representative, Joe Swihan, and Egyptian representative, Patra. He had to low his profile since then and became a Convenience Store clerk (and a Phantom Thief). Fanon usually gives him more angst than usual, but it is only left to interpretation. Other incarnations of Hikaru don't play with this trope, though. He is more of a Retired Badass... but people don't believe he is that.
Bruce Lee Clone: Ikki robattles one (Dragon Ryuuchirou) in episode 27.
Butt Monkey: To a smaller extent, Cyandog/Crosserdog and Iwanoi/Spike; Cyandog is a poor fighter because his medal isn't of the properly compatible type. A monkey medal, no less.
Don't forget Mr. Referee. Somehow, he is never hurt by any of his own antics.
The Rubber-Robo Gang have their moments, especially Seaslug.
Cerebus Syndrome: After episode 25, the show got much more serious. Especially the parts involving the Ten Days of Darkness.
Charlie Brown From Outta Town: During the Tournament Arc, the identity of Uchuu Medarotter/Space Medafighter X is used by several different people to act as the third member of team Japan. This is probably cheating, but whatever (this is technically an inversion).
Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys: Team France in the Tournament Arc, who kidnap their opponents in every match so that they win by default. When they do try and fight, they get their butts handed to them.
Chekhov's Gun: In Episode 8, Metabee wins a Decoy Claw from Norbert's Kuraba, a Medapart that's effective for hand to hand combat - which makes it a perfect match for Cyandog's Monkey medal.
This applies to many of the Medaparts Metabee wins. The Invisiarm he wins from Multikolor in Episode 17 allows him to counter Sumilidon's Shadow Sword attack in Episode 34.
The web shooting arm won in Episode 20 comes in handy in Episode 32, when Metabee sticks down one of Shrimplips' Medabots, meaning it couldn't dodge an incoming attack from one of it's teammates - funny, considering Ikki won the part from Shrimplips in the first place.
Combat by Champion: In "Ban All Medabots", some Medabots owned by punks broke into the school the main characters attend. When the students called their medabots to defend it, an all-on-all battle ensued until Rokusho interrupted it and suggested each side selected a champion to have less wounded than an all-on-all fight would have.
Combat Pragmatist: Victor. Is not above using his teammates' Medabots as sacrifices to either take out an enemy Medabot or protect Warbandit.
Comic Book Adaptation: The videogames (the main series) led first to the creation of the manga, drawn and written by the games' and character' designer Horumarin, published by the now-defunct Comic Bon Bon, in Kodansha (Medarot DS was published in Dengeki Nintendo for Kids). It rolls both in type I and II.
A manga tie-in for Medarot 7 was being published, now by Shueisha, in Saikyo JUMP and V-Jump, now drawn by Yasuki Tanaka.
Confusion Fu: Space Medafighter X's shtick... sort of. The real X's Arcbeetle is simply ferociously powerful, but during the Tournament Arc a different Medafighter impersonates him in each round, making his strategy difficult to predict as "he" brings a different Medabot to each match.
Cool Mask: Kaitou Retort/Phantom Renegade (and by extension, Uchuu Medarotter X/Space Medafighter X)'s mask. Also counting, in minor degree, Lady Retort's in the videogame.
Crazy-Prepared: Karin can be a nice little Moe, but she's always ready if you need to climb a wall, cross a bridge taken by a bully or even blow up a security door.
It pretty much runs in the family because in the first season finale, Karen's Uncle, Dr. Aki knew that Dr. Meta-Evil would use a giant Medabot to conquer the world. So, he secretly constructed a giant Metabee.
Creepy Child: The Ankle Biters and Kam from Spirits
Cultural Translation: Borders on Gag Dub at times. Notable in that most characters' names were kept, and the location of the show was clearly stated to be Japan in the dub.
Curse Cut Short: In Episode 6, where Metabee is tied up to attract aliens for Erika's news story.
Metabee: I'm gonna get sassy on your-
(cut to Henry's shop)
Henry: -bad mode central.
Cut Himself Shaving: Henry used that excuse to justify an injury he got as the Phantom Renegade. It worked despite the injury being on his forehead.
Their former boss is the most classic example of a Yanki.
Dating Catwoman: A flipped aversion. Ms. Caviar/Ms. Karasumi falls in love with Seaslug/Sakekaasu, at the moment he infiltrates the Medarot corporation and eventually, reveals his true intentions. She tries for all the possible motives to get to him (even filling the Space Medafighter x/Uchuu Medarotter X role at the final Tournament. At the final, however, her long-lost belover just accepts her (after the Roborobo Gang part their own ways, except for him), making her a new member of the gang.
Demoted to Extra: When Medarot 2 was released and it was put into a Time Skip of twelve years by the end of the events of the first game, Hikaru and Kirara were demoted as side-characters to make room for Ikki and co. Meanwhile other M1 characters were put to Out of Focus, Hikaru served as a seller and mentor to Ikki, and Kirara was put in the Medarot Corporation (and both take the identities of phantom thieves, Kaitou Retort and Lady Retort).
This also was repeated when Medarot DS was released to make room for Azuma, now this time was for Ikki and Arika.
Depending on the Artist: The series has a fairly consistent design for all media, at least in the robots designs, whose Horumarin is one of the main designers of them. He is also the designer for the humans in the games and their respective manga adaptation (at least until the DS sequel). In the other hand, we have the anime characters' design made by Tokuyuki Matsutake, that were used pretty much used not only in the anime and 'Damashii' and related merchandise, but also onwards in-game graphics for the characters from Medarot 3 to 4, too. For Medarot 7, the designs of the characters also changed, not only because Horumarin was stated to be not the main designer of the characters (but more on the medarot side), but also to give them a more fresh look.
There is also the artist of navi whose robot designs are more on the robotic side. He was also the main artist for the side-manga of 'Medarotter Rintarou'.
Deserted Island: In the manga adaptation of Medarot 2, the final battle between Dr. Hebereke and Ikki and friends happens in an Island that was formerly a propierty of the Select Corps.
Disproportionate Retribution: One episode has a group of old women want to round up the Medabots of every kid in school... simply because the Roborobo gang ran over one's beauty products.
Actually it was one women manipulating the rest. Once the rest found out that they did all that work just to get revenge for 40 bucks of beauty supplies they turned on her.
Doujinshi: Besides the usual ones that the fandom does, there is special credit to Meda 2043, that was made by no other than the game's designer/manga artist Horumarin under the pseudonym of Horu0rin. This was made around 2007-2008 when the Medarot franchise was in whole limbo, and Horumarin did this because he still had interest in the franchise. When MDS was announced to be in development, there have been theories that he stopped publishing it because his involvement with the game.
Some concepts used in the doujinshi were applied and improved better later in the DS game.
Drill Mole: Digmole, Coach Mountain's Medabot, is a construction Medabot with drills for hands and on its nose.
Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The reshuffle of episodes that Nelvana considered filler later in the series. This not only affecting the 'one week before the World Championship' thing, but also some minor things as the introduction of Oceana (who became a victim of Die for Our Ship by viewers for the ship of the Metabee/Brass pairing), the random appearances of Rokusho after he went strictly to search the meaning of his life, the introduction of the Roborobo Gang (seriously, who felt a bit uncomfortable that there were merchandising of them as aliens if they were known villains?) or the sudden dissapearance of recently introduced secondary characters, especially Rintarou.
Also the most facepalmed example of all, the naming of Metabee. It was clearly in the original version that Hikaru named him, meanwhile in the dub it wasn't Henry but Ikki... come 45 episodes later and Nelvana tried to fix their mistake in the dub...
Dub Name Change: There are countless examples, going from medabots and characters, but here are some examples-
Kaitou Retort = Phantom Renegade
Robo-Robo Gang = Rubber-Robo Gang
Beast-Master = Robo-Emperor
Saint-Nurse = Neutra-Nurse
Dub Text: Non-sexual example. Metabee's aforementioned portrayal as an Angry Black Man comes off as a sort of twisted lampshading of the master/slave relationship present in most Mon shows.
Expressive Mask: Phantom Renegade and, to an unexplained lesser extent, Space Medafighter X.
Expy: Roks in Spirits looks enough like Put on a Bus Rokusho to invite confusion. It gets even worse later on, when several Kilobots end up being pretty blatant redesigns of season 1 and 2 'bots Sumilidon, Warbandit, Arcbeetle and others.
In the games, this is a Must-Rule, since it is an RPG, and it's somehwat in the same veins as the Pokémon games. Especially in the trio of troublemakers. Kikuhime, Iwanoi and Kageyama from Medarot 2 and the anime) are these to Iseki, Yanma and Kubota from the original Medarot game (this also includes their respective medabots!). This is also repeating in Medarot DS, with the Willows and even Azuma takes the role of ther leader later in that game!.
Fanboy: Rintarou is an illustrative example in the anime. He is mostly an Uchuu Medarotter X fan... to the point that it is annoying. He was also the only one to guess at the first time that X was Hikaru Agata, because he was also a fan of him before being a medarotter,... however, without implying that he was also Hikaru-nii-chan... hilarity ensues .
Finishing Move: Metabee's Reaction Missiles, replaced halfway through the series by the Medaforce when they become So Last Season.
Five-Bad Band: The Main Members of the Rubber-Robo Gang consists of...
Flashback: There are plenty of examples. Which includes Rokusho's Memories with his master, Professor Hushi, and any flashback involving the "Ten Days of Darkness".
Franchise Killer: Believe it or not, by the time Medarot 5 (12/2001) was released, the sales of the entire series declined more and more in Japan, in comparison to the first one. The factor that has to be blamed was the short span of time the games had between their releases (almost one per year, with the examplified Medarot 5, that was released the same year as 'Medarot 4), and also the series was becoming a bit of a Franchise Zombie with the several spin offs that were released and the over-exposition it also had in those years. The last game of Medarot that was released before Medarot DS (in 2010) was Shingata: Medarot, for the GBA, in 2004.
Freak Out: In Episode 24, Koji's fear of bugs manages to go overboard after bumping into a whole hoard of the critters and he pretty much freaks the hell out and orders Sumilidon to attack anything which so much looks like a bug which, unfortunately, appears to be everything Koji sees in this state.
Freudian Excuse: After his mom died when he was little and his father put more importance into his work rather than spending time with him, Kam is driven to create the most strongest Kilobots.
Friendly Enemy: Spike is friendly with Ikki and Arika on occasion. Later the whole Screws gang becomes this.
Genki Boy: Rintarou. Oh, Rintarou... In the anime, he is pretty energetic...
Gentleman Thief: Phantom Renegade is a parody of these kinds of characters, especially KaitouKid.
AndTuxedo Kamen. His manga counterpart's suit is a great Shout Out to him at least in design... Just get rid off that mask and give him one as he uses and a rose, and voilá.
Furthermore, in the second episode, Metabee finds a watermelon in his way. He suddenly can't resist temptation and crawls over to it while laughing, "kekekeke!" Did we mention Metabee has an African-American voice actor? Of course this is covered over with Metabee being a beetle-type medabot who can't resist watermelons and sounds like a beetle.
He Who Must Not Be Seen: Dr. Meta-Evil, until episode 38. Which was subverted at the end of the episode. Where we discover that the Dr. Meta-Evil we saw was a robotic duplicate. The real Dr. Meta-Evil won't show up until episode 50.
Heel Face Turn: Kam from Spirits. After all of the trouble he caused, Metabee, Roks, Arc-Dash, Tyrrellbeetle, and Blakbeetle ( While in Gryphon ) save him from the fire in his father's company building that he caused. While at the Hospital, everyone, including Blakbeetle, not only forgive him, but it looks like they will become his friends.
Heroes Love Dogs: Ikki has Salty in both the anime and videogames. Hikaru had Bonaparte at least in the first videogame (and manga adaptation).
Another example is Spike and his Medabot Cyandog/Crosserdog, who ironically is powered by a monkey medal.
Hero of Another Story: There were several hints through out the series that Henry/Hikaru was this before the Ten Days of Darkness happened. Which makes sense as he was the main protagonist of the first game.
I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When Ikki, Erika and Metabee pretended to be students of Rosewood Academy to sneak in there and the doorman asked why they weren't wearing their uniforms, the told the spilled caviar on it and their butler would bring them later. (It was a school for rich kids) The Screws tried the same excuse but their leader ruined it by stating they spilled caviar on their butler.
Identity Impersonator: Because after the events that lead the finding that Uchuu Medarotter X/Space Medafighter X was also Kaitou Retort/Phantom Renegade, not only the Select Corps would be increasing a bit of the security of the World Champioship, but also the rules establish that if one of the contestants of any team is absent is immediate disqualification, both Akihabara and Hikaru were troubled to know what to do at this. The best solution was that Hikaru would be calling anyone of the kids to take his identity during the matches and because he had to do some jobs at his work too to not rise suspicions.
Those that were in the Uchuu Medarotter disguise were: Karin, the Screws and Ms. Karasumi. Huge exception was of course the day of the match between Japan vs USA.
Idol Singer: The Sweden Team, the Charming Musume (probably a parody or Shout Out to Morning Musume) who are the non-Japanese example in the series, who were doing trap thanks to their charms. Until... you know...
Ill Girl: In the manual for one of the games, Karin is said to have a heart condition where she will die or at least go into critical condition if her heart rate gets too high.
Image Song: Though Chie to Yuuki da! Medarot and Yappari Kimi ga Suki! are the respective opening and ending of the original Medarot series, they are also sung by Metabee and Arika's voice actors, and such, they could be considered image songs of them. The series also counted with several releases of character songs: Karin, Rokusho, the Screws, Ikki & Metabee and the Roborobos also had theirs.
Intergenerational Friendship: Hikaru/Henry is this to Ikki. Given that they're 18 and 10 years old respectively.
Japanese Delinquents: Ikki and Arika disguise as these just to help Cyandog to show Spike/Iwanoi that he could improve his skills to both become better partners.
In episode 18, the Roborobos are dressed like them. And even act like them. It is implied that Sakekaasu/Seaslug used to be a delinquent (or just wanted to be one) when he was younger.
Jerkass: Victor. He gets better by the end, though.
Limit Break: The Medaforce. Normally reserved only for robots with Rare Medals, the Medaforce puts all the robot's energy into one attack. However, problems arise from it. As shown from Rokusho's use, the Medabots is no longer able to fight because of their lack of energy, thus leaving them up for attacks. As a possible side effect, after using the Medaforce, Rokusho's weapons broke from contact upon attacking.
Sumilidon taps into it during the penultimate fight in the Tournament Arc, earning an Oh Crap reaction from pretty much everyone. It happens again during the final against Team Kenya, but Warbandit survives it by using Rhinorush as a shield.
In the manga this is played... awfully. Not only the Medaforce absorbs all the energy of the medabots, but they suffer from it (it boils them if it's not controlled), to the point of EVEN destroy them. Without mentioning all the jazz about them becoming Ax Crazy and mindless.
Love Triangle: In the games there will be at least a love triangle between the characters. Or at least, each of the four main protagonists from the principal series fall to this in some moments. The mechanics of the games somewhat help in to which girl the hero is going to be more reliable to end when the game is finished. However, Canon is that Hikaru (M1) ends up with Kirara... but Nae keeps moving on with her life and Ikki (M2-M4) is somewhat attracted to Arika (given the fact that Karin doesn't appear in MDS).
In the anime this is most played towards Ikki with Arika and Karin... throwing in the mix Kouji, and Kikuhime...
MacGuffin: The Rare-Medals. They are described to be from an ancient civilization of Medabots eons ago. Also, Rare-Medals have the ability to give Medabots a power known as the Medaforce. The only Medabots known to possess Rare-Medals are Metabee, Rokusho, Arc-Beetle, and Warbandit.
Mad Scientist: Dr. Metaevil of the Rubber Robo Gang.
Meaningful Name: Doubles because of the Theme Naming but the real names of the Roborobo gang in the Japanese version and English Dub happens to be punnames of their aliases.
Medaton-Punch: One particular Medabot, Belzelga. When a member of the Quirky Miniboss Squad took control of the prototype, it proceeded to display it's punching ability. As in, it OHKO'd any part of whoever it hit. (again, sorry)
Blackram, which is of the same model, supposedly has similar punching abilities. We see two of them in the anime, but sadly, neither of them lasts long enough to showcase their power.
Mind Screw: The season finale for the original series.
Mistaken for Profound: Some of the smartest things are said by people meaning compeltely different things.
Mistaken for Servant: When Ikki first saw Karin cleaning at the school and mentioning about going to clean a toilet, he assumed she was poor and needed to do menial work to pay for tuition. Ikki's initial assumption (that Karin was performing those chores as punishment) sounds more logical than either the second one (Karin being poor) or the truth (that she actually enjoys doing the chores).
The Mole: Sakekaasu/Seaslug is this when he infiltrates the Medarot Corporation.
Mon: Type I. In the case of the videogames, it pretty much follows the leader, since Medarot 1 (Game Boy) was released a year after Pokémon Red & Green. But it differs in certain things: the player collects parts of other medabots to build much better ones, and there are certain relationships to rise with the main character's female friends.
Though the anime follows it directly (and also have strikes of Type II), Ikki just only collects parts of medabots to conveniently use them in battle's strategies or when he doesn't have the parts of Metabee at hand.
My Little Panzer: You have preteens playing around with robots whose firepower can crater steel and smash concrete and some of them (lookin' at you Metabee) have no qualms about firing on their controllers. How is this kid-safe again?
The main animation studios in which both series were done: Bee Train & Production I.G (who took the mantle in Damashii, alongside Trans Arts).
National Stereotypes: Just imagine that 2/3 of the representative teams in the World Championship are full of these (from representatives, and even medabots). With the exception (maybe) of Japan, Iceland, Sweden...
No Export for You: Several games did not leave Japan. The ones which did was because the then-current anime boom was having in the west: Medarot 2 Core was released as Medabots for GBA, Medabots AX, also for GBA and Medabots Infinity for GameCube, all of which were released in 2003. Currently, the main series still lives with Medarot 7 on the Nintendo 3DS, as of 2012.
Also, the manga. The manga adaptation of Medarot 2 was the only one to be licensed in the United States thanks to Viz Media as a 'tie-in' for the anime series. The sequels, including Medarot G, Medarotter Rintarou and the manga adaptation of Medarot Navi weren't ever licensed. Somewhat averted, at least, in Singapore, since Chuang Yi translated into English Medarot 2 through Medarot 4.
No Mouth: Most, if not all, Medabots. The main cast alone can fill this.
Oblivious to Love: Karin is oblivious to Ikki's and Kouji's feelings for her.
Ocular Gushers: And Metabee doesn't even have real eyes to do it with!
Off Model: Several times throughout the series, the human characters' hands switch between five and four fingered hands due to the (rather) blobby art style.
More notable in Damashii, thanks to the change of the animation studios.
Oh Crap: Dr. Meta-Evil's reaction to when the giant Metabee was about to ram him in the season finale.
The Ojou: Karin, who is also just the sweetest little girl you've never met.
Older and Wiser: Hikaru is this to Ikki in the videogames mostly, since he was the original protagonist of the first game. He also leads this role (somewhat) in the anime series.
Ikki is this himself when he is older in Medarot DS and Medarot 7, to a more younger protagonist, this being Azuma.
Once per Episode: Mr. Referee pops out from a random place and does his standard pre-battle speech, as seen at the top. This includes; coming out of the ocean, flying down from a helicopter/airplane, crawling up a burning rooftop, and already appearing to begin with.
Also, the chicken-seller, whose sales pitch is inevitably mistaken for Yoda-esque wisdom.
One Game for the Price of Two - The games play this straight, then subvert it with the Parts Collections. The Parts Collection games were Gaiden Games with slightly different rules(normally winning a match gets you 1 randomly-selected part the opponent used, in Parts Collection you get a complete set of parts for a specific bot) designed specifically to get around the obstacle of not knowing anyone with the other edition.
One of the Kids: Hikaru plays straight this in both the anime and the videogames.
In the anime it is assumed he is in his late-teens, but since he has been interacting with young medarotters in the Hopmart, he sometimes acts like someone of their age.
In Medarot 2, after being demoted from the main protagonist, he is described as in being in his early 20s, studying for college, trying to balance his love relationship with Kirara, working parttime in the Convenience Store, being a Phantom Thief at night... and overall, likes to play with medarots.
Out of Focus: In Medarot 5, Ikki and co. are put through this to make much more focus to a new protagonist. However, the game does happens around the same town as Ikki's adventures went through in M2-M4 and about some months later after the events of M4. This was the first game since M2 to use a new protagonist, however it didn't worked out so much (also the franchise was becoming overexploded back then)... until 7 years later when MDS was announced to be in development.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Hikaru/Henry takes this trope to new heights, not only somehow managing to keep everybody in the dark about how Space Medafighter X and Phantom Renegade are the same person despite the only real difference being a tuxedo instead of a jumpsuit and a different colored mask, but also that he's The legendary Medafighter, Hikaru Agata. It makes somewhat more sense in the dub, where Hikaru changed his name to Henry on purpose, but no such measure was taken in the original.
Though, him being Hikaru Agata, could be Fridge Logic used in the original version of the anime, too.. since the kids never knew Hikaru's last name, and he was only referred as 'Hikaru-nii-chan' by them, and that there could be several 'Agata' out there. They never suspected...
Police Are Useless: Averted. Especially in the manga. The Select Corps are always behind the strange stuff that happen in the city, that being in other things, the presence of the Roborobos or Kaitou Retort doing his stuff. The police is always there protecting the city and the country. The chief almost all the time gets stressed by these happenings...
In the anime series, in the other hand, they only show when serious stuff REALLY happens. When the Roborobos (the mooks, especially) or Kaitou Retort (being a well known thief) get serious, of course.
Portmanteau: The tile of the franchise in Japan is a Gratuitous English portmanteau of Medal Robot. The one used for the Nelvana dub and almost everywhere is a more correct pronunciated form of Medal Robots'.
Metabee (and other several medabots) is also a bit of this. In M1 is mostly the portmanteau nickname of Metal Beetle, the first model of KBT used in the franchise, but when M2 is released, Metabee is used as the new model of KBT. In the anime, though there is no original model of KBT (and KWG) used in the first game , Hikaru goes with the name of Metabee's model as Metal Beetle, and lately it is named as Metabee.
Rainbow Pimp Gear: Medabot arms and legs are detachable, and in addition the loser of a battle must give a part of his bot to the winner. Thus, occasionally one might see Medabots with mismatched arms and legs that don't fit the body at all, either for strategic reasons or because they lost the original parts to someone.
Robot War: The Ten Days of Darkness, an event where nearly every Medabot in the world went crazy and almost destroyed the world eight years ago. This event almost repeated itself if it wern't for the efforts of Ikki and Metabee.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Due to a series of accidents with a Batman Gambit thrown in: Karin finds Rokusho's old friend. Rokusho asks to help the parrot just before seeing it's Baton, who was one of Dr Hushi's creations. Karin and Rokusho go to Dr Aki, who was one of Hushi's assistances, and see if they can fix Baton with Aki's technology. Upon partically fixing Baton, Baton's memory kicks in and Rokusho hears that it was Aki who burned Hushi's home to the ground. Aki runs in with an axe on accident to alert Karin that Rubber-Robo Members were stalking around the house. Cue rampage with paranoia.
Running Gag: Mr. Referee, who always manages to always be where the principal characters are in order to officiate the robottle about to happen. It's lampshaded in the Tournament Arc when the WMF announcer cites this as what Mr. Referee is known for.
Ikki: "I wonder what he does when he isn't refereeing..."
Scarf of Asskicking: Uchuu Medarotter X/Space Medafighter X wears one. If that wasn't necessary to show how badass he is. Counting double since his complete outfit is a Shout Out to Kamen Rider.
Self-Made Man: Dr. Aki sold patents of some medabot models to other companies to have the money to start Medabot Corporation.
Anime: The Medaforce, supposedly the strongest expression of Medabot power, is shown to be completely useless against Kilobots in the first episode of Spirits until later on
Video Games: Ikki's KBT Medabots, in contrast to the anime where he holds dear Metabee's medal and body, in the games he mostly cares about the medal, so it's pretty much guaranteed that he will upgrade Metabee to a newer KBT model between games:
Ship Sinking: In the games universe this happens at least twice, Hikaru has a close relationship with Nae and Kirara in M1, but canon-speaking, he ends up with Kirara in M2. In MDS, after long 9 years of absence since M4, it is implied that Ikki maybe does not show so much of feelings towards Arika, besides being 'friends... it is justified, though, since they were sided as helping characters rather than protagonists, also Karin does not fit in the equation either (not even a mention of her in the game), as neither does Nae.
Spell My Name with an S: Poor Arika. Or is it Erica or Erika? (Although the latter two variants really only show up if you're using the dub as a basis...)
This is pretty much averted in the videogames, since Nae Akihabara is introduced to the player as an intern working in the Medarot Corporation in the first game, she then becomes regular in the next games.
Taking Up The Mantle: In the game universe, Ikki becomes the new Phantom Renagade in Medarot DS, as well as working at the Hop Mart, to outright placing Metabee's medal in an Arc-Beetle.
Talking to Himself: Common in the dub; but in both Japanese and English, Kikuhime/Samantha and Brass are played by the same voice actress.
Expanded a little bit in the Japanese version too, since Kikuhime and Brass also share the seiyuu of Ikki's mom.
Teleport Spam: The secret weapon of the American team in the World Championship.
Terrible Quintet: The Roborobo Gang's inspiration is obvious in this regard, though towards the end their individual names and personalities and unique appearances are revealed just as they're finally discovered to be Not-So-Harmless Villain.
Time Skip: This is played between the first game (2010) and the second (2022), since twelve years have passed. And, it also happens again between Medarot 5 (the fifth game of the series) and Medarot DS, with another 9-8 years.
Too Dumb to Live: The Roborobo Gang once mistook a Medabot for having a rare medal simply because it won a battle without moving. They apparently didn't see the fact that Ikki had made Metabee a series of paper "aeroparts" (Medaparts that allow the user to fly) and Metabee couldn't control them. During the final battle in spirits, Ikki lures Kam and Gryphon to the power plant of the Kilobot company building by placing Metabee, Arc-Dash, and Roks onto the rim of it, believing that Kam will give up the fight and not risk blowing up the building. Oh how wrong he was...
In episode 26, after the Phantom Renegade introduces himself to the Rubber-Robo Gang, Gilgirl commented that they already know who he is and said that they're not dumb enough to fall for his tricks. Then the Phantom said that the Rubber-Robo gang are geniuses. Then, the Phantom quickly says, "Look, it's the Phantom Renegade!" and the Rubber-Robo gang turn around and said "Where?". Then, the Phantom Renegade threw a smoke-bomb and fled off with Rokusho.
Theme Naming: Each of the members of the Roborobo Gang is named for some kind of seafood. Dub-wise, the Screws all have names beginning with "S", and the Rubberrobos have had their names changed to simply be sea creatures.
Theme Tune Cameo: Mostly noted in the original version of the original series, but the Anime Theme Song itself and the ending appeared as tunes in the anime series. The first one pretty much when Metabee is going to have his heroic moments; the other one is listened through the episode where the school building is completely buried in snow, in a radio. Also several of the Image Songs have appeared in some moments of the series, mostly the ones of the Screws and an Ikki and Metabee duet.
The English dub also counts with the opening theme used as part of the battles' soundtrack.
Tsundere: Arika is somewhat of a Type-B. Kikuhime/Samantha is a Type-A who is a little heavy on tsun and very rarely shows her dere side...
Twenty Minutes into the Future: The videogames (Medarot to Medarot DS) and the manga happen between 2010-2033. Medabots were partially developed during the 70s...
Though it is an Alternate Continuity from the original source of the franchise, the anime series is debatable happening around the 2020s in the original version (the timeline of Medarot 2 through 4, where the anime is sort-of based on, happens in that decade) but changed to the 22nd century in the English dub. Also a proof of Technology Marches On, since the anime series was done in 1999-2001... and there are still VCRs in the future?
Unsettling Gender Reveal: Ikki, Kouji, and Kagiyama during their match against Team Sweden, who are presented as a trio of beautiful Idol Singers, but who are actually Roborobos... MALE Roborobos.
Verbal Tic: This is applied in both versions of the anime, but it's more noticeable in the Japanese one with the Rubber-Robo Gang, since they usually end their sentences with the word robo.
Speaking of, when Surumi fights as herself she has a noticeable accent verbal tic at the end of her sentences. This is, however, not used when she is in her Roborobo identity.
Video Game Remake: The original Medarot game for Game Boy was released as Medarot: Perfect Edition for the Bandai's WonderSwan in 1999 and Medarot: True Type (or Shingata: Medarot) for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 (with whole different characters and redesigns, and whole different graphics and music compared to its original game, using the engine of Medarot 2 CORE). Medarot 2 got this treatment too, released as Medarot 2 CORE in 2002/2003 for the GBA.
Wave Motion Gun: Several Medabots have this attack. A prime example is Arc-Beetle's signature attack, the Prominence. The Medaforce also acts like this.
You Are in Command Now: Dr. Meta-Evil put Shrimplips in charge of the Rubber-Robo Gang after Seaslug made too many failures.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In Episode 51, Dr. Meta-Evil fired his henchmen and said that he only used them to have all the world's Medabots dominate the earth.
.The anime series is supposed to be about robots who fight each other, but most of the show is just wacky hijinks. It's the heartwarming tale of robot dog fights, ridiculous plot devices and poorly edited on-screen text. It stands out from other 90s dub anime for its surprisingly dark undertones, relatively solid plot, and the fact that it wasn't afraid to poke fun at itself.In 22nd century Japannote , everybody and their grandmother (literally) has a Robot Buddy, manufactured by the Medabot Corporation and creatively called Medabots (robots powered by medals which effectively serve as their brains).Ikki Tenryou is a plucky ten year old whose parents won't buy him a Medabot, and he refuses to save his allowance for one. One fateful day, he finds a medal in the river near his house. He takes what little money he does have and buys an extremely outdated model called Metabee from the Hop Mart store clerk Hikaru (Henry in the dub), and promptly activates it. It then proceeds to quite beautifully not work. Up until the point where Ikki calls him a piece of junk and quickly realizes why you shouldn't call Metabee that. The worst part is that Ikki can't even eject Metabee's medal to make him stop. The good news, Ikki finally got his Medabot. The bad news, the Medabot has a serious attitude problem.Wacky robot hijinks ensue, including characters with multiple (and mistaken) identities, long repeated flashbacks, and a of course a Tournament Arc. Oh, and they save the world at one point. From... themselves.A sequel series, Medabot Spirits (Medarot Damashii) followed up the original, but is largely considered to be inferior due to a majority of the characters being dropped without any explanation, while Ikki and Metabee (the latter given a Shonen Upgrade) remain the main characters.Not to be confused with medibot.
0 reviews