Medabots
The series takes place in the future and centers around Medabots, artificially intelligent robots whose purpose is to serve humans. The series begins with Ikki Tenryō, a ten-year-old (nine in the Japanese version) boy who dreams of becoming a champion of the World Robattle Tournament. Ikki cannot afford a Medabot and his parents refuse to buy him one. However, he manages to get enough money to buy an outdated model and finds a medal in a river, which was previously dropped there after the Phantom Renegade thwarted a robbery by members of the Rubberobo Gang. Ikki inserts the medal into the Medabot he purchased, named Metabee. The medal gives Metabee a severe attitude problem, a problem rarely seen in a Medabot, leading Ikki to think that he is defective. However, this theory is proven wrong later in the series, as it is revealed that Metabee actually has a rare medal. Ikki and Metabee fight in Robattles while contending with the Rubberobo Gang and its members Seaslug, Gillgirl, Squidguts, and Shrimplips, who are led by Dr. Armond under the alias Dr. Meta-Evil. In addition, they also encounter the Medabot Rokusho, who was originally owned by Professor Hushi before he was presumed dead in a fire.
The rare medals were kept secret by the mysterious Medabot Corporation. A Medabot with a rare medal would be able to call upon an attack called the "Medaforce". In the manga, the Medaforce is a form of medal mind control, as explained by Dr. Aki in the third graphic novel; in the anime, however, it is shown as a way of increasing the power of a Medabot's special skill into a focused beam attack.
Another important character is Henry, a store clerk who sold Metabee to Ikki and is revealed to be the Phantom Renegade. A running gag in the series was Henry almost revealing he is the Phantom Renegade, but no one ever discovering this fact. Space Medafighter X, another one of Henry's secret identities, is the number one Medafighter in Japan. Later, during the World Finals, he rarely shows up to fights, instead sending substitutes and working behind the scenes. This is because he supposedly started the Ten Days of Darkness, which occurred eight years before the events of the series during the World Robattle Cup when Henry fought as Hikaru Agata with the original Metabee; however, the medal was different. During the Ten Days of Darkness, the Medabots went on a rampage, which stopped when Henry was forced to kill his Medabot by destroying his medal.
At the end of the second season, it is revealed that Victor, a Medafighter for Team Kenya and Warbandit's owner, was helping Dr. Meta-Evil to get medals during the tournament. During the finals, Metabee and Warbandit continue to fight, even with their partners lost and their bodies damaged. During the event, Dr. Meta-Evil starts his plan using Metabee and Warbandit's medals, trapping them in a dream. However, Ikki manages to wake Metabee from the dream, and the other Medabots, now free, help Metabee fight against Dr. Meta-Evil.
Later in the series, Medabots are revealed to be thousands of years old, being remnants of an ancient civilization who called themselves Medalorians. The Medalorians were obsessed with war and, to become more effective warriors, fastened metal armor to themselves. However, their wars decimated the civilization, and the survivors coded their memories onto hexagonal pieces of metal. These "Medals", cloned and mass-produced by the Medabot Corporation founded by Dr. Aki, are the Medabot equivalent of a brain and soul. The original medals, referred to as rare medals, are kept in storage because of the extreme power they have. After Dr. Meta-Evil was defeated, Professor Hushi was revealed to have been saved from aliens as he invites Dr. Meta-Evil with him on a space trip, ultimately resulting in the disbandment of the Rubberobo Gang.
Medarot Damashii (Medabots Spirits)
Medarot Damashii, a sequel to the original series, takes place some time after the events of the original series and follows Ikki and Metabee as they face a new challenge. Kam Kamazaki, a 12-year-old boy, has designed a new and dangerous type of Medabot: Kilobots (known as Death Medarot in the Japanese version), who use the X-Medal. Kilobots have no feelings, since the emotion part of the Medabot medal has been removed and replaced with more strength parts. They can break the rules in order to win a fight, and the Medaforce is useless against them due to their lack of personality. In the first episode, Ikki loses a Robattle to Ginkai and his Kilobot Desperado when it cheats and reloads. He soon meets Nae, a Medabot mechanic and Dr. Aki's granddaughter, who gives Ikki new medaparts in order to defeat Desperado using a new feature called Action Mode, and later on Demolition Mode is introduced as well. Throughout the season, Ikki, Erika, and their new friend Zuru, who secretly operates as the Mystery Medafighter, battle several of Kam's friends and their Kilobots. The Mystery Medfighter's ambition is to rid the world of Kilobots with the help of his Medabot Roks, who resembles Rokusho. Eventually, Ginkai re-discovers the true spirit of medafighting, defects from Kam's side, and returns to using Medabots. Kam also realizes the error of his ways and stops trying to develop stronger and more dangerous Kilobots following the Kilobot Gryphon's defeat, choosing to remain with his Kilobot Blackbettle, who has a personality installed into her X-Medal.
The sequel is often criticized for dropping several supporting characters such as Henry/Hikaru Agata/Phantom Renegade/Space Medafighter X and Arcbeetle, Rokusho, Koji and Sumilidon, Rintaro and Kantaroth, Karin and Neutranurse, Victor and Warbandit, Mr. Referee, the Rubberobo Gang, and the Chick Salesman, as well as the fact that many of the new Kilobots and Medabots are modified versions of the original series without relation to the original characters: Roks (Rokusho), Exor (Sumilidon), Arcdash (Arcbeetle), and Unitrix (Warbandit).
