Dave's Digivolving Rant: Kabuterimon/MegaKabuterimon Kay Bee's started sending out large shipments of Patamon and Birdramon to its stores, and there seems to be a smal sprinkling of Kabuterimons in the mix. Definitely shortpacked, and possibly being scavenged by Toy Pirates as well, so it may be hard to find for a while still. Etymology/Entomology note: "Kabuto" is Japanese for a samurai helmet, but it's also the root word for the Japanese word for what we call the Rhinocerous Beetle, because the insect looks kinda like it's wearing an ornate helmet. CAPSULE: Kabuterimon does a very good job of looking like the character and is pretty poseable, but suffers from some backpack kibble and a general "don't look at him from behind" syndrome. MegaKabuterimon is less poseable, but does a great job of hiding all the Kabuterimon bits. Transformation is pretty clever. Recommended. $9.99 at Kay Bee, although it's on special this week (last week of Feb) for $7.99. And about $8 everywhere else, once it shows up. RANT: ID #87: MegaKabuterimona Damage Points: 400 Group: Insectoid Digimon Technique: Horn Buster Size: 30.0 G Kabuterimon Mode: Stands 5" (12cm) tall at the head, 6" (15cm) tall including the wings. Wingspan is 8.5" (21cm). Kabuterimon is mainly blue and grey, with some bits of red showing through. The wings are concave because they form the wingcover shells as well, and they're beige with a blue leading edge. His head doesn't look much like a rhinocerous beetle's, but it does look like a samurai helmet. }-> Figure has six limbs of varying poseability. The upper (or "A") arms have ball joint shoulders, restricted ball joint elbows that are permanently bent, and restricted ball joint wrists. The A arms end in five-fingered hands, as on the show. The lower (or "B") arms just have a somewhat limited ball joint at the shoulders and that's it. Halfshells cover the arms to conceal the MegaKabuterimon red. The hands on the B arms are not correct for Kabuterimon, they are the more insectlike appendages of MegaKabuterimon. This is because while each mode has its own unique A arms, the two share B arms, so a choice had to be made which hands to go with. Finally, the legs have ball hips, swivels at mid-thigh, hinge knees and limited ball joint ankles. Combined with the big feet and general stiffness of all the joints, this lets you pose Kabuterimon in a variety of stances without having to worry about the toy falling over. However, moving the hips too much can cause the MegaKabuterimon kibble on the back to come undone. Other joints include a hinged jaw and wings with a little bit of poseability. From the front, this is a very good respresentation of Kabuterimon. From the back, much less so, as he seems to be carrying a partial MegaKabuterimon body on his back. Transformation: This is mostly a "revealer" style transformation, although the revelation goes both directions. Shells are pulled off the B arms, clipped over the legs and wrapped around most of the other Kabuterimon kibble. Heads swap and the figure basically turns around backwards. About the only physically tricky bit is getting the heads to slide into position, and that's not too tough. While at first impression, the idea of one humanoid beetle turning into another humanoid beetle isn't too impressive, the fact that it almost completely changes color in the process IS. MegaKabuterimon mode: Stands hunched over a little over 5" (13cm) tall, but looks a lot beefier than Kabuterimon. Very good representation of the show character, with only a little kibble visible under the shell, and a bit of blue visible from behind the legs. Again, six limbs, generally of less poseability than Kabuterimon mode's. The A arms have ball shoulders, limited ball elbows (this time stuck in straight position, so they can waggle back and forth a bit) and limited ball joint wrists. The B arms have the same joints as in Kabuterimon mode, but since the socket is now pointing the other way, they can barely move at all in this mode. Finally, the legs have the same joints as before, but the red shells over the legs restrict knee movement to about twenty degrees. The hunched-over stance of the MegaKabuterimon does put the center of mass more directly over the feet, however, so the restriction in joint motion have little to no effect on pose stability. Overall: This line is the first time I've really been impressed by Bandai's transforming toys. Power Rangers toys are bricks and DinoZone toys tend to follow pretty simple schemes, plus they're toy-driven. But the Digimon characters were designed before the decision to make transforming versions was reached, AFAIK, and they've done a great job for the most part. Kabuterimon is no different...not only is it a pretty good transforming toy in general, but it's also managed to stay true to the show designs, which is something of a challenge given the highly stylized art of Digimon. Definitely looking forward to the upcoming Agumon/Wargreymon and Gabumon/Metal Garurumon toys. If you can find it, you should probably pick up Kabuterimon. Very good value for an $8 toy. Dave Van Domelen, has seen pictures of the Japanese release Agumon and Gabumon, and hopes the paint jobs are spruced up for U.S. release...Metal Garurumon looks pretty drab.