Metal Cardbot (메탈카드봇) is a South Korean Mecha Animated Series created by OSRO, produced by SAMG Animation and NAVY Studio. It was released on 29th March 2023, and it ran for two seasons. The two seasons has been aired with 26 episodes, while the third season is currently in development.
It tells a story of a boy named Jun Grant, who discovered a mysterious device called Metal Breath, and formed a bond with Blue Cop, one of the known Cardbots to have arrived on Earth. Together, they become partners, and venturing to find other remaining Cardbots roaming around the blue planet.
The show has been dubbed in various languages, such as English, Chinese, Indonesian and Russian. It also received a Chinese-exclusive spin-off featuring animal-themed card gadgets titled Metal Cardbot: Beast Energy (炫卡斗士之猛兽能量), in addition a sequel to this spin-off was in development.
Metal Cardbot has plenty of card-packed tropes:
- Ambition Is Evil: Flame Nova was once a renowned Star Guardian among the Cardbots until he decided to usurp Deus Machina for control of the planet, getting himself separated into his components after his coup attempt failed.
- Animesque: The show's character design is known for being anime-styled, much like the other cartoons made by the same creator.
- Artifact of Doom: The Star Crown is a powerful artifact from Machina capable of cyberforming a planet of it's users choice at the cost of any indigenous lifeforms on it, and it used to be in Black Hook's possession before Heavy Iron stole it for his quest to re-create Machina.
- Big Bad: Heavy Iron for the first season, Flame Nova for the second.
- Big Badass Rig: Heavy Iron and Gigantrex both transform into large tractor trucks with equally massive trailers, and they're also powerful fighters to boot.
- Blue Is Heroic: Blue Cop is one of the show's main protagonists, and he has a bright blue and white color scheme denoting his lawful yet heroic personality.
- Combining Mecha: Flame Nova is made up of a fire engine, excavator, emergency helicopter, and dump truck while Blue Cop is upgraded into Blue Cop Trinity, which features a police armored car and a prisoner transport bus as components for his combined mode
- Defeat Means Friendship: A running theme within this series is how Jun and Blue Cop manage to earn the loyalty of the Cardbots they fight against, with Jun always treating his Cardbot allies as comrades and friends despite any prior misgivings.
- Heel–Face Turn: At the end of the first season, Heavy Iron gives up his villainous ways after Jun Grant convinces him to support his vision of humanity co-existing with the Metal Cardbots on Earth.
- Meaningful Name: Each of Cardbots' naming schemes can relate to their design themes and other aspects of the bots themselves.
- Merchandise-Driven: The show is known for its toyline based on the robot's features and gadgets in the show, which is their primary merchandise products.
- Super Mode: Blue Cop receives an Ultimate mode near the end of the first season that allows him to access all the abilities and powers of his comrades. And in the second season. he receives a new Ultimate mode dubbed Blue Cop Trinity, which is accessed through combining with Blue Loader and Blue Command and gains a new sword weapon.
- Blastrain, on the other hand, can combine with his train cars to bulk himself up with increased armor and firepower.
- Space Pirate: Black Hook leads a crew of Cardbot pirates that seek to claim the Metal Breath to rule the universe before Jun Grant captures and reforms them.
- Transforming Mecha: The Cardbots are known for being able to transform into their respective vehicle forms, much like their next door neighbors in the West.
