Sen-Ti-Nel’s Metamor-Force line is something I’ve yet to dip my toes into. Primarily because they’re quite expensive as most Sen-Ti-Nel products tend to be, but also because they don’t scale well with my collection. It also doesn’t help that only one release has really caught my attention, the Metamor-Force Dino Getter-1. But that might change as they announced the next figure in the line, which is sort of in the same vein as their Dino Getter releases.
In the same vein with Dino Getter Robo is to Getter Robo, another new manga will be serialized coinciding the release of this figure: Kotetsu Jeeg a.k.a. Jeegfried. We’ve yet to get details of its story, but if it’s a reinterpretation of the original then we should have similar plot points. In Kotetsu Jeeg, Hiroshi Shiba is a cyborg that fights as the robot Jeeg by transforming into its head. Jeeg is then made of multiple parts catapulted and assembled in mid-air. It got a sequel series in 2007 with Kotetsushin Jeeg where instead of a cyborg becoming the head, the main protagonist rides a motorcycle that becomes the head.
Jeegfried does things a little different and while its version of Hiroshi is still a cyborg that becomes the head, Jeeg’s main body now transforms from a car that Hiroshi drives.
Jeegfried takes the same design of the original but you can clearly see the bits and pieces of the vehicle mode it transformed from, kind of what you’d see in a Transformers action figure. That said, it doesn’t have the kibble often seen in Transformers figures but you could still see the parts that came from the vehicle more, albeit more integrated.
As for the hunchbacked vehicle mode, its not the most subtle or transformations but does it’s job to be a robot in disguise in the best way. You could see robot mode chest piece at the back but the holes are integrated as exhaust pipes, which is a nice touch. At closer inspection, you could kind of make out how the transformation would be and I think it’s not as complex as some of the previous entries in the Metamor-Force line.
With the original Jeeg using melee combat as its primary style, it’s also expected that this version should do the same. And it looks like it can pull off very decent dynamic poses well despite its transformation feature, especially in the arms and legs. The torso gets the short stick here as its articulation if very much limited to a waist swivel because of the transformation. But I do think it’s enough to display the figure in dynamic poses.
Another Jeeg staple is being able to be outfitted with multiple weapons or “parts” thanks to how it’s assembled. Jeegfried can’t obviously split into the same components but the figure still has a couple of its signature weapons, including a sword, cannon, and the twin drills which is again reminiscent of the original.
So there you go, I’m not really sure if I’ll get one but as mentioned, this figure has my interest. To know more, I’ve included two clips from Sen-Ti-Nel’s YouTube channel below. The first is the promotional video while the other is a deeper dive into the figure together with the illustrator Kazumi Hoshi.
Metamor-Force Jeegfried (Kotetsu Jeeg a.k.a. Jeegfried)
May 2022 / ¥27,000
