Digimon Mini World - #2 Gabumon Set Review

Hello! Today I'm reviewing something a little different. It's not a new toy. It's a vintage Polly Pocket styled Digimon playset made by Bandai from 1999! I bought it from pleu8321 for $12.99 plus $7.50 two-day shipping. (:

I love Digimon. It was my favourite TV show when I was a kid. I'd wake up early every Sunday morning and wait for it to come on after Power Rangers and Monster Rancher. I had the old Playstation's Digimon World and it was my favourite game. I spent weeks on it. Making a ton of new games. I remember when we traded in our old PS1 for a PS2, so we didn't have any of our PS1 memory cards anymore, and when my sisters and I would play Digimon World we would leave the PS2 on for days, pausing the game, and being careful around the power button because we couldn't save. I actually do still own the same PS2 and Digimon World game with me. It still works but now I have a PS1 memory card, haha. (:

I have the movie (and I'm going to force everyone to watch it with me this year on my birthday), I had the movie's soundtrack, I had the cards, I saved up my birthday money for the manga, but I never got one of these Digimon playsets. I'm glad I was able to find one now!

Digimon Mini World Gabumon playset

Okay, so I can read katakana and hiragana well, but my knowledge of kanji is very little. So I can read this since it's in katakana. It says "Digimon Mini World, 2. Gabumon Set"

Gabumon, Garurumon, and Gomamon.

The words next to the Digimon figures say their names. Gabumon is the one at the top, the middle is Garurumon, and the bottom one is Gomamon. The word off to the left side, I don't know. I can make out "shinka" (don't know what that means) and "zone".

This one says "stand" and "hashi" which I'm pretty sure translates to bridge in this case. The word off to the upper left-hand side... I'm not sure. If I sound it out it would be "ji-o-ra-ma zone" and I can't figure out what it means.

There's two other sets that I know of. Set number 1 has Agumon, MetalGreymon, and Leomon. Set number 3 has Patamon, Angemon, and Devimon. I really want set number 1 as well since it has Agumon and he was my favourite. I have a 12 year-old plushie of him in my room.

Closed playset on its side.

So, I took it out of its package and that was very easy to do. I only had to cut a few pieces of tape in the back.

The playset's design was a nice surprise because it looks like a Digivice from season 1. I thought it was going to be plain like the Pokemon one.

My older sister owned a mini Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) playset. It was the Mt.Moon set with Clefairy and Diglett. Who knows where that went... it probably got lost during a move. I saw some Pokemon sets on eBay for a good price and now I want all of them!

Gabumon!

It snaps shut nice and tight.

The playset, opened up.

If I had to guess what the kanji said this "zone" was I'd guess something like Digivolving zone.

Since this design usually appeared during a digivolution scene.

Back of the box.

And well, the back of the box illustrates this is what's happening in this part of the set.

Gabumon digivolves too...!

GARURUMON!

The blue stick in the back controls the wheel inside of the digivolving platform.

You twist the stick and it turns the wheel.

I put Gabumon and Garurumon inside the digivolving center on opposite sides and when you turn the wheel it makes it appear as though Gabumon is digivolving.

Circuit design.

Now we move on to the next zone!

This side of the set moves as well. If you turn the big tree in the back, the river moves.

Marching fishes!

When the river moves, the fish look as if Gomamon is using his "Marching Fishes" attack. With this move he can command fishes and ride on top of them across the water.

In the corner, there is a computer with a pixel Gabumon on the screen and next to it is a blue sign with the Crest of Friendship etched into it.

Bridge

The set comes with a bridge so you can link it with another set.

Unfortunately, I didn't buy another set so I don't have anything to attach this bridge to. I'm hoping that the bridges from the Digimon and Pokemon sets are compatible.

The stands.

I don't think this is going to be used much because they stand up well on their own. They really don't need stands.

Gabumon, Garurumon, and Gomamon.

For being so tiny (maybe about 1.5cm tall), their detail is great. They're only missing their stripes. You can see the lines where the stripes are supposed to be but they're not painted.

Monster High's Jane Boolittle holding Gomamon.

Here's a size comparison to a Monster High doll.

I'm very happy with this set. I wish there were more. I'd love to have a Biyomon or Palmon set!

But since these were made such a long time ago, I doubt that'll ever happen. Though, who knows?! Digimon Adventure tri comes out soon and maybe it'll be popular and there will be lots more merchandise! (: