The Tiny Metal Weedle From Japan’s 1990s Pokemon Craze

Weedle Pokemon Metal Collection Figure by TOMY

A Figure Cast in Dark Metal, Not Plastic

This is a TOMY Pokemon Metal Collection figure — a small piece cast from zinc alloy and finished in a dark, pewter-like tone without any paint. The metal color itself is the design: an antique, slightly bronzed surface that sets these figures apart from the brightly colored plastic toys that dominated Pokemon merchandise at the time. The figure holds a single fixed pose and was made purely for display rather than play.

TOMY held an official license from Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokemon Company, making it one of the primary manufacturers of Pokemon goods in Japan during the franchise’s peak years. The Metal Collection ran alongside TOMY’s better-known plastic Monster Collection series, but took a different approach entirely — where that line offered painted plastic figures, the Metal Collection was a heavier, single-color cast piece with the weight and surface quality of die-cast metal.

Weedle Among the Original 151

Weedle holds National Pokedex number 013 and is a Bug/Poison-type from the first generation of Pokemon games. Known in Japan as Biidoru, the character is recognizable for the pointed horn on its head, its caterpillar-shaped body, and a cone-like tail. It evolves through three stages — Weedle into Kakuna, then into Beedrill. In the original games, Pokemon Red and Green, which launched in Japan in February 1996, Weedle appeared primarily in the Red version while Caterpie took its place in Green and Blue. That version split meant some players never encountered Weedle without trading.

Weedle also appeared in the anime series from its earliest episodes, beginning in 1997. As one of the original 151 Pokemon, it carries the particular significance that first-generation characters hold for longtime fans — characters tied to the moment the franchise first took hold.

Gashapon, TOMY, and the Peak of Japan’s Pokemon Merchandise Era

The Metal Collection series was produced during the height of the Pokemon boom in Japan, roughly from the late 1990s into the early 2000s. The lineup was focused on the original 151 Pokemon, though the full roster of figures produced has not been fully documented. The series is known to have been distributed through gashapon — Japan’s coin-operated capsule vending machines, found in game centers, supermarkets, and toy shops across the country. That format made individual figures accessible at a low price point, but it also meant the figures were dispersed widely and are no longer in production.

The Metal Collection appears to have circulated primarily within Japan rather than reaching international retail in any significant way. While TOMY did export certain product lines to North America under its own brand, this particular series is understood to have been a Japan-domestic line. The figures are now roughly 25 to 30 years old. For collectors working through the original 151, Weedle is not one of the franchise’s headline names — but it fills a specific and necessary slot, and the metal format gives it a material character that painted plastic figures from the same era simply do not share.