Neo Challengers Tournament- The Short and Sweetest
There’s a lot of skippable bits, on account of the battles not really being story important (besides the tournament boss battles)
The highlights on bakugan full forms make them all look shiny and it will kill me when the non scaled bakugan (feathered or fluffy) show up later.
Nega chose darkus because he’s edgy. That’s fair
As a personal note, I always upgrade Gs unless I have to upgrade something else to make a bakugan viable (I tend to have a 4-5 base defence, a 4-5 base speed, and a high Gs bakugan, with any stats that mean they don’t get pummelled in the event of a sphere attack, as my team structure. This usually results in a team of Reaper, Fear Ripper and Leonidas by the end of the game.) Nega’s controls means that he’s going to have to upgrade steering based stats often, but there sadly aren’t any better control stats.
“Agh, they’re just names to me. I will crush them!” Leo says, referring to Runo and Marucho.
“I’m not angry, I just don’t fear weak humans.”
“Don’t freak me out! It’s like you hate every bakugan, or something... Lighten up, will ya?” I wouldn’t say BBBmc is wilfully ignorant of Leonidas’ nature, thanks to this scene. He’s just aware that he’s the restraining force that keeps Leo from going haywire.
Leo’s little vibration of eagerness is exactly why I keep on writing happy bakugan as shutting their ball form and vibrating. It’s like a dog’s tail wagging.
Bonus points on the “not wilfully ignorant” bit, as BBBmc is actually hesitant to pick Leonidas up here, but does so with determination once he does pick him up. It’s a nice gestural tidbit on BBBmc’s early relationship with Leo
Shuji’s only a problem given you fight Terrorclaw with anything that isn’t Leonidas, or if you saved up for it, Falconeer.
Nega screws up here, and is a good example on the strategy aspect of this; make sure the right bakugan goes on the right gate, because your strategy more than likely hinges on that. His does not, but he’s usually teetering on losing most fights anyhow because of his lack of upgrades and weak bakugan...
Runo is only a problem given Fear Ripper (300 gs), but she hasn’t got Tigrerra so don’t worry. Her ranking may say 8, but my experiences with Shun’s AI tells me that that’s information you can ignore.
Preyas is a horrible bakugan in BBB. The attribute changes upon landing on a gate, and is a wheel of fortune deal. If you can get the desired attribute, then you’re lucky. Marucho has Preyas from the get go in this.
Marucho’s 3d model isn’t great in any game he appears 3d in... So I’m guessing that’s just a Marucho thing. At least he doesn’t look as alien as he does in DOTC...
Marucho got lucky and got Preyas to be darkus on the Bakugan Duo gate; a 100+ gs bonus to all darkus and pyrus bakugan. Rest in piece, Robotallion.
Important cutscene coming up
I can’t tell if Dan says “new” or “noob”, but they mean the same thing so ehh. He’s just happy you won your first tournament
Leonidas just huffs at Dan, after Dan introduces himself. Grumpy boi
“Not much of a talker, are you?” Oh Dan looks so miffed... That’s a pout and a half
“He’s new here, so he’s not used to humans yet.” (BBBmc)
“Who is?” (Dan)... Wasn’t expecting Dan’s line to be a mood, but here we are
“I take it that Leonidas didn’t come to Earth with the other bakugan through Dr Michael’s portal,” Yes, Marucho, go on, “based on my analysis of his battling abilities, and his attitude in combat, I conclude that he arrived at a different time than the others.” Marucho did you not hear BBBmc literally just say he’s new? And his battling style would not give that away! That’s coincidence, not cause/effect! Shun needs to stop hoarding all the wisdom, good lord...
“I wonder what delayed his appearance here on Earth. Perhaps he’s secretly planning something beyond just bakugan battles!” Marucho I’m very quickly losing the idea that you are smart. That’s more farfetched than a duck with a leek.
“Hey! What makes you say that?!”
“Yeah, relax Marucho! You have an overactive imagination.” I’m in agreement with Dan here. And no that’s not because I’m biased towards BBBmc; what Marucho says is so out of left field that its genuinely weird.
“I’m with Marucho,” because of course Runo is... “Tigrerra said there’s something weird about how aggressive he is.” Tigrerra wasn’t even in the battle? And also, Haos is pretty calm for a part of Vestroia. “Maybe you should find a different partner!”
If there was ever a reason to dislike Runo, I think this scene is it. She’s needlessly callous here, and she’s not even the worse offender.
Dan’s face of shocked confusion after the whole ordeal makes total sense; Marucho (indirectly) and Runo (directly) told you to replace Leonidas, and makes BBBmc immediately upset. That’s like telling someone to get a new friend because their friend is just perceived as more aggressive than yours, even though they’re not someone you know.
The fact that Runo leaves because she has to go help out at the “restaurant” (hey, show writers, it’s a cafe!!) and tells you to think about it... It’s just... Agh, I wanna punch her in this scene.
Dan looks upset when he tells BBBmc to not let it get to him. Poor boy wasn’t expecting that to go down at all. And neither was BBBmc! He’s gonna hate having to meet Julie, and later on Shun.
“When we win, Runo and Marucho will come around! What do you think?” Ah, only in the world of bakugan... (and no, they only warm up to BBBmc after the tag team, not to Leonidas, so Dan’s plan doesn’t work here.)
