One day, when I was a small child, I was at a friend's birthday party. I was in a yoga class at the time, and he was the instructor's son. In between yoga sessions, we'd trade Pokemon cards, and sometimes play soccer, as we were both on a team together. That day would change my life forever. That was the day I discovered...
Bakugan is a media franchise created in 2007 by Sega Toys in Japan, and later also by Spin Master in the West. The word Bakugan is Japanese for "exploding sphere", referring to the way Bakugan themselves work. Bakugan are small marbles, but they have magnets inside them. When the magnet is engaged using metal cards or tiles, the Bakugan will pop open and reveal a monster! There's also, in theory, a trading card game associated with it, but I haven't actually ever found anyone to play with.
Bakugan's first generation began in 2007, with the introduction of Bakugan Battle Brawlers, its first season. The plot revolves around a boy named Dan, and his friends Runo, Marucho, Julie, (not to mention Mr. Hot-Shot himself) Shun, and Alice, as cards have begun to fall out of the sky. Dan and his friends invent a game using these cards, which quickly becomes a worldwide hit. (The game was invented by Dan and Shun, it should be noted. Shun quickly became the world's #1 Bakugan player, but Dan is around the 100s mark. You know, at the game he literally invented.) Then, it's revealed that the cards contained Bakugan, alien species from a parallel universe called Vestroia, which become unstable and collapse into small marbles when they're on Earth. However, using these cards, a player can enter a sort of pocket dimension where the Bakugan can turn back into their true forms. Vestroia is a universe with six worlds, each containing a certain type of elemental energy, which also corresponds to the Bakugan's colors (referred to as its "attribute"):
The six worlds are held in balance by the power of two cores at the very center of Vestroia: the Infinity Core, full of pure positive energy, and the Silent Core, full of pure negative energy.
The events of the show begin with Naga, and his attempt to absorb the Silent Core. Naga is a White One, a Bakugan who has no attribute at all, and is completely powerless because of this. Spitefully, he tries to take just a bit of the Silent Core's evil energy for himself, but is overtaken and absorbed into the Core itself. This sends shockwaves of negative energy across Vestroia, causing it to destabilize and shatter apart into cards, which go through a portal to Earth, where they fall just before the events of the show start. The blast of negative energy also spills into the human world, specifically corrupting two humans: Alice, and her grandfather Michael. The negative energy causes both of them to gain evil alter-egos: Alice becomes a mysterious, mask-wearing man named Masquerade, and Michael becomes a terrifying green goblin man named Hal-G. Hal-G spends most of the series behind the scenes, while Masquerade uses a special, evil card called the Doom Card, which has the power to send any Bakugan that loses a battle to the Doom Dimension, which is basically Bakugan hell. (Though, we never see the Doom Card's user's Bakugan getting sent to the Doom Dimension when they're defeated, so it seems one sided.) Along the way, the group battles several brawlers who Masquerade has tricked into using Doom Cards, and breaks his hold on them. They also meet Joe Brown, the webmaster of the chatroom they use, and his partner, Wavern, who holds the Infinity Core within her after it, too, was knocked loose from Vestroia's core. Eventually, Wavern sacrifices herself and Drago uses the power of the Infinity Core to defeat Naga once and for all, claiming the Silent Core as well and uniting the two within his body to form Vestroia's Perfect Core.
The second season, New Vestroia, takes place three years after the end of Battle Brawlers. Drago has been stuck in the Perfect Core for three years, keeping the balance of New Vestroia. Then one day, the Vestals, an alien race from an overpopulated planet, invaded. They used the Dimension Controllers, gigantic devices at the middle of their cities, to force Bakugan back into their ball forms even when they were on Vestroia. At Drago's request, the Six Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia (basically the Baku-Gods) separate Drago from the Perfect Core, devolving him into Neo Dragonoid. Drago returns to Earth and solicits Dan's assistance in defeating the Vestals, but at the time he contacts Dan, he's out on a walk with Runo, Marucho and Julie. The two trick Runo and Julie into staying behind by leaving when their backs are turned, but Marucho chases Dan through the portal to Vestroia anyway. Unbeknownst to both Dan AND Marucho, Shun had also tagged along, unseen due to his ninja skills. Along the way, they meet three Vestals who are part of a Resistance against the others: Mira Fermin, Ace Grit and Baron Leltoy. The two learn that Vestals are also competent brawlers, but their version of the game has noticeably different rules from the one the Earth brawlers played. The Vestals send their six most powerful brawlers, known as the Vexos, to battle against the Resistance. They are each associated with one of the six attributes, and they are led by Spectra Phantom, who is secretly Mira's brother, Keith. New Vestroia's story is separated into two parts. The first story arc is about the Resistance going to three Vestal cities, destroying each of the Dimension Controllers to free the Bakugan in those areas. Then there's the Bakugan Termination System, which would kill every single Bakugan on Vestroia, but it requires the six Attribute Energies, held by the Six Legendary Soldiers of Vestroia. Spectra and Gus, another Vexos member, defect from the rest, and the remaining members of the Vexos race the Resistance to find and defeat the Six Legendary Soldiers to take their attribute energy. Then, when THAT doesn't work, there's the Alternative, which will destroy EVERYTHING. Along the way, Marucho and Spectra receive a mysterious signal called the "Phantom Data", which they use to create a virtual world called Bakugan Interspace, used for battle training.
The third season, Gundalian Invaders, takes place mostly in Interspace. The service has been released publicly, with battle terminals being constructed all around the world. Dan and his family have moved from Wardington to Bayview City, where Julie lives. Along the way, Dan makes friends with Jake Vallory, a Subterra-wielding football player whose partner is Coredem. Marucho is assisted by Ren Krawler, a Darkus user who is secretly a Gundalian, a species Ren claims is under attack by the Neathians. However, the situation is actually the exact opposite: the Gundalians are the ones attacking the Neathians! Fabia Sheen, a Neathian Haos user, is the first we see of them, but they quickly reveal this season's bad guys: the Twelve Orders, twelve of Gundalia's most powerful brawlers, the top 6 forming their royal court, headed by Emperor Barodius. This season introduces Battle Gear, which are special weapons that can be attached to a Bakugan to give it a power boost. Later on, they also introduce Bakugan Mobile Assault, which is about where shit starts going downhill. Bakugan Mobile Assaults are essentially vehicles that your Bakugan can ride into battle. At the end of the season, it's revealed that Drago, as well as Barodius's main Bakugan, Dharak, are the direct descendants of the first two Bakugan, created by Code Eve, the "Mother Light" of all Bakugan. She seals Barodius and Dharak away, and grants Drago an evolution into Titanium Dragonoid.
The fourth and final season of the first generation, Mechtanium Surge, effectively marks the point where Bakugan drops any and all pretense of having rules. G-Power values aren't visible anymore, Gate Cards are just kinda there, I guess? And the season's main gimmick doesn't even fold up, into a non-spherical shape or otherwise! This season's main gimmick is Mechtogan, which are more like robotic action figures than actual Bakugan.
This post was finished on March 28, 2023 at 11:04 PM.
🎵 Bakugan Battle Brawlers - Pre-Battle Preparation