Bakugan

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
The conclusive arc of Bakugan.

Bakugan Battle Brawlers is the story of six children who find Bakugan, which are these spherical toy-like things that contain monsters (gee, does THAT sound familiar?), and must save the Bakugan's world, Vestroia. Some of these have their own spirits and are able to speak--all of the main characters, and most of the supporting cast, has one of these.

All and all, Bakugan could be seen as a combination of many different popular series. It is in varying parts reminiscent of Digimon (the whole "Save Both Worlds" thing--overall, it probably skews closest to Tamers), Yu-Gi-Oh! (the sentient Bakugan is somewhat like the spirit monsters in GX, and the game is played with cards), Pokémon (in that Pokemon was one of the first "mon" series and this series features battling monsters contained in spherical devices), and Beyblade (Merchandise-Driven).

The rules are hard to pin point, since they were never fully explained and change whenever its needed, similar to the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh!. At difference of Yu-Gi-Oh!, however, as the show has progressed the rules haven't become more clear; on the contrary, they've become more and more vague (hard as that is to believe). What little structure and strategy there was in the first season has been completely abandoned in favor of two children shouting "Ability Card Activate!" over and over and over and over for the entire episode. Of course, this doesn't translate to the actual game, which while not played like traditional card games, has many rules like card limit (you can have 15 cards in your deck). The anime seems to break the rules as far as how many cards you are allowed to use, and just treat them like attacks later on.

Was followed by a sequel series, Bakugan: New Vestroia set a few years after the end of Battle Brawlers, and recently a third series, Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders, ended and was followed by Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge now airing in Canada and the United States. Additionally, there are three video games available on all current generation consoles.

Not to be confused with Bakuman｡. Or Byakugan.

Collectible Card/Figure game here, Video Games here, 2012 anime at Baku Tech! Bakugan.

Tropes used in Bakugan include:
  • Affectionate Parody: Elfin/Minx Elfin to the titular character of Sailor Moon.
  • Alien Invasion: After Naga was destroyed in the first season finale, the next two seasons had extradimmensional aliens as their main villains. Its presently unknown is Mag Mel is continuing this trend or not.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Julie's entire family.
  • Arm Cannon: Many Bakugan have at least one ability they shoot out of their arms. The mechanical ones have a more traditional variation: Farbros has it's Twin Horn abilities that are shot out from three cannons in each of it's giant claw arms, Dryoid has the Knuckle Vulcan (right arm piece pivots to shoot) and Trance Sword (launched from a slit between the knuckle and the arm), Macubass has several (Moby Cannon - basic harpoon-like energy blast, Blue Morbus - water pressure cannons, Mauser Barracuda - Gatling cannon in the left arm) and Boriates has the Prometheus Cannon and it's related abilities (Thunder Arrow - shot into the sky to cause lightning, Buster Mega Barrel - two more barrels pop out, Olympus Cannon - the barrels open up into a Wave Motion Tuning Fork).
  • Art Evolution: Gundalian Invaders finally stopped with all the Off-Model-ness, but the Lip Lock is still heavily present.
  • The Artifact: Julie in Gundalian Invaders; her sole reason for existence is to remind the viewers that the original cast was more gender-balanced.
  • Attack Drone: The signature ability of Mylene's Mechanical Bakugan Macubass is the ability ABSIDS, which amounts to launching a number of these at the opponent's Bakugan. The anime even calls them "attack drones" outright. Given Macubass is a very deliberate Shout-Out to Zeta Gundam's Qubeley, this was intentionally put in.
  • Bad Future: Coredegon and the evil Mechtogan win, destroying Bakugan City and everyone in it, he then goes to New Vestroia and kills off all the Bakugan. Thankfully, the Brawlers Set Right What Once Went Wrong by going back in time to stop him in his tracks right as he's about to leave to do all this.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Julie and Runo.
  • The Baroness: Mylene, Kazarina
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: the Neathians over the Gundalians
  • Be the Ball: The titular Bakugan are creatures that take upon the shape of marbles on Earth. It's got something to do with the dimensional properties of Earth, that far is certain.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Dan and Runo.
    • Shadow and Mylene in New Vestroia.
  • Becoming the Mask: After Alice discovers that she is really Masquerade, she initially stops brawling all together, but eventually is able to fight using Masquerade's abilities while remaining herself.
  • BFG: Ren's Boomix battle gear and Keith's Zukanator Battle Gear.
  • BFS: Dryoid's signature Ability from New Vestroia, the Murasame Blade, is essentially a huge laser sword. And it's got a plethora of Fusion Abilities to power it up even further.
  • Big Bad: Each season has a new Big Bad. Season 1 had Naga, season 2 was King Zenoheld, season 3 was Emperor Barodius, and season 4 has Mag Mel in the first half and Wiseman and Coredegon in the second, although it turns out Mag Mel was Barodius and Wiseman was a disguise for Coredegon.
  • Bifauxnen: Paige
  • Bishonen: Shun
    • Klaus, Spectra, Gus, and possibly Jesse as well.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Jake
  • Boobs of Steel: Julie is unusually well-developed for her age, and her Bakugan partner Gorem is The Big Guy of the Five-Man Band.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Dr. Michael as Hal-G, it seems like everyone is getting brainwashed in Gundalian Invaders
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Nene.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Ability Card Activate! (Insert card name here)!"
    • And, of course: "Gate Card, Open!!"
  • Cash Cow Franchise: An obvious trope considering how they promote a lot of the monsters once. It's also TMS's fourth (alongside Anpanman, Detective Conan and Lupin III).
  • Catch Phrase: Akwimos's "Cool is the rule, dude!"
  • Char Clone - Spectra Phantom wears mostly red (including a mask), is blonde, is The Rival, and is actually named Keith Fermin, the older brother of Mira Fermin. Also, Masquerade doesn't have a thing for red nor does he she have a younger sister, but he is mostly this trope.
  • Chest Blaster: Helios has the Ragnarok Cannon ability which essentially amounts to this. His Infinity evolution upgrades it into the Ragnarok Buster, which now comes with a nifty hatch.
    • Drago's Perfect Core abilities effectively work by Drago releasing a huge burst of rainbow-colored Perfect Core energy out of the gem on his chest. Helios was rebuilt to intentionally counter Drago, so keep that in mind.
    • Subterra Bakugan tend to have these. Wilda (being a walking Mazinger Z homage and all) has the aptly named Chest Burn ability. Coredem has the Scale Arrow ability which is a concentrated burst of energy fired out of his chest.
  • Combination Attack: Various special attacks can be used to boost the power level of your Bakugan if you're attacking with two Bakugan of elements next to each other on the elemental wheel...or across from each other on the wheel...or with the three that make up a triangle on that wheel. So there's a pretty good chance that any time two of the Brawlers are dueling together, they'll be able to use a combo attack.
    • Hell, seeing as how regular (normally Aquos) Preyas can change his element at will and his evolution manifested in the form of a second Bakugan, Haos Preyas Angelo/Pyrus Preyas Diablo, Marucho is able to pull off the Aquos/Pyrus/Haos triangle attack all by himself--or would be, if any of the non-sentient Bakugan appeared at all during New Vestroia.
  • Combined Energy Attack: Dragonoid Destroyer gets powered up by the energy of the bond between all humans and Bakugan on earth, activating his Golden Super Mode and allowing him to obliterate Mechtavius Destroyer in one hit.
  • Continuity Porn: Mechtanium Surge has been this so far. Characters from all seasons have been making reappearences in important roles, including Spectra and Preyas (well, half of him, Preyas Angelo/Diablo is nowhere to be seen), Gundelia and Vestoria have been revisited for multi-episode arcs,and Mag Mel is the previous season's Big Bad, Emperor Barodius. And the season isn't even halfway over yet! Also a case of Tropes Are Not Bad, as this is one of the best things the season has going for it so far.
    • The episode 'Blast from the Past'in the second half of the season is a glaring example. It brought back both Preyas forms, Minx Elfin, Skyress, Gorem, Ingram, the list goes on, but it's basically every partner bakugan except Drago from previous seasons. It's a shame they were just there to get beaten though...
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Drago, oh so much. Bonus points for being a literal dragon and turning into an actual crystal at the end of the first season.
  • Cultural Translation: Gundalian Invaders seems to have taken this literally, seeing as how Dan's new place of living, Bayview City, has American Football, Burger Joints, has people with english names like Jake, and he now lives fairly close to Julie, it can be assumed that he's moved to America.
  • Cyborg: Helios gets cyberized willingly, as he has apparently attained maximum evolution and thus can't match Drago's insane power. He gets a new arm (that can Rocket Punch, and once fired off it reveals a large Arm Cannon), a large Chest Blaster cannon, brand new wings with Shoulder Cannons built into them, and the ability to regenerate any damage.
    • Mechtanium Surge Helios dials down the cybernetics a bit - he retains the Chest Blaster and mechanical wings (this time being a jet pack with a set of lasers that can Robotech) but loses the cybernetic arm and the numerous tubes grafted onto him. His eyes also appear to be completely organic.
  • Darker and Edgier: Season 2 of New Vestroia made battling more lethal.
    • Gundalian Invaders involves an actual war. Permanent character death is a common sight.
    • Mechtanium Surge's first Big Bad, Mag Mel, was imprisoned for genocide and seeks to destroy the entire universe!
      • The second Big Bad outdos him by leveling an entire city and killing off all the Bakugan! To clearify, there's no attempt to cover up that destroying the city killed millions of people, in fact its very heavily implied it did. Thank goodness the Brawlers Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Alice and Ace use Darkus-attributed Bakugan.
    • Dark Is Evil: ...On the other hand, we have Hal-G, Masquerade, Barodius and Ren. Ren turns good later.
  • Dark Skinned White-Haired Pretty Girl: Julie
  • Deadpan Snarker: Preyas. Gets even worse with Preyas Diablo.
  • Defector From Decadence: Volt and Lync both leave the Vexos because they want no part in Zenoheld's new genocide plans. Lync even sacrifices himself to deliver the plans to Alice.
    • Mira forms the Resistance after discovering the Bakugan her father was torturing was intelligent.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Zenthon, a Mechtogan spawned from Drago's out of control power, was a rampaging beast until finally, Drago managed to best him in battle, resulting in him coming under Drago's control. Though in this case, it was described as "breaking a wild horse" and showing it whose the master.
  • Demoted to Extra: Julie, Runo and Alice in New Vestroia. Okay, maybe more like demoted to second tier, but until they regain the ability to brawl, the trope still applies.
    • By the time of Gundalian Invaders, Runo and Alice don't even appear. Runo's mentioned in a picture, but that's about it.
  • Disney Death: Gus.
  • Distaff Counterpart/Expy: Elfin, to Preyas.
  • Don't Celebrate Just Yet: This phrase gets thrown around the whole series from time to time during the battles, especially when someone gets overconfident that they're strategy is going to win.
  • Double Agent: Mira.
  • Elemental Powers: Pyrus (fire), Aquos (water), Ventus (air), Subterra (earth), Haos (light), and Darkus (darkness). These powers are drawn from Infinity (positive energy), which allows Bakugan to use all elements, and Silence (negative energy), which amplifies dark power to extreme heights. When combined, they form Perfect energy, and a Bakugan can use any element to its fullest, or even bend space and time.
  • Evasive Fight Thread Episode: Episode 2 of New Vestroia, after a bit of exposition, turns into a fight between Dan and Ace that never gets resolved.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Princess Fabia of Neathia, the Haos brawler for Gundalian Invaders.
  • Evil Twin: Naga, to Wavern. (They're fraternal twins, by the way.)
  • Evil vs. Evil: The evil Mechtagon vs the Nonet Bakugan and Wiseman II. The episode is even called "Evil Vs Evil".
  • Evolution Power-Up: All of the main Bakugan evolve at least once, and Drago and Hydranoid evolve twice.
    • As of now, Drago has evolved nine times. So far.
    • Played with when it comes to Helios. His starting G level of 600 implies he completed his natural evolution tree (with the Viper form being the strongest). At first Helios wants the access to the Infinity Core for himself, but eventually decides that a set of cybernetics would be the best option to attain more power. Cue the cyberization. Later on he receives a major Mid-Season Upgrade to his mechanical parts. Eventually, by Mechtanium Surge it's implied Spectra managed to perfect the cybernetics, as Infinity Helios is fairly streamlined.
    • Dharak also plays with this - being a Gundalian Bakugan he was unable to evolve naturally, so he has to be infused with Drago's biological material to evolve. Eventually he evolves into Razenoid in time for Mechtanium Surge, and again into a Perfect form.
  • Exposed to the Elements: Julie and Runo go to visit Alice in Moscow in New Vestroia, still wearing the same clothes as always, and don't appear to be having any trouble at all.
  • Expy: as far as anyone's concerned, Spectra is Masquerade 2.0. both wear eye-covering masks, have flamboyant blonde hair, seek to create the "Ultimate Bakugan", and have shocking secret identities.
  • Eyes of Gold: The sign of a brainwashed brawler in Gundalian Invaders.
  • Fan Service: Very subtly. While they've taken them out of the action, Julie and Runo aren't completely gone in New Vestroia, and any time Mira is seen from the side, it will inevitably be from the right side. Marketing to children while including some Turn-On Tropes...well played, Sega/Spinmaster.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Mira, with Zettai Ryouiki on the right leg.
  • Fingerless Gloves: Ace, Dan, Marucho, and Hydron in New Vestroia.
    • In the original series, every Bakugan player. Like in season 2 of Beyblade, they're obligatory equipment.
      • Strangely absent from the third season so far.
  • Final Boss Preview: Mag Mel attacking the Brawlers himself during his assault on Gundalia. Even Dan and drago aren't powerful enough to take him down and get their butts kicked.
  • Five-Man Band: Note that the Brawlers themselves don't necessarily occupy the same role that their Bakugan do.
    • Both Dan and his partner Drago are The Hero.
    • Both Shun and his partner Skyress are The Lancer.
    • Both Alice and her partner Hydranoid are the Sixth Ranger.
    • Runo is also The Lancer (the Brawlers' Five Man Band has two Lancers and one Big Guy), but her partner Tigrerra is The Smart Guy.
    • Julie is The Chick, but her partner Gorem is The Big Guy.
    • Marucho is The Smart Guy, but his partner Preyas is The Chick.
      • For the New Vestroia Arc: Dan and Drago stay in The Hero role; Mira assumes Shun's Lancer role; Ace is The Big Guy/co-Lancer (with Percival being Drago's Lancer); Baron assumes The Chick role (with Nemus is The Smart Guy); and Marucho stays in The Smart Guy role (and his new partner Elfin out-chicks his old partner by a few leagues). The Sixth Ranger turns out to be Shun and his new partner Ingram, but it's telegraphed so much it doesn't need spoilers.
      • In Gundalian Invaders, Jake takes over the Big Guy role, Shun and Ren become co-Lancers (with Ren being The Mole), and Princess Fabia becomes the Token Girl and The Chick.
  • Foot Focus: Mira's feet get some attention in her downtime, once when she's lying in bed with her boots kicked off, and again in Shun's dojo, relaxing barefoot as she talks with him, in respect of abandoning footwear while meditating.
  • Forged by the Gods: Mag Mel's armor was created by what amounts to the God of the Bakugan, Code Eve. However, she isn't doing him any favors because she created it from Emperor Barodius' evil in order to seal him inside it.
  • Fusion Dance: Mechtanium Surge introduces this, allowing two Bakugan to merge together. They split in half and then each half merges with half of their partner. In an unusual take on this, they two remain separate, but both gain traits and powers from their fusion partner.
  • Gender Bender: Masquerade is clearly a guy, especially with his deep voice, but when his mask is taken off, he becomes Alice. Comes with a nifty clothes change too.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Episode 17 - Preyas says the magic word close to 8 minutes in. (For proof, go to 8:05 and play it from there.)
  • Gratuitous Japanese: The name of the franchise literally translates to "Exploding Spheres" in Japanese.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Runo.
  • Godzilla Threshold: Mag Mel's threat is so great that the group has to resort to completely deleting Bakugan Interspace in an attempt to stop him. And it doesn't work!
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Dan's goggles are usually just there to be stylish, but he used them a grand total of one time: shielding his eyes from a blinding Haos attack.
  • Golden Super Mode: Dragonoid Destroyer obtains this after being powered up by the combined energy of the bond of every human and Bakugan on Earth. His power level at this point is infinite.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: Preyas Angelo and Preyas Diablo.
  • Heel Face Turn: Masquerade/Alice.
    • And Spectra/Keith
    • Volt and Lync too
    • Ren. Also, Nurzak and Mason. Lena, Jesse, and Zenet help out the Brawlers once their brainwashing wears off.
  • Healing Factor: The FARBAS system used by all Helios forms after Viper, as well as Farbros. Helios MK 2 extends FARBAS into a multi-purpose system that can also negate Gate Cards and Abilities besides just healing Helios up.
  • Her Heart Will Go On: Fabia's fiance was killed in action some time before meeting the Brawlers.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Drago has to merge with the Perfect Core at the end of Battle Brawlers, losing his physical form. He gets better at the start of New Vestroia, though this naturally requires him to Restart At Level One.
    • Elico sacrifices his life in battle with Farbros to protect Gus. Soon, Hexados follows suit and leaps in front of a lethal blast to save Vulcan.
    • Prince Hydron makes sure his father goes down with the quickly collapsing ship at the end of New Vestroia. As for Professor Clay, he chooses to stay behind in the Alternative when he gets trapped, rather than have Mira and Keith risk their lives to save him.
    • "Surge": Kodokor lets himself be slain so that a combined Spatterix and Stronk can take down Mechtavius Destroyer in the havoc of his explosive death, and likewise, the latter two buy time for Betadron and Gunz to escape harm.
    • Also in "Surge", Worton and Betadron stay behind in the time stream to let the Brawlers travel back to the past, knowing they might perish.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Mira, Jubilee. Jubilee, Mira.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Naga kicked off the series by absorbing too much energy from the Silent Core. When he dies, it's also by absorbing too much power. The BT System of New Vestroia also explodes by absorbing too much power. Phantom Darak and Barodius also explode from, guess what, absorbing too much power. Now, in Mechtanium Surge there is a creepy guy who is demanding power from the main characters. Any bets on what'll happen to him?
    • Guess what! HE EXPLODED.
  • Hot-Blooded: Dan.
  • Hot Shounen Mom: Dan's mom; Baron points out how young she looks when he meets her.
  • Human Aliens: The Vestals.
    • Subverted in the case of the Nethians and Gundalians- they're only using illusions to make themselves appear human to blend in with humans on Earth.
  • Hurricane of Puns: One episode has Masquerade spewing non-stop theater related puns, eg: "The stage is set, and the performers are all here!" "And now, the final curtain!" "Time for an encore!"...
  • Humongous Mecha: The Mechtogan. There are also the larger Mechtogan Titan.
    • Before this New Vestroia had a whole set of mecha-Bakugan used by the bad guys. A few of them appear to be Gundam shoutouts: Macubass is a dead ringer for the Qubeley from Zeta Gundam and the MAC Spider has a electric attack similar to that of the Adzam from the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
  • Ill Boy: Joe.
  • Inaction Sequence: Like with most card and toy based games. Although when it's averted, it's averted awesomely! Laser-Sword Fight!
  • Incest Subtext: Mira, Keith...mere dinner or a date?
    • In the finale, they live together, and Gus was nowhere to be seen.
  • Invocation: "Gate Card, Set!", "Bakugan Brawl!", "Ability Activate!"...
    • During New Vestroia, "Ability Activate!" makes up 80% of the dialogue. And no, that is not an overstatement, it really does.
  • It Got Worse: When they delete Bakugan Interspace in an attempt to kill Mag Mel, he makes it to Earth with his army anyway. Oh, and Razenoid evolved!
    • When Dan accuses Gunz of being Wiseman, when he really isn't, the team turns on him. Gunz responds by actually becoming Wiseman. Thankfully, it got straightened out.
  • Karmic Death: All of the Big Bads have been done in by their own doing. Naga's own energy absorbing powers were used to overload him, causing him to explode. Zenoheld's own ultimate weapon exploded with him inside it while his son who he treated like crap keeps him inside it. Barodius met his end when the object he spent the entire season trying to get proved far too much for him to handle and seemingly vaporized him and his Guardian Bakugan. Instead, they turned into Mag Mel and Razenoid, but then were finally beaten for good and destroyed entirely.
  • Killed Off for Real: Sid, ALL of the twelve orders but Nurzak
  • Laughing Mad: Shadow Prove.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Typical dynamic: Dan is surprised by something so he repeats what he just heard. Shun replies that that's exactly why whoever said that said so.
  • Light Is Not Good: Some of the villains use Haos-attributed Bakugan.
    • Same goes for Bakugan: Lumagrowl in particular openly praises the benefits of cheating.
    • Naga, though lacking an attribute, is pure white.
  • Lip Lock: Oh god, how this plagues the dub.
  • Loads And Loads Of Filler: Feels like each arc can be condensed into a third of its length.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: Julie and Billy.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Spectra is Mira's older brother Keith.
  • Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Mira plays with this; she's already leading La Résistance at the start of New Vestroia, and she's not an only child. She is, however, a very beautiful teenage girl, and the actual daughter of mad scientist Clay Fermin.
    • Alice, a Mad Scientist's Beautiful Granddaughter, plays this straight. Well, sort of. Her grandfather, Michael, was taken over by negative energy after an accident with a dimensional transporter and became the evil Hal-G, and she tried to defend him, and was herself being used by him, first by being turned into Masquerade and then by being tricked into believing that Michael was in there somewhere.
  • Magical Girl: Elfin. while it wasn't so noticeable at first, when she evolved into Minx Elfin, she invokes this trope so much that she's practically become a direct homage to Sailor Moon, complete with In the Name of the Moon style phrases. It's so blatantly obvious now that she even copied one of Sailor Moon's signature poses.
  • Mask Power: The evil Masquerade.
    • And the evil Spectra. Though he's started wearing the mask even as good.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: Battle Gear starting in late-New Vestroia. Gundalian Invaders also has the Collosus suit for Dharak besides the Battle Gear. Mechtanium Surge has BakuNano (as the name implies, they're essentially miniaturized and significantly improved Battle Gear that needs no Ability to activate) and Battle Suits (a suit of armor a Bakugan can wield).
  • Merchandise-Driven
  • The Messiah: Drago.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Drago evolves a few times per season. The other Guardian Bakugan of the Brawlers would evolve once until Gundalian Invaders - it's handwaved away that Gundalian and Neathian Bakugan are much more powerful than the Vestroian ones at base level, but cannot evolve.
    • Hydranoid evolves twice in the OG series, since he's the Evil Counterpart to Drago.
    • Helios from New Vestroia gets a more mecha-like process of upgrade: he starts out completely organic, then gets a set of cybernetic wings and a camera-like left eye that contains the FARBAS nano-healing system. His second upgrade furthers the cyberization by getting a Chest Blaster cannon implanted, his left arm replaced with a Rocket Punch mecha-arm (which, when launched, reveals a large Arm Cannon stalk). His wings become far more massive and now contain a pair of Shoulder Cannons as well as several smaller cannons that can robotech. The FARBAS system also gets a new cellular eye, and he also gets what appears to be a set of electrodes implanted into his mandibular joints (which cause most of his fire breath attacks to get coated in an electric charge). Mechtanium Surge reveals that Helios ditched most of the cybernetics besides the Chest Blaster (which now has a small hatch covering it) and the homing laser attack. He also still has an improved FARBAS system, which implies that Spectra somehow was able to create a much less invasive process of cyberization.
    • The Mechanical Bakugan the Vexos use in New Vestroia undergo small upgrades in-between brawls - Dryoid and Boriates got their incredibly deadly final abilities, the Gaian Reflector and Custom Battle Ability system, through those. Farbros gets a minor upgrade so it can connect to the Alternative System but otherwise remains practically unchanged.
  • Mission Control: Joe.
  • Montague Counterpart: Lync turns against the Vexos out of love for Alice.
  • More Dakka: The entire premise of the Battle Gear is to load a Bakugan down with firepower. Sometimes, it involves giant mechanical Bakugan that can combine into battle armor.
    • Helios takes it to a major extreme by implementing Vestal technology into his body to become a technorganic dragon, improving it as he and Spectra see fit. The first Battle Gear he uses (also first in the series) is the Twin Destroyer, a pair of rapid-fire, quadruple-barreled Gattling gun turrets. The next step up is the Zukanator, a missile-sized laser cannon that can rip through tempered steel plates like tinfoil.
    • The Vexos use mecha-Bakugan as a complete replacement for the living ones, believing they can craft bigger weapons of destruction than Bakugan themselves can unleash.
    • King Zenoheld starts off with Farbros, a mechanized dragon with immense firepower. It turns into a full-fledged battle suit when the Assail System is combined with it. But the most fearsome weapon he ever used was the Alternative, a continent-sized starship with garrisons of disposable attack bots (to be more precise, garrisons of Fortress Traps - the one that's crammed with More Dakka as is), SAVAGE firepower that ripped a gaping hole in a moon, then vaporized said moon", and the power to wipe out planets at the flick of a wrist.
    • Drago's constant use of Battle Gear himself, plus his unbelievably frequent evolution rate powers him up time and time again.
    • Dragonoid Colossus had Battle Gear he could summon to use on his back like battleship guns. Axator even managed to link up to Drago. If Colossus didn't get destroyed, we might have seen more of his Battle Gear used by Drago.
    • Mechtogan are summoned in response to the need for more power to defeat a foe, starting with Zenthon- but he's stuck in an Unstoppable Rage until put under proper control. When that isn't enough, immense willpower can cause a Mechtogan Titan to appear. When a Brawler's will reaches its peak, the strongest Mechtogan can be summoned- ones that can combine. The strongest of these is Dragonoid Destroyer.
    • Bakugan can fuse with other Bakugan to combine powers and abilities, or absorb objects of power to grow stronger and harness their might.
    • Kazarina splices ancestral DNA into Dharak for the sole purpose of his evolution to be on par with Drago.
    • Cordegon, Slycerack, Exostriker, and Mandiblor act as minions to the Nonets to use their power while they recuperate. These Mechtogan combine into the terrifying Mechtavius Destroyer when united, capable of sucking in the power of defeated Bakugan. In response to this, Chromopod's ability to strip these Mechtogan from Cordegon's control allows for the fusion of Quatrogan.
    • The strongest power of Bakugan is the ability to resonate with the willpower and courage of other Bakugan and humans to tap into their greatest and most decisive powers, often the result being evolution. In Drago's case, anytime a foe causes both him and Dan to force themselves to new heights, their wills fire up, and almost certainly, it leads to another evolution. They get tested so much by powerful forces and battle challenging evils so frequently, transformations are Drago's instinctive response to finding more strength: he and Dan will it into existence.
  • Motionless Chin: Played painfully straight, akin to one of TMS' other series.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Mira is very busty, and the camera always seems to focus on her ass.
  • Never Say "Die": Shun's Mom. Mostly subverted otherwise.
  • Nice Hat: On the final episode of Battle Brawlers, Dan and Runo go out on a date, with the latter sporting a whole new hairstyle and matching white dress. Somehow the first thing Dan notices on Runo is her cool looking hat.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Code Eve, the creator of the Bakugan, gave Drago an upgrade as a reward for defeating season three's Big Bad. This ends up being too much for him to handle, resulting in Drago creating a Zenthon. This also links Dan and Dragon to Mag Mel, allowing him to absorb energy and begin to escape his prison. Yeah, real nice job there!
    • Thanks to Mag Mel, nearly everything the Brawlers do in Mechtanium Surge turns out to be this. Not really their fault though, Mag Mel is just that good at Xanatos Speed Chess.
  • No Export for You: New Vestroia combines this with Short Run in Peru by not airing in Japan at all despite the series being created by the Japanese company TMS Entertainment and airing in Japan first.
    • However, this was averted hard as New Vestroia aired a YEAR LATER in Japan, same goes with Gundalian Invaders. But the sad thing is that TMS Entertainment will never release Mechtanium Surge in Japan due to the storyline is TOO serious for Japanese Standards. Instead, Japan gets a more 'lighthearted' reboot named Baku Tech! Bakugan to fill its airing spot shoes.
  • Non Action Girl: Alice for the majority of Battle Brawlers--first because she doesn't have any Bakugan, and then because she's too busy Wangsting about having been unknowingly controlled by Masquerade.
    • Eventually, all of the first season girls.
  • Official Couple: See Victorious Childhood Friend below.
  • Off-Model: The show can have quality issues. And considering that TMS Entertainment animated it, that's a large stretch.
    • To be more precice, the Off-Model is most noteable with Masquerade, Komba and Julio.
    • In Masquerade's case, it looks almost as though the mask is getting bigger in some shots, or that the mask is sliding up and down his face.
    • With Komba and Julio, it's mostly the nose.
  • Only the Pure of Heart: A certain security system works like this.
  • The Other Darrin: There're several characters in the English dub have more then one actor, but isn't that noticeable (nor are they credited for that matter), Naga in particular had three.
  • Power Levels: Have been escalating. Brawlers can now take their opponent's Bakugan if their Bakugan's power level exceeds the opponent's by 500, and this happens regularly--as do power levels nearing 2000. Also, in episode 9 of New Vestroia, Lync says that a Bakugan can't move if its power level drops below 300. In Battle Brawlers, Bakugan with a natural power level below 300 were commonplace.
    • Magic A Is Magic A: In episode 15, this new "rule" is violated. Repeatedly.
      • Heck, the power levels in the actual game have been increasing as well, though at a slower pace. 450 to 500 Gs used to be powerful, but now we have Bakugan with 1000 Gs. Luckily enough, 1000 is as far as it goes...for now.
    • The highest so far has been Drago with 3150 Gs. Granted, this was seen as far to much in-universe, and he was in danger of exploding but...
    • Power levels vanished about halfway through Gundalian Invaders and haven't returned in Mechtanium Surge.
  • Not Quite Dead: Emperor Barodius and Dharak weren't vaporised, but instead sealed in another dimension by Code Eve, transforming them into Mag Mel and Razenoid.
  • Power Trio: Through three series, we've had three different Haos, Darkus, and Subterra brawlers...but Dan, Shun, and Marucho have been there for all four seasons.
  • The Ingenue / Proper Lady: Alice
  • Put on a Bus: Joe in New Vestroia, while played with in Gundalian Invaders as Dan and Julie took a bus away from Runo and Alice.
    • The official website has also removed most of the content regarding Battle Brawlers in favor of New Vestroia material...Not exactly sure how they're going to bring the suspense about Shun's return, which hasn't actually aired in the US yet...
    • Also Preyas Angelo/Preyas Diablo. He disappears until Mechtavius Destroyer wages an attack on New Vestroia... and gets a painfully brief cameo before he has a Disney Death.
    • By how the website's now been Gundalian-ified, things aren't looking too good for the New Vestroia characters...Mira, Ace, and Baron are replaced by Jake, Ren, and Fabia, respectively by Bakugan type.
    • So far in Gundalia, this seems to have happened to Preyas, Elfin, and Ingram.
      • In short, if your Brawler or Bakugan is Darkus, Subterra or Haos, you're screwed.
    • All of the Trap Bakugan.
    • The Bus Came Back for most of them in the fourth season, including Preyas (who is training an apprentice in Vestoria) and most of the Gundalian Invaders characters due to Marucho sending out a Gondor Calls for Aid and Gundalia being Mag Mel's first target after being freed. Many other Bakugan make a return in "Mechtanium Surge," Tigerra showing up once, and then a large number making last stand against Mechtavius Destroyer in the Bad Future, including Gorem, Preyas Angelo/Diablo, Skyress, Ingram, Taylean, Hydranoid, Tristar, Tigerra (again), Preyas, and Elfin. The Vestal-native Bakugan do not return.
  • Quickly-Demoted Woman: Used to be gender equal. Not. Anymore.
  • Redemption Earns Life: It says something when the only survivors of the Twelve Orders were the ones who turned good.
  • Redemption Equals Death: More or less the end result of Volt and Lync's Heel Face Turns.
    • And later Prince Hydron as well.
    • Possibly Professor Worton and Betradron.
  • Reverse Mole: Mira makes an apparent Face Heel Turn...and proceeds to completely sabotage the Vestals' plans.
  • Rule of Cool: Helios is a dragon. Everybody knows dragons are cool. Well, how about a cyborg dragon? That mounts hugeass cannons on his back?
  • Say My Name: Joe when Wavern is destroyed to release the Infinity Core within her.
    • Dan to Drago in every. Single. Battle.
  • Screw The Rules, I Have Plot!: The exact rules of the game are never quite made clear, but it's still obvious that what Dan and Drago are doing in the second episode of New Vestroia is circumventing them.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Jake
  • Screens Are Cameras: When Dan and his friends video chat over the internet.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The season 4 Big Bad, Mag Mel, is presently sealed away in another dimmension along with his Bakugan Razenoid. Reason for their imprisonment? Genocide.
  • Shoulder Cannon: Some Battle Gear such as Dual Devastator, Zukanator, JetKor and Explosix have one or two of those. The BakuNano Bombaplode is a Spiritual Successor to the Zukanator; appropriately enough both are used by Helios.
    • Helios also has those built in in his Mk 2 and Infinity forms: the former has a pair of laser cannons activated by the Chaos Shock Cannon ability, while the latter has the ability Deep Fire Block A - which amounts to about two or three dozen cannons popping open so Helios can robotech the living Hell out of his enemies.
  • Serious Business: Justified, as Bakugan can do a lot of damage.
  • Sequel Hook: At the end of New Vestroia, The last thing Prof. Clay sees before the ship blows is footage of Bakugan at war with each other, setting the stage for Gundalian Invaders.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: C Mechravius Destroyer obliterates Bakugan City and everyone in it, as well as succeeds in Bakugan genocide, so Dan and the Brawlers go back in time to stop him. However, it does not save the fallen Nonets, while the last two left alive perform a Heroic Sacrifice to make this happen.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Dan in New Vestroia.
  • The Short Guy with Glasses: Marucho.
  • Short Run in Peru: Sort of. Battle Brawlers episodes aired first in their country of origin, Japan. New Vestroia episodes also air in one of their countries of origin...Canada, home to North American distributor Nelvana. New Vestroia isn't airing in Japan at all.
    • No, it's going to air in Japan...almost A WHOLE YEAR AFTER IT STARTED IN NORTH AMERICA!!
  • Shout-Out: Amazon from the newest series seems to have some homages to Kamen Rider Amazon, including his pose and dorsal spines flexing when preparing his special moves. He even does the "AAAAAAA-MAAAAAA-ZOOOONNNN!" when preparing his attacks.
  • Sixth Ranger: Joe in terms of when he joins the show, and Alice in terms of when she starts brawling, in Battle Brawlers. Shun in New Vestroia, and no, that doesn't need a spoiler. The official site isn't making any attempt to deny that he'll be returning.
    • What does need a spoiler is the other Sixth Ranger: Spectra, a.k.a. Keith, Mira's brother.
  • Slasher Smile: When Alice remembers a flashback of Masquerade battling people and sending their Bakugan to the Doom Dimension, she freaks out immensely when the camera pans to his face pulling this smile, phasing partially through his mask to show it's her eyes. That moment also counts as a What Have I Done?
  • Something They Would Never Say: Shun uses this to recognize Hal-G using his powers to disguise his voice as Marucho's butler over the telephone.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: While mostly completely unconnected, each season's Big Bad is a great deal stronger than the previous one. Their actions also get progressively more evil as they go along as well. Case in point, Zenoheld attempted genocide but failed, the season four Big Bad Mag Mel is said to have been imprisoned for actually committing it.
  • Spin-Off: TMS decided not to Dub Mechtanium Surge in Japanese and instead, do an anime adaptation of the Bakutech! Bakugan Manga, starting again from scratch and rebooting the whole franchise. This however, displeases a lot of Japanese fans.
  • Spoiler Ending: The closing credits for Gundalian Invaders lists characters who haven't even been mentioned yet from the first episode.
  • The Starscream: Spectra and Mylene from New Vestroia; Kazarina from Gundalian Invaders , although she was ultimately loyal to Emperor Barodius.
  • Stripperiffic: Julie.
  • Sword Fight: While the Bakugan do most of the combat, Dan has gotten into a couple of energy sword duels over the course of the series.
  • Talking To Herself: When Mira goes to Earth and meets Dan's mom. Alyson Court voices both. Also, Julie Lemieux and Ron Pardo voice sufficiently many characters that there's bound to be at least one example for each.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Genesis Dragonoid (through Dragonoid Destroyer) to Mechtavius Destroyer.
  • Time Skip: The ending of the finale of Battle Brawlers skips ahead a couple of years, putting it shortly before the start of New Vestroia.
    • And there's a six month skip between seasons of New Vestroia. And yet, with all these skips, Marucho doesn't grow one inch.
      • His hair grew at least.
  • Token Girl: Mira in New Vestroia; Fabia in Gundalian Invaders.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Runo and Julie.
  • Totally Radical: Akwimos, with the slightest hint of Jive Turkey.
  • Together in Death: Shadow And Mylene, see You Are Worth Hell entry below.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Played with the second arc of Mechtanium Surge. Wiseman had a tendency to not let the good guys' Bakugan combine, and would just respond to this attempt with an attack, though in "Jump to Victory" that attack took awhile to rear up so it really didn't make as much sense. In "Enemy Allies", Mechtavius Destroyer attacks Dan as he is getting ready to bring out Dragonoid Destroyer, and in "Evil Arrival" he attacks Gunz before he gets to finish saying "Bakugan Bra--". Most notably, in "Evil vs. Evil", he doesn't let Betadron, Kodokor, and Mutabrid combine, and keeps slapping Mutabrid around, but no matter how much, he insists on combining and eventually dies. That said, Talking Is a Free Action is still in play.
  • Tsundere: Runo and Julie both fit this trope. Come to think of it, Billy and Julie could almost be considered a Takahashi Couple as well, except Billy's not part of the main cast so we don't get to see the extended Will They or Won't They? like we do with Dan and Runo.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: Billy (for Julie); Runo (for Dan)
  • Voice of the Legion: Mag Mel's followers have this in their true forms.
  • Warrior Thespian: Jesse
  • Water Is Dry: When Dan runs through the river to retrieve Drago in Dan and Drago. In the rain.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Hydron. When he realizes his father will never give him that approval, he does a Heel Face Turn.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Pop-out marbles that turn into dragons! Now with shotguns!!
  • The Worf Effect: Aranaut's been hit with this big time.
  • You Are Worth Hell: Shadow has a clear chance to survive the Negative Space Wedgie, but opted to die with Mylene anyway (he thinks it'll be interesting).
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Runo and her mother both have blue hair, and supporting characters Jenny and Jewles have purple and green hair, respectively.
    • In New Vestroia, Baron has purple hair.
    • The Vestals have quite a habit of falling under this trope. The only ones with real-world hair colors are carrot-top Mira and blonde Spectra and it turns out they're siblings.
    • In Gundalian Invaders Fabia has dark blue hair, though Dan refers to her as a brunette.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Runo is Grade S in New Vestroia, having had the other two components since Battle Brawlers but only reaching Grade C throughout that series. Unfortunately, Runo is hardly even in New Vestroia.
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