Bakugan 2023 is a MESS-TERPIECE (a REVIEW)

A review of the new third generation Bakugan series.

0:00:00 Intro
0:01:05 Summary Part 1
0:14:17 The Toys
0:16:48 Summary Part 2
0:26:44 Roblox!?
0:26:53 Analysis
0:32:44 Advertising Lens

[Mr.MikeTaylor]

Thanks for the review, always appreciate the show getting out there more 🙏🏻

My apologies if it was a bit clunky on my end in the beginning, dubbing definitely took some getting used to, So thanks for bearing with me haha.

Wish you all the best, friend!

-Dan

[MarcuriallDarkus]

Sadly, a year after this video, the show is cancelled, toys are off the shelves, and a supposed movie that definitely isn’t getting cancelled is in the makes

[sisho]

Something I want to point out - I can't see the show without remembering the fact that the brawling in this 2023 version reminds to Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V action duels. I know it's not a fair comparison, but think about it. In Arc-V the duelists look for action cards on generated fields with some theming on them (could be a candy world, a city-like place, etc), and use those cards to give boosts to their cards or negate an effect from a monster, spell or trap of the opponent. In Bakugan 2023, we have BAMs, that the brawlers try to touch, in generated fields that may have a theming on them (like a dusty place, a volcano, or a forest) or not. The BAMs give the Bakugan boosts in battle so that they may recover from enemies trapping them.
It may not sound that similar, but watch a Brawl in Bakugan and an Action Duel and you may find these similaritites.

[wellstherabbit]

True! This bakugan gen has very deep anti-capitalist messaging. Anyways kids and kid-adults, don't you wanna buy some cheap, sweatshop-made, colourful plastic spheres? :) Capitalism always wins. 😎💯

[kodainogema]

Edit: I'm placing this here before my rant because it's a point I wanted to make about one of the things I heard about in the original, G-Power was the only thing to focus on. While this is mostly true, even more so in the game, the anime doesn't always follow that, and the same could be said for the game too, leading to more strategy. The most obvious example I can thing of at the moment, is Gorem from the anime. It seems the anime gave Bakugan a special ability in addition to their power, Gorem's being his absurdly powerful shield that he is seen to use to block opponent Bakugan from beating him, even when they have more Gs than him, and everytime they do so, they lose 50Gs. This is why I wish they made the original game more accurate to the show given how much more strategic Bakugan abilites could have been! They somewhat got Preyas right, but in the show it is said he could be any type he wanted, and it wasn't random. He could also change his type at any point, even after the gate card was opened, allowing him to get a subterra boost during Jenny and Jewlz's battle. Just wanted to add this and hear your thought's about it.

It's probably nostalgia bias, but I also feel like a lot of people would agree that Gen 1 Bakugan was the best. I have recently started rewatching the original Bakugan and cannot believe how many jokes slipped past me as a kid! Aquos Preyas is an amazingly good comic relief character, almost deadpool like, and I love how they did the cast for the original.

Some gripes I do have about Gen 1 is how innacurate the english version is, as well as the game itself. Keep in mind, Bakugan was intended to promote a card game given how popular they were during that time, but they put such a unique and simple twist on it that should have been much more praised in my opinion! It was much more skilled based than other card games where you could be foiled by your draw. You only needed a total of 6 cards, and three Bakugan, making the game much more accessible in my opinion for having such a low requirement. You always had access to all of your cards, and you could plan strategies and make up your game themes on how you wanted to win!

Gen 2, while being much more kid focused and less ssrious about everything, I will give praise to for actually turning it into a card game, but I don't understand why so much would change. Why are the Bakugan more mechanical now? Just for better blending for CGI? Why create Bakucores and remove gate cards entirely? What was the point of adding the Aurelus attribute other than to completly add an attribute better than all the others, all the attributes had character and then you just put in the "Godly" attribute? Same thing applies for Gen 3, why have all the Bakugan become some sort of cyborg creation? Why change the attributes for clans? So many changes feel just weird and feel completly different for each generation. It doesn't even feel like Bakugan, it feels like every new generation is just a different game with Bakugan as the face for nostalgia.

In the end, I hope that they do some backtracking to see why fans loved the original so much more than the new ones, and possibly even actually improve upon it by making the game more accurate to the show, like what BakuDev is doing with Bakuproject. The fanbase is obviously dedicated to Bakugan and we have been standing here ready for our voices to be heard. I just hope that us brawlers can someday bring back that love for Bakugan, bring back the tournaments, and bring back the community that such a franchise has given us.

[VPalamedes]

Honestly I miss Hydranoid, that boi was forgotten after New Vestroia and was barely ever referenced afterwards. I don't hate Nillious but his rivalry honestly felt forced just like the mask on Magnus

[heleonflame]

This year he’s so far it’s first season is very good it really brings back a lot of things from G1 having characters have proper character development and not just one but a few except for Juno she doesn’t have a character arc in the season I think This third series of Bakugan with me to make up for some OG fans who did not like the second series when it had too many funny gags and shenanigans and taking more of a serious note plus their filler episodes do not follow the plot and a hand wall this third series fillers do I actually follow the plot well some of them in the most important thing was G3 Dan having character development like the entire purpose of him and according to his voice actor he was supposed to be at this way he has what he was to have to learn something to have a proper character development for his build up we had some character arcs like TC and mia character arcs I think I enjoy TC’s character arc more than I enjoy mia because mia was just her having issues with her parents trying to keep a secret And also TC Carador really shows something with the first Time we see him he gets character arc and sees Dan as a brother figure that’s something that would increase both his and Dan’s character development back to G3 Dan by far so far to the fans A lot of fans CG 3 Dan as a better reboot Dan than G2 Dan because G2 Dan didn’t had a much character development he was too egoistic this kind of make G3 Dan so far this Dan we’re stuck with show me that he cares about his team more than himself and also shown to be a brother figure for TCE a lot of people see him as the Tom Holland Dan like the original Dan is the Toby Maguire and the second Dan is the Andrew Garfield so far G3 Dennis basically more likable middle-of-the-road options not as likable as the OG Dan from the original series but still likable compared to g2 Dan


To me this reboot is worth giving a chance to like the original series lasted for five years 2007 to 2012 and the G2 reboot lasted since 2018 to 2023 this reboot is worth giving a chance and probably we’re gonna be stuck probably gonna have to get used to it for the rest of four years they’re probably gonna keep rebooting every five years

[utsuroyuki]

To be honest same with battle planet I was put off at first with the characters in gen 3 however once the plot kicks in it's good in my opinion. Do wish they kept the attribute and the clans separated for example have drago be a pyrus bakugan from the dragon clan, hydronoid and nillouis darkness bakugan from dragon clan. keeping the core elements of the show and adding something new to it if that makes since.

[papaboogedy]

The more of them I see the more it still looks like muscle fetish art.

[adora_burst]

Love the Bakugan game osts. Just plugged in my old wii and replaying it. Currently I just met Marduk and Vladitor. Also rewatching Battle Brawlers, and not gonna lie, I got a soft spot for that 2000s animation.

[alliotdragon]

I’ve been a fan of the franchise for almost 17 years A lot of people this generation is actually pretty good really showing us that gives us this the floor somethings that we haven’t seen since G1 Like the dark features that’s something that showed G1 did of something that makes a great story and also it shows a lot of things a lot of character arcs that pink and a lot of characters have character development for G3 Dan learning to be a leader and even becoming a brother figure for TC Mia dealing with family issues by keeping a secret pretty much every main cast except for Juno have their own care of darks and a lot of people do like G3 Dan better than G2 Dan because G2 Dan did not have any character development well well G3 Dan is having a lot of character development is that something that a lot of people liked about G1 Dan as for the series I’m hoping despite the actual game going well for some fans I’m hoping for this series last for at least four or five seasons it is a masterpiece Because it reminds me of the original series

[primusvsunicron]

7:58 GET AWAY FROM THAT INTERNET! I’M CUTTING IT DOWN!!!

[dangerbuffrocky]

The characters have some of the best drip out of any generation.

[joethemuscle]

Very flattering image of me, Kaleb. Any day now for sure!

[TheGabbaGhoul]

Did not last long at all, rip bakugan again, we hardly knew ye

[arcanehumanoidtyphoon]

Bakugan 2023 honestly has alot vibes with western cartoon of 2010 known as kaijudo which was tie In cartoon of duel masters. It very similar especially with theme of reunion and peace.

[AntiDarkus]

At least the series has proper character development unlike the last reboot was just basically with funny gags and shenanigans and characters that don’t deserve power ups

[AshuraNocturne]

3:45 in this climate "you can count on me daddy" is crazy

[itsmesteve]

Bakugan is extremely expensive if you want to collect them all.

[TheEmperorYTP]

"Dragonoid is a radical woke leftist" is one of the sentences of all time.