Fridge / Beyblade Burst

Fridge Brilliance

General

• Because a lot of Beyblade Burst is grounded in reality, many of the moves seen in the anime can be emulated in real life through a combination of gimmicks and clever use of parts. But the first, and probably most important special attack you learn is the Rush Launch, a simple angled launch to help your Bey rotate quickly around the stadium.
• In the Metal Saga, secondary characters and extras are all given Ripcord Launchers as they are much weaker than a String Beylauncher. However, in Burst, regular ones serve the same purpose while special Ripcord-type Launchers are given to characters who are noted by others to be much stronger. This helps them launch harder because there is no string attached that would snap or break off. These winders also have unique grips and longer lengths. True to the toyline, Ripcord Launchers were the weaker launchers in the Metal Saga, however, in Burst Ripcord Launchers were improved and some were even better than a String Launcher.
• Bladers have been shown to create custom-made Beyblades and even different systems. It seems strange despite all the custom ones having Game-Breaker abilities, they have a weakness that seems almost deliberate (An example being Arthur's Prime Apocalypse having an infinite lock, but one exposed switch that unclicks it). However, making overpowered Beyblades would likely be banned from participating in official WBBA tournaments. Making custom overpowered beys without the ability to burst and intentionally no weaknesses would be possible, it just isn't allowed to participate.
• In the Japanese Dub, the name of Valt's Beyblade has names indicating pride (Victory, God, Winning then lastly Cho-Z^TranslationChouzetsu meaning excellent or superior Valkyrie). After accepting his loss as World Champion he gives her a neutral name (Slash Valkyrie) then when he has matured completely does she have names that indicate selflessness and heroic qualities (Brave and Savior Valkyrie).
• It seems strange how Valt changes Valtryek's abilities in every upgrade despite attaining mastery of it. However, as the number one blader in the world, it is likely he'd have sponsorships and represent the sport. If he doesn't keep his battles fresh with new gimmicks, people may lose interest in him and/or Beyblade. Aside from a legal standpoint, as a titleholder, he needs to be unpredictable to prevent his opponents from having enough time to develop a strategy. An example being Lui who likely prepared for Strike Valtryek, but was possibly caught off guard with a more consistently performing Wonder Valtryek without dynamic transformations.
• It makes sense why bladers need to practice beyblading, the stadium is huge! In real life a stadium is no bigger than a large bowl, which forces beys to collide no matter how weak a launch. To compensate, players must change parts to create a powerful combo. Since the anime beystadiums are much larger, players need to practice launching strength and techniques to get them to move around the intended way. Using a large stadium also allows anyone to have a fair shot at winning due to easier dodging and making use of gravity and inertia to slam into the opponent.
• Lui's hair stands out from every other blader due to looking like actual fire. Upon the reveal of Aiger and the Hizashi brothers' hair going wild from a strong resonance, Lui's hair might not be natural, he's in a state of constant and permanent resonance with his bey. This explains why he's as strong as he is, not only is he skilled with a powerful Beyblade, he also has the strongest connection with it that persists even outside battle.
• When Valt upgrades his broken Wonder Valtryek, she now rides on a white horse instead of a dark blue one. Because Valt's no longer a dark horse. He's established himself to be a top-tier blader who can win back his title as World Champion and no longer remains a suddenly rising competitor.
• It's strange that despite a bey being a Game-Breaker in one season, it can worsen in its "upgrade" (an example being Spryzen Requiem losing its spin-steal ability in Turbo). However, if you recall there is an official organization for all things Beyblade, the WBBA. If they see any unreasonably powerful beys, they would likely request the blader to nerf their bey to more appropriate levels in order to keep things fair. If one pays attention, the "generic" beys are always from the previous generation even if they once belonged to a major blader (despite Lightning beys being owned by legends, they reappear as generic enemies in QuadDrive), so you know they keep updating releases for non-legends to keep up with the competition.
• Beyblade Burst is more grounded in reality, yet we see magical or supernatural elements in play. These can easily be explained as a child's overactive imagination. Bladers who speak and communicate with their beys are seen to be a lot more powerful and form a stronger bond, but some of the bladers on the top ladder are Free, Shu, and Lui, who never talk with their beys (and are some of the more mature characters). Those usually seen doing so are around 10-12 years old, the age range of the protagonists in their debut seasons. When a blader gets "corrupted", it can be chalked up as getting too serious, as IRL there are people who get mad while playing sports and get too competitive. Awakening is simply wearing down a part to make it stronger and make its gimmicks or mode change switch faster. As for Flare, a power which grows stronger when a legend blader is defeated, who wouldn't get better at a game if you defeat a strong opponent? What about Elemental Powers, wouldn't that be an actual supernatual power? Yeah, but wouldn't you become better by understanding your own Bey, it's strengths and weaknesses, and how to get the most out of your abilities?
• Ever wonder why Shu or Delta announce or show whether Spryzen or Devolos is in right/left spin to their opponents? The element of surprise may give them an advantage, but in reality, it's an official tournament rule.
• Protagonists often receive flak for beating Lui or a Luinor wielder in early episodes while Valt, who trained so much has never done so in a solo match. But there's a good reason for it; Valt was seen struggling against Rantaro in his debut episode, indicating that he started off much weaker than any other protagonist. Aiger has naturally been training via wood and metalwork and traversing forests so he should start strong; Dante isn't a new blader and has been trained by Valt alongside Delta; Lodin may own a Luinor bey, but if he were anywhere near Lui's level of strength he should've been known by now; Bel is using a Quad bey, while Lui's is outdated.

Burst

• Ever wonder how Valtryek "awakened" but other Beys didn't? Her Variable Tip is designed to have its rubber nubs break off and become more aggressive as its used. It was malfunctioning during Valt's Team Battle with Xander because the tips have worn down in an unbalanced and awkward way. Other Beys didn't have a unique shape of rubber on their tips.
• In episode 32, Lui calls Valt a terrible blader due to the fact that he could see that Valtryek had not unlocked its full strength yet. While this may simply be him acting like his usual Jerkass self, it puts his personal rule of battling only strong opponents into perspective. He is able to tell whether or not bladers have developed strong bonds with their beys. Only bladers who have completely synced with their beys can achieve true strength.
• Daigo being the one to prove Jin's innocence he is suspected of sabotaging Shu, as well as getting particularly pissed at Naoki's deception makes sense when you remember that he did more or less the same thing. He considered that incident his greatest failure, and was afraid that Jin was going to make the same mistake as him. His attitude towards sabotage and deception takes on new meaning with all that in mind.
• The Supreme Four's Beyblades specialize in the different ways to win a battle. Zeutron's heavyweight and metal driver are for outspinning, Xcalius has an extended sword which makes it easier to unclick a bey until it bursts, Luinor's metal layer make it easier to knock an opponent outside the arena, and Spryzen as a balance type can do all (albeit not as well).

Evolution

• Why did it take so long for Boa to warm up to Valt despite the latter's attempts to be friendly with him? Boa was raised in an environment where you can only rely on your own strength. Valt, on the other hand, has always credited his strength from the bonds formed with his friends. Valt is basically the antithesis of everything Boa was taught in the Snake Pit. It was only after Valt stopped him from throwing his Bey away after their battle, and being encouraged by the group of kids to not give up that he realized he was wrong and came around to accept Valt.
  • Also, Boa attempted to to abandon Balkesh because he, like Shu, had been taught that a Bey that fails is worthless, while Valt would never give up on Valtryek no matter how many times he lost.
• Why did Kristina become suspicious of Theodore/Ashtem after Wakiya voiced his suspicions to her when in #12 she refused to listen Valt's attempts to explain about supposedly leaving BC Sol? After the incident with Stan, she probably learned to take people's concerns seriously while also taking time to hear all sides to a story.
• How come Silas is the only non-Big Five member in Group B of the International Blader's Cup? Simple, Silas has not only battled half of them already without suffering a Curb-Stomp Battle, he defeated the 3rd strongest blader in the finals of the World League, giving him enough credentials to qualify as a psuedo-Sixth Ranger of the group. Given how he defeated three-fifths of the original Big Five, he might as well earned that position.
• Free leaving BC Sol for the Raging Bulls seems a little out of the blue...until you remember that he's the No.1 Blader in the World. His teammates had become so dependent on him to the point where they relied solely on him to win. No wonder he decided to leave. He had hoped that with him gone, it would motivate the others to start pulling their weight. And it worked; once BC Sol got their act together (albeit after suffering a horrible losing streak), they were able to start winning battles and eventually advance to the World League.
  • When one takes into consideration that BC Sol is essentially Free's home where he grew up, his decision to leave becomes more of a case of Cruel to Be Kind, rather than just randomly deciding he wanted a change of pace.
• There's a lot of theories as to what Shu's real motive for becoming Red Eye was, but the most common is that he wanted to get strong enough to defeat Lui and Free. However, if one goes back to episode 49 of season 1 when Storm Spryzen broke, Shu apologizes to Valt for not keeping his promise of meeting him in the National finals, and vows to make it up to him one day. A flashback in the second season even reveals that one of Shu's reasons for going to America was because he was still guilty over breaking their pact. That final battle in the International Blader's Cup wasn't a chance for Valt to save Shu from Spryzen's control, it was another chance for Shu to fix their broken pact. In other words, Shu returned to his old self because he finally accomplished his original goal.
• Victory Valtryek got damaged pretty easily simply from crashing into a wall. Near the end of Season 1, Valt learned the Winged Launch which involves crashing into stadium walls to rebound. Valtryek also took plenty of strong hits against Zillion Zeutron and Lost Luinor, both of which are beys with metal in their layers (Lost Luinor's was meant for attack while Zeutron's were metal balls that added weight).
  • In addition, Valt still continues to use Winged Launch. Genesis Valtryek has a spring-loaded layer which improves said technique.
• Aside from Kit, Shasa was the first BC Sol Blader to be on good terms with Valt. It's believed that you get along easier with people who look like your parents, and Shasa both has blue hair like Valt's father and a hairstyle similar to his mother's.

Turbo

• Aiger gets a lot of flak for being overpowered (i.e. coming close to beating Valt in their very first battle after just creating Z Achilles, being able to defeat characters like Fubuki, who had spent 2 years training under Shu; and Lui, one of the Supreme Four and Big Five), but think about it. Aiger has spent his entire life on a farm in the mountains. Years of swinging from tree branches, climbing rocky terrain, lifting heavy metals, and chopping wood has given him some impressive upper body strength. Also, his father is a Bey trainer, so he probably knows more about Beyblade than most other characters as well. With all that in mind, Aiger isn't actually overpowered at all; he really does have more training and experience under his belt.
• At first, it seems strange that Count Nightfell doesn't follow the Burst tradition of having the same first letter in one's name as their Bey. Then you remember that Nightfell is a Bey thief, and Fusion Aether was created from the Dread Tower's infinity Beys. So techicnally speaking, Aether really doesn't belong to Nightfell. This also means that Nightfell likely isn't his real name either.
• The hero Achilles's weakness was his heel. Ironically, the Beyblade Achilles' greatest strength in real life is the Xtend+ Driver; the bottoms are considered the foot of the bey!

Surge

• Why do Lui and Dante work so well together despite the former being the last person you'd expect to team up with someone? It goes beyond them both having Dragon Beys and Character Development on Lui's part. Take a look at their color motifs. Lui's is white, while Dante's is rainbow. White light is all colors of visible light combined.
• The Hizashi brothers use Xceed and Zone Drivers, which have high Life-After-Death. As rookies facing up against elite bladers, their best chance at winning is out spinning them once their stamina is diminished greatly.
• Shu didn't compete in the Legend Festival because his upgrade for Spryzen wasn't completed yet.

QuadDrive

• When Bel gives Belfyre his Valtryek-based upgrade, he also makes a copy of Valt's Power Gear Unit. At first, it might seem like he's just copying everything new he sees from a Legendary Blader, but it actually makes sense since the V-Gear is the first significant increase in his bey's weight. Considering how heavy Belfyre gets in his Perfect Gear, Bel really needed that boost in launch power to keep it spinning.
• Glory Regnar has no low-mode, uses the High Xtend+' Driver, and has a defensive mode which also creates a halo on top of it. All of these are defensive abilities that allow Regnar to sit at a tall height because Rashad designed him specifically to defeat Bel and Valt! Belfyre requires high-mode to use its Perfect Gear, and Savior Valkyrie jumps and gains a lot of height from the Shot Driver.
• Valt is the first person to burst Dangerous Belfyre with activated Burst Locks. As one of the three people to use Turbo Awakening, having spectated the Victories' triumph over Gwyn and Arthur's infinite lock beys, and battled Shu's World Spryzen (who had burst locks), he has great experience with anti-bursting and knows exactly how to defeat a bey with it. And while he had to destroy Savior Valkyrie to do so, he was also the first to burst Greatest Raphael who also has a Burst Lock system.
• Ilya is the only blader who has a Hasbro bey (Magma Ifritor isn't recognized as one in the anime, but is treated as part of the same system). She left BC Sol before the debut of the Quad System, which meant she lost access to the workshop or Raul's assistance. Assuming she had no access to an independent BeyTrainer or researcher like Taiga or Mr. Muraki, she would have to create Ifritor on her own which would explain its less complicated gimmick, more plain appearance and lesser quality texture.

QuadStrike

• The beys this season are shown not to have any sort of major gimmick other than what that bey is known for (like how Achilies and Sprizen beys are known for having multiple that they can adjust). That's because, like Ilya's bey last season, beys introduced this season are based on Hasbro beys, which typically avoids having gimmicks that aren't it's own.
• Speaking of Hasbro beys, notice that none of the beys introduced in this season broke. That said, unless the bey is under extreme stress, Hasbro beys tend to outlast their Takara Tomy counterparts a bit longer due to lighter material in exchange for competitive viability. Also note that Pri, the one who should have been on the receiving end of the Wrecked Weapon trope frequently changed her beys throughout the season thus extending her beys' life even further.
• During the arc involving the Hizashi Brothers, Hyuuga is shown as Bel's arc rival while Hikaru is shown as Pri's. Both Bel and Pri kind of act in a similar manner to each brother. Hyuga and Bel typically like explosive offensive power, and Hikaru and Pri try to go for a more strategic approach based on what they know about their opponents.
• In the same arc, Valt and Ranzo are able to go toe to toe with the Hizashi Brothers dispite Ranzo not usually teaming up with Valt, but Ranzo has a Roktavor bey, who else has one? His cousin and Valt's partner during the Tag Festival, Rantaro. So of course he knows how to take advantage of a Roktavor bey.

Fridge Horror

• Lui only battles opponents that HE deems worthy, openly belittles anyone who fails to meet his standards, and views acknowledging strength as a sign of weakness. It really makes one wonder if something happened to him that caused him to become the person he is now. Gabe even mentions in episode 38 that Lui previously lived overseas before coming back to Japan. However, he always kept to himself and refused to interact with the other students. He only started opening up to Gabe after watching him train. Does Lui act the way he does because he was bullied at his other school? Did he once praise his opponents, only to get mocked for it? Or worse, what if he was discriminated against for having a left-rotation bey?
• There's some major Fridge Tearjerker regarding everything Shu's been through in his life: His parents are away most of the time, leaving him to fend for himself; he nearly loses an eye in his first battle with Lui, and gets his Bey broken in their second battle, leaving him feeling guilty for breaking his pact with Valt; he loses to the No. 1 Blader in the world, Free de la Hoya, after joining the Raging Bulls; he's then manipulated by Theodore/Ashtem into joining the Snake Pit (where he is essentially subjected to Mind Rape), and finally becomes brainwashed by Spryzen Requiem. And in case you've forgotten, Shu's still only 11 years old! Take in ALL of that, and you're left with a child who SERIOUSLY needs lots of hugs. It's a good thing the Bey gang were all there for him in the end, and were willing to forgive him after what he did.
• Thankfully, this was omitted in the dub, but imagine if Xander hadn't been around to stop that parade float from collapsing? Ana would've been crushed to death...
  • And that's just scratching the surface; think of how Cuza would've felt knowing he unintentionally got someone killed?
• Just what happened to the Masked Bladers who got kicked out of the Snake Pit? They are never mentioned nor seen again afterwards.
• When we first see Norman Tarver (as his Gold Eye persona), he has a normal skin tone. But when his face is revealed episodes later, he has dark eye bags and unhealthily pale skin. And it doesn't appear to be a trick of the light, either. Just happened to him during that time?
• Wakiya is pretty much the sole reason Valt learned about the Snake Pit's existence and about Shu's predicament. What If? he had stayed silent?
• What would've happened to Shu if Valt hadn't freed him from Spryzen Requiem's control? Would he still try to destroy other people's Beys? Would he still be with the Snake Pit?
  • What was Theodore planning to do with Shu if he had succeeded in winning the International Blader's Cup?
• Minor one, but in Turbo #18, the ones who fell prey to the ship's traps got dunked in the ocean. While the rescue boat was right by the ship...what if Xavier or Suoh (who weren't wearing ocean-friendly clothing at all) actually drowned?
• In Turbo #33, Aiger and Ranjiro land in a room where they have to face off against two infinity stadium beys. That itself isn't so bad, but the ceiling in the room is descending, so they don't have time to waste. By the time Aiger taps into his dark resonance, the ceiling is nearly on top of them. One should remember that everything going on at Dread Tower is being broadcast on live TV, so if Aiger hadn't burst the infinity beys in time...both he and Ranjiro would have been crushed to death while their friends and family were watching...
• The moment where Boa nearly throws his Bey away after losing to Valt is actually even more tear-jerking when taken out of context. Given Boa's state of mind during that time, Valt was essentially stopping him from attempting suicide.
• After the events of Evolution #47, Norman is never seen or heard of ever again. It can be assumed that he went back to the Snake Pit to better himself. Though, considering the Snake Pit's harsh consequences for failure, it’s possible he might’ve been punished, or worse, put to death for his loss.
• After watching his battle with Phi, it's pretty easy to see how Shu could've ended up if he were still possessed by Spryzen Requiem.
  • Also, notice Shu's reaction when Phi declared he would "destroy each and every Bey". Ironic Echo much?
• The show has pretty shocking scenes of brainwashing, physical abuse of one's own body, injury, torture, and even possible death. Characters, mostly minors, go through so much suffering just to improve at a game which at its core is just plastic spinning tops in a bowl!

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