Beyblade Is Back! How Beyblade X Revitalized the Maryland Beyblade Community
ACT: <Ready, Set, 3, 2 1 Let it Rip>
VOICE TRACK: Beyblades… customizable spinning tops that battle for victory in a small plastic arena. Peaking in popularity from 2009-2011 Beyblade has since fallen from its former glory with its release of Beyblade Burst in 2016. However, things are changing, 2024 saw the release of Beyblades newest line of Beyblades… Beyblade X.
ACT: <I think Beyblade is growing at an exponential rate thanks to X.>
VOICE TRACK: That was Bear, a member of the Maryland Beyblade community and my opponent who beat me in my first Beyblade X battle. Last month, I went to a Beyblade X tournament in Maryland to find out the reasons for Beyblade X’s explosive growth. And immediately, the reason was apparent. When I was in elementary school, I loved Beyblades, but compared to the animated show, the battles weren’t nearly as exciting. You would often watch your tops clink together gently for multiple minutes, with no real intensity. Beyblade X has solved this problem with their new X dash feature. Essentially, there are rails at the edge of the stadium that the Beyblades latch onto. Allowing them to perform powerful attacks. These attacks are so powerful you will often see metal bits chipping off the Beyblades as they battle.
ACT: <X simplifies the game to make it much more casually exciting and accessible and X being easily able to find in US stores in the same way it is in Japan is killing it for getting people into the game.>
VOICE TRACK: In the past when Hasbro began distributing Beyblade Burst in the US, the Beyblades were much worse than their Japanese distributer Takara Tomy, due to Hasbro skimping out on materials. This caused true Beyblade fans to only import for Takara Tomy in Japan. Luckily, this has all changed with Beyblade X. Now Hasbro is releasing the exact same Beyblades as Takara Tomy. Making it much easier for enthusiasts to get into the game. In fact, the Beyblade community has grown so much that community member Elliot says that their venue isn’t big enough for all the people that want to play.
ACT: <We have to cap it. We have to put a cap on it. So, we put a cap at 28-32, but there are days where people want to play but can’t. If we had a bigger venue, there are some places that have like 50 player tournaments every week.>
VOICE TRACK: Some community members even think that Beyblades new wave of popularity could even push it to become a real sport.
ACT: <Since I’ve played Beyblade I’ve started to notice weird hobbies more. Stuff like flip cup or competitive cubing or like darts and bowling and I’m like, you know some of these are considered sports and I feel like their pretty similar in the balance between physicality and skill that Beyblade has.
VOICE TRACK: And this isn’t an opinion only shared by members of the community. The creators of Beyblade, Takara Tomy, have been on record saying that Beyblade is a gear assisted sport, similar to golf or skateboarding. And if any line of Beyblade were to become a sport, Beyblade X would be the one to do it.
ACT: <I think the community kinda had a bit of a quiet period towards the end of Burst with Covid as well and I think we’re seeing a big resurgence. The numbers are saying X is outselling all of the previous generations>
VOICE TRACK: And Elliot is right. Beyblade X managed to surpass 1 million sales in its first month of release. Something Beyblade Burst took a year and a half to do.
ACT: <X is bringing in new people, X is bringing in kids that have never played before. As well as people who are like, I’m old my favorite was the plastic gen or metal fight gen, but this X stuff I want to come back for.>
VOICE TRACK: If all this talk of Beyblades has got you interested in participating.
ACT: <You gotta find your local scene. You gotta find your local scene, whatever that means for you. Even if its just you and your friends for right now, you can’t learn Beyblade by yourself and the best advice and best learning I’ve got hasn’t been from sitting at home practicing by myself. It’s been from being in community.
VOICE TRACK: While the spinning tops have evolved, the core of bey blading remains the same: customization, strategy, and intense battles. With a vibrant growing community and ongoing Beyblade releases, Beyblade is proving to be more than just a childhood fad. Reporting for LUM, I’m Sean Casey.