Bakugan/Headscratchers


 * Everybody is stalling Naga, waiting for Dan and Drago to come to the rescue, but Alice never summons her Alpha Hydranoid, who is second only to Drago in the Brawlers' arsenal.
 * Correct me if Im wrong, but Alice DID spend an episode fighting Naga's henchmen, alongside Klaus and one-episode character Christopher. (I very much prefer Marucho's and the idols' episode myself, though.)
 * Hammer Gorem and Blade Tigrerra chose to sit out the Final Battle of New Vestroia because they feel their power compared to the others would only slow them down, yet Preyas, an unevolved Bakugan is right on the front lines.
 * Why are all the girls Put on a Bus? Really? I liked Julie, Runo and Alice, and now you just replace them season after season? Nice.
 * Justified in the second season, as the first time they were sucker-punch'ed by Drago into not coming (Marucho did manage to sneak in, surprisingly) and the second time they did not have the neccesary gear to summon Bakugan and they would only have been a load.
 * It's worth noting that Julie has returned as of the third season... sort of. Maybe it has to deal with marketing, or thinking that young boys don't really care or identify with the females? (Which wouldn't be the correct thinking...)
 * It's possible that the girls were cut out of the show to prevent a romantic subplot from forming. Mushy romance stuff probably wouldn't sit well with the show's key demographic, and could potentially derail the main plot. Not to mention, a She's Not My Girlfriend Running Gag would probably get stale. Fast.
 * After watching the very first episodes of the series (Battle Brawlers), I can safely say that I have no idea how to play the game. I have no interest in ACTUALLY playing the game, but the anime never really gives a clear explanation on the rules...
 * It is rather well explained in the videogames, but still it does not explain why they don't use any other way of scoring points than outright KO'ing the oposition, or why they have many more than three ability cards just for the sake of Rule of Cool.
 * Why is everbody but Dan, Marucho, Shun, and Drago put on a bus eventually? (Odds are, Julie's going to get axed by the end of Gundalian.) Why still keep the guys the same as well? I mean, I know plenty of people that are quite tired of Marucho and Shun is...mostly just there now.
 * As as of Mechtanium Surge, everybody but the same three were bussed yet again. Honestly, most are fine with Dan, since he's the main hero. Marucho is often times annoying(know it all), and Shun really doesn't add anything anymore. I mean, in the second season... he was literally just there. In the third, he played a more decent role, but wasn't important to the plot at all. And the fact that they keep getting rid of their regular Bakugan for a newfangled version is irritating.(Dan being the exception, of course)
 * It really bugs me that the monsters' seasonal power boosts are ridiculously huge. It makes sense that they would get a little better as the series goes on, but in the first season, a monster with a power level of 400 was considered a Game Breaker, but now everybody's throwing around 900-level monsters like it's nobody's business. The sickening reality is that it's just a way to ensure that kids keep buying the toys lest they become outclassed by their friends, and I can't think of a more egregious example of corporate whorery.
 * Actually, it's totally possible to beat someone with Bakugan that have huge G power ratings with the right set of ability cards and a bronze gate card.
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil, Naga was the original Big Bad, they became strong enough to defeat him. Zenoheld was the next Big Bad, but had to be more of a challenge than Naga was to be intresting. Thus they had two options, power down the heroes or power up the bad guys. The best way is making the new Big Bad stronger than the previous one. Thus when the heroes become powerful enough to beat one Big Bad, the next one has to be stronger than it.
 * The fact that each brawler only uses one bakugan ever since vestroia and gundalian. Who thought that was a good idea? Limiting the bakugan to use has made the show extremely dull, witch each fight just being a back-and-forth match of pulling out an endless number of ability cards to raise the bakugan's g-power, only to watch them do the exact same attack they just did but with a new name.
 * Okay, the Brawlers have the attribute energies and have to protect them from the vexos. Why not just refuse to fight them?
 * They tried that, remember hiding in the mansion with the cloak, Elfin got stir crazy and for the most part the Vexos hunted them down.
 * Because anyone with a gauntlet can turn it into a lightsaber, and Mylene showed us that the Vexos are willing to use them when they want to get.....persuasive.
 * Shun's role since second season. He's just there, nothing else. I know he's the catch for female audience, but what the hell? Apart from Dan, he's one of the kick-ass brawlers (at least in the first season). One thing, female audience don't like useless Bishonen.
 * He was somewhat better in the third season, but there's no point for him to be there in the fourth. Marucho is justified, since he runs Bakugan Space(or whatever it was called). Shun is literally useless except for Rule of Cool. He's a Ninja, after all.
 * Even Marucho's lost his purpose in the fourth season since he doesn't even run Bakugan Interspace and instead left the computer to that. Now he and Shun are literally just there.
 * Not anymore, Shun has now Took a Level In Badass and took over as leader of the Brawlers while Dan was gone. His Bakugan became so strong, it created a Mechtogan, something previously only the Big Bad and Drago could do.
 * The decreasing amount of girls in the main cast really bugs me. Every season, there's less and less girls, human and Bakugan. Let's recap:
 * Battle Brawlers: Julie, Runo, Alice, and Skyress 4 girls. (Tigrera depending if you go by the dub 5 girls.)
 * New Vestroya: Mira, Elphin and Ingram. But wait, Ingram suddenly becomes a guy after evolving? That leaves us only 2 girls.
 * Gundalian Invaders: Fabia. That's it. Only 1 girl.
 * Mechtanium Surge: None whatsoever. That Gundalian girl might be joining the brawlers, but there's not much of a guarantee as far as I know.
 * It's currently 1 with Paige. And only one. Would be nice for the gender to be equal again, really.
 * Plus she doesn't act or look like a girl.
 * Mistress Sellon's group is now with the Brawlers, so three now.
 * The Bus Came Back for most of the girls in Mectanium Surge's second half. Julie is apparently a reporter for Bakugan City, Mira, though acting slightly Out of Character, is back, and it looks like Runo might return! All is right in the world.
 * Except that in Runo and Mira's cases, they've been demoted from actual Brawlers to Mission Control and Julia is now basically a glorified civilian. The series has literally devolved to the girls taking up the non-action support roles.
 * Well based on the preview for episode 38 runo is going to be brawling again. There probably was a good reason why she has not been involved before now when she returned.
 * It aired. Technically Runo brawled, but all she really did was throw in her bakugan and then stand there and cheer the rest of the match. Dan's the one who played the ability cards for whats-his-name, and at the end of the episode that bakugan went back to New Vestroia, to........Tigrera of all people. While I'm at it, Mira's "brawl" was almost the same, except she did less. Roxtor threw himself in and Marucho played all the abilities. Mira just stood there and looked pretty. I think it's safe to assume the girls won't be getting much action, which is probably why Alice hasn't come back.
 * Why is Drago getting more and more humanoid as the series goes on? Seriously! He looked way more awesome as a dragon...
 * Well, it could be much like how Apes evolved into Humans. Also, he's still a dragon. Dragons are not always animal-like after all.
 * Looking at the show, this is becoming the case with every bakugan. They all look humanoid now. Probably because it's easier to animate.
 * Did I miss something between season one and season two? I watched (apparently) all of Season 1, and I'm not getting where any of the stuff that's happening is coming from; last time I checked they were regular kids on Earth who saved a Planet or something, and Bakugan was just a card game.
 * The show evolved to saving multiple planets from various evils. I'd blame it on the whole "anime hero" situation that happens these days. Ben 10 is a similar case.
 * So it turns out Mag Mel is actually Barodius (or however you spell it). I was suspecting this for a while, and it clears 1 or 2 things up, but what was the point in the name change? It's basically just Barodius in armor. Dharak changing to Razenoid makes a little bit of sense, since bakugan names slightly change when they evolve, but Barodius doesn't really have an excuse.
 * Three reasons. First, Barodius has also "evolved" and gotten far more powerful than he was before. Second, they had to make it at least somewhat shocking when his true identity is revealed, so he had to use another name. And third, after he was revealed, Barodius said That Man Is Dead. He doesn't even see himself as Barodius anymore, so there's no reason to refer to him as anything other than Mag Mel. It's made quite clear by The Reveal that Barodius has lost his mind, you probably would too being imprisoned in another dimmension in armor that's literally Made of Evil for at least several months with nothing but your own evil thoughts to keep you company. So it's likely he made up the Mag Mel identity as a result of his insanity.