Like Pokémon, the Beyblade franchise also started as a toyline. The manga that was produced alongside it was just promotional material. Takara Tomy and Hasbro teamed up to release these spinning top toys. The anime was released in 2001. It was followed by a couple more seasons (V-Force and G-Revolution). These three seasons (and one movie), taken together, form what we call “Plastic Gen” or the original series. After this, they redesigned the toys and released the HMS, Metal, Burst, and now X systems. Within the first plastic gen, there were many really cool, innovative designs and gimmicks. Of course, not all worked equally well. But overall, that childhood nostalgia coupled with the cool designs made me a fan of Beyblade.
Being braindead, my favorite character in any anime, TV show, movie, video game, or book is pretty much always the protagonist. Naruto, Ted Lasso, Harry Potter, Geralt, or Jonathan Harker. So naturally, my favorite character in Beyblade was Tyson or Takao. I’ve watched those anime several times for purely nostalgia purposes and started this quest to collect Tyson’s anime Beyblades.
There are people who have a much bigger or better (better condition) collection of Dragoons and the entire plastic gen lot. And I aim to reach that level someday. I started this by purchasing off OLX, then I made contacts and joined groups. Today, I am moderately well-connected in the Indian plastic gen collection community.
All of these are original Takara Tomy or Hasbro Beyblades.
Apart from Dragoon Beys, I also have some others, but I don’t collect them religiously. Like the Driger F, Strata Dragoon, Wolborg 2, Dark Dragoon, Flash Leopard 2, etc.
Dragoon S
Dragoon F
Dragoon F Blue Burst Remaster
Dragoon V
Dragoon V Silver CoroCoro Version
Dragoon V2
Dragoon V Electronic Version
Dragoon G
Dragoon GT
The remaining Beyblades are Ultimate Dragoon (game-only first Bey), Grip Attacker (the one that Tyson had for less than one episode before it got wrecked by Kai), and finally, the last mainline evolution of Dragoon in the hard metal system (Dragoon MS). Apart from these, I will keep collecting different versions, recolors, and editions of the base designs.
The Prized Possessions
A couple of my favorite Beyblades are the GT and V’s Silver Limited Version.
Galaxy Turbo
The GT is my most prized possession, and it’s also in an excellent, near-mint condition. The engine gear’s sound will have you go brrrrr.
Victory (CoroCoro Silver Limited Version)
The base plastic is probably the same as used for the Wolborg 2. Holding both in hand, it’s hard to say they are different (only the base plastic’s color, of course). But whereas it looks typical for a Wolborg, it looks stunning in the original Victory design.
