The Slightly Pretentious Guide on How to Write a BeyBattle
Fuck it, I'll do it myself.
Inspired by a comment from @berylt-not
Beyblade fanfiction is pretty good, all things considered, but there is a stunning lack of actual written BeyBattles within the fanfiction community (as far as I know, my tagging could just be quite bad, so please leave some in the comments if they exist) that is above the level of first-grade reading. There is a single fic that I know of that does it quite well, and it is Jtblake's "A Heartfelt Battle" on Ao3, https://archiveofourown.org/works/72559411?view_adult=true (Please read this. It's fantastic). Yes, yes, we all love our angst and fluff and gay dudes, but I think the lack of conflict in fics has caused a divide in the Beyblade fandom (at least the Burst one) between character autism and spinning-top autism, and we as a community now have the power to bridge that gap.
Maybe you don't want to, and that's fine! But, there are (probably) plenty of people out there who want to write their own rewrites of series or just oneshots where the Bladers happen to battle, but just aren't confident enough in their own skills because there isn't enough data, or they think they're not smart enough to write them. Welp, good news for you guys, Blake wasn't smart enough to do it either. He just got lucky. Although he did follow a couple of rules while writing that one-shot that seemed to work (or he made a deal with Belfyre himself—unclear), and I have conned him into sharing them, with some added rules of my own because this guide wasn't pretentious enough already.
Welcome to the unofficial official guide to BeyBattle writing.
(This guide primarily focuses on X generation and Burst generation, as Blake's oneshot focuses on the former and most of my knowledge comes from the latter.)
Rule 1: The Toys Are Real. And They're Your Best Friends.
A little bit Captain Obvious-y, but knowing exactly how Beys function IRL can provide a good foundation for a fic's description. Blake has both DranBuster 1-60A and HellsHammer 3-70 H IRL and has battled them against other Beys and has played that particular matchup as well. But I will admit, Beys are expensive, especially any Takara TOMY ones (which are the ones you'll definitely be writing about) before the X gen—Guilty costs like a third of a Nintendo Switch, crimeity. Fret not, for, in some cases, other people have done the work for you. Both Beyblade Wiki and Beyblade Wiki | Fandom are actually excellent resources for understanding not just what the Beys can do, but what they were meant to do. Like, Variant Lucifer sucks IRL because of its barrier, but we know how it wasn't supposed to suck. Of course, they won't have every part for every gen, but they do have quite a bit.
Something else good to keep in mind is why a gimmick works for that specific Bey, not just that it can. For example, Vanish Fafnir can absorb spin from a right-spin Bey because its Blade is almost made entirely of rubber, which flexes inward when hit. Guilty Longinus hits so hard because it's so goshdang heavy and has quite a lot of metal. Wizard Rod is overpowered because it's Wizard Rod.
Rule 2: Anime. Good For Some. Terrible For Others.
When it comes to specifically Burst and X, the anime is almost like a double-edged sword. What I mean by that is Burst was the generation where the anime got scarily accurate to how Beys act IRL (with exceptions, of course), while X's BeyBattles are so much like Burst's that they're actually more boring than IRL battles. Who woulda thunk it?
So, if you're a Burst fan, that's great! You can use the anime as another resource for your writing. In fact, it'll probably be your primary resource since you're trying to replicate it, but still.
Meanwhile… yeah, sorry, X fans. You'll just be stuck watching Robin losing for the fifteenth time in a row when you know that Scythe Incendio is actually very good performance-wise because the plot demands it.
However, that anime not being real does come in clutch because sometimes, you can just make up shit. If Shu was able to trump the competition with his terrible, god awful Storm Spriggan, then you can write him doing that! Keeping that in mind will help alleviate some of the stress of keeping things realistic, since strategies can be made up on the fly if you know how to word things. Which leads into…
Rule 3: Repetition is a guarantee. Stop fighting it.
Look, he gets it. Eventually, you're gonna run out of synonyms for the word "spin," and that's okay! And in the writing world, repetition is a death sentence if you want to keep the reader engaged, but, at some point, you're gonna have to bite the proverbial bullet and start reusing words. Don't freak out about it—just try to keep it to a minimum. The story can still be good, but you might have to focus a bit more on the following rule.
Rule 4: Bladers. They're Just as Important as The Bey.
Blading IRL is all about the combos. You have the better Bey, you win, simple as that. Bladers are more pilots than they are players. But, when writing a battle, "It's all about the Blader's spirit" (I'm taking his word for it. I've never actually watched anything of Metal besides the Blader DJ/American DJ yaoi). Battles in the anime almost always act as a conversation, sometimes between Blader and Bey, other times between Blader and Blader, and other times, between you and the writer, because why the fuck did Bel win against Shu in his first battle?! ASTRAL SPRIGGAN IS MUCH MORE POWERFUL THAN DYNAMITE BELIAL! WHY CAN'T DB STOP BASTARDIZING THE LEGENDS FOR MORE THAN TWO SECONDS?! RAHAHHAHAHHAHAHH!
Sorry, lost my composure for a second.
But battles should have a goal beyond the spinning tops clashing (I know what this thread is about—shut up). It can be something as grandiose as a clash of ideals, two people resolving an argument by battling, or just one person wanting to beat the other. Blading is a conversation, and conversations need words, not actions.
This is the most critical question you need to ask when you write a BeyBattle. While yes, there are definitely cases where "Why" is more important, more often than not, you want the win to mean something. So, after figuring out who wins, you need to figure out how they win. If you don't, the battle will always feel hollow, and not in the Aiger vs. Phi kind of way.
How did Valt beat Hyuga in episode 1 of Beyblade Burst Surge? Hyuga's inexperience with his new Bey meant that he didn't quite know its weaknesses, including poor Defense, which Valt and Valtryek were able to exploit simply by attacking at full force because of their many battles together.
How did Dante beat Arthur in Rise? With the power boost from Hyper-Flux in play, Dragon was able to have enough force to strike the sword and burst Apocalypse with a conveniently timed Winged Recoil.
But there is a distinction between "How" and "Why," and it is one you should learn.
Why did Aiger beat Valt in episode 28 of Turbo? Plot. How did he beat Valt? Utilizing the Dark Resonance with Achilles to make up for his shortcomings, bending Achilles to his will rather than being true partners with him.
While the last rule focused on what the battle is supposed to mean in the greater narrative, this one focuses much more on the technical sense. What makes the character deserve the win?
There's probably more he could have said, but he was starting to catch onto my plan, so I had to go away. I really do hope this helped and inspires others to write about spinning tops. Please. I'm begging you. I'll be glad to answer any questions below, as I can probably do so. But for now, stay cool and Let It Rip (he made me say it 😔).
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