The Issue With Team Lovushka
Out of all the teams that debuted in Metal Masters, Team Lovushka is the weakest. They doesn't have any significant or long term consequences for the plot or characters and could be cut out entirely without affecting the plot of Metal Masters and even Metal Fury.
One of my biggest issues with this team is that they hold no significance to the plot. We don't see Team Lovushka again in the entirety of Metal Masters aside from one small cameo. They don't even show up in the final arc with Wang Hu Zhong, Excalibur, Wild Fang and Team Garcia. Literally every team Gan Gan Galaxy has faced in the tournament reappears — some as allies and some as enemies — aside from Team Lovushka, and we're not even given a reason why they aren't here.
They do reappear in the Destroyer Dome arc, but their only contribution is Lera destroying Jigsaw's invisiblity technique and prompting him to one shot everything. It's mentioned that they have/are analyzing the trajectory of the Star Fragments to predict when they would fall, but it's never brought up again. This is a waste since the Star Fragment is a critical element in Metal Fury and Team Lovushka is pretty space oriented ib their theme.
Even the other teams that reappeared had a bigger role in the main plot.
Excalibur, a team that puts significant emphasis on mythology and history, tracked down VariAres and expanded on the mythology behind it, which ultimately helped Madoka and Yuki realize that King was the Legendary Bladder of Mars — what with the whole "Sword of the Gods" part of VariAres's mythology and King's special move being "Sword of Ares."
Wang Hu Zhong had their history with the Beylin Fist which not only was the reason why they Aguma and Bao entered the Tag Team Tournament but also ultimately drove them to side with Nemesis. Out of everyone, Wang Hu Zhong had the best return in my opinion since their history with the Beylin Fist caused Aguma and Bao to do everything they did, which led to Nemesis winning the first fight with the Legendary Bladers.
As for Team Wild Fang — ignoring Kyoya and Benkei for now since they we're promoted to main character status again which would make this analysis unfair if I included them — Nile and Demure located Dynamis, led Gingka and the others to the temple and helped them reach the top of the place.
Team Dungeon — mostly Masamune though — had a huge role in not just the Destroyer Dome arc but also the Beyster Island arc. They were involved in recruiting King to the good side and Masamune played a key role in Chris's awakening as a Legendary Blader, with Zeo and Toby's defeat serving as Masamune's main motivation in that fight. Not to mention, there was that whole speculation about Masamune being the Legendary Blader of Winter at first, and even if it was subverted, it had a huge effect the plot, Masamune's character arc and his dynamic with King.
In contrast, Team Lovushka's return is pretty lackluster since it doesn't contribute to the plot in any major way. They don't have to be involved in recruiting a Legendary Blader, but they need to do something equally big, which is why not expanding on them researching the Star Fragment was a huge waste.
Even in Metal Masters, the other teams get their own personal stories that spanned many arcs: Team Dungeon and Star Breaker get two arcs to themselves and are greatly involved in the Spiral Force crisis; Excalibur had the arc about Julian's fall from grace and him rebuilding his foundations, this time dedicating his efforts to his teammatea and friends instead of his family name; Wild Fang — especially Kyoya and Nile — developed a rivalry and even a genuine friendship with Gan Gan Galaxy which causes them to help in the crisis, no matter what Kyoya says; similarly, Wang Hu Zhong has repeated appearances which show their growing friendship with Gan Gan Galaxy and not to mention their own development — Dashan, Chi Yun and Chao Xin had excellent character arcs, and it's a good thing they didn't all happen during their fight with Gan Gan Galaxy; Team Garcia had their desperation to move out of their poverty and their negative arc led them to work for Ziggurat in the end.
In contrast, all Team Lovushka got was that they got rid of Anton and got the funding for their space project. It's not a bad arc by any means, just a bit lackluster compares to the rest. We get a cameo of them competing in the Wild Card Tournament, but it's never explained why. Their reason for wanting to win the World Championships was to get funds for their space project which they eventually got, so why continue with the tournament? The anime could have expanded on that because Team Lovushka doesn't need to compete anymore.
This problem could have been solved easily of we got to see them compete in the tournament, perhaps against Wang Hu Zhong. It could have expanded on their characters and motivations a bit more and given them some much needed screen time.
There's also the problem with how the Russian arc was handled. I won't discuss the way Team Gan Gan Galaxy was treated because that will take a whole post. However, the way Alexi, Lera and Nowaguma were handled was kind of messy.
Anton was shown to be the real threat instead of any pf the actual bladers. That in itself is a problem because it implies that the only reason Team Lovushka is here is because of Anton's schemes and cheating ways. This is especially irritating because it was implied in their first meeting that Team Lovushka was holding back a lot.
The Gingka vs Nowaguma fight could have been a huge whiplash and created a great shock for both Team Gan Gab Galaxy and the viewers — and Gingka could have lost a battle which he really needed, especially in Metal Masters. Masamune and Lera could have had a rematch which could have developed Lera as a character — and she could earn Masamune's respect the same way Chao Xin does earlier — and given Masamune another ego boost before his humblung defeat by Nile in the next arc. Finally, the Yuu vs Alexi battle could have been less about Yuu throwing a huge tantrum and more about him actually feeling the pressure of having to carry everyone's dreams and wishes as a representative member and made his a bit more mature.
Another problem I have is the way Anton's cheating wad handled. We get snippets of Team Lovushka questioning his methods and then... Masamune takes care of the problem by stumbling on it accidentally?
The way I would have handled it would have been to have their misgivings about Anton's methods more pronounced and for them to ultimately reject those methods on their own, with no external influence. It would ahve given them a more genuine development and some more character.
Anyway, the point is that Team Lovushka had a lot of potential but were handled extremely poorly.
