I've been rewatching 4D recently and I noticed that Ryuga was kinda ooc in comparision to his Explosion (Metal Masters) personality.

At the beginning he was still fine, but then he just.. got back to his old arrogant ways from Season 1. I mean in MM he acts like a mentor to Ginga and co, telling them that he overcame his dark powers and is now a new self. Season after he takes Kenta under his wing, okay that's great out of him. But then he just slowly wandered the dark path he used to laugh at, again, which ultimately led to his downfall.

I've been rewatching 4D recently and I noticed that Ryuga was kinda ooc in comparision to his Explosion (Metal Masters) personality.

At the beginning he was still fine, but then he just.. got back to his old arrogant ways from Season 1. I mean in MM he acts like a mentor to Ginga and co, telling them that he overcame his dark powers and is now a new self. Season after he takes Kenta under his wing, okay that's great out of him. But then he just slowly wandered the dark path he used to laugh at, again, which ultimately led to his downfall.

In all honesty, I never saw it this way, but, I commend you for making me think of this subject, a bit more. But, for me, Ryuga just was overcome by a desire to destroy the dark power that had once overcome him. And, yes, he was a bit more aggressive then he was in the second season, but, a lot happened to him during this time, Doji (the person who took advantage of him) came back, and consistently tortured him on how weak he was to not be able to control the dark power, then Pluto revealed that he was controlling the Dark Nebula from behind the scenes, meaning Ryuga has just learned he was part of an ongoing plan, and that he would've been in Rago's place if he wouldn't have succumbed to the "dark power". Also, in Metal Masters he still was a bit aggressive when it came to the subject of his past, and of the people working on it. Though he did help Tsubasa, and technically help team "Gan Gan Galaxy", he physically hurt people multiple times (like cutting Dr.Ziggurat's face). And, Ryuga was alway's a bit arrogant. But, if we want to add the manga into this, Ryuga is the emperor of the "Dragon (or Doragon) clan", so, him getting controlled by the dark power is something bigger than him losing control of himself, it ends up being him feeling (maybe) resentment towards himself for not being able to live up to the standards he once made. And, having someone stand up to him and try to strip him of his title, is bigger than just him going back to his old ways. But, anyway, this is all just speculation on my part, so, I don't truly know. If you have any questions regarding this "theory" of sorts, don't hesitate to ask me! Thanks again, for giving me the opportunity to talk about Ryuga!

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I've been rewatching 4D recently and I noticed that Ryuga was kinda ooc in comparision to his Explosion (Metal Masters) personality.

At the beginning he was still fine, but then he just.. got back to his old arrogant ways from Season 1. I mean in MM he acts like a mentor to Ginga and co, telling them that he overcame his dark powers and is now a new self. Season after he takes Kenta under his wing, okay that's great out of him. But then he just slowly wandered the dark path he used to laugh at, again, which ultimately led to his downfall.

Doji (the person who took advantage of him) came back, and consistently tortured him on how weak he was to not be able to control the dark power, then Pluto revealed that he was controlling the Dark Nebula from behind the scenes, meaning Ryuga has just learned he was part of an ongoing plan, and that he would've been in Rago's place if he wouldn't have succumbed to the "dark power". 

That's true, and I agree with it. However, Ryuga got too aggressive even before he learned that Doji is still alive. In particular I mean the episode where he starts to ignore Kenta's rational thinking and goes with his lust of superiority, again. Like, Ryuga started believing he can do everything alone. That kind of thinking got Kenta to leave a permament scratch on L-Drago Destroy. And even after that, he didn't wake up until he got defeated by Rago.

In Metal Masters, he did ask for Ginga's assistance in the final eps when dealing with Faust and the Spiral Core.

Doji (the person who took advantage of him) came back, and consistently tortured him on how weak he was to not be able to control the dark power, then Pluto revealed that he was controlling the Dark Nebula from behind the scenes, meaning Ryuga has just learned he was part of an ongoing plan, and that he would've been in Rago's place if he wouldn't have succumbed to the "dark power". 

That's true, and I agree with it. However, Ryuga got too aggressive even before he learned that Doji is still alive. In particular I mean the episode where he starts to ignore Kenta's rational thinking and goes with his lust of superiority, again. Like, Ryuga started believing he can do everything alone. That kind of thinking got Kenta to leave a permament scratch on L-Drago Destroy. And even after that, he didn't wake up until he got defeated by Rago.

In Metal Masters, he did ask for Ginga's assistance in the final eps when dealing with Faust and the Spiral Core.

You're are correct he acted a bit irrationally, but, as far as he knew nothing could stand in his way. And, in my opinion, I feel he felt weaker by believing Kenta, and thinking that even after mastering the dark power and getting rid of his past demons (as far as he knew) he still couldn't defeat anyone who got in his way. At this time in the story, Ryuga had been the most powerful blader, so, who's to say he wasn't getting cocky with power? He has done this before. Or maybe he felt his superiority being challenged by this new "dark power". It's truly hard to say. And, in Metal Masters, he was fighting a machine not a person, he knew the power the machine would need to be destroyed, he alone didn't possess that power. While before he fought Rago, he had no idea of his power, though he did get a small peek at what he and Nemesis could do, he hadn't challenged him to a battle one-on-one. Also, I have a theory that Kenta was supposed to be Ryuga's "Griffin", this was a person that supposedly followed around a member of the "Dragon (or Doragon) clan"  (in the Zero-G manga, Takanoske is Sakyo's "Griffin"), but, it seems only those who haven't fully unlocked their powers, have "Griffins" so maybe Ryuga felt by following him around Kenta was doing this (?). I don't honestly know. I don't even know how much of Ryuga's past life he remember's his whole "Dragon Emperor" thing might have been something that he was led to believe by Doji.

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I don't think Ryuga was OOC. Well, you can't expect a person to behave the same way all the time, people change with experience. Ryuga was intelligent; he learnt from his experiences. Once he knew how treacherous the dark power was, he would never go down that path again. He wasn't very proud of what he did in the first season, and he lashed out at anyone who reminded him of his past. I think he always loved beyblade, but he didn't realise what the true meaning of the blader's spirit was until his battle bladers finals against Gingka. Gingka taught him he true meaning of the blader's spirit and freed him from the dark power. He must have felt indebted to Gingka for that. In the second season, he helped Tsubasa overcome his dark side because he knew how it felt to be infected by it and it was his fault that Tsubasa had it in the first place. He helped Gingka because he felt indebted to him and he must have personally wanted to check out Gingka's new bey for himself. He respected Gingka, and wasn't amused when he lost to someone, especially if that 'someone' happened to be a person he didn't approve of. Overall, in the second season, he just wanted to get back at Hades.inc for using him, disrespecting beyblade and using the power of beys for destruction. In Metal Fury, he got excited when he heard that there was a new star fragment and an awakening god. He took that as a challenge to get even more powerful. He found a travelling partner in Kenta because he liked him. He must have seen a bit of himself in Kenta. Just like himself, Kenta was quiet, observant, and had a fiery determined spirit. Kenta looked up to him and gave him his space. When Kenta made a permanent scratch on L-Drago, he must have had conflicted emotions. One part of him would've told him to listen to Kenta, but his pride wouldn't allow it. This is clear from his expressions whenever Kenta asked him to help after that incident. Actually, from his point of view, nobody could defeat him, or come close to his power. He didn't truly understand what Nemesis was capable of, and even when he got a taste of its power, he wouldn't admit to himself that Nemesis was stronger than him. And let's not forget, whatever said and done, Ryuga was still a teenager, not a fully grown adult. He did let his emotions get the better of him. He was furious at Doji for taunting him and disrespecting him. Throughout the three seasons, Ryuga was always arrogant, cocky, fiery, solitary, powerful beyond belief, proud, haughty, stubborn, always on the move and upgrading, and had a flair for dramatic entrances. That didn't change. Though I think that if he had survived the Nemesis crisis, his personality would have undergone a major change. So...I don't think he was OOC. His character was always the same, he just responded differently to different circumstances.

Though I completely agree with your analysis of Ryuga and his behavior, he is not as young as the series would make you believe. And, with no scene in the anime directly talking about Ryuga's age, we can really only go to the manga. Which showcases Ryuga as over one thousand years old. In the manga, Ryuga is truly a Dragon Emporer. Which is why he is awoken by Doji in the first place. He is the only known person to have controlled L-Drago. And, that is something Doji needed to do, in order to execute his plans. Of course, if someone has only watched the anime they would not know these things about Ryuga, as they're really buried behind the work that is easier to access for some (the anime). I myself only know of these things because of what Takafumi Adachi has told me and others on his social media. So, I don't blame this for being overlooked. Sorry, if this sounded nit-picky, I just wanted to say something. But, good job anyway!

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