(May. 27, 2023 5:01 PM)Orichalcum Wrote: (May. 27, 2023 4:38 PM)Krow Wrote: I mean, Xander used to blade with Valt since their childhood, and Hyuga himself is seen as a character that's benefitted heavily from plot armor during Sparking. Also Hyuga and Hikaru aren't that strong on their own and definitely not on Xander's level in terms of power when fighting 1 v 1s. So Bel losing to Xander but beating Hyuga makes some sense there.
The plot armor argument is stronger with Pri than it is with Bel imo given that Pri has the mask that draws out the elemental powers/increases it giving her a buff there and has to rely on power spots to further increase her strength. She's relying on not one but two buffs to compete with her opponents. While Bel actually feels like he's fighting for his wins more this season than he was in the last. He got most of his early wins in DB by having those gears to improve his bey. In QS he's not nearly as strong without them and he's actually being force to put in the training to improve, which we didn't see in DB because Bel just kept upgrading. So they did actually change Bel's character, they just kept his annoying personality the same.
But personally, I disagree overall with the YouTubers and Tiktokers claiming Bel and Pri are winning with pure plot armor, especially against the brother whom again were seen as having plot armor themselves.
True, but Pri’s buffs are already established beforehand and don’t start working because the story needs them, so they’re not plot armor. Especially since she has one of, if not the worst win rates in all off burst compared the other named characters with unique beys. And while Bell is working for dubs, it seems like he is suddenly stronger for no apparent reason. He doesn’t do anything new against Hyuga, just tries the same things again but this time they work. At least Pri has a clear and logical reason for victory(getting a new Pandora that counters the abilities of it’s opponent). And while it is true that Bell works harder, it hasn’t nevertheless even been acknowledged in the series, and it doesn’t change how Bell interacts with others or blades. And while Hyūga did have plot armor he still has better feats than Xander, considering how he beat multiple Legends in the tag teams while Xander failed to win most of his battles in the bladers cup.
Tbh, using Bel's battles with Hyuga isn't the greatest example of Bel being plot armored/not changing much in this season from the last.
Hyuga isn't a opponent that's above Bel's level since Bel has a history of beating the same legends Hyuga couldn't both with and without his gears. Bel didn't try anything new in his rematch with Hyuga because he nearly won his first battle with him, only losing via ringout, and tbh Hyuga probably only won since he was debuting. The very next episode Bel stomped Hyuga with a burst.
Bel never got stronger suddenly this season as far as I can tell(if I'm wrong or missing something do correct me). He remained under Drum & Xander while he was battling them, and only surpassed Ken after doing some training. He remained fairly equal to the brothers; losing to Hyuga then beating him before losing again in a tag match. Bel is still fighting and working hard for most of his Ws this season compared to DB. While Pri is stll relying mostly on upgrades to match with or beat her foes, she does have a very inconsistant win rate and earns her wins when she does pull one off but I've rarely seen her get a win that didn't come from her getting a new bey or beating Bel in a rematch.
Also the part you said about Bel's hard work not changing how he blades and interacts with others; it's like I said his personality didn't change much from DB to QS so yea he still treats people kinda poorly(But I will put some respect on Bel and say he DID let Pri and Ranzo beforehand stay at his place, takes them with him whenever he travels andpaids for it for them, ect.). And few characters change the way they blade.