Random Beyblade Anime and Manga Thoughts

(Nov. 14, 2020  2:27 AM)Ryuga's Son Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  2:27 AM)EarthHelios Wrote: My mom says not to watch beyblade but I do it either way

why

cause she doesnt like me watching it
(Nov. 14, 2020  2:28 AM)EarthHelios Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  2:27 AM)Ryuga's Son Wrote: why

cause she doesnt like me watching it

sad.
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:38 AM)Ryuga's Son Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  2:28 AM)EarthHelios Wrote: cause she doesnt like me watching it

sad.

But Im sneaky and I watch beyblade
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:38 AM)EarthHelios Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:38 AM)Ryuga's Son Wrote: sad.

But Im sneaky and I watch beyblade

WHY DOESNT SHE LIKE IT ASK HER AND TELL ME PLS
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:43 AM)beykid44 Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:38 AM)EarthHelios Wrote: But Im sneaky and I watch beyblade

WHY DOESNT SHE LIKE IT ASK HER AND TELL ME PLS

Idk why. But I watch beyblade when she isnt looking
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:44 AM)EarthHelios Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:43 AM)beykid44 Wrote: WHY DOESNT SHE LIKE IT ASK HER AND TELL ME PLS

Idk why. But I watch beyblade when she isnt looking

My mom doesn't like beyblade because the first beyblade ep i watched was the one where Kurt was introduced, so between his appearance and the underground blading ring, she decided it was a bad influence. But I still watch it. Why? BECAUSE I'M BATMAN EVIL >:)
(Nov. 14, 2020  6:25 AM)i'm batman Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  5:44 AM)EarthHelios Wrote: Idk why. But I watch beyblade when she isnt looking

My mom doesn't like beyblade because the first beyblade ep i watched was the one where Kurt was introduced, so between his appearance and the underground blading ring, she decided it was a bad influence. But I still watch it. Why? BECAUSE I'M BATMAN EVIL >Smile

There can only be one Batman and that’s
(Nov. 14, 2020  6:26 AM)6Jupiter5 Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  6:25 AM)i\m batman Wrote: My mom doesn't like beyblade because the first beyblade ep i watched was the one where Kurt was introduced, so between his appearance and the underground blading ring, she decided it was a bad influence. But I still watch it. Why? BECAUSE I'M BATMAN EVIL >Smile

There can only be one Batman and that’s

lol thanks

BTW why does the beywiki have Lui in the category World Champions?
(Nov. 14, 2020  6:31 AM)i'm batman Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  6:26 AM)6Jupiter5 Wrote: There can only be one Batman and that’s

lol thanks

BTW why does the beywiki have Lui in the category World Champions?

I don’t know
Unpopular opinion: Free is a fairly overrated character who is a writers pet. Out of the super popular left spin trio (Lui, Shu and Free) I honestly don’t see his appeal much. I believe that the primary reason why he was even all too popular at all was because he had a left spin dragon beyblade and it’s pretty evident from the fact that the popularity of Shu, Lui and Free has decently decreased since left spin beys have become more mainstream, yes they are still very popular but it’s more toned down nowadays and other characters have been starting to get favoured as well such as Wakiya, Boa, Phi, Rantaro etc (you get my point). The thing is though, Lui and Shu definitely have claim to their fame since they are actually interesting characters with noticeable development and depth to their personalities- I legitimately love their characters and find them fun to watch even if they are/were somewhat overrated. Meanwhile we have Free, I think Free is definitely a creative character with his quiet but observant personality and masterful outlook but he kind of just seems bland to me. He also learns not to underestimate opponents and have fun during s2 but it’s almost as if he kinda forgets about these qualities in s3 and s5. He again underestimates opponents and retains his bland and boring persona making him seem like an irrational powerhouse. The writers also seem to kinda give Free an unnecessary edge when it isn’t needed, for example; they could have easily let him lose to either Silas or Joshua in s2 during the god bladers cup but made up dumb excuses to let him win. In s5 he beats the brothers a whole bunch of times (far more than other legends) only to lose by knockout even after getting double teamed- not to mention even after all the other legends lose by burst (except for Aiga who lost by a spin finish, but it’s understandable as it was a battle royale and his debut episode). He also beat Silas in the bc-sol tag battle episode even though Silas trained really hard and even had that whole character reflection to his ultimate goal to beat Free just to lose. I understand that Valt and Free had to win in order for Valt to progress but it was as simple as switching the partners of Free and Silas. As a matter of fact, Free hasn’t even had his bey burst yet. All in all I personally feel that Free isn’t all that special and is ultimately kind of a Gary Stu.
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:19 AM)Zeutron Wrote: they could have easily let him lose to either Sisco or Joshua in s2 during the god bladers cup but made up dumb excuses to let him win.

While I like Free, THIS was one of the things that really irritated me regarding Free's battles. Now, most of the time his wins are justified, albeit mainly "spin steal to win" until later on. However, I hate when it's the opponents acting like idiots. I wouldn't mind if Free had an actual counter or strategy, but usually, in the cases of Joshua, Sisco (Episode 34) and Hikaru/Hyuga, he only won because the opponents were total idiots. He didn't seem to have a counter for Joshua in that match, Sisco could've outspun him in Episode 34, and Free SLOW SPUN against left spinning Helios, and only won because Hyuga fed him the power. The last case was especially annoying, because if Helios beat slow spinning Fafnir, it would tell Free to not always constantly demonstrate his slow spin just because.
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:19 AM)Zeutron Wrote:

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there. I think Free can be a tad bit overrated at times, and his entire "Oh well, I'll just figure some random strategy I pulled out of nowhere to defeat my opponents" shtick can get really old when done too much (I still think his use of "Geist Counter" against Kyle was such a lame move).

Make no mistake, I think he's a good character with a cool personality and some really awesome moments, but I think he was at his best in Beyblade Burst God. In the Cho-Z anime though, he was honestly kind of boring there and the only time he was interesting in that season was in his battle against Phi. In Sparking, he was fine and had some interesting backstory with his battle against Lean but nothing has come from it so far (though maybe we will get more later on) and despite his development of not underestimating his opponents, he still maintains the same smug attitude towards Sisco despite how close Sisco was to defeating him.

The reason I prefer Fumiya slightly (besides his more eccentric personality and humour) is because he was the first left-rotating spin stealing blader who wasn't broken, was heavily flawed and showed that he couldn't just pull random strategies out of nowhere and somehow win. Whenever Fumiya lost (which is quite oftenly lol), it felt like it addresses all of the weaknesses spin-stealing beys would have. With Free, he somehow manages to survive with pure luck or because the characters who had perfect strategies against Free decide to be idiots and go on the offense last minute (aka Joshua and Sisco).

EDIT: I'm not saying Free isn't strong or talented, he definitely is. But a lot of times where he could've lost, he somehow hangs out much longer than anyone else. Yeah, I get that his entire character is being able to work with his shortcomings, but the show never treats these shortcoming as such.
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:46 AM)LOL-y Rancher Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:19 AM)Zeutron Wrote:

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there. I think Free can be a tad bit overrated at times, and his entire "Oh well, I'll just figure some random strategy I pulled out of nowhere to defeat my opponents" shtick can get really old when done too much (I still think his use of "Geist Counter" against Kyle was such a lame move).

Make no mistake, I think he's a good character with a cool personality and some really awesome moments, but I think he was at his best in Beyblade Burst God. In the Cho-Z anime though, he was honestly kind of boring there and the only time he was interesting in that season was in his battle against Phi. In Sparking, he was fine and had some interesting backstory with his battle against Lean but nothing has come from it so far (though maybe we will get more later on) and despite his development of not underestimating his opponents, he still maintains the same smug attitude towards Sisco despite how close Sisco was to defeating him.

The reason I prefer Fumiya slightly (besides his more eccentric personality and humour) is because he was the first left-rotating spin stealing blader who wasn't broken, was heavily flawed and showed that he couldn't just pull random strategies out of nowhere and somehow win. Whenever Fumiya lost (which is quite oftenly lol), it felt like it addresses all of the weaknesses spin-stealing beys would have. With Free, he somehow manages to survive with pure luck or because the characters who had perfect strategies against Free decide to be idiots and go on the offense last minute (aka Joshua and Sisco).

EDIT: I'm not saying Free isn't strong or talented, he definitely is. But a lot of times where he could've lost, he somehow hangs out much longer than anyone else. Yeah, I get that his entire character is being able to work with his shortcomings, but the show never treats these shortcoming as such.
I think that the writers really tried to associate and synergize Free’s character with his popularity which is why he turned out the way he did. I’ll admit, during my explanation I did say “I don’t see his appeal” but I didn’t mean that I didn’t like his character. It was more so that I thought his character wasn’t as good as people make it out to be and that his popularity is heavily influenced by external factors such as his “writers pet” performance and his (initially) unique bey. What I like is that people are now looking passed the concept of left spin beys being extremely special and as a result, they are starting to open themselves up to other characters (and I can say that this definitely applies to me). I was originally a hardcore Lui fan but after s2 I kinda began to realize other characters were just as good if not better. Just look at Rantaro, he was a companion right spin blader and was super hated in s1-2 but during s3 (where left spin beys weren’t as uncommon) he developed a huge fan base and is now a total fan favourite. 
 Yeah opponents suddenly becoming incompetent in the face of Free is pretty suspicious.
Free was ok I liked him bc he was cocky and calm not only that he was the second side of Ryuga and the battle with Joshua well I can’t say much but I can’t see Free losing to a trash irrelevant blader like Joshua not only that he seemed to have had a counter of it as for Silas Free was just toying with him if Free went all in he would have bodied Silas in Sparking I think Silas should have won just that one time but him training to beat Free never guarantees if he wins I won’t talk about Fumiya as much but all I’ll say is that he was the most boring character I have ever seen in burst easily my top 3 hated characters close to Kyle back in Cho-Z
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:13 AM)BeybladeX100 Wrote: Free was ok I liked him bc he was cocky and calm not only that he was the second side of Ryuga and the battle with Joshua well I can’t say much but I can’t see Free losing to a trash irrelevant blader like Joshua not only that he seemed to have had a counter of it as for Silas Free was just toying with him if Free went all in he would have bodied Silas in Sparking I think Silas should have won just that one time but him training to beat Free never guarantees if he wins I won’t talk about Fumiya as much but all I’ll say is that he was the most boring character I have ever seen in burst easily my top 3 hated characters  close to Kyle back in Cho-Z
I mean in s2 it seemed like the writers often made Free pull a lot of his strategies straight out of nothing just for the sake of letting him win.
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:19 AM)Zeutron Wrote:
Totally agreed there i feel like how free won or lost they made it sometimes feels unrewarding for the opposing side like for example in episode 27 where free (and lui) just lost because he didn't use his full strength that to me is big miss it made the battle felt plain and unrewarding for valt and hyuga.
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:15 AM)Zeutron Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:13 AM)BeybladeX100 Wrote: Free was ok I liked him bc he was cocky and calm not only that he was the second side of Ryuga and the battle with Joshua well I can’t say much but I can’t see Free losing to a trash irrelevant blader like Joshua not only that he seemed to have had a counter of it as for Silas Free was just toying with him if Free went all in he would have bodied Silas in Sparking I think Silas should have won just that one time but him training to beat Free never guarantees if he wins I won’t talk about Fumiya as much but all I’ll say is that he was the most boring character I have ever seen in burst easily my top 3 hated characters  close to Kyle back in Cho-Z
I mean in s2 it seemed like the writers often made Free pull a lot of his strategies straight out of nothing just for the sake of letting him win.

I completely agree 100%! I mean they only introduced the slow-bursting technique with Free against Sisco in Beyblade Burst God - Episode 34 because Free would have had no other way to have beaten Sisco then (well that, and because Sisco decided to go on the offense last minute). They could've easily just as easily introduced the slow-bursting technique with Lui and his Lost Longinus in the first season, which would've been a way to explain how he manages to school Valt.

Speaking of Valt, even though I liked the battle in Beyblade Burst Sparking - Episode 27, I wish we saw Valt (and Hyuga, of course) burst Free and Lui. But that never happened, which was a bit diisappointing.
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:46 AM)LOL-y Rancher Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:19 AM)Zeutron Wrote:

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there. I think Free can be a tad bit overrated at times, and his entire "Oh well, I'll just figure some random strategy I pulled out of nowhere to defeat my opponents" shtick can get really old when done too much (I still think his use of "Geist Counter" against Kyle was such a lame move).

Make no mistake, I think he's a good character with a cool personality and some really awesome moments, but I think he was at his best in Beyblade Burst God. In the Cho-Z anime though, he was honestly kind of boring there and the only time he was interesting in that season was in his battle against Phi. In Sparking, he was fine and had some interesting backstory with his battle against Lean but nothing has come from it so far (though maybe we will get more later on) and despite his development of not underestimating his opponents, he still maintains the same smug attitude towards Sisco despite how close Sisco was to defeating him.

The reason I prefer Fumiya slightly (besides his more eccentric personality and humour) is because he was the first left-rotating spin stealing blader who wasn't broken, was heavily flawed and showed that he couldn't just pull random strategies out of nowhere and somehow win. Whenever Fumiya lost (which is quite oftenly lol), it felt like it addresses all of the weaknesses spin-stealing beys would have. With Free, he somehow manages to survive with pure luck or because the characters who had perfect strategies against Free decide to be idiots and go on the offense last minute (aka Joshua and Sisco).

EDIT: I'm not saying Free isn't strong or talented, he definitely is. But a lot of times where he could've lost, he somehow hangs out much longer than anyone else. Yeah, I get that his entire character is being able to work with his shortcomings, but the show never treats these shortcoming as such.

While I too prefer Fumiya a lot more, I feel like you guys are underestimating Free a lot if you think that all you need to defeat him is to deal with his drain spin. Let's take the battle with Joshua. People say that if only he had kept at his initial strategy he would win, but that's not really the case. If Joshua had kept at it he would be forced to use Nothing Break, which in the end, would change pretty much nothing (althought he wouldn't be able to use it to surprise Lui anymore, so that would be really interesting I guess). But he's not stupid, he realized that Joshua's not going to stay composed, so there's no need to really do anything.

He's generally really adaptive too and is capable of changing his strategy based on his opponent's strategy, like he did in that legendary battle back in God Bladers Cup. So there's no reason to not weak launch if he knows that Hyuga is stupid enough to attack him.
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:27 AM)Limetka Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:46 AM)LOL-y Rancher Wrote: Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you there. I think Free can be a tad bit overrated at times, and his entire "Oh well, I'll just figure some random strategy I pulled out of nowhere to defeat my opponents" shtick can get really old when done too much (I still think his use of "Geist Counter" against Kyle was such a lame move).

Make no mistake, I think he's a good character with a cool personality and some really awesome moments, but I think he was at his best in Beyblade Burst God. In the Cho-Z anime though, he was honestly kind of boring there and the only time he was interesting in that season was in his battle against Phi. In Sparking, he was fine and had some interesting backstory with his battle against Lean but nothing has come from it so far (though maybe we will get more later on) and despite his development of not underestimating his opponents, he still maintains the same smug attitude towards Sisco despite how close Sisco was to defeating him.

The reason I prefer Fumiya slightly (besides his more eccentric personality and humour) is because he was the first left-rotating spin stealing blader who wasn't broken, was heavily flawed and showed that he couldn't just pull random strategies out of nowhere and somehow win. Whenever Fumiya lost (which is quite oftenly lol), it felt like it addresses all of the weaknesses spin-stealing beys would have. With Free, he somehow manages to survive with pure luck or because the characters who had perfect strategies against Free decide to be idiots and go on the offense last minute (aka Joshua and Sisco).

EDIT: I'm not saying Free isn't strong or talented, he definitely is. But a lot of times where he could've lost, he somehow hangs out much longer than anyone else. Yeah, I get that his entire character is being able to work with his shortcomings, but the show never treats these shortcoming as such.

While I too prefer Fumiya a lot more, I feel like you guys are underestimating Free a lot if you think that all you need to defeat him is to deal with his drain spin. Let's take the battle with Joshua. People say that if only he had kept at his initial strategy he would win, but that's not really the case. If Joshua had kept at it he would be forced to use Nothing Break, which in the end, would change pretty much nothing (althought he wouldn't be able to use it to surprise Lui anymore, so that would be really interesting I guess). But he's not stupid, he realized that Joshua's not going to stay composed, so there's no need to really do anything.

He's generally really adaptive too and is capable of changing his strategy based on his opponent's strategy, like he did in that legendary battle back in God Bladers Cup. So there's no reason to not weak launch if he knows that Hyuga is stupid enough to attack him.
I wouldn’t call it underestimating, the root of the problem is that the writers unnecessarily buff Free during various moments in the anime where he doesn’t HAVE to succeed. As I said earlier, it just screams irrational powerhouse.
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:34 AM)Zeutron Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:27 AM)Limetka Wrote: While I too prefer Fumiya a lot more, I feel like you guys are underestimating Free a lot if you think that all you need to defeat him is to deal with his drain spin. Let's take the battle with Joshua. People say that if only he had kept at his initial strategy he would win, but that's not really the case. If Joshua had kept at it he would be forced to use Nothing Break, which in the end, would change pretty much nothing (althought he wouldn't be able to use it to surprise Lui anymore, so that would be really interesting I guess). But he's not stupid, he realized that Joshua's not going to stay composed, so there's no need to really do anything.

He's generally really adaptive too and is capable of changing his strategy based on his opponent's strategy, like he did in that legendary battle back in God Bladers Cup. So there's no reason to not weak launch if he knows that Hyuga is stupid enough to attack him.
I wouldn’t calm it underestimating, the root of the problem is that the writers unnecessarily buff Free during various moments in the anime where he doesn’t HAVE to succeed. As I said earlier, it just screams irrational powerhouse.

Just to make it fair Lean beats most bladers without strategy and by plot but anyways I don’t know Free has strategies all the time just never says it not only that Joshua literally got trigger happy after he got a round off of Free which made him delusional as always he was super predictable and Free saw it coming no way was he losing to someone who lost to Valt which may I remind he didn’t even have Ultimate Reboot but the battle with Silas is definitely hard to defend but at the of the day in God Silas lost bc his strategy was a fluke that could easily be countered Free took that advantage all he had to do was not attack it even Chris and Raul said Free was smart and a great thinker even Silas was angry bc Free woukdn’t attack him he can’t use his gimmicks if he can’t touch/hit the bey so it was a battle of Stamina and free won
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:54 AM)BeybladeX100 Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:34 AM)Zeutron Wrote: I wouldn’t calm it underestimating, the root of the problem is that the writers unnecessarily buff Free during various moments in the anime where he doesn’t HAVE to succeed. As I said earlier, it just screams irrational powerhouse.

Just to make it fair Lean beats most bladers without strategy and by plot but anyways I don’t know Free has strategies all the time just never says it not only that Joshua literally got trigger happy after he got a round off of Free which made him delusional as always he was super predictable and Free saw it coming no way was he losing to someone who lost to Valt which may I remind he didn’t even have Ultimate Reboot but the battle with Silas is definitely hard to defend but at the of the day in God Silas lost bc his strategy was a fluke that could easily be countered Free took that advantage all he had to do was not attack it even Chris and Raul said Free was smart and a great thinker even Silas was angry bc Free woukdn’t attack him he can’t use his gimmicks if he can’t touch/hit the bey so it was a battle of Stamina and free won
Lean is the main antagonist so it’s only natural that he overpowers most bladers, all beyblade antagonists do. But unseen strategies used by Free are total character buffs.
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:27 AM)Limetka Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  10:46 AM)LOL-y Rancher Wrote:

While I too prefer Fumiya a lot more, I feel like you guys are underestimating Free a lot if you think that all you need to defeat him is to deal with his drain spin. Let's take the battle with Joshua. People say that if only he had kept at his initial strategy he would win, but that's not really the case. If Joshua had kept at it he would be forced to use Nothing Break, which in the end, would change pretty much nothing (althought he wouldn't be able to use it to surprise Lui anymore, so that would be really interesting I guess). But he's not stupid, he realized that Joshua's not going to stay composed, so there's no need to really do anything.

He's generally really adaptive too and is capable of changing his strategy based on his opponent's strategy, like he did in that legendary battle back in God Bladers Cup. So there's no reason to not weak launch if he knows that Hyuga is stupid enough to attack him.

Again, that's my problem, his opponents often shoot themselves in the foot. I really wished that Free had to deal with mainly Hikaru despite slow spinning, so then he can actually learn not to slow spin against every opponent he sees, especially when he discovers they use left spin.

While you could argue he could use Nothing Break against Joshua, I felt that Free's intense training was built up for that move, so that he had the down force to use it. However, against Joshua, he had regular spin power and Fafnir was clearly running low on stamina to use it. Both instances of him using Nothing Break required a strong launch, and even Raul had said that Joshua may have won if he didn't act so stupid. I want Free to win due to having an actual counter or even just because he has superior power, and for the most parts, he does. But I do not like the matches where he has an extremely obvious way to lose with little to no counter, and only lucks out because his opponents were being dumb. I don't buy that Free would somehow know whenever it happens. He hardly even knew Hyuga before he battled the twins.
(Nov. 14, 2020  12:15 PM)Zeutron Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:54 AM)BeybladeX100 Wrote: Just to make it fair Lean beats most bladers without strategy and by plot but anyways I don’t know Free has strategies all the time just never says it not only that Joshua literally got trigger happy after he got a round off of Free which made him delusional as always he was super predictable and Free saw it coming no way was he losing to someone who lost to Valt which may I remind he didn’t even have Ultimate Reboot but the battle with Silas is definitely hard to defend but at the of the day in God Silas lost bc his strategy was a fluke that could easily be countered Free took that advantage all he had to do was not attack it even Chris and Raul said Free was smart and a great thinker even Silas was angry bc Free woukdn’t attack him he can’t use his gimmicks if he can’t touch/hit the bey so it was a battle of Stamina and free won
Lean is the main antagonist so it’s only natural that he overpowers most bladers, all beyblade antagonists do. But unseen strategies used by Free are total character buffs.

You don’t need Free to tell you a strategy before the battle to understand his little plan you can easily understand if you try it’s really not that hard the ones in god are really easy to understand but after god he should have been bodied but only by Silas in Sparking also using the antagonist excuse is not a good choice for Leans defense
(Nov. 14, 2020  12:24 PM)BeybladeX100 Wrote:
(Nov. 14, 2020  12:15 PM)Zeutron Wrote: Lean is the main antagonist so it’s only natural that he overpowers most bladers, all beyblade antagonists do. But unseen strategies used by Free are total character buffs.

You don’t need Free to tell you a strategy before the battle to understand his little plan you can easily understand if you try it’s really not that hard the ones in god are really easy to understand but after god he should have been bodied but only by Silas in Sparking also using the antagonist excuse is not a good choice for Leans defense
Why isn’t it? Lean being the antagonist makes him superior to almost everyone by default, it’s in the nature of beyblade antagonists and is factual. Yes he is a vague character but his strength is a seperate thing. And again, making Free’s opponents suddenly turn in competent when he is closely faced with defeat is just bad writing tbh.
(Nov. 14, 2020  11:27 AM)Limetka Wrote: While I too prefer Fumiya a lot more, I feel like you guys are underestimating Free a lot if you think that all you need to defeat him is to deal with his drain spin. Let's take the battle with Joshua. People say that if only he had kept at his initial strategy he would win, but that's not really the case. If Joshua had kept at it he would be forced to use Nothing Break, which in the end, would change pretty much nothing (althought he wouldn't be able to use it to surprise Lui anymore, so that would be really interesting I guess). But he's not stupid, he realized that Joshua's not going to stay composed, so there's no need to really do anything.

He's generally really adaptive too and is capable of changing his strategy based on his opponent's strategy, like he did in that legendary battle back in God Bladers Cup. So there's no reason to not weak launch if he knows that Hyuga is stupid enough to attack him.

Here's the thing, me saying the other characters could've beaten him is not me saying that therefore Free is weaker than he appears, because he isn't weak. Free is very strong, adaptable to situations and is obviously capable of defeating most bladers. But let's face it, had Sisco kept up with his strategy against Free in Episode 34 of Beyblade Burst God, he would've had a chance to at least snatch a point of him since Free wasn't trying against Sisco, he only used a very average launch with Fafnir. Free only won because Sisco decided to go on the offense last second which resulted in Free using a slow-burst technique against him, rather than choosing to play more passively.

In the case of his match against Joshua, you said that Free would've had to use Nothing Break had Joshua still played passively against Free in the second round. Whilst I'm not denying that Free would've schooled Joshua with Nothing Break, what are the chances Free was going to go "Oh carp, I'm cornered! Better start using my secret technique!" and unleash Nothing Break on Joshua? Free was still not trying in the second round against Joshua nor did he launch his Drain Fafnir hard, and only won because Joshua decided to be stupid and play offensively last second with Cyclone Counter.

Yes, I do believe that Joshua would've won against Free if he had played more passively against him in the second round, but not for the reasons you think. It's not because I think that cancelling his spin-stealing was an immediate go to card, it's not because I think Free is weaker than Joshua (he definitely isn't), I think Joshua would've won because Free still held his skills back a bit in the second round which would've given Joshua the opening to defeat him.

Let's take the scenario from Beyblade Burst God - Episode 43's battle with Free VS Joshua. Obviously, we know that Joshua lost because he used the offensive Cyclone Counter, but let's just pretend for a second that he didn't use that and still played passively, whilst Free still held back his skills like he did in the actual episode. Yeah, Free wouldn't have been able to activate Nothing Break as it's established (in Beyblade Burst God anyway) that Free needed a much stronger launch to activate such a move, and since he didn't display such a powerful launch against Joshua in any of the rounds against him, Joshua had an opening to counter him just with the calmer Cyclone Wall move.

If Free used a new technique like say, he uses his Nothing Driver and rebounds upwards which uppercuts Blast Jinnius and bursts him (kind of like what Valt did to beat Joshua), then I could buy Free beating Joshua without using too much effort. But that's not what happened.

I mean of course, maybe Free knew Joshua would be cocky and start playing offensively again, but if it turned out that Free was wrong and Joshua just so happened to pretend to play stupid (he's an actor after all), but still played passively then it would've been too late for Free.