Rankings of all antags for Burst(Along with Reasoning.) Will be including characters who are not main antags but played a major antagonistic role in their season.:
1) Phi: Call him generic but Phi, at least imo, is really the only MAIN(Arthur qualifies, but he isn’t the main antag of GT so he gets excluded from this) antagonist in Burst that qualifies as an actual villain. He’s menacing and cruel, yet he has such a flair to him that adds onto his enjoyability. Backstory is petty? Yes. Does it detract from his character? Absolutely not. If anything it continues setting him up as a completely mentally unhinged psychopath without a care in the world. He’s chaotic evil and he knows it, and that’s what is so fun about him. Combined with the fact he wields my favorite bey motif in the series and has an awesome theme and you have a recipe for success.
2) Hearts: As the secondary antag of Burst, Hearts does his job extremely well, establishing himself as a threat while also almost sympathetic when his backstory comes to light. He gives off a really fun vibe overall and is a legitimate threat, snagging an undeserved champion title from Aiga with immense haste. The concept of Corrupted Resonance, while done poorly with Aiga, is instrumental for Hearts’s character, making him an even more unpredictable and deadly opponent. Yet despite this, he still has morality. He’s chaotic, yes, but he isn’t evil. He genuinely cares about his brother despite their rivalry and what occurred(Albeit Phi is still petty regarding this), and even when taunting Aiga, from what I recall(At least in the Sub, the Dub ignores this) he has not made an attempt to actually break Achilles. Overall pretty complex character and I would love to see him again if they somehow decide to pick up Burst once more.
3) Lui: Standard jerk rival with a dash of sadism. Add a bit of ego and you get Lui. He’s a joy to watch in Seasons 1-2, and is still a fun character in Cho-Z, Sparking, and DB despite being heavily shafted. I appreciate that he isn’t evil, instead just being a powerful obstacle in Valt’s way/being a jerk. Something that does drag him down slightly, however, is his unnecessary victory in the final battle of S1(Valt got robbed), along with him getting completely shafted in Cho-Z and DB(He was enjoyable in Sparking, despite my hatred of the season).
4) Arthur: Good god this guy got done dirty. He had a cool as hell bey and an awesome appearance, cementing himself as a legitimate threat through his breaking of Dragon as well as defeating Aiga(Granted it was mainly due to Infinite Lock but its still a legitimate victory). After he got clowned by Drum, he became an absolute joke and played second fiddle to the main antag of the season: Gwyn, who I’ll get to later… Arthur is the definition of missed potential, and I would have loved for him to return as a legitimate threat.
5) Ashtem: Not much to say. As S2’s other main antagonist(Acting in coordination with Shu/Spriggan), he’s essentially the Burst version of Doji. He’s solid, but I wish he did more.
6) Gwyn: This may be a controversial opinion, but I FIRMLY believe that Gwyn should NOT have been the main Antagonist of GT. While he serves his purpose, his introduction was rather rushed, and his unnecessary power jump and evolution only hinder my opinion of him as an antag. I wish he had more time to develop, although my personal preferred option is that Arthur should have remained antag, as he proved a legitimate threat and was a great basis for a clash of blading ideals. Gwyn was a simple rehash of the “Friendship is the best” trope and I wish he was developed better. Also… GENESIS SHOULD BE A STAMINA TYPE, HOW THE HECK IS IT DEFENSE?!
7) Rashad: Ah Rashad. I like you as a character but holy moly you are done poorly in the anime. His motivations are unclear, and he serves literally no threat to the characters other than “I’m gonna be the strongest”. It ticks me off that he’s handled so poorly b/c in the Manga he is extremely compelling and a major threat. Had they written Rashad closer to his manga incarnation he’d be MUCH higher on this list.
8) Red Eye/Shu/Spriggan: The most overrated antagonist in the entire series. Oh boy. Rushed descent into darkness combined with obscene edginess. With Phi, yes he becomes an edgelord but the way he’s presented as well as his overall development makes it fun. With Red Eye, it’s incredibly dull. While he does pose a significant threat, his portrayal just makes him seem like a generic obstacle instead of someone who’s legitimately threatening. Main problem for me: I find him just… boring. He feels generic in a dull way and I don’t find him fun. I love Beyblade Burst God, but Red Eye is not one of the highlights.
9) Lean Walhalla: **SCREAMS IN FLARE**. Lean is an incredibly poor antagonist compared to the Manga version of him, even more so than Rashad. Constant plot armor abuse(IE: Battle Royale, Forcing the barrier back out b/c SPEED, Variant Disaster vs Rubber/Valt vs Lean), rushed redemption, and a boring personality. I don’t even need to go into depth on this one.
Characters I considered for the list but didn’t put in:
-Phenomeno Payne(S6)(Minor Antag)
-Wakiya Komurasaki(S1)(Minor Antag)
-Joshua Boone(S2)(Minor Antag)
-Norman Tarver(S2)(Minor Antag)
(Mar. 20, 2022 10:03 AM)Needforspeed Wrote: Since burst has ended here is animanga main antagonist tier list/rankings
explaination for each character placement
S-tier
1. Rashad(manga), i could not express how compelling this character is, he's manga counter part is just so menacing and his hero complex omg, easy s tier character.
2. Lui(anime), everytime lui is on screen i am always on the edge of my seat that is just how good this character is to me, so menacing so facinating a clear s tier.
A-tier
1. Lean(manga), a very menacing and threatful chacater, lean is the first character to display such a voilent way to defeating a MC(Hikaru) metally, he even got a clear and good development easy A tier character.
2. Gywn(anime), great character arc, utulized greatly although my nitpick with this chacter is how he is not as manacing as his manga counterpart
3. Phi(anime), even though this character is very 2 dimensional in terms of backstory but i just love how entertaining, fun, and threatening his character is pushing him 2 tiers up if it wasn't for that.
B-tier
1. Gwyn(manga), gwyn manga is pretty much one in one with his anime counterpart, he is more threatening than the anime one but the anime counter part has a better job at developing gwyn imo .(i made a slight mistake by putting shu above gwyn there)
2. Red Eye(manga), unlike in the anime, shu in the manga is more aggressive, acts more violently and they actually foreshadows his Red Eye persona with that said this character still has flaws in the manga but i overall enjoyed him.
3. Lui(manga), unlike the anime where Lui is being displayed time and time again as a tyrant while on the other hand the manga didn't. But i still enjoyed his character overall so not bad.
4. Phi(manga), so in the manga phi doesn't appear that much compared to the other antagonist from the manga which makes me understand him less compared yo the other character which is why his anime counter part imo is better
C-tier
1. Red Eye(anime), this is probably a hot take but i dont quite enjoyed red eye tbh. he's motivation is probably my main problem with him like has shu been foreshadowed to have a power hungry persona? no which makes him this low. I also feel like some of his wins are a bit forced. He is quite threatening so i give you that.
2. Rashad(anime), i don't know where to start but for me he's not threatening (to bell), not compelling he's motivations are pretty much very 1 dimensional, and he feels underdeveloped.
D-tier
1. Lean(anime), for 90% of his screen tims he shown no emotions or personality, a lot of his wins felt so bs, the only positive thing a have about this character is how interesting his character arc is but because of the negatives ehh this couldn't save him making him my least fav antagonist.
Regarding Manga Phi, I’m not even sure if he can be considered the main antagonist. He’s a major obstacle, ye, but his villainous tendencies are kinda lacking. No Dead Phoenix, no breaking beys, and he actually cooperates with Shu and Lui to forge Royal King Spriggan. Another thing is that if we look at the manga, Count Night/Night Earl of all people has more story relevance, and from what I recall, aside from Valt is the final battle of the Cho-Z Manga.
If anything, I found Valt to be more of an antagonist in the Cho-Z Manga than Phi. He’s still cheerful but is a lot more serious, but the main thing that really cements him a spot as an antag in the manga(At least imo) is him breaking Achilles. Yes, it was done to get Aiga out of a corrupted state, but the biggest kicker is that Valt showed little to no remorse over it. He’s def not a villain but he’s leaning into antag territory.