THE toy Beyblade originated from the Japanese manga ‘Beyblade’ written and illustrated to promote sales of the tops developed by Takara Tomy back in 1999. In 2015, a new Japanese manga ‘Beyblade Burst’, an inspiration from the original Beyblade was created.
This stimulates the toy market to introduce the new ‘Beyblade Burst’ spin tops. “For children who are always with their gadgets, they can be enticed by Beyblade as psychologically, children are very competitive. Hence, with Beyblade, it serves as a distraction for them to forget about their gadgets,” he said.
Aziz added that playing Beyblade encourages children and adults to socialise with each other. “Through the matches, they can talk about their common interest and make friends.”
Apart from that, through his own personal observation, Aziz shared that when parents purchased a Beyblade for their children, the father, being a ‘boy’ would feel interested in it too. “Then it becomes an activity for family bonding.”
The original toy is priced between RM40 and RM200, while the bootleg versions are much cheaper. Aziz shared the difference between both are the bolts. An original Beyblade would have a carved-in signature, while the bolts on the bootleg versions are plain. With all the variety and colours available, Beyblade is differentiated between attack, defence and stamina, apart from having different personalities.
Aziz prefers the ‘Burst’ Beyblade type rather than the ‘Metal Fusion’ version as when the latter breaks during a battle, it could not be fixed. His first collection goes way back to 2007, however his collection started to grow only in 2018. “I stopped playing Beyblade in 2012 until 2018, when I first saw the bootleg version with my little brother at a mall in Samarahan, which I bought for the price of RM9.90 each.”
Aziz shared that on the same night, he used the ‘Victory Valkyrie’ while his brother used ‘Storm Spriggan’ and they played in a basin from 7pm to 10pm. It was then that he was curious to see if there were any Beyblade community group. “There were none”, he said. Hence, Aziz organised the
BBHK community group on August 1, 2018.
Under Aziz, BBHK had introduced Beyblade at several rural locations to encourage a healthy sport among children. “Under this programme, BBHK members have increased to a total of 300.” BBHK also regularly host tournaments at Majma Mall, Petrajaya, “And we are overwhelmed by the positive response from the public. During the battle, you can see the excitement among the crowds as they await the unexpected.”
To play Beyblade, participants need to launch the toy into the battle arena. The winner is the Beyblade who manage to push the opponent out of the arena, or manage to break the opponent’s Beyblade.
When asked how he feels playing the Japanese spin top, he answered, “It is a thrilling sensation as when playing Beyblade, you’d feel the suspense as the outcome is always unexpected.” He also mentioned that playing Beyblade requires good listening skills as it is crucial the moment the referee announces the start, the player must immediately launch. Supported by Port Dango and sponsored by Ya Ting Enterprise, Hopoh, Beyblade enthusiast can follow BBHK on their Facebook at ‘Beygoma Battle Hobbies Kuching’.
