New in the Beyblade Burst Turbo line from Hasbro are SlingShock beys and stadiums. The beys have adjustable performance tips that extend, helping the beys ride through furrows in the stadium floor. The furrows, referred to by Hasbro as “rails,” guide the beys around wide arcs and then right at each other. The setup makes for battles with more direct clashes.

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We’ve known it’s been coming for a while, but Hasbro has finally announced the launch of Beyblade Burst. The new line has already been released in Canada, with a US release hitting shelves in January of 2017. The Beyblade Burst app for iOS and Android has been released in both territories, and is free to download. Launches for Europe, Latin America and certain other markets to follow in 2017.

The new animated series is created by production company OLM and includes new characters, stories and dramatic battles. The series will air in Canada beginning Saturday, September 10 at 3pm on Teletoon with other broadcast deals to be announced.

Beyblade Burst features a new “bursting” element to Bey battles where a Bey can burst apart during play. Having played with the Takara Tomy imports for about a year or so, I can say it’s a very exciting game mechanic.

More info to come as I get it.

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Despite rumors to the contrary, Beyblade is returning with Hasbro. Beyblade’s manager, d-rights, Inc., announced plans to relaunch the franchise in North America with a new animated series, Beyblade Burst, as well as a series of toys from Hasbro later this year. Hasbro will add other international markets to the distribution of the toys in 2017.

Sunrights, the entertainment arm of d-rights, is actively pursuing broadcast arrangements for the Beyblade Burst animated series but has not yet announced a specific outlet.

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Yes, you read that right. Not it’s not a joke. Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Beyblade, and is planning a live action adaptation. The movie will be produced by Mary Parent through her Disruption Entertainment banner.

The most interesting news here is that Hasbro is planning on a new Beyblade line in 2017. There’s no official word if this will be the US release of Beyblade Burst, or a different line to coincide with the movie.

Be prepared for a lot of screaming at metal tops and explosions.

[via Deadline Hollywood]

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I’ve been out of the Beyblade scene for a while now. Hasbro’s lackluster Legends line and several failed side-products really made me and the kids lose interest. We’d just about put everything Beyblade behind us when we found out on the WBO that Takara-Tomy is launching a new line of the spinning tops in Japan that will release in July. The new line, called Beyblade Burst, revolves around 3 piece Beys that can be broken apart in the arena by a stronger Bey.

Of course there will be a new stadium, new launchers, and even something called the BeyCloud System. A BeyLogger can be hooked up to a mobile phone to track your wins/losses and rank you in the BeyCloud System.

There’s no word of a US release yet.

You can see more pictures and get a bit more information from World Beyblade Organization (not affiliated with Takara-Tomy.)

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Game revenues were down 4 percent for Hasbro in 2014. According to its latest report, the company earned $1.26 billion from games in 2014, compared to $1.31 billion in 2013.

Growth by Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Simon was offset by a decline in sales for Duel Masters, Twister, and Angry Birds.

Overall, though, 2014 was a good year for Hasbro, with total net revenue up 5 percent to $4.28 billion and adjusted net earnings up 10%. The strongest performer for Hasbro was the boys category, up 20 percent mostly on the strength of Transformers, Nerf, and Marvel.

Benefiting from growth in lifestyle licensing, the entertainment and licensing segment was also up 15 percent.

Answering questions after the presentation, Hasbro’s president, Brian Goldner, revealed that sales of Magic: The Gathering are divided roughly 55/45 percent between large retailers and other outlets (specialty, hobby, etc.). The Friday Night Magic program has grown to 7,000 gaming sessions each week. And by next year, sales of Beyblade are expected to have pretty much evaporated.

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I don’t know how this kid does it, but he does every time. YouTube user Zankye has gotten his hands on some of the upcoming Beyblades Legends releases, and showed them off last night on his live event last night.

This confirms that Beyblade Legends Beys are re-releases of earlier Metal Fusion and Metal Masters Beyblades.

In my opinion, this is a great thing. While I’d sure love some new Beys, or even some more Zero-G/Shogun Steel stuff brought over from Japan, I’m glad to see that Hasbro is trying to keep the brand alive. My hopes is the Legends becomes similar to the Transformers Generations line, where new/re-released items are added to in bits over the year.

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The World Beyblade Organization is holding their second-ever North American Championship at Anime North on May 24th in Toronto. The tournament, titled GRAND BATTLE TOURNAMENT 2, will be open to the public, but you can win a paid ticket to the event by winning one of the many Qualifiers being held. The current schedule of qualifiers is as follows:

New York, New York Qualifier
Sunday, March 9th

Burbank, California Qualifier
Saturday, March 29th

Raleigh, North Carolina Qualifier
Saturday, March 29th

Grand Rapids, Michigan Qualifier
Saturday, April 5

Simsbury, Connecticut Qualifier
Saturday, April 26

Toronto, Ontario Qualifier
Sunday, May 4

Silver Spring, Maryland Qualifier
Date To Be Determined!

Notice that Simsbury, CT Qualifier? Oh yeah, that’s the one I’m hosting!

More Qualifiers will be popping up soon, so keep an eye on the GBT2 thread on the WBO for the latest news.

Along with the championship tournament there will be 4 other tournaments to participate that weekend. These tournaments will be in the Standard, Zero-G, Heavy Metal System, and Plastics formats.

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Spring will see the release of a new Beyblade type. The vehicle-like Beyraiderz are used to battle over Power Tokens with a “rip and return” feature, meaning that they launch with the pull of a ripcord and, after (hopefully) attaching to a Power Token, they zip backwards to the player who launched them.

True Beyblade fans will also appreciate the customizability of Beyraiderz. By interchanging various parts, stock vehicles can be modified to optimize power, speed, or control.

Though not strictly necessary—Beyraiderz can be launched with a ripcord by hand—Revback launcher devices will be available as an option.

Beyraiderz Starter Packs, in power, speed, and control assortments, include one vehicle, one launcher, and three Power Tokens at $13 retail.

Assorted Beyraiderz Vehicle packs include one character-vehicle, a ripcord, and one Power Token for $9.

The Beyraiderz Firegate Battle Set provides opportunity for both offensive and defensive play. The gate will drop tokens on the field when one of its levers is hit with a vehicle. For a retail price of $30, the set comes with the Fire Gate, two vehicles, two Revback launchers, and eight Power Tokens.

Chamber and ramp versions of the Beyraiderz Stunt Set require certain trick shots to release Power Tokens. At $15, they include the stunt and five Power Tokens each.

Three Power Tokens and a launcher will come in an assortment of Revback Launcher sets for $8.

All sets include collector cards with codes for online play.

Then in the fall, Hasbro launches Beyblade Legends, featuring the most popular tops, characters, and sets from the history of the Beyblade line. Assorted Beybattle Tops (with a ripcord launcher and assembly tool) will retail for $9. Beyblade Legends 2 Packs will retail for $16. Beyblade Legends Hyperblades include just one top but allow additional customization options for $10.

Two versions of the Beyblades Legends Beystadium ($10) will provide variety in competition, with the Beyblade Legends Super Vortex Battle Set yet another Beystadium arena option (plus two exclusive tops, two ripcord launchers, and two assembly tools) for $30.

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It seems some North American stores are getting Shogun Steel starter sets a bit early as seen in the video below:

This kid, beybladebattles243, was out beyhunting and saw shelves stocked with the new sets.

I’ve reached out to Hasbro for confirmation, but this looks like the real deal. Remember that we saw Hyperblade starter sets hit shelves weeks before the actual blister packs.

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