Bakugan: New Vestroia is the beloved sequel to the original series and debatably the peak of the original anime series in terms of characters and writing. With a new series comes new Bakugan like the fan favorite Helios. By now the original formula had been refined and expanded upon. Battle Brawlers era toy treatments received a new coat of paint, alongside brand new additions such as Neon, Solar and Steel, among others. Both the TCG and anime received a new twist in the introduction of accessory pieces- the first and most notable being the Bakugan Trap.
It was a wonderful time to grow up with the series, but a seasoned collector might consider New Vestroia hellish. This may be the hardest series to complete a collection for due to the sheer magnitude of variants for per toy, some molds approaching 40 all on their own. Added to this is the fact that many fan favorites such as Master Ingram and Helios MK2 are region-locked behind Japan-only BakuTech releases. Many Bakugan in the anime had unfortunately never made it to production, and certain ideas had to be scrapped and reused later which led to a lot of missed opportunity.
Leon's personal suggestion- pick your favorites, or stick to specific treatments, but in the end I'm not your mother. Do what you want. Thankfully, most NV molds are fairly cheap and sold in bulk so its only on very specific occasions that finding anything in particular would be a huge or expensive issue. This is when Bakugan peaked, but it appears that it was also the peak of chaos as well. Is that such a bad thing?
Note: The following table does not account for minor paint or hole variations, unless it is an oddity or a very notable difference. The table does not account for varying G-Powers, as it would be near impossible to track this information down.
- B1: Bakugan that are 28mm in diameter
- B2: Bakugan that are 32mm in diameter
- Open Core: All B1 Sega Toys, Sonokong, and Spin Master Series 1 Bakugan have an exposed magnet
- Closed Core: All Series 2 B1s, and Series 1 B1s that were re-released have a sealed magnet
- Treatment: A variation from the normal 6 attributed releases. They include translucent plastic, unique color combinations, among other gimmicks
Bakugan releases differ by regions of the world. Below are the identified major regions, though specific countries would obtain specific releases on occasion. The identified regions are as follows:
- Japan (Sega Toys releases)
- South Korea (Sonokong B1s, otherwise part of Asia Region)
- US + Canada (Canada has slightly different releases)
- Western Europe/Latin America (Nations south of the USA received European waves)
- Eastern Europe/Middle East (Primarily Russia and Post-Soviet nations)
- Asia + Australia (Appears to have received a mix of everything else. Documentation is poor)
Note:
Rarity scores are based on how easy the Bakugan is to find for a primarily American buyer, however Sega Toys and Takara Tomy releases have scores based on their own region. This means that if you live outside of the designated region, increase the rarity score by one or two points.
For example, a Bakugan is 6/10 (Uncommon) in the US, and did not release in Japan. If you live in Japan, consider it 8/10 (Scarce) rarity instead. If a European Bakugan is considered Common (say 3/10), then to an American, consider it Uncommon (say 5/10). This is is because you would have to go out of your way to find sellers or utilize websites or middlemen, and are also likely to have to pay an increased cost in order to obtain it along with international shipping and taxes. Some sellers may also opt to not ship to your country. This effectively raises your barrier to entry, even if the toy in a vacuum is not difficult to find.
- 1/10 - 2/10 (Bulk): Easy to find and relatively cheap, you will likely find a minimum of 10 results in a search and are often freebies in lots.
- 3/10 - 4/10 (Common): Relatively easy to obtain, slightly less numerous and more expensive. Will yield a few results in a search.
- 5/10 - 6/10 (Uncommon): Potentially annoying/expensive to track down, but realistic enough to obtain without too much issue.
- 7/10 - 8/10 (Scarce): One will pop up every few weeks or months. You may have some competition in trying to obtain this, but it is absolutely doable.
- 9/10 - 10/10 (Rare): Realistically, you will not obtain this Bakugan. Get a custom paint job or a recast if you can, and good luck otherwise.
- One-Off/Not Scored: An anomaly that probably shouldn't exist, but has been documented for the sake of completion.