A couple months ago, my parents came out to CA for a visit. There was a lot of anticipation because it was going to be their first time meeting our newest foster child Hunter. They got along splendidly! My parents are amazing people and they quickly invited Hunter into their hearts, just as if he were a Pack.

One day, they decided to take Hunter to Toys R Us to pick out an early birthday present since they wouldn’t be here for his actual celebration. That afternoon, I came home from work and found myself immediately sucked into the world of BeyBlades.

BeyBlades are little spinning tops made of plastic and metal. They are about the size of a silver dollar in diameter and are comprised of 5 separate parts that are completely interchangeable with other blades. Each blade comes with a “ripper” which is a hand held devise that the blade attaches to and is used to spin the blade at extremely high speed.

There are probably 50 or 60 different blades available and each one is unique, depending on the parts they are made from.

The most relevant part is the “performance tip”. It’s the bottom piece and is the piece that actually comes in contact with the surface on which the blade is spinning. The size and shape of the tip has everything to do with the speed, movement pattern, stamina, and balance of the blade when in battle. Certainly the other parts play minor roles but the tip is by far paramount.

Anyhow…

Hunter had chosen 2 blades and a battle stadium as his gift.

He explained the concept to me and showed me how to launch the blade into the stadium and we jumped into a fierce battle. Victory was generally spread pretty evenly between the two of us during our first night of battle, but when I came home the next evening, things had changed. Hunter had decided to take his blades apart and with the compilation of parts, build a single, exceptional blade, leaving me with a blade made from the “other” parts. With this inferior blade, it was virtually impossible to beat him. Needless to say, this little arrangement only lasted a couple days before I decided to take action. I decided to head over to the Toys R Us on my lunch break to see about getting a respectable blade for myself. At this point I had no idea that there were so many to choose from and I certainly didn’t realize how strategic a purchase it would need to be if I planned on thwarting Hunters Earth Virgo / Pisces hybrid blade. I scanned the choices for a long while, reading the back of the packages and trying to find a blade that included a nice mix of characteristics such as attack, stamina, defense, and balance. Each blade is rated from 1-5 in each of these categories so it’s good to go with something that’s well rounded. After about ten minutes of research, I was joined in the isle by a young man about the same age as Hunter, along with his mother. He was talking a million miles a minute about some blade that had just came out and spouting off fairly technical information about it’s battle prowess. I began eavesdropping intently but really couldn’t make heads or tails of his rambling. Finally I interrupted and politely introduced myself and explained my situation. As he heard about the Virgo / Pisces hybrid blade that I was up against, I could see him doing calculations in his head. He was starting to come to some conclusions but first asked me to clarify if the hybrid was a “metal fusion” blade. I reported that it was a metal fusion blade as I recalled it from the packaging. His eyes lit up and he walked directly to “Gravity Destroyer”. He handed it to me and simply said, “he won’t stand a chance against this, good luck.”

I went back to my car and took the blade out of the packaging and assembled it with the tool provided. I then placed it on the dashboard and took a close up picture of it.

I sent the picture to Hunter, via Rebecca’s cell phone with the following message…
ATTENTION HUNTER: I’M COMING TO GET YOU EARTH VIRGO! SAY YOUR PRAYERS!

By the time I got home from work that day, Hunter was so worked up about our pending battle that he could hardly keep his blade in the stadium.

My young toy consultant was quite right indeed. Gravity Destroyer is the finest blade available and even though Hunter now has over 15 blades, none are able to beat my destroyer with any consistency. Needless to say, there is more to a battle than the characteristics of the blade. Human power and strength play a large role, as well as the humans relationship with his or her blade. These subtitles have become more clear over time (and by watching the cartoon).

A few weeks ago, in preparation for our trip to Chicago to celebrate two of our best friends getting married, I decided to add a secondary item to our agenda. I spoke with Hunter about what it might look like for he and I to officially join forces and make a play on Chicago with our blades. I explained that Uncle Adam Truman and Uncle Joe were both fierce competitors and that they would probably be waiting to kick our rear ends in the battle stadium when we arrived. Hunter took the threat VERY seriously and thought well of us forming an alliance. He also thought well of calling and emailing Adam and Joe on a regular basis to talk trash! MAN I LOVE THIS KID!

Here are a couple examples of our taunts…

ATTENTION ADAM TRUMAN PACK AND JOE WEGNER:

OUR BLADE ARMY IS GROWING IN STRENGTH AND POWER WITH EACH PASSING DAY. AS THE TIME OF OUR BATTLE DRAWS NEAR, WE WANTED TO BE SURE THAT YOU REALIZED THE WORLD OF PAIN THAT AWAITS!

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT… IT IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT YET TRULY REALIZED THE SIZE AND STRENGTH OF OUR BLADE FORCES.

WE WILL BE MAKING OUR WAY ACROSS LAND AND OVER MOUNTAINS SOON, AND WE ARE COMING FOR YOU!

WE WILL NOT REST, WE WILL KEEP TRAINING AND GROWING, IN PREPARATION FOR BATTLE…WE WILL NOT REST!

VERY TRULY YOURS,

JOHN & SONS ALONG WITH OUR BLADE ARMY…

From Hunter…
“Get ready to fight these “kickyobooty” hands…and your worst nightmare, and these hands will smack yo blade down to the ground!”

Sincerely,
Your nightmare!

Uncle Adam Truman even went as far as to skype with Hunter so he could establish his WWF Wrestling style demeanor and to promise that Hunter would do well to cancel his trip if he wanted to maintain his dignity. Adam flexed his biceps and did some example ripper pulls for Hunter so he could get a full sense of what we were up against. Hunter took it extremely seriously and I’ve personally never seen a more excited 8 year old than him, related to the circus we had created around these fantastic little toys.

In the end, I hope it’s understood that I’ve overstated my affinity for blades, for the sake of helping you understand the passion of some. On the other hand, it also needs to be noted that I do enjoy having something soo tangible to connect with Hunter around. In the past few weeks, our 3 year old Eli has even jumped into the mix and blades with us most each evening. I’m sure girlsare fun, but this is AWESOME!

Here are some other pics of our blade forces…