these r fun I ended up writing way more than I thought I would

9. How big is their role in the story? Do they make a frequent appearance or are they a character with little "screentime" but big influence? Or are they just a favourite background guy?

This is fun because I was actually just thinking about this because I had the idea of like, if my ocs were somehow made canon to mfb, how would their stories be presented? both of these guys would have like a mini series I guess, but in different ways.

Essi basically gets her own mini season, which goes thru pre-fusion from her perspective until it catches up with fusion around the pre-battle bladers chunk, where she would then just be part of the fusion cast. I think she would kind of be similar to most of the cast that mostly appears only in fusion in terms of impact and screen time overall. She’s mostly going thru her own thing for the first half of fusion and doesn’t directly play any role in the story, but when she meets back up with gingka and becomes part of the main gang, she has moments of impacting him and others somewhat, as well as having her own highlights in her own arc of growing stronger and interacting with other characters, but overall is kind of just a loveable side character. She’s absolutely the protagonist of her own story, and most of my ocs overall exist in the downtime between seasons and episodes more than in the actual plot of mfb in general, so her impact is pretty minimal within what is actually depicted in the series. She basically has like no impact on the story of any of the other seasons, though she has her own stuff going on.

Kosuke’s miniseries would be a documentation of his and Kyoya’s sporadic run ins with each other, which would show the development of their relationship as well as gradually peel back kosuke’s layers and all of their issues and weirdness. Basically like a miniseries comprised entirely of episodes similar to that of Kyoya and tobio’s one episode in fusion. In terms of any kind of impact in the actual plot, he’s very unimportant overall. It’s definitely a weirdo side character at best. He has zero bearing in anything that actually happens. At most he would get like a few cameos in episodes maybe, perhaps exists to shake up Kyoya and gingka briefly, but does very little to significantly influence the plot. His character arc exists in a pocket dimension.

10. What is their main character arc in the story? Where do they start and how do they develop? Do they get a happy ending or is their story a tragic one?

I am lazy to type it all out thoroughly because it would take me like 5ever so I will bullet point them out. at some point I would like to write out my ocs’ main stories in full on toyhouse, but that is definitely not happening any time soon.

For Essi

- She grows up in koma village alongside gingka, Hyoma, and axyl. She is very close with gingka and an equally passionate blader, though also has more responsibility as axyl’s older sister.

- When L-drago is stolen, the De La Cruz parents feel unsafe in the village and immediately prepare to move away

- Before they leave, essi catches gingka on his way out to go on his fusion journey

- Confronting him about what he’s doing, essi realizes he was planning to leave without even telling her. She argues with him. She tries to insist on him letting her help him, but he refuses and pushes her away. This is the last interaction they have before parting ways

- When they’re in the new city (not metal bey) essi is a bit restless. She participates in local tournaments and trains still, but is constantly worried about gingka in the back of her mind. She ends up trying to find out anything she can of the dark nebula on her own, but is mostly unsuccessful

- Her family disapproves of her doing this, so she does it in secret. Axyl knows, but they can’t really stop her, and he doesn’t bother to snitch or try any harder beyond just letting her know that he doesn’t like that she’s doing this.

- She catches some word of gingka here and there as he’s becoming more well known, but can’t really do much else but take note of it.

- Gingka and the gang end up in her city at some point and they run into each other. Essi punches and then hugs him. He apologizes for before, they catch up and he fills her and Axyl in on what he’s been doing and about what’s going down.

- She insists on coming along with him this time, and he doesn’t refuse. Axyl is hesitant, and despite the fact that essi wants to look after them, she is prioritizing this much more, and tells them they can do what they want. Axyl decides to go along with them.

- They r part of the gang for a bit before they split to prep for battle bladers and meet back up again when it’s time for it.

- She doesn’t make it particularly far in the competition, but her main battle of note is against Kyoya (before she starts beefing with him). It’s a tough battle that pushes her to her limits. She’s exhausted and weak, but axyl and gingka cheering her on encourages her to keep fighting. Despite how badly she tries to keep it up, she passes out soon after and loses the battle, though she does earn Kyoya’s respect.

- Afterwards she is kinda there. She helps out in fighting against the dark nebula and all that, but goes back to being mostly on the sidelines of the story.

Other notable aspects of her development, mainly with her internal conflict that drives her, are her insecurities, both about her own strength, but also about how much she is able to do to help and provide for others. She worries very much about feeling useless and puts a lot of stress on herself to constantly be doing her best and more. Much of her development revolves around her learning to open up and rely on others more and start seeing herself as more of an equal to her friends rather than someone who either needs to catch up to them or being doing a ton to try to support them. She mostly gets a good ending, though her relationship with Selen is the one thing that is really doomed. It doesn’t play a major role in her main character arc, but the development of their relationship does kind of reflect her learning to be more of her own person as it kind of shows her how she can’t help everyone, no matter how hard she wants to. There’s a lot of heartbreak that follows, but she learns to live with it and recover as best she can.

Kosuke isn’t as linear and he’s a lot weirder, so it’s much harder to try to pin down the main points of their arc but I will try

- In kosuke’s first introduction, they are presented as a calm, mysterious blader for hire. They are very collected and in control of themself, though distinctly have a strange sort of air about them

- In battle against a target, it’s still mostly pretty normal, but is an extremely heavy hitter, and it becomes clear at a certain point that the battle could’ve been over long ago, but it’s just toying with their opponent now, and it’s then that a more wild look is seen in his eyes. The battle ends shortly after, not going much further than that but leaving the witnesses to the battle slightly shaken

- I don’t know how the conversations would go following, but at some point kosuke would vaguely mention anyone being more than welcome to fight him if they had any issue with it. Kyoya holds his bey out, taking up that challenge, but Kosuke gets in Kyoya’s personal space, nudging the arm holding Leone away as Kosuke says he didn’t mean that kind of fight. There’s a look in his eyes again and that along with the tone of his voice unsettles Kyoya, throwing him off more than he expected. Kosuke quickly puts the mask back on, saying something along the lines of “kidding! Obviously I meant a bey battle, what else did you think?” but Kyoya knows he was not kidding.

- I dunno how that battle would go honestly. I think kosuke would start having a LOT of fun though, taking a lot of interest in Kyoya as an opponent, and just as it starts to heat up and Kosuke might be starting to show more of itself, it gets called away for some reason or another and they’re forced to cut their battle off early. Both of them have definitely taken interest in each other.

- Kosuke runs into the others randomly, entirely by coincidence every time. Each time, gradually more and more of their actual personality starts to slip through. There’s instances, mainly with Kyoya that show more of their obsessiveness and weirdness, and instances, mainly with gingka, that start to show more of their pessimism and hatred, but it pays careful mind to never let too much slip.

- Their interest in Kyoya never wavers and the two are definitely trying to analyze and see more of each other. Kosuke finds Kyoya entertaining, though kyoya can’t quite place what it is about Kosuke that intrigues him.

- An eventual battle with gingka is what shows some of the worst of Kosuke. During so, Kosuke accuses gingka and anyone else who spouts off nonsense about wanting to make friends through battle and bladers spirit or whatever of being arrogant and fake. Kosuke views these kinds of ideas as forceful and self centered, and any kind of positivity and acts that people put on to hide their true selves. Gingka pushes back strongly against this idea and has to stay strong in his convictions.

- Gingka wins the battle, but it doesn’t feel satisfying. Kosuke is visibly more upset than he’s ever shown, not necessarily entirely from the loss but just being so riled up in general. It’s a strange display to watch.

- Separate from that, Kosuke and Kyoya are having a lot of sporadic encounters. Kosuke has a cryptic way of flirting and throwing Kyoya off his game, though Kyoya is trying to focus very hard on figuring out what the hell is wrong with Kosuke. They are absolutely developing feelings for each other along the way, even if neither of them know how to identify that or what to really do with that.

- This is very drawn out. As Kyoya starts to understand more about Kosuke more intricately, he goes through much of his character arc and is becoming a more open and willing-to-admit-he-has-friends person. Without realizing, his relationship with Kosuke has become more intimate, though Kosuke still distinctly keeps him at arms length, not wanting to let Kyoya get too close and fully understand them and content to keep the sporadic nature of their dynamic as it. Kosuke hasn’t stopped being entertained by Kyoya, and Kyoya hasn’t pushed too closely thus far, and so Kosuke has kind of become dependent on Kyoya to keep himself amused.

- Kyoya gradually wants to grow closer with Kosuke, and Kosuke freaks the fuck out about this a little bit. He’s not willing to let up, and as Kyoya begins to really understand that, he grows less patient with Kosuke.

- Eventually, Kyoya becomes very aware of the stagnant and uneven nature of their relationship, and with him having other friends and goals, he realizes he doesn’t have the patience to keep putting up with kosuke’s weirdness if Kosuke isn’t willing to have the relationship be reciprocal, and attempts to break off whatever it is they have

- Kosuke fully kind of loses it here. He lets show a panic and desperation that hasn’t been present before, and the longer it goes on, the less patience Kyoya has. Eventually, Kyoya ends up socking him in the face. Kosuke is quiet. Kyoya provokes him, and Kosuke completely shifts, going into full fistfight adrenaline junkie mode.

- Their fight is NOT pretty and Kosuke ends up with some nasty scars from it. As Kyoya walks away, Kosuke reaches out for him one last time, but is unable to say anything. Kyoya walks away.

- Kosuke is completely numb. He is left truly alone with himself his own thoughts, which is the one thing he had been trying to avoid more than anything. Unable to cope and not knowing what to do with themself, they become an aimless shell of a person for a while.

- At some point in their adulthood, Kyoya ends up seeing Kosuke in a restaurant or bar or something. He goes to talk to them, a bit surprised by how little they’re putting up any of their usual theatrics, but presses to see how they’re doing. Kosuke isn’t as overtly hateful or energetic, but still just as pessimistic and doesn’t do anything to hide it. Kyoya doesn’t bother to put up with it after they snap at him. He leaves with a frustrated and disappointed comment that they haven’t changed, though mentions that he hopes they can get over themself and actually try to start being a better person and leaves.

That would be the last appearance of Kosuke. It’s unclear whether they really take those words to heart or not, but personally, I really cannot see a good ending for Kosuke. I don’t have the heart to definitively say where life takes them in the future, though they’re not really the kind of person who is trying to better themself. Who knows. Anything can happen really.

19. What is your general favourite thing about the character? What is your least favourite?

I like how concrete Essi’s arc is. It’s simple but effective, and I just enjoy her dynamics and growth. She’s very beyblade, arguably the most beyblade of my beyblade ocs, and I love that for her. I also really enjoy that she can be very flawed. Despite how hard she tries to be friendly and positive, she can be very quick to anger and frustration and genuine dislike of people, and I like that aspect of her. I guess my least favorite thing is just how much her character revolves around her relationships with other characters. It’s weird because I feel like that can be said about a lot of my characters as dynamics and developments with other characters is usually the focus of any character arcs that I write, but for some reason with essi, I feel like I could be doing more with her. I dunno.

Kosuke I just really enjoy how much of a fucking freak he is. I like that he’s the worst, and he has a lot of reasons for being the worst, and despite his issues being very fixable, he is never going to get better, because his biggest issue is that he refuses to change. My least favorite thing about them is that they ended up being VERY personal by accident, and so it can make me legitimately very upset if I’m not careful. I love to hate it but sometimes it cuts a little deep.