Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.

I Feel Sorry For Barthez Battalion

I used to hate this team for replacing the Majestics but now, I kinda feel sorry for them.

The Barthez Battalion is introduced as a no nonsense well trained operation under the command of coach Barthez, however behind the scenes, it's anything but happy.
Barthez forces them to cheat, has no problem assaulting them and threatens numerous times to disown them if they don't follow commands, the team are even forced to take falls and injuries to show up other teams which Rick fell fall easily against Claude.
The team members know they are doing wrong but the alternative is not competing in the sport at all.
Miguel and human Silver the Hedgehog Claude know this as well as Mathilda who is too scared to speak up, I assume Aaron is exactly the same.
This mirrors alot of sports teams, particularly in the Olympics where aggressive coaching has left young athletes afraid to say anything through fear of being blacklisted and kicked out, I won't name any countries but in some nations, this type of thing is considered normal, I have to commend Beyblade for having the guts to show this, one thing that the dub doesn't show you is the amount of slapping that goes on and most of it is not comedic, really think about that.

Did Anyone Like Tyson?

We've covered all the other Bladebreakers except for Tyson, now it's his turn.

Tyson has come a long way from the kid who literally took a running jump to beat a bully to being three time world champion, but considering his cocky stuck up attitude, one has to think if this is really deserved, hot headed leads are nothing new, it's hard to look back on Ash's early career in Pokemon without cringing at some of the things he got away with saying and doing, Tai from Digimon famously ended up with SkullGreymon for his hotheadedness, looking at the spectrum of leads from the genre you can definitely see a pattern with a few notable exceptions including Yu-Gi-Oh's Yugi and Yusei.
Character development has saved most of these characters from the scrap heap but Tyson never changes, yeah he can back up his skills but in all three seasons especially V-Force and G-Revolution, his entire journey is learning to not be a colossal prick to everyone, the sad thing is, that's probably why Beyblade switched to a new generation, it would just be repeating the same tired formula every time and fans will soon tell you when a show has reached it's limits.
As stale as the Metal Fight Beyblade seasons were, they had a longer run because Gingka Hagane is a much more pleasant protagonist to be around and it's why (at least in Japan) Beyblade is still going today.

Mathilda Should've Been the 5th Bladebreaker

Yes, the pixie Beyblader of Barthez Battalion, Mathilda should've been the 5th Bladebreaker.

The Barthez Battalion is a team with a history of cheating although looking at Mathilda and even the other team members, it's clear that it's against their will, Mathilda getting hit particularly hard by this when she's told to shatter her Beyblade to take out Daichi, but her teammates share a strong enough bond to band together and get her back on her feet, expect team reviews to follow these character reviews as Barthez Battalion is fascinating to analyse compared to real life sports teams.
Now why do I think she's suitable for the Bladebreakers?
1. Her design shouts marketable beyblader as she looks most the part compared to the others, the designs of the other female characters make it obvious they were designed for a themed team but Mathilda can be any team as her design is contemporary for the franchise she's in.
2. Her design itself is sporty and has the one thing missing from an anime like this, goggles, she also has an obvious pink ranger vibe and comes into the team with a clean slate so good news shippers, she can be paired with any one.
3. If you don't believe me on her design, sequel series Metal Fight Beyblade's main female Madoka Amano is basically Mathilda as a brunette with added mechanic skills.
4. She's just flat out adorable, although I prefer Mariam and Julia as characters, Mathilda is a worthy bronze medal.
But were stuck with Scrappy-Doo Daichi, so what can you do?

Ray and Driger Have an Interesting Bond

The bit beast thing isn't really that noticeable but then there's Ray.

Ray inherited Driger to lead the White Tigers, he's an all-rounder who doesn't always find himself on the right path but out of all the Bladebreakers, Ray is the one who communicates with his bit beast the most, although Driger doesn't talk, he always makes his feelings known through subtle actions and is surprisingly never stolen, Driger instead disappearing after defeating Bryan in season 1 and I think the same thing happened in V-Force after a tie against Gordo.
Bit beasts are a major part of Beyblade but really only Ray sees his beast as a companion over every other blader who uses a master and servant dynamic, even Tyson who spoke to Dragoon doesn't have the same dynamic as Ray does.

Mariah is Just Ship Bait

No, Mariah is not my pick for fifth Bladebreaker, keep guessing.

Mariah is a member of the White Tigers and Lee's sister, she originally challenged Ray in season 1 but fell in love with Ray losing the battle for her team, she didn't do much after and is far from even being the best female blader losing out to Julia, Mariam and Ming-Ming.
The sad thing is, she's the most qualified to be the fifth Bladebreaker as her love for Ray is canon, so her only role is being ship bait, one of the worst titles I can bestow on a female character.
She's just not made to be anything more and between her and Emily made for a painful run in season 1 for female characters in general.