First off, let me say hats off to the people who sat down and said, “Hey, I bet we can make millions of dollars getting kids to play with overpriced self-destructing tops.” #Respect
If your kid loves BeyBlades, then you have probably seen the cheesy Japanese-style animation cartoon that goes with it. It’s too early to judge, but this one might be more annoying the Caillou. I’ve legitimately considered waiting until he went to bed and hitting the thumbs down button on Netflix so the show stops appearing in the list…
But my son absolutely loves Beyblades and the cartoon! So as much as it pains me, I set out to have us build a BeyStadium together just like the one in the cartoon. It consists of a metal arena with two circular red stripes and a blue cross that divides it into 4 quadrants. If you really want to go all out, grab some yellow spray paint and trim out the outside edges like in the photo above. The total project cost was about $40 with the help of Amazon and my local Ace Hardware. When I showed him the materials and told him what we were going to build together, his face lit up like it does on Christmas morning, so it was totally worth it. Charlie, the neighbor kid from a couple doors down concurred, declaring, “That’s gonna be SICK!!!” 🙌
Keep in mind when you look at the pictures: You can do all the masking and painting yourself and make a perfect one. But we chose to make one where the kids did the bulk of the work. I would venture to say that he loves is more because of that.
Start with a replacement fire pit bowl from Amazon. It has a flat 8″ bottom so you don’t need legs or all the other stuff that comes with a fire pit bowl. The weight of the Beyblades is not enough to need the support of legs on the outside so you save some money versus buying the whole fire bowl set.
Final Tips:
- It’s loud because it’s metal, so sell it to your kids as an outside toy. It’s summer, so perfect time to kick the kids out into the yard for an hour of peace…
- Some of the parts of the Beyblades are metal, so save your remaining half can of clear enamel spray paint. You’ll probably have to hit it with another coat or two eventually to keep the paint stripes from getting worn off.
Hope your kids get as much enjoyment out of this as my son does. And between you and me, let’s hope this cartoon doesn’t run as many seasons as Caillou….