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Masquerade (マスカレード, Masukarēdo?) was formerly a major villain in Bakugan Battle Brawlers and Dan Kuso's main rival having battled him 4 times throughout the first season before abandoning his evil ways and assisting the Battle Brawlers. He is a Darkus brawler and was a servant of Naga, the mastermind behind the Doom Beings.
After Dan defeated him during their final battle in Behind the Mask of Masquerade, it is revealed that Masquerade is the split personality inside Alice Gehabich after being affected by the negative energy of the Silent Core.
He initially used a Darkus Reaper as his first Guardian Bakugan, but later replaced him with Hydranoid as his second Guardian Bakugan after deciding the latter had more potential.
He was briefly a Battle Brawler and helped Dan defeat Centorrior and Druman in the Pyrus/Darkus world in Vestroia. Afterwards, he gave Alice his Hydranoid and mysteriously disappeared, but it's unknown that he is dead or alive, though it is likely he merely fused back together with Alice. Later he makes a brief appearance in Bakugan Battle Brawlers: New Vestroia helping Alice fight Shadow Prove in her mind.
Appearance
Masquerade wears a purple and blue visor mask likely made out of glass (it seems to function like a Bakupod). He also wears a white cape-like coat. It is buttoned by straps on its chest, however, towards the waist, it is unbuttoned. At the waist, if one were to look carefully, you can see part of a blue shirt and two cross something that seem to go together. Underneath the jacket, there is what appears to be armor on Masquerade's upper chest. He wears purple jeans with three belts. The belt has a circular belt buckle. He had blond hair that is styled upwards. Masquerade also wears boots with small heels at the bottom. These boots have straps and buckles on them as well.
Personality
Obsessed with power and becoming the best Bakugan brawler around, Masquerade is ruthless in his objective to acquire the most powerful Bakugan. Despite having Alice for a host, Masquerade's personality is the exact opposite of hers. In each and every one of his battles, he would repeatedly show brutal, manipulative, and borderline amoral behavior in the game. He had been shown to frequently banish Bakugan, even his own, into the Doom Dimension with absolutely no remorse or hesitance in order to obtain victory and would use brutal tactics that bordered on cheating, rationalizing his behavior as a constant state of life or death. As seen during Exedra's trial, he tells the illusionary version of Alice that he battles in order to gain strength due to deeming it the only way he could survive.
During his time working against the Brawlers, Masquerade also showed complete obedience and loyalty to Naga, having been shown to faithfully follow his orders and plans without question and stated that his loyalty to the destructive Bakugan is one of the major motivations for his actions.
Masquerade also showed a rather unique relationship with his alternate original personality of Alice Gehabich, where despite him taking advantage of her as a member of the Brawlers and using her for his own ends, he was stated to neither hate nor fear her. This is seen during his Trial, where he stated that he knew everything about her and thus felt no fear battling her.
However, despite showing no outward reaction to her, it's been shown that Alice is in fact something akin to that of a consciousness to Masquerade that embodies his secret hesitance and conflicting thoughts about helping Naga and his continued service to him. This is demonstrated when he showed obvious frustration at the illusionary Alice's constant inquiry to his true motivations and showed annoyance and loss of patience at being questioned for what he truly wanted.
When it came to his fourth match against Dan, Masquerade displayed anger issues in not wanting to lose as he ripped his coat, telling Dan he viewed him as a thorn in his side and that he hated him for messing up his plans time and time again.
Following losing a fair battle against Dan, Masquerade learned his lesson about playing the game fair and square rather than being obsessed with power and winning. He would redeem himself later on by helping Dan face Centorrior and Druman. Masquerade mentioned being glad that his final battle was alongside Dan and shaking his hand before departing. Prior to disappearing, he no longer has a destiny and gave Hydranoid to Alice.
Biography
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Masquerade initially appeared to be stealing Bakugan all over the world by beating Runo Misaki and various other kids and manipulating his victims such as Tatsuya and the JJ Dolls whom he beat into using Doom Cards. When Dan battles him in an effort to halt this, Masquerade witnesses Draganoid's power and becomes interested in him. He has his minions battling the brawlers (lending his Guardian Bakugan Reaper to Darkus using battlers, notably Ryo and Kenji though reaper returns back to him). Later, Masquerade is shown to be working for a man named Hal-G, while they both plan to use negative energy to get the Infinity Core. Masquerade is then shown brainwashing Kosuke and Takashi and telling them if they win, Miu can see her brother again, and then he transports to a plane. Masquerade then talks to Hal G about how useless the kids he brainwashed are and said that with each battle his Bakugan power grows. He then decides to recruit Shun Kazami.
He was disappointed by Reaper and replaced him with the Bakugan of greater potential, Hydranoid, by sending Reaper to the Doom Dimension. Masquerade's goal was to make his Hydranoid evolve to make it the ultimate Bakugan, so he could acquire the Infinity Core and bring it to Naga. He did this mainly by using Doom Cards which send the opponent's Bakugan to the Doom Dimension. He was the Number One Brawler ranked online, which made this goal far much easier to attain, since everybody challenged him, trying to gain his spot.
Later, Masquerade arrives at Shun's House and convinces him to join his side right as Dan arrives. Dan gets angered to see Shun with Masquerade, and tells Shun to get rid of Dan. However, as he doesn't, Dan challenges them both to a fight, with Dan both his Stinglash and Gargonoid to the Doom Dimension and being left with only Drago as his Bakugan. Masquerade brings out Hydranoid to fight Drago and ends up sending Reaper to the Doom Dimension due to the effect of third judgement, much to Shun's horror. Shun then uses Monarus to save Drago. Eventually, Shun turns on Masquerade and uses Skyress to help Dan beat him thanks to Drago shooting Boosted Dragon in Hydranoid's mouth. Masquerade then tells Dan and Shun that though he may have lost he will still send both of them to the Doom Dimension before departing.
To get rid of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers, who started to become a problem, he recruited the top ranked brawlers in the world: Klaus von Hertzon, Chan Lee, Julio Santana, Komba O'Charlie and Billy Gilbert by tricking them into coming to a party for strong Bralwers. He appeared to them during their battle royal and brought them to Naga who brainwashed them. Later on, he sees the Brawlers have infiltrated his castle after Marucho Marukura lost Preyas to Klaus. He confronted Runo and Marucho telling him that soon Hydranoid will be the ultimate Bakugan before sending out Julio to battle Runo and Dan who loses to them. Later during Billy's battle with Julie Makimoto he appears and tells Billy that if he beats Julie he will rank him up to 9th place. Though Billy wins he breaks free of Masquerade's influence due to not wanting to send Julie to the Doom Dimension much to his anger. When Julie angrily confront him, Masqerade simply smirks and teleports away. Later he appears to Komba telling him that he must battle to get strong. Komba battles and loses to Shun causing him to break free of Masquerade's control. Him and Hal-G are called to speak with Naga who tells them that failure is not an option and they must beat Drago. Masquerade told Julio, Chan and Klaus that they must find the brawlers and beat them. After they all broke free, Masquerade told Naga that soon Hydranoid will evolve and then they will win. Following the conversation, Masquerade punished them by battling them and sending each of their Guardian Bakugan to the Doom Dimension, which evolved Hydranoid into Dual Hydranoid. He is shown to be very cruel as he banished two of his Bakugan (Laserman and Reaper) to the Doom Dimension. Later he appeared in Dan's room challenging the hero to fight to settle their score. Masquerade meats Dan and the rest of the Bralwers at the dock's where their fight began. During the battle they both come down to using their final Bakugan, Delta Dragonoid and Dual Hydranoid. During their battle, he sent Drago to the Doom Dimension, and Dan decided to follow suit because he didn't want to lose him. Later, he battled Runo, Marucho, Julie, and Shun, though they lost on purpose so they could join Dan and Drago.
He also battled Joe Brown and Wavern for the Infinity Core, but lost. After that he went into the Doom Dimension himself to face the one of the Legendary Soldiers, Exedra, where he faced an Illusionary Alice. He defeated her and Dual Hydranoid evolved into Alpha Hydranoid. His second to last battle was with Dan Kuso, and after losing to him, he decides to reform. However, his way of doing so was by removing his mask, revealing he was Alice's alter ego all along.
Masquerade was born as Alice's split personality when the negative energy of the Silent Core affected Alice's body through Michael Gehabich's dimension transporter. Alice was unaware that she was Masquerade, as though she often experienced periods of time wherein she would appear in a place with no memory of how she came to be there.
After that, he made one final appearance to help Dan defeat Centorrior and Druman, after which he leaves Alice, and his mask crumbles away. Before disappearing, he gives her his Alpha Hydranoid. However, the Japanese version of GAME OVER shows the silhouette of Masquerade's shadow instead of Alice's as she says goodbye to Hydranoid, indicating his presence is still inside of her.
Bakugan Battle Brawlers: New Vestroia
In Gate Crashers Alice is shown to have his old Transporter card which she uses to find Dan in Moscow. She then uses it to send Spectra Phantom and Gus Grav to the lab where Dr. Michel sends them to New Vestroia. Later in Show Me the Power! Masquerade gets mentioned by Dan telling Spectra that he fought Masquerade in the stadium and because of that he has "home field advantage". He appears briefly in Shadow Attack, encouraging Alice to battle Shadow Prove instead of running away. It seems Alpha Hydranoid is aware of Masquerade's presence, telling Alice not to apologize as Masquerade will see it as a sign of weakness. During the battle, Alice often has brief visions of him.
At one point she says to Shadow, "Would you be so arrogant if you knew I used to be the brawler Masquerade?", suggesting that Masquerade's name may still carry some weight to the Vestals (who knew many of the Battle Brawlers' previous exploits). Then she and Masquerade together defeated Hades. However, after destroying Hades, they still ended up losing because of Shadow's new Mechanical Bakugan. Alice and Chan Lee would fall to Shadow's MAC Spider, but it is unknown whether Masquerade was assisting her against it.
Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge
Although not appearing, he is indirectly mentioned by Worton in Gunz Blazing who tells the Nonet Bakugan that he thinks that Wiseman is using the transporter card Masquerade once used, which turns out false once his identity is revealed as Coredegon.
Bakugan: The Evo Tournament
In the Bakugan: The Evo Tournament manga, Masquerade is said to be the one responsible for sending Katie Lowery's original Bakugan, Chamelia, to the Doom Dimension. However, this was not shown.
Bakugan
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
- Darkus Reaper (First Former Guardian Bakugan, sent to the Doom Dimension, presumed deceased)
- Darkus Hydranoid (Second Former Guardian Bakugan)
- Darkus Dual Hydranoid (First Evolution - Evolved in Episode 26)
- Darkus Alpha Hydranoid (Second Evolution - Evolved in Episode 37 given to Alice in Episode 44)
- Darkus Laserman (Sent to the Doom Dimension, then freed)
- Darkus Mantris
- Darkus Centipoid
- Darkus Siege
- Darkus Wormquake
- Darkus Fear Ripper (Video Game only)
- Darkus Gargonoid (Video Game only)
- Darkus Terrorclaw (Video Game only)
- Darkus Robotallion (Video Game only)
- Aquos Siege (Given to Rikimaru in episode 3)
Episode Appearances
Trivia
- He was ranked number one for the majority of Season 1 until losing to Dan in Behind the Mask of Masquerade.
- In the Japanese dub, he would say the English phrases properly. For example, he would say "Bakugan Shoot" instead of "Bakugan Shuuto."
- He is the only character to defeat all of the Brawlers; granted, they also threw their battles to follow Dan into the Doom Dimension.
- Dan mistakenly calls him "Marmalade" in A Feud Between Friends when Dan was talking in his sleep.
- Jewels nicknames him "Mascara" in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
- Every time Masquerade used Hydranoid's Ability Chaos of Darkness, there was a close-up shot of his mouth. This is also the same when he activated Black Is Darkness for Centipoid in Episode 5.
- A character similar to Masquerade is Marduk, a character from the Bakugan Video Game. Both are Darkus brawlers, who happen to be the main rivals of the main character (Dan for Masquerade and the player character for Marduk. Both also wield incredibly powerful and seemingly evil Bakugan).
- Masquerade and Spectra Phantom are very similar: They are both Dan Kuso's masked rivals, they both have a relation to one of Dan's teammates (Masquerade is Alice's alter ego and Spectra is Mira Fermin's brother), they both get an offer to join the Brawlers but refuse, they both help Dan fight against a major/main antagonist (Masquerade helps Dan fight against Druman and Centorrior and Spectra helps Dan fight against Zenoheld) and they both want their Guardian Bakugan to become the Ultimate Bakugan through evolution (although Spectra uses artificial means). Both of their first on screen battles were against the main Haos Brawlers (Runo for Masqeurade and Baron Leltoy for Spectra) and they both beat them easily causing both of them to suffer worry about battling in their next battles against Tatsuya and Shadow respectfully. They also both take off their masks and join the Brawlers. Their final moments with Dan are shown with them shaking his hand and thanking him for showing them the error of their ways. Also each of their Bakugan has evolved twice: Hydranoid to Dual Hydranoid then Alpha Hydranoid, Viper Helios evolved to Cyborg Helios then to Helios MK2. They also both had one win against Dan Kuso which caused terrible things to happen to Drago (Drago got sent to the Doom Dimension after losing to Hydranoid while Drago got turned into Vexos Dragonoid after losing to Helios).
- In Bakugan Dimensions, he was referenced by Beckham.
- His pride and constant attempts to be the best at the game resemble Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. It is also worth noting that Masquerade's hairstyle is similar to the Super Saiyan hairstyles featured in Dragon Ball Z.
- Dan is the last person that Masquerade interacts with physically before leaving by shaking his hand.
- While Masquerade was the best brawler until losing to Dan, he was never mentioned by any of the Vestals. Throughout Season 2 only Alice, Dan, and Alpha Hydranoid mention him. Even Spectra didn't even seem interested in battling him despite wearing a mask himself.
- He is the only one of Dan's rivals who refers to him by his first name rather than his last name.
- He was possibly the inspiration for Stacy from Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, portrayed by Ryo Sekoguchi.
- In the Japanese version of BT: The Final Battle, his theme played as Spectra Phantom put Twin Destructor onto Helios MK2 showing how both of them are masked anti heroic Brawlers.
- His theme also played when Assail Farbros was first shown during Six Degrees of Destruction.
- His theme also played when the Bakugan Battle Brawlers Resistance battled the Alternative Weapon System in All for One.
- Masquerade was Dan's first rival that gave him a hard time, seeing as Shuji did not give Dan much of a challenge.
- Masquerade had a habit of making play puns during his fight with Dan in Show Down. This form of speech would later be used by Jesse Glenn in Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders.
Battles
Masquerade used to be the best brawler until Dan beat him. He has an exceptional record, with only three losses, two of them only because of arguably unfair disadvantages. The first loss resulted from a two-on-one battle after Shun switched from his side to Dan's, while the second was because of the Infinity Core held within Wavern.
Anime
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
| Bakugan Battle Brawlers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
| Runo Misaki | 2 | Win (offscreen) |
| Various Unnamed Brawlers | 2 (mentioned) | Win (offscreen) |
| Dan Kuso | 2 | Tie |
| Tatsuya | 5 | Win |
| JJ Dolls | 7 | Win (offscreen) |
| Dan Kuso (Tag with Shun who changed sides halfway through) | 13 | Lose |
| Julio Santana | 26 | Win (offscreen) |
| Chan Lee | 26 | Win |
| Komba O'Charlie | 26 | Win |
| Runo Misaki | 26 | Win (dream) |
| Billy Gilbert | 26 | Win |
| Klaus von Hertzon | 26 | Win |
| Dan Kuso | 27 | Win |
| Shun Kazami, Runo Misaki, Marucho Marukura, and Julie Makimoto | 28 | Win (offscreen) |
| Joe Brown | 34 | Lose |
| Illusionary Alice | 36-37 | Win |
| Dan Kuso | 38 | Lose |
| Centorrior, Druman, Pyrus Serpenoids, and Darkus Gargonoids (Tag with Dan) | 44 | Win |
| |||||||||||||||||
