Hope you're good at crane games...
Battleclaw is the story of a boy named Tyee (Pronounced "Tie-yee") who aspires to Be The Very Best at the eponymous Battleclaw, a sport that involves catching colorful creatures called Jinlins using an Energy Grappler and then Combining them into one, dual-attribute monster who then does battle with other Battleclaw players.After his uncle reneges on his promise to let him join his own team, Tyee winds up with a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits called Team Gogo after pulling a Legendary Battleclaw from a stone.
Tyee had better hone his skills, because the Battleclaw of the Ancient Fire Lord Mo Yan recently fell into the hands of his uncle, and the Ghost of Mo-Yan demands the power of the Jinlins in order to regain his former power! It's up to Tyee and the rest of Team Gogo to stop Mo Yan from returning to life!
The entire series is officially available to watch on Youtube here
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Tropes
- All Your Powers Combined: Two-toned Jinlins have two elemental attributes that they can switch between in battle when fused into a beast. The "Everything Jinlin" is a special Jinlin that has all five elements.
- Ambition Is Evil: Hao-Lan's ambition and disgruntlement over Tyee joining the team eventually drives him to abandon team Go-Go and join Team Wo-Fat.
- Badass Adorable: Joju is a cute little Jinlin, but don't underestimate him.
- Big Bad: Mo Yan is the major villain of the series.
- Body Surf: Mo Yan manages to imbue Wo Fat with some of his power, but the power keeps swapping between people through touch, instilling the infected with increased strength and a desire to collect Jinlins for Mo Yan.
- The Chosen One: Tyee, who wields the Battleclaw of the Earth Titan Pan Yao.
- Color-Coded Elements: Fire Jinlins are red, Earth Jinlins are yellow and brown, Water is blue, Metal is white, and Wood is green.
- The Corruption: As Mo Yan gains power, Jinlins of his element, fire, start becoming more aggressive and harder to catch and control, at least for Tyee.
- Creation Story: The Titan siblings, including the fire Titan Mo Yan, created the world by using 5 beasts as proxies to duel each other, their victories shaping the world as it formed. But Mo Yan got tired of losing, and started capturing his siblings and stealing their beasts, adding their powers to his own. Pan Yao, the Earth titan, was the last one left when he managed to defeat Mo Yan, splintering the composite beast into the Jinlins and trapping Mo Yan in his own Dark Flame Battleclaw.
- Dumb Muscle: Tyee's cousins are large and physically powerful, but rather unintelligent.
- Elemental Powers: Based on the Taoist system of Wu Xing, there's Playing with Fire, Dishing Out Dirt, Extra-ore-dinary, Making a Splash, and Green Thumb.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: There is an in universe chart called the Wu Xing, shaped like a pentagon with a star in it, showing which combinations of Jinlin elements work together and what attacks are most effective. It's based off of actual Eastern mysticism.
- Evil Feels Good: Hao-Lan says he enjoyed having Mo Yan's power in him when he meets the Titan.
- Evil Uncle: Wo-Fat to Tyee, taking his labor for years and Moving the Goalposts for the promised payout. And this is before he starts working for Mo Yan.
- Excalibur in the Stone: How Tyee gets his Battleclaw.
- Face–Heel Turn: Hao-Lan when he quits Team Gogo. Complete with Heel personality eventually.
- Fusion Dance: A Battleclaw can fuse Jinlins together into powerful beasts.
- Gone Horribly Right: Wo Fat manages to steal the Beacon used to summon Jinlins go gather a lot at once for Mo Yan, but it runs out of control and summons so many that he can't catch any because others keep getting in the way.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Hao-Lan's jealousy of Tyee's growing status on the team leads to his eventual Face–Heel Turn.
- Invisibility:
- The “Everything Jinlin” can phase in and out of visibility.
- Hao Lan is gifted this power to help Mo Yan capture the rare Jinlins he needs to escape.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Shan Shan saving one of her opponents ends up getting her the win on her first tournament match.
- Mix-and-Match Critters:
- Beasts combine the features of the Jinlins fused to make it (though one is predominant).
- Joju, unlike most Jinlins, doesn't resemble any specific animal. The closest comparison this tropes can think of is a winged panda.
- Non-Elemental: Joju doesn't align with any of the five normal Jinlin elements. His official bio says that he represents the "element of chance", as his fusions tend to come out either severely Underpowered or extremely Overpowered.
- No OSHA Compliance: One of the battlefields is so chaotic and dangerous that the wisdom of using it as a battlefield at all is questioned.
- There's another one with, according to the announcer, "No fans and no cameras, so just use the honor system, okay?"
- Obliviously Evil: Hao Lan initially is unaware of Team Wo-Fat's patron, and after he finds out, Mo Yan lies and tricks him into believing he is good and that Tyee is the one who is evil.
- Orcus on His Throne: Mo Yan, due to being trapped in his Battleclaw.
- Pieces of God: The Jinlins were created when Mo Yan's beast, created by stealing the essences of his sibling's beasts and adding them to his own, was shattered by Pan Yao. Mo Yan wishes to collect enough of them to (presumably) recreate his beast and escape his prison.
- Pokémon Speak: Joju.
- Raising The Goalposts: Wo-Fat does this to Tyee to get out of training him for Battleclaw, saying that he meant three years of working for him instead of two before he could join the team. This is a big factor in Tyee joining Team Gogo.
- Random Effect Spell: Joju appears to work this way when in a beast, fitting his "element of chance" description in his bio. On some occasions, the result is a powerful beast, others it's a dud beast with little combat power.
- Satanic Archetype: Mo Yan.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Mo Yan is trapped within his own Dark Flame Battleclaw, though he later manages to transfer himself to Hao Lan's so he can lend the Dark Flame Battleclaw to him. Team Wo-Fat is collecting Jinlins so he can strengthen himself and escape.
- Team Pet: Joju to Team GoGo.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Team GoGo before Tyee joins and after Hao-Lan quits.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Tyee has a fear of clowns.
- Wild Card: Jo-Ju has elements of this, but Tyee uses the actual term with the "Everything Jinlin" which can take on the attribute of any one of the Wu-Xing elements.
- The Unapologetic: Even after discovering he shares no chemistry with Team Wo Fat, Hao-Lan's pride prevents him from admitting his mistake and he refuses to return to Team Gogo.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite the best efforts of the heroes, Mo Yan is revived.
