Dark Bull H145 SD

"'This ferocious, rampaging bovine was given to Benkei by Doji, who hoped that Dark Bull could defeat Gingka's Pegasus. It couldn't, but Benkei and Dark Bull went on to win many battles after that.'

- Beyblade Official Handbook entry."Dark Bull H145SD (ダークブルH145SD, Daaku Buru H145SD) is a Balance-Type Beyblade released as part of the Hybrid Wheel System as a Booster. It was first released in Japan on June 20th, 2009 for 864¥.

Face: Bull
The face on this Beyblade depicts a Bull, which is represented by Taurus in the Zodiac symbols. Its coloring is slightly different from its Metal counterpart.

Clear Wheel: Bull

 * Weight: 3.3 grams

Bull's original release colour is red, and features a two-winged design with two small openings between each wing. It is one of the heaviest Clear Wheels with excellent weight distribution. This makes it one of the best choices for HWS based Defense and Stamina customizations.

Metal Wheel: Dark

 * Weight: 3.3 grams

Bull's original release colour is red, and features a two-winged design with two small openings between each wing. It is one of the heaviest Clear Wheels with excellent weight distribution. This makes it one of the best choices for HWS based Defense and Stamina customizations.

Track: Horn 145

 * Weight: 4 grams
 * Height: 14.5 millimeters

H145 has two wings with two various protrusions, representing the horns of a Bull surrounding its perimeter. These four points are meant to provide Smash Attack, and they do succeed on some levels. However, because the horns are so pronounced, and because the gaps between the wings are so wide, significant recoil is produced, especially when used in combination with small Metal Wheels that allow the Horns to extend well past the perimeter of the Wheel. While H145 may not be an entirely noteworthy part as far as competitive customizations go, it is still quite a fun part to play with. You can score many impressive KO's with the smash it produces in the first few seconds of a battle, but at the same time, it's recoil does work against you in some battles, causing a self-KO or if not, a severe loss of Stamina.

IMPORTANT: Mold Variations
H145 Track (second mold)


 * Weight: 4.3 grams

H145 has two different molds. The first version's wings were not reinforced in anyway, so they were prone to breakages in some cases. The second mold which was brought into production a couple months after it was originally released rectified this problem by reinforcing the wings with a significant amount of plastic between the inside of the wings and the outside of the Track. This increased the weight of the Track to 4.3 grams, only .2 grams lighter than the third heaviest Track, GB145. The increased weight not only reduces breakages, but it also marginally helps reduce the recoil it produces.

Use in Smash Attack Customization
H145's recoil can be utilized best in combination with the extremely proficient Smash Attack Wheel Lightning, in the custom, MF Lightning LDrago H145RF. Both MF and RF help reduce the amount of recoil produced by this customization, and RF of course increases its movement speed.

Tip: SD (Semi Defense)

 * Weight: 0.5 grams

SD is the reason to buy this Beyblade. Just as the Semi-Flat Bottom has a sharper tip than Flat, so too does Semi-Defense when compared to Defense. Before the release of SD, D was the absolute best Stamina Bottom available, but SD quickly took over the top spot, as is evidenced by the following tests: Virgo DF145D vs. Virgo DF145SD


 * Balance Stadium
 * Alternating Shots
 * Beylauncher
 * 20 Battles

Results:


 * Virgo DF145 SD: 18 wins
 * Virgo DF145 D: 2 wins
 * SD win percentage: 90%

SD is not able to wobble as much as D, so for defensive purposes, D should still be chosen over SD if you are trying to add some Stamina to your Defense custom. That being said, WD would be a better choice than D for that situation, and also arguably for Stamina as well because with the even wider tip. With it, it is allowed to circle the stadium in some situations when it is on a larger angle towards the end of a battle, thus outspinning D or SD based opponents. However, sometimes this does not happen, and SD easily knocks over the wobbling WD custom before it topples over itself.

It really comes down to personal preference when deciding whether to use SD or WD because they are so closely matched. For pure Stamina, it is impossible to tell which would win a given match, but WD would prepare you for more situations by being able to take hits better than SD. Test both and decide for yourself which one works best for what you are trying to do.

Use in Stamina Customization
SD is an excellent stamina bottom, and its effectiveness can be utilized in the custom Burn Bull AD145SD.

Anime
It was given to Benkei by Daidoji in episode 4. Benkei was to defeat Gingka with this Beyblade, but after much training, it was still defeated by Pegasus.

In episode 5, Benkei uses it to cut down a tree shortly before meeting Tetsuya.

In episode 7, Dark Bull defeats Flame Sagittario many times as part of Kenta's training. Later, it stalled Tetsuya and Mad Cancer so Kenta could go on to battle Hikaru.

In episode 9, It battled Sagittario and lost, and later teamed up with it to battle Rock Leone. However, they were defeated brutally and Benkei was badly hurt.

In episodes 11 and 12, it, Benkei, and his friends invaded the Dark Nebula's castle. It and Flame Sagittario were held up by one hundred other Dark Nebula bladers.

In episode 22, It battled Flame Libra alongside Flame Sagittario and Storm Aquario. However, all three were defeated.

In episode 28, It battled the newly evolved Dark Cancer and lost due to Tetsuya tricking Benkei into letting down his guard.

In episode 31, It battled Earth Eagle and lost.

Later in episode 38, Benkei would have another battle with Tsubasa and lose yet again.

In Battle Bladers, It faced off against Storm Capricorn in the Premlimaries and won, but was defeated by Rock Leone in the Quarterfinals. It fought a brief battle with L Drago, in which Benkei was defeated.

Beyblade: Metal Masters
In episode 1, It battled Earth Eagle and did fairly well before being defeated.

In episode 4, It would compete in the qualifying round for Team Japan, but would ultimately come in 5th, one place short of making the team.

In episode 22, It battled Earth Eagle and Flame Libra alongside Clay Escolpio. They overwhelmed their opponents for most of the battle due to Demure reading Eagle's moves and telling The Masked Bull where to attack. However, Tsubasa went into a rage and defeated every other bey but his own.

Special Attacks

 * Red Horn Uppercut(Bull Uppercut / Tornado Bull Uppercut): Bull uses the power of its spin track to send the opponent flying into the air.
 * Maximum Stampede: Bull charges at the opponent, and dispels their special move with its spin track.

Game
It was released in Wave 1. It is a Balance Type Beyblade.

Notable versions

 * Heat Bull D125WB - Random Booster Light Vol.3 Clay Aries ED145B (Light Blue)
 * Mad Bull C145HF - Random Booster Light Vol.3 Clay Aries ED145B (Turquoise)
 * Rock Bull WD145HF - Random Booster Vol.3 Stardust Pegasis (Navy)
 * Flame Bull 105WB - Random Booster Vol.3 Stardust Pegasis (Powder Blue)
 * Flame Bull 100F - Faceoff: Lion Gale Force Wall
 * Dark Bull H145SD - Faceoff: Red Horn Uppercut

Overall
Dark Bull H145SD does have a few noteworthy parts, but really, only one absolutely necessary part; SD. SD is arguably one of the best Stamina Bottoms available, so that alone should be reason enough to purchase one. But, there is also H145 which is fun to experiment with, and Bull, one of the heaviest right-spin Clear Wheels, which is also an essential part of almost all current Defense and Stamina customizations. Every Blader should own at least one of this Beyblade.

Trivia

 * In episodes 4 and 19, "Hybrid Wheel" is printed on the Energy Ring, when it is not present in any other episodes.
 * The earliest versions of Dark Bull had a thinner H145 Spin Track, but was replaced with a thicker one due to breakage.