So there’s the usual vigilante culture among the superheroic sort. There’s Batman, who wants to be free to operate by himself without being constrained by official police restrictions, and to create fear in criminals by means of an unknown identity. Spiderman doesn’t want his family to be attacked, and needs to earn a living as his alternate identity. The X-Men don’t trust the government. Catwoman commits crimes.

Now, let’s look at Artha.

Dragon City Security like him. Obviously they either don’t have laws on vigilantism or don’t apply them to past legends, because it’s unlikely they’ll want to throw him in a jail cell anytime soon (nor do they appear to have the resources to do so). His family and friends are all out there fighting with him, and are known to be associated with the heroic identity. Yes, he’d probably be disqualified from racing if the truth was known, but his father’s back now so he doesn’t need the money, and in any case doesn’t this demonstrate that what he’s doing is cheating? (Like they wouldn’t let DB into the Academy anyway.)

So why is he bothering with the DB mask, especially when it’s such a flimsy secret identity anyway? He shouldn’t fear the law (not like Security could take him out if they wanted to), nor fear attacks on Kitt/Lance/Parm/Contis any more than he already does. It’s just accountability, it seems, that’s bothering him: with his identity known, people would be able to call him on his mistakes and cheating.

Which is more of a supervillain sort of reasoning.

I suppose there would be some difficulties if he unmasked himself--no doubt along the lines of "why didn't you tell us sooner" and "yes, using your legendary ancient powers in a race with people who don't have similar access IS cheating"--but so far Security have seemed to favour the Penn crew and the DB, and their enemies already know there's a ten-year-old boy and a girl to kidnap (and have done so!). He'd get points for courage and openness, eventually, and probably get into the Academy on the strength of the legend, and it's unlikely serious consequences would result.

I’m sure there are several points I’ve missed, and I’m more than happy to hear your versions of Why Artha Bothers With The Mask.

Well, the only reason they actually state is that Artha wants to protect himself and Beau from Word. He doesn't want to deal with him on a 24/7 basis. But if you think about it, that doesn't make sense. Word can't commit crimes in broad daylight. I dunno, maybe it's just a cartoon tradition the writers decided to uphold.

At least its not as bad as superman. (Pull on tights, take off glasses and suddenly no one knows you!) But like Armaggeddon said, he doesn't want to be attacked 24/7. Moordryd and the Dragon Eyes would be right on his tail, stealing Beau whenever they could, Armaggeddon might attempt something, and Word would probably send out his wraiths. When would Artha get a reasonable break? He'd have to go into hiding or something. Unless Dragon City Security helped out. But who would want to be surrounded by cops all day and all night? He wouldn't be able to racce anymore, and I think he's grown rather fond of racing.

Rather fond of cheating, you mean. :P

But Penn Racing's associated with the DB anyway; avoiding more attacks from Word et al might be what Artha's thinking, but it doesn't really bear out with the factual circumstances. I don't think it's a sufficient excuse for him to avoid accountability with the mask.

Meh, maybe he's aspiring to become a Luchador after all this is over.

Why does he wear the mask? Because he thinks it'll hide him. What I want to know is why he and Moordryd don't hide their ammulets. Surely they've looked at each other and gone ;'I know what that is! That's a...wait a second...'

Once the public can put a human face to their hero, suddenly they aren't so special. After a period of popularity, the public can and probably will turn on them. People, of any culture, like picking at the faults of those in the spotlight. If you don't believe me, pick up a tabloid and imagine some of the headlines you would be seeing if those celebrities were fighting crime. As much as Artha likes fame, I seriously doubt he wants people making that DB ---> Artha connection (which is painfully obvious as is...but I won't go into that...Everyone with their obvious secret identities :rolleyes: ). The reason we were given was to hide Beau, of course.

True, though see also 'accountability' and 'reasoning behind laws against vigilantism'.

Artha wears the mask because it comes with the whole Dragon Booster outfit. :P Wouldn't be complete without it.

Besides, how dorky would that look? A 16 year-old wearing tights... *trails off, thinking of the other racers* Never mind. :plot:

Also, would others join whiny Artha Penn if he didn't wear the whole outfit?

lol your right why bother? well lets see there is drakkus that may attack shadow booster oh and armeggedon. if he dont use the mask the bad guys ll know who he is and attack him when ever he is racing or something. that is why. if they knew beau was actually a blck and gold dragon they'd tyry to steal hium when he is racing or sleeping. a mask is like something that keeps you half safe. half mind you the other half is common sense which isnt so common.

Well first he doesnt want all of the down city crews after him whom have shown them selves to be easily swayed by Words massive amount of Drakkles, Armageddon would kill everyone Artha knew, Word would swarm him with Wraith Dragons, he would be constsantly plagued with pleas for help with the smallest and most pathetic chores from the entire Dragon City. And then me just might get turned into a lab rat by some evil super powefull being trying to create an army of Legenadery Dragons and Boosters! That would be reason enough or me to wear some funky lookin hat.

But if you look at extra powers as cheating then I have to pull Moordryd into the spot light as well. He hasnt taught Cain any moves. He didnt even let his closest friend and allie know who he was till end of season 3! Granted he had his position for 1 less season than Artha but he (Moordryd) uses his mag moves to destroy gear and endanger everyone! Artha MAINLY uses his to combat Moordryd in self defense. Not to mention that he is insuffereably more ignorant than Moordryd in the arts of the ancient mag techniques. His teacher is training him for battle and is telling him every next mag move possible for a new booster to use. Moordryd is the one with the super advantage.

Yeah, the mask is unnecessary.

Really, it's the power thing. Battling and all that. I mean, DB is constantly getting his butt kicked. And technically, that is armor he's wearing. So the facemask is to protect his pretty face. We can't have that messed up, now can we? Then there's the fact that it's made from gold draconium. For the whole charging and manipulating energy and stuff. Yeah, he does it in his normal form, but if I remember correctly (which isn't always the case) someone (Mortis, maybe, in Return of Drakkus) mentioned something about mag energy and his armor.

Toshay to you Hydrag.


I agree with Hydrag about Moordryd. Artha dosen't use his mag moves on other racers, only on Moodryd, when he attacks Artha. & thats it. also think about The Defiant. WHO was it that came up with the idea about the race & Who was the one that stik tp the plan & decided to cheat

Thanks BragonBoosterFanGirl. Welcome to the forum!

Moordryd's not exactly irredeemably evil, but if you try to claim Artha's teh awesome because he's not quite as bad as the villain's son, you might have a problem. Artha's supposed to be the Chosen One And Hero, and he cheats, hits enemies while they're down and, most pertinently to this topic, acts as an illegal vigilante unaccountable to the law without many good reasons--Moordryd's only supposed to be a morally grey person with issues.

Where do you get the idea that Artha hits his opponents when their down Sarah? There's no evidence of that in the show. If anything, Artha is too lenient with his enemies. How many times have we heard the PSA-ish "I will not fight you/ lets work together speech?" I know your not a big Artha fan (and, as you know, I definitely feel that Artha has his share of flaws) but I think your straight bashing him here.

Poor Artha's going to have self-esteem issues! :lol:

End of The Eye Of The Dragon: Artha (as DB) blasts Moordryd (as SB) to the ground, and then blasts him again even when he's obviously unable to fight back.

Obviously, you could say that he was just making sure that SB was down, given that he is supposed to be incredibly powerful (yet not powerful enough to escape humiliation at the end of an episode), but you could also interpret it as Sarah has.

There could also be this reason: The mask is attatched to the helmet, and riding a creature who runs at two hundred miles per hour without one means that you would splatter your brains over the pavement if you fell off.

The visor is used to keep any pebbles kicked up by your dragon out of the rider's eyes. Maybe Artha's is darker because Beau's sparkly goldness hurts his eyes?

Or what happend to my brothers friend could happen to them in that world. This guy was riding his motercycle at 178 miles per hour and hit a bird. It went THROUGH his helmet visor and THROUGH his head. The feathers were plasterd on the back of this guys skull and the lining of the back of his helmet. Now imagine if that was a crow drag or even a bug! A Fly in the eye wouldnt be much fun at 200 mph.

thats true. i never realy thought of that.

Artha pretty much had to. If he hadn't hit Moordryd again, he simply would have gotten right back up and continued fighting. Artha wanted to reseal the door securing the bone marks of the League of Eight and he needed time to do that; time he wouldn't have had if he had allowed Moordryd to get back up right away.

You know that bubble that forms when Beau runs at Vortex Velocity? While I'm positive that was inspired by the visible air currents that flow around the nose of an aircraft flying at supersonic speeds, I wonder if in the DB story world that it also might act as a deflector shield of sorts to protect the rider and dragon from debris flying at you. In any event, seems like it would be a good idea since just getting hit by bugs at 200 mph is rather uncomfortable. :)

i agree with RoldGold Dragon and Furox on this. Sure, artha has a few ego issues, but then again, don't we all have that at some point. it just shows he is human.
the idea about the visor makes a lot of sense. and BragonBoosterGirl has a point. Artha doesn't use his powers nearly as recklessly as moordryd. (he does have a few inappropriate moments, but come on, he is a 16 year old kid for crying out loud.)

remember that final conversation between artha and moordryd at the end of battle for the ages.

Moordryd aka Shadow Booster: so you realize we'd both be thrown out of the Academy races if they knew?

Artha aka Dragon Booster: And not to mention the street crews would be after me, and Dragon City security after you from now on.

Moordryd aka shadow booster: well i guess it's...our little secret.

i guess there are a lot of reasons that artha where's the mask.

and for the person who mentioned lance, the dragon eyes use him as bait more for the fact that he and artha grew up with the dragon of legend, so Beau would of coarse come to help him, and it's to be expected that the Dragon Booster wouldn't leave a kid in the hands of a reckless street gang.