Mr. Heartland

Mr. Heartland is a secondary antagonist in the first three and fifth arcs of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, who was the Mayor of Heartland City and the person responsible for relaying Dr. Faker's orders to Kite Tenjo, until he fell into the Sphere Field Cannon and was sent to Barian World, where he was temporarily a bug, now returned to his original form.

Appearance
Mr. Heartland appears as a man usually seen in a green suit which covers a yellow shirt. He also sports a pair of stylish orange glasses with a crimson "V" shape (similar to a heart) in the center. His hair is a similar green to his suit with a lighter green fringe. During the World Duel Carnival, he is mainly seen in a golden suit covered in pink hearts. With this costume, he also wears a top hat with a similar style as well as a bow tie covered in spots. After being returned to his human form by Don Thousand, Mr. Heartland wears a white uniform with insect wing-like coat tails and hat. He also sports a cane with a head that resembles bug eyes.

Personality
To the people of Heartland he is a benevolent government official who cares about the people who lived there. However, his true personality is that of a manipulative and deceitful man. He is willing to blackmail Kite in order to make him do what Dr. Faker wants. He seems to enjoy seeing others in agony as he laughed when he tortured his child soldiers. He also gets annoyed if anybody calls him an "old man" ("dude" and "Mrs. Heartland" in the dub). He is also shown to be more malicious than Dr. Faker as when Hart was harmed by Vetrix, he did not show any concern. Mr. Heartland is also extremely shallow, taking huge pride in his appearance. This was also shown when he burst into tears when Semimaru destroyed a statue of him.

Abilities
After being returned to his human form by Don Thousand, he has the ability to shoot a swarm of insects from his staff. He also has the ability to teleport.

History
Heartland tested some young Duelists like Kite, Dextra and Nistro in order to determine who the elite Duelists of this generation would be. He had them fight a Duel Robot, who physically assaulted them. He was willing to crank the robot's level to maximum. The candidates for these tests were primarily orphaned children such as Dextra and Nistro. If they attempted to escape, he would hunt them down and return them.

When Kite Tenjo attempted to escape with Hart, Heartland had them recaptured. He told Kite that he must work for his father, Dr. Faker and told him that they must get along to heal Hart. Angered, Kite attempted to punch him, but Heartland was communicating via hologram. Faker and Heartland created Kite's Deck using science from another dimension.

Pre-World Duel Carnival
Mr. Heartland first appeared when Kite met him to discuss how many "Number" cards he had collected so far. He praised Kite on his progress, but reminded him of the consequences that may occur if he doesn't collect them on time. Later on, Mr. Heartland discussed with Dr. Faker about a plan to create a tournament in Heartland, called the "World Duel Carnival". The tournament will have Duelists coming from all over the world. By entering, many Duelists under the influence of Numbers, if Kite Tenjo wins like Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland expect, he will obtain most of the Numbers. Dr. Faker praised the idea.

After Hart fell ill after overusing his powers, Kite visited him in order to comfort him; serving him his favorite drink, hot chocolate. However, Mr. Heartland interrupted their time together and suggested that Hart should get back to work. Despite Kite's annoyance, Hart went with Mr. Heartland, telling Kite that he didn't mind as he's helping to save the world. Before he left, Heartland reminded Kite that the "Numbers" needed to be found immediately.

After Yuma's Duel with Kite, Mr. Heartland discussed with Dr. Faker about the three suns, which had appeared over Heartland. Dr. Faker told him that they're the suns from not only their world, but also the Barian World and the Astral World.

World Duel Carnival Preliminaries
To enter the World Duel Carnival, Duelists had to enter via the website of the tournament in which they would be sent a Heart Piece which would allow them to enter. However, Yuma didn't realize this and when he didn't recieve one, he was angered, running to Heartland to beg for one. After fighting with the guards of Heartland, it was brought to Mr. Heartland's attention who witnessed it on a camera. He was initially going to send more of his henchmen to deal with Yuma, but Kite asked him to let Yuma enter the tournament. Mr. Heartland found this to be suspicious and asked Kite if he knew anything, but Kite lied and suggested that Yuma "may" have "Numbers" and it would be foolish to send him away. After this, Heartland personally went out with his personal henchmen, Nistro and Dextra to give Yuma his Heart Piece. Yuma thanked Mr. Heartland but ended up being rude by calling him an old man (in the dub, Yuma first calls him "dude", then "Mrs. Heartland" and uses the color of his suit as an excuse). Mr. Heartland showed great interest in Yuma's pendant. He then announced the start of the World Duel Carnival along with a parade and fireworks.

Mr. Heartland announced the start of each day of the World Duel Carnival with his signature phrase, "Heart Burning!" He urged the Duelists to do their best and clash with their passionate hearts.

Heartland authorized Nistro and Dextra to participate in the WDC at the start of the third day.

World Duel Carnival Finals
Before the WDC finals party, Mr. Heartland appeared to Kite to ask how was doing. Kite responded that he was fine and Mr. Heartland told him he must collect "Numbers" in the finals. Kite retorted that that was fine as long as Mr. Heartland fulfilled his promise and healed Hart. Mr. Heartland told him not to worry about that and instructed him to attend the party to scope out potential Number holders. Mr. Heartland then spoke with Faker, who asked if all the finalists had gathered. Mr. Heartland responded that Vetrix had yet to show up and Faker told him he had no idea who that was. Heartland then started his speech to the finalists, but was interrupted by Vetrix. The boy told him that he will "crush him" after calling Heartland "old man".

Afterwards, Flip was chased by Count Crazy Fang as he stole his costume in order to enter the party. This chase resulted in Fang falling into a giant cake which covered Mr. Heartland. Despite looking shocked, Mr. Heartland was in fact happy due to the fact that Vetrix had revealed himself.

On the first day of the finals, Mr. Heartland introduced the finalists and the audience to the Duel Coasters in the Duel Coaster Stadium on a hovering platform. When all of the finalists but Yuma set off, he was shocked and wondered why Yuma didn't set off. Also, when Tori ended up in Yuma's Duel Coaster cart, Mr. Heartland stated that although the carts were designed for one person, he made an exception for Yuma, allowing Tori to travel with him. Throughout the duration of the elimination process, Mr. Heartland commentated the various Duels and showed favor toward Dextra's and Nistro's progress.

During Vetrix's Duel with Dextra, Mr. Heartland purposely cut the feed of the footage to the audience, acting shocked in front of the audience and ordering his maintenance staff to get on it immediately. However, he then laughed to himself, stating that the Duel wasn't for them to witness. This lasted until Kite defeated Quinton. During Shark's duel with Quattro, Mr. Heartland put the footage back up, but this was shortly lived as when Quattro summoned "Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder", Vetrix cut the footage which Mr. Heartland was annoyed at.

The footage was then put back up during Yuma's Duel with Nistro. Mr. Heartland altered the effect of the "Desert Field" Field Spell Card as a favor for Nistro. After Yuma defeated Nistro, Mr. Heartland was shocked and suspicious that Yuma used the "Number 39: Utopia" card. During the last day of the finals, Mr. Heartland introduced the audience to the Duel Tower. He then stated the order of the finals. After Vetrix began to affect Shark's mind, Mr. Heartland was shocked at how Reginald was rolling around on the floor in pain. When Shark made a comeback, Mr. Heartland, alongside the audience, cheered him on.

When Kite, Shark, Tori, and Orbital 7 raided Heartland Tower after Yuma's Duel with Vetrix, Mr. Heartland confronted them on his flying platform hovering over a shaft leading to the portal to Astral World. He sent a squad of Litterbots to stop them, but after Orbital 7 sacrificed himself to shut down the robots, Mr. Heartland's flying platform lost power as well, causing him to plummet down the shaft through the portal. Apparently, Mr. Heartland was sent into the "Barian World" instead of the Astral World for some unknown reasons.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL II
Heartland eventually ended up in the Sea of Ill Intent. He was eventually revived by Vector using the power of Don Thousand, though his form was that of a fly. Vector introduced him to Durbe and Mizael, as Heartland had much information to share from his time under Dr. Faker. Mizael called him revolting, annoying him. Vector mocked him, saying his "Heart Burning" catchphrase, with Heartland repeating the phrase himself. Then, he revealed the twenty-three locations on Earth where portals to other dimensions can appear, with Vector suggesting that this is where they can find the Legendary "Numbers".

Vector called upon Heartland later, who used Thousand's powers to restore his human form. He granted Heartland four "Numbers", including "Number 1" and instructed him to return to Earth with the rest of the Fearsome Four of the Dark Dueling World. One member, Semimaru, began to prey on Duelists, stealing their memories. When Yuma's friends came to Heartland Memorial, which they had been using as a headquarters, Semimaru captured them and stole their memories. Heartland communicated with Yuma via hologram to lure him to the location. Rather than Duel, Heartland suggested Yuma just give him the "Numbers" - this is a war between the Astral and Barian Worlds; humans have no place in it. With Astral gone, Yuma had no reason to care about the "Numbers" anyway. He offered to restore the memories of Yuma's friends and even erase the memories pertaining to Astral, allowing Yuma to return to the kind of life he led before Astral arrived. Yuma refused, but before Heartland could do anything else, Trey arrived and threw a sword at him. Heartland phased out with his powers to avoid it. Semimaru was willing to Duel them both. When the Duel began, Heartland activated a device that halved Yuma's and Trey's Life Points and gave them to Semimaru.

Manga biography
In the manga, Mr. Heartland is currently the main antagonist who is working under Dr. Faker to collect the "Numbers" and destroy Astral World. He is the director of Heartland Theme Park.

Trivia

 * In the manga, Mr. Heartland's glasses have a mechanism which make him able to see Astral.
 * It is also to be assumed they have some kind of mechanism to function as a Duel Gazer, as he has several times viewed Duels without the aid of an actual Gazer.