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 transformed into a small bug, and later reborn into a Barian and leader of the Fearsome Four of the Dark Dueling World.

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 suit with insect wing-like coat tails and a hat with pink and yellow heart-shaped patterns. He also sports a cane with a head that resembles bug eyes.

Heartland's Barian form gives him a hideous, demonic appearance similar to his Number with purple and red skin, yellow eyes, bulging muscles, and a set of insect wings with a dark red fly thorax at the back. He loses his glasses and his head mutates and elongates, giving it the appearance of a bulbous thorax. His new face appears fairly insectile with jagged teeth and a set of jagged mandibles across his face. He also features seven red eyes along his abdomen and one at the top of his forehead.

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.

He is also very loyal to Vector for rescuing him from the Great Barian Sea and later for returning to his human form. He's also fearful of his wrath due to his failures.

Abilities
After being returned to his human form by Don Thousand, Heartland gained the ability to summon a swarm of Barian insects and the ability to teleport using Overlay Networks. Like the other members of his gang, he can summon Don Thousand's Emblem to halve his opponent's Life Points and add it to his own.

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.

Kite would later call him "a petty cat-burglar" who Faker used as a front for his activities, though he could have simply been insulting Heartland.

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.

Mythyrian Numbers War
Heartland eventually ended up in the Great Barian Sea. He was eventually revived by Vector using the power of Don Thousand, though his form was that of a fly. Vector introduced him to Dumon and Mizar, as Heartland had much information to share from his time under Dr. Faker. Mizar 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 Mythyrian "Numbers".

Vector called upon Heartland later, who used Thousand's powers to restore his human form. He granted Heartland four Fake 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.

After Semimaru's defeat, Heartland reported the failure to Vector and apologized. Vector responded that he would tolerate no more failures. Heartland revealed he had the next assassin set up - Kurage, a WATER Duelist who once served as Heartland's own mentor. Upon hearing this, Vector ordered Heartland to send Kurage after Shark and mused that whenever he thinks of Shark, his chest fills with rage. After Kurage was defeated by Shark and Quattro, Heartland sent his last assassin, Kaninja. His mission was to prevent Yuma from going to Astral World, but Kite and Quinton defeated him, leaving Mr. Heartland as the only member of the Fearsome Four. Vector gave Mr. Heartland a "Number", which should enable his victory against Shark and Kite. Heartland came back to Earth and told Yuma's friends the Barian World is fusing with the Earth through the fake "Numbers" that rained from the sky. To stop him, Kite challenged him to a Duel, but the "Number 2" he obtained from Kaninja, plus the power of "Number 1" caused him so much pain that he fell down. As Mr. Heartland laughed, he was shocked to see Yuma back from the expedition on Astral World, with Astral by his side.

Yuma and Astral took Kite's place and Dueled Mr. Heartland, who revealed his demonic Barian form to the pair. As the duel intensified, Yuma and Astral performed ZEXAL III and then through a combination of "ZS - Banish Sage" and Kite's "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" they defeated Mr. Heartland, who cursed his defeat at the duo as he returned to human form. After the Duel, the "Fake Numbers" "1", "2", "3" and "4" appeared from Heartland, being surrounded in black flames. They enveloped Heartland, who screamed in pain and horror as he desperately tried to plead mercy to Vector. The flames changed into a reddish color and briefly took the shape of Don Thousand, who Astral recognized, before Heartland was completely incinerated.

Manga biography
In the manga, Mr. Heartland has a different background and a much larger role, serving as the main antagonist at the beginning of the series. He commanded a legion of Number-Hunting Duelists while in the service of Dr. Faker to collect the "Numbers" and destroy Astral World. He was also the director and mascot for Heartland Theme Park, which served as Faker's base of operations.

Mythyrian Number War
Mr. Heartland uses an Infection Deck centered around "Infection Fly" and its ability to double its Level, by quickly Summoning three of them to achieve high Levels to Xyz Summon his own ace monster, "Number 1: Infection Baal Zebul", which takes advantage of the opponent's "Numbers" to use them as re-usable Overlay Units for its destruction effect that can inflict Burn Damage. If that fails, he uses various Spell/Trap Cards to Summon "Infection Bug Tokens", which are able to whittle away his opponent's Life Points.

Obtained Numbers
Mr. Heatland obtained these fake "Numbers" from Vector. After he was defeated by ZEXAL III they were destroyed, along with Heartland himself.