Sparta's Blog

Well, you may have noticed the lack of posts in 2 whole months. Sorry all. This year has been what you might call stressful.

My grades are getting harder to hold, I've started playing soccer, and to top it all off I'm starting drivers ed soon (excited for that last one, though!). I plan to add at least one article this month, and at least one or two every month from now on. I really apologize for this. Don't worry, I'll have this place back up and running yet! You'll all see! (:

-Sparta

Sorry for waiting so long to update guys! It's been a while!
So my limited edition special green-colored Voltaic Ape arrived in the mail today, and boy was I happy to get it. Faster than you can say "Dunga" I had the thing assembled and ready to go. Then that got me to thinking I wanted to do an article on it.

Because it doesn't really deserve its own article, I've decided I'm just going to make a list of purchases I made this July, and do a bit on each of them. Don't forget to check out the reminder at the end, though!

1. July 2nd: Orthros G
For the price I got it at ($42.50), this was a nice purchase. It may not be worth anything competitively, but it's a rare beyblade and looks nice for a collection.The AR is recoil city, the weight disk isn't great, and the blade base is a little faulty. The CEW of this beyblade is decent, but is beyond outclassed. But for a collector, finding one of these in good condition on eBay (not to mention at the price I got for it) is like finding an oasis in the desert. Overall, a good purchase.

2. July 4th: Driger V2
Definitely one of my better purchases of the month. I got this for $30 on eBay, and it's worth every penny. Rare, somewhat. But competitive? Forget it. Good AR (Especially with the SP), good weight disk, very useful SP, and great BB. It's my second best beyblade uncustomized behind my Dranzer V2, and certainly a good price for the condition I got it in. Not a sticker missing, and barely any peeling. Definitely the 2nd best, if not, best, purchase of the month.

3. July 10th: Dragoon V2
I have to admit, I'm a sucker for any beyblade with SP. So you can imagine why next purchase was a Dragoon V2. I already owned Draciel, Dranzer, and Driger V2, so it was only a matter of time before I went for this one. For a total of $35, not a bad deal. Great condition, good beyblade. Customize Change Base was a godsend for me since my BK BB was starting to get a little worn out. I easily implemented this BB into my zombie custom. And besides that, it just looks cool when it spins. The downside? The AR broke just 3 days after it arrived. The damn thing, there wasn't any hint of it being flimsy beforehand. One day it just snapped. You can imagine my disappointment. Still a good purchase, though.

4. July 21st: LE Green Voltaic Ape
Definitely one of the better purchases of the month. Got it for $25, which I think is a steal. Good AR, decent base, and a lovely set of SP, this beyblade was a deserved purchase. Besides that, I was just happy to have my first ever recolor beyblade! On top of that, this beyblade gave me the last MG WD I needed in order to own all 3 manufactured. Furthermore, I discovered that adding this SP to my zombie combo over Cross Surviver was a huge success. Not only were the results a lot better, but this freed up CS for me to use on some of my other combos as well. Definitely my favorite - and best - purchase of the month ^.^

REMINDER: I will be leaving for vacation this saturday, and I'll be staying for a week. This means a blog post next week may or may not happen. Just continually check in either here or on my WBO account for any information regarding that. Thanks for your patience

It is well known throughout the beyblading community that Driger V2 and Dranzer V2 are 2 of the best uncustomized plastics you can buy. While Driger V2 is centered around 100% Upper Attack, Dranzer V2 is more of a balance between upper attack and some smash. And both beyblades have been known for their incredible support parts, both used for different things. So the question remains: which is better?

That's something that's more personal preference, so I'll leave that up to you to decide. I'm going to run down each of the parts and tell you the pros and cons of both. Then, you can choose for yourself which one is the better beyblade.

AR: Upper Claw (DGV2) Vs. Cross Dranzer (DZV2)
Upper claw is an AR designed completely for upper attack. It's built with 2 downward slopes that sit across from each other on the part. NBot only do they provide decent UA on their own, but combined with DGV2's SP - which happen to align perfectly with the ring - they are unmatchable in their ability to lift an opposing beyblade and reduce spin velocity. But despite this incredible combination, Upper Claw is much less useful without its SP. For this reason, DGV2's AR must be used with the uncustomized top, or at least the SP. For this reason, it is much less handy than Cross Dranzer.

Speaking of which, Cross Dranzer is is my next point of focus. It's shaped like an oval, with two wings in the shape of short triangles and the letter 'V' incorporated between them on both sides of the AR. The slopes of the wings give Cross Dranzer some decent upper attack, but noted, not as powerful as Upper Claw. Still, this piece is more customizable with other parts. Also, this AR has niche uses in smash attack customization, it is outclassed by many other parts. Therefore, Cross Dranzer is a "jack of all trades" AR for attack but essentially is just decent in its performance.

WD: Same Weight Disks...

SP: Upper Attack (DGV2) Vs. Cross Surviver (DZV2)
Upper Attack is an SP that can only be used in right spin. However, if combined with Upper Claw, it's deadly. The combined slope is so long and steep that the opposing beyblade can actually be seen being lifted - the very definition of great upper attack. The downside to this is that is has no other good customization abilities.

On the other hand, not only can Cross Surviver be used in both directions, but it has viability in many different customizations - namely, zombie combinations. Next to Defense Ring (Voltaic Ape) and Survivor Ring (Dark Series), it is the best SP for zombie combinations. Also, it is good for defense combos and stamina combos. The downside to Cross Surviver, however, is that it not only was later outclassed by the other SP's listed, but when attack types began to be powerful enough to beat zombie customs, people began to make the switch (Until Wolborg MS was later released; then there was no beyblade to use except a Dragoon MSUV custom and just hope a tornado balance stadium was the one being used) and Cross Surviver became less popular (and beatable).

BB: Customize Change Base (DGV2) Vs. Customize Clutch Base (DZV2)
Customize Change Base is like an upgrade version of Driger S's base - and it lives up to that promise. Depending on the angle of your launch, CCB will either hit the stadium and circle wildly for a bit as if it were a flat base, or it'll stay calm and spin in the center of the stadium. Because you can control when and if this beyblade goes into attack mode, it is a much bigger advantage against opponents who use both attack and defensive beyblades. In addition, Driger S's base went into attack mode very often. In response to this, Takara released CCB with a larger portion of the tip being sharp, so there was less chance of it going into attack mode than before. And it worked. And to be honest, there aren't really any huge downsides to this base. It's one of the better ones to use for stamina or defense, and maybe a little attack mixed in too.

Customize Clutch Base isn't that different. It's a base that has a retractable tip inside that is triggered by spin velocity. If the beyblade has a higher spin velocity, the sharp tip is pushed down and CCB will force the beyblade to stay in the center of the stadium. However, when the beyblade becomes slower, the tip retracts and CCB goes into attack mode. However, it's generally accepted that the attack mode doesn't really work as well as it was intended too. It loses stamina too fast and is too weak to deliver good attacks anyways. The good news is with the use of an HMC (Metal Driger), you can add more weight to the beyblade, which increases the spin velocity, which in turn delays the tip from retracting. This drastically changes the base's viability to use in actual combos. And besides, it's a sparkly blue. And who doesn't love sparkly blue?

So there you have it. If you want, post in the comments section which one you like better and why. Feel free to argue excessively and swear and cuss at each other about which spinning top performs better even though it makes no difference in life.

That was a joke. Seriously, don't swear or argue, but feel free to "spiritedly debate" which one you like better. And as always, you can post questions too. Hope you enjoyed! I'll be updating next week on Wednesday, so be sure to come back for that post.

Just recently, I bought a Dranzer RC shooter for about $10 on eBay. It arrived yesterday, and after testing it out once or twice I immediately fell in love with it. So then I got to thinking: what are the best launchers out there for plastics? And that's how I got the idea for this list. Feel free to post in the comments section if you own any of these or if you disagree with a ranking.

5. Marksman Grip: Useless

Sorry to be blunt, and maybe that was a little harsh, but the only reason this is even on my list is because I only own 5 launchers anyways. The handle is uncomfortable, the holder for launchers is way tight, and the sniper scope itself is nothing short of pointless. The light is bright enough, yes, but that's not the problem. The light is pointed down at a 90º angle, but it's too far ahead of the beyblade. This makes it so you never actually hit where the light points at the stadium. Besides, who needs a light anyways? An angle compass I can understand for pros, but a light? Seriously?

4. Spring Launcher Grip: the spring launcher grip was one of the first launchers made, save for the early customize grip and the regular grip. It's a hard, plastic handle with a built in launching mechanism and a "spring device" that you put the ripcord through. It's designed so that the springs help push the ripcord away from the launcher when you release, giving you a little extra speed. And, to my utter surprise, it sort of works. To say it's handy is an overstatement, so I'll stick with the word choice of "useful" at any rate, it's a huge hand up from the sniper scope. However, I have only medium sized hands and they still don't fit in the launcher. Also, the built in launcher is a disadvantage. This is because you can't use left spin beyblades in the launcher. Therefore, the spring launcher only takes the #4 postion.

3. Customize Grip: This one is a shocker, for sure. I know a lot of people that love this launcher, and maybe you do too. So you might be asking "Why is it only at the number 3 spot?" the answer is simple: cost. The price on all of the attatchments these days is just too damn high! On eBay, the lowest costing spring support was $20. Hell, I could buy three storm pegasus's at Walmart for the same price! Also, most of the good parts are gone. You can't really get a roller support or angle compass these days without breaking the bank. However, I will admit that if you can get your hands on some of the attatchments without killing your wallet, you're set. The compass, roller support, spring support, metal trigger, and especially the rubber grips are extremely useful. They change the way you launch the blade, make the grip much more comfortable, and are even helpful with the sliding shoot (Angle compass). Needless to say, if this were cheaper and easier to find it would be #1. But reality is a hard road indeed, and this will settle down at 3. 

2. Electronic Launchers: Not the RC shooter, but the electronic launchers from the end of the first season that have heads of the bitbeasts on them. One word: comfort. These things are comfy! the handle fits perfect in my hand, and even without grip rubber it's still really nice. The weight is great, too. Maybe a little too heavy, which is why it's not #1. But it's light enough that it doesn't affect its performance. Besides all that, it has games and it looks cool.

1. RC Shooter: Saw that coming, I bet. It's perfect though. Perfect weight (perfectly balanced, mind you), great launch power, amazingly comfortable, and just the right size. The antenna's a little annoying, but that's easy to take care of with a pair of scizzors (And an adult present,  if you're a youngin'). Maybe I'm being a bit predjudice because I like the way it looks with my DZV2, but it's still really nice. When I hold it, the weight isn't pulling too hard on the end. The handle has been weighted to match the bulk of the launcher. The best part? You can find them really cheap on eBay so long as it's not a NIP one with the beyblade (I got just the launcher - only part worth getting - for about $10 total. It's a steal!). I therefore present the RC Shooter with the crown of "Best Plastics Launcher" and place it at the #1 spot. 

Hello, all!

Yes, you read the title right. Today I spend a lot of time testing Draciel MS and its defensie capabilities - all in an attempt to undermine the general consensus of it being a non-worthy purchase. With it's recoil prone AR and Too-tall-Jones RC, this beyblade was deemed 100% un-useable.

Customized? Maybe. But I've found reason to state why Draciel MS is actually a decent purchase. Here's why:

Let's go through DCMS part-by-part, starting with the attack ring. This AR was found semi-useful for grinding smash, but otherwise useless. This is because of the parts' notorious reputation of being too prone to recoil. The little "turtle heads" on the beyblade can get caught on a beyblade spinning against it and force both blades into the walls. This is true, and I won't deny that I came to the same conclusion in my testing. But hold your horses; because as I go on and explain the other parts, you'll see why this is not a factor in this package. Speaking of which, let's move on the the WD. This weight disk is special: instead of being 14 Grams like the normal Circle Wide, it's 15. This gives the blade a HUGE advantage in the dish. Not only does it keep the beyblade mostly in the same place, but it can also make momentum from other beyblade attacks backfire, causing major recoil on the attacking blade. This, in turn, lessens the effects of recoil on this beyblade. Starting to see the chain? It gets better. Let's go on to the RC, shall we? The problem with this running core was always that it was too tall to be taken seriously for competitive use. This is the one downfall of DCMS I will admit besides the recoil. And although this problem is counteracted, as I'll show you in a second, the RC is still very unstable and hard to use. As far as staying on balance goes: the taller, the more chance of falling over; right? Because of the heavier WD, this beyblade has a heavier central force of gravity towards the earth, and therefore is more likely to keep its balance. Although results failed to show that as much as I thought they would, it was still proven that heavier things are more stable. Therefore, everything on this beyblade is counteracted by its weight disk. And that is why this beyblade is still worth getting.

I had about three different article drafts saved, but for some stupid reason the site deleted them. :
...Anyways, I'll try to get to making them ALL OVER AGAIN and this time posting one for this week. In the meantime, hang tight guys. The best is yet to come - ...actually, everything has yet to come. But it'll be awesome, I promise!

Hey, all you beyblade fans! This is a new blog Imma be starting, called "Blade Buzz" it's just weekly/somewhat daily posts on new customs, findings, and anything beyblade related. HOWEVER! - I will only be posting about plastics and HMS, the original series. If you want info on that metal fight whatever junk, this isn't the place. Sorry.

Well, without further adue, let's get started!