Beyblade (toy)

Beyblades are high-performance spinning tops originally developed and manufactured starting in 2000. In five years, over 100 million units had been sold worldwide to kids and adults alike. From the basic system, through the hard metal system, Beyblades are categorized as Attack, Defense, Combination, or Endurance types. Some Beyblades house powerful creatures known as Sacred Beasts (AKA Bit-Beast), which are represented by an image of said creature on the bit chip; however, this is incredibly rare.

Types of Beyblades
Each Beyblade has a different type that determines which specific field of battle it excels at.

Attack: These Beyblades specialize in attacking others. They battle fiercely and try to knock out the other Beyblade as fast as they can. This type of Beyblade generally performs well against Endurance Types due to the latter lacking a strong defense. However, due to Attack types having a strong and fast style, they lack the necessary stamina to beat most Defense types.

Notable Attack type competitors:
 * Tyson Granger
 * Michael Summers

Defense: These Beyblades specialize in using defense as the best offense, much like the common phrase. They stay in one place and defend themselves from incoming attacks, thus performing the best against Attack types. Their weak point lies in endurance due to focusing on building up a good defense.

Notable Defense type competitors:
 * Kevin
 * Max Tate
 * Spencer

Endurance: These Beyblades specialize in stamina. They are used so they can out-spin the enemy Bey and win. In exchange for a lack of power, their stamina lasts much longer against other types of Beyblades, making them naturally advantageous over Defense types, which focus on resisting hits.

Notable Endurance type competitors:
 * Emily Watson
 * Johnny McGregor
 * Tala

Combination: These Beyblades specialize in a mix of the other three types listed above, giving them no glaring strengths or weaknesses. They use a mix of Attack, Defense, and Endurance types put together to make an even mix for the best chance of victory.

Notable Combination type competitors:
 * Kai Hiwatari
 * Ray Kon

Systems
Through the lifespan of the Beyblade toy line, there have been different generations of architectures introduced in the anime.

Basic System (BS)
The "Basic System" tops are the first generation of Beyblade tops. They are made entirely of plastic, with the exception of Weight Disks and some tips. These Beyblades consist of five basic parts:


 * Bit Chip: A decorative plate inserted into the Attack Ring of the Beyblade, adorned with a small icon of a Bit-Beast. In the anime, these creatures' souls were actually housed in the Beyblades themselves.
 * Attack Ring: The Attack Ring determines the blade's effect when it impacts against its opponent, as this is normally the first part to come into contact with the opposing blade.
 * Weight Disk: The Weight Disk affects the power and speed of the Beyblade.
 * Blade Base: The Blade Base determines the direction of the Beyblade's rotation; either clockwise (right) or counterclockwise (left).
 * Tip: The tip determines how the Beyblade spins, and also affects its movement pattern. The Performance tip is attached to the Blade Base.

The first tops consisted of a four-layer part system: Bit Beast, Attack Ring, Weight Disk, and Blade Base; the Spin Gear would lock into the Blade Base, essentially making the top only four layers after initial construction. Upon the arrival of the S- and F-series Beyblades, Spin Gears were introduced that were removable and interchangeable, thus creating a five-layer system.

Magnacore System (MG)
Introduced with the V-series, the "Magnacore" line of Beyblade toys featured magnetic Spin Gears and Weight Disks to attract or repel blades from each other. Additionally, one could purchase magnets that were affixed to the bottom of one's Beystadium, which affected the movement patterns of the Beyblades.

Engine Gear System (EG)
Engine Gear tops were introduced with the G-series, and retain the same major design of a typical Beyblade, including a Bit Chip, an Attack Ring, a Weight Disk, and a Blade Base; Engine Gear tops, however, replace the typical Spin Gear with a more advanced Engine Gear, which affects the behavior of the top during the battle. Each Engine Gear includes a Turbo Winder to wind-up the engine core. When in action, the Blade Base releases the Engine Gear determined by the Blade Base's clutch lock system. This series of beyblades were the last ones to be made of plastic parts with the exception of the weight disks. The later ones were semi metal or completely metal.

Engine Gear types
 * Engine Gear: The default engine gear that comes with most beyblades, but their tip is varied.
 * Turbo Engine Gear: First released with the left-spinning Dragoon GT, the Turbo Engine Gear gives an even more powerful release than that of the original engine gear. Comes with a larger turbo winder.
 * Reverse Gear: The Engine Gear spins in the opposite direction of the rest of the top. This engine gear is only bundled with Dranzer GT, which uses this gear for a reverse zig-zag attack. Although this attack can be very effective, the beyblade loses spin when the gear kicks in. As with Dragoon GT, it comes with a larger turbo winder.

Blade Base types
 * Instant Release or First Clutch: The Engine Gear triggers at the beginning of the battle, resulting in a large burst of speed almost immediately after launch.
 * Steady Release: The Engine Gear triggers at the beginning of the battle, but releases earlier because of the weight of the beyblade on the larger or wider revolving blade base, which is attached directly to the engine gear. Used in Rock Bison and Wolborg 4.
 * Hit Release or Final Clutch: The Engine Gear triggers when the blade base collides with an object, or when the beyblade is running out of spin, and releases a quick burst of speed. The clutches must be pulled prior to winding the spin gear.
 * Middle Clutch: Built exclusively for Dranzer GT, the middle clutch has a similar design to the final clutch base, but releases the engine gear in the middle of the match; earlier than a final clutch but not instant as in the First Clutch base.

Hard Metal System (HMS)
Beyblade HMS (Hard Metal System) (Known is Japan as the Heavy Metal System) is a line of Beyblade toys released after the Engine Gear line of blades in respect to the anime series. This series, unlike ones in the past, use smaller pieces made mostly of metal. HMS Beyblades have a distinct advantage over previously released Beyblades, that being that their spin velocities are 1.5-2x faster.

These tops are composed of a four-layer part system:


 * Bit Protector: This holds the parts together, unlike its plastic counterpart, the Bit Chip, which was merely decorative. With the release of the first 5 HMS Beyblades, 2 different stickers for made for the Bit Protector, one of a "bit beast" and one of the emblem. The emblem stickers were the only ones that appeared in later Beyblade toys.
 * Attack Ring: This is composed of an inner metal part screwed to an outer ABS caul.
 * Weight Disk: HMS (heavy metal system) Weight Disks are completely circular, unlike plastic Weight Disks which were shaped as hexa-, octa-, and decagons. There are also Customizable Weight Disks, which have plastic and metal parts, the plastic parts giving the Weight Disk a certain feature.
 * Running Core: The Blade Base of HMS.

HMS blades do not use Spin Gears or Engine Gears, nor do they require them since the blade can be launched from both spin directions. This is possible through the HMS Neo Dual Launcher, which allows such spin-changing.These beyblades were the last ones corresponding to the Original series. A few years later, a new show under the name Metal Fight Beyblade,(Beyblade: Metal Fusion in North America) with new characters and Beyblades made in the same scale as HMS Beyblades, but with a completely different structure, was introduced.