Galeon or Driger S?

Accidentally wrote a blog post while working on PlasticsDB, enjoy I guess:

There has long been debate over whether Galeon or Driger S is the better Beyblade, and I feel it should be formally addressed. The best way to go about this in my opinion is part-by-part, because they only differ in their major parts (AR and BB) and they both compete for use in the type they resemble most uncustomized anyway.

For the Attack Rings, Tiger Defenser is almost always marginally better AR for compacts as its slopes and modest-but-somewhat-effective contact points help destabilise and wear down opponents when coupled with the central weight distribution of the type, giving it an edge considering the two have roughly equal defense and stamina (War Lion’s contact points are more exposed and its weight distribution isn’t quite as good, but the Sub AR absorbs some hits, which evens it up a little), but is a little worse in Left Spin due to the heads of the AR having moderate recoil (though it is still a very serviceable AR in this direction).
Of course, here War Lion must contend with Hasbro and Takara’s Twin Horns (both of which clearly outperform it) as well as Scissor Attacker, which is usually very slightly better (War Lion with Dragon Saucer Sub AR is more effective against some opponents on some setups), still, that doesn’t change the fact War Lion is slightly better than Tiger Defenser in left.
So, for AR’s, it really comes down to what you intend to use them on and even then the difference is pretty miniscule.
It should be noted that both parts of War Lion are quite fragile, while Tiger Defenser is rather sturdy.

Driger S and Galeon share a WD and SG (Eight Heavy and Right SG), so really it comes down to the Blade Base:
Traditionally, SG Semi-Flat Base has competed with (and in fact often been more commonly used than) Metal Change Base for use on Compact combinations, the most common reason (by far) I’ve read being that Metal Change Base was “too aggressive”.
While Metal Change Base does take some getting used to, learning to use parts properly is as much a part of the game as choosing the right parts for a customization – it’s something you can change, and if you do that, Metal Change Base has better Survival (it’s a metal tip with good stability), Better Attack (duh), Better Defense (Metal Change catches the tornado ridge/stadium floor when hit, Semi Flat doesn’t, and Metal Change Base can be launched to disrupt flower patterns, too), and better versatility (assuming you know how to launch to get the desired result) than SG Semi-Flat Base.
If you don’t do that, then SG Semi-Flat Base is still directly outclassed by Metal Ball Base (assuming four metal balls are used), which has better Survival (and lasts longer when low on spin) and is otherwise roughly equal in all aspects, which seals SG Semi-Flat Base’s departure from the Competitive Compact Base list.

Now, perhaps the lack of Tornado Ridges for Metal Change Base to catch when hit, and the fact its aggression would result in pocketing/self KO in Tornado Ridge-Less stadiums (as Tornado Ridges only came out during the Engine Gear generation, when the battle between Driger S and Galeon had already been raging for years).

This may explain things a bit, personally I don’t own a Tornado-Ridge-Less stadium to check this in any more, and when I did own them I wasn’t aware of any launch techniques other than “LAUNCH STRAIGHT AND AS HARD AS YOU CAN” (which is not a great choice for Metal Change Base in a tornado ridge-less stadium with easily-entered pockets) and was upset about buying Driger S instead of Dragoon F (on account of Dual Dragon having a total of NINE WHOLE STARS GUYS!!! Three in each type, which was only equalled by G Upper (4-3-2 (Atk-Def-Stam) and Lizard Blocker (2-4-3) and maybe another 3-3-3, as I remember it, but I was used to Hasbro who didn’t use half stars until I temporarily lost interest in beyblades, so these might be off by up to 1.5 stars total).

Back on topic, the fact Sub Rings were touted as being great for survival (in particular spin staling) and defense (the main types Tiger Defenser and War Lion competed for dominance in), when they are really only advantageous in specific situations and a huge liability in others likely only complicated matters more – maybe it was just me, but when I got back into plastics and started reading up about them, I was convinced War Lion was the better AR for almost all situations, almost entirely for the fact it had an SAR and thus better defense/spin steal etc.

Of course, all of that is irrelevant to the question now, and with three relatively evenly matched parts and Metal Change Base winning the tiebreaker over SG Semi-Flat Base, we can safely say Driger S (or at least Takara and Hasbro versions – that SonoKong tip is pretty bad) is the better Beyblade.
It’s also usually cheaper, too (or more accurately Galeon is expensive, perhaps due to lower supply from breakage), and as I mentioned, the AR is much less fragile, making it a more sensible buy as well.

So yeah, Driger S is better, deal with it.