Beyblade Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Griffolyon is an Attack Type Beyblade and is Robert Jürgens' Beyblade. The Beyblade was re-released in Japan in 2004 as Bakutenryu Etanzel, which was red instead of blue-grey. Hasbro also released "Griffolyon 2" which was a purple version with a purple-and-red griffin figure.

Bit Chip (BC): Griffolyon

Main article: Bit Chip - Griffolyon

The bit-chip depicts the bit-beast Griffolyon.

Attack Ring (AR): Cross Griffon

Main article: Attack Ring - Cross Griffon

The Attack Ring of Griffolyon, Cross Griffon, takes the form of four sets of griffon heads and wings, and is somewhat thick compared to other commonly used Attack Rings.

While it was long overlooked, largely due to the ban on competitive use of Hidden Spirit Parts, recent testing has shown it to have Smash Attack to be on par with that of the famed Triple Wing (Trygle), and the legalisation of the Hidden Spirit Attack Rings for competitive play has resulted in Cross Griffon finally seeing tournament usage.

The main contact points, the four wing tips, are sharp and well spaced, producing an incredible amount of Smash Attack in right spin. The shape of these contact points helps focus the pressure from their attacks, dealing more damage to the opponent, and the overall size of the Attack Ring means it has excellent attack range. Lastly, while it lacks the slopes that a number of Smash Attack ARs are able to use to destabilise opponents and score outspins, it compensates for this with some of the most effective stopping power of any Attack Ring; Cross Griffon is able to deliver powerful hits that interrupt the rotation of opposing Beyblades, severely reducing their stamina, if not bringing them to a halt entirely.

While Cross Griffon has slightly more Recoil than Triple Wing, this is naturally controlled by most standard Smash Attack setups; Wide Defense alone is enough to control Recoil on rubber tipped bases, including the extremely fast, extremely light Grip Base, and either Wide Defense and an MG Core, or a Heavy Metal Core and 10 Wide are enough to negate any Recoil on SG Metal Flat 2.

A further advantage Cross Griffon has over Triple Wing is its thickness. Along with the greater availability and lower price of Griffolyon compared to Trygle, the thickness of Cross Griffon means that despite the incredibly forceful impacts it produces, it is very unlikely to break, even on extremely fast bases such as Grip Base, making it a more economical choice. That said, the sharp wing tips can cause damage to Stadium walls and more fragile opponents, and this may counteract savings from the lower price.

While the additional Recoil should be accounted for, Cross Griffon may be used in any standard Smash Attack customization with outstanding results.

Use in Smash Attack Customization

Arguably the best use of Cross Griffon's properties is:

  • AR: Cross Griffon
  • WD: Wide Defense
  • SG: Neo Right SG (Magnecore)
  • BB: SG Metal Flat Base (Gaia Dragoon V)

This combination is designed to capitalize on Cross Griffon’s most notable advantages. Wide Defense bolsters the already excellent stopping power of Cross Griffon, the externalised weight distribution making its movement and hits harder to interrupt, and also increasing speed and Survival. A Magnecore is used to reduce the Recoil to a point of irrelevancy, while having a small enough impact on Stamina to allow the combination to effectively outspin a wide range of opponents, even without its signature stamina-destroying ability.

As always, SG Metal Flat Base provides excellent speed and power for knock-outs, but its solid survival ability is what really makes this customisation so deadly. Cross Griffon’s powerful Smash Attack produces excellent stopping power; even if it fails to knock the opponent out of the stadium, the extremely heavy hits it delivers often disrupt opponents’ spin, heavily reducing their survival ability, sometimes even stopping them outright. The Survival ability of SG Metal Flat Base capitalises on this, resulting in a combination that can defeat an opponent through both knock out and outspin.

A Heavy Metal Core may be used for extra controllability, but due to the negative impact it has on Survival ability, it is generally a better idea to practice launching until you can control the combination.

Mold Difference

Hasbro versions of this AR have attachment points for the figurine located on the top of the AR rather than the base. These only add Recoil, especially against taller opponents, and as such a Takara Cross Griffon is greatly preferred.

Weight Disk (WD): Eight Balance

Main article: Weight Disk - Eight Balance
Weight
Attack
Defense
Stamina
14 grams

The Balance WD has a weight which is between that of Wide Weight Disks and Heavy Weight Disks. Its mass is distributed well, and in theory would be used for both Defense and Stamina purposes. That being said, there are numerous other options which are better for those types, and even Balance types, which also in theory would benefit from this type of WD, have much better choices (such as Ten Heavy). Ten Balance is the heaviest out of all of the Balance weight disks, and generally speaking, is chosen over Six and Eight Balance when customizing.


Blade Base (BB): Griffolyon Base

Main article: Blade Base - Griffolyon Base

Ruling Clarification

Griffolyon Base is not legal for use in World Beyblade Organization-sanctioned tournaments. The following is included for informational purposes only.

Griffolyon Base has an integrated SG, similar to 4-Layer Beyblades. The main gimmick of this base is that the tip is not attached directly to the base, but instead is attached to a cylindrical body, which sits inside the shaft of the base, allowing a small amount of free-spin, albeit limited by the friction produced by plastic-on-plastic contact.

The tip itself is a tall, narrow, rounded tip, providing little movement, no Defense, and very poor balance, which also results in poor Survival.

These balance and Defense issues are compounded by the poles used to attach the included figurine (the main gimmick of the Hidden Spirit Beyblades), which extend downward from the base, and scrape easily when the base loses balance, or is hit hard enough to move away from the centre of the stadium, both of which are extremely common events. This is further worsened by the fact the bases of these poles protrude from the otherwise round perimeter of the base, creating massive amounts of Recoil, allowing even the most passive opponents to violently knock it out of the stadium.

These issues come together to give it some of the poorest stamina ability of the entire plastic generation: even Defense Grip Base (Seaborg), a base that has such poor stamina that it sees almost no use despite having almost peerless Defensive ability, is able to consistently outspin it. Its Defense is so bad that it is easily knocked out by even the most passive opponents, and as mentioned before, it lacks any Attack ability. Furthermore, unlike other similarly terrible bases, such as Trygle’s SG Jumping Base, it lacks an interesting gimmick. All of these factors mean it is able to make a very strong claim for the title of “Worst Base in the Entire Plastics Generation.”

Obviously, even if it were legal, there would be absolutely no reason to use this base under any circumstance.

Mold Difference

Hasbro releases of Griffolyon Base have the poles removed (though the bases of them are still present). This provides slightly better Survival. However, it still uses the same tip, and the bases of where the poles are on the Takara version are still present, interrupting the circular shape of the base, and making an easy target for opposing Attack types. As such it still has poor Survival.

Furthermore, the shape of the base makes it an easy target for Upper Attack, although whether it is more or less vulnerable to low attackers than its Takara counterpart is questionable. While it is generally slightly better than its Takara counterpart, it is still just as useless competitively, and as such, best avoided, especially as it comes with a less useful mold of the Cross Griffon, the only useful part of this Beyblade.

Trivia

  • Some versions of this bey come in a figurine that turns into the Beyblade itself. Its snap together frame makes it fragile, but also allows for joint movement. The figma can be twisted and joined to the top (Hasbro version) or bottom (Takara version) of the Beyblade for looks (but can't be launched). The Takara configuration resembles the beyblade's appearance in the first season of the anime. However, in the Japanese ending for G-Revolution, Griffolyon is properly rendered with just the Griffolyon Base.
  • The version mentioned above is the type Robert has in the Beyblade Volume 5, where both he and his beyblade make a debut.

Misc

See also Salamalyon, a similar Beyblade that has a plastic figure as well.

Gallery

Toyline

Anime

Beyblade Form

Hidden Spirit Beast Form

Hidden Spirit Beyblade Form

Overall

With its powerful Smash-Focused Attack Ring and atrocious blade base, comparisons between Griffolyon and Trygle are inevitable. This, however, is not necessarily bad for Griffolyon, as it has a number of advantages over its more popular counterpart, most notably its increased aggression.

On the whole, Griffolyon should not be seen as a mere substitute for Trygle, but a very viable alternative. All serious competitive bladers should own one of the two, if not both.

Advertisement