BBA Survivor
Late G-Revolution yellow recolour of Galman with special BBA stickers.
Picture provided by Daniel Castillo
Weight: 5.6g total (Mold 1 Core) | 6.3g total (Mold 2 Core)
Weight: 3.7g (Mold 1) | 4.5g (Mold 2)
4-Winged AR with monkey heads as the leading edge in left and protrusions in right.
Right Spin:
Unpleasant recoil in this direction from the angle and shape of the contact points preventing effective use for Defense/Survival and limiting it to Tier 2.
No offensive ability either due to the contact point shape and limited exposure (only enough for recoil), making it largely useless.
Can be used as a tier 2 option on Spin Stealers with Wide Defense and Wide Survivor, but is heavily outclassed by the often compared War Lion and even Hasbro's Twin Horn.
It is also an acceptable Attack Ring for Compact customizations, though tends to be more prone to being destabilised due to its elevation and width.
Left Spin:
Low recoil in this direction due to the mostly rounded shape of the monkey heads. Not as low as Twin Horn but nonetheless excellent.
This low recoil and reasonably well obscured contact points makes it an excellent Survival Choice with Wide Defense and Wide Survivor, though it is somewhat less effective in Compact setups.
With smaller WDs like Ten Heavy the contact points are more exposed making it a poorer choice for Compacts than more compact ARs, but with its own SAR or Dragon Saucer SAR it is capable of taking hits well. War Lion SAR is also less effective here as a result of its reduced ability to cover contact points. It is nonetheless a top tier competitive option for Left Spin Weight-Based Defense (as limited as this type is) as well as Circle Survivor Defense, though it tends to be less effective than smaller choices here unless using Wide Survivor.
Its own SAR often covers its contact points very well, as well as working very well with Dragon Saucer SAR and on larger weight disks War Lion SAR is also a viable choice. While both Hasbro's Twin Horn is lower recoil and thus a slightly better choice if one wants an SAR, War Monkey performs excellently and is a top tier choice for Spin Stealers/Zombies/Survival and Defensive Zombies in this direction.
Greater coverage than War Lion (which has more exposure) makes it arguably a better defensive choice, though War Monkey is not useful for Compacts.
Long underrated and overshadowed by War Lion, War Monkey stands on its own as an excellent choice with advantages over the former.
Notable Mold Differences:
Hasbro's War Monkey has a noticeably thicker Core AR, resulting in heavier overall weight. This may provide some small defensive benefit, though the impact is generally too small to measure by itself.
Weight: 1.9g
Relatively low recoil in either direction, though it should not be used in Right Spin with anything smaller than Wide Defense as it is more recoil laden here.
A very competitive choice with its own Core AR, as well as War Lion and Hasbro's Twin Horn.
Overall a top-tier choice particularly in Left Spin, with excellent synergy with its own AR in particular, though often overshadowed by Dragon Saucer SAR.
While Hasbro reinforced the Core AR, their Sub Ring remains the same as Takaras.
Weight (Regular Mold): 15.3g
Weight (Indent Mold): 15.5g
Generally outclassed by Ten Heavy for all purposes, being suited to the exact same combinations but being lighter. Heavy Attack is also superior on combinations which protect it from contact.
Eight Heavy can successfully be used in Compact Customizations, being slightly heavier on average than Heavy, with slightly lower WD recoil, however Ten Heavy is still a superior choice.
Takara and Sono Kong Eight Heavy Weight Disks have a shallow indentation on one side around the centre of the Weight Disk, as well as sharper edges. There is only a minor weight difference between the Takara and Hasbro molds and as such they perform practically identically, though SonoKong WD's are lighter due to smaller size (which also means they don't fit well on standard SGs). Takara may have used the Hasbro mold in later production, particularly once production moved to China.
Fairly competitive in Compacts and Traditional Upper Attack and a backup choice for Weight Defense, Semi Flat Base Stamina Combos and Force Smash. Usable for Driger V2 Combos but aside from the Driger V2 (Hasbro Magnacore Version) the stock Weight Disk is outright superior.
Spin Gear: Right Spin Gear
Note: BBA Survivor does not include a Metal Weight Gear
Weight: 1.1g each (Shells)
Standard SG System Shells.
Incompatible with Neo Cores, and thus certain MagneSystem Blade Bases, though Wyborg's SG (Auto Change Version) SG Core Part can be used to allow use with some.
Generally Neo Shells are preferred for their greater compatibility, mostly their ability to use Neo Cores. For Right Spin, this is particularly relevant with the Heavy Metal Core.
Uses a Metal Weight Gear with all compatible SG Cor. This is considered part of the SG when using these casings, thus is compulsory. This gear helps reduce wobbling/rattling and adds a small amount of weight. It does not, however, work as a gear in any capacity.
Regular Shells have one advantage over Neo Shells - due to fitting a Metal Weight Gear, they allow slightly heavier setups with Regular SG-style gimmicked casings than Neo Shells do.
Note: The correct name for this part is "Gear" however this name is commonly used to avoid confusion with the Metal Weight Gear in standard SGs.
Weight: 0.61g
Small core part to fit into the Base and be clipped to by the Base Clips, holding the Beyblade together. Also used as a ripcord gear by Bearing Gyros Beyblades.
The plastic part is the second lightest of all Core parts, being just slightly heavier than Wyborg's SG (Auto Change Version) core part.
Incompatible with certain MagneSystem Blade Bases as the tip shafts are too wide for the hole in its base.
With Neo SG Shells, it creates one of the lightest setups, making for what is theoretically the best SG for most attack types not requiring a Neo core or their own shafts, though the difference is generally theoretical only, due to the minimal weight difference, and often going heavier is better for rotational recoil control.
Useful for completely optimizing a Spiral Change Base zombie (which are the only competitive stamina types that do not require a gimmicked SG), as cores are not useful for recoil control due to its low friction and the lighter weight in the centre slightly improves survival. Technically SG (Auto Change Version) may be superior as it does fit, but the difference is likely to be too small to measure.
Weight: 6.6g
SG Version of Sharp Base.
Tall base, with sharp tip.
Two molds, albeit only minor differences, with the second having smaller tip retention pieces and a reinforced rim in the underside groove.
Incredibly poor stability resulting in poor longevity against all opponents
Niche use in Defense combinations aiming to maintain high RPM, but Weight Based Defense and Compacts both do this better, and in any case there are better alternatives, such as Customize Metal Sharp Base. This may nonetheless be the closest thing this Blade Base has to usefulness and one of the only historical uses for it.
Outclassed for everything, generally severely so.
Overall
Often considered a poor man's Galeon, Galman, and therefore BBA Survivor, actually stands on its own as having an excellent AR with a less compact but more defensive focus than War Lion. While it is not a must have, it is usually quite affordable and thus is a good buy for the competitive Blader. BBA Survivor is a more expensive version however, and is therefore usually a poorer buy than Galman itself.