Jumping Base (Beyblade)
Note: Takara Ver. only includes base and tips, Hasbro Version comes with Eight Wide and Tiger Defenser.
Picture provided by Corey Robillard
Weight: 3.6g
Small Attack Ring with decent weight and good weight distribution (compact but with an edge-focus)
Highly competitive, and generally considered one of the best-designed parts of the generation, being a template for many later Attack Rings which generally fail to live up to the high standard it sets.
Draws heavy comparisons with War Lion and this is a case of personal preference, but being a one-piece AR generally makes it harder for opponents to get under Tiger Defenser. Tiger Defenser has lower recoil in Right Spin but somewhat more in Left Spin.
Shape makes it highly effective for any non-offense combination, while it is still one of the most offensively-capable Compact Attack Rings in Right Spin, it is decidedly a Defense/Stamina AR - but it is top tier for every Stamina and Defense archetype in that game in either spin direction.
Does have breakage issues due to the angle of the joint connecting the head's rear spike to the head itself making that connection fragile.
Right Spin:
Slight slopes which work well with the weight distribution and decently angled contact points which have a small amount of attack power and most importantly, very, very low recoil.
While it has no significant offensive prowess, it is still one of the most offensively-capable top-tier Compact Attack Rings due to its exceptionally low rotational recoil allowing it to attack without losing significant rotational energy.
Very low recoil and good weight distribution while not protruding past Wide Defense or Wide Survivor make it the premier choice for Spin-Stealers in Right Spin, as the more defensive Roller Defense Ring has a worse weight distribution and the survival favourite Wing Cross has more recoil if hit (though may be better overall depending on the tip). War Lion does benefit somewhat from compatibility with Dragon Breaker Sub AR, but generally Tiger Defenser does an incredible job.
For pure defensive ability, the more compact and defensive Roller Defense Ring is a preferable choice, but the "defense-only" nature and worse weight distribution makes Tiger Defenser a more versatile choice outside of Circle Survivor Defense.
For Weight Based Defense, while Tiger Defenser is a premier choice larger Attack Rings such as Smash Turtle often offer more versatile performance.
For compacts, the primary competition is War Lion. This is a matter of personal preference, but Tiger Defenser is marginally less fragile and more offensively capable with its slopes while its shape actually makes it similarly effective defensively due to contact points being less exposed.
Overall though, Right Spin Tiger Defenser is the benchmark for Survival and Defense.
Left Spin:
Left Spin has more recoil than Right Spin (with no slopes to boot), though still not a huge amount and Tiger Defenser still has its weight distribution and size to lean on here.
In addition, as it doesn't have its slight offensive ability in this direction, part choice for this direction (which is primarily Spin Stealing) comes down to the lowest recoil, and alternatives such as Twin Horn and even Scissor Attacker outperform it defensively in Left Spin.
War Lion also poses strong competition here, especially with access to Dragon Breaker Sub AR, but even with its own SAR it has somewhat lower recoil.
Nonetheless, Tiger Defenser still possesses one of the best Weight Distributions at its size, while having lower recoil than Gyro Defense, making it an excellent choice for Defense, Survival and even Compacts in this direction.
Weight (Soft Edge Mold): 12.2g
Very light weight
Two molds, one with sharper edges used exclusively by Takara, and one with softer edges used by both Hasbro and Takara (after production moved to China, presumably). The Hard Edge mold tends to be heavier on average but there is huge crossover between them and the difference can largely be considered negligible. The soft edge mold also often has bumps, generally smaller than those on Ten-Series Weight Disks, at one or both ends, which theoretically could make for poorer balance, though the impact is negligible.
Wide weight distribution, albeit less so than Ten Wide, Wide Defense and Wide Survivor.
Minor use with Attack AR's whose contact points are obscured by wider weight disks (eg Double Wing), though these limitations inherently render them inferior to many other options, and overall the lighter weight of Eight Wide leaves it outclassed.
Note: The Takara version of Jumping Base has very fragile plastic and one should avoid using it.
Weight: Hasbro: 9.8g plus Flat Tip (0.23g), Ball Tip (0.22g) or Sharp Tip (0.18g)
Main gimmick is a large spring that lets it bounce around
Second gimmick is three interchangeable tips – sharp, ball and flat, which come with both versions, though they are molded differently.
Right Spin Only
Very gimmicky, but a pretty fun part
Very unstable, poor Defense.
Ball tip is arguably the best option due to coping better with the off-kilter stability throughout the battle, especially as the Sharp tip only increases this issue and the Flat tip has poorer stamina while doing little more of use.
Closest thing to a useful combination with it is one designed to jump away at the end of the match (or cause a violent upper attack-based collision while scraping), however even this is at best a luck-based strategy, and even for a luck based strategy it is still not that great.
The Hasbro version's tips fit on Neo SG (Double Bearing Version) Shaft's tip part part. The former is interesting for looking at how different tip shapes perform on bearing-supported shafts, however, and has some interesting results with the Ball tip being quite competitive with Customize Grip Base (being a slightly more predictable if a little less stable version of the original ) and the Flat tip being okay if outclassed for Spin Stealing Attack.
Mold Difference:
The Takara and Hasbro releases are quite different.
The Takara version uses a shaft in the centre of tips to insert into the spring and retain the tip, while the different spring used by Hasbro which curls into the centre of the tip connection area necessitates taller sided tips without a centred shaft.
Takara's version has a taller but higher tension, thicker gauge spring compared to Hasbro.
Overall though, neither are terribly useful, and the Takara version is fragile (though it may be possible to transplant the spring) so the Hasbro version's tips make it preferable.
Overall
The Hasbro Version is a good buy for Tiger Defenser if you can't get Driger S (or like the bright green colour and variant stickers), and the base is somewhat entertaining to muck around with. When buying second-hand, you should make sure it comes with all three tips as many don't (resulting in many people being unaware of it having three tips at all), and generally avoid the Takara version due to fragility and less useful tips.