SonoKong Pre-G Series Cross-Brand Compatibility

This page is taken (and slightly expanded) from a post I made on the WBO a while ago.

Okay, so you probably know by now that SonoKong’s pre-Engine Gear beys (i.e. non GBlade) are a little smaller than other beys, and thus not really compatible. Here’s what I know based on what SOK parts I have.

Note 1: I’ll refer to SonoKong Pre-G Series parts as SOK parts for simplicity’s sake, as many (not all) of them carried that logo. Remember that this doesn’t apply to anything from Dragoon G onwards (branded GBlade).

Note 2: Keep in mind that this is based on my experience (I have a bunch of sonokong beys) and sonokong’s part-to-part variation is larger than other brands, so you might get different results than these.

Attack Rings: The main issue with SOK AR’s is that they don’t fit on regular spin gears. They can sometimes be forced onto right spin Engine Gears with some effort. The smaller size does allow weight disks to cover them up better, creating slightly better defense (which is somewhat relevant for Tiger Defenser, or Double Wing where it becomes more effective for spin stealing due to being covered by the WD) but usually the weight distribution tradeoff combined with the fact that the AR’s that this is useful to are already very defensive means the usefulness of this is quite limited.

Weight Disks: SOK weight disks can be forced onto regular sg’s, but they are quite a struggle to get off – this is most troublesome with SP that cover the base clips, as this makes removal of the WD and the SG it is attached to quite difficult. They’re also lighter than normal due to the smaller size, which generally means they’re less useful than their regular-sized counterparts.

Spin Gear Shells (Outer Parts of the spin gear): These can be used in regular bases, though they are a little loose. Regular AR’s and WD’s can be used on them, but again, looseness is an issue. Regular SG internal parts fit, albeit a little tightly, and the resulting SG can even be forced into SOK Blade bases. SOK SG Shells cannot be used with regular SG shells (for half/half), both because of size and because the pins and holes are swapped, so when lining up an SOK right spin half and a regular right spin half, you get two pins facing each other, just as you do when trying to put a left-spin half and right-spin half together normally (though the side parts remain in their normal position so you cannot put an SOK right spin half with a regular left spin half). I might take images to show this at some point as it’s hard to explain with words, but this does suggest that SonoKong deliberately made their pre-G revolution stuff incompatible with Takara and Hasbro parts (guess it makes the “our brand only” tournament rules (which hasbro also have, IDK about Takara) easier to enforce).
The same goes for their Neo Shells.

Spin Gear Centre Parts: These fit inside regular SG shells, though they are quite loose and can cause rattling. The gear pattern on the bottom is roughly the same size as that of a regular one, though.

Spin Gear “Weight Gear”: The metal ring inside the spin gear is slightly narrower than a regular one, making it a tight fit on regular SG Internal Parts and somewhat loose inside regular SG shells.

Dranzer V South Magnecore: The shaft section of this SG Core is thicker (the hole is standard MG tip size though), preventing free spin of the tip and fixing it at a height somewhere between a Dranzer V Magnecore and a regular one. More info can be found HERE.

Gimmicked SG’s – Dranzer S: The casings are slightly shorter than their regular counterparts, most notably in the bearing section – they come with a shorter (height-wise) and smaller (diameter wise) bearing than normal, though the hole is the same size as on regular bearings, at least in the Dranzer S release, and a regular Shielded Ball Bearing does not fit well inside the SOK casings.

The hole in the bottom of the casings is slightly narrower, enough to constrict spin on regular shafts even using an SOK bearing. The poles of the shaft seem to be regular size – which fits with the regular sized hole in the bearing, the upper part of the tips are narrower than normal, the tips themselves seem regular sized.

SOK internal parts (shafts etc) will fit in regular SG’s with some looseness, the bearings fit on regular shafts fine, but are somewhat loose inside casings (bother horizontally and vertically). Regular internal parts can fit inside SOK casings but are very tight, restricting free spin. This can be used to partially fix Driger F’s shaft in place, though it eventually wears the hole wider and reverts to relatively free spin.

As with SG’s, the pins and holes that keep the casings together are swapped, rendering SK casings incompatible with regular casings.

Base Clips: These fit into regular bases and SG’s, but are a little loose (SG can be pulled up slightly and shaken side-to-side a little). Regular Base Clips do not fit in SOK blade bases.

Blade Bases: Regular SG Shells generally won’t fit into SOK Blade Bases, though the internal parts generally will when used with SOK casings. Regular Dranzer S Casings fit in SOK Spiral Change Base (using SOK SG Shells). Tip hole sizes are generally close enough to allow cross-brand usage both ways.