I tried the Toop top from Tosy. The character I got was the Frozen Nebular, part of the Alien series (the bad guys).
It is an interesting top. As other
motorized tops, it has a motor that creates a torque between the outer shell and the internal rotor and makes them spin in opposite directions. But, to work as a top, one section has to have a larger rotational moment than the other so they don't cancel each other. On other motorized tops the friction of the tip slows down the outer shell and the internal rotor wins. Interestingly, on the Toop top it is the outer shell which out spins the innards. This is accomplished by the air drag using the pair of blades that stick on the topside and are connected to the rotor.
I did not get the set of two with the battle arena, so I cannot talk too much about its play value compared to Beyblades (Don?). But one drawback it has is that each top requieres 4 AAA batteries. It does spin well on the hand and the stroboscopic effect of the blades against the illuminated body is a plus.
