sidebar: granblue fantasy crash course

granblue fantasy's main story has been ongoing for 10 years, so i'm just going to sum up the points relevant to sandalphon's story.
setting: granblue fantasy is set in a fantasy world where the land consists of floating islands that people travel between using airships (the "skydom" for short). monsters are commonplace. the protagonist is searching for their absent father, who they believe has traveled to the ends of the skies.
astrals: a group of people who used to be in the skydom, but were seemingly wiped out in a great war between the astrals and the rest of the skydwellers.
primal beasts: powerful monsters created by the astrals to use as weapons, surveillance, etc etc. some were thrown into pandemonium, a giant prison also created by the astrals. after the war, many went into hibernation.
primarch: a name given to specific original primal beasts in charge of regulating the world. there are four primarchs in charge of the tetra-elements (fire, water, wind, and earth), as well as the supreme primarch who oversees the world in general

what makes the sky blue

sandalphon debuted in granblue fantasy on march 1st, 2017. originally, he was the main antagonist of the 3rd anniversary event, "what makes the sky blue". in this event, sandalphon schemes to usurp the supreme primarch by stealing the powers of the tetra-elements from the four primatchs. through the story, the players found out that sandalphon was created as a potential replacement for the supreme primarch, if he were deemed to fail in his duties. sandalphon experienced an existential crisis on finding out his only purpose was to be a substitute for someone else. he was thrown in pandaemonium at an unknown time in the past, and the resentment at being a mere pawn festered until he was able to break free, fully ready to unleash havoc on the skydom.

the protagonist is able to defeat sandalphon and take back the tetra-elements. lucifer, the supreme primarch, appears, and sandalphon lashes out at him. lucifer surprises sandalphon by saying that he always viewed sandalphon as an equal, and absorbs the defeated angel into his core, to prevent sandalphon from committing any other acts of violence.

what makes the sky blue II: Paradise Lost

the second event in the what makes the sky blue trilogy, paradise lost debuted on feburary 28, 2018, as granblue's fourth anniversary event. some time after the events of what makes the sky blue, supreme primarch lucifer is contemplating a cocoon that holds sandalphon. he is considering stepping down from the position of supreme primarch and letting thw world run itself.

any plans lucifer had are cut short when he is assasinated by a hooded man, whom lucifer recogizes but the player does not.

primal beasts start running amok in the skydom, and the protagonist is tasked with checking on lucifer who was last seen going towards canaan, the island where sandalphon's cocoon is kept. after many trials, including a confrontation with belial, a primal beast loyal to the astral lucilius, the protagonist reaches canaan and gets sucked into sandalphon's cocoon, along with vyrn (a dragon companion) and lyria (a girl who has the power to control primal beasts).

inside sandalphon's cocoon, the protagonist confronts sandalphon in a garden occupied by no one else. sandalphon has mellowed out considerably from his first appearance, and reveals that he's given up on trying to untangle his resentment and adoration towards lucifer. still, when pressed sandalphon cycles back on insisting that him and lucifer will never be on equal terms, and his heightened emotions kick everyone out of his cocoon. sandalphon stumbles around the shrine that used to hold his prison, and finds what's left of lucifer.

in his last moments alive, lucifer passes on his mantle of supreme primarch to sandalphon.

the newly christened supreme primarch has to get a handle on his new power nearly immedately, as one of lucilius's old creations has broken lose and is rampaging. with the help of the other primarchs and skydwellers, the beast is brought down.

afterwards, sandalphon joins the protagonist's crew, intending to fulfill lucifer's last wish.

What Makes the Sky Blue III: 000

what makes the sky blue III: 000, was granblue fantasy's fifth anniversary event. it debuted february 28th, 2019. it begins with sandalphon recieving news from halluel and malluel (two other archangels) that they've discovered belial and the hooded figure are hiding in pandaemonium. the crew sets a course for the prison, while the primarch micheal scouts ahead, and the primarch gabriel searches for an astral testing facility to glean clues about their foes plans.

on the way to pandaemonium, the crew is attacked by former friendly angels who seem to have been warped into mindless weapons. gabriel finds evidence of lucillus plans to destroy the skydom, and travels to pandemonium to join with the others. sandalphon steps in to help the primarchs fight against the fallen angels. eventually, sandalphon and the crew manage to break through pandaemonium's defenses.

meanwhile, belial and the hooded figure have been watching over the battle. belial intends to revive lucilius using lucilius's head and lucifer's body. the hooded figure reveals that he intended to hide himself away in a invulnerable tower, etemenanki, while belial and lucilius destroyed the world, and the return to rule over what was left. the two turn on each other. lucilius awakens, and takes out the hooded figure. sandalphon attempts to take out lucilius, but he escapes to etemenanki, leaving belial behind. one of the fallen angels, sariel, attempts to protect the worn down belial, but is backstabbed instead. belial steals sariel's wings and faces off once again against sandalphon and the protagonist. sandalphon takes a wing from each of the four primarchs, and eventually manages to defeat belial.

the protagonist and sandalphon turn their attention to pursuing lucilius, as the four primarchs clean up pandaemonium. sandalphon teleports some members of the crew into etemenanki. lucilius reveals he intends to drop the tower onto pandaemonium to end the world. lucilius easily takes out sandalphon, and the rest of the crew attemps to distract lucilius while sandalphon regenerates. seeing how willing everyone is to put their lives on the line to support him, sandalphon has a change of heart regarding his duties. now, he truly wants to protect the world, not merely as atonement or because it was lucifer's last wish.

sandalphon is revitalized and able to fully tap into lucifer's powers to defeat lucilus. all the while etemenanki has been plummeting through the sky. belial appears, offering an airship in return for leaving with lucilius. a dimensional rift opens up in etemenanki, and the crew escapes on the airship. belial and lucilius get sucked into the dimmensional rift, unable to escape, and the tower begins to crumble into the rift as well. a timebomb goes off on the airship that belial gave the crew. most of the crew barely manages to make it back to the grandcypher (the protagonist's airship), but lyria gets knocked overboard towards the dimensional rift. sandalphon uses the last of his strength to teleport lyria back to the ship, and is sucked into the rift himself.

in the dimensional rift, sandalphon awakens to see lucifer in a garden. lucifer explains this is sort of an in-between space for souls. sandalphon and lucifer have a heartfelt conversation where sandalphon tells lucifer he's fulfiled the former supreme primarch's wish, and lucifer says that no matter what, he will always care for sandalphon. sandalphon hears the voices of the crew, and says goodbye to lucifer.

sandalphon awakens in the sky realm, having been saved by the protagonist. in the days that follow, sandalphon decides his next goal is to open a cafe, and the crew members help him set up a cafe onboard the grandcypher as practice.

Other events

sandalphon has appeared in a number of events since the original what makes the sky blue triology. one of my favorites is the maydays, originally debuted june 27, 2019. its very much a silly beach episode event, set after the conclusion of 000. sandalphon runs a coffee stand in auguste (an island that is famous for its beaches). lucio, a man claiming to be a former actor but who bears a striking resemblance to the deceased lucifer, hangs around and pesters sandalphon, who is pissed off at this guy wearing lucifer's face. lucio gets swallowed by a shark and sandalphon punches the shark until lucio gets pooped out. granblue fantasy is a game.

sandalphon has a decent amount of story in the reccuring event tower of babyl, but I am currently not strong enough to progress very far into the tower, and so really all I have is that after the events of 000, sandalphon climbs the tower of babyl with the crew, aiming to wipe out any agents of chaos there. oh yeah, the hooded figure (whom we now know as beezlebub, an astral-primal chimera), is there at the top of the tower.

the time a 37-year-old former imperial soldier expanded his horizons through the experience that is saunas (yes that is the full title) is another summer event that debuted june 29th, 2023. sandalphon appears in the event and goes to a sauna. i cant look at his towel art for more than .03 seconds without getting embarrassed LMAO

sandalphon played a major role in granblue's 10th anniversary event, heart of the sun! this debuted february 27th 2024. I'll write up a summary for it eventually...

i'm not going to go in depth and list each unit's skills and passives and things like that because the wiki does a good enough job of that already. what I would like to do is give my personal opinion on each unit + ranking. click on an image to open a larger one in a new tab.

Event

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the unit that started it all. sandalphon was given out as a free unit with what makes the sky blue II, and received a 5* uncap with what makes the sky blue III. he also received a rebalance on may 15th, 2023. honestly I have a hard time giving an objective rating to the original sandalphon unit. he's been a mainstay of my light team since the very beginning, and I refuse to remove him even if I have better characters now. far outclassed by his latest grand version, yet still a strong early and midgame unit. did I mention he's free. for the low low price of $0 you too can experience sandalphon. I do like that he's pretty much a self-sufficient unit that works with pretty much anyone else you drop him in with.

he was my first perpetuity ring recipient, and in fact I've only given rings to sandalphon units so far (lol). the art for this version is a bit dated, but I do still like the purple and blue of the swords around him. and I like his brown wings in the second art - they remind me of a house sparrow's and I think that's cute. a lot of sandalphon art later on depicts him with white or multicolored wings but I have a soft spot for the brown ones. his 5* uncap art is fine, his face is pretty but I think the pose is a little bland.

his fate episodes are cute. mostly fluff, but you do get some insight on why he loves coffee so much (spoiler alert: it's because of lucifer). i think it's funny how he revives a 2,000 year old coffee tree and then that power is never touched upon again. I also like the more prickly sandalphon in some of his earlier depictions... its really gap moe seeing how he speaks to everyone else compared to how he speaks to lucifer in flashbacks (lol).

rating
battle: 7/10
art : 7/10
fates: 6/10
overall : 6.7/10

Summer

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summer sandalphon was released june 30 2019. I have a very different opinion of summer sandalphon than the general granblue public does. when he came out, I didn't have any of the meta characters, and so I played around with creating a setup around him. i still don't have many of the meta characters so I've just been tweaking my water team around summer sandalphon as I get new units/classes/etc. he's not a gamebreaking unit by any means but you can make some fun setups with supplemental damage + multiattacks with him.

art wise, i am a little dissapointed that his summer unit got the same open tshirt + shorts combo that I've seen numerous times with the male summer units... the girls get a lot of cute swimsuits and coverups, and I wish there were more variety with the guys. I do like the detail of giving him heeled sandals to match his regular look. his second art is very good though. it gives me the feeling of wanting to watch the sunset on a beach with sandalphon together......... he's very pretty here. I like the sharpness of his features compared to his first unit. also his back in the second art was an unexpected charm point. his EX pose is firmly in "sad wet cat" territory which... some of the other units get crazy insane fanservice for their summer units so I feel a bit robbed. fun fact: "luciferin" is the name of a substance in luminiscent organisms that produces light. like the glowing bits in his third art. sandalphon is not beating the mourning widow allegations

his fate episodes take place shortly after the maydays, so they are a slice of life snippet into sandalphon's journey of becoming a cafe manager, this time with a temporary cafe he runs on the beach. I feel like this was really the beginning of sandalphon domestication because he pulls on a much less prickly customer service persona while working. his seriousness and earnestness when it comes to running the cafe is very cute... and you get a little moment at the end where sandalphon is still thinking about lucifer.

rating
battle: 8/10
art : 8/10
fates: 7/10
overall : 7.7/10

Earth grand

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sandalphon's earth grand... i remember when he was announced and MAO freaked out live. good times. he was released december 28 2020. I use him only sometimes in my earth team. people thought he was broken on release, but I personally think he's most suited to null element fights, which I don't do a lot of. I used to have him on the backline if nothing else, but ever since I got both earth evokers he's either benched or frontline. he's so tanky that even not being able to be healed normally isn't a problem most of the time. I think he's just not a permanent frontliner for me because I feel like to fully utilize him you need to play manually when I usually just hit full auto on long fights and walk away. maybe if I was stronger and played more endgame raids I would feel like he was a broken unit but for now he is good, but not game breaking.

his earth grand's art is really good. even with it being another standing pose for his first art... it feels more dynamic. I like his legs here.... a lot....... i think one of sanchan's charm points are his legs and not enough art of him makes use of that LOL. I really like the silhouette of the top of his boots too. his face in the first art is so handsome too... i like the smug era of sandalphon. his second art is fun, I like the cut in and how intense the atmosphere is.

this unit's fate episodes are set just before what makes the sky blue. I like that they peel back the curtain to show just a little bit more of angsty, fresh from primal jail sandalphon. even with the power to destroy the world he comes off as such a rebelious teenager; its super endearing... one point against this unit is that he doesn't have holiday messages aside from your birthday. let me give valentines choco to disasterphon!! i think that would fix him.

rating
battle: 7/10
art : 9/10
fates: 9/10
overall : 8.3/10

Valentines

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a little over two years passed between sandalphon's earth grand and his valentines unit being released on february 14 2023. once again, I don't have all the meta units for wind, so sandalphon slotted perfectly into my team at the time. some people claimed about the lack of charge bar gain, but at least for me that hasn't been a problem with valentines grimmir and summer yuel as his teammmates. he does big damage, heals, and provides mitigation. he's also great for full auto users like me because his heal triggers after the foe uses a special attack. there are certain fights he especially excels in, but even outside of those he's a great unit.

he looks so soft in the valentines art... looking at his earth grand compared to his valentines unit is such a drastic change. I think this outfit suits him well, and the furred boots are super cute. I like the little sparrows hearkening back to his own brown wings. his legs are nice here too. his second art is finally some of the fanservice art the yumes deserve. i know a white turtleneck is quite possibly one of the least sexy things he could be wearing but it's ok I think it suits him and he looks good. i can't look at his face for too long or i get embarrassed LMAO. I want to share coffee and chocolates with sandalphon!!!

his fate episodes are more domesticated sandalphon content. It's cute to see the evolution of him being passionate about coffee and wanting to share it with others through the years... I kinda wish the protagonist were in his fates so that maybe we could get a smidgen of yume content but I like his banter with cassius also.

rating
battle: 9/10
art : 9/10
fates: 7/10
overall : 8.3/10

Light Grand

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sandalphon's light grand was released february 29 2024. the madmen have finally done it. they've put out a unit that would make me take event sandalphon out of my party... I sparked him at the end of anniversary roulettes (3.29.24).

i feel like every time they release a sandalphon unit they draw him prettier. he looks so bishoujo here and his legs are drawn well (esp in the second art....). i am impressed with how they managed to cram 12 wings in the picture without it seeming overcrowded. the lucifer cameo in his second art is so good too. face 10/10, legs 10/10. I've changed my thoughts a bit on the lucifer cameo... I initially read it as him still grieving for lucifer, but after going through heart of the sun and his fate episodes I've realized that sandalphon has grown beyond simply being a grieving widow to now just reflecting on his time with lucifer fondly.

his fate episodes for this unit are well rounded. yes we get some more of sandalphon's coffee hobby, along with him remembering his experiences back in the research facility with lucifer, but he gets to interact more with other members of the crew! I did for a while want to see him interact with ladiva since I thought it would be interesting... the memories of lucifer felt more naturally integrated with the rest of the fate episode than in the past, with sandalphon seeing his younger self in the woman attempting to run the coffee shop. also, I was getting some Transgender vibes from the boy that was hanging around cags, which I thought turned out sweet

in terms of battle performance, he isn't quite as busted as his on paper stats would have me believe. unfortunately, his minimum 6 turns to ramp up keeps him from a frontline spot in shorter battles. i still stick him there for anything that's not OTK though www. he synergizes well will lucio's 5* uncap, and when the two of them get ramped up they are pretty much unstoppable. after activating his third skill, he hits like a truck. at all times he provides buffs and sustain to the team. I'm still trying to figure out what third unit to slot with sandalphon and lucio... I'm a little sad that he's bad at bursting because I feel like that's the one thing keeping him from being a perfect 10/10 unit.

rating
battle: 9/10
art : 10/10
fates: 10/10
overall : 9.7/10

Summon

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i want to include sandalphon's summons in this section for completions sake even if one I don't use anymore and the other I don't have yet. the free summon from what makes the sky blue II carried my team early on until I got better summons. this summon (basically) just uses his art from his free unit so I have no new comments there. I suppose if you were really struggling for HP you could equip him to your grid but I wouldn't use this summon otherwise. there is a fun hidden effect where on calling this summon, any version of sandalphon and any version of lucio get a 30% dark damage cut. I guess deep down, maybe sandalphon isn't as annoyed by lucio as he appears to be...

Triple Zero (Summon)

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released december 31 2023, triple zero is almost the polar opposite of sandalphon's free summon in that everyone wants triple zero. I like the concept that the summon call is just catching some stray lasers from lucilius and sandalphon's fight. sandalphon's face is good here too.

I picked up this summon with a sierotix at the end of the 10th anniversary event. I don't have it as my main summon all the time, since I feel like bubs is still better for bursting, but triple zero has a shorter cooldown so I'll typically main it for longer fights. the cancel all omens call has also been useful for trying to solo fights. I haven't quite figured out how to take full advantage of the double CA on mc with sandalphon's side of the call, but it's still a decent chunk of damage even if there's not a lot of utility from the MC's CA.