Well, my first review. Took the main structure off of the reviews on HSYY. Noticed that no one has yet to do a write up on the Celestial. After getting it on Sunday and playing it. I feel it really deserves one. So here I am.
Weight: 72.6g
Gap Width: 4.7mm
Width: Can’t seem to find it online, but it’s pretty darn easy to hit.
Diameter: 56.34mm
Response: CBC Large Slim 888 size
Bearing: Center Trac
Introduction :
The Celestial is the first release of a very recent local endeavor by Iskandar Shah and his company Diamont Noir, it is the signature yoyo of Darrell Mitchell, whose style is one that breaks away from the usual speedy roll combos most people seem to associate Asian players with, it involves many body tricks often showing some amazing control and elements in them while maintaining a relatively quick pace.
One of my favourite yoyos is the RecRev no. 9. It’s heavy, long spinning, and rim weighted, yet is rather nimble on the strings. When I saw the Celestial I likened it to the no. 9, flat hubs that suggested huge rim weight, and yeah it was pretty darn heavy, so I was hoping to find something similar with it. Eventually after some saving up I went and got the 5a version from my local store. It wasn’t, instead it offered a mixup that really impressed me.
Construction :
The axle of the Celestial has a more gradual feel of the threads gripping rather than that YYF sudden stop you get when you screw a yoyo together, I feel this system is better, I have yet to experience it having any issues with unscrewing in the middle of play. The shape of the Celestial is very smooth and allows for a wide catch zone while remaining very comfortable to hold in hand. My middle finger rests in the gap and the two adjacent on the rims. This simple and easy to hold shape really helps to dampen the hard binds you get with the crazy spin this thing has. The IGR is pretty much non existent, there is a tiny lip that accommodates them, but it’s very small and hard to land on. The shape is also very good for rejections, it doesn’t have a extreme shape like some other yoyos that require you to pop the yoyo all the way up just to make the string touch the wall, this results in minimum tilting on rejection tricks.
As for aesthetics, right now I have the “High Polish” version. Which is pretty much looks like a clear coat to me. It might be raw, I can’t tell but I see no signs or tarnishing in the few days I have had with it. Whatever it is, it is very shiny and very pretty in light, really appealing.
Needless to say it doesn’t facilitate grinds all too well. The powerful spin does allow for some simple grinds, but really, if your style involved grinds that much, you’d be wearing a glove.
Weight:
On the first throw, two things strike you.
- This yoyo is dead smooth.
- Ow my arm.
72 grams really gets to you at first, it starts out feeling like a brick on a string. It feels deliberate and as if you really need to push it to get it to move how you want it to. However after some warming up to it, it starts feeling much easier to maneuver.
The weight isn’t all bad. As with most rim weighted yoyos it is very stable. Also as mentioned earlier, this thing spins like crazy. It never seems to stop, it goes right through your longest combo and it’s family members. It’s stability isn’t limited to normal play, it keeps very stable for horizontals too. It still manages to stay very controlled. This means it moves when you want it to and how you want it to. It I can see how this thing was drawn up for Mitchell’s style, it suits itself for the hard to execute elements involved in his tricks. As such the heavy spin lends itself to allow grinds, and also causes the hard binds mentioned before.
Response and Bearing:
The CBC pad response is well known and versatile, I’d expect many people to know and have these pads already, allowing for easy replacement. They are decent and offer snappy binds, as with the They aren’t exactly my favourite though. They have already become pretty worn in over these 4 days. I’ve played the heck out of it yes, but it’s still a point. After they wore in it became harder to do some of the more stylish binds such as Vashek Kroutil’s signature bind and also those frantic panicky horizontal binds we know we all do that don’t give the response much time to grip the string.
The Center Trac bearing was a nice surprise. I had no idea it was going to come with one. The bearing is smooth and quiet(strange for a CT ikr?). But well after a bit of play it started becoming responsive in break in. I swapped it out for a KK I had lying around and play became even better, for some reasons binds were easier after the switch. Some might say here that the bearing switch breaks the review, but in my opinion the changes are minute, a yoyo isn’t going to become extremely floaty all of a sudden because of a swap. Either way with both bearings in the yoyo was dead smooth. Anyhow, it’s a Center trac, you all know Center tracs. I won’t waste too much time on this section.
Playability:
Reaching here I feel I’ve talked too much on the earlier sections letting too much on. Either way I’ll repeat myself here. This yoyo is very stable, it regens and eli hops for ages. It has a very strong spin. These both allow for long technical tricks and rejections, it handles whips and what few slacks I can do as any other yoyo would, perhaps requiring the slightest more pull for the initial pop up for whips. It is very stable for horizontals and very easy to hit. It plays at a relatively controlled pace, though largely speed depends on how much the player pushes the yoyo to go, and after some play I can go through some combos relatively fast, but if you’re looking for something to rush through tricks this isn’t really it.
I’ve tried some 5A with it and not sure if I’m qualified to comment since my skills are largely limited to 1a based stuff and simple tricks. It feels strange with the weight on beestings and tricks involving releasing the CW and yoyo to say the least, it’s probably because I’m used to a PSG. The 5A edition I have came with a set of dice in 3,5 and 10 grams respectively, I find myself using the 10gram the most since the 3 and 5 are tiny. It is much easier to use and moves faster than the duncan bouncy ball I’m used to. More painful though.
Final Thoughts:
The Celestial is a very unique for a first release by Diamont Noir and perhaps some might say it appeals to a niche.
The drawbacks that I have mentioned are just limited to the IGR, the response and bearing. The latter two of which are superficial and can be easily swapped out to one of preference.
It is made for a certain player and his style to a point that I believe I can say will not appeal to everyone’s styles. Despite saying that, I personally love mine and it is no doubt an extremely good playing yoyo of great quality. I really enjoy playing the Celestial. This one is going to be a keeper.
My only peeve is that it mauled my 44clash raptor when they both fell while in a foam case. How that happened I have no idea. e_e I obviously need to add more foam though.
tl;dr
Smooth
Solid
Stable
Feels heavy
Long spinning
Good for horizontal
Moves at a relaxed, slower pace
I have no pics right now but there are better shots than any I could take with my compact on http://www.diamontnoir.com/ . If you are turned off by the Celestial’s weight perhaps you could consider it’s slightly lighter 69 gram cousin the Celestial Deuxieme, I have yet to try it but it’s lighter to say the least.
It’s my first review and I know I’ve made some flaws going out of point in respective sections, if you have critique on how I could improve please share. Thanks for taking the time to read 
EDIT: Just some videos of the Celestial in action. And the Celestial Deuxieme for 5A