The last few months of my collecting craze have involved a number of excellent organic yoyos that I believe to have taken a number of design cues from several classic organic O-shapes that are important to me, and I wanted to do a short writeup on the standouts and say a few words about how they differ from “the others” that I’ve owned. Let’s start with a few lists.
Standouts:
- GWAY Saboteur
- yoyofriends Koi
- a-rt OG Grail
- RSO Bowl XL
Good, but not great:
- TSAF Sistine Thief
- Duncan FH1 Al
- MikeMonty Memento
- RSO Bowl 7068
- Throwback Arcade
Disappointments:
- Mk1 Contact
- Markmont. MCMO
I am well aware that this list is not exhaustive of all of the quality organics recently released, and I don’t mean it to be - but perhaps this will give you some idea of where I’m coming from as far as play and collecting are concerned, and especially so if you own one or more of the above yoyos.
That said, let’s focus on the positive:
The Koi is a relative oddity, especially at its price point - a cheap, curvy, full-sized 7068 organic designed by a company known primarily for their V and H-shapes immediately causes some internal conflict.
7068 for $50? That doesn’t sound right. Does a “fun refreshing design” really mean “we made it just because the market demanded it”? How could these guys possibly compete with “people who REALLY know organics”?
Fortunately for me (and those of you who own one or more of these), the Koi totally delivers on its outlandish promise of a quality 7068 O-shape for $50 (I blame you, a-rt and RSO).
Right out of the box, the Koi impresses with its blast and anodization - these guys have clearly put substantial time into finding the right shop/s for their splashes/fades and this finish, because they are (ahem) OFF THE CHAIN. The Galaxy wash on the earlier runs is an absolute work of art (the latest run’s multicolor washes are astounding as well, and so is the Moon Rock that eludes my grasp), and the blast is extraordinary - it feels like something squarely in between ILYY’s soda blast and Pyramatte. Looks are off the charts, and my anecdotal evidence says this finish can definitely take a hit. It grinds well, and I could write poetry about how smooth all 3 of the samples I’ve gotten are.
The Koi’s play is well-balanced and on the heavier side of things. Weighing in at nearly 66g with a vaguely rim-weighted distribution, the Koi is definitely a bit more reluctant to move than the other yoyos on the A-list I presented above. However, this shouldn’t be taken as a negative. The Koi is comfortable, powerful, stable, maneuverable, and is the yoyo I reach for first when leaving the house. The response system is one of my old favorites - just a big wall with some curvature right off the pads. Binds and string play are very consistent.
Consistency is one of my favorite things about the Koi. I always know what I’m gonna get, and it’s always right where I mean it to be. Playing with the Koi is a relaxing experience, and not only because of the design that lends itself to slightly slower play - it is at least in part because I know that I got a well-designed, perfectly-executed, and precise simple machine, constructed with premium materials and a premium finish for 50 bucks. 50. This is the working man’s quality organic.
Moving on:
The Grail doesn’t sound too out-of-the-ordinary on the surface: it is a 6061 organic O-shape that comes in at a comfy, slightly large 56.6mm x 44.8mm, with machining and Pyramatte finish straight from OD. I told myself I wasn’t going to buy one due to how painful the idea of shelling out $130+ for a monometal 6061 yoyo was for my bargain-hunting nature, but my curiosity got the better of me.
The size and a-rt’s choice to use what I believe to be the best bearing currently available are appreciated touches, but I and many others would say that the weight and weight distribution are where the magic really happens - 63.5g at this size is uncommon for this class of yoyo, and the “even” distribution here was an arguably risky design at the time (despite the fact that Jensen and Charles could probably sell rocks with strings tied to them).
The result speaks for itself at this point, but I’ll speak about it anyway. The Grail has a feel on the string that is both classic and new simultaneously. Its somewhat unstable nature combined with an excellent modern response system is an oddity that is difficult to describe, and it keeps me coming back for more. The comparison that a-rt themselves made to a “caring girlfriend… [who] keeps you in line” is an apt one. The Grail borders on being too light for its size, and requires some attention to detail while playing as a result - as if a wrong move or a late bind could send it into a tailspin. Play with the Grail is inherently and deceptively rewarding.
Despite their relative similarity, these two yoyos sort of embody opposite ends of a spectrum that is difficult for me to define, in more than one respect. The closest I’ve come to a concise definition of this “spectrum” is “yoyos inspired by the CLYW Peak”, but one could probably debate that definition’s (and my other attempts’) validity to excess.
Suffice to say, these are two yoyos that I really like. You might like them too.