The last few months of my collecting craze have involved a number of excellent organic yoyos that I believe to have taken 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
- ILYY Lynx 2022
Good, but not great:
- TSAF Sistine Thief
- Duncan FH1 Al
- MikeMonty Memento
- RSO Bowl 7068
- Throwback Arcade
- Mowl Q
- RSO Bowl XL
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. I mean this list to continue accumulating, and therefore give you an increasingly better idea of my perspective on reviewed or touched-on yoyos in my writeups.
With the aforementioned in mind, I’d like to express how I perceive important portions of the design process for a few of these yoyos, roughly in the shape of a compare/contrast review.
GWAY’s Saboteur is a unique yoyo. I shouldn’t need to say much else to get you fiends to try one out (if you haven’t already) given the price point, but it’s worth talking about - so let’s do that.
Hypnotizing, maybe.
The Saboteur weighs in at 65g, and has a shape that was pretty clearly inspired by the MMC and friends. The spikes and “droplet” cup give it a cool factor aesthetically, and its 55.6mm x 45.5mm profile is well within the socially-acceptable bounds for what constitutes a “good” yoyo.
So what makes it special?
The response and walls. GWAY made a bold decision when they opted to make a “high-walled” yoyo with “today’s players in mind” as their first venture into yoyo design, and, for the sake of being to-the-point here, it paid off in spades. I am very interested in the design process of modern yoyos - insofar as it is demonstrably results-oriented - and this is one of my favorite results.
OH BABY.
My perspective on this response system is that it is the conclusion of a design process that involved asking specific questions that catered to a specific population within our relatively small community, and also attempted to achieve something truly unique. The first question asked must have been something along the lines of “how can we make a modern organic highwall?”, or “how can we make a highwalled organic yoyo that performs like something else?”, and I think these are just the right sort of questions to ask when proofing a concept: somewhat indefinite, but chasing a very specific attribute and/or feel in play. I think GWAY adopted a purist’s approach to these design questions in every respect, and that is amazing to me - “meticulously designed” captures this yoyo to a degree that is otherwise difficult to express in writing.
The Saboteur uses a highwall with thin contact points and deep schmooves in a way that, to my knowledge, has not been seen to date. One could argue that the Project Y and PV44’s “schwall” does this, or that the Lynx 2022 achieves it to a degree - but look at those response areas. The Saboteur’s is the only one that doesn’t take a single step. It’s a virtually flat plane from the response area to the top of the wall. And it makes me question schmooved designs that came before and after it, just because of how good this one feels. The scoops outside of the “highwall” make the yoyo more forgiving than some of its counterparts, but given its true highwall nature it is more controllable than most of them. Plane adjustments are a breeze, and (perhaps a product of the DEEP schmooves) binds and regens feel spot-on EVERY TIME. Seriously, binds with this yoyo have changed my perspective on response as a design feature due to how perfect they are - EVERY TIME.
I am not a yoyo designer, and I don’t know CAD or whatever the flavor of the month CNC-compatible program is at present. But this “modern highwall” concept and execution amazes me, in part because it feels like it was designed for me. This is a stable, controllable yoyo, with reasonable power and an exceptional play feel due to the aforementioned features. One could state that this is - very technically - a “midwall”, but I don’t think purists can really argue with the feel here. It is exactly what it set out to be, and it set out to be a unique thing - I believe that these two things (especially in the same place) should be a marvel to all of us, regardless of preference with regard to feel or performance. I don’t think this happens often, and I will elaborate on this shortly (I promise, this time…).
TBR (to be reviewed?)