An Idea I've Been Kicking Around

General Yo-Yo
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This is just an idea. I don’t know if it would get any traction, or if anyone else thinks it’s good one. But I figured I’d throw it out there.

Most yoyoers have strong preferences on what they like/dislike. Often times, it’s a personal identity. And thats cool, it is definitely fun to have a theme in your collection.

For me, this used to be wide V and H shapes. I didn’t really touch anything that wasn’t these, thinking that those yoyos just weren’t for me. After all, why should I throw anything I don’t like?

But, something that I’ve enjoyed greatly in the last few years is getting surprised by yoyos outside my comfort zone. It started with undercuts, which aren’t particularly geared towards optimal performance, and quickly extended into organics. Now, I throw all kinds of yoyos!

So here’s my idea.

Post what your comfort zone is. Slimline organics, wide bimetal, undersize, whatever. And then maybe include what style of yoyo it is that you tell yourself you dislike.

Let’s say in this case, you just love wide bimetals and hate 0a responsive style throws.

Now, here’s where I might lose most of you. But bear with me.

Next, someone who throws a lot of yoyos outside the first guy’s comfort zone (in this case, 0a responsive) could maybe let the first guy borrow an awesome 0a yoyo. Send him a throw that is sure to get him hooked on the responsive style. Just for a week or so. Guy #1 can throw it around with an open mind, and at the very least, have some fun variety.

This isn’t about trying to change people’s minds or anything. It’s just about getting a little outside of the comfort zone. If you think you hate a style of yoyo, borrow one in that category, and end up disliking it all the same, then thats fine! Nothing lost.

But I have a feeling we might end up with some people getting surprised by what they get to borrow.

In any case, let me know what you think of this idea.

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If anyone’s interested, I’d be happy to kick this off by sending out one of my yoyos to someone.

Post what style of yoyo you just never could get into, and I’ll see if I have one I think you might like!

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Hey guys I love organics like the grail and life, and sidefx yoyos, along with anything with a heavy undercut/hshape, and I reaaaaally hate painted peaks. I just don’t understand why anyone would want a painted peak, there’s no logic to it.

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This sounds like a pretty cool idea. For one thing, it addresses the tragic lack of any kind of try-before-you-buy option in the retail market in general.

For myself, however, I’ve tried pretty much everything, so I’ve confirmed for myself (many times over in some cases) what I like and what I don’t like. But I’m sure plenty of other folks would benefit greatly from this idea.

:+1:

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This sounds like an awesome idea! If I was in the usa I would definitely contribute!

This would require a level of trust so Id recommend having some more rules and regulations. Noone wants their nice bimetal with the rings popped off.

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I’m on a very similar trajectory with my own yoyo journey right now except I decided to pick up throws that are outside my comfort zone on my own. For all of april all my unresponsive’s are staying in the case and I’m only going to throw butterfly xt’s and a deep state when it comes in. I really like your idea and I think a lot of growth can happen by breaking outside of what is “normal” for a player. Good luck with this!

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I have shapes I prefer but I play all shapes . I have very sharp v shaped , like the c3 krown st and I also have the grail and so on . People are capable of liking more than one thing.

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Yeah for sure. I mentioned that I’m one of those people myself!
But it is very true that many throwers are not so broad in their tastes.
Or even if they throw more than one type of yoyo, there are many types of yoyos that they write off as shapes they’ll never enjoy.

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Anyway, I’m serious about being happy to start this off.

Anyone have a small comfort zone? I just might have something outside of it that you’d enjoy. And if its not me, I bet someone else on here will have a yoyo that would fit the bill.

If it would help get the ball rolling to be the first one to receive as well. But like I said, I’m more than happy to be the one sending too.

For me, I’ve never tried a 0a or fixed axle yoyo I’ve liked much. Those are definitely outside of anything I’ve spent time with.

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I really like this idea, although I opted to just rectify it for myself the other day lol.

I love H and W shapes that feel super powerful and stable, but when I reach for an organic I pretty much exclusively want it to be narrow and high walled. Basically things that play like a Duncan Freehand. I had a Cloudberry before and wrote all wide/stepped organics off, as being a middle ground between H and O that I really didn’t enjoy. They didn’t have enough rim weight and stability to compete with the H shapes I like, and they didn’t have that immediate reaction to all of your movements that I love from highwalls. So things like the Markmont Classic which everbody else seems to love exists in my mind as something I feel like I would hate, despite the near universal praise for it. I picked up another Cloudberry from the recent Atmos B grade sale just to see if my opinion on them has changed at all in the 9-10 months since I last tried one.

I love fixed axle play and people like Drew Tetz are super influential on the tricks I come up with. I also just love it as another extremely different style of yoyoing, it almost seems like the style most divorced from modern stuff since there’s so much legacy history and oldschool greats to watch and learn from. I can let you borrow a fixie or two if you want to give it a go.

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Have you tried an RBC?

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I have a yoyo I think you’d like! Its not very valuable, but it’s super underrated, and tons of fun. Its an undersized organic, with lower walls right next to the bearing. It’s also not a slimline.

BUT I have never had someone throw it at a contest and not love it. PM me your address if you’d like to try it out.

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I actually never have. I know a lot of people rave about it though.

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Not now cause I got too much going but in the next couple months I’ll send it your way to try out.

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It’s interesting to hear the different journeys and the ways people see things.

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I love these “pay it forward” threads. They give you a good chance to try certain throws. I love this idea too.

I thought about putting a case of 6 or so together to send around but maybe the 1:1 pairing that you mention is a better way.

I agree that there would have to be some rule setting going on. Some kind of insurance that what you send out will come back in similar condition.

I’ve got a whole range of thows that I would be willing to let other try.

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If you’re not willing to have it destroyed for the purpose of experience, you shouldn’t be willing to send it anywhere.

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How many have you destroyed?

I’ve only been throwing a couple years but can’t figure out how to destroy one, especially if it belonged to someone else.

I guess cross threading one but come on.

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I knew that some people would (understandably) feel this way. You can probably tell that by the way I worded the initial post. However, it looks like there are some others who don’t mind the idea of lending out some throws.

But thank you for letting us know your thoughts on the situation.

If you’d like, feel free to participate in the receiving end of this idea though. Hopefully some more people get involved!

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That sounds really cool! I’ll definitely take you up on that.
If you’d like, post up what style yoyos you’ve never really gelled with. Maybe someone can lend one to you!

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