I’d have to say that UFO was my favorite, and I couldn’t imagine starting out and not doing that one. But, if I started unresponsive, I may not know what I was missing anyway.
I suppose you have a point, and who knows maybe those that started unresponsive will pick up some of the best ones later.
I should have quoted this in my earlier post, but forgot. I just wanted to point out that this is not always the case.
I love picking up my classic and doing a stop ‘n’ go at random. It’s my favorite responsive only trick.
To be honest, responsive yoyos are fun, and have their own joy. I like the simple pleasure of a strong sleeper and a tug return causing a firm smack in my hand.
I see it much the same way. For me, responsive play was not really a route to unresponsive play. I had no idea I’d even get that far. I was happy doing around the world, breakaway, UFO, Stop N Go as well. I wanted to do some cool tricks with a yo-yo, and I accomplished that, making progress so quickly. It gives you a sense of accomplishment to do a really cool trick with a yo-yo.
I had no idea what an unresponsive yo-yo was, until I went to look at all the pretty yo-yos in an online store, and some said, “this is unresponsive and requires a bind return.” I was like…What? So, I became curious about those tricks as well. When I started unresponsive, I didn’t think it was cool at first, because in my mind, a yo-yo should snap back to your hand without more than a simple tug. It sort of ruined for me my idea of what a yo-yo should do. So, it was not until I got used to it, that I knew there was also something special about unresponsive, and just knew I had to take it there as well. But, I never saw responsive play as a route to the more advanced tricks done with unresponsive play.
I never really thought, hmmm…let me play responsive because it all started here first, and then I’ll move on. In hindsight, I’m glad in my personal experience that it happened that way. I think it was best for me. Honestly, I think responsive is definitely a better introduction to 2A, and that might explain why 2A is not as popular as you might think it should be, with all the animated tricks that can be done. Is it starting out unresponsive that made 2A less popular? Is it less popular than before?
Any thoughts?
2A used to be what was considered advanced. When you were good that was what you did. I don’t know the numbers, but I’m not sure that they matter. 2A it is devoloping so that is more than just the amount of loops that you can do.
Unresponsive seems to give you more of a chance to choose your style. Although 1A is intertwined with 3A, 5A, and even 4A, I don’t see that as a factor. 2A (responsive) requires more patience and more initiative, in 1A (unresponsive) it is easier to see the improvement that is being made and progress is being made faster.
TLTR; 2A is growing, but it may not be very noticeable. Doesn’t matter how you start eventually you will find the style that best fits you.
You can do Stop-and-Goes on Unresponsive. But I do it mainly on responsive. Also working on both is Sidewinder. However, one of my favourite tricks is UFO and you can’t do a true UFO unresponsive.
Would be pretty bad*** to do a UFO and whip-bind it, though!
Let me rephrase, I love stop and gos, a trick I can only do responsive. 
I think if you look at any of the winning 2A freestyles compared to anything 4 years ago you can see a significant difference. It’s almost become extremely fast 3A at some points so I’m going to dissagree on your comment
This one goes out to all my homeboys that were told they could never learn the basics of yoyo if they learned unresponsive first and stuck with it like I did just because their friends died in a freak gasoline fight accident and never learned to read good. I made this for you.
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I learned Unresponsive, took a long time. I knew what I was in for, so I started throwing a One with a size C bearing and some better response pads. I used WD40 as a lube. Mistake. Lol. Thank you Yoyoexpert For saving the one!
Have you ever tried responsive play? If not, do you think you will try it?
I had a friend that hated playing responsive. So he never played responsive. He didn’t have time to perfect his throws. He can’t do a forward pass, or horizontal throw because of it. And he looks sloppy when he attempts his tricks. Learn your basics on a responsive YoYo. Unless you are Grant Johnson. Because Grant Johnson is a YoYo god. Or Harrison Lee.
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Grant and Harrison both started unresponsive? That’s interesting. Do you know any more who did?
I would pick up my Fireball (I got it after because I always get a yoyo when I got to New Jersey. My tradition.) It broke a while ago 
so now I’ve got a case full of plastic and metal unresponsives. ;D
do whatever makes you want to play yo-yo more! in the end, how much fun you have is the most important thing.
having said that: i generally think that it’s better to learn the basics on a responsive yo-yo, because then you don’t have to awkwardly fumble with a bind at the end of every trick. sure, an unresponsive yo-yo’s less likely to snap back at you, but you’ll waste a lot of time winding up or binding to fix a bad throw. also, what if your friends want to try it and you have to explain why it doesn’t come back to them every time?
i personally spent my first 2-3 months responsive before switching, and then stuck to mostly unresponsive for years. i turned out just fine. when i started doing more demos for nonyoyoers, i found myself using responsive more and more because it seemed more familiar to them and made recovering from mistakes much easier… but then the more i played, the more i realized how much i liked the feeling of response. loop out of everything!
it’s all feelings, follow your heart, whatever. it’s not a binary, either; keep one of each on your desk and switch it up every week, see how that works. whatever you choose, enjoy it!
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I don’t know if Grant or Harrison started unresponsive or not, it was just a joke.
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I totally am glad I started responsive, it made me lean every possible thing I could do with my proyo, giving me a good foundation for bearing responsive then unresponsive.