BobParty’s Player Profile: Todd - Rain City Skills

[Splizacular (Thomas)]

@Bobparty

I leave them laying around the house

um best yoyo habbit ever??

@Snoopy

this is possible the greatest response to that question

i agree mostly, but what i think ppl are overlooking sometimes when they’re too quick to fire off this response is that these things are not mutually exclusive. one can start by benefiting from and learning from the experiences of others while simultaneously carving our own path. we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and like most things, i feel like the most efficient path lies in balance. no need to reinvent wheels cuz we’re too proud to ask others for advice

[Snoopy (Evan 🪀 (he/him))]

I don’t think that’s really what it means.

take into consideration the definition of “worry,” it is to feel anxious or uneasy about something–you can take inspiration from others, and learn from others, but it might not be a good idea to seek too much approval or cater too much to the opinions of others.

I think considering what other people think is healthy and important, but worrying about it is a bad idea. just write what you enjoy (which can include taking inspiration from others) and you can’t really go wrong.

with something as opinion heavy as writing, it’s best to just do what you want, and not worry so much.

[Yodaddyo (Seth McNeeley)]

@Snoopy

with everything, it’s best to just do what you want, and not worry so much.

Fixed it.

[Snoopy (Evan 🪀 (he/him))]

I’ve been thinking about that for the last day, Seth, and I don’t think I agree.

that’s some dangerously simplistic advice that ignores the complexity of human nature–emotions are transient, often irrational, and easily manipulated. To follow them blindly is to surrender reason to impulse.

I would argue that reason must govern feelings and emotions, moral decisions can’t be guided by personal feelings, for the heart desires what is immediately pleasurable at that moment, without considering what is truly best in the long run.

Also, making choices based on what you immediately want can easily lead to self-idolatry, and any reasonable person will know that such selfish desires aren’t good, and will ultimately lead you down an undesirable path.

My point is that we can’t let our desires govern us, but rather, we must govern our desires, and consider what is best overall, otherwise we will ruin our own selves.

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

Happy Monday with a great profile from one of our own Brandon Rogers!! @Captrogers

Online Profile Links

What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby

When I was a kid, my dad had a few yoyos and messed around with them. I remember he had a Proyo Roadster which has long been lost to time. My first yoyo was probably some cheap light up thing you get at an arcade but the one I remember was my raider.

As many have, I eventually got serious in my career and instead of messing with toys I focused on work. While on a vacation in ocean city I was in a kite shop and kept eyeing a raider like the one I had as a kid. My wife (fiancé at the time) nudged me to get it and from there the spark was made and my rediscovery of yoyo had started.

That was around 2016 and by 2018 I started fining online stuff initially Yo tricks then YYE. I eventually after lurking for a while joined the community and inserted myself into various groups and here, we are today.

If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?

That’s hard. I have an eclectic variety of yoyos at my disposal but I always fall back to picking up a raider or some other looping yoyo. If I had my pick, it would be a pair of something lp or loop ups probably.

What trick are you working on currently and what is your all time favorite trick?

Shoot the moon is my favorite trick. I enjoy being able to throw a yoyo and do a trick with one hand. What am I working on? I’ve been quietly working on KWIJIBO but its been slow with all this Fixed axle/modern responsive/anti banger stuff to participate in.

What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time

I absolutely love my wildwoods Gnomad in pink Spectra-ply. It’s just such a darn good wood yoyo and I sure do love wood.

Trick that gives you the hardest time?

Kick Flips!!! I can do them maybe once out of 20 tries and it always feels like I both won big when I do get it but I also lucked out because I have no idea how I got it.

What’s the most meaningful throw you have?

Yoyo’s that are gifts are my most cherished. My wife got me a Spinstar for Christmas one year and I refuse to let it go regardless of how silly it is because it was from her. She also got me a zipline honey badger which she stalked the drop for which was so cool of her. I think the honey badger is my most meaningful yoyo in that regard.

What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?

Gardening is a core part of who I am. I had a blog a long time ago when blogs where cool about my tomato gardening and love to grow cool plants or just a bunch of produce to share with friends’ family and neighbors. Currently I have a plan to convert the drainage ditch the county doesn’t maintain next to my house into a pumpkin patch and am hoping I corrected the PH issues enough to properly grow sunflowers this year.

Favorite restaurant and order?

Isn’t the meme answer chilis? I love Mexican food, there’s a small hole in the wall place in Manassas called Molcajete Moya and I usually order Enchiladas.

Favorite movie and or Book?

Jurassic Park is hands down my favorite book and movie. I watched the VHS till the tape broke then taped it back together and kept watching it till DVDs where a thing.

What does yo-yo mean for you. Expression, technical, art, sports

For me yoyo is relaxation and connection. It’s a hobby I use to connect to other people and it’s a way for me to take my mind off my day to day when needed.

It’s also been a sense of community for me in the online side of the hobby where I have met amazing people and shared experiences in a way I don’t get often in my day-to-day life.

What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby ?

My yoyo clubs (being a part of yoyo boomer club has been a delight and watching my own club DMV throw grow has been an adventure.

What’s it been like to watch the growth of the community

The biggest thing I’ve been a part of and watched grow in real time has been my local club DMV Throwers. We have quickly grown from 4 folks showing up in the park a year ago to a dozen to 30 people showing up monthly in the library auditorium and giving away yoyos to new players that stop by every time.

Being able to show someone how to throw a yoyo and give them advice and encouragement is fantastic and a big part of my enjoyment in the hobby. I’ve also watched our local area go from 1 club in a 50-mile radius of DC to three over the last few months and am so supportive of the expanded access to a local club for folks farther north and south of us.

If you couldn’t yo-yo what would you be doing?

Maybe paintball still or more bike riding. Idk, yoyo is a big part of my life at this time but it’s not my whole life. My kids take that spot and everything else is secondary so if I couldn’t yoyo, I would fill that gap with some other hobby. Maybe pickleball.

Advice/ words of wisdom to new players

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Your bearings are probably fine. Your string choice doesn’t matter and your skills can only be compared to your past self.

Theres always a new shiny toy and someone better than you out there so just pace yourself and enjoy the hobby for whatever you get out of it and don’t try to fit your enjoyment into other people’s definition of what the hobby is.

What’s your Yo-yo bad habit

I will borrow your yoyo make an axle knot without realizing and return it with said knot… I will also apologize a dozen times for doing so.

What movie or book character best fits who you are?

I used to be told I looked like Wayne knight specifically in his role in Seinfeld as Newman. What movie character do I act most like. Probably Marlin from finding nemo.

What do you want to tell the world

Spread the love of the hobby, Be good to others and accept people for who they are and be who you are without exception. Give good and you will get good in the end.

[Captrogers (Brandon Rogers)]

Look mom I’m famous or whatever

[Yodaddyo (Seth McNeeley)]

@Bobparty

Spread the love of the hobby, Be good to others and accept people for who they are and be who you are without exception. Give good and you will get good in the end.

Solid, solid advice.

Way to go @Captrogers!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it ‘til I’m blue in the face, this man is a treasure to the community. We’re all lucky and blessed to have Cap around

[JeiCheetah (J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)]

Really cool and in§ightful read!

[rkalajian (Berv Throwington (He/They))]

My man!

[Splizacular (Thomas)]

@Bobparty

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Your bearings are probably fine. Your string choice doesn’t matter and your skills can only be compared to your past self

gold

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

Amazing company profile today with Turner Return Tops!

Great read with the Sago release just right around the corner!!!

Instagram

How did the idea for TRT come about?

A few (several?) years ago now, I met Mark Dhier of Mk1 Yoyos on the r/Throwers Discord channel. One day, he [jokingly?] asked if anyone wanted to help him with quality control and packaging on his second Contact production. Knowing full well that we didn’t live far from each other at the time, I piped up and offered my help! Mark invited my wife and I to his home to help him check ano and package the Contact. He taught us how to check for anodization flaws, vibe, and other important yoyo QC witchcraft. Then, he taught us how to fold boxes, wrap string, and package the yoyos. That evening on the drive home, all we could talk about was how much fun we’d had and how much more realistic it seemed for us to achieve the same. I started conceptualizing the name, logo/trademark, and company mission that evening! I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur with my art, TRT is my artistic outlet.

What does a day in the life look like for you running TRT?

Probably like many others in the boutique yoniverse, TRT is not my fulltime job. In fact, we haven’t even paid ourselves from it. All of our proceeds have either been reinvested into TRT or been invested into the “yommunity” as event sponsorships. I do my best to complete at least one TRT task daily. The busiest time is when we receive a production run and go through our quality control and packaging process. Jess (my wonderful wife) and I typically work on this together, sometimes we have help from the team. It’ll take us between 2 to 3 weeks to test, inspect, package, and inventory a production run. For all the goings on, I work on CAD, graphic design for stickers/pogs/website/packaging/engravings, blog posts for the website, web shop updates, shipping, and some social media. Jess, helps me greatly with TRT. She shares the social media work with me (she runs our TikTok and YouTube, I am the Instagram man) and she is my master of marketing, marketing yoyos to all of our amazing retailers! She also shares the accounting, inventory, and shipping work with me. Some days I just chat with the team and gather feedback on our prototypes or discuss signature designs, we currently have a few in the works. So, it’s kind of a whirlwind on a day-to-day!

Walk me through your creative process

I like to think my process is fairly organic, but I’ve found my groove and have turned it into a routine. When an idea for a yoyo hits, I’ll tend to ponder it for quite awhile before I move into CAD and actually start drawing it. Mark Dhier got me into this line of thinking, and that’s to settle on not just the yoyo design, but what the yoyo design is trying to achieve, what is its purpose? Once all that has been pondered, ideated, dreamt of, discussed, then buried in soft peat for several months before being exhumed and revived, I open Fusion360 and get to work. I gave FreeCAD a try, but I just didn’t gel with the workflow and found myself spending more time figuring out how to draw my line, instead of just drawing my line. I have a handful of bearing seat files that I’ve accumulated and updated over the years, so I don’t redraw those each time anymore, just grab whatever fits the design and save as. If I’m drawing the “next evolution” of an existing design, I’ll start with that file. I draw the right side of the yoyo and always start with my profile. I’ll then draw a “rough” cup and start revolving, checking mass and MOI, and then redrawing/editing until I hit the numbers I’m looking to achieve. Once the math and design looks good, I’ll render it in several different colors, float those out to the team, and then discuss any changes before we move on to prototyping. I do my best to name prototype designs, but we’ve rarely kept the prototype name for any of the actual releases. Once you get that physical creature in your hands and start flowing, the name tends to come a little more naturally. We pass prototypes around the team and I always bring them with me to club meets and events. I like to get the prototypes into as many hands as possible, I value every player’s opinions on them. So, if you ever see my shiny bald head somewhere… you should definitely bother me because I want to know what you think about my prototype! After a few months of play testing, we decide whether or not to make changes and/or proceed with quoting a production run. If the numbers line up, we pick our pantones and cut the check! Once yoyos are ordered, which is typically the longest lead time, we start ordering all of the other important accoutrements that the modern yoyoist should expect. Strings have come from Zipline for every one of our independent releases, and I intend to keep it that way! Jeremy has been amazing to work with and I truly respect what he’s doing. I admire his passion for yoyo and am always elated to get huge bundles of his glorious string! I have a self-proclaimed Pog Smith out in Nevada, this guy is the real deal! Check him out, custompogs.com. Stickers get ordered from whoever has the best deal going, I haven’t married any of these print shops, yet. Last but not least, there’s the model specific stamp for the boxes. Speaking of gift boxes, this upcoming model will be the last TRT release in our hand stamped gift boxes… we’ve been cooking something quality over the last several months to enhance our yo-experience.

What’s your favorite memory running TRT?

Oi, there’s so many! How can I pick only one? If I have to pick, though, it’s gotta be this last US Nationals out in Philadelphia. This was my first time at a Nationals event and it was simply wild! I got to meet so many more faces of yo, learned new tricks, and picked up some excellent new yoyos, along with getting to catch up with several familiar faces of yo, too! We even had a couple kids running around with our Scrub yoyos, getting them signed like they were team signed baseballs. One kid kept coming up to our table to show me the latest signature, then I’d point out another famous player and he’d run off to meet them. There were so many kids buzzing about the Scrub that Mark D. coined the term “Scrubonites” that weekend to describe our band of followers. The most adorable was this little girl who made it her mission to not only get signatures on her yoyo, but she also had to collect one of each of our pogs! This was so cool to me, because our pogs are all limited edition and this was the first time someone told me they were actually collecting them! Funniest part about that little girl, was that she didn’t realize who I was until the end of the event. She thought I was just some guy working the table, not the actual yoyo designing human. When she was told, the look on her face was priceless! We also made the final decision to offer sponsorship to Adam Reeder during this event, and we’re beyond elated to have him on the team. Oh, and Eric’s DNA on weird things contest was a riot! I almost had it on that big ol’ Brontosaurus!

What’s your favorite release to date?

Tough call between the Bathysphere and Cenote. Bathysphere is incredibly special to me, being our first collaboration and our largest/most popular release to date. This was also the first time I really worked on custom packaging, which was a ton of work, but the results were more than worth it. I hope Mark and I get to work together on another collaboration one day! Cenote is our next most popular, numbers wise. We took our biggest financial risk to date with the second run, and it was either going to make us or break us. Working with our favorite tattoo artist and friend, Vanessa Harper, we had so much fun creating the limited art series. I also got to share Cenote with so many great players at Nats, hearing their overwhelmingly positive feedback on it was incredible. The most amazing thing about Cenote, though, was that my favorite player gave it a rave review on his Youtube channel, thank you Takatsu-san!!! I could have probably died happy that day, talk about a yo-chievment that I never had though about before and that has been so important to me. All that said, I think it’s the Cenote!

What’s your next release and why should we be excited for it?

Our next release is coming up Friday, March 28th… it’s the Sago!!! This is our first bimetal yoyo, and it is an absolute banger. Just say go, because Sago simply exudes speed, stability, and fun to the max. There’s a ton of comp focused bimetals out there, and in my experience most play the same way, Sago is different. Despite being incredibly rim weighted, the overall weight of the design allows for easy and fast directional changes. However, if you really just like ridiculously powerful yoyos, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a special edition of the Sago with heavier brass rims included with this release, the King Sago! Oh, and… oh my sweet goodness gracious… this release also includes our first ever Unknown collaborative edition! Hyyype!!!

What’s in store for TRT in the future?

When we first started, my goal was to have our yoyos retail at YoYoExpert and in Japan. Those were my two biggest milestones and what seemed impossible at the time. I feel like we’ve finally made a name for ourselves and cemented our spot in the yommunity, and having achieved my original dream goals… I’ve been working on a larger list! Most recently, we embarked on the journey of custom packaging for all of our future releases. Manufacturing recently finished and they’re on their way across the Pacific, we’re expecting them to arrive in time for our next-next release. Speaking of, I hope y’all like turtles as much as we do! We’re also planning our first crowd-funded release, which will also be our first tug-responsive model. And my current ultimate goal, apart from making TRT my full time job, is to make $5 yoyos. I had a dream that I walked into our local Target… and there it was, on the shelf right next to the Duncan yoyos, a selection of Turner Return Tops! So, probably not in the next 3 years, but maybe in the next 7 to 10 years I want to journey into injection molding and worldwide retail. Maybe after that I’ll have to get one of our yoyos launched into space or something, but right now that’s the biggest dream I’ve dreamt!

If you could go back and do one thing differently what would that be?

Easy. I’d have done the Buoy! very differently. I ordered too many prototypes, with fancy expensive anodization, and we ordered way too many for production! Being a nobody from nowhere as a new boutique company was way more difficult to perpetuate than I could have ever anticipated. I oftentimes wonder if we’d have been better off as a mystery company with no face reveal! I also would have reached out to retailers first, before trying to direct release on our own. That hindered our growth early on, thinking we’d somehow just sell 100+ Buoy!'s direct was beyond foolish. I know now that retail sales are even more important than our direct sales. By a large margin. Our retailers bring our products to more people than we could ever hope to reach via social media and forums, apart from all of the good they do for our yommunity in their own unique ways!

What do you think sets your company apart from others?

I think we have a few things going for us that sets apart from most. We have consistently manufactured with FPM, which we believe produces the highest quality for the cost. We also really enjoy working with Wendy, you rock! Including quality accessories is certainly not unique in the yoniverse either, but again, we consistently include Zipline strings with each release because they are the best in the world. I could buy bulk bags of poly string at cost for way less, but I love Zipline strings and I’m pretty sure most of you do, too! Have I mentioned our limited edition pogs? I love collecting things, not just yoyos. So, including fun things like the pogs brings me a ton of joy. All of this, and I believe we maintain a relatively low price for what we offer. Apart from quality tops & accessories for reasonable prices, I believe our tops generally follow the same philosophy of fun. Our designs mostly revolve around lighter than average overall weights and I always focus on achieving this magical “float” feeling on strings. Competition is important, the latest meta is fire, but those are not the only facets to the hobby. We’ll continue to do our best to keep it fun, that I can guarantee!

Any advice to aspiring companies/creators?

This is the best advice that I have the most difficult time following: plan it all in advance. Spend a few more weeks tweaking that drawing, show it to a trusted yo-gineer with experience for help. Their feedback will be invaluable! Or hire someone to draw your CAD if you aren’t the technical type. Order the MOQ (minimum order quantity) with either solid color ano or raw to save money on prototypes. Play and share those prototypes for at least 3 if not 6 months. Plan the theme, name, art, accessories, packaging, advertising, and marketing before you order that production run. Reach out to retailers with renderings to gauge interest in the design prior to production, too. Don’t forget shipping supplies! Oh yeah, and plan out where you’re going to layout your hundreds of yoyos to do quality control, inspections, packaging and then storage. I’m always trying to re-organize my yo-storage!

[Raindog3030 (Bruce - Turner Return Tops)]

Yo, thank you so much for profiling our little yompany!

I had so much fun answering these questions, although it was challenging not answering each with a full novel

I can’t wait to see your next one!

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

[rkalajian (Berv Throwington (He/They))]

@Bobparty

I ordered too many prototypes, with fancy expensive anodization, and we ordered way too many for production!

Wait, are there still Buoys to be had!?

[Yodaddyo (Seth McNeeley)]

@Raindog3030

it was challenging not answering each with a full novel

I assure you, we would happily accept a novel for each answer so much cool stuff in there.

Thanks for taking the time, Bruce!

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

Today I’m proud to present Miri Kim!!!

What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?

I started yo-yoing in 2015 when I was five years old. My dad bought yo-yos for me and my brother. At first, I wasn’t very interested because it was difficult to learn tricks. It took me six months just to learn the basic bind. However, having successfully mastered some tricks and achieved good results in contests, I started to get more interested in yo-yoing.

What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!

My goal is to advance to the 1A final at worlds. Also, since I made many mistakes due to nervousness on stage last year, I want to perform better this year.

If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?

I would probably choose the Miracle 2025. It’s my signature yo-yo, and it has the best specs for landing my tricks.

What trick are you working on currently?

I am practicing my routine repeatedly for the World yoyo contest. I want to reduce mistakes by practicing that routine for a long time.

What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?

I think the 4.0, and 4.5 hooks are most difficult to land. And those hooks are the hardest tricks to nail successfully on the stage. Also, the horizontal tricks are hard to do.

What’s the most meaningful or favorite throw you have?

The most meaningful yo-yo is the Black Original Miracle that I used when I won the Women’s Freestyle at the 2023 World Yo-Yo Contest.

What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?

My worst habit is feeling excessively nervous on stage. Unlike during practice, I get really nervous when I’m on stage, which makes it hard to carry out my tricks.

What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?

I like reading, writing, drawing, and taking photos. I love reading Greek and Roman classics and epic poems. Also, I enjoy writing short stories, and drawing in the style of Renaissance era paintings, especially, Raphael Santi’s masterpieces.

**What song best fits your personality?

I think fast-paced music with climax suits me the best.

Favorite restaurant and order?

My favorite is italian restaurant. I like Margherita Pizza, Bolognese and Vongole pasta, and Lasagna. I love italian desserts such as Schiacciata alla fiorentina(florentine sweet cake), Panforte, Millefoglie.

Favorite movie and or Book?

My favorite movies are the ‘Life is beautiful’ and ‘The Prestige’.

My favorite books are ‘The Iliad’, ‘The Odyssey’, the tragedies by greek playwrights and ‘Night Flight’. I also like reading some books about Renaissance art, as drawing is my favorite hobby.

What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?

To me, yo-yoing is like climbing stairs, taking one step at a time in order. In yo-yoing you can’t achieve all in an instant. I believe that diligence is the key in this process. There are no leaps in yo-yoing. What matters is consistency.

What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby?

The greatest memory I have is when I made it to the 1A final last year at the World yoyo contest. It was one of my biggest goals I had in yo-yoing. I didn’t expect that I could pass the prelims because I changed my yo-yo at the beginning.

What’s your biggest accomplishment yo-yo or not?

I think the biggest accomplishment that I made is two times women’s freestyle titles in a row.

How has the community changed since you started? Where do you want it to go?

It seems that more people are promoting themselves through online communities rather than offline ones. Since the pandemic, the number of people sharing their yo-yo tricks and performances on social media platforms like Instagram has increased, so has the number of people watching that content and becoming more interested in yo-yoing.

If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?

If I hadn’t got into yo-yoing, I probably would have dreamed of becoming a painter. However, I might not have been very special at it. Being a painter is a dream many people have, so becoming successful in that field would have been much more difficult.

Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?

Yo-yoing requires a lot of practice. If you don’t put efforts, it will be difficult to achieve success. I think talent is not that important. The more you overcome your limits, the higher you’ll reach. And be confident on stage!

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Today we have Sean Collins from GWay throws!!!

What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?

I was really fascinated at the time with “retro” items and had picked up a cheap yo-yo. Naturally I took to YouTube, learned enough about bearings to tear up my local toys r us for a Yomega exodus 2 and I’ve been going at it since then. Roughly a year in I found a small local group and we had our only state contest that year (2012). I had a small falling out with this hobby that started sometime in college until I got back into it during Covid. Scales streams helped give me a sense of community during that time and I’ve been hooked again.

What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!

I want to meet more of my own team members! We have a very diverse group from all over and I think it would be awesome to get to know them personally.

If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?

I always hate to come off with bias, but I think the Gway Re:Devil. Ever since I played with the original daredevil I’ve always loved the size and power. Re:Devil is just slightly more modern.

What trick are you working on currently?

I haven’t been throwing consistently. So whatever just comes to mind I usually will grind out for however long I have.

What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?

I’ve been working on some tower whips that are pretty hard to get down.

What’s your favorite trick?

Matthew Wallsten’s 3D isolation slack that breaks down to a tower, then GT. Or any Tsukasa Namba trick.

What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time?

The yo-yos battling for my attention the most are (in no order): Southside, Sibyl, Anceps, Refractory

What’s the most meaningful throw you have?

My 2013 Worlds Duncan Strix! I remember getting it at the Duncan booth right before meeting Janos Karancz in person. He was probably my favorite player at the time.

What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?

Bearing maintenance. Despite spending a good amount on tools to make it easier for me I just hate taking the time to deshield bearings and lube.

What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?

I play a lot of ping pong, go-kart, disc golf, and video games!

What song best fits your personality?

I actually don’t know how to answer this one!

Favorite restaurant and order?

I think my favorite dish I’ve ever gotten was a teriyaki glazed, pan seared salmon on coconut jasmine rice.

Favorite movie and or Book?

Synecdoche, New York

What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?

It’s a way to express yourself and connect with others. But first and foremost it’s a toy for fun!

What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby ?

I remember my entire Chesapeake Classic trip from 2022. It was the first time in a long time I traveled for a contest. I fondly remember my car ride with my buddy Ben, staying out late, meeting a lot of new friends in a super scenic, fun little beach contest.

What’s your practice routine like?

I don’t have a routine, probably to my detriment! I practice when I can. If a contest is coming up I’ll usually try to make it a goal to get a few hours of grind time prior.

How has the community changed since you started? Where do you want it to go?

It just seems like it reaches further. The internet and forums were a prevalent force back when I started; but the micro-sharing through Instagram, TikTok, and Discord really feels like it shrinks our global maps. I do think the DNA has had a profound boom on how many new people picked up a yo-yo. In the future, I’d like to see a non-competition focused event, that was substantial enough to warrant the travel & lodging that regular contests do.

If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?

Well, when I took my yo-yo break, I learned to work on cars and played a lot of video games. I think I’d have gotten into a different hobby. Maybe cubing? A bunch of kids in my school were into that during that time.

Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?

Have fun! At the end of the day your enjoyment comes out of how you play with a toy. I can’t tell you how to have fun. But I will remind you to check and make sure you are. It’s easy to get lost in grinding for a competition or get caught up in how the modern judging system works.

Also don’t tell yourself no! I wouldn’t have been able to learn half the tricks I have if I ever put the mental block in place of some trick being “too-hard”.

Whats you want to tell the world?

I think we’re doing a better job day after day, but just being kinder and more accepting of people. This is a global community with nearly every possible background of people that all share different ideas and beliefs. I think it’s important to protect not only your own peace, but making sure others feel safe too. If you go to a contest say hi to someone new. You never know who just needs to at extra nudge to break that ever-present yo-yo awkwardness. And they may go on to be a great friend of yours.

[ENGLISH_TEA (Todd Rollenhagen)]

Sean is the man! (yes I’m working on more softies strings for yoh buddy)

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

(post deleted by author)

[Bobparty (Beef Hook Queen)]

Great interview today everyone!

In honor of Rain City Skills we have Todd!!!

Instagram

Hey everyone! I’m Todd aka: yoyofox currently on the rain city team, as you read this we will be almost closed up! I’m super pumped to be profiled, and I hope you like to read

What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?

Like most folks I started playing in middle school. I remember my buddy tony and I got a couple yomega brains when they first came out and we would stand at our lockers in between classes and play, we worked hard getting that thing to sleep and thought we were the coolest making it do what it was engineered not to do. Tony could rock the baby though so I spent a lot of time learning that and I finally got it! Then I smashed it on the tile floor on accident and it broke! I begged my parents for a new one but like most other things I got the response of “you don’t need that, it’s a toy for kids and you’re not a kid.” so it faded into obscurity.

Fast forward to 2020 I was working in a school as a BASE teacher and it was post covid return to school and I wanted to find something cool for the kids that wasn’t a screen so I went off to the teacher supply store to find something and they had juggling sets, poi, hula hoops, flowstars, a bunch of those cool little robot science projects, and on a little end cap there were some Duncans, I picked up a reflex, butterfly, and an imperial and I brought them back and started with the reflex because it had the auto return and I got hooked from that! I wanted to learn tricks so I could teach the kids, found a great beginner series and started learning basics. Then I purchased a sage and that began my addiction of purchasing but also the excitement of learning new tricks. I did start a yoyo club with the kids and of the huge group that wanted to do it only 2 stuck with it! But that’s OK I hope they still play
What is your goal in 2025 for yourself? Yo-yo or not!

Goals for 2025 for yoyo

Compete at Nats and have fun instead of tense up… Run Colorado states again in November but better than last year! And continue to improve everyday!

Non-yoyo

my wife and I are trying to get our house built so this is a major goal for us

If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?

This question is difficult… But right now I’d go with the Doc pop DIY. Super versatile, super comfy.

What trick are you working on currently?

I actually just started candy rain lol! A nice classic

What’s the trick that gives you the hardest time?

Rancid milk!! Finally got this one and then I’m not consistent with it, I get it all the way through maybe 1 out of 10 tries, but that’s one to keep working on!

What’s your favorite trick?

Doc pop’s bus flow, it’s a super flowy trick that has an orbital decay element, I struggled with orbital decay for so long and then it finally clicked and that trick instantly became a favorite!

What’s your favorite yo-yo of all time?

Another one of these hard questions? My favorite of all time is

1. Rain city skills: showpony & Doc pop: icarus
2. Turner return tops: scrub
3. Rain city skills: seti
4. One drop: wizard
5. Mile High Yoyo: gnome (all variants)
   You got the top 5!

What’s the most meaningful throw you have?

The titanium gnome is the most meaningful to me, it was a gift from a good friend. And of course out of all of my collection the most meaningful pieces are the gifts from friends and all the pieces I got through my sponsorship with Rain City Skills

What’s your worst habit with yo-yos?

LOL! DINGS no yoyo is safe from the floor/gravel/concrete/shelving units with me. I love it though, they’re like battle scars. In fact just today I got the sago from Turner in the mail and my first throw sent it into a shelf and bent the rim! Hooray it’s been set free!

What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?

I shoot nature photography, I haven’t in a long time but it’s another hobby, and Colorado lends for some great shots. I also play bass and used to be in a band but that time in my life has passed. Starting to get into kendama a little bit and other skill toys.

What song best fits your personality?

Green Day: the grouch

Favorite restaurant and order?

Double D’s pizza - large palette pleaser, and some garlic knots

Favorite movie and or Book?
Clint pic

I am a huge western fan. My favorite Western is The Outlaw Josey Wales. And I absolutely adore the spaghetti westerns! This comes from sitting with my grandpa and watching these movies when I was just a wee lad.

What does yo-yo’ing mean to you?

Expression. Artistry. Growth. I’ll tell you straight I am not the best player, not by a long shot. But this hobby began as an alternative to screens for 23 tiny people. And has become something that I use to ground myself when stressed or anxious, and a way to express myself through my own style that’s ever changing. It’s definitely changed my life and I’ve met the best of friends through yoyo and it’s helped me through very difficult times.

What’s your favorite memory from your time in the hobby ?

The whole experience? Lol! The time spent on the rain city skills team is definitely top. When I was beginning the first metal/higher level yoyo I bought was the guitarist, and Waylon didn’t send it with pads! So I reached out and he sent them but then I bought a deluge and he was confused haha!

But a while later Jeremy asked me to be on the team right at the time I had finished making my first drop of foxtails actually the next day when I was trying to figure out how to sell them and he said we could do that on the website. I had wanted to be on rain city from the very beginning and it was a perfect fit. Even though I was still a pretty rough beginner player Jeremy took me on and I am incredibly grateful for everything he’s done for me on this journey, and I’ve become close friends with the whole team.

It’s a huge bummer that we’re closing, but I completely understand what Jeremy is going through. It’s sad for sure but this was an amazing experience, and it will stick with me for evrything in the future, wherever I end up.

Foxtails. I made the first ones just to see if I could, I wanted to know if I could use a material i like to make myself string to be able to have as much as I want for super cheap. Then I let the guys at club try some just to see what people thought and everyone loved them and wanted some already. That’s when I stumbled upon the fade, and that was it! I love being able to bring these to people and I love all the reactions to them! I’m currently as of this moment working on a large run with several new colors, and finding a new home for them to live!

Mile High YoYo Club. I was told by Jakob Austin that there was a yoyo club local. I had no idea and was really uncertain but I went, and I met Dave and LK that day and I was hooked it was crazy to see other people who liked yoyo. And now this group of people have become amazing friends and I’ve watched people join and leave or move away. But it’s gotten to the point where I’ve started running the second meet of the month, and help with the jamboree as well as running Colorado States along with Jon Gates!

What’s your best advice for people to get better at yo-yoing?

Practice. That’s it. Find a trick you like and practice until you get it, or an element, or a transition. Then keep practicing until you can do it in your sleep. When I learned skin the gerbil it took me a couple of weeks to get it, and I got it in chunks. I kept doing it over and over to join the pieces, make it smooth and now I can do it blindfolded. And I still do it everyday.
Find a player whose style you love, and emulate that while mixing it with your own, develop your own with influences from the greats.

Most people know me from my daily videos, I’ve been doing that for a while, when I started that the popular thing to do was the 1 day, 1 week, month, year, 35 years of yoyo videos and I wanted to do a live progress daily video and I’m happy I did that becuase I can look back at those old videos and see how much I’ve actually grown. My first posted video was a trapeze… Just go for it!

How has the community changed since you started? Where do you want it to go?

I started in late 2020, and I think that was really the rebuilding after the pandemic, at least in a physical sense so I’ve been able to see it grow, or re-grow. But also 5 years isn’t really enough time to see a lot of change. I see new people start and stop, or start and embrace the community, and the established clubs starting to grow. I hang out with some old school players and just love the stories of the community from '99 '00s era, sort of living vicariously through that because I wasn’t there for it.
What I’d love to see the community do is grow, more clubs, more new people, more folks willing to start a club in their area with no idea if there’s any other players around and be willing to teach new people. I need to do this too at my own club meets, because the joy in this is sharing the knowledge, if I can teach some kid who just started how to bind then I’ve set them up for the rest of this world of yoyo.

If you never picked up a yo-yo - what would things look like now?

Gosh. Droll. Work, and more work followed by brain rot with a screen.

Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?

Try everything.

I see this question so much “hey guys I’m a new player, what is the best ____?” everything in yoyo is your personal preference. The yoyo I love may be hated by the next person. The string I love may not be liked by everyone. So if that questions is asked and someone tells them what is the “best” they may hate it and stop.

So literally try every type of yoyo, material, shape, size experiment and find what you love. String, try it all until yoh find your favorite, string is cheap. Bearings? Run them dry, never use lube… Embrace the frustration, learning new tricks is frustrating, you fail more times than you get it until you get it, In the beginning you fail every trick for a while! Don’t give up it helps yoh learn problem solving, and landing that difficult to you trick for the first time is the BEST feeling. Find your own flow and go that direction, don’t feel pressured to learn the DNA unless that’s your goal. Use a good beginner tutorial series.

What do you want to tell the world?

I will quote the twelfth doctor “Hate is always foolish. And love, is always wise. Always try, to be nice and never fail to be kind”

Also, I’m pretty sure Waylon licks every box he ships, so be careful when you open your rain city packages