Buying yo-yos and gathering up yoyos are two entirely different things.
The confusion is obviously only in your mind.
To me; a collector is somebody that procures yo-yos for one or more of many different reasons.
Collectors often know exactly what they want. They know what it’s worth. They may be interested in; rarity, color ways, brands, type, material type, certain numbers, resell value, etc…
Collectors normally organize their yo-yos display cases or drawers or lighted cabinets.
They may end up with a very large number of yo-yos; but the number of yo-yos they ‘have’ is most often not their driving stimulus.
… Then there are people like me. That buy yo-yos because they just like the adventure of new yo-yos. Large numbers are not the end game. Specific numbered releases or brands or color ways or limited editions or values are not a planned part of the process.
I am not driven by what others buy. I never buy yo-yos with thoughts they may be worth more years later… or buying to immediately resell at a profit.
I do not organize my yoyos. I do not have a ledger with all my yoyos listed. I do not display yo-yos in my houses. I keep most loosely stacked in plastic totes. They are gently placed in the large containers but they are not stacked with space saving precision.
When I look for a yoyo; often I have to try and remember exactly what container the yoyo is in?
Years ago; no doubt; I was a pretty busy modder. I was driven by a desire to get more performance out of yo-yos. I had extensive experience customizing cars and speedboats and Harley motorcycles. Back when I got my first yoyos; I just felt they were something else to hot-rod.
Back around 1998; I noticed that the kids were doing some pretty crazy(at the time) tricks on some pretty sub potential performing yo-yos. That was my inspiration to use my customizing skills to squeeze more performance out of the current yo-yos of the day. I became a sort of Dr. Frankenstein of yo-yos. I bought stuff and reworked it. Like Mr. Potatohead; I moved stuff around.
I made friends with other yoyo modders from around the World. We attacked hot-rodding yo-yos from many different angles. Not to outdo each other. But to see ‘what we could do’.
As ‘all’ of us yoyo customizers’ did ‘our things’; over time the Manufacturers did their own Yoyo performance enhancements. And yo-yos for retail sale became more and more higher performance oriented.
So; my personal mission slowly became unnecessary. I pretty much converted from buying yo-yos to make them work better. To buying yo-yos to see which ones I liked better.
I never had the desire or specific urge to accumulate a Ton of yo-yos. I have never purchased a yoyo with ‘skills included’. I have never bought a yoyo with a vision that I would become waaay better because ‘this is the one’ mindset.
I buy yo-yos because I love messing with yo-yos and endlessly appreciate what others produce.
I am around for the long run and no doubt I will die with a yoyo in my hand or in my pocket or both. I don’t falter and have thoughts that I no longer have time for yo-yos. I will not quit because life is too busy. Or yo-yos are suddenly boring. Or nobody close to me yoyos; so what’s the use.
When I bought my first yoyo in about 1997/98; I knew immediately that It would be a part of my active life.
One driving motivation in my yoyo adventures; was simply to prove that yo-yos could be made to perform better through various tweaks and weight distribution factors.
Various Awards I have received over the years; seem to point to the reality that ‘others have recognized’ my efforts were worthwhile. I sure didn’t present Awards to myself.
So now I am wearing ‘the other shoe’. I am appreciating and recognizing what others; do, make, accomplish. Pushing the envelope at higher levers.
It is almost impossible to buy a poor performing yo-yos nowadays. Yoyos are no longer bad or good. Yoyos are good, really good or really awesome. From a multitude of Makers. And at just about every imaginable pricepoint. I don’t need to spend time cutting up stuff to impress ‘who’. I buy stuff to impress me.
I am slowly learning CAD now. I have ideas that will surface when I ‘am ready’. As a modder; I am far from done. But I am not compelled to knock the dust off my machines because somebody may challenge me make some moves like days gone past.
I never planned on having such a large number of yo-yos. But without a specific plan; often unplanned results will occur.
To be continued…
