This year I had the pleasure of attending Worlds in Cleveland, and as one might expect, it was a blast. One of the greatest things about Worlds is the sheer number of yoyos available to try and buy. Another great thing is the people. Meeting all the different great players, manufacturers, and generally awesome people is one of the highlights of any contest. At Worlds this year, I had an awesome opportunity to meet and talk with a player named Pat Condon. For those of you who don’t know, Pat is part owner of Diverse Animals, a new up and coming company that makes hand turned yoyos. So far they have released two stellar Delrin yoyos, the Nano and the Disaster. Pat let me try the Disaster he had on him, and after giving it a few throws, I decided to pick one up from the Yoyoexpert booth. After having used this yoyo as my main throw for a while now, I think it’s time for a review. Let’s get started!
Design/Aesthetics
At first glance, the Disaster appears to be a classic organic butterfly shape, however on closer examination one finds that there are actually four subtle steps in the profile that lead to the gap. Still, the overall feeling in the hand is that of a rounded butterfly, which I enjoy. There are no hard edges on this yoyo to hurt your hand on a bad return. The hub of the yoyo features a cool little spike - and yes, it is sharp enough for matador play.
The color of mine is a solid bright pink which looks great - it really pops and stands out against many other yoyo colors. One cool aesthetic touch of the Disaster is that you can still see some of the machine lines from when it was made - a cool little reminder that this yoyo is something handmade that someone put a lot of time and effort into.
The guts of the yoyo feature Diverse Animals’ own SPR system. This is a metal spacer that contains the bearing seat and response groove. It is not press fit into the yoyo, so be careful when taking apart your yoyo, as it could fall out; you don’t want to lose it. The stock response is flowable silicone, which plays quite nice. However, on my yoyo the silicone on one side did fall out after a couple days of play, so I replaced it with a YYF pad which has been working great so far. Another thing to note about the response groove is that it is slightly shallower than your standard 19mm groove, so the pad I replaced the silicone with was slightly protruding until I broke it in.
Play
If somebody asked me to describe the play of this yoyo in one word, the word I would use is comfortable. The weight of this yoyo is slightly on the heavier side, however it doesn’t feel sluggish at all. Many heavier yoyos, while perhaps possessing excellent stability and spin time, feel as if they are fighting you when you try to get them moving, but the Disaster doesn’t. The weight distribution makes it feel as if you are always in control of the yoyo. It is in no way a speed demon, but it still possesses more potential for swiftness than other similar yoyos in it’s weight and size class. The spin times and stability are very good due to the thick rims that this yoyo possesses, though not quite as much as some of the more competition oriented metals on the block. Still, this definitely stacks up against the other premium plastics in the market, and surpasses many. Overall, I would describe this yoyo as more of a chill throw, perfectly suited for casual flowy play and devising new tricks.
Conclusion
Over the course of the contest, many people noticed the bright pink yoyo hanging on my belt. “What’s that?”, they would ask, and after telling them about it, I would let them try it and ask them how they felt about it. After giving it a few throws, the person trying the yoyo would invariably respond with something along the lines of “it’s fun!” or “I really like it!” I think this response is the best way to describe this yoyo. Rather than crafting another “competition killer” type yoyo as the trend seems to be these days, Diverse Animals decided to craft something fun and unique, forging their own path. I am excited to see where Diverse Animals goes next, and am a proud supporter of their endeavors.
Thanks for reading my review! Tell me what you think in the comments.
Link to the Disaster at Yoyoexpert: https://shop.yoyoexpert.com/collections/plastic-yo-yos/products/disaster-yoyo-by-diverse-animals?variant=19481700612
Link to Diverse Animals manufacturer thread: http://yoyoexpert.com/forums/index.php/topic,58208.0.html