If a good yoyo comes out in a dozen colors including black.
Black would be my last choice.
If I was late for a drop. And every color was already sold out except black. I most likely would just pas on it.
There is nothing ‘wrong’ with black yoyos. Maybe in the 20 plus years I professionally painted car and choppers and just about anything else paintable. I just painted way too many things black, dunno?
I just tend to enjoy colors that jump out at me. Colors that are easier to follow under more lighting conditions.
When I started attending yoyo Contest back around 1998(thereabouts). I noticed real fast that it was harder for ‘me’ to clearly follow the black yoyos through the air. And if the contestant was wearing black or dark clothes. And way back then, some guys actually threw with black string. And some of the stages had a black backdrop. Very low contrast seemed a real pain to my enjoyment of even watching.
When Johnnie Delvalle ushered in what I call ‘tricks in a box’ and others start following suit. I liked black even less.
(Tricks in a box is a term I use to describe when a player does a whole bunch of string hits in a series of tricks that almost look like the player is wearing handcuffs and his hands are moving within an invisible shoebox.)
When the players started using lighter and brighter colored yo-yos combined with white or neon yellow/green or orange string. To me, that was the recipe to enable better appreciation for what the player was actually doing.
Obviously I am not a competitor. But I often find myself throwing in less than idea lighting conditions. So… black yo-yos are not my best friend.
Now, that being explained. I ‘do’ have some black yo-yos that I have absorbed in trades. If a guy really wants a certain yoyo that I have. And he has a very nice yoyo also… And it just happens to be black. I will still trade so the kid can get the yoyo he wants.
And most of the black yo-yos I do have. I really like the yoyos regardless. But I still don’t care for black, lol.
Two tones or tri metals are good for me. A black yoyo with stainless or gold or rainbow rims…
A tri metal like Sengoku Hydeyoshi is amazingly sweet looking. Black with contrasting rings.
I was at a friends house one day and he Loves black yo-yos. We walked into his ‘fun room’ and he opened up 2 suitcase size yoyo cases. Both top and bottom foam and filled with nothing but black yo-yos. From about 6 feet away, it looked like a huge collection of Hockey Pucks, Lolol.
So… the moral of the story is whatever makes you happy. 90 percent of players will never compete in their entire life. So contrast may have little value, if any.
I’ve still got a few favorites not in black, but I replace them with black whenever I come across one.
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I do recall thinking “if that yoyo came in a different color or even raw I’d own it.” That’s when the first OPYOYOS dropped. Maybe I do not buy some yoyos because of the color.