Is the Selene an updated Silenus? Do you know when will it become generally available (it doesn’t yet appear on YYE’s webstore)?
It’s unrealeased I think. The Selene has a wide H shape while the Silenus I think has a W shape. They’re different yo-yos completely.
BTW, I don’t think I have yet to hear anyone pronounce Draupnir correctly. I always hear “Drop Near” or “Drawp Near”, when it should be “Drowp Near” (where drowp rhymes with drown).
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bing bing bing - YES indeed, we have a winner. 
The draupnir is not that good
Wut
the matte finishes are not good for grinds
More wut
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Let me elaborate. For its price, it’s not that good. Sure, it was probably the best yoyo in the market in 2014. But now, any popular new yoyo within the 100-200 dollar price range could rival the draup . In 2015 WYYC finals, 5 contestants used the draup. However in the 2018 WYYC finals, no one used it. This proves the draup isn’t anywhere as good as it used to be and is losing its reputation as the best competition throw.
Gotta disagree with you here. The draupnir definitely has a feel for me that I don’t get from other yo-yos. I appreciate YYR but I’m far from a fanboy, and I’d be the first to call it out if it was all hype. Now as far as price goes, yeah, you can probably say “x” yo-yo at $125 is a better value. But price aside, the draup will always be a special one for me
Also, I think your last comment is a bit of a non sequitur argument
Well, it’s all about opinion. Maybe your style matches the draup more than mine does 
You are absolutely correct. Ironically enough, the draup does not suit me very well lol. It just has a unique personality to me
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In 2015 WYYC finals, 5 contestants used the draup. However in the 2018 WYYC finals, no one used it. This proves the draup isn’t anywhere as good as it used to be and is losing its reputation as the best competition throw.
That’s a logical fallacy. If I see 5 people riding their bikes one day, and the next day I see 0, I can’t logically conclude that bikes must be falling out of style. Were all other variables equal? Was it the same 5 finalists? Did they have the same sponsors? I’m willing to put money on ‘no’.
Whether or not it’s ‘good’ for the price is fairly subjective. Personally, I find that the only thing that really compares to a Draupnir are some of my titaniums, in terms of feel and performance. In that regard, I feel it’s really good for the price.
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I think this is the most important variable - you’d have to look at which players are sponsored by YYR and see which yoyos they brought.
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Well if you take a look at the best YYR sponsored players right now in competition: Hirotaka and Iori (not sure about Ryota), you’ll see that none of them have used the draup for competition in the past 2 years. Sure, it probably is still a great yoyo for casual play…however, its performance has really been lacking behind lately. In addition to that, the draup has really lost a bit of hype too; many colorways are sitting many weeks after their initial release rather than typically selling out the first 3 days. Again, I’m merely stating my opinion.
I’m gonna have to hop in and strongly disagree as well. The Draupnir is still one of the best yoyos, if not the best, on the market, ignoring price. Saying that a $20 yoyo plays just as well as the Draup is ridiculous to me.
As for price, I don’t think $250 is too much because it still sells at that price and still holds good retail value after all these years. I do think it’s overpriced in the sense that they definitely don’t need to sell it for that much. I see it like I saw CLYW back in the day. They charged more than they need to, but they still sold quickly. Same thing with Draupnir.
Now, as for me, Im less likely to go out and drop $200-$250 on one then I would a few years back, I’ll give you that. That’s just because more yoyos have emerged that are close to if not right up there with the Draupnir in the $100-$150 range(a few, not just any new or even most that are released in this range like you stated). But I definitely wouldn’t say it isn’t one of the best yoyos around anymore, because it is. And I still think it is the best money can buy, for what it tries to be.
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Again, I’m merely stating my opinion
No you’re not, you’re making statements with the insinuation that they’re factual.
This proves the draup isn’t anywhere as good as it used to be and is losing its reputation as the best competition throw.
its performance has really been lacking behind lately.
the matte finishes are not good for grinds
These don’t really scream ‘opinion’.
Is there anyone that uses the same yoyo for competition year after year? I don’t follow contests that well, but I haven’t heard of any trends like that. When a manufacturer produces a new design, they’re more likely to request their sponsored players to use it, because they know if the player performs well, the yoyo will likely see an increase in sales.
Draups are in stock because over the course of a couple years, the market has become fairly saturated with them, it’s not fair to say it’s because it’s not a good yoyo ‘anymore’.
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I think it is difficult for any yoyo, no matter how good it is, to remain in the spotlight for too long simply because this is a hobby driven by the allure of the next shiny new thing. New throws will inevitably eclipse the previous shiny new things (which have become less lustrous old things) because nobody wants to feel like they are getting left behind in the inexorable push forward in yoyo design.
And of course you have trick innovations that demand heretofor unthought of tweaks to whatever is currently considered cutting edge, and that kicks off a whole new trend that becomes all the rage for a while, making the previous generation of top shelf yoyos simply “those old designs that used to be competitive”.
I take considerable comfort in the knowledge that in all likelihood my skill level will never surpass the capabilities of the most competitive yoyo models of the past five years (everything from, say, the Shutter to the Draupnir). The embarrassment of riches in the current offerings, including the Draupnir, is something I am most grateful for.
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I mean the Draupnir is still considered the best competition yoyo more than anything else that’s been released to this day and I think that says something. Before that it was the Sleipnir for years as well.
And especially so in the last 5 years, yoyo development hasn’t really improved much. The difference from now and 5 years ago is there’s a lot more great yoyos, but the peak of yoyo design hasn’t risen since the release of the Draupnir.
In the early 2000s we saw shifts to unresponsive play. Mid 2000s Aluminum and hybrids began to be used more than plastic and silicone response started to become the standard. Late 2000s yoyos started getting a little bigger and wider and 7075 began to see use. Early 2010s bimetals started being used more, but monometals were still the standard, ending with the Draupnir which was pretty much the pinnacle of bimetal design. Since then 7075/68 and bimetals became much more commonplace but we haven’t really seen a jump in yoyo design since 2013.
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I think it’s well understood that chinese manufacturing caught up immensely to US / Japanese standards from 2013-2018. Maybe not $20 but by the time you get to $40-$50-$60? Absolutely today you’ll get nearly equivalent manufacturing quality to YYR, albeit in a monometal.
The Draupnir didn’t get worse, everything else got better.
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But how many under-$60 yoyos are bimetals that weigh in at around 63g? I get the impression that the Draupnir is somewhat unique in that it is both very light and substantially rim-weighted at the same time. It’s not just a well-made yoyo, it is something of a design unicorn. Is that not so?
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I think “near” is the operative word there. Yeah you can get good yo-yos for not a lot of cash these days. But I still believe that the YYR throws, even some of their older designs, are on another level. I just don’t see the point of bringing price into the discussion. Everyone knows they are not cheap, and they are probably not going to win any “best value” awards, but they are incredible yo-yos and I feel like some of these comments (not saying you’re doing this @codinghorror) are just attempting to detract from that.
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It was, and the draupnir was one of the first yo-yos of any type that I can remember taking that approach. It’s not really a unique design anymore (thankfully) since it looks like most manufacturers are finally putting some of their bimetals on a diet
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