Duncan Screaming Eagle - Mayhem - YoYoSkills.com

Yo-Yo Reviews
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About a year and a half ago, there were rumblings that Duncan was looking to enter the high end metal market. Duncan, an industry staple for 80 years now, has primarily been known as of late for their extremely customizable plastic line, and the uber-premium Duncan MG. When prototypes first started leaking out, the feedback was mixed. At the beginning of the Duncan Toys-R-Us tour last June, the Duncan team had a few more prototypes that really started to generate news. Duncan was listening to player feedback, and delivering. Coinciding with the World Yo-Yo Contest, and Duncan’s 80th Anniversary, Duncan announced the Screaming Eagles line. The line features Duncan’s new metal line intended to compete with a very crowded market. I was pretty excited by this. I have been waiting for Duncan to compete at the high end market for a while. When I started talking to Brandon Jackson about the line, we came up with the YoYoSkills Duncan Imperial Contest. Brandon did me a real solid and hooked me up a prize package for the contest consisting of almost the entire Duncan line, and two Screaming Eagles. He asked me to review the two new metals before the were awarded, so the Mayhem is the first in line. YoYoSkills.com presents, the first of hopefully many Screaming Eagle reviews; The Duncan Mayhem.

Review after the Jump: YoYoSkills.com

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Great Review!

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Sigh

A less than stellar review of the Mayhem. At least you didn’t think it was terrible. That’s a plus, I suppose.

Chris, I sometimes wish your opinion was baseless instead of well-informed and positioned from experience. This is one of those times. I really, really wanted to love this thing. Despite your review, I almost found myself willing to spend $90 on an “average” throw, just because I love me some Duncan, and your rather trapping (to me, at least) comparison to the beloved Pyro. It looks pretty. And then you talked about the weight.

On the bright side, I’m hoping this is but the tip of the iceberg for metal and/or high-end Duncan throws. I’d love to see their name back in the spotlight for something other than the occasional FHZ love. Apparently, they’ll need to actually start putting their name back on the product before that will happen.

That $90 price point is an “ouch” as well…

As confused as I sometimes am by Ben’s personality, there’s little argument that $90 spent over in YYF’s neck of the woods is going to get you a top-notch throw. Not average, not mediocre, but spectacular. They are but one example. I could give others, but YYF will do quite nicely. It’s going to be a tough sell with so much well-established competition cranking out quality throws.

Perhaps Duncan is hoping for primarily retail store sales and not devoted yo shops? God, I hope not. A retail store (think Wal-Mart or Toys 'R Us) is going to consider them a “shrinkage” nightmare. They’ll have to be locked up to not walk away, and I can’t imagine any retail shop throwing what they consider a grossly overpriced, low-end novelty toy into a locked glass case. That space tends to be at a premium, even in larger retailers, and is typically reserved for high-end electronics, video games, computers, cameras, etc.

I’m also not entirely sure that the crowd who shops retail stores for yo-yos is looking to drop $90 on one to begin with.

I really hope I’m off-base with those last two points.

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I hope that Chris’ review doesn’t make you shy away from this great yo-yo. It just all comes down to personal preference, and while he says that the Mayhem is overall a good yo-yo I can sense the overall feeling of mediocrity throughout the review. I think that Chris does a very good job of expressing that this is a well made yo-yo, that just isn’t in his preferences.

Personally, I love this yo-yo (I tried one at worlds, if that means anything). I never was, and am still not, a huge fan of small bearing throws but this yo-yo just felt so butter-smooth and really felt great on the string.

All I’m trying to say is that if nothing else, you should give it a chance. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed to a point that you just don’t throw it.

As far as the name goes, I agree. Separating the brand is a great way for Duncan to keep their name in tact if the SE line flops, but they really should have branded the Mayhem and Vendetta with the Duncan name.

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Nice…makes me want to get one after the dissappointing FH metal Z…It would be nice if they had a large bearing format. :smiley:

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i PLAYD W/ ONE YESTERDAY, aND I DON’T THINK the bearing size matters in this case.
No matter what that yoyo is intense~

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I did too, the bearing dose not matter. Even I don’t like size A and this thing was plain awsome out of the ones i have tried (momentum, diversion, vendetta, and the mayhem). It had an a vibe that wasn’t noticable unless you looked closely. But back to the point, you have to get one of these.