This has been stewing in my mind for years, so here goes. I’m prepared to be told this is a silly idea for some reason I haven’t thought of, but I’ll make my case for where I’m at now. Unresponsive Yo-Yos should be what’s on sale at Walmart, Target, and other general retail. I’m not saying someone needs to convince the stores to carry more Yo-Yos, that is probably a long standing sentiment. I’m saying the classic Duncan models like the Imperial and Butterfly need to be discontinued completely and replaced. If stores order “Yo-Yos” from a company like Duncan or Yomega, they should be sent a crate of basic plastic unresponsive models.
To preface, I say this as somebody who started out on a responsive Duncan ProYo. Dale Oliver taught me how to shoot the moon in 2009. I’m positive my first year playing responsive made me a pretty slick player when I first acquired an unresponsive YoYoJam Speeder. I love the classic feel of a Yo-Yo popping right back up the string. I love what modern responsive play looks like. And I know that when somebody’s Dad buys a Yo-Yo at the store, he’s expecting it to work a certain way. I do not in any way think there is no value in responsive Yo-Yos. Quite the opposite.
But I’m sorry, at this point, I think selling people a fixed axle Duncan Imperial is wasting a LOT of potential that this community has to grow. Unresponsive Yo-Yos have defined the cutting edge of 1A for over two decades (20 years!) now, but at no point have those innovations fully carried over to the toy that is fundamentally sold in stores. That is very strange. Even Target sells a $10 “Butterfly XT” these days with a Size C bearing as their standard shelf warmer. Why isn’t it just a basic 58x45mm-ish plastic Yo-Yo with a wing shape and a wide gap? Just release the Duncan Butterfly 2!
One might say you’re selling people a Yo-Yo that they’re not going to have any clue how to use, but I tend to find that this doesn’t go any better when people pick up one of those Imperials anyway. It unwinds, bounces/dies at the end of the string (from a bad throw) and 9 times outta 10 it never gets used again.
I think unresponsive Yo-Yos are a little more fascinating and enticing when merely dropped by an amateur. It hits the end of the string, the bearing sizzles, it spins for a shockingly long time, it doesn’t tip over easily… it LOOKS like it should be able to do something interesting. And they do let you start performing “relevant” 1A tricks much, much faster. Also, every Yo-Yo package at this point should have QR code on it that sends your phone directly to online Yo-Yo video tutorials. How to wind, bind, and start doing some tricks. I mean geez, you could have people people watching a Yo-Yo pitch video right there in the store, with a capable Yo-Yo in their hands!
My girlfriend had never thrown a Yo-Yo before, but I gave her a plastic unresponsive and a bind tutorial video recently, and she was messing around with Braintwister in a couple days. Now, I cringe at how easily achieved this is today, thinking of myself spending half a year in trying to hit Braintwister on my wooden axle proyo. But I don’t think there’s any reason for someone to go through that today. Its like building a scary moat around a place you want people to visit! The toy has evolved, it’s easier to do basic string tricks, there’s no reason to keep people further away from the relevant 1A play they’ll see on the internet. Thanks to Tik Tok, the two biggest Yo-Yo tricks right now (to the general youth) are unresponsive tricks (DNA and “Going Godspeed”/Rail Combos).
If you’d asked me as recently as 2019 if people should start out on unresponsive Yo-Yos, I would have said nooooo. But the more I think about it, the more I think that as a standardized offering, those basic responsive toys are holding back the growth of the Yo-Yo world. We feel great affection for things like the Duncan Imperial or even the Yomega Brain, but does anyone really need one of those today? Even as a collectors item, enough of them exist already! This toy needs to move forward with the innovation that it has actually experienced. Put a proper 1A Yo-Yo (the object that spearheads the hobby’s most popular and competitive division) into people’s hands as the default. Responsive models, 2A looping, etc. can all still be explored when people get more into the hobby.
And if you’re thinking “How on earth would one go about making this all happen”, don’t worry. I have no idea. This is more so a sentiment than a plan. Thanks for reading.
