It has been a while since I’ve kept up with things in the yo-yoing world. I remember Johnnie DelValle’s great vids and how much I loved the original Hitman. Now it looks like things have exploded in popularity, which is great to see. YYF at the time was a smaller company and now it looks like they’re a pretty major player with quite a variety of offerings. Simple slick-6 has given way to a myriad of manufacturers with some pretty interesting (and colorful) products. There’s a lot of new (to me) and talented competitors and video makers that have been putting out some pretty amazing things.
I was curious, though… how things have changed over the years (if anything). Any comments on how things have evolved? Like if you were gonna get someone up to speed after being in hibernation in five mins. Just general thoughts, etc. it kind of reminds me of the skate world (how fast things change).
Fixed axle is back. theres a thing called kendama it hit the yoyo world by storm. yoyoing has gotten to the point of where people can do really crazy looking tricks. metal yoyos, not all of them cost so much. New companies rose and the ashes of the dead companies. Some people here on the forums are now innovators and makers of yoyos and homemade yoyo companies are gaining fame.
CLYW is making some amazing high end yoyo’s
one of YYFs sponsored players Gentry Stein won worlds last year
Zach Gormly sponsored by CLYW won nationals last year.
There are a bunch of new smaller companys that were started by kids on these forums on the rise
There are now these things called Gopros which can be used to get awesome first person views of tricks
which is very nice for tutorials and stuff.
But there are so many more things that have happend over the past couple years I would take a good look at yoyonews.com and keep an eye on these forums to get all the latest news
The “jhb8426 groupies” greatly prefer to be referred to as “family”. They hold their club meetings in an abandoned ghost town movie set in the desert east of LA. I’ve heard tell “jhb” can stop a sleeping yo-yo dead mid-spin with just his mind.
(Oh, and they’re way into the Beatles’ “Helter-Skelter” for some reason.)
Us here in and or from Asia are using 4A throws in 1A LOL ;D
In all seriousness, expensive bimetal yo-yos that are part steel and or different aluminum is popular.
7075 yo-yos were a thing.
YYR discontinued old models and made the Draupnir, Triad, Diffusion ($35 FTW), revamped the Sleipnir, made the Laser, and stuff.
Hiroyuki Suzuki is not king anymore.
Competition grade metal yo-yos are now like <$60 because yay.
People do 4A with 2 yo-yos.
Shinji Saito is competing again so be prepared…
WYYC is now in different countries and places every year, 2013 was the last wyyc in Rosen Plaza, 2014 was in Prague, Czech Republic, 2015 will be in Tokyo so the amount of wreckage is sky high, Next year will be somewhere in the US…
Fire yo-yos…
Fingerspin tricks are everywhere… Horizontal and Behind the Back is everywhere… What are grinds??? JK
3A is getting wrecked by Hajime Miura, Hank Freeman isn’t king anymore… I think he’s 10 or 11 not really sure…
Takeshi Matsuura is the 2nd best 1A player right now after Gentry Stein in WYYC 2014 1A. He also still dominates 5A so yeah…
People do horizontal yo-yoing ON THE FLOOR BECAUSE WHO CARES ABOUT DINGS AND SCRATCHES
COMPANIES ARE SELLING BIMETAL YOYOS IN THE US WITHOUT SOMEHOW INFRINGING THE YOYOJAM PATENT THIS DOESNT MAKE SENSE
Every ‘serious’ yo-yo uses silicone or silicone pads now. No more O-rings or Dif Pads. .555 pads are outdated.
No one really does arm grinds anymore - most players now balance their yo-yos on their fingers. IRGs have also gone by the wayside. No one cares about hubstacks anymore (no one really cared back then also, I guess). Also, as mentioned, every one does horizontal tricks now.
Not every 2A player uses Yomega Raiders anymore. Raiders are still really good, but they are now many good options that compete with the Raiders.
RIP HSpin, SPYY as mentioned previously. Does Dif-e-yo still exist?
As the OP mentioned, not everyone keeps up with everything that going on
I’m still here working quietly in the background ;D
HSpin and SPYY, sadly, have retired/stopped making yoyos sometime in last 2 years or so
There’s still demand for Dif-Pads, just not much for use in most modern yoyos.
FYI, Many Dif-e-Yo models released since 2008 starting with the Dave Schulte Internal Turmoil Signature Model are machined for Silicone or pads of choice/silicone pads.
Also, everything is confidential at this point, but there have been a few new Dif-e-Yo yoyos in the works for some time now.
Be on the lookout for release sometime this year 2015.
That’s all for now ;D
Best Regards to all, Frank
YYJ and Duncan are coming out with more high-end metals.
You can get many high-end metals for $45-60 now. OD Benchmarks (any year; any shape; all good), Shutter, Torque, Horizon, TooHot, and more soon.
Gentry Stein finally got his Worlds trophy.
A 10-year-old finally beat Hank Freeman (no offense to him; but he’s won a lot)
Takeshi is now on 6 World Titles
New companies sprouting everywhere (Radical Seas and Tropic Spins have already made it to YYE with Amplified Return Tops and GN Yoyo Co underway)
Cheap plastics are no longer cheap plastics but high-end rock your socks off plastics
CLYW is on top of the world with their throws
Unfortunately, Troy Adrian Talbot (owner of Sorry Yoyos) passed away.
Quentin Godet came from nowhere and won the last two 4A titles in Europe, while Rei Iwakura is still using his two 4A yoyos at a time thing at Worlds and killing it.
Jakub Dekan won 1A at EYYC
Janos Karancz is old school
And about 5,000 other things I forgot to mention. ;D
