Organic based throws give that “nostalgia” type of feeling while still being able to have a great yoyo that is modernized.
All of those yoyos stem from the shape from amazing yoyos in the past, specifically the Freehand One. The original Bapezilla was something extremely truly unique for its time due to the color, the set-up and the brand presentation of it. So much hype behind it.
Everyone is going to have their favorite shapes. I much prefer yoyos with the shape of the Code1, people usually refer to them as “bell shaped”.
The thing is, nostalgia is based entirely on the past era that carries meaning for each of us. I’ve played yoyos in only two eras: today’s modern era (I started Jul-2018), and the late '70s when I was a kid. Organic throws were not a part of that '70s era, only Imperials, Butterflies, and ProYos, so there is nothing nostalgic about an O-shaped yoyo to me. I have no sentimental connection to it.
From my perspective, the Imperial is an historic novelty today, while the Butterfly grew up to be today’s performance shape, and the ProYo grew up to be today’s 2A looper. So for me, playing something nostalgic means playing a cheap, plastic responsive yoyo with a very narrow gap and little spin time. I’ve tried that and found it profoundly unsatisfying.
This is a clear sign of my age, as I suspect that nearly everyone who finds O-shaped throws “nostalgic” got started in the '90s, rather than the '70s (or earlier) like I did. They also probably think that Nirvana is “classic rock”…
I definitely see your point about nostalgia meaning different things to different people. But the 70’s butterfly is an organic shaped throw. It’s the most basic organic there is. Unless we have different ideas of what organic means as to a yo-yo shape. (And that may be the case)
However, I’d be curious to learn what most folks in the community mean when they say that today’s organic yoyos feel “nostalgic” to them. How many A-RT lovers throw a Grail and think to themselves, gee this takes me back to my days of throwing a vintage Duncan Butterfly. I’m figuring not many. It seems to me that the nostalgic journey back in time for most (not all, obviously, but most) of today’s O-lovers rarely reaches all the way back to the original Butterfly, despite its status as the grand daddy of them all.
Although a lot of those players would cite the Freehand as the yo-yo for which they are most nostalgic, the shape of which comes straight from the Duncan Wheels which was an offshoot of the Butterfly (which was simply an Imperial flipped around). Others might cite the Renegade, which is literally a plastic bearing-axle No Jive. So even if the players may not be directly nostalgic for the shapes of the 60’s/70’s, the yo-yo’s they love and remember are often their direct descendants.
It could be that I’m misunderstanding what people mean when they make reference to a feeling of nostalgia, but I just don’t understand how a modern, metal unresponsive throw–organic or otherwise–can remind someone of an old, plastic responsive yoyo, even one with a similar shape. For instance, throwing my The Gamer reminds me not one bit of throwing a ProYo despite them sharing direct shape lineage.
Maybe the nostalgia could be that they’re the same colour?
Like others have said, nostalgia is relative. I’ve been into yoyo for about 10 years now and when I look back to my first few throws, they were mostly simple V shapes and all plastic with high walls and starbursts. When I think of nostalgia, when concerned with yoyos, it’s more of the feeling in play and the response that triggers a memory.
I mainly like O shaped throws because I find them comfortable to hold and there’s no harsh unnatural lines smacking my palms. Although one of my favorite throws is the Luchador and it doesn’t get more smacky than that.
Everyone should try a bit of everything in yoyoing and the world in general, and not everyone will like the same thing.
I have a handful of O-shaped throws and they are all very good. They aren’t my favorite type of throw because of how temperamental they are, but I acknowledge their merits. And even though I respect the O shape, I don’t feel any nostalgic connection to them, nor do I get all excited over every O-shaped release that hits the market. I simply don’t love organics, and can’t relate to those who do. But that doesn’t mean I actively dislike them. It just means I think you guys who love them are all a bunch of weirdos.
I guess my enjoyment of organics could be described as nostalgic but really it’s that it’s what I have always been drawn to and have always felt the most comfortable with. I frequently try other shapes and never feel truly in tune with them.
So yes it comes from a history of using organics and growing from a fhz definitely shapes that, but I don’t look at my organics and think damn this takes me back. I think damn this yoyo feels perfect. It’s is kinda opposite nostalgia. Like the throws today are what I wanted back then.
I think the precision needed to use an organic repays you in how precise you can move it. I can’t slightly nudge my non-organics back into plane mid trick as a can my organics.
Organics feel very precise to me like hand sewing. Hyper performance bimetals feel like a sewing machine. Does anyone else sew?
Could be that for quite a while in “modern” yo-yo history, or the mid-school era, pretty much everything was organic shaped. Then the walls progressively got lower and lower, then V’s and other shapes started arriving on the scene. So the nostalgia could just be people remembering a time when most everything was organic.
And all the best tricks came from that era or before Yeah…I said it
I used to be someone who had no real interest in organic throws; they just didn’t have the performance that I wanted from a yoyo. I remember trying the Overture, and then selling it a well later because of how much I disliked it. That all changed when I tried the Life. This thing feels so comfortable, and has enough performance and stability to suit my needs. Highly recommended!
I’ll chime in and say I’m a rare older(ish) yo-yoer who doesn’t much care for the organic shape and gets no nostalgia from using them. In fact i don’t really use the older stuff i do have because it’s just straight up inferior to modern designs and I’m trying to come up with new tricks and push the speed of my execution constantly, not test my ability against the limitations of the yo-yo I’m using.
This attitude doesn’t apply for responsive play, but it’s definitely how I feel about unresponsive 1A and 5A.
That seems to be a very common way for veterans to keep yoyo play “interesting” to them. It is refreshing to encounter a veteran who isn’t following that path.
I will say that organic has a nice hand feel, but I also think you can be hybrid/organic and get most of the same benefits without going all full blown sphere on people.
I’m actually not sure if it’s that common. A lot of people here(many of which aren’t competition veterans) like to talk up how the more you play with bad yoyos the better you’ll become but I don’t think many top tier competitors really do this much.
So no nostalgia for me except the feeling of being a kid of course.
Yeah…I said it