reminds me of one of my friends. He had never picked up a yoyo before, but I drove with him out to a meetup before going out to lunch. It was around his birthday, so I bought him a starlite. he learned to bind and do buddha’s revenge as his first tricks.
I feel the same way… I honestly only got back into yo’ing because of unresponsive play… I used to play with a yomega RBII in third grade, but that died pretty fast once I learned around the world and walk the dog…
It wasn’t enough to keep me going, and I ended up picking up an unresponsive yo and getting back into it almost 14 years later… It was the unresponsive play and what it is today that really captivated me and has made me want to practice longer, harder, and just have fun doing it in general. Not to say there isn’t a place for responsive play, but I feel as if it isn’t as challenging and you can’t grow with it as much compared to unresponsive…
Maybe one of these days i’ll go back to the fixed axle and have some fun with it, but for now, unresponsive is beautiful.
I’m learning in reverse. I’ve gone from branding tricks on an unresponsive yoyo back to spirit bombs on a fixed axle. I’m having more fun collecting and playing with old wood than I thought possible. I recommend it to everyone looking to smooth out their unresponsive tricks. Responsive yoyos don’t forgive anything.
Before the Hall-Héroult process was developed, metallic aluminum was so difficult to produce that it was more expensive than gold. Nowadays, of course, that’s not the case; in fact, it’s cheap and plentiful enough that anyone can take advantage of how incredibly useful a substance it is.
Years ago, I learned on a fixed-axle Yo-Yo™. Basic loops, rock the baby, etc. I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t stick to it because advancing was difficult or impossible and eventually I got bored and/or frustrated (also ruined up enough axles trying to dig knots out). And despite fixed-axle status, those yoyos do NOT always respond to a tug… without knowing why they’re not working (or how to fix the situation), you’re just a kid wondering on a fixed axle yoyo “why won’t it come back up?”. A yoyo doesn’t have to be modern and unresponsive to make a player look at it and ask that question.
All the imperial- and modified-shape yoyos you can get at toy stores… they’re not likely to get someone to stay in yoyo for long these days. Those sales get those companies the majority of their money, I would wager… but I doubt it’s inherently creating long-term players. With luck, the yoyos fire up a bit of passion, the new enthusiast does some Googling and quickly discovers the exciting world of modern (unresponsive or otherwise) yoyoing. And then they find sites (and online retailers) like this one.
I can say with absolute certainty that seeing unresponsive play on YouTube is what made me go “holy crap, there’s a whole new world of yoyo” which led directly to me spending hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars on the hobby. I don’t see how that can be a bad thing for yoyoing. I already owned the Raider and although it didn’t need bind to return, I was practicing basic binds on that sucker while waiting for my first unresponsive yoyo to arrive from YYE. 
If you do come around to looping or modern fixed-axle play (just got my TMBR!) as a long-tail result of being inspired initially by unresponsive play… isn’t the original intention still intact?
I have this fantasy… I walk into a major toy store and there is a display (it can be small-ish!) of unresponsive yoyos, with a video playing. The video catches a kid’s eye and they buy a yoyo and get into unresponsive play… and you know the rest of that story. Show it to them the right way, and the tricks we do and the bind return can be just as “magical” (if not more so) than the toy that goes up and down.
I think the exciting thing is that yoyoing is not static - it is constantly evolving.
I remember watching Mickey’s Worlds freestyle in 2005 and thinking that this was as good as yoyoing was ever going to get. I am glad I have been proved wrong.
It’s an exciting journey. As a community, we have a very strong foundation, we shouldn’t be scared of stepping outside our comfort zone, our heritage will always be here.
altered for the wood part. Everything else is the same.
I love the fact that yoyoing has evolved so much. I like throwing my fixed axle throws here and there, and it’s fun no doubt.
But the possibilities are unlimited with a modern unresponsive yoyo. There is so much you can do. The fact that you can use your creativity and filter it into a trick, got me hooked.
im one of the old guys:) but i think the advance in unresponsive yoyos is fantastic. I mean how many times can you wrap or land a yoyo on the string with an unresponsive yoyo? there are tricks that simply cannot be done with a reponsive yoyo. That said there are some classic tricks that a responsive yoyo is best for. The way forward is definately unresponsive…new ideas come up all the time for new and original tricks…I remember trying a kwijibo on an responsive…nearly took my hand off:)
i think having a couple of responsive throw is always good, but remember too there is more than one way to bind…i saw a “kick bind” on youtube the other day, looked awesome!
This is what I think… binding, wide gaps, unresponsiveness allow us to do the crazy awesome fun tricks that we all love. It’s harder to do most of these tricks with a responsive yoyo. We have unresponsive yoyos so we can execute difficult tricks and long combos.
Does unresponsive yoyoing and binding turn off the beginner to yoyoing? I mean, it could, but as someone said, it’s part of the adventure. It’s all part of the fun of learning. You should learn all the responsive stuff, then move on to the unresponsive stuff.
But yes, unresponsive yoyoing and binding is absolutely necessary to execute the modern tricks we have today.
[quote=“SR1,post:30,topic:48714”]
Mostly false. Binding is only absolutely necessary for bind-related tricks or certain tricks explicitly requiring zero response, of which there are relatively very few. Most of the elements we use today (including the previously mentioned whips, slacks, lacerations, and grinds) were originally developed on responsive yoyos. Even many of the elements that ended up being developed on unresponsive yoyos are still quite doable with a tug-responsive setup.
3 Likes
[quote=“Elephark,post:31,topic:48714”]
Yep, I’ve managed lacerations on a responsive Whip. You just need to be very smooth.
^^ And it’s not uncommon at all for players to hit hooks, whips, lacerations, grinds, and “complex” tricks like Spirit Bomb on fixed axles… let alone a responsive bearing yoyo.
I believe people can do it, I just don’t see how I’m ever going to do it. As soon as I hop the yoyo up for a laceration, it returns. Grinds also. I can’t even grind on an unresponsive yoyo when it has a bearing that is turning mildly responsive.
I just can’t visualize the nutty control you’d have to have to hop a yoyo up without having the string engage (respond) to the yoyo walls!
To adress Elephark’s last post: I personally think there’s a BIG difference between a tug-responsive, bearing yoyo and a fixed-axle wooden throw.
I dont really have much to say here other than that it was DEFINITELY not responsive yoyoing that made me pick up this hobby last year. It doesn’t nearly have the same wow-effect for someone new to this game as unresponsive yoyoing have.
[quote=“Eastfield,post:35,topic:48714”]
There can be.
…Was there somewhere you were going with that?
[quote=“Yonut,post:32,topic:48714”]
seeing ed land a quad hook or a plastic whip on the eh. Perfect example.
A month later I realize…
But as a beginner coming back into the “sport” (hobby?) after 15 years, I can say that I was always frustrated with my looping style responsive yoyo I had way back when. Sure I could walk the dog, and around the world, and rock the baby; but any on the string stuff was simply impossible with my yoyo! I always knew there must be more to it, and 15 years later I realized there was ;D
HOWEVER! A hobby shop should make sure a buyer REALIZES they are buying an unresponsive yoyo! Because as I see it, the average joe blow is still perfectly happy with a Duncan butterfly.