It’s great to see you making videos in 2024. How does yoyoing fit into your day to day at this point?
What is your favorite yoyo moment?
Drat! my Instagram won’t work, so sad to be missing this! 
Edit: perhaps y’all could let me know if I win? haha
I don’t have instagram either.
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Oooo, I’ll give it a watch soon, I need to eat Dinner.
Are you announcing the winner tonight?
eric already announced the winner live few hours ago
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I missed it… who won?
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@spin-clicker won!
congrats mate 
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Woah no way!!! Thank you so much @YoyoExpert and @Michael Ferdico I’m so excited to try the Swan out!!!
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Congrats @Michael Ferdico on the new signature! I’ll post a trick here and put it to good use for sure 
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nice snag, grats yo!
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Good time, congrats on the signature model, looks killer, and congrats to the winner!!!
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hey everyone, please ignore the username. my new and properly named account wouldn’t let me respond to everyone, but i think answered everything! ping me if there’s something i missed, it was not intentional, just a lot to cover 
and while i have your attention (shill incoming), i’d really appreciate if you took a look at the newest YouTube video i made! i think you’ll enjoy it, and maybe learn something while you’re there 
https://youtu.be/Lzje8p_Y5Hg
ok here are the answers!
@rysk_9844 the main inspiration was the Manatee! the shapes are pretty much the same. also the ThrowCafe Matcha, which was the first time i’d played with an undersized yoyo that felt like it didn’t sacrifice performance, so i wanted to try and make something that did that even better and matched my tastes more. and thank you 
@AtomicChessGuy — i answered this one on stream, but the short version is i don’t really have any plans for now but i do kinda still feel the fire sometimes when i’m watching contests. for now i think my time is better spent on judging or making content than practicing, but it’s not totally out of the question. i’ll definitely be in over 40 when the time comes! and i know nothing about CAD so i don’t really have an informed answer there, Chris does amazing stuff at Caribou Lodge so in my personal case i was beyond happy to leave it to him 
@Alow_music the Swan shape is based on the manatee, so i guess indirectly Riccardo had a hand in it, but i didn’t really focus on anything other than making the throw that’s perfect for me. and thank you!!
@JeiCheetah i do and i still wear it to every contest 
@Lewivlone i think it’s the same answer to both parts! i was not satisfied until it was stable enough to hold angle for my horizontal combos, but thankfully we nailed that on just the second prototype
@Nightjoke i think there was a video of an astronaut yoyoing in space where they said that the yoyo had to stay in motion or it would return to the hand, even if it was unresponsive? so i think you’d have to know by keeping it in motion and feeling the string? maybe? for your second question, i’m not sure if you’re asking about ME personally doing it, or the general “you.” i’m definitely not in practice to do something like that right now, and i don’t plan on entering, so it’s a 0% from me, but i do think the yoyo performs well enough to take onstage! i’m pretty sure my first trick was a 2.5 hook that i did hit, but i got the original proto years ago at this point so my memory may be off
@Tempura i don’t THINK so? the way we moved the weight around between the two prototypes is pretty subtle and has a huge impact to me, i’m not sure if most people would notice it or not
@yoyo_cubicle in the past year i’ve gotten MUCH more into the NBA so the answer is very much yes, i deserve a shoe deal and a chance to meet Jimmy Butler
@rysk_9844 i’ve always tried to keep the mindset that my equipment doesn’t matter as long as i believe it doesn’t matter, so that i’m not making excuses for myself and am more motivated to improve. i usually play everything just the way it comes, and i’m using Sochi string now that they’re Caribou’s string sponsor. my ritual/warmup before going onstage was actually watching hype anime fights on my phone so that i felt excited, powerful, and hyped up instead of just being nervous!
@theendofcake the actual designing process was really simple, i knew what i wanted and explained it to Steve and Chris pretty easily, and they worked the magic. the annoying part was that we started the process during the depths of the pandemic, so things just moved along slower than they would have normally. this might sound like an oversimplification, but it really did come together pretty easily other than the physical delays
@Simyo i live a ketchup free lifestyle 
but i keep peanut butter and hot sauce in the fridge if that’s relevant at all?
@Speedcat tesseract, easy
@JosiahR i mean, legally i have to say Ferdico Fade (and it’s the truth). the other Swan colorways are all pretty fantastic too, especially the Maiderade Fade and the Gold. buuuuuut a deep cut favorite would be Kurti’s Zip Zap Rap back in the day, or Delirium Dive
@Captrogers does Gyarados count? or maybe a jellyfish, a break from having a brain would be nice. and i use Sochi string!
@kksimon this is a huge question. i think my answer is going to be how small and tight-knit we are, for both — i love that i can actually have personal interactions with most of the people at any given event, and form really strong friendships that have lasted decades with people who i’d otherwise never cross paths with. but i think that also sometimes makes people afraid of letting new people into the community and letting things grow bigger, which is probably holding us back a bit
@Lex i’ve personally always preferred smaller yoyos, they feel more comfortable in my hand and make me feel more confident with a lot of chopsticks and other tricks that i like to do. but i also specifically wanted to make a yoyo that was different from anything in people’s collections already — there are dozens of full sized, high performance bimetals you can choose from, but the Swan feels and plays REALLY different 
@■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ as many years as it’s been, i still love love love the Manatee. there’s just something special about that one and i have too many good memories with it. on the all-time scale, i really love the YYJ Hitman, and more recently i’ve been having a blast with the W1LD Adrenaline.
@rysk_9844 that shirt is a deep cut!! i do still have it, although it’s a little worse for wear and it actually never really fit me right.
@Snoopy biggest pet peeve is people throwing the yoyo an extra time just to do a horizontal whip bind at the end of a routine my least favorite string color is pink; it’s my favorite color and i used to use it, but i couldn’t see anything onstage so i had to give it up. i think i go for the lemon poppy muffin? or double chocolate chip if it’s that kind of day. i’ve never had a sip of coffee in my life so it has to be herbal tea!
@spin-clicker my first yoyo was definitely something unremarkable… probably a duncan imperial from the grocery store. fireballs, raiders, and the hyperwarp heavy wing were what really started getting me into it. and my first ~serious~ yoyo was the YoyoJam Clessiah!
@Yoyo313 honestly, the entire final day of Worlds 2019 was pretty amazing for me. i made finals when i didn’t expect to, and i just got to bask in the achievement of being on the worlds final stage in my home country, then stay up all night with a bunch of my best friends. wouldn’t change a thing. winning NER was also pretty huge for me, that was always the title i wanted most and i still can’t believe i actually got it
@rkalajian that’s a stork question, not a Swan question!
@GTDropKnot yes! everyone should learn the Kento Muraoka triangle imo: https://youtu.be/pq-S1WPnP7A?si=EK8yI2WjTItuEUIK&t=70
@ZZ8 the art is by Mike Lundy! it came out amazing
@Nootnewt that’s actually a really difficult question… maybe BAC 2017? i’m very proud of that one. or, randomly, my prelims for Worlds 2019 or Scales International (Michael Ferdico on Instagram: "🎶⚔️🎶 watch @scalescollective International FINALS tonight at 7EDT!") i think both had really special choreography. the answer would probably be my semi-final from Nationals 2017 because the whole crowd sang along, but there’s no video of that online unfortunately 
@Snoopy the honest answer to that question is probably Gentry Stein or John Ando, but i think those are answers that most people could guess, so i’m actually going to say Yuji Kelly. (https://youtu.be/by5AvZXsxmk?si=WJmGDniSDYutfmon ) definitely someone who MASSIVELY changed how i think about yoyoing. and my favorite doorknob is anything cats can’t open because i am allergic!
@Pun1sh3R despite being in the game forever, this is something that i had never even thought about until a few years ago. my natural inclination is palm down, but i do not have a horse in this race and i honestly do it both ways
@ayelen23 unfortunately i started learning so long ago that i don’t think anything from the early days would be helpful… i was trying to learn, like, pop the clutch on a duncan butterfly for a WHILE. but the best advice i can give to improve is to give at least as much (if not more) attention to how you’re executing a trick and making it look as you do to what the trick is! having greater mastery and control over the yoyo’s movement really unlocks A LOT.
@Splizacular honestly, yoyo has been an incredible vehicle for me to better understand how to appreciate and create art. and also how to acquire and hone a skill. and i think it’s led me to make a lot of friends who i never would have met otherwise, and that’s really given me a lot more perspective on all sorts of things, too.
@TheTRoberts in terms of yoyoing, or in general? with yoyoing, this might be a weird answer, but you have to remember that it’s just yoyoing. if you’re burned out, you can put it down for a while. in general i think having multiple hobbies really helps with burnout — if one of them is feeling more draining than fun, turn to something else for a while, and when you come back, you’ll probably appreciate yoyo more than you did before. but in terms of just raw yoyoing when you’re practicing for a contest and can’t really put it away, honestly i think what helped me the most was making sure that i really liked the tricks i was doing. and taking dedicated self-care time, like it’s very healing for me to watch youtube videos about my other interests or mid-2000’s comedy movies.
@Lido i don’t actively yoyo nearly as much as i used to, unfortunately. but i always toss it around when i’m on the phone, or waiting for something for a bit, or just need to clear my head or want to enjoy listening to some music. it’s much less of a focal point for me now and really turning into something that i do because i find it very satisfying and enjoy the way it lets me express myself, which is really cool. more often than not i’m probably spending more time on making yoyo content than i am on actually yoyoing hahaha
@Des Christopher Chia winning AP 2011. if it has to be a specific moment, the part where he shakes his shirt. absolute icon, favorite player of all time, no one else ever did it like him.
i think that’s everyone! if i missed anything please tag me, it wasn’t personal there was just a lot here
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Hey guys! I haven’t had the chance to post sooner since I was sick the past week 
Anyways, I’ve been playing with the swan and oh boy does it play great! It’s super smooth on the string and I can do several combos with just a single throw. My current skillset definitely can’t utilize the full potential of the yoyo lol
It definitely feels a bit smaller but the large width and SS rims make it super easy to play. It’s a very fun yoyo! Thank you so much again!! @YoYoExpert @YoYoExpertEric @swagwagon
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woah you are very good!! - Enjoy the Swan!! 
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