Hi. My name is Malachi and I have a modern responsive problem. I hope this support group will be helpful in my recovery. I’ll edit in a bit with names and some opinions.
If I don’t specify bearing, it’s probably small (most likely A or D). If you have any questions about any of these, just let me know.
First Row
- Basecamp Moonshine 2 (with stock, mismatched thick/thin pads)
- DocPop x Rain City Skills Pop Art w/ Rain Drop counterweight
- Core Co. Alley Cat 650b
- Top Yo Creater (half-spec C)
- Rain City Skills x Eternal Throws Gamer small bearing prototype
- Out of Hand Burner
Second Row
- Zeekio Alpha Steel (thick lube)
- Toybania Stoopid (half-spec C)
- Toybania The Thing (half-spec C)
- DocPop Daytripper
- DocPop Weekender
- Toybania The Thing v2 (half-spec C)
- Rain City Skills x Eternal Throws Gamer (2nd run, blasted finish, full ceramic half-spec C)
Third Row
- Recess Quiz (thick lubed C)
- Rain City Skills x Eternal Throws Gamer light (half-spec C)
- Duncan Freehand One
- One Drop Deep State (recessed, lubed C)
- Yo Yo Factory Confusion
- Core Co Alley Cat
- Custom Products Axl Elite
Fourth Row
- Basecamp Sherpa (half-spec C)
- ILYY Blackbelt (half-spec C)
- Yo Yo Factory Confusion GT
- TimCor Starfire 2018 (half-spec C)
- DocPop Bolt Part 2 (half-spec C)
- Spinworthy x MK1 RBC
- One Drop Deeper State
Fifth Row
- Rain City Skills x Eternal Throws Gamer (1st run, glossy, [actually a lie because it currently has a C bearing, don’t tell anyone])
- Basecamp Moonshine (half-spec C)
- G2 Respawn
- Whimsy Lessur (90g, terrifying)
- Rain City Skills x Oh Yes Yo SK8R SB (lubed small bearing)
- Jake Bullock Slim Dunk (half-spec C)
- Duncan Butterfly AL
- One Drop Deeper State (recessed C)
Sixth Row
- Rain City Skills x Eternal Throw Delrin Gamer (half-spec C)
- Zeekio Slim Jim (half-spec C)
- Yo Yo Factory Confusion Ti
Unpictured, because I did not have them yet:
- Zero Gravity Return Tops El Mijo
- G2 Respawn Lite
- Duncan Butterfly XT (not sure where it wandered off to when I was taking this photo)
Unowned (and mostly out of my reach or not of enough interest, just listing for completeness, if there are ones I am missing, let me know)
- Spencer Berry Walter
- Spencer Berry Theodore (lubed C, I had one of these for a while, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as slimmer designs and I couldn’t justify holding on to it without playing it more)
- Luftverk Alpina
- Luftverk Daytona Highwall SB
- Tom Kuhn x RSO Silver Bullet Ti
- Tom Kuhn SB2
- ILYY Trvth
- Markmont Black Canon
- Toybania Thicc
- MJ Yoyo Canversion
- Smashing Yo Yo Pip
- SPYY Flying V
I really enjoy slim, responsive yoyos (and fixed axle). 0A is my preferred style. I also have a pretty strong preference for small bearings, so while I still enjoy most of the half-spec C, they rarely beat out a good A bearing for me.
As far as favorites… It’s really hard to choose. I’ll try to come back later and add some comments about the highlights.
My normal EDC is that beat, black YYF Confusion in the middle. Good enough to play, but cheap enough not to worry too much about (and I have 2 spares). (I lost my original 650b, so I’m a little paranoid.) I really like it and that’s what compelled me to get the Ti version.
I have a soft spot for the Alley Cat 650b, it was a really nice refinement of the OG Alley Cat, which was kind of at the tip of this iceberg for me (as was the Sherpa) when I started throwing again in 2016(?).
The Daytripper and the RBC are among my favorites. I like the Weekender a lot, too, but its width make it less pocketable… but regens just feel so good.
I also have a lot of fondness for the Gamer family, particularly now that it has been refined. I hope someday there is an official small bearing version. I liked that it aimed to be more affordable and I find the evolution of the Space Invaders colorway to be fascinating. (The small bearing on the lower left is the Plasma Rifle colorway, but you get what you get when it’s a proto.)
I really like the flexibility and customizability of the El Mijo, although the RBC overshadows it a bit in a similar space. I like the lighter weight of the RBC, but they’re both (along with the Respawn Lite) very recent additions, so they need more time to percolate.
I don’t outright hate any of these, though, and they all have their own positives and negatives. I wish for a Moonshine 3 with the shape of the Moonshine and the bearing/response of the Moonshine 2, for example.
A reasonable person would probably pare down this to something more manageable, and someday I may do that. Probably with an eye for dropping some of the C sized bearing models where I feel like they are outmatched by a small bearing yo yo to trim the fat a bit. My SO would like for companies to stop making new responsive yoyos, cause I’m obviously a sucker.