With the new Yoyorecreation Draupinir, being a metal hybrid; it joins the growing list of multi-metal yo-yo’s coming out of Asia. From the venerable Phenom, C3’s Berserker; to the TP Isotope; even the Chinese are making multi-metal throws like Top-Yo’s, The Top.
Other than Northern Spin and their moderately successful multi-metals, why haven’t American manufacturers made any multi-metal yo-yo’s?
Should they start delving into this evolving trend?
Or, do you view this as a fad rather than a trend?
The YYF C22 was one of the first multi metal yoyos. In any metals like the Hex that have a titanium weight ring, that’s pretty much just for aesthetic purposes. The difference in density between titanium and aluminum is not enough to largely affect the play of the yoyo. And FYI, Northern Spin is a Canada based company.
I don’t think the Phenom really counts as an Asian yoyo. YYJ is an American company, despite that particular model being a signature of an Asian player.
I think its due to costs and what they think the market will accept.
Some yoyos are getting stupid expensive. It seems those in Japan are more willing to pay the money for them than people in the US. I think as a result, brands that sell most of their wares in the US are more hesitant to to spend those kind of dollars, so they aren’t too keen on designing and releasing a yoyo that by default is going to have to be more expensive.
I have many mult-metal yoyos. Anglam, Phenom. H3X, Next Level. There’s a few more I want to get as well, most of them being YYJ. I’m not sure how many are being done this way for purely aesthetic reasons or if there is sound design and performance reasons(probably some of both). If the yoyo doesn’t play good to me, I could care less about how cool it looks.
It seems that yoyojam is the only american brand that has embraced the idea. It may also be their patent, so it makes it useless for other brands to add 2 metals if it wont change the performance, since they cant add rim weight using another, denser material due to yoyojams patent.
Although YYJ is owned by D. Bell, the majority of inspiration/innovation seems to come from JP sig models. I will concede that YYJ makes metal/metal; although it is more of an afterthought than a real push. They have embraced plastic/metal much more profitably. The Phenom has been around for many years and has not been updated, or meaningfully expanded on. The Titan, or Night Moves, is the closest thing to the new TP or YYR from YYJ. Unfortunately, YYJ seems to have abandoned the idea after making a few collectable Night Moves/Titans last year. Combining metal/metal SHOULD yield a superior throw. If not, why go to the trouble? The YYJ metal/metal do not offer significant performance upgrade compared with others such as the Anglam. That is why I discount their contribution. They simply have not played what should have been their advantage effectively.
It is hard to get concrete information on the YYJ patent. My cursory understanding is that it applies to only plastic bodies with metal rims. Is that correct? If so, this is a non-issue for metal/metal. If the YYJ patent applies to metal/metal, then Houston; we have a problem.
That’s a valid point. YYJ is doing a lot of multi-metal stuff. It would be interesting to be allowed to play these make from only one metal to see what the difference is. I would assume(perhaps incorrectly) that things like the titanium rings on certain yoyos(Titan 3, H3X) are there for performance reasons and not to just make them look cool.
YYJ might also be in the middle of a creative slump. Since the Chaser came out, and then the non-released Metal Chaser(as we know it, the Next Level), most of YYJ’s latest offerings have been variations on those shapes, but with different materials and where the weight ring is. VEXed, Inspire, Theory(not so much) and a few others are all in that category. Variations on a theme.
I will say that Andre’s latest with the H3X and JD with the Trigger are showing some “deviations”. However, in my brief interaction with the Black Diamond, seems to have inspiiation from the Trigger. I do some some Protostar/Northstar influences in the Trigger, which stand out in the form of the visible metal weight ring. The H3X does seem to take nods from the DM2/Trinity, but at the same time, I see an almost ground-up creation of the H3X, not a “let’s tweak something else”.
I feel a lot more players are coming into this world of yoyo with fewer and fewer preconceived notions about design, probably due to age(young) and lack of exposure until they get in to it. Personally, even in the short time I’ve been throwing, I’ve been amazed at what’s gone on. The Chief rings are a big one. One Drop’s disc SE’s, of which I could think of a few innovations to vary off that theme. The way yoyos are shaped and designed, some of which combine simplicity with beauty with knock you dead performance.
Maybe those in Asia are taking their design far more seriously and are really playing with materials and CAD design. I wonder if they have advanced modelling software that can also analyze performance based on the CAD drawing?
At the same time, let’s face it, stuff like the Anglam can sell for around $150 or less and still turn a profit. There’s certainly a “greed” factor and a “barrier to entry” by having a $289 price tag.
There’s got to be a valid reason for mixing metals.
I also agree that YYJ has pretty much stated they have the patent for the metal/plastic thing. I think I read they also have something for certain times of multi-metal as well(as in how they go together). As much as I like YYJ, I think they might need to start getting in some different blood to help with designs. They are coming up with good and great stuff, but they aren’t seeming to get to that true “next level” that they need to be on the broader scope of things.
Of course they’ve done plastic/metal more, it’s been what they’ve been known for practically since they started. If I’m going to disregard YoyoJam for making mostly plastic/metals first, then I can likely use that logic to disregard Turning Point or many other companies for previously making just aluminums before they started experimenting.
Most of YoyoJam’s current and new metals are multi-metal. The Titan 3, Ai, H3X, Phenom, Next Level, Night Moves, Karma, and DiamondBack all have this characteristic. That’s quite a bit, and I’m positive there’s more to be had in the future. They haven’t abandoned the idea, clearly.
Please actually look into the recent developments of companies before you make conclusions based on your feelings or personal bias. They’re not Asian but that doesn’t mean that they have to be disregarded because of it.
I just don’t see YYJ being quite as innovative or as risk taking as many of the other companies. I still like YYJ a lot, so my opinion of them probably won’t ever change, and I have plenty of YYJ on my wants/must haves lists. I just see them sort of playing it safe, which may bite them in the rear for a bit, and then they’ll finally get a wake-up call and they’ll drop a few models and then do some ground-up designs.
Take this as being my contribution in regards to personal feelings, which this thread is ripe with, that the Yoyojam contributions function perfectly well for me and are certainly more thoughtful than “oh let’s just put it all on the rim so the yoyo thuds and plays like a rock”. There’s a tradeoff between functionality and experimentation, and I see both with Yoyojam. My main example towards the latter being the Titan 3.
These are all steps that are being made by multiple entities simultaneously. There can be contributions that /work/ and there can be ones that try to break continuity, and neither deserve to be disregarded.
It’s kinda like criticizing automotive manufacturers for using turbos on cars that don’t necessarily go fast.
Sorry if Studio42 already stated this, I was too lazy to read the whole thing, but Yoyojam’s patent extends from just plastic/metal, it’s a combination of any two different materials, with the intended purpose of using the denser material as a weight ring, which is why there was only a small run of the Buzzon DV8, and I believe YYF received permission from YYJ to produce the C22. The patent only applies to the way the weight ring is attached.
YYJ owns the patent of using higher density metals for their rims. YYF(protostar), Turning Point (4B and Isotope) C3 (Beserkers), but initially YYF with it’s protostar “reinvented the wheel” and got away with the patent by considering the secondary metals as “weight rings”. Huge props for YYF’s cleverness but people don’t give enough notice to YoYoJam’s engineering prowess when it comes to making yoyos.
