What yoyo release of 2019 (rereleases from previous years not being included) would you say was the one that was an absolute must own to represent the year?
Sorry if this was already posted. Please delete if so.
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Iāll second the Grasshopper GTX. This thing really opened my eyes to just how incredible yoyos can be, and is absolutely my favorite unresponsive.
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(Warning. Wall of words adventure. Not for the non-adventurous. Just like at Disneyland; there are turnback points at the end of every paragraph. Enter at your own risk. On the positive side; if you take the reading challenge. You may be lucky enough to find something you totally disagree with. And you can use that to generate some sort of argument just for the sake of argument)
To meā¦ the Unspoken Artemis would hold the top spot, in the very limited release category.
And I think the most Amazing thing about the yoyo is that they had a very limited release.
And very few people(almost nobody) that do have one or have thrown one have said pretty much nothing.
I do understand: the Maker doesnāt have a Team(I may be wrong). Itās not anybodyāsā signature yoyo. Nobody is saying anybody uses it for Contest freestyles. The Maker may just be busy with other things in life. Any number of things, etcā¦ But he should most certainly make moreš¤
ā¦I saw ā1ā on the BST a few weeks ago. I deliberately ādidnātā buy it. Because I wanted somebody else to end up with it.
I find the Company name amazingly fitting >>> Unspoken. Maybe that is some kind of Cryptic message? Dunno?
I feel the Artemis best represents 2019 because it checks all the boxes on how far weāve come in the last 20 years.
The Artemis recipe contains no poor ingredients. Only goodness. Great shape. Width, diameter and weight distribution could not be any better for a bimetal. It feels solid but not heavy on the string. Easy grip and release on the throw. Excellent ergonomics allow soft hits on hard comebacks. Spins with authority even on medium throws. Very stable and stays in plane like a gyro. The visual impact is very pleasing; it looks the business. Retail price point is superb considering it plays like Yoyorecreation yoyos at about half the price. The fit and finish shows great QC. Etcā¦
Itās honestly very difficult to decide on 1 yoyo for the entire year. There were dozens of yoyos released in 2019. And dozens of them play very, very well at all price points.
But, for me, when the smoke clears, the Unspoken Artemis is my choice to be right at the top of the ladder.
(Realize that I personally have not tried all yoyos released for the year. So my view is specifically based on my experiences).
For the special projects consideration(this is like the Mo-cademy Awards); Hands down, the TiVayder.
At first I thought the whole idea was sorta nuts. I talked to Jeff for quite a while on the phone. And at first I thought he was kinda nuts. Then the more he talked about his motivation(and why); the more I thought I was kinda nuts for being sort of slow to grasp his plan.
I had reservations, still. Because a āsubstantial quantity releaseā of a Titanium yoyo at an extraordinary price; compelled me to be concerned on the potential negative impact on other Ti-yoyo makers that try staying in business making and selling yoyos. Jeff wasnāt intentionally trying to derail the Ti market. But it seemed that could be the end result. That some potential buyers would start questioning why ā Ti yoyos should be priced at a similar point? Simply from not understanding the structure of product pricing and such.
I feel that all the dots connected with the TiVayder. Feel, fit, finish, single metal weight dynamics, looks, stability, priceā¦ they all came together for a superb result.
How releasing several hundred Ti yoyos affected the overall yoyo market; is essentially viewed differently depending on who is talking. I am just an end user so I may not get the actual impact of the release. But to the best of my knowledge, nobody died in Bankruptcy Court. So that is a positiveā¦
In the large Manufacturer category, I think the YYF Wide Angle Shutter is a Beast level yoyo at non Beast level pricing. Any Shutter that was released in 2019, is superb, period. And the Bi-metal Shutter would easily be an alternate choice for top 2019 release. And few would even argue with that.
Also in the large Manufacturer category would be Duncan. The Grasshopper GTX pit Duncan squarely in the Mix of seriously good, no nonsense bi-metal goodness. I feel Duncan has been lagging for some time compared to other Makers. But in the last few years they have cranked it up and punched out some Badd Arse stuff.
In a 3 way tie for large Makers; One Drop. Personally; I donāt ever remember One Drop making a ābadā yoyo. Top shelf products> straight out of Oregon. No shortcuts. Andā¦ a good number of yoyos that people think are amazing from various āsmaller sellersā are made by One Drop, lol. I canāt decide on a best One Drop for 2019 because they are all excellentš¤
ā¦ But if I had to pick just one. It would be a co-lab by One Drop and MonkeyfingeR. The Fire Devil Ridgeback is Secret Weapon level status.
If you wanted to buy 1 yo-yo. And you could not decide whether to buy a One Drop or a MonkeyfingeR? The best choice would be the Ridgeback. It is amazing.
Random Top choices? Sureā¦
The Yoyofactory Ti-888. Itās like a hot Chile. High on the heat scale. Some folks would settle to be detractors. They will say that the Ti-Forever is just another 888 in Ti and not much more. It is not a Contest style big Veeee rim powered Monster, etc. but since 95 percent of us will never ever even enter one Yoyo Contest in our entire lives. That leaves the 95 percent of us, to enjoy the results of Yoyofactorysā efforts to make the Ultimate(so far) 888 yoyo.
Random #2. Jordan Blofeld. The Float will float your boat. But the Absurdity will melt away any feelings of other yoyos you may have regretted buying. The OpYoyos Absurdity is a Prime example of Master level design engineering. I donāt know how Jordan does it? Maybe smokes marshmallows? Lives at an Oxygen Bar. In the Absurdity description, it states, āThe Absurdity plays the way a yoyo should play in your dreamsā. I laughed so hard. I thought he was dreaming, lolš¤
Well, I decided to take the challenge. I bought one of the first Absurdity yoyos. And quickly understood that I was the one that was dreaming. Probably a good thing it only comes in Pink. Or I might have them lined up like bowling pins, haha.
Random #3 tie. Anything made by Julio or Elvin or marketed by A-RT.
Julio is like a 1 man think tank. The Shogun is the Business.
Elvin is a Radiologist by Occupation. And I think the radiation he has been accidentally exposed to, has increased the size and power of his brain. I have a Ti-Bowl/extra noodles. And the name fits it perfectly.
And Jensen and Charles May seem out there to some of you guys. But out there where they are, is the perfect location for their Genius. Best advice I can give you guys is to āGet a Lifeā, lol
Ok, Iā done.
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I disagree with everything you said simply for the sake of argument.
Pretty concise listing.
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Indeed. Thanks. My New Years resolution was to keep my posts very short. Less than 5000 sentences maxā¦
I found that people were dying of old age while reading my journals.
Thanks for noticing.
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Iāve never minded longer posts and enjoyed this write up!
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Very good write up. I honestly have enjoyed reading your opinions and will take these yoyo suggestions seriously.
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Being absolutely honest, Shutter Wide Angle or Cadence ES.
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Well said, somehow you managed to hit all my highlights also. The artemis is a treasure, the gtx made me pay attention to duncan again, the ti-888 manages to feel just like an early 888 only better, the bi-shutter is brilliant and worthy of a 2x world champion. The TiVayder will be just as historic as its predecessor. The samurai is a masterwork by one of the best designers in the business. If Jordan makes a yoyo, I buy it without hesitation.
The only thing I would add to this is the 2sick end game. That is the bimetal of 2019 for me. Joey is right up there with Jordan and Julio (sengoku), if he makes it Iām going to wind up buying it. He is unbelievably good at designing yoyos, and his blast and ano are on point.
A final shout out to Reticulated. If it werenāt for the endgame, the death adder V2 would be the one I was always talking about. Reticulated is the top ānew to meā maker of 2019. I know heās been around longer, but I went from having 0 retics to having all of them during the year. I like every one of his yoyos.
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2019 was the year of the Ti Vayder.
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As an avid forum reader it seems that the TI Vader is the most praised Yoyo of the year.
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If the A-RT/ SF Doorknob represents 2018, than I have to agree Ti-Vayder has to represent 2019. The most hyped throughout the year forsure, even with 888 Forever release.
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I concur. The Ti-Vayder was the hallmark release of 2019.
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The problem with the Ti-Vayder is that it was a re-release, so it canāt be THE yoyo of 2019. But I love mine all the same and definitely consider it one of 2019ās yoyo highlights. The Ti-888 (bring hubstacks back!) also shares this crown, but as a runner up.
Other than being the year of affordable Ti (in the Vayder), id say the defining yoyo is the Butter (aka Bi-metal Shutter). Not only was this release hyped for a long time (and once trolled with the bi-metal styling), it is the yoyo of the current world champ. It is also one of if not the best bi-metal yoyo ive ever played. It takes the high points of the Shutter WA, slightly condenses it, and combines it seamlessly with bi-metal power. It is an amazing modern playing yoyo that I think sums up 2019 quite well. I havent played the Grasshopper GTX, but hell, the Butter is the world champās yoyo. If 2019 can be defined without considering Ti yoyos, id say that there have been strides forward in making bi-metals that donāt suffer from feeling like a traditional bi-metal. The Butter does this (and I imagine the GTX does as well, but like I said, I havent played it).
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Itās a very fine distinction.
I mean, it is a different yoyo from the TiWalker. Itās design was tweaked and it plays āalmost identicallyā but has a āmodern feelā to it, yada yada yada. I think it is different enough in enough ways that matter to regard it as more than a simple re-release of an old design. After all, if thatās all it really was, it wouldnāt have been given a new name, and its numbering would have begun with 90 rather than 1.
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It wasnāt a rerelease, but there have been a few yo-yos that simply change response or gap (the differences here) and remain named the same.
The name was fitting to the history and story of the yoyo, Star Wars, and VsNYYC, but the release was much more a rerelease than a new release.
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Iām trying to reconcile these two statements, but need help. 
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My favorite one is Overdrive Draupnir
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