Very entertaining cast! Great job @codinghorror and @DocPop!
“This trick best done with a titanium yoyo, you heard it here…” made me chuckle.
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So here’s a philosophical question: Is it valid to award a yoyo the title of “Best Yoyo Ever Made” if it was never used to win a major competition title?
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Yes. Because the yoyo itself has less to do with winning a competition than the person using it.
And also, why limit its credibility to just competitions?
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Because competitions are where the best in the world compete.
I agree tho, competition success is irrelevant for how good a yoyo is nowadays. ESPECIALLY since there’s a ton of companies now and sponsorships and signature yoyos are a huge thing
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Now that I think about it the Radius and Speeder are the only yoyos to have won multiple worlds, and they were both signature yoyos used by the creator.
I think there were definitely better yoyos than the Speeder our at the time, especially the last 1 or 2 years, it’s just that Mickey is a god and the greatest 1a player of all time
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True, but you’d think that a yoyo that is believed to be the best ever made would attract top competitors because, well, it is the best yoyo ever made. I mean, who has more credibility in terms of assessing the capabilities of yoyos than top competitors?
I guess sponsorship does undermine the metrics though, as it can block the most credible players from using the best yoyo simply due to the economics and politics of being on a team.
It just makes me wonder what credible method could be used to determine something like “Best Yoyo Ever Made”.
(Can you tell I am very interested in credibility rather than lore?)
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Well, seeing as how there were so few ever made, we basically just have to assume that the ones who have had the privilege of actually using one know their stuff.
There’s a reason why people will pay almost $800 to obtain an original.
Can it be proven that this is the best yoyo ever made? Probably not. If you really want to know, get your hands on one.
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I’m not sure there is a credible way since so much of yoyoing is based on personal preference.
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For me it’s nothing to do with lore. It’s simply the best yoyo I’ve played. You’ve mentioned that notion before (or something similar). I’m not certain if I could say anything that gets that idea out of your head though.
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The dynamics of a collector market is different from a normal market though. The price of a rare item will typically reflect is rarity, not is inherent quality.
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I think before(pre-2010) when there were much less companies and competition and knowledge, the company making the best yoyos sponsored the best players, and the best players had the best signature yoyos, so the ones that won worlds generally used one of if not the best yoyo in the world.
Nowadays though, too many companies and many of them understand good yoyo design so the difference has shrunk. Many companies are on a level playing field and we aren’t at a point anymore where companies are trying to create a new revolutionary best yoyo and we’re not at a point anymore where players feel like they need the absolute objectively best yoyo anymore, preference and playing style plays a much greater role nowadays.
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In some cases yes. In the case of some musical instruments, for example, it’s playability. The TiWalker’s secondary market price exceeds that of almost all other rarer collectible yoyos. It’s driven by playability.
That being said I’m afraid that the original is going to take a serious $ hit due to this release.
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I’m just thinking that it should take a lot more than the subjective assessment of a hundred or so random players to hand the title of “Best Yoyo Ever Made” to a particular throw. Then again, maybe that title doesn’t mean what those words literally mean?
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2000 - Spintastics Tigershark
2001 - YYJ SpinFaktor
2002 - Duncan Freehand 1
2003 - YYJ Hitman
2004 - YYJ Speeder
2005 - YYJ Speeder
2006 - YYJ Speeder
2007 - YYF 888
2008 - YYF Superstar
2009 - YYR Sleipnir
2010 - YYF Northstar
2011 - TP Positron
2012 - Something Anglam
2013 - Duncan Barracuda
2014 - YYF Shutter
2015 - CLYW Borealis
2016 - C3 Radius
2017 - C3 Radius
2018 - YYF Edge Beyond
Every yoyo used to win worlds before 2010 was a revolutionary yoyo that changed the game. Even 2010 it was huge because we finally had a cheap yoyo that could perform at a high level and 2011-2012 were kind of attempts at refinements of making an even greater yoyo than the Sleipnir. I just wish the Draupnir won in 2013 man, that would’ve been great 
But yeah you can definitely see the change as we moved into 2010s though
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That reminds me of how the Stradivarius myth was busted wide open recently when present-day violins were chosen over Stradivarius violins in a double-blind test conducted for a group of elite violinists and a body of listeners. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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There were only 8 original Kuntosh made, and the few that were able to play one, or own one said something very similar about it. There was a demand for that yoyo to be released unlike any other, including this one. Have TiWalkers sold for $800, or close? Last few I’ve seen the past few years have all been less than $500. The only og Kuntosh I’ve seen sell sold for over $700.
HOWEVER, once the Kuntosh was released there were a lot of people that were singing it’s praises, but a lot of people that were pretty much demanding it be released bought and then sold their Kuntosh in a short time. A lot of people were wrapped up in the lore, some were wrapped up in it’s greatness.
I’m predicting it’ll be the same with the Vayder’s. There will be some that agree with all the accolades the TiWalker was given, and a lot wont understand the “hype” it’s gotten. That seems to always happen when it comes to very rare yoyos that have a mass release.
Personally I don’t feel there is “best yoyo ever made”, but like Vega said it’s dependent on what you’ve played. Many people that are excited about the TiVayder, simply put, haven’t played near enough yoyos to say it’s the best ever, and even those that have it’s still just an opinion. There is nothing tangible to define “the best yoyo ever”.
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Clearly the word “best” in this case is very subjective. For me (and a number of other people) it’s the “best” I’ve played. I don’t know how else to say it. No hype, no alterior motive just my true feelings.
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That’s kinda my sense of it as well. But that doesn’t seem to stop the idea from propagating. (I am thinking of how often Jeff used that title in the video today, and in the context of “…considered the Best Yoyo Ever Made”. Considered by whom? Is there some authoritative committee that decides these things on behalf of the hobby that I’m not aware of?)
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@zslane maybe you wanna know the “greatest”, the most impactful, not the “best” yoyo of all time
If that makes any sense
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That would be interesting. But:
- The greatest at what?
- The most impactful in what way?
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