Mark Montgomery aka MarkMont, like many now legendary players, started yo-yoing during the boom of the late 90’s. He started competing in 2000, and took 1st place in worlds AP division by 2003. Mark’s style stands out among most for being simultaneously flowy, techy, and “fully freestyle.”
After an impressive run of contests between 2003 and 2008 Mark teamed up with then fledgling yo-yo machine shop onedrop, based in Eugene Oregon. Onedrop had just started making yo-yos one year prior releasing their first model, The Project, in 2007. Mark requested some adjustments to the original Project that resulted in the 2008 release of the MarkMont Project, and later the 2010 release of the MarkMont Next. But the yo-yo we are here to talk about today came four years later in 2014. The MarkMont Classic.
The MMC hit the streets in October of 2014, and it made an impact almost immediately. By this point onedrop had fully developed their side effect axle system, and this yo-yo came with two sets of Marks signature SE, brass and aluminum, for adjusting the weight of the yo-yo on the fly. It was meant to be a “reimagined classic.” A large organic yo-yo that retained the look and feel of an old school butterfly shape, while bringing it into the modern era of play. Shawn Nelson, the machinist behind some of the best yo-yos ever made, said they went through fifteen variations of the design before landing on one that Mark was happy with. And he wasn’t the only one who was happy with it.
In 2018 I walked into a small toy store in the Hollywood neighborhood of Portland to ask if they had any yo-yos. I was given two options: a red Top Deck, signature yo-yo of onedrop’s JT Nickel released in 2016, or a red MMC. They had both been sitting on the shelf behind the counter as dead stock for a couple of years. I decided to buy the MMC because of the side effect system. I had picked up a used Cascade previously and wanted to see how the interchangeable axle system worked, and effected how the yo-yo felt. I took it home and played the two side by side for a while before deciding I liked the smaller diameter of the Cascade much more than the MMC. I posted some photos of the MMC in the facebook yo-yo buy/sell/trade group and was met with a wave of interest in it. I was unaware of the popularity of this thing! Someone offered to trade me a titanium 2Sick Castle, and I agreed to the deal. A few days later at the first Portland yo-yo meet that I organized with my friend Guerd, the MMC was quickly introduced to the pavement, and earned a nice big pair of dings on both rims. The trade deal was off. But now this yo-yo was broken in. It wasn’t mint, so it was free to be thrown into a pocket or bag and taken around as a daily carry. And carry it I did. I played it much more than before, and more than any of the other yo-yos that I had at the time to the point that it became one of my favorites to pick up. A silver lining to a nice yo-yo smacking into the ground.
Depending on how you look at it, two or three variants of the MMC were released.
The original first run MMC came in a handful of solid colors, some limited splashes, and there were a few that got the nickel plating treatment. My collection holds a green one, a black one, and my original red one that I talked about previously.
Specs - 66.75g with brass SE - 63.50g with AL SE - 56.13mm D - 46.06mm W
The MarkMont Classic Magnum Opus or MMCMO is a 7075 version of the original MMC that was released in 2021. Some minor changes were made to the design to make it more stable and spin longer, but overall it presents itself visibly as the same yo-yo, retains the charm of the original, and improves on its already comfortable play style. Show here is a black Magnum Opus next to a later release of the MMC in cotton candy fade.
Specs - 64g with stock flat SEs - 56.1mm D - 45.17mm W
In the early 2020’s Mark separated himself from onedrop by leaning into his own retail site MarkMont.shop. It wasn’t a new site, as he had been using it to sell MMCs, side effects, jitter rings, as well as his own line of washable strings that were hand made by Will Prater and sold in limited quantities. The strings were hugely popular for the short amount of time they were available before Will said ■■■■this ■■■■and stopped making them.
Mark released a series of yo-yos through MarkMont.shop that were designed and produced by Shawn and David, but were marketed and sold by him as the MarkMont FRS, or Flat Rim series. The FRS consisted of the Black Cannon released in 2021, MarkMont Project 2 in 2023, and finally the Blunder Bus in 2025. Said to have been inspired by the 2016 onedrop Gauntlet, it feels like the Gauntlet and the MMC got squished together, so I felt it deserved a spot in this write up. The Gauntlet and the original MMC were fairly similar in many specs other than the actual shape of the body, and the FRS Blunder Bus retains numbers very close to both while holding on to the wider size of the Gauntlet.
Specs - 66.3g Pyramatte - 66.7g Cerakote - 56mm D - 47.3mm W
This release was met with some hesitation as it is essentially a 6061 onedrop yo-yo that was sold for more than a 6061 monometal yo-yo would usually sell for, but hype comes with a price and they did eventually sell out. They were available in onedrop’s signature Pyramatte finish in black and clear, or a smooth Cerakote finish in yellow or white. As a huge fan of the MMC I took the plunge on the Blunderbus a few weeks after they dropped as there were some black ones still left in the web store. After a rough journey in an unpadded box I ended up sending it back to Mark due to a decent amount of vibe. Generally vibe doesn’t bother me, but this was a brand new $120 yo-yo machined by onedrop. I received a replacement a few weeks later that was significantly better. I don’t know if it was a different yo-yo or if he had just tuned the original one to be smoother. Overall the Blunderbus is a good yo-yo. Maybe I am wrong in comparing it more to the MMC than the Gauntlet, but some part of the MMC dna was lost in translation on this one. It was meant to be a more “competition organic” than a “reimagined classic” and like any yo-yo greatness is in the hand of the one who throws it. My hands sometimes are maybe not so great to be judging “competition” yo-yos, but to me the original MMC is a timeless yo-yo. It is a perfect yo-yo. If I was stuck playing only an MMC for the rest of my life I would be a-ok. To quote Mark himself, “At the end of the day fun needs to be in the house at all times when yo-yoing.” and that is one thing we can most certainly agree on.
