The evolution of the yoyo shape

From watching a lot of old yo-yo videos on YouTube, it has somewhat come to my attention that yo-yos have changed their shape throughout the years. As in being rounded and more O shaped back in the late 2000s to now being more angular based. Now, the question that I have been meaning to ask is, when did this change in shape occur and why did manufacturers start changing these shapes?

P.S: I am very new thrower, only starting back in 2017 so I might be making a wrong assumption or two. Please have this in mind as I never intend to offend people by my naĆÆve-ness.

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I think a better question is how has yoyo design evolved rather than just shape, so Iā€™ll cover that.

Responsive yoyos were common place in the 90s, people started experimenting with unresponsive and binding around this time but nobody was really doing full unresponsive play. The 90s saw a shift from very narrow to slightly more wider yoyos (still pretty narrow by todayā€™s standards though). Early 2000s players started experimenting more with semi-responsive and unresponsive play but it wasnā€™t really the norm until Johnnie Delvalleā€™s iconic 2003 Worlds performance. After that, more people started to switch to unresponsive play and the Hitman that was used became a huge hit.

The few years following that, you could see bigger and wider yoyos became a little more common, walls became a little lower, and silicone/response pads started becoming more common. Undersized, mid-high walled, and narrow yoyos were still being released very frequently around this time though so the general consensus hadnā€™t completely switched to ā€œbigger and wider is betterā€ quite yet.

In the late 2000s, a few companies started to experiment with 7075 aluminum, which was stronger than the commonly used 6061 aluminum. Bigger, wider, lower walls became more and more relevant but a complete shift hadnā€™t happened quite yet. Silicone/response pads were pretty much used and seen as the superior response by everyone by this point.

In the early 2010s, companies started to experiment with bimetals as we know them today. Then, in 2013, we pretty much hit the ā€œpeakā€ of yoyo design with the Draupnir. Around that same time, 2013-2014, was when undersized and narrow really became seen as obsolete and fewer and fewer companies were making them, especially with a competitive mindset. Since 2014, yoyo design hasnā€™t exactly ā€œadvancedā€ but 7075/68, titanium, and bimetals started to be much more commonplace and yoyos have just gradually gotten better and cheaper overall to the point where almost everything you buy now is a good yoyo. Something that couldnā€™t really be said in the 2000s or even early 2010s.

I think each of these time periods had a yoyo that changed the game as we knew it. First it was the Duncan Freehand in like 2000, which was seen as very wide when it was first released. Then it was the Hitman in 2003, it changed how we view unresponsive play. Next was the Peak, 2006, it was bigger, wider, and walls were a little lower. In 2009, the Sleipnir was released. This was basically the final progression in monometal design. Angular shape, full sized, wide, low-walled, 7075. Lastly, was the Draupnir in 2013, basically the pinnacle of bimetal design. Then thereā€™s today. Although there may have been a few yoyos that have been released that are arguably better than the Draupnir, there hasnā€™t been a yoyo that trumps it by so much that it becomes a game changer like the Hitman or the Sleipnir.

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What a really well thought out response. I think though in your timeline that the 888 probably has a place.

Great job though.

As far as the OP question, I found that the angled shapes really took hold with many of the YYR line. Heath Vizier was a fan of YYR and it can be somewhat seen in the the SkyWalker and TiWalker.

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For sure. Without a doubt I definitely think YYR were the pioneers of modern yoyo design. Since their first release up to the Draupnir, pretty much everything they were spitting out were ahead of their time.

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I think this fact has blurred the lines between what constitutes an ā€œentry levelā€ metal yoyo and a ā€œmid-rangeā€ competitive model. For instance, if someone said they were interested in the Duncan WindRunner at $36, who wouldnā€™t steer them towards a Shutter for only $9 more instead?

I see mid range as $60-$100, anything cheaper is entry, anything more is high-end

With that said, as iconic as the Shutter was in really starting the budget metal movement, I think itā€™s overrated and feel that a lot of yoyos perform better at a similar and cheaper price nowadays.

I guess it goes without saying, then, that YYEā€™s categories for the yoyos it sells through its webstore need some recalibration to better reflect current standards.

With all due respect to anyone elseā€™s opinion I think I trust YYEs determination of skill level to yoyo more than most other peopleā€™s. :slight_smile:

AndrƩ has been doing this a looonnggg time.

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I think it may be less a question of Andreā€™s ability to accurately assess categories, and maybe more of a question of the category criteria drifting out of date over the years. How often do they update such things on the YYE webstore?

I understand there is a webstore revamp in the works; one wonders if the categorization has been updated as part of that.

I kinda disagree with this:

Draupnir is peak bimetal, but as far as peak mainstream monometal design thereā€™s no question that it is ā€¦

shutter-fade-edition

the 2013 Shutter.

Whatā€™s magical about the Shutter in particular is the way it merged all the W/H/O/V shapes

into one platonic ideal:

Itā€™s sorta organic and smooth for comfort, but also kinda H shaped for better spin and that nice fat middle, yet still V shaped for performance, and a bit step-round W shaped ā€¦ all at the same time! Itā€™s a really solid combination of shapes that merges all the good things about each one. It is the most ā€œmodern classicā€ of any yoyo released in the last 8 years, IMNSHO.

Size is also a factor. 56mm diameter of the Shutter is basically mainstream now, whereas 50mm yo-yos were the norm 8 years ago. Yo-yos prior to 2010 are undersized compared to yo-yos today!

Anyway, the primary narrative of yo-yos in 2010-2015 isnā€™t a YoyoRecreation story, except on the bimetal front. Itā€™s a YYF story, and specifically a Shutter storyā€¦

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I wonder when companies started experimenting with titanium.

Coding, you always know how to push my buttons man :rofl:
I say the Shutter is overrated even for its price, you say its the best yoyo of all time. Geez

Iā€™m not even gonna debate on that, I actually feel like youā€™re trolling me at this point lmao

But I will touch on the YYR bit. YYR has never been a more popular company than YYF, YYJ or even some other companies. Two reasons. Theyā€™re expensive, they arenā€™t American. I will agree that none of the YYR models outside of the Sleipnir and Draupnir really got as much recognition as a lot of other stuff that was pumped out around that time. I will also agree that none of the YYR stuff outside of those two are the most ā€œuniqueā€ or ā€œpopularā€ yoyos of their time, as shown in that timeline. However, thatā€™s not really what I was saying.

I said pretty much everything YYR pumped out up to the Draupnir were ahead of their time and thatā€™s because very few yoyos could compete with any of the YYR stuff at a competitive standpoint. Overdrive, Mr. Butcher, Triplet, Gleipnir. What yoyos pre 2015 performed at a higher level than any of those? Not many imo, especially on the American side. Even their smaller stuff like the Attune, Acrophobia, and Blink were forces to be reckoned with, even when compared to the best American yoyos of the time such as the Chief and Summit. The Messiah and Six were considered the best undersized yoyos for the longest time too.

Not many people on the US side had the pleasure of trying or owning these yoyos, especially compared to YYF/YYJ/OD/CLYW/etc. But everyone that did understood that YYR was just on another level in terms of performance. YYF was the king of mainstream. But YYR were the ones that were really making the yoyos to beat. YYR had an aura that said ā€œweā€™re making the best yoyos, anything we pump out are pure competition monsters.ā€ That was what they were going for too.

Just my opinion. Very strong opinion though :wink:

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I did not say best, I said most iconic and most representative of modern yo-yo design. And I believe this is deeply true of the 2013 Shutter. Itā€™s far from my favorite yo-yo but itā€™s the perfect example of what yo-yos became in 2015 and beyond!

Shutter merges all the shapes, so it is not opinionated about shape and thus a valid criticism of the Shutter is that it is too generic because it is trying to be all things to all people. This sorta reminds me of people loudly complaining about bands that are ā€œtoo popularā€ though. Sometimes things are popular because ā€¦ yā€™know, people like them :wink: .

YYR is too expensive and too isolated to be affecting many people. There is no question that they nailed the platonic ideal of a bimetal yoyo in the Draupnir thoughā€¦ I think everyone can agree with that. Plus itā€™s expected for bimetal to be expensive, or at least it used to be!

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@andy569

I actually feel like youā€™re trolling me at this point lmao

Iā€™m the yoyo Sheriff around these parts, you challenging Codingā€™s authority? He wrote the yoyo law, and Iā€™m just here strictly enforcing it. I better not find out you been using nylon strings, or running them bearings dry boy! You hear me?! And as far as youā€™re concerned, Shutter or GET OUT!

Lol, /s

Love you Code

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This is like watching your parents fightā€¦:flushed:

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Iā€™m sorry you guys hate Gentry Stein! Heā€™s gonna be so sad when he finds out! :sob:

But seriously, the Shutter is really quite innovative in terms of its shape IMO, so based on the title of this topicā€¦ itā€™s hugely significant.

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I can assure you I do not hate Gentry. He blows me out of the water as far as talent and marketing goes. Iā€™ve just never felt inclined to buy a shutter. Bought a replay Pro once, that thing was pretty decent for only costing 20 bucks. I considered buying one of those shutters that didnā€™t have any laser engraving on it, but I never actually pulled the trigger

Naaaaaah bro itā€™s all about that
PNG
Pico Creator x DreamYo Nautilusā€¦ wait nobody knows what that is? Dangā€¦ some day cheap off-brand Chinese yoyos will rule the worldā€¦

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From what I can see, thereā€™s zero ā€˜Oā€™ shape in the Shutter.

Do you see any ā€œOā€ shape in thisā€¦ or this?

image image

:thinking: