Is it a nice yoyo, yes. Is it $75 nice, no. Is it “the best yoyo for learning tricks,” oh hell no.
The Civility is indeed a nice yoyo. In black with rainbow rims it is very pretty. The finish is also very nice, making it good for finger grinds. It has a very deep IRG, great for thumb grinds, not so good for talon grinds. The weight distribution is good, spin time is good, maneuverability is good, binds are good. Nothing really stands out as great. Those are the pros.
The finger spin “cup” is utter trash. I don’t understand how we have all these examples of great finger spin cups, ie. the Shooting Star, Iceberg, or AOE, and even just finger spin enabled hubs like, say, the Death Adder, yet they decided to put a little, fine pointed, shallow cone on the Civility. Don’t get me wrong, it does actually work, and work very well, IF you manage to lock it in. But unless you land within a millimeter or two of dead center, it’s not going to work at all. There’s almost no funnel to help your finger into the cone, so too far outside the zone and you’ve got at most five seconds of wobble. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s significantly easier to finger spin on a flat hub like the HaymakerX or even a domed hub like the Vulture.
Changing out the VIP bearing for a Pixel or even a Center Track improves overall performance a bit. I got the best spin time and stability with the Pixel, and binds were far less snaggy. It also doesn’t play quite as heavy as you’d expect, yet the Ouroboros is the same weight, but plays significantly lighter and faster than the Civility, with only slightly less spin time.
Overall it’s a nice yoyo. The problem is the hype and price. It’s definitely not what they claim: the best yoyo for learning tricks. And there are plenty of $50-75 yoyos that outperform it.