Mmm! Cake!!
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Pie > cake
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Okay I’m new to this thread and I’m not going to read what’s been posted so far. I’m sure someone has beaten me to it but splashes and half-swaps are lame.
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Thanks a lot, you just made me hungry🙂
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Sorry I had to say it. I do like the ‘cosmic’ splash on black, that looks really cool.
I’m more picky about the colors used than the ano type. I don’t normally like yo-yos where there’s too much going on outside of the “galaxy” like color combination. I don’t think a large majority of color combos look nice though so if it’s a choice between one of those and a solid color I’m going with the solid.
My pink purple fade Kayak is the most gorgeous yo-yo I’ve ever owned though that’s for sure.
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Badly used meme. 0/10.
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Here’s another one: This is slowly turning into “popular yo-yo opinions”, not “unpopular.”
But maybe this is also a popular opinion, which would mean I should delete this comment.
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This thread is getting off topic but here’s another unpopular opinion:
I’ll take a similar yo-yo from a dominant, established brand over a boutique yo-yo every time.
I know the quality of what I’m getting, I know generally how the brand’s yo-yos will feel and play, I know that the manufacturer has been around long enough to work out the dos and do nots of the process. if I want multiples down the line or can’t buy immediately upon release I don’t have to worry about tracking them down through the BST because of stupidly tiny runs. Prices are usually more reasonable with bigger brands because of the larger runs (among other factors, I imagine more experienced companies spend less time fine tuning and iterating on prototypes) as well.
Also people take for granted that the reason most of these smaller companies can exist is because of the work put in by the larger manufacturers to get us to this point.
The attitude of them being a large corporate chain restaurant compared to a local mom and pops isn’t accurate, it’s more like a new local family owned restaurant vs an established regional family owned chain. And there’s a higher chance of your order coming out right when that regional chain has a streamlined proven process. Lots of new local restaurants in my area go out of business because either their food isn’t good enough to stand out or they did not have the management skills required to operate the business. Just remember a large yo-yo company is still just a yoyo company, not too big in the grand scheme of things (except maybe Duncan/Flambeau).
The exception to this will probably be if the boutique company offers a product that I can’t get something similar to somewhere else.
Another one that’s related:
Just because someone is really good at yoyoing it doesn’t mean they will make great yo-yos. The best players in a sport usually don’t end up making the best coaches. If an incredible yo-yoer leaves a team to start his/her own company I don’t automatically assume the yo-yos will be incredible as well.
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Every companies yoyo is quality now though and most of the yoyos on the market nowadays are made by the same machine shop in China.
I think I would’ve agreed more with what you said 10 years ago
I do agree there are pioneers that have advanced our knowledge of good yoyo design and thats why it’s so easy for someone to design and create a good yoyo nowadays but those respective companies aren’t really around anymore or aren’t making modern competitive yoyos anymore(YYJ, Yomega, etc). YYF has been one of the biggest companies for a very long time and have always been ONE of the leading innovators but I’m not sure they were ever THE leading innovator like yomega, Duncan, YYJ, etc. I guess you could say maybe the 888 was but I’m not exactly sure if that brought anything really new or game changing to the table. I wasn’t around at this time though and its definitely arguable since they were so popular and used by top players.
Also tbh one big reason these small companies can exist now too is because of that Chinese manufacturing company that makes it so easy and cheap to get a run of quality smooth yoyos out
YYF has always been a big contributor for attracting new interested throwers because of their budget lines though so there’s definitely that.
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Unpopular Opinions: YYR has never gotten enough respect as they deserve. Probably because they’re not American and also their prices(tho CLYW was about as overpriced as YYR and people went crazy for those)
They were the leading innovators in the late 2000s and early 2010s, not YYF. YYF was just larger and American which made them more relatable and accessible.
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YYF is probably the biggest reason we have monometals as the standard today and we moved past hybrid metal/plastic designs. They did a lot for standardizing the silicone ring response as well. And they were never afraid of doing out there designs at risk of them not selling well, tons of variety in shape and size that I’m sure helped move us toward the selection of designs we have today. They were a big push towards more functional all plastic yo-yos that could hang with metals as well
One of the most influential yo-yo companies of all time if you ask me.
Edit: so yeah, they were definitely the torch carrier for innovation after YYJ began to fade.
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I would agree if you limited your claim to competition yo-yos. I can definitely see the argument that they helped standardize the elements of popular competition based yo-yo design, but YYF has them beat out in other aspects of yo-yo design and innovation.
I definitely don’t deny YYF has been a very influential company. They’ve been around for a long time and have always been one of the leaders of the hobby.
I won’t argue too much about the detailed history because I admittedly wasn’t around but I do think the large scale of their company made it easier for them to popularize things like monometals and silicone response but they weren’t necessarily one of the first to do it
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By the time I got into this last summer, Yomega and YYJ were already far in the hobby’s rear view mirror. Yet at one time they were major players in the industry. Who looks to be the next YYJ, in terms of being a major that is fading away?
Unpopular opinion: for some reason I have not seen a single CLYW that excites me, or even makes me curious to try it out. I don’t know what it is about them that fills me with so much meh. I realize this isn’t rational, but emotional responses aren’t rational by nature.
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I’m not a fan of a decent chunk of CLYW designs, but the ones that interest me really, really interest me. I think the Kayak might have helped me find my favorite specs and feel, I’m just trying some other yo-yos with different specs and shapes to see if it’s just the fact that new yo-yos are so good in general or if it really is my perfect yo-yo design.
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Here’s the thing right. You could argue the vast majority of the market today are “competition” yoyos. Undersized, high walls, etc have faded out by now.
YYR pioneered what we consider now to be optimal yoyo design. Full sized, wide, low walls, 7075. A large majority of yoyos today are… full sized, wide, low walls, for more high end its 7075
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