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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
What about C3?
Edit: also without YYF cycling through all their different designs would other companies have been able to determine the optimal yo-yo design for competition? Not a lot of companies had the resources to make that wide a range of product.
Edit 2: id also argue the Genesis was the first “best” competition yo-yo post plastic/aluminum era.
I kind of think of C3 nowadays as the YYF of Asia. They’re the big always accessible asian company. They’ve also always made excellent yoyos but I wouldn’t say they were ever innovational leaders, except for maybe the fingerspin movement. When they started coming up YYR was already starting to change the game with the Sleipnir.
Still an excellent company though, same for YYF. I respect them a lot
Weren’t YYRs first few designs undersized?
Never mind sleipnir was 2009
I have a lot of respect for YYR, and not just because their prices positively demand respect. 
But it seems like some really good designs of theirs fly under everyone’s radar, like the Anomaly. It’s too bad that their luxury prices keep some amazing throws out of so many people’s hands.
For sure, I think the Genesis was the gamechanger on the American side. I appreciate the Genesis more than the 888 tbh because you can see more of its influence on modern designs, it was further developed and it was definitely one of the best yoyos at the time.
Which came first though? Genesis or Sleipnir? I believe the Genesis came a few months earlier right? It was close though. Genesis definitely set a good bar though, I think the Sleipnir was just, quite literally, far ahead of its time it was a little ridiculous
Completely agree with your sentiments.
Their first design, the Stardust was midsized(52-53mm if I recall correctly). Their 2nd the Stargazer was full sized by that times standards(54mm). Their 3rd the Sleipnir was… well we all know about that
Yeah I corrected myself above.
Good discussion 
What about dominant boutique brands?
I think even in today’s market, there can be a distinction made between micro and nano boutique companies.
I love one drop because of their whole business model in general, and they put out some pretty awesome yoyos too.
Aside from that, I don’t really care too much for nano [super duper tiny] biutique companies. I am more interested in the yoyos themselves. I’m experienced enough to know basically what a yoyo will play like just by looking at the specs alone. I know what I like, and I’m not privy to chucking my hard-earned cash at yoyos just because they are the hot new thing.
I don’t care whether they are a well-established dominant company or a small operation ran out of some dudes grandma’s basement. If they produce a yoyo that piques my interest, I feel more inclined to attain that said yoyo over just supporting them for the sake of supporting them.
Case in point, and I guess my latest contribution to this topic of unpopular opinions:
One Drop has not released anything substantially mind-blowing in almost 2 years [except the parlay, which was a collaboration].
Are they high quality, thoughtfully designed models? Yeah. They’re just not my cup of tea. I love one drop, but I also know what I like in the way of design. I’m not just going to support them by buying their yoyos for the sake of supporting them. I will support them in other ways, mainly advocation.
My response kind of deviated from your initial comment, for clarification I don’t consider one drop to be a boutique brand. I would consider something like G squared to be a well-established Boutique, he has built his reputation on more than just hype alone. His products are probably the highest quality Boutique available.
Ooooh. I think they were one of the leading innovators in American design up until the Valor. They’ve released a few great competitive designs since then like the Top Deck, but they’ve been far less frequent and they’ve been focusing on more “fun” yoyos that still perform great.
But if you think about it their designs never changed thaaat much. It’s just that around the 2014 time was when the design meta really started shifting to full on competition designs. The heart of OD never really conformed to that, they’ve stuck to a similar formula, while just making a few adjustments to make them modern.
I think that’s why so many people love OD even though they’re not necessarily a leading competition driven company anymore. It’s because their designs, their vision stayed the same so you’ll always know when you’re throwing a OD, they have one of the strongest signature feels out of any company today
I think you hit the nail on the head with that assessment mister.
You seem like you’d be a OD guy tho so that kind of surprised me