Hi, all! So I was throwing my Popstar around this evening, and a thought came to my mind. Has anyone ever used unconventional/casual/novelty yoyos for a competition? I’m sure the answer has to be yes, but I’d be very interested to hear about or see any performances where someone is using a yoyo that might fit in these categories. Thanks and happy yo-ing!
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Evan Nagao used to compete with the YYF monster.
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Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. I’m not sure I’ve seen the original Monster, but the Edge Monster looks pretty cool. I’ll check out some old footage of Evan asap!
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Probably not weirdest, but the ones that stand out the most form the usual type of yoyos used in competitions.
- Jensen used to compete with Protostars and Northstars on 2009-2010, which are plastic hybrid yoyos. Full 2009 tech. That being in a time when everyone already had switched to metal yoyos for competitions.
- Gentry did won Nats in 2015 with a Replay Pro, which is a full polycarbonate molded yoyo.
- Takeshi competed on 2017 JOYC with a Turning Point Chamaleon, which is a ridiculously oversized yoyo.
- Kyle Nations competed on 2019 UYYC with a Weekender (if i’m not mistaken, I don’t remember well), which is a modern responsive yoyo.
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The Protostar was such an incredible yo-yo at the time it was released. It really was on par with the metals at the time.
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My first unresponsive yoyo was a Protostar. Very capable yoyo for being a 10 year old plastic design imo. I have seen a few clips of John Ando throwing one, but I’ll have to find some footage of Jensen using it, too.
I’ve heard about Gentry winning with the Replay Pro, but I haven’t checked that out yet.
That Turning Point Chamaleon looks insane, almost like an offstring yoyo.
And Kyle Nations is awesome! Watching his videos inspired me to pick up a wooden fixie earlier this year.
Loving these responses!
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It is more normal now - but as offstring evolved everyone used to use ‘rubber rimmed’ yoyos, etc. Eventually though people started using plastic yoyos used for other styles in offstring because tricks got more technical and less about regens, etc. There was a real shock when someone walked on stage with the larger ‘Big Ben’ yoyo - and someone else actually used yoyos made from cereal bowls they made.
Shane Karan won the offstring division with the Dark Magic in the 2004 National YoYo Contest!
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Gotta get that plug in, huh? 
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Hahaha. I stand by that it was one of the most unusual and surprising uses of Yo-Yo in any division. And he won!
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I want to compete with 2 masamaxx’s 
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Why not 2 chameleons
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2 Deep States…?
in the future perhaps
I feel like Masamaxx would actually be good while Chameleon is just too unnecessarily large and heavy
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I used a Pro Yo II in a competition once…in 1997 I think 
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What about new sasquatches
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Too wide.
What I like about the masamaxx is it’s not actually huge, it’s just heavy. So literally all the weight is going to the rims 
like it’s only 62mm which is oversized but not massive
I’ve been playing with my Triplets which are 70g and I could honestly go heavier since speed and mobility isn’t as much a factor. Probably not 20g heavier comfortably but it’d be a fun experiment
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Eric Koloski has done unconventional stuff at Virginia States for the last several years. Here’s some 1A using YYF Flight in 2018:
Also, pretty sure that Kevin Nicholas liked competing with YYF Nine Dragons.
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Kevin Nicholas used half Genesis half Supernova for a while.
@YoYoExpertEric has a signature of bringing up a variety of different yo-yos as his backups.
Here’s Takeshi using the Chameleon:
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Wow, it’s almost hypnotic how Takeshi moves that Chameleon around. Super cool performance. Seeing Eric Koloski compete with a Flight was super wild too! I’ve messed around with some 1A on my Flight, but I couldn’t imagine throwing one at that level. I’ll have to try and find that Nine Dragons performance too!
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That’s probably the coolest Protostar colorway I’ve ever seen.
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