Some of you may have heard, or were lucky enough to experience it first-hand, that I like trading yoyos. Because so many yoyos pass through my hands, I’ve had the chance to delicately choose what gets to stay and what keeps on it way.
If I were to keep every yoyo I bought or traded for, I would have a much lower trade count, and a much larger collection. I didn’t want that. Over the years (I think it’s around 4 now), I’ve cast a fairly large net and have only kept la crème de la crème.
My criteria for what gets thrown in my ‘keeper case’ is as follows: 1) It has to play good. If it doesn’t, what’s the point? Stability, weight, and size also factor in. I had a DRI-YWET that I recently sold that was absolutely beautiful, but just didn’t meet play standards. A side note to this: I don’t care for undersized yoyos. They’re too dainty for my big mitts and less metal for the same amount of money? C’mon…
2) It has to look good. Just as, if not more, important than #1. I’m extremely picky about my colorways and have on multiple occasions traded quite far in the other party’s favor for a throw with a particular splash. A notable example would be that I traded an Avalanche and Sharp for an Avalanche in worse condition. But to me, it was one of the best trades I’ve ever made. In some cases, this criterion has eclipsed #1. 888s being a prime example (don’t get me started on Spingear Dragon editions).
3) Exclusivity don’t hurt. Yes, I’m one of those people. Though I’ve been fairly outspoken on the concept of rarity in yoyos (and the abundance of such), I love me a nice rare. I’m 100% against having multiples of the same model (I don’t compete so I have no use for extras), but I acquired a pre-production Black Bip Bop Avalanche a couple months ago and haven’t looked back. I somewhat justify this by the fact that the design is slightly different than the production Avas. But seeing as it fits all three requirements: plays like a monster, looks fresh as heck, and there’s only two that exist; I don’t think I’ll be saying goodbye anytime soon. This is part of the reason why I don’t particularly like YYF and brands like it - they’re too available.
So there’s my hair-brained explanation of why I can’t stop force-feeding USPS buckets of cash. Why do you have the yoyos you do?
Well I’ve been into throwing for a little over a year now, and there’s really only a few things that I look for.
First: I love a good amount of feathering and float in my yoyos. I’ll typically look at the shape, weight, diameter and width of the yoyo and try to judge how it plays, if I think I have a bad chance of determining it myself then I’ll go and look at some demos and reviews. BUT. If the yoyo is described in any way as “solid” or “ultra stable”, I probably won’t bother with it. To be too much heft just takes all the fun out of the playability, and it just doesn’t feel as much like a toy.
Second: I love grinds, and when I look into the grindablity I’ll look at getting a yoyo with good blasted surface (I love the grooves in the catch zone of the code 1 and 2, gets killa finger grinds) and hopefully an IGR. You don’t see a ton of grinds at the pro level, but it’s a nice thing to have up your sleeve.
And I’ll just throw in a few things that I like.
-to me a little vibe gives a yoyo some character, like foolsgolds for example. They’re not a vibecoaster, but they’ve got some personality.
-colorways aren’t super specific to me, but I always like a good acid wash with a light splash or speckle.
-a good bearing (one drop 10 ball) is always a nice thing to have, quiet spins are prime.
-also I’m not super specific diameter, I just don’t like anything oversized
Well this is it for me! Hoped you guys liked my rambling
Before I found my preferences I was driven by hype. Seriously. I’m not proud of it but I was a noob. Now that I have my preferences the two things I look at are colorway’s and of they fit my preferences. Now I am definitely willing to try new things but I would like to try it at a contest or something first before I buy it.
What influences my collection varies. For the most part, I have collected ILYY, VsNYYC 3yo3 and the One Drop Burnside. So at first it appears that manufacturer is the primary concern, but each was for a different reason.
ILYY was for the candyblast and play. Still the absolute best grinding surface ever, and it has an amazing appearance. And as it turned out, nearly all of ILYY throws play incredibly.
VsNYYC was for performance. If you didn’t get one of Heath’s throws new, you didn’t get to experience how smooth and silky they play. There are some that may disagree with that assessment or hold ill will towards Heath for various reasons, but I still think he made some of the best performing yoyos ever. I still have a bunch of Skywalkers spread around at work and at home so I’m never without one. It’s my first throw of choice.
3yo3 was and will always be for Landon Balk. I’ve never dealt with someone as skilled, professional and all around kindhearted as Landon. He deserves all the accolades that he’s received. Plus, I feel a connection to his company since he was kind enough to allow fellow throwers to create a new logo for his company. I was the lucky one to be selected, and even though the logo that I submitted has only appeared on the Al5 and on his Facebook page, it still has created a connection to his company that I treasure.
Lastly, I’ve collected the Burnside for its perfect play. Its balance, weight and size is perfect for me and is the one throw that rivals the Skywalker in my eyes. I have 12 of them, but since OD released them in so many colorways there are still a bunch that I don’t have. However, if it wasn’t for this one yoyo design, I wouldn’t care at all about color. It’s never been a concern of mine as much as play and feel.
I’m in a similar boat as you, OP. I’ve owned maybe 150 yoyos over the years (inclusing a huge box of stuff I still need to sell), but have narrowed myself down to around 20-30 keepers.
These are sort of grouped into three categories, which I just made up:
Pensioners: my retired yoyos. These are ones I’ve beat to shreds, sentimental favorites which no longer suit my tastes, gifts, curios, etc. Generally these wouldn’t sell for much, otherwise I’d send them back into the salt mines.
Specialists: I’ve got pretty clear cut preferences, but sometimes it’s nice to have something beyond that, either to practice certain techniques or just as a change of pace. Undersized, oversized, underweight, overweight, v-shapes, responsives, loopers, offstrings. Just bit of variety.
Mains: These are the type of yoyos that have seriously made me think, “this one is all I need, I should sell the rest.” I slowly rotate through these guys, throwing one exclusively for weeks or sometimes months at a time. Most of them have a little battle damage and/or vibe, but designwise I consider them top notch. The way they look, the way they play, the way they feel in the hand; they are all flawless in their own way, and all bring something different to the table. I’m pretty particular too; there are too many yoyos in the world to put up with small imperfections.
My criteria are the same as OP’s with the only thing I’d really add is that sometimes it looks great and plays great…and you just know that you still don’t “need” to keep it. No matter how well it plays and how good it looks, it doesn’t do me any good if it still just sits in a case.
Stuff I enjoy the play of mostly. Old YYR comes to mind. I’m sure the new stuff is fantastic, but waaaay too out of my price range. Still looking for a Mr. Butcher, another E=Mc^2, and a Uragment. Hmmm, maybe a Sleipnir.
My current collection is a bit of a mixture of the OP’s categories as well I guess. When I very first started throwing I had no idea what my preferences were so I used the bst to try out whatever I could get my hands on, and see what I enjoyed. I realized that I enjoy throwing predominantly slower throws. That said, I also developed a small amount of the collection bug and so I have a mix of stuff. I too have a VsNYYC section to my collection. I agree with Mike Eff about how they play, but they look pretty neat too. And then comes the factor that I really want in most of my yoyos - personality. I like things that are a bit quirky, or throws that you can see exactly what the manufacturer was trying to achieve. For that reason I have a few clyw and all the Sturm Panzer stuff. They’re just so unique!
Finally I have an assortment of throws that just play really really well. Into this category go some general yo, some yyr, some something and a yyf.
I would say that the influences for my collection come from several different sources.
The YoyoExpert Editions
I think The Expert is the most well rounded man in the business, so I consider him the most influential. Besides the person behind the store, it’s a store located in my home state of Massachusetts. I hang out in the store online all the time, I sell the product I make exclusively in the store, and in the last few years, I won about $400 worth of prizes from this store. So, I’m like a YoyoExpert cheerleader…Yay! Last but not least…the colors look nice together. The vast majority of my yo-yo money is spent here, and every other store that has what I want when it’s out of stock here, or will never be in stock here…gets the rest of the crumbs left over. No better way to show support for The Expert and the store, than buying and showing off my YoyoExpert Edition yo-yos. I aggressively collect these, and seek them out, hoping to eventually gain every single one in existence.
Titaniums
I just started this within the last year. :-\ They are considered to have a lot of value, and retain the value fairly well too. After buying a few titanium models, I liked the durability, the different feel, the sound, and the (usually) very limited nature of them. They are the opposite of the YoyoExpert Editions, and collected not based on color at all. I do not collect these as aggressively, because there are some models so limited, I will probably never have a chance to own them all anyway. I am attempting to collect each model from this point on though. While I don’t consider myself aggressive about it, I have to buy each one as soon as it drops, or I might miss the opportunity to own one altogether. A different collector game, a different kind of pressure, and different kind of fun.
Micros
I just think tiny yo-yos are cute, that is the only influence for collecting them. I own 10 Dingos, one in each of the main colors…even colors I’m not too fond of. I just wanted a rainbow. Little yo-yos are cute…nothing more to it.
All The Rest
The rest of my collection is just a mix of different things I tried for any number of other reasons. I bought them because I heard they played well, they looked appealing and had certain specs I typically like, or it came in a great colorway that I just had to have. I am buying YoyoFactory the most these days.
I have 9 closets in the house, and yo-yos are taking up one twentieth of one closet. That means, that I don’t have limitations on space. Yet, specializing in the top 3 categories was key to focusing my collection more, and giving it a bit more direction. Focusing makes it easier for me to pass on new releases that do not fit the mold. It has also allowed me the advantage of being known as a collector of certain yo-yos and a “go to” person when people are selling what I like. When people see me posting YYE Editions, or titaniums in doubles, they know who to contact if they have something to sell that I’d probably want. So, I don’t have to always actively seek out what I want, sometimes it will be brought to my attention instead. Less work, more results.
I am a huge fan of doubles. If I like a yo-yo, I will buy it many times over in different colors, or sometimes in the exact same colorway. I own about 50 yo-yos that have twins.
I’ll add another condition for my stuff, which is that some stuff is simply much more difficult to replace. For example, my Deep Woods Quake is one of my absolute favorite yoyos period, my favorite midsized yoyo for sure and looks absolutely awesome to me. It would take something really really special to dethrone this yoyo and make me sell it.
On the other hand is something like the Messiah. It plays phenomenally, comfortable in the hand, great solid player. When I got it mine I felt it was the best undersized I had ever thrown and to be honest it still might be. That said, it was just a blue anodized yoyo. Upon acquiring a Blink which feels just as good in the hand despite the couple millimeters added to the width and diameter and has (in my opinion) a comparable playstyle that I prefer to the Messiah, the Messiah did not get much play time at all. The Fragment/Uragment definitely both rival the Messiah in my personal “best undersized yoyo” category, but to be perfectly honest, the size of the yoyo isn’t terribly important to me, so for me the Blink fully replaced the Messiah. This same theory applies to pretty much any of my solid color yoyos, if I find something that I feel surpasses something I already own in all categories of play such that I no longer find myself reaching for the original yoyo, then I have absolutely no reason to own that yoyo any more. This decision can be made even easier in situations like the Messiah where I know I will be able to easily acquire another one if for some reason I regret my decision down the line.
Again good job with the topic. I’m fooling you big time then. I post a lot of photos, and I post different shots of the same yo-yo (still shot, gap shot, cup shot, spinning shot, splash game). I’ll even dress up a yo-yo and humanize it. So, I know how to give one yo-yo different looks. That might make it seem like I have a lot more than I really have. I have half as many as it seems. Maybe a bit more than half now is my guess. I haven’t updated my photo collection lately. I have the day off tomorrow and will give you a better figure then. Also, I don’t have a few hundred “different” yo-yos. I buy doubles and multiples of the same stuff a lot. So, I have even less “different” yo-yos. I’ll get some real stats in here soon. In the thread I made about yo-yo releases I passed on, I made a list of most of the releases for 2013…I didn’t buy many of them at all. :-\
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind having a ton of yo-yos, but I don’t have YoyoBrothers type collection. That’s on a different level. I don’t mind being “Throw Rich” though, so we’ll see what the future holds. “Throw rich 'til I die.” That’s going to be the next rap song I write. Seriously, that’s good song material. You heard it first here…“Throw Rich!” ;D Stickman is throw rich too. Collection is ill. I would guess you’d be in the club too. 8)
There are 3 influences.
1: Brand:I always buy Duncan yoyos and Yoyofactory Yoyos like the Barracuda and Shutter. IDK I just Love Ducan and yoyfactory.
2: Speed and Stability:I am one of those asain fast player, so I want to buy yoyos that is soild and fast, like the P.wave, Aviator, Crazy D and Level 6.
3: MARCUS KOH
No better way to show support for The Expert and the store, than buying and showing off my YoyoExpert Edition yo-yos. I aggressively collect these, and seek them out, hoping to eventually gain every single one in existence.
In the thread I made about yo-yo releases I passed on, I made a list of most of the releases for 2013…I didn’t buy many of them at all. :-\