Which Yoyo Best Represents Each Company (To You)?

General Yo-Yo
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One Drop: DANG - I feel the CODE1 was OD’s finest hour (thus far!), but it’s a bit of an outlier from the rest of the company’s output, what with it’s H.R. Giger-looks and unusual weight distribution. The DANG seems to have taken some of it’s cues from the CODE1, but married it to the more “sporting goods” vibe of earlier One Drops. Plus, it’s the signature of Paul Dang, who has pretty much become the face of the company as of late.

YoyoFactory: Superstar TE - Though the company has distanced themselves from the concept somewhat, I still invariably think of hubstacks when I think of YYF. For years, the 888 was the company’s most iconic yoyo, but being undersized and organic-shaped, it was a contradiction of the other thing I associate the company with: competition.

General Yo: 5 Star - Ernie has turned his gaze toward competitive v-shapes in recent years, but I can’t help but think of the luxurious organics that started it all. Several on General Yo’s designs riff on the same elegant design - one smooth, continuous curve extending from the gap to the cup - but the 5-Star forever solidified itself in my mind as General Yo’s flagship.

Duncan: Imperial - A bit unfair, I know. But I had at least half a dozen of these throughout my childhood, so it would be hard to break the association. For me, this is not just the Duncan, it’s the prototypical yoyo in general.

SPYY: LB Skyy Chaser - None have yet surpassed SPYY when it comes to experimental return top design, and the company has turned out a number of yoyos which are truly iconic to me. Rather than establishing a unified brand aesthetic (aside from the trademark spike), the designs all fully embraced a completely different vibe, which was always inspired and unique, from the googie stylings of the Flying V to the Southwestern Pistolero. So it’s a bit odd that the one most imprinted in my mind is one of the more ordinary designs; the bright orange Skyy Chaser, with it’s Pontiac-inspired lazer engraving.

What are yours?

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YoyoRecreation: Sleipnir. The iconic shape that defines modern, single-metal yo-yo’s.

sOMEThING: Anglam; what else?

YYF: I still see the 888 as the iconic YYF throw. While the company is truly doing great, new, innovative things; the 888 is what defined high-end for so long. Hopefully the Ti Dream will dethrone it for the future.

General-Yo: 5-Star, for sure.

VSYYC: Ti-Walker, forever.

Yoyojam: Dark Magic 2; Phenom.

CLYW: Tough one here… Probably the Peak - just because it still commands such high prices for an older-design. Good arguments could be made for so many others though. That is probably the real takeaway.

OneDrop: The Project. For so many reasons.

Sturm Panzer: Ogre. The beast that started this company on the path to create the best, high-performance yo-yo’s they can imagine. Forget the comics; feel the love.

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yyf=shutter

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YoyoJam Dark Magic II. Andre promised that it will live on too. ;D

YoyoFactory, there are just too many to name. It just keeps competing with itself and winning every year. I might go with the Genesis model on this one though. If I was going to tell someone to try a YoyoFactory that I thought best represented the brand, that was also very affordable, still in production, I’d definitely recommend the New Genesis. A Genesis is great no matter which version you pick up. Stacked, small bearing, 7075, bi-metal, are all amazing players. The Genesis brand is just old reliable.

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For me (and the brands I’ve tried)…

YYJ: Dark Magic, H3X. The DM series was YYJ’s best selling yoyos. The H3X took the qualities of the DM and beefed it up into a high end metal.

YYF: Replay Pro, Shutter, and any of the other budget metal throws. I have a feeling the SuperStar SS is going to be a big hit when it launches. Also gonna throw in the DV888. Those throws seem to be making their way everywhere in big box stores.

Yoyofficer: They’re still growing, going to have to throw in the Quash and though I haven’t thrown it, the Nifty. Both seem to be fan favorites.

Duncan: Imperials, Butterflies. No brainer here, when one says Duncan, the general public thinks those yoyos they grew up with or those yoyos you can pick up at Walgreens or any other physical store.

CLYW: Tough choice here as there’s a lot of strong throws. Honestly can’t decide on just a single yoyo of theirs. Might just have to throw in the Borealis and Orca here.

C3: Haven’t played it but going to say the Krown and any of their similarly shaped V-shaped yoyos.

Yomega: The Brain, Fireball…these were the throws I grew up on. I eventually moved onto a Raider. Yomega was huge in the 90s to the point you could pick up an X-brain and Firestorm at McDonalds.

Super-Yo: Renegade. Never owned one, wanted one a lot and often contemplated snatching my brothers. Super-Yo is dated now and not really relevant today but the Renegade was what stood out to me in their series of yoyos as you could use it as a wing shape, Imperial shape (doubt it did loops well) and a useless pagoda shape.

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OneDrop: Project, it’s their first yoyo and it’s what I think of other than the team when I think “OneDrop.” I’ve never owned one, but I’ve thrown one once and loved it.

CLYW: Peak, for the same reasons as the OneDrop Project.

YYF: OG SuperStars, they seem to be the iconic yoyo of YoYoFactory, in my opinion.

YYJ: Dark Magic or Dark Magic 2, I see them everywhere and they are signature to Andre Boulay himself.

Duncan: Any of their older fixies and plastics, just as AngryGumball described.

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General-Yo: KLR

YYF: 888

CLYW: Chief

YYR: Sleipnir, Draupnir

YYJ: DMII

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YYJ: I know many would say the dark magic, but I feel it is the Hitman more so to myself.
The hitman was a design that I feel really was iconic for yoyojams progression, and I think that for a time, it seemed like the hitman was the yoyo that everyone had at least one of in their case.

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These are the most iconic models from each company to me:

YYJ - Spinfaktor and Dark Magic
YYF - 888
YYR - Draupnir
One Drop - Project
CLYW - Peak
Duncan - FHZ
HSpin - Pyro (surprised no one has mentioned this)
Anti-Yo - Bapezilla (edit: forgot about this one!)
SPYY - Addict
General Yo - Torrent
Yomega - Raider

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A few more:

Tom Kuhn: No Jive 3 in 1 - Ed is 100% to blame for this one. The Silver Bullet is clearly intended to be the flagship, and I vastly prefer the play of the RD1, but Ed’s proselytizing was too much to resist.

Yoyorecreation: 100% agree on Sleipnir. Easily the biggest game changer that has occurred to the industry since I’ve been following it.

YoyoJam: Also agree on the Hitman. It’s heyday was a bit before my time, and by the time I came along it’s reputation was well established. The original Fiesta is a strong runner up though, as it’s by far the YYJ that I’ve spent the most time with.

CLYW: Chief - Though I’ve still yet to throw one myself, the insane amount of hype and enthusiasm that surrounded this yoyo was enough to unseat the Peak for me. Draupnir Fever pales in comparison.

ILYY: Liopleurodon - For some reason, the OG purple/black Lio holds the top spot in my mind, even though it was one of my least favorite ILYYs to play.

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I had the Can-Flon Liopleurodon which is one of the most unique-feeling yo-yo’s I have owned. Sweet for sure; but what about the e1NS. With the Candy-Blast?

For the time; absolutely fabulous, in every respect :wink: … Iconic?

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With my limited exposure to yoyos I’d vote this way:

Yoyo Factory : The Shutter is probably the defining yoyo for YYF. Although I love my TOO H.O.T. so much that it’s my favorite yoyo right now. However, the Replay Pro was such a game changer which showed just how good a plastic yoyo can be that this might be the better choice.

Magic Yoyo : The N12 Shark.

Duncan: I understand why people say “The Butterfly”. But the original fixed axle Butterfly is such a terrible yoyo to throw that I feel bad saying that’s what defines the brand. The Butterfly XT is better since it has a bearing but it still feels really light and cheap in the hand. Perhaps the Metal Drifter or the Torque would be a better representation of what Duncan can do.

So on one hand, every time people find out that I yoyo they ask if that’s a Duncan Butterfly because it’s the only yoyo they know. But my answer is always “No, we use much better yoyos than that now.”

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The E1NS is probably the closest they have to a flagship model, and it’s certainly iconic to me. One of the most beautiful shapes in yoyo, though I never felt the orange/black color scheme suited it; too harsh.

The Noctu is up there as well in my book. We haven’t seen such an aggressive looking yoyo like that since (and really the Luchador is the only precursor I can think of). Never was completely comfortable throwing mine as I was so afraid of damaging it. Certain yoyos lose all their visual appeal with a slightest bit of damage and the Noctu was one of them.

The Falcon is my personal favorite ILYY. I have the Christmas colored version, and it gets thrown almost exclusively in December. It’s become sort of a holiday tradition for me, and I always look forward to using it, as it’s so different from my other yoyos.

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I’d say the X^3 steamroller beats it in terms of how vicious its shape is (seriously, you could shave with that yoyo).

IMO

CLYW: Chief, floaty and laid back while still being great for competition is how I’d define both the Chief and CLYW. I think the Scout pulls this off better than the Chief but the Chief is much more iconic.

YYR: Draupnir and Sleipnir break out in a tie for me. The Sleipnir is the best metal competition yoyo I’ve ever thrown and its sleek, minimalistic, no-nonsense design sums up YYR perfectly for me. The Draupnir is like the Sleipnir mark 2 using a bi-metal design to push competition throws even further (demonstrated by how around a quarter of the people at world’s last year were using it).

YYJ: Dark Magic 1. I think that thanks to Andre it is impossible for many of us to think of YYJ and not immediately think of the DM. Likevmany, I learnt how to yoyo from Andre’s tutorials and the DM was my first advanced/intermediate yoyo so it obviously defines YYJ for me (plus it is a plastic yoyo with metal rings which is what I think of as YYJ’s primary yoyos).

Duncan: the butterfly/imperial. As others have said, this is one of the most iconic yoyos ever (regardless of its quality) and it suits my idea of Duncan as the old school company that first brought yoyoing to the forefront.

One Drop: CODE 1. This yoyo demonstrates OD’s main characteristics to me; their love of their community and their ingenious design skills. The internet is the last place I would go to get the basic design of something so precise as a yoyo, but OD worked with their community and built one of their best yoyos ever. It also has a couple of design elements that I think are characteristic of OD such as the side effects and grooved catch zone but then demonstrates OD’s love for experimentation with a drastic H-shape, a design not usually associated with them (I believe the CODE 1 was one of the first H-shape OD throws).

Oxygene: The Oxy Ti (first one). I associate Oxygene with smoothness, organicly shaped, premium yoyos and the Oxy Ti is all of these (well, since I’ve never played one I’m judging the smoothness from what I’ve read).

General To: The Torrent. It was the original General Yo and has set the tone for all of Ernie’s subsequent throws. The organic shape, the bright but subdued colour schemes and its reputation for smoothness make up IMO the quintessential General To design.

YYF: The Genesis, this was the competition standard for many years, the yoyo against which all yoyos had to be judged. YYF means H-shaped, contest oriented throws and, most recently, a budget price. The Genesis is the perfect representation of this and with the most recent rerelease it even is available at a reasonable price.

HSpin: The Pyro. HSpin was winding down when I started throwing but even so, it was known for its crazy designs and the Pyro was one of the first and most well known with its (at the time) huge catch zone.

X^3: The Steamroller. This was their debut yoyo and the sheer madness of its design means it is the signature X^3 yoyo for me. It has also given me numerous scatches and cuts while using if so I’m worried if I don’t put it here it will attack me haha.

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YYF: 888 seemed to be YYFs signature but I think the Shutter is replacing its fame.

OD: Code 1. A community designed yoyo. A company focused the community.

CLYW: chief. Enough said.

Duncan: imperial or butterfly.

Yomega: fireball.

YYR: Draupnir or sleipnir but only because that’s all I hear about.

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MFD Evil Yo

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Yyf- 888
Anti yo- bapezilla
Hspin- pyro
Duncan- fh0
Spyy- radian
Clyw- peak
One drop- project
MFD- tri-b

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YYJ - Dark Magic
YYF - Shutter, 888
CLYW - Chief, Peak
One Drop - Code 2, Project 2
SPYY - Addiction
General Yo - Five Star, Majesty
RecRev - Octave, Freq. Wave
Anti Yo- Bapezilla
hSPIN- Pyro
Duncan- Freehand Zero

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