Hi everyone!
I got a question that may seem silly, but I don’t know the answer too.
When I first played with a yoyo, when I was younger, the Omega Brains were the in thing. I remember that, and all the other yoyos, used to come up when you pulled the yoyo up.
Now, I have a new yoyo, that is unresponsive. My question is, why did this become the norm? What is the benefit of an unresponsive yoyo vs a responsive one?
I’m by far not the most qualified person on these forums to tell you. Basically, yoyo pioneers persè thought of innovative new ways to throw. Unresponsive play allows much more variety when yoyoing. It allows foramh different styles and categories.
Have you watched any yoyos videos at all? Most of the tricks they’re doing aren’t possible with a responsive yoyo.
The unresponsive yoyo can do more tricks without the worry that it will come back and hurt your hands with a responsive one. For example when you try to do Spirit Bomb on a responsive Yomega Maverick (if you don’t know what that trick is its in the Learn section) the yoyo will most likely come back to your hand and hurt. But if you try to do spirit bomb on a Yomega Glide (an unresponsive yoyo) the yoyo will most unlikely not come back to your hand and cause a world of pain. Also, smwith responsive yoyos the friction was much higher on the yoyo so the spin time was less. With unresponsive yoyos, the friction is much less, but are able to get more spin time
Ok, I see its for more tricks then and spin time. And to the question asking have I watched any videos, not many really.
I saw one the other week and thought it looked cool, I used to play with yoyo’s as a kid, so bought myself one. Realised it was unresponsive, was a minor thing though as binding was simple enough.
MANY more tricks possible for unresponsives, but responsive yo-yos are still a thing (fixed axle).
People see how many modern day tricks they can nail with wood fixies. Fun stuff.
I kind of look on it as both are responsive. They are just responsive in different ways, using different methods.
I’m a bit interested in the history of this, I must say. What was considered to be the first unresponsive yoyo released to the public for sale, and when was that? That kind of info.
Google, here I come!
There was a Glenn Godssey (sorry for the misspelling) video, and in it he explained how unresponsive throws came to be.
it was a natural by-product of using yo-yo’s with ball bearings. one of the initial criticisms of the sb-2 was that it lost response quickly. with plastics in the late 90’s, you had yo-yo’s like the team losi cherry bomb and yomega raiders which would become far less predictable in response as the bearings broke in and (especially in the case of the cherry bomb) as the plastic starbursts wore down. as people started to make the move to heavier superyo renegades, they started to have the same issues, amplified to the point of requiring a bind as the yo-yo broke in. binds had been around for awhile (jon gates had been doing them to bring offstring yo-yo’s back since 96?) but never to the extent that they were necessary to bring a production yo-yo back on every throw.
players like the spindox (paul escolar, longorias, spencer berry) famously experimented with broken-in renegades and were able to push the limits of 1a into uncharted territory. whips, slack, lacerations, and suicides are all possible with responsive yo-yo’s, but they’re easier to master with a yo-yo that won’t jump up and bite you. similarly, players seeking the elusive perfect break-in point of the original duncan freehand stickers used takeshi’s recess mod to make their throws unresponsive. until the mid-2000s though, the majority of manufacturers still needed their releases to appeal to players who wanted tug-response, so few if any yo-yo’s came unresponsive out of the box. the yoyojam hitman (and contemporary yoyojams) still shipped responsive, but broke in quickly, and jd’s freestyles pushed a lot of players to make the jump to all-bind, all-the-time.
like someone said, a lot of players (like me) still really enjoy playing with response. people who say you can’t hit technical tricks on responsive yo-yo’s are just lazy and uninformed. however, unresponsive yo-yo’s have definitely improved the learning curve for new players and longer, more technical combos.
Now that’s just not true. Just because you’re not good enough to do something doesn’t make it impossible.
Its just easier to do tricks on unresponsive yoyos.