Even more than the Luchador, one of the best throws ThrowDown ever made was the Shuriken.
Loved that thing
Playmaxx
Known for proyos, cold fusion, and the bumblebee
Went under after winning a lawsuit with Duncan, lawyer fees and court fees were too much even with winning.
Corrected in later posts
I loved the Throwdown Shuriken!!! Somebody mentioned the CU as the first really playable mini in the market, but I can honestly say that I feel the Shuriken out played the CU easily.
One other thing I just thought of when remembering the Lucha Libre was that its design was actually ahead of its time. The axle system was very similar to what One Drop did years later with their side effects. Throwdown was on the right track, but that machining problem really sunk them.
Didn’t the Sakura collab with OD just happen in the last few months?
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
yep I think they real ears a single yoyo a couple months ago.
What actually happened then? To be completely honest I was 4 when that all went down and this is all hearsay for me.
Playmaxx was bought out by Duncan, which continued to produce their yoyos. You can still buy some of the Playmaxx designs branded as Duncans (I’m not sure Duncan is still making them or if it is just old stock). I think the buyout happened while Steve was at Duncan, so he probably knows more of the details.
They did send out cease and desist letters regarding their patented response system, but I don’t remember hearing about any actual lawsuits going to court, at least involving Duncan.
Ben ran Playmaxx, right? Hans? I feel like it had to have been one of them.
Leaning towards Ben because Cold Fusion is his trick, right?
Steve, its not really helpful to just pop by and tell somebody they’re wrong, wrong, wrong. Tell them why they are wrong.
Don’t know a whole lot about the details of Playmax going out of business, but I do know that Hans’ father owned it back in the day. When Duncan bought them, they received the molds from the different model yoyos and renamed some of them and kept some of the names the same. For example the Turbo Bumble Bee GT became the Dragonfly.
I remember when I started Radiyoactive had the cyclotron, and Hotyo had the chili, but I never tried them although the cyclotron had some hype. Also, kyo? And I’m kinda wondering when dif will make another throw.
One thing I used to really like about the nation was that they kept the pages up for all their soldout stock so you could see pics and specs of lots of these older models.
I know, I just didn’t have time to get into it at the time I found that post…just didn’t want that going any further since I absolutely loathe misinformation. Sorry for the drive-by!
Playmaxx was a casualty of the crash of the yoyo boom, plain and simple. They had huge orders that shipped out to several international distributors and got cancelled AFTER the yoyos landed in port. So Playmaxx got hit with shipping costs, storage fees, customs fees, RETURN shipping fees, and then had these massive piles of specifically branded merchandise for overseas markets that they suddenly had to move. Sales tanked for everyone and they had a crapload of inventory in a warehouse that wasn’t moving…they went bust. Prior to that they were actually doing really well, and were one of the only small manufacturers who seemed poised to handle their growth really well and give Duncan/Yomega a run for their money. It’s the experience with Playmaxx that gives Hans & Ben their edge, and if you’ve been watching YoYoFactory’s growth over the past 10 years you can see they’ve managed it very carefully to avoid the mistakes that Playmaxx made.
Playmaxx actually approached Duncan to sell the company…it wasn’t something Duncan went after or was pursuing on its own. It was basically a “we’re shutting this down…but it’s still worth something, lets get what we can for it” scenario.
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Your factual yoyo history is such an asset. The readers here are luckier than I think some of them know. I always jump to click on something you’ve contributed. I love to learn about the history of the yoyo world.
Thanks much for that. 
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I believe BBYY had their “Vortex” yoyo that was a resultant of their capabilities at a trade show that were given away to business prospects, and sold to those who were interested.
I think the owner was just too busy with his day job to keep up with the industry and (possibly) lost interest. The Juvenile Offender was one of my favorite yoyo’s to date. I think the size scared a lot of players off at the time of the yoyo but I also think it set a bar for a lot of oversized models today, along with the Severe 2010.
As for String Theory, due to personal reasons, the owner is or was on hiatus.
Buzzon didn’t leave till long after the dv8’s release. They only left because Dave had to move
Flores Yo-Yos! #YOLO
Ugh… DV8 is not a “bi-metal”. That implies there are two metals involved in the construction, like the Catch-22. I hope that’s the last time I have to say that.
And Buzz-Ons entire line was metal rimmed(granted not external), I don’t think the DV8 was the only model that YYJ had an issue with.
Thank you for the correction, I can’t believe I had been believing false information this whole time. Something did seem off about the stories I was told.
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I own a vortex
Wow… If somebody cancelled a large order of my product after it landed I’d tell them to suck it. Why would they take it back? Let alone pay out of pocket to get it back?