Sort of inspired by the yoyo pet peeves thread, this a thread where you can get that sizzling yoyo take off your chest safely.
I’ve got plenty of controversial takes but I don’t want people to hate me immediately so I’ll just start off with this one:
Titanium yo-yos are boring.
I heartily approve of this topic and enjoy this take; I only had 1 titanium throw experience, but found it underwhelming. As always, your milage may vary.
Just because you can’t land Rancid Milk yet, or other tech combos does not mean your opinions on yo-yos or the YoYo community are invalid. It also does not mean you are a bad player.
No gate keeping please, this is supposed to be a fun hobby. Makes me really sad when I see “I’m not going to consider what this person thinks of this YoYo, they can’t even land “[gatekeepers trick of choice]””
Arguably, their opinion/ impressions of a throw may be more telling because their technique isn’t compensating for/ hiding characteristics of a YoYo. Like how Steve Vai can shred on anything and it still sounds killer, but…. Opposite lol
I think this is more a wholesome take than a hot take lol
Okay here’s one: Splash swaps look sick, the more contrasting the better.
Can’t match it? CLASH IT
Titaniums are boring? That’s not gonna start any fights. You can do better! Titaniums are a waste of money!
I’m curious to your other hot takes. Just like you, I have a few. The one that is gonna annoy the most people here:
Yoyofactory is my favorite brand. They make some of the best yoyo’s. 
Half swaps are overrated.
Can we say A-rt changed in a big way and just really isnt the same since Jensen left? Charles just aint doin it for me
You have a good point here
I remember when I was first trying to learn a horizontal trick. The yoyo I used mattered a lot. It was so much easier on certain yoyo’s. Now that I can do that trick it doesn’t matter much which yoyo I grab. But I also lost (a bit of) the overall ability to determine which yoyo is good for horizontal tricks and which aren’t.
I feel like in many aspects I’ve grown to understand the qualities of a yoyo but in some aspects I also lose it. Opinions from intermediate and even beginner throwers can be very meaningful. The only issue in often have is they often have so little to compare it against.
Okay this might upset some people but I’ve never found a single A-RT release to be compelling.
Overall just not a fan of the organic hype that’s developed over the last few years. Which is weird because 90% of bimetals or comp throws don’t appeal to me either.
And I don’t plan to ever play responsive again in my life, so i feel the same about slimline OA hype as well.
The feel of the catch is overrated. I understand some yoyos are very angular, but how much time is actually spent catching the yoyo versus it being on the string? And if you still had a ton of spin left, why not just do a longer combo?
This is a not so subtle defense of the Thruline which I think doesn’t get enough love.
I would say that hand feel (how it feels to hold a yo-yo) is very overrated but that catch feel (how a yo-yo feels on return) is very important.
Hand feel may influence catch feel but it’s ultimately of little importance during play for the reasons you outlined. But catch feel is the difference between very painful rapped/busted knuckles on a snag that end a session and an awkward catch that’s uncomfortable for a few seconds and then forgotten quickly.
Just bc a yoyo (any yoyo) has lots of hype, doesn’t mean it will be a compelling yoyo for any individual. That doesn’t mean the yoyo is bad or that hype is bad like people enjoying a yoyo and talking about how they like it is cool and good for the hobby generally probably…it just means hype doesn’t say much. Kinda goes with this next point I’m about to make—
It is like this but just because someone can land TRICK X, doesn’t mean that I will consider their opinions. Idk…everyone is allowed to have opinions and everyones opinions are valid…I don’t think that means anyone else has to value those opinions. There are so many factors when ppl decide what they like or don’t, things like trick library, play style, how hard a player throws, average length of combos ppl like, preferred string length/thickness/etc, etc…All those factors make it so that each individual should probably find their own preferences and form their own opinions. Just bc someone can do whatever tricks and is super good at playing yoyo, they might have a completely different play style than me or run super short string or giga long string or something and I am not going to consider their opinions. I don’t really think yoyo has a gatekeeping problem and haven’t seen people saying other peoples opinions don’t matter but that does sound sad. I don’t think anyone is entitled to having other people consider what they think about anything though really…
I am predicting this thread will get shut down in like 36hrs-ish…just like the last hot take thread…just a hard premise to keep from become toxic…
My hot take is ppl care about yoyos vibing too much.
Not to be reductive or anything but what YoYo’s do you like? You’ve thrown out a large net of no thank you unless your only a 4a player lol
Tower tricks are lame. BUT green triangles are sick.
Responsive DNA/Tornado > unresponsive DNA, I get more enjoyment out of it with a responsive throw.
It’s not like I don’t enjoy organics or comp bimetals, it’s more like I enjoy them enough to have some in my collection but not as something i actively chase.
I like to have representation of different types of yo-yos in my collection but i’m really fond of yo-yos that channel the energy of late 2000s-ish metal yo-yos but with more modern performance and specs.A lot of designs then were moving away from the organic shape in the catch zone but still had like rounded edges and comfortable profiles.
But this is all me, not an indictment of any yo-yos or manufacturers, I have extremely specific preferences.
Edit: I should also add, I’ve been throwing on and off for 20ish years, so I’ve had a long time to figure out my preferences and i have some in-built biases from getting into yo-yoing during a specific era.
Almost everything was organic for like my first 5 years of yo-yoing and I was way more intrigued by the yo-yos that were shifting the scene away from that.
Makes a bunch of sense and validates you take. Thanks for the response
Yeah I also sometimes forget to phrase things less aggressively or bluntly on the internet so I wanted to make sure people know I’m not trying to be negative just stating my opinion.
99% of yo-yos now are incredible and it’s all preference. I never think to myself “this is a bad yo-yo” just it isn’t really for me.
Hot take, leave the bearing shields on. If it comes with them, it stays on them.
