I don’t have any hate for any yoyo brand, regardless if they are “recycling” or not. A good yoyo is a good yoyo. As long as you’re not ripping off someone else’s design, then it’s all good.
What ultimately IS good or not is literally in the hands of the public. If they dislike it, they’ll say so and people won’t buy many of them. If they love it, they’ll say so and more will move. Of course, just because it’s considered a good yoyo doesn’t mean it’s good for everyone.
just saying… L4, muffin top, push button, dv8 (I think this was a colab piece with buzz-on, but still)
don’t get me wrong, I think yyf has some great yoyos. but they have had some issues with stealing designs.
Regardless of reusing shape, I guess the plastic star series is suppose to help people finding their weight preference. Fundametal is to help people find whether premium throw worth it or not.
As for stealing design, I think is more of “great mind think a like” situation.
Sure there are issue, but I think everything has one.
Myself has one or two things I dislike from the company, but I sure please they are around to support our community.
The only problem is, they always have something that people want.
From my point of view, they didn’t flood the market, they just fill it right.
Ben,
Any ideas on a butterflyish/organic shaped yoyo that’s midsized(52.xx-53.xx mm’s) from YYF? That’s my ideal shape/size combination with a medium to high weight( maybe 67-69 grams). I own Protostars, Northstars, a One, and my new YYF favorite the 2.0 that I got out of the mystery box, and while YYF is one of, if not my top choice for yoyos, I’ve yet to own a YYF yoyo of my ideal size/shape. Any news would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Evan
While YYF has copied shapes, yes, we know. Many other big companies copy shapes, but I don’t see you guys complaining. Most recently, the One Drop Code 2. It is almost exactly the same as the YYR line shapes. The One drop dietz looks surprisingly like a angular Battosai or the YYFxTP Chaotic. The 3yo3 Volume looks very similar to the genesis, Yuuksta, CYYC Heavy Hitter, Skywalker, CLYW Chief. ILYY Greyhoud and the Werrd Poo. The old CLassic butterfly shape, how many yoyos have that? SPYY SOlaris and Hsping NVx. Leviathan 2 and RecRev Octave 2, Recrev Oskrillatrix and 3yo3 Omni’x. One Drop Burnside and YoYoJoker Double Joker. I could go on and on about this. What Ben says is true. Once it’s released into the market and is proven to work, a lot of companies will steal/copy the design.
I like the 09 Severe’s shape…
the problem is though… the l4 and the muffin top weren’t really released into the market. there was a very very small run of muffin tops made (13 I do believe?) that weren’t really ever put into full production though. and the l4 thing I think everyone knows about. or if they don’t, they should read up on the whole ordeal.
and I read up on the dv8 thing. dv888 was a colab with buzz-on to kind of remake the dv8, because buzz-on couldn’t set them into production due to yyj’s patent on metal rims.
Apparently werrd poo’s feel very natural…
That’s what I was going to say right there. We can’t scream “more rimweight, lower walls!” over and over and then expect that yoyos won’t look similar. I watched while the “Code 1” was being designed online by popular vote. It was a bold move by OneDrop. The people got exactly what they wanted. And to me it looks like a Star. We can’t blame the manufacturers for giving us what we ask for.
Although you are suggesting other people should read up, I think you need to do some research on ‘stealing’ yourself.
L4, is not released, and when it is, it will be released by Auldey, who YoYoFactory have an agreement with in regards to the Avant Garde
Muffin Top, I assume You are referring to the Replay, a YoYo that was not ever released by YoYoFactory to stores.
Push Button? No sure what this is.
Dv888 was released under agreement with Bazan.
Our last yoyo to go close to that criteria was California 2010 (65gm tho). The shape was probably as generic as we could produce…It was largely unloved 
We know when people use our yoyos as basis for their design, many people will drop a tip to the hat to us when they see us. Its cool. We are not about to launch an online tirade against anyone even if people occasionally like to launch them against us.
You mean Buzzon? And if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get the design for the Avant Garde anyway?
Bazan, Dave Bazan, who ran Buzzon.
Avant Garde is a pretty well told story, full of half truths. Yoyofactory signed a confidential distribution and product development with Auldey for the China market. During that time we were presented with a non functioning sample for the yoyo which is to be called the L4. We redesigned the yoyo into something that functioned. They also got it to work and didnt use our design (we provided them all cad files). We asked to produce a limited number and have stuck to that production number. The Auldey L4 still has not been released (Im not sure what the plans for the L4 are but the last sample I received had a bi-metal inner weight ring and wasn’t up to market) but a number of other yoyos have been released featuring the same undercut (by Auldey and other manufacturers).