A mental shift in the yoyo world.

[bensaddiction]

I used to wish everyone had a yoyo so that I could throw with more people. But the more people that get yoyos the more it becomes about the money. What happened to just throwing, reasonable prices and fresh designs. Feels like its all hype now. "junk Measuring."

[Acavando]

Yep

[theTopo]

Money's always been part of it...Donald Duncan

[Elephark]

[yomagic]

Money makes the world go round ^^^^

[rizki_yoist]

OMG, a new splash color! it's derp signature series! I'll buy it no matter how unreasonable the price is, and I'm not gonna play it, it will sit down in my case because I love it very much! 

[Steve Brown™]

As someone who has been throwing since '95, I can say with some authority that never in the history of the yo-yo industry have there been so many high-quality yo-yos available at such reasonable prices with such incredible ease to the consumer.

I realize it's very easy to have no perspective because it's the sort of thing that only comes with a ridiculous amount of time spent in something but trust me...this is one of the best times in history to be a yo-yo player. You have almost everything you could want, and most of it is really inexpensive.

Now all we need is a decent contest system...and I'm working on that.

[yomorrow]

When I was in third grade, yoyos were quite popular.

The best affordable yoyo was the turbo bumblebee.

The best yoyo on the market that I knew of, was the Cold Fusion. It retailed for $150. Also consider that that was 15 years ago when $150 went a little farther than it does today anyway.

Now consider that the Cold Fusion sucks big time compared to the high end metals available today that average about $100. You can find a damn nice new yoyo for under $60 if you don't mind undersize or bi-metal too.

You do not have to spend a lot for a good yoyo. Some people choose to spend a lot of money on a variety of yoyos because they like them. Personally, I've owned or tried a few dozen high-end yoyos by now, and I'm starting to get very selective about any new yoyo I buy. I believe I have seen the top of the mountain in terms of how good a yoyo can be. After that, it comes down to preference and things you like.

Right now, for instance, I'm pretty stoked for a few upcoming and existing yoyos. 3yo3's new light-up, and new titanium, and the Werrd Rhino for instance. All three have characteristics that excite me. Yes, they do cost a little bit of money, maybe even a lot if that's how you see it, but nobody forces anyone to buy new yoyos.

If you're happy with a decent $30 yoyo, that's great. You can play with that just fine.

[Hollandyo]

If you want a metal that's much cheaper than it could be you should pick up a RecRev. OD also has some sweet cheaper stuff.

[AlisRIOSteff]

I think you guys (or guy, at this point) who is/are complaining about the mental shift of the yoyoing world, should spend less time on the forum and more time throwing. Stop defining the yoyo world by what other people are doing and realize that not all people are the same. Some people are going to think differently than you. Some of those people happen to yoyo at the moment. I wouldn't really know if it was different, since i've only been here for 2 years, but my mental state of yoyoing has always been the same from the day I first picked one up. .

Something like "...wow, that was a really cool trick."

[bensaddiction]

I think you guys (or guy, at this point) who is/are complaining about the mental shift of the yoyoing world, should spend less time on the forum and more time throwing. Stop defining the yoyo world by what other people are doing and realize that not all people are the same. Some people are going to think differently than you. Some of those people happen to yoyo at the moment. I wouldn't really know if it was different, since i've only been here for 2 years, but my mental state of yoyoing has always been the same from the day I first picked one up. .

Something like "...wow, that was a really cool trick."

I understand where your coming from but the forum is all I have to relate. I live in a town where no one yoyos and no one supports it for me so I look to the forum for that.

[rizki_yoist]

As someone who has been throwing since '95, I can say with some authority that never in the history of the yo-yo industry have there been so many high-quality yo-yos available at such reasonable prices with such incredible ease to the consumer.

I realize it's very easy to have no perspective because it's the sort of thing that only comes with a ridiculous amount of time spent in something but trust me...this is one of the best times in history to be a yo-yo player. You have almost everything you could want, and most of it is really inexpensive.

Now all we need is a decent contest system...and I'm working on that.

I'll suggest an old school division where the prelim is not "freestyle" like few years back. Yoyos should be responsive and the width of the yoyo is also restricted.
Also, I believe many people would like to see the future of yoyo contest is not about point-whoring tricks.
Not trying to hate whatever happens today, but I see it turns in negative ways... Elitist mindset rises, creativity died.

[Elephark]

...creativity died.

lol wut

[rizki_yoist]

...creativity died.

lol wut

It happens here where many people don't really care about originality, all of their tricks are just "raw copied" from their idols.

[Elephark]

It happens here where many people don't really care about originality, all of their tricks are just "raw copied" from their idols.

When has that not been the case? (I'll give you a hint: never)

For instance, what was going on in 2003? JD had been working on some stuff, he showed up and destroyed BAC, worlds, and nationals, released some neat videos, and suddenly he was everyone and everyone else's favorite player. Everyone wanted to do grinds. Everyone wanted to do tech tricks. (Almost) everyone wanted to switch to dead unresponsive play. People were asking for tutorials of his tricks and trying to learn them.

Around 2006 worlds, in the grand old yoyoing.com chat, I talked for a while with Jan Marhauser, who had been a 1A finalist the previous year. I was fairly new to yoyoing at the time, and during our discussion he told me that 1A was dead. Why? Because, he said, nowadays people didn't really care about making up new tricks, there wasn't any true innovation anymore, nothing of substance was happening.

Sound familiar?

I think that attitude is an easy one to arrive at in the course of getting both older and better at yoyoing. Something that when you were new would've knocked you over doesn't anymore, because now you understand it better. You see where it came from, you see its mechanism of action, you know this yoyoer does stuff like this already, you've personally messed with something like it, or whatever. It's also easy to draw that conclusion if your favorite yoyoers retire, slow down, or change in a way you don't like, or if you're not keeping up with the right yoyoers' stuff. Or if you see a few people doing or saying something and generalize them as the average. It's easy to get disillusioned when things change, and long for the 'good old days'.

The community-as-a-whole's driving force in terms of "originality" has always been a few people making up a lot of tricks, a lot of people making up a few tricks, and most of the people making up no (or negligible) tricks. The majority of yoyoers lack either the skill or the desire to 'push' yoyoing anywhere (which is not to say they lack the potential...), because there's a heck of a lot more to yoyoing than making up utterly unique tricks nobody's ever done before. That, right there, is what I mean (and I mean it) when I say 'innovation' is overrated.

Moreover, I refuse to believe that creativity has 'died' when right now we have people like Drew Tetz, Nate Sutter, and Anthony Rojas (to name just a few) tirelessly pushing all kinds of frontiers, forging the tricks of tomorrow (or the epic b-sides of tomorrow, we'll see). Those peeps, other peeps like them, and prominent contest players (of which Anthony is also one), in turn inspire other people to take their ideas and refine or reforge them into something else, and so on. And later on a bunch of people will learn some of their tricks and not 'do anything' with them, and you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. If they're having fun, they're winning.

This is an awesome time to be throwing. For so many reasons.

[jrodriguez]

Pshhh. 1a is like fixed axle. It's all been done and nothing new or exciting will ever happen with that again.


<div><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LxmYxzxVf-4&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0" width="425px" height="344px" wmode="transparent" quality="high" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="never" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" autoplay="false" autostart="false" /><noembed><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LxmYxzxVf-4&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/LxmYxzxVf-4&amp;ap=%2526fmt%3D18&amp;rel=0</a>

[memorex]

OMG, a new splash color! it's derp signature series! I'll buy it no matter how unreasonable the price is, and I'm not gonna play it, it will sit down in my case because I love it very much! 

Those people should be burned at the stake!
Who do they think they are? Spending their well earned money on fancy yoyo's and taking care of their own possesions like that!
Terrible, terrible persons!
They are ruining the community by supporting yoyo shops and manufacturers and not selling their beaters for cheap on the BST!
 

[H4TE]

CREAM! cash rules everything around me.

just go throw with reckless abandon!  its what I do, when I play with the band, when I go skate and when I throw.

[T4T3Z0R]

lol im stealing this

[oldyoyoguy]

Those peeps, other peeps like them, and prominent contest players (of which Anthony is also one), in turn inspire other people to take their ideas and refine or reforge them into something else, and so on. And later on a bunch of people will learn some of their tricks and not 'do anything' with them, and you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. If they're having fun, they're winning.

Wise words.