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Yo-Yo Nation is seeing stars

Yo-Yo Nation has dropped one of the hippest limited edition Freehand Zeros I've seen. This is defiantly up there with the Hyper Freehand and Japan Crew editions. And to show off those electric blue caps the body a bright orange. You can't see it from the picture, but from what I hear, there more neon then the Japan Crew edition (which was as a creamy orange). Top notch work Pat and Weber. And only $24.99.

Flows like Milk and honey

I just got a nice email from Paul Yath with these pictures in it. According to Paul, this is the first of a series of yo-yos produced under the same name as his clothing label, Born Crucial. The Milk is a 64 gram delrin yo-yo with some really neat features. As you can see, it comes with a SPR variation that houses o rings, but if you want a different size bearing, or a sticker response, just pop the o ring SPR out and put in any stock Buzz-On SPR. The other really exciting thing about this yo-yo is it has METAL threaded inserts for the axle, not the softer, weak delrin like others use. On top of it all, 2 new PYFT response materials. No word on exactly what they are, but from the sounds of it, very nice quality stuff. With all these well planed features, good weight, and a shape inspired by the Oxy4, this looks to be a solid first start is his own designs.

Not official drop date for the Milk, but expect to see his first line of clothing, Born Crucial, in fall of 2007.

Anti-Yo=The Largest Metal Yo-Yo Manufacturer in the World

So it's official. Kiya is the yo-yo scenes connection to everything good. A lot of us see Kiya at contests and some guy with killer sneakers and nice jeans. What some of you may not know is it goes deeper then that. Kiya is doing the same thing for selvedge denim that he and Sonny did for aluminum yo-yos. Take a very small part of the scene and make it more available, and cool. This article by 3sixteen.com has some very interesting insight on the streetwear culture, a lot of which I see happening with the yo-yo scene. Hype, minimal innovation and a whole lot of the same thing. Kiya has some intereesting comments regarding the mission statement of Ani-Yo...

"It's the same reason I started Anti-Yo; I love the scene so I wanted to have a creative output within the scene and also see where I can take my own company... We make high end expensive metal yoyos, skate decks, clothing, etc. We’re the largest metal yoyo manufacturer in the world, our products are sold in 9 countries and many online stores and we have a team that we travel with all over the world."

All this press, on top it all, yesterday the Busine$$ officially dropped. Can't wait to get mine.

Were the hell did Hicoo come from?

I know I just posted about some of the HICOO yo-yos. But then these links came out... These are obviously computer generated renders of what is planned for the yo-yos, which is a disappointment. I would really like to see REAL pictures. The Leo is first up. Now I'm really hip on the idea of yo-yos tailored to peoples specific tastes, but blatantly doing something JUST like the G5 seems a little to "Band Wagon" for me. Not to mention, maybe I'm seeing things, but there's defiantly a "Patent Pending" on the G5 box. Who knows if this will ever see the US market?

Up next on there drop page is the Inca. Basically a 401k-esque shape with a big bearing and recessed pads. Surprise surprise. Laser engraving is pretty detailed looking. But the name and graphics, combined with the same old thing doesn't do anything for me.

Now here is a sweet piece of metal. Or should I say, metals. From the looks of it the Joy has big gold rims bolted onto it. Damn. Wether or not this keeps it balanced is something to be discovered. But it is nice to see them doing something that hasn't been seen apart from the Dif-e-Yo Gladiator. And to top it off, there's also a silver rimmed Joy. Also, from the pictures it looks to have a concave bearing.

Overall, it is nice to see new stuff coming out for every posable player. But apart from posable patent infringement and unoriginal production, the only thing that seems to really pop is the Joy.

The Wrath of Hicoo

HICOO is at it again. I don't know if these are simply concept renderings or legit pieces. if you check out Black Cement's Skilltoys.com photos you'll see all the pictures of the L2, along with a few other very cool looking yo-yos. What's most interesting to me is the side of the L2 has the Yo-Yo Nation logo. A posable exclusive? If so this is yet another awesome exclusive Pat and Weber have wrapped up.

this is the other very interesting yo-yo in his photos. the "Red Ring" is a ball bearing rimmed yo-yo. While the concept is nothing new, its exciting to see something that at least APPEARS to be in some stage of prototyping/manufacturing.

Takuto Designs=Chinese Metal!

An interested find floating around the web boards. This yo-yo is called the L2 and is part of a new project out of mainland China. Check out the pictures here here here and here

looks like a lot of places are taking a hint for Yo-Yo Factory and jumping on the hub stack band wagon.

Anti-Yo likes raw japanese...

DENIM! Kiya Babzani, of Anti-Yo, seems to have created some buzz in the streetware scene. While Hypebeast has cited his store Turf Shoes, having your name and store promoted on High Snobiety is no small feat. The write up was in regards to Kiya's new store, Self Edge and an article in the San Francisco Gate about the hip japanese selvedge demin he carries.

But the most interesting thing talked about in the article is Demitra Georgopoulos, you know that cute girl thats always hanging around with Kiya at contests, is refured to as co-owner and fiance. Congrats guys!

Awesome job Kiya, yo-yos x hype.

Not part of the same old cycle

Radiyoactive has dropped pictures exclusively here at Yo-Yo Two. The Cyclotron is an aluminum body yo-yo straight out of South Africa. Yet another yo-yo put out by the local group headed by Jaco. Kyle Weems also helped with the design of this yo-yo. The aesthetic rims are a very classy touch and the orange really pops. Production run will have laser engraving on it.

Weight: 66g
Bearing: C (max gap size)
Diameter: 55mm
Width: 38mm
Response: Recessed silicone pads (recess is 0.03" deep, so the
silicone pads are slightly recessed and not flush)
Recommended Retail Price: $69
Numbers: 250 total (only 220 available via the normal retail channels,
Dave's Skilltoys, YYN, II, Cowfly Skilltoys and Turf)

Rock Miroc

AnY Yo-Yos have dropped pictures of there Miroc2

Looks like you can modulate from slim-line butterfly to wide butterfly by popping off extra metal rings. Pretty nifty idea. Hope it works out. Also, I can't see from the pictures, but I hope the bearing nubs are better affixed to the body. In some of the original Miroc's the nubs didn't sit on straight and didn't do there job well. Defiantly looking forward to throwing one though.

Mutant Factory

Those crazy Yo-Yo Factory guys, Ben and Hans, are at it again. Black (Stealth) G5's and Pink Mutant G5's. The Stealth G5's have a slightly different pad seat and 100 will be avalable. The Mutant G5 is a slight test/factory error. According to Ben there are around 20. I wish one would show up at my door! Also some other exciting G5 news from the Redline blog:

"The narrow design also gives feel of a regular angular yo-yo rather than the focused rim design which many would percieve has a tendency to hurt the hand. As the evolution continues expect a wider design to issue and potentially even a traditional butterfly shape"

Looks like we'll be seeing more variations of the G5's bearing hub-stacks with new shapes, and some new colors and finishes.

Yet another stab at Yo-Yo Jam

Active People, the same people who brought you Astrojax, has really been making a push in the yo-yo industry this past year. Concaved sleeves on there bearing and click adjustable gaps like the Mondial. Now a metal rimed plastic yo-yo. The G-Spin also has top pegs on the sides so you can spin it on the side, like the old Proyo Stunt Pilot (I'm sure thats the only reason for them?).

Now if only there yo-yos would unscrew. It's not asking to much, is it?

Rosgana's RozzoR

Oke Rosgana is know through out the yo-yo community for his amazing artwork. Now he's put his talents in a new direction, yo-yo design. I know I say it a lot, but I'm really excited to see more isolated yo-yoers making there own yo-yos to suit there need. Check out RosYo for more pictures and info on the RozzoR.

FurphYo has thrown down in the aluminum yo-yo craze. the RoK looks to be a very wide shaped silicone (or friction sticker) response. You can get it in 3 different finishes, Powdercoat, Annodized or a "candy" coat. The web site does not explain the candy coating, I'd be interested to hear about it.
The one really big thing that makes this yo-yo unique is the drastic shape. Than a Minimotu diameter and width 3mm smaller then a Pyro. Damn. Thats a WIDE yo-yo. And the weight is a mere 55 grams (63 with powder coating, and 57 with anodizing).

Note: The Rok is currently, only available off FurphYo's website.

Image: Yo-Yo Nation and FurphYo

Pictures of these yo-yos have been floating around the elitists circles for a while now. Now that the cat is out of the bag thanks to YoBoY via this post I figured it would be time to post this on the Blog. Auldey's has really stepped up there products. At first over in the AP region they were one of those joke cheep yo-yo gimmicks. But now... DAMN. Not only did they make a yo-yo similar to the Dark Magic (pictures here here here here here and here) but they also have another metal rimmed yo-yo similar in shape to the yoyoJam Spinfaktor HG. And to top it off, a yo-yo packaged with a counter weight (both pictured above)

Image: Yo-Yo Nation YoBoy and unknown sources

From Russia with GOR

First off... yo-yos and 50 cal bullets look pretty bad ass!

One of the exciting things with the Metal trend is that we're seeing yo-yos from all over the world. The Gor by Cold Metal Yo is neat first drop. Heres the info that was posted by [1101]Rus:
Material duralumin D16T
Diameter 54 mm
Width 40 mm
Weight 70g
Bearing 6*13*5

2 interested things about this yo-yo are the material and the bearing towers. The towers are made to hold large bearings. It looks like the bearings are press fit into the tower. Hopefully this will mean a more solid base for the bearings. That was one disappointment with the Miroc for me. The other is Duralumin. Its an aluminum alloy with copper, manganese and magnesium. This results in a very strong, hard aluminum.

Over all its great to see newer communities in the one is Russia making good yo-yos available to the local players.

More pictures of the bearing towers and such can be found here

G5... Dual Cored and everything

The Yo-Yo Factory G5 has dropped at your favorite yo-yo stores. Over at Yo-Yo Nation they gave a free Flymaster with every purchase. To bad they sold out FAST! But don't worry, there will be a 2nd release soon enough.

Image: Yo-Yo Nation

HICOO indeed!

In the sea of aluminum yo-yos we've been swimming in this year HICOO has dropped this hot little piece of metal, the West Uranium. Now, it's a pretty basic set up, hspin sized bearing and flush pads. What I really dig is the shape, its professional packaging and its well laid out laser engraving.

I am a little disappointed in the axle set-up. I'm not a big fan of the bearing being centered with the axle. Irregardless I'm going to try and pick up one.

Check out rest of the pictures here.

Luchidor has slimmed up

Pictures of the newest version of the Throwdown Luchidor dropped at the Extreme Spin Forum. Looks interesting! I'm excited to throw it. Nate of Throwdown said they plan on doing 100 and see if there is more demand.
Here are also pictures of the shape and horn
The thing i really respect about Nate's design is it's the yo-yo HE wanted. At Indy States he handed me the first proto and asked me what I thought. I told him the shape wasn't my cup of tea. His response was "well thats the thing I designed it around. Thats the only thing I'm NOT changing". Looking forward to seeing what else is in store from Throwdown.

The Samurai finally returned home

Duncan Toys first whirlwind tour of asia is over. Jack, Bride and Red are home from the Asia Pacific Challenge

Check out the freestyle videos from AP 06 here

and read the travel logs of the intrepid adventurers here

I'm looking forward to the 2nd phase of the Samurai is to release 3 minute webisodes of the tour.

We're in Busine$$

I was fortunate enough to throw the prototype of the Anti-Yo Busine$$ at the US Nationals in october. I also had the great experience of driving the 2 hours from the bay to Chico with Sonny (haft of Anti-Yo) and got to hear what there vision behind the Business was. Basically, Kiya and Sonny wanted to make an awesome playing miniature yo-yo. And let me tell you, all the other aluminum mini's pain in comparison to the performance this delivers. If you have any doubts, watch Brian Cosky's 2006 Nationals 1A freestyle here

Kiya also announced the product projection for the first quarter of 2007. This will entail an Anti-yo hoodie, the Ywet and the BSP, A Sterling Silver Anti-yo necklace, and of all things a Steve Brown x Anti-Yo collaboration. I'd love to see a Steve Brown yo-yo come out of this. Is that the Plan?

Image: Anti-Yo

Roo-yo 3.0, The Kaizen

I've been very impressed with the aluminum yo-yos out of Italy, so far. The Oxy series and the Plug-in were amazing quality and, in my views, the pinnacle of small run aluminum yo-yos. And the Roo-yo was no exception. The first 2 versions of the Roo-yo (regular sized and the SV, a smaller one) both had dimples in the butterfly curve of the yo-yo, similar to a golf ball. While I don't have much experience with the Roo-Yo i've heard very good things. With this, 3rd version it has the same silicone stub response (S.I.D.R.O. m.s) but no dimples... The odd thing to me is the groove around the rim of the yo-yo. I don't know if this is for a rim o-ring or if it has a specific purpose for a new kind of trick?
weight: 73 gr
diameter: 55 mm
width: 44 mm
gap: 6 mm (large yyj/KK)

A link to the ebay auction is here

Image: Ebay

Ist es heiß

The first yo-yo we've seen come out of Germany for a while. The "Chili" by Hot-Yo. Maybe Harry Baier will catch on and make a butterfly Mondial? We can only hope...
More pictures can be found here

Something some of us have been waiting 3 years for... an o-ring Patriot from Yo-Yo Jam! Hells. Yes.

Image: Yo-Yo Nation

77g of black GOLD

Apart from the awkward name, Yo-Yo Jam dropped this new variation of their SpinfaKtor HG series. Available at most online stores.

Image: Yo-Yo Nation