MOT'S YO-YOS

this has been my go-to throw for a little over two years now. you'll notice a pattern as your scroll through this page: i like my yo-yos orange, and this one is no different. The Sage is great for string tricks, which is my specialty, and i often find myself just throwing this around in off time. a great beginner friendly choice that's lightweight and simple to disassemble, while also being great for experienced players who just want a solid, durable throw that won't bruise their hands like the metal ones.

basically the exact same as the orange Sage, with one issue. there are these little plastic bits in the core of the yo-yo that make sure the string doesn't get too close to the shadow pads when the user is letting it sleep, but those have broken off on this one due to me screwing it together too tightly. i do like the red color a lot, though.

one of yoyotricks.com's flagship training yoyos, the Oracle is similar in appearance and theming to the Sage, with a couple of major differences. instead of being geared towards string tricks, the Oracle is fully optimized to learn looping, or 2A tricks. this is all about the movement and momentum of the yoyo, throwing it out in front of you and pulling it back, hense the name "looping." i really love the color of this one, and the slim profile feels really good in the pocket compared to the sage. the string it comes with is also significantly shorter, which im assuming is to make looping a bit easier. as opposed to the Sage, the Oracle is mostly responsive, coming back with a simple flick of the wrist, though it is capable of prolonged sleep times for tricks such as Around the World. overall, i really like the Oracle, its a fun little thing.

my replacement i got after The Monarch broke, (see next) and my first real yoyo. i will say, going directly from a dollar store Duncan to this beast was a little bit of a culture shock, but i eventually got the hang of it. it even came with a yoyo glove, how nice! this was my daily driver for a hot second, but ever since getting the Sage i've drifted away from it somewhat. while the build quality is excellent and it feels great in the hands, good LORD does this thing pack a punch. one false move, and say goodbye to your knuckles. that aluminium puts in a lot of work, i'll say that much. since getting the Sage, i've converted the Black Pearl to being my defacto Freehand throw, i even made a custom counterweight out of a die i've had for ages, although it's not the perfect weight... but like, come on, which looks cooler, the basic plastic sphere counterweights, or the transparent die? that's what i thought!

i've talked about this yoyo before on the Things page, but if you don't know, this was a gift from a substitute teacher of mine in high school, Mr. Medina. he was a pretty common sub for a lot of teachers, so i ended up seeing him a lot, and we bonded over our shared enjoyment of Talking Heads. he took note of my love of yoyos, and gave me this for my birthday as a gift. he said it was one he used to use a lot back in the day, and i find that history really interesting. on top of that, after a cursory look online, it turns this specific model is quite beloved, and depending on who you ask can go for quite a lot of money on the second hand market. (i believe it's the japanese release that's the rare one?) i, however, would never sell mine, on top of the sentimental value, it's genuinely just a fun yoyo to use. it has an auto-return clutch system (the eponymous "x-brain") that makes it return to the user when it loses speed, but also has quite a good bit of sleep time. that being said, the fun really only goes as far as doing basic throws. the clutch makes it hard to do on-string tricks, since it has a tendency to return too early, while the longer than average sleep time makes it not great for loop rallies. i guess you could do some of the classics (walk the dog, shoot the moon, rock the baby) with this, but that's about as far as it goes trick-wise. all that said, i still love this thing for the sentimental value it holds, and it's earned its place as one of my favorite yoyos i've ever owned.

my old favorite throw before i got my hands on the Leshare X2 Black Pearl in early 2022. i used to love this thing, but ever since i started using better throws like The Sage or the Black Pearl, i've come to kind of hate these dollar store Duncans. they're impossible to restring if they get tangled up, you can't disassemble them without breaking them, there's almost no sleep time with the stock string, and worst of all, i know Duncan can do better! thoroughly diappointing, sorry Duncan. plus, why do the butterfly design if it doesn't sleep at the bottom? the whole point of the butterfly is to make it easier to catch on the string, but you can't do string tricks with these!

another orange Duncan, this time of the imperial variety. imperials are known for being good for beginners, trying to get a feel for yoyos and how they feel to throw, but aren't good for much outside of that. instead of curving outwards like butterflies or being all rounded like modified models, imperials curve inwards in an attempt to guide the yoyo up and down the string. again, great for people just trying to get acquainted with the basics. this one doesn't have a name or a brand printed on it, but i know a Duncan when i see one. cheap, basic, glued together garbage. again, i know Duncan can make real throws, but these dollar store variants are just pathetic man.

same as the last imperial, but this one has a story. you might notice the bitemarks(?) on this one, and that's because i apparently left this yoyo at my friend Herbie's house for like, 10 years. as such, it's seen... better days. i think his dog got to it. unlike the orange imperial, i actually kinda like this one, both for the story attached to it and the color combo of the body and string. (as you can tell, i've restringed this one, the original string was so bad it snapped mid-throw.) plus, it's actually my only good looper right now. it has just the right amount of sleep time at the end of the string to make it viable for loop rallies, all my other throws are either not responsive enough or too responsive, but this is just right. unfortunately, i don't have another throw that functions close enough to it to run any 2A tricks with it, so i'll just have to settle for solo loops for now. either way, surprisingly good showing from Duncan here, congrats folks.

oh Duncan, when will you learn? i've had this one since around 5th grade or so, and man it's really showing its age. according to Duncan, this is "Tournament grade," but i don't buy it. tournament for what? tricks? what kind of tricks are you gonna do with this thing? it's made of wood! i remember when this was my daily driver, it'd regularly break in half, since it wasn't held together with glue or anything, it was just the tension of the wood rod in the core. i will say, at the very least, this one does look cool, but that's all it's got going for it.

here's where we start to get into the funky shit. my friend James asked me one time, hey, i know you like yo-yos, do you want this shitty Amazon one i have? and the rest is history. this this has been sitting in my yoyo box for ages now, and i don't really plan on using it. the plastic feels surprisingly good, but it has all the issues of a Duncan. and i know what you're saying, what do you mean the manufacturer is unknown, it's clearly made by Amazon! no, this is just some other poor sap's yoyo that they plastered their name on and called it a day. i'd rather give credit to the real manufacturers than give it to Bezos.

here's a pretty interesting one. another promo yoyo similar to the Amazon one, this time from my Uncle Dave. unlike the Amazon one, however, this one is geuninely kind of viable? it has an amount of sleep time, making it possible to do basic string tricks, and could potentially be good for looping as well. one of the funniest properties of it, however, is the noise it makes when it sleeps. while it sits at the bottom of the string, it makes this loud humming sound! it's got a metal build, but unlike a lot of other metal yoyos, it's hollow as opposed to being solid, and i'm assuming this is what amplifies the sound so much. for being a promotional item, it's surprisingly competent, all it needed was a good restring and it was good to go. congrats GE, you did a better job than Amazon!

told you we'd be getting into the weird ones now. this rancid little beast was an impulse buy at a gas station while i was on a road trip with my friend Ashley. i saw it and knew i had to see just how bad it was. as you can imagine, no sleep at all, light as air, made of total junk, but i don't blame it really. i mean, this kind of thing isn't made for geeks like me, it's made for kinds to get, mess around with for a few minutes, then forget about once they've eaten all the gum. speaking of which, i recall the gum being pretty okay. it's green apple flavored, which i know isn't everyone's cup of tea, but i personally have a soft spot for it. it loses its flavor extremely quickly though, and i remember it making my teeth kinda hurt. that said, there is still some gum left over. it's about two years old now, so i refuse to eat it, but like... i can't just get rid of it, that'd get rid of all the personality this thing has! so i'm just keeping it in there. definitely the worst yoyo in my collection, but it's still a funny talking point. actually, in the middle of writing this review, i got curious to see if restringing it would make it any better. and the answer was... kind of??? restringing gave it some sleep at the bottom, but it also wouldn't return anymore. so... double edged sword, i guess. if you're wondering, no, the sleep time i got from the restring wasn't enough to get it to return using a bind, i doubt i could even get this thing to land on the string to begin with.