Archives for March 8, 2013

Welcome back to Fixed Friday, where the tricks are made up and the points don’t matter. Because you don’t score any points. Huh? Moving on. This week I’m proud to present some original content that I’ve been working on, a z-axis flip that lets you transition between stall mounts. Let’s take a look:

The first trick is the simplest version of this idea. Throw a trapeze stall, swing and flip the yo-yo as though you were throwing a kickflip suicide, but instead of catching the loop, chop into the string. It takes a little practice to figure out the timing of the chop and the spin, I find it helps to use a two-tone yo-yo so that you can remember which side was facing you when you threw the suicide and chop when you see it come back around. If you don’t have a two-tone yo-yo, I recommend covering the sidecaps in stickers… but then, I pretty much just recommend that anyways. I should also mention that while trapeze is the simplest version of this trick, it may actually be easier to execute from a double or nothing, so if you’re struggling with the trapeze you might want to try 2or0.

The next move is an interpretation of the first pop of the classic trick,  Kwijibo, and it illustrates how the kickflip can be used to move from one mount to another. Learning the chop with the opposite hand usually requires a lot of focus on providing enough slack to cushion the yo-yo’s landing without letting it fall off.  All of you kids catching kendama fever will be thrilled to learn that it’s all in the knees… okay, maybe you don’t have to full-on crouch, but it definitely helps to move your hands along with the yo-yo to soften the landing a bit.

Now, at this point, you’re probably wondering why you wouldn’t just go with the flashier kickflip suicide. The answer? Half-flips! As you may recall from earlier lessons, one of the primary challenges of stall tricks is that you can only catch the yo-yo on one side of the string, which means transitioning from mount to mount occasionally requires elaborate restarts. With a half-flip, the yo-yo flips over halfway (natch), meaning you can transition between stall sides in the middle of mounts or combos.

The next trick is an example of such a combo: first, a half-flip from a double or nothing stall to a trapeze bro stall, something not possible with a simple hop, and then after throwing the bro stall back into double or nothing, a full flip back down to trapeze. It’s definitely not the easiest transition, but it is fun, satisfying, and has lots of possibilities for expansion.

The last trick is the brainchild of my Takeshi Kamisato, who is a gentleman and a cupcake. We start out with the 2or0 half-flip to trapeze bro, but on the catch, you pinch the string in order to keep the slack of the suicide loop from disappearing. After that, toss the yo-yo off to the side with the loop intact and catch the suicide, much in the style of Takeshi’s immortal Hans Rocks! tricks. Bam! Easier said than done, of course, but a great example of how to incorporate modern new school 1A elements in your fixed axle play.