The Smashing YoYo Company had a soft launch for their first yoyo, the Poppet, at the 2016 UK National YoYo Contest. Check out some great tricks using the Poppet from Josh Vickers, Marcel Olubek, Armani Gentles-Williams, Simon Blount, Francesco Salvi, and Andy Jones.
Archives for July 5, 2016
Doc Pop & Ernest Kahn Launch The Executive YoYo on Kickstarter
Doc Pop and Ernest Kahn have teamed up to produce The Executive, a new pocket yoyo being funded on Kickstarter.
The Executive is so small that it fits comfortably in the fifth pocket of your jeans (or pretty much any other pocket you’ve got). Designed and produced in the USA, The Executive is meant to be the perfect everyday carry yoyo.
The Executive is being offered exclusively through Kickstarter, and rewards include a t-shirt designed by Paul Escolar, a special colorway of the yoyo available only to backers in the first 24 hours, plus some neat stretch goals.
The Executive Specs:
Diameter: 44.45mm
Width: 30.30mm
Gap: 4.30mm
Bearing: Size C (OD 10 Ball)
Response: OD Flow Groove Pads
Material: 6061 Aluminum
The Kickstarter campaign is officially live, so head over and back the project now!
Click here to back The Executive on Kickstarter
John Ando – How To Do A School YoYo Demo
World YoYo Champion John Ando gives us a look at his work as a yoyo demonstrator in this video. This routine is a great reference for any aspiring performers out there…this is a great example of how to build a yoyo routine for a room full of young kids.
This video shows you the basic package of what a school yo-yo demonstration might look like.
In modern yoyoing, it’s easy to get lost in executing too many complex looking tricks. Unfortunately, non-yoyoers will not understand that aspect of brilliance. A balance between the easy (flashy tricks) and hard (complex tricks) is essential to pull off a good show. If you plan to do a school show in the future, I hope this can be reference to building your own. Remember, balance is the key.
Smashing YoYo Company Announces The Poppet
And just like that, we have a new contender in the yoyo industry from the UK!
The Smashing YoYo Company is the brainchild of UK collector and player Jordan Blofeld, and unless I’m forgetting someone (which is totally possible, I’m getting old) this might be the first UK-based yoyo company. (There were some Doctor Who yoyos back in the late 80s/early 90s, but not sure that counts.)
Their first release is called the Poppet. The word poppet is an older spelling of puppet, from the Middle English popet, meaning a small child or doll. In British English it continues to hold this meaning. Poppet is also a chiefly British term of endearment. All caught up? Great. The Poppet hits stores Sunday, July 17th.
I could not resist. I will not apologize.
It’s been a long fight. I first started planning in February and very little looks like the plans I had in my head back then. Where the design and finished product have ended up have exceeded anything I could have dreamed. Introducing the Poppet – Smashings first yoyo.
There were compromises to be made to keep the price something people can afford. Britain just couldn’t match the impeccable attention to detail that I was demanding for the price I was aiming for so I turned to China. Even then keeping the tolerances this high and the price down was a challenge but it’s real quality you’ll notice as you play hard, it’ll keep up with you. I’ve partnered with an ethically run small engineering shop with people I can trust to deliver the best yoyos at a price I can be proud of.
As you can see, it was worth it. I could not be happier with how it looks. The stats came in exactly as I’d planned them and everything has gone right which has kept the price somewhere people can afford. The contrasting curves and angles provide a comfortable catch zone while looking beautiful and shows off the skills of the people who created it with me.
It’s everything I wanted it to be from the material, dimensions and price. Every bit of energy has been worth it. All the pennies have been well spent. All the tears are in the past.
