Asora has arrived and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you all.
First up, here's some of the artwork I made for this version's cards.
This time, I really wanted to improve on my initial card designs. Often times, what holds me back is finding the right pose and being able to execute and finish it without wanting to change the pose. Last time, the cards were printed on paper which I glued to the backs of cards. It made it easier to align and make them since they weren't a sticker.
I had taken more time to spend on drawing out a proper card this time. I used inspiration from Race Queens from Japanese motorsports, along with putting a ton of my favorite companies all over it.
The cards are printed on holographic foil and then stuck onto the back of bulk TCG cards. They're not perfect, don't expect them to be - but they look good from far away and inside their sleeve.
Now onto the design itself.
In general, I would summarize this version very simply as being an improvement in virtually every aspect.
You all probably want to know what exactly changed. I went over it in my previous blog post, but I'll quickly explain the changes, why I implemented them, and how it turned out now that I have the actual yo-yo in my hands.
The first and most important change is the schmoove ring. Schmoove grooves are like YWET, rings are like Parlay. I hope this clarifies the terminology.
I felt like this was a necessary move within the design. Initially, like I said previously, I wanted the yo-yo to be punishing, understanding "how punishing" is important here. I think that, I had to take into consideration this is a light weight yoyo stock and is easily prone to tilting due to it's innate lightness. It's very responsive to your movements and will react based on those. Part of me loves this feature, while another part of me feels like this feature isn't necessary. At some point, a yoyo can hold you back, and it's at that point that you start to question why you're playing it. Sometimes, that's fun, but for a design that's meant to be a daily throw, that wouldn't work. At times, I just felt like I had to move to a different yoyo for certain tricks, or I had to refrain from throwing specific tricks in sequence because Asora might not handle it.
Sometimes, I feel like, I'm trying to design the best worst yoyo possible. In the sense that, going lighter isn't really a good yoyo, nor is a high wall organic. It's just, within that, I want the yoyo to kind of surprise you. I want people to pick it up and think "that plays way better than it looks." that deceptive nature of a yoyo that looks OG but plays modern is something I really want out of the design. Finding the balance between fun, punishing, performance, and a classic old school feel is quite the conundrum, but I knew it was possible, and I think this version of Asora really proves you can make do with a lower weight design.
Over time I felt Asora did hold me back in certain areas, it was just ever so slightly too punishing and I felt like adding the schmoove ring feature could help alleviate a lot of this. Turns out, this is correct, the amount of forgiveness v03 gives compared to the previous two versions is night and day.
Another small feature I added with this version was to engrave it. I'm personally not a huge fan of most engravings on yo-yos. I think a lot of good yo-yo's are often ruined by bad engravings more often than not. I plan to experiment with different engravings in the future but I wanted a way to mark or identify my yo-yo without intruding on the actual design.
It's a small thing, but I really think that yo-yo's are going to end up very hard to identify in the future. People may stumble upon an old yo-yo collection and have no way to look up or identify the yo-yo at all. At least, this way leaves them a chance to find their way back to us in the future.
The next major change to the design was to increase the rim weight. The problem here is just the simple fact of being constrained to a lighter weight than normal due to caps. The fitment and design of the caps itself forces me to design in a way that has to accomodate this design feature in the weight distribution. This really puts constraints on how much weight I can put on the rims without pushing the actual size of the yoyo larger or wider.
If you want a wider yoyo, there's plenty of options, especially organics. If you want a heavier yoyo, there's a lot of options there too, if you want something more performant, there's 100's of options.
This is designed because there's nothing like this you can possibly buy on the market. The size, the diameter, the shape, the feel in play, the modularity. It all combines to balance into a yo-yo I can't compare to any other yo-yo on the market. I really didn't want to alter the actual size, diameter, or width of the design so I forced myself to work within the constraints I initially set out for.
I removed as much weight as I could from the walls and surrounding areas after implementing the schmoove ring and altered the design of the undercut.
The main thing here is to note that I had to run a new version because of this. I felt like, 01 and 02 didn't have the right power and stability. Initially, the undercut was closer to a free-rider or YWET, but I made it a bit thicker, so now it's closer to something like a MMC undercut with a bit more beef to the rim. This paired with the schmoove ring made for an immense improvement in overall play. This includes how it feels to play. I honestly think that it's borderline perfection.
The only thing I could fix on it, which likely isn't possible, is to add more weight. The issue with adding more weight is the fact that caps weigh about 6g combined. a 60g yoyo being 66g is basically perfect, any heavier and it can start to fall into the realm of being too sluggish. Again, weight is relative, so the weight being where caps are located create for a sluggish feeling yo-yo, if that weight was on the rims instead, the feeling and play would be completely different. This is important to keep in mind, and why I intentionally designed Asora to be light weight.
I think one of my favorite things about this version is that it feels closer to what I imagined it to play like in my head. I realize that, small adjustments and really paying attention to these small changes can change a yoyo to be something completely different. The hard part is "guessing" on how the yoyo will play and perform. Understanding that there's a specific amount of MOI is important, but just because it has good MOI doesn't mean it will feel good in play.
I've said it a lot, but my goal is to design a yo-yo that's fun. Something that you want to pick up, you may not know why, you may not be able to describe it, or explain it, but you subconsciously pick this yoyo up over your countless other yoyo's you could play. I'm intentionally trying to design something that will evoke that emotion. For me, the yo-yo isn't just a yo-yo, it's the whole package. The vibe it gives, the way it looks, the color, the way it feels in your hand, the way it plays, the way it makes you feel while playing, all of these and more are things that I think about and take into consideration when designing. I want you to want this, even if you don't exactly know why.
This was something I experienced with a free-rider when I first played it, and even now. Part of it is the time in which it was created, but another is just the way it feels to play on the string. It's unlike a lot of other yo-yo's I've played, even light floaty ones. The color, the shape, the sound it makes, so many things about it that combine for a really fun yoyo.
I think this version plays closer to the Free-Rider, but with so much more potential. It really is the modern Free-Rider to me, and would be a perfect replacement, or representation of what a Free-Rider would play like in modern times for any player.
The only other major change to the design was to alter the cup just a bit. This was to help you identify v03 from v02. v01 is really obvious since it doesn't have a SE so the hub never changed, it was virtually identical to 02.
However, 02 to 03 felt like I needed to change it, even if just a little to set it apart from 02 since they're both SE.
It's a little hard to tell, but the hub detail near the SE is a little more subdued on v03.
The last thing people are probably wondering are colors.
Initially, I had always wanted to run more colors for the design, I just never bought enough to grab more than 1 color. However, my goal has always been to have one primary, main or OG colorway for each design I release that correlates to the yoyo and player. I'm inspired by power rangers, sailor moon, ronin warriors, etc... I think that having each yoyo have it's own specific color is just a fun feature to add.
However, I know that not everyone wants a pink yoyo, and I simply think yo-yo's should come in more than one colorway for people to enjoy. A lot of times I look at yo-yos as accessories to my outfit. Just like how someone wears a matching hat to their shirt or shoes, I try to match my yoyo to my fit too. Though, admittedly, I mostly collect clear or pink only.
For this run we went with 5 total colors to pick from. The pink also came out better than previous, I'm really excited about this one.
I intentionally picked each colorway to be able to halfswap with one another. We will not be selling the yoyo's stock as halfswap.
However, if you want to make a halfswap with a friend I will do that. You both have to buy the correct corresponding colorway, and note who you're swapping with in the order notes so I know.
I still have to silicone, assemble, and package the yo-yo's but I wanted to make a blog post to update everyone. I also need to make the power stones for the side effects, but just know all of them will come with clear micro caps under the power stone.
I am planning to have them ready by worlds. I will be bringing a handful of them to worlds to sell if you would like to pick one up from me. I'm only bringing what I can personally carry. The rest will release on our site after worlds, and 30 units will head to @yoyostore.es for a Japanese release.
If you're wondering about the price, they will be $120 USD.
I will release more info in another blog post soon. Thank you!
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