The following story was posted on the RSO Website:
A SERENDIPITOUS DISCOVERY
Once upon a time in the wildly spintastic town of Gigglesworth, lived a boy named Spencer, who had a real knack for stringing people along — like his parents, who still held onto the faintest hope that he’d become a doctor. One glorious afternoon, while valiantly exploring the dusty wasteland of his dad’s attic, he discovered a box labeled “Top Secret.” Naturally, he opened it, because ignoring giant warning labels is what heroes do, right?
Inside, to his absolute horror (or delight, we’ll never know), he found an impressive collection of adult magazines—classics like “Playtoy” and “Hustler.” Just what every awkward teenager needs for some… spinfluence. Spencer’s face turned fifty shades of red as he slammed the box shut. But not before catching sight of something shiny nestled among the fine literature.
RIBBED FOR EXTRA STIMULATION
It was a yo-yo. Not just any yo-yo—this one was sleek, shiny, and cheekily named “Derty Mag.” Spencer chuckled. “Perfect! Just what my social life was missing, a yo-yo with more personality than my entire high school.” He slipped the string on his finger and gave it a whirl. To his surprise, it spun with more sass than half the adults he knew.
The yo-yo came with a rather… informative brochure, chronicling the life of its creator, Russell Andert, affectionately dubbed the “Hugh Hefner of Yo-Yos.” Apparently, Russell had a mission: to create the “dert” series of yo-yos that could deliver maximum sensation while keeping things oh so pleasurable.
First Derty Mag CAD.
His pièce de résistance? The Derty Mag, which, according to the brochure, had a 1mm smaller girth and a “special groove for extra friction and sensation.” That groove went through more trial and error than a bad haircut, until he finally nailed the perfect one for peak stimulation.
“D”
As Spencer practiced, the yo-yo seemed to gain a life of its own, executing tricks with a level of enthusiasm that made him feel like the star of some sort of talent show. “Skin the Gerbil” somehow turned into “Rub the Bean,” and “Split the Atom” evolved into “Split the Eve,” each trick sending the yo-yo on spins that felt a bit too saucy for a simple afternoon of yo-yoing. The real kicker? When Spencer unscrewed the yo-yo, he found it housed a “D bearing” inside—because, obviously, a basic C bearing would never handle this kind of action.
C bearing (left) and D bearing (right) Derty Mag prototypes.Derty Mag (right) is 1mm smaller in girth compared to derti (left).
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
One night, their nosy neighbor, Mrs. Kathy, decided she just had to investigate the commotion. Just as Spencer was mid-trick—probably throwing down with a “Double Entendre Loop”—the Derty Mag made a bold escape, landing squarely in Mrs. Kathy’s lap. She gasped, clutching her pearls like they were some kind of force field. But then, out of nowhere, she let out a giggle. “Well, I never!” she said, half-scandalized, half-impressed. “That yo-yo is certainly… stimulating.”
Spencer, emboldened by Mrs. Kathy’s newfound appreciation for the fine art of yo-yoing, decided to step up his game. Soon, he was pulling off tricks at school that made the girls swoon and the boys look on in envy. Moves like “Kama-sutra-kaze,” “Gyroscopic Flip,” and crowd-favorite “Knicker Twister” had everyone in stitches.
POPEYE THE YO-YO MAN
It didn’t take long for Spencer to become the town’s newest celebrity. His yo-yo hand got so jacked, people started calling him “Popeye the Yo-Yo Man.” The once-snooze-fest town of Gigglesworth was now buzzing with laughter and some highly questionable yo-yo tricks, all thanks to one nosy kid and a box of, let’s just say, unexpected discoveries.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
DERTY MAGAZINE Certificate of AUTHENTICITY
POPEYE THE YO-YO MAN ENAMEL PIN
A PAIR OF D SIZED TYPE 50 RSO X YOYOLAB LANDING PADS
“We’re proud to present to you our first foray into performance oriented bimetal engineering, designed for float, speed, and fun!
This is the Sago.
Each cup is a mere 9.5g of 7068 aluminum, adorned with a 21.5g stainless steel ring. The overall weight is kept slightly lower than what most would consider the norm. Sago weighs in at only 65.1g to maintain an easily maneuverable and incredibly wild flow. When you’re ready to move, just say go.
FPM’s PinkPads provide satisfyingly snappy binds inside of the 4.4mm response gap while still allowing for ample string layering, and a 12mm axle ensures endurance.
Each Sago comes with a @ziplinestrings ZS.AIR string, TRT sticker, and pog. All packaged in a hand stamped box.”
Colorways
The Sago comes in four colorways: Citrus Splash, Florida Bay Fade, Clear w/Rainbow Rims, and an Unknown colorway.
Unknown Sago Colorway
The Unknown colorway for the Sago comes with a few extra goodies.
What’s in the Box
Each Sago comes in a hand-stamped, numbered box, making every piece feel special. Included with the yo-yo is a Zipline ZS Air 100% nylon string, a TRT sticker, and a TRT Series #4 POG, with special variations for the Unknown Edition.
“Introducing the Black Hole – the pinnacle of precision and performance. This throw embodies the perfect balance of form, design and function.
The construction and design of the Black Hole fall into a meticulously creation to achieve an impeccably rounded cup enhancing both its aesthetic appeal and its dynamic capabilities as well as flawless weight distribution. The perfect round shape of the cup is not only visually stunning but also a delight to the touch and great for finger spinning.
We added nice and wide stainless steel rims to deliver powerful and long-lasting spins. The rims also have a blasted finish that mixes with the body of the throw and reduces friction when in contact with the hand. In terms of the weight, the Black Hole is in the 67g range for strength and stability, making it a formidable powerful beast.
Despite its weight, the Black Hole plays effortlessly maintaining its momentum and speed far longer than ordinary throws. The shape of the Black Hole brings a wide and slightly concave catch zone for a comfortable throwing and landing when doing grinding.”
“With every project we embark, new concepts and ideas come to us to explore different designs, playability and versatility for future creations. Working on the KnuckleYo kindled a spark of imagination and inspiration leading us to the creation of the Janus: a slim line yo-yo that uses two removable coins to play.
The starting point of the design was around the dimensions of the coin itself. Coins of this type can be used as worry or rolling coins and come in different dimensions that go from 30 to 45 mm diameter, 3 to 7 mm thickness and 10 to 40 gr. We started to explore all the multiple designs around those dimensions and see what would fit best.
The diameter
The ‘standard’ size of a manipulation coin is around 35 mm diameter. Having a diameter in that range was not the best fit for what we were looking for. Although the main idea of this project was to design a yoyo that could be easily transformed into a coin, we always wanted the Janus to be a capable yoyo to play with. Our goal was to find the best size of diameter that allowed the Janus to be playable as a coin as well as a throw. We found the sweet spot to be 45.5 mm.
The thickness
The next challenge we faced was to determine the coin’s thickness which is fully correlated to the performance, weight and width of the throw. A thin yoyo would compromise certain performance capabilities and functionality; whereas, a thick coin would not be ideal to perform manipulations. With those two challenges to consider, we determined that the thickness was pretty much limited to be in the 7-8 mm range. We used the thickness of El MiJo yoyo as a point of reference which is 12 mm, and our objective was to go no less than 60% of that dimension.
Due to the design of the Janus, the weight is proportionally correlated with the thickness and the size of the diameter. Although we had a range of 30 gr. to play with, the diameter that we established along with the width that we were aiming, the weight became another factor that had to be considered. With all those elements on the table, we ended up with a thickness of 7.8 mm which gave us a weight of 23.7 gr. when in coin mode.
The incorporation of Side Effects
In order for this throw to be transformed into a coin, we needed a system that was suitable and functional for the Janus. We explored many options to adapt this idea. We went back a forth with different approaches, until we saw the potential that the Side Effects machined by One Drop could bring to the Janus. One Drop’s Side Effects allowed the Janus for a complete removal of its axle and bearing seats and feel it more “coin like” when in coin mode. This also opened the possibility to use the Janus as a wearable coin.
The final design
Once all of the above elements were incorporated, we had two elements left to accomplish: performance and design. The most suitable material for this concept was aluminum 6061. We needed certain wall thickness for the shape and design we envisioned. We pushed the walls of the cup in a way that could work for coin manipulation and as a worry coin, and at the same time to allow a better weight distribution when played as a yoyo.
We do not consider the Janus to be a micro-yoyo by any means. The Janus is a small, fully functional pocket throw that can be played as a responsive and unresponsive yoyo that when disassembled yet it can also be used as a coin for coin manipulation tricks as well.
The name
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. Janus is typically depicted as having two faces and was commonly embossed onto Roman coins.
The name reflects the dual nature of our creation and the various passage ways it may lead you while playing. The throw’s mismatched sides of different colours and patterns further reflect the characteristic of Janus: the double faced pocket throw that actually fits in your pocket.
We would like to thank our team members Jack Morris, Iñaki Diez and Jason Williams for al their input during the development of this project.
A special thanks and recognition to Chris Francz for his amazing artwork in the Janus that was used in both the logo and the engraving of this throw.
A year before the release, MFD and ZGRT started the discussion to do a collaboration and the planning began. It was an extraordinary year of working together from the yoyo designing process, prototyping and finalizing the details. It took several months as both teams were involved in testing and input. It took several months as both teams were involved in testing and input.
The result was to make an organic throw that played floaty and nimble but with a beefy rim to add certain grade of performance.
We then played around with packaging, artwork, colour selection and the name before it all came together.
This has been such an epic journey and project that we have thoroughly enjoyed since the very beginning.
That being said…
We are more than trilled to introduce the Monkey Flyer!”
