Happy 10th Anniversary to yoyofriends! We always make an anniversary yoyo every year at a lower price to celebrate with the yoyo community. Now yoyofriends has made it for a whole decade, and we want to make this anniversary yoyo special.
In early 2025, we have started multiple projects as candidates for the 10th anniversary yoyo. One of the project ideas is to make a multi-material yoyo utilizing PC outer rings. It is very trendy in the yoyo scene and we think it will give a unique aesthetic. For the first design draft, we used a mostly V shaped yoyo body with huge inner/outer PC rings. Team yoyofriends players are OK with the idea , but worried about performance and the generic shape. We then went back to the drawing board.
(picture of all previous yoyofriends anniversary yoyo)
For the second attempt, we decided to redo the profile based on the Shortcut and the Vulture. We also decided to add SS rings to make this a trimaterial yoyo. The PC rings are now fully wrapped around the SS rings to give the yoyo a striking look, while drastically increasing power and stability.
We then send this design to the yoyofriends’ player team. Tony then had a great recommendation to bring the SS ring weight up by over 2 grams. This increases the overall weight of the yoyo to over 68g. We think this makes perfect sense as the current trend for competition yoyo is going heavier. Also with the huge outer PC rims, the denser weight distribution is not exactly on the outside. Making the yoyo play less heavy compared to a traditional bimetal construction at similar weight. After calculation, the total outer ring weight (SS+PC) is almost inline with our traditional bimetal yoyo. We then double checked with the yoyofriends team and they greenlit this design to be made.
The prototype 1 came just before the 2025 US National yoyo contest. The entire US yoyofriends team gets to try it and give feedback. We found out that the yoyo is fun, flowy, and powerful. It is also not as slow as we thought, even at over 68g. The outer PC ring definitely shifted the concentrated weight inward and made the yoyo faster. Along with the rest of the yoyofriends team, we decided to use the yoyo as our 10th anniversary due to its combination of fun, performance, and striking aesthetics.
(Picture of prototype 1)
As for naming, we got inspired by the hit cartoon series, Ben 10. A Lot of the yoyofriends’ players and the manu team all watched that show before. Clockwork is one of the most powerful aliens in Ben’s arsenal. Clockwork can fully manipulate time at will. Perfectly matching our time theme. Also it is the 10th anniversary of yoyofriends and it perfectly matches with Ben 10.
The clockwork is a tri-material yoyo focused on fun, aesthetics and performance. It is also a celebration for a decade of yoyofriends as a company. Thank you so much for a whole decade of support and we wish to celebrate with you.
A year the its inception, the Alpha finally receives its counter part – the Omega!
The Omega inherits all characteristics of the Alpha: diameter, width, weight, gap size. It uses the same stainless steel rings. The only difference is the shape.
While Alpha uses a very concave H-shape, Omega sports a complementary organic profile.
This yoyo is dedicated to everyone getting told they don’t belong. Because of how they look. Because of what they wear and who they love. Because of how they feel and who they want to be. Because of how they express themselves. You do matter. You do belong. You are not alone. You are strong and beautiful. Just the way you are.
In 2010, when budget mono metals were quite popular, we cooked up the Void filling a gap in our portfolio. With its basic angular design it was easy to machine and thus yielded a good A-grade ratio, very important back in the day, when a scrapped yoyo run would mean ruin to the business. But beside the engineering and economical aspects, it played surprisingly well. Inherent to this basic shape is a magic formula that just works perfectly for a yoyo. This can be seen on many well-regarded yoyos with such designs from the Draupnir to the Peregrine X.
It was time to again tap into this magic sauce and create a yoyo to clear the mind from daily stress and burden. A yoyo to immerse the player into the joy of this hobby without compromise and to feel re-newed and happy. We achieved Katharsis.
Katharsis inherits its overall body shape from the Void but adding modernized elements like low-walls, increased width, less weight, bi-metal construction and the ILYY fingerspin cup finished in a beautiful yet still moderate acid wash anodization.
The blasted and plated stainless steel rings are machined thin yet wide to maximize their mass moment of inertia. The rimweight is carefully chosen to offer massive spintime while still retaining snappy un- and rewinds. The increased width allowed us to push the rimweight even further than with the Numen while still keeping balance between inertia and RPM. The rings flare out making the cup diameter as large possible for easier fingerspin catches. This design gives Katharsis an aesthetically pleasing calm and airy appearance further adding to the concept. There are no unnecessary curves or slopes with Katharsis, just pure function doing its thing.
Katharsis is the new top performer in the ILYY line-up with unmatched spintimes and stability. Its 50mm width offers a large catch zone for modern meta while still being able to move through tighter technical maneuvers.
The Trvth came to life as a tribute to the legendary SB-2 by Tom Kuhn. Being one of the few ILYYs with engravings it struck a nerve for ILYY fans and collectors.
For this 2025 re-invention, we went all out in terms of performance. The Trvth2 features massive stainless steel weight rings that carry 66.6% of the body weight, making the Trvth2 the most rim-weighted ILYY ever, it is relentless.
Also new for this era is an old school death metal inspired “side b” engraving of fleshy darkness by none other than the great Mark Riddik and a box that has seen the undead.
A note about optical imperfections
The Trvth2 batch has slight optical imperfections in the form of black spots around the response area and in the cup.
These are fairly subdued thanks to the black anodizing and bold engraving. We decided against trashing the batch and having them remade since we dislike the thought of scrapping perfectly fine yoyos. Instead, we will offer them at a €20 discount. These imperfections are only cosmetic and do not affect play. The spots are also barely visible without closely inspecting them. We even think they go nicely with the gnarly undead theme of the yoyo.
Atmos Projects is nearly coming up to a year since we first began, and I don’t think any of us would’ve guessed we’d be in a position like this before the year was up. We had a pretty clear initial vision of what we’d like our trajectory to be, but it definitely didn’t involve releasing a titanium model for a while.
We’re very happy to introduce the Gravity.
SPECS
dia 54mm wid 40mm weight – 63.1g stock with only Brass Ultra Light SEs, weight range is 60.4g to 74.2g, depending on setup material Titanium
Elvin from Round Spinning Objects reached out sometime late 2020 to talk, and raised the idea of collaborating on a yoyo. It was still early days for us – the team and I were still in the midst of working on the Pomelo design, but we were drawn by the prospect of working on a design with Elvin. Juggling early-stage tasks of our own and taking a step into a collaborative project was not easy, but we’re incredibly glad we did.
Any successful design begins with a concept worth pursuing. We circled this for weeks, in repeated attempts to discern an idea substantial enough. On one of our many phone calls, we began discussing the possibility of working on a modular titanium design that could be customised in weight and feel – by adjusting various sections of the yoyo – however the player preferred it.
Customisability is a feature that is rare today. They do still exist – the best implemented instance of customisable tech is in One Drop’s Side-Effects system, where users can alter the physical makeup of their throw with ease. Personally, I am a massive fan.
Freshly Dirty also recently put out an incredibly innovative modular design in the Mod44 – the creative audacity embodied in that design is something I very much admire.
We began initial canvas work on a profile similar to the Cloudberry – fat, rounded walls, step-and-schmoove response area and all.
The idea of customisability and caps are very much linked. I grew up in the era where Duncan and Yoyojam ruled the design meta. I played 5A primarily then, and the Freehand Zero was – no matter how briefly – considered the premium performance plastic. That the Freehand Zero could hang with its other performance plastic contemporaries was affirmed when Tyler Severance took the World Title in 5A with one in 2007.
It used small A-sized bearings and response pads, and was held together with a simple hex screw and nut. It would probably not fare well in any modern performance test, but the Freehand Zero was beloved for many reasons.
The first was that it was customisable. The “modder era” has mostly faded, but tinkering with a stock Freehand Zero was something nearly everyone tried at one point – whether it was to recess its pad seat using a dremel and a jeweller’s screwdriver to make it less snaggy on binds, overhaul its guts with a SPR kit, irreversibly throw on metal weight rings (and accept the pulse vibe that usually was the cost of adding power to plastic), or even painting the insides of a clear Freehand Zero.
Caps were a crucial piece to the experience. They were swappable, and provided endless permutations of color choice. They also added a bit of weight, and this “hollow body” playfeel that is both full and light at the same time. It’s a playfeel that I am personally nostalgic about, and try to capture on some of my designs – particularly the Cloudberry.
Making the Gravity cap-compatible is my favourite of the many design choices we made. Fitting Freehand caps on a titanium body gives it a playfeel that is simultaneously nostalgic and new – more on that below.
Whilst tinkering with the CAD, we decided to also include a groove that would also accept rubber o-rings – a homage to older Freehand 2s, which used similar rubber weight rings to give its hollow body mass – and give the player yet another variable they could play with.
Implementing the Side Effects axle system made perfect sense for a project where the primary design goal is player customisability. It was also an elegant solution for cap removal – it allows the player to access the cap with an implement without much fuss; an issue that surrounds most cap-compatible designs.
The aspect that excites me the most about the Gravity is being able to add and reduce weight nearly wherever you desire, whether closer to the center of the axis, or the rim.
The complete possible weight range using what we include with each Gravity is between 60.4g to 72.3g – the upper limit of that range is extended to 74.2g if you install Brass Spike SEs, which are not included with the Gravity.
Every Gravity comes with Brass Ultra Light SEs stock, so that they’re at a comfortable, playable weight out-of-box (63.1g). Playing it stock is a pleasant experience – it’s light on the string, and is very amenable to directional change.
My personal, preferred setup is with Aluminium Ultra Light SEs and Freehand caps. At 54mm and 65.8g, it has a wonderful feel in play. It doesn’t lose much of its agility at all, but it is not flimsy or easily tilted; it has a nice, full presence as it weaves in and out of more complex mounts. The caps tops off the play experience with a bit of that nostalgic magic.
The upside of the Gravity is that you have a myriad of setups available to you out-of-box – whether you prefer a lightweight feel, or cherish a solid, more powerful throwing experience.
(Aluminium UL SEs do not come included.)
I hope you’re as excited for the Gravity as Elvin and our team are. It’s been months in the making, but we think this one’s a doozy.
Let us know what you think!
Elvin has also written on the design process of the Gravity, over here :
