“The M1 was our second yo-yo model and was released in December of 2008 as the follow up to our debut yo-yo, the Project.
At the time, high-end yo-yos had higher retail prices than they do now and supply was limited. You could go to an online yo-yo store and 90% of the listings would be sold out. The Project was a strong entry into the market because of its unusual axle system, the “projection profile” and the soda blasted finish and it too was limited in supply mainly due the kind of machine we had then.
By the time we were ready for our next model, we had improved our machining capabilities and wanted to release a high availability and affordable yo-yo that was made in house. That yo-yo was the M1. The name meant “metal for everyone” and we tried to deliver on that. To this day, 17 years later, we still have customers that purchased an M1 and for many of them, it was their first high-end metal yo-yo. We feel so grateful and honored to have had this kind of support and love over the years. The theme of the M1 of being available, affordable and made in house has been a central driving force for our business ever since. It set the tone that has carried forward to the present.
We felt the time was right to do a follow up to the M1. The M2 is a scaled up M1 and maintains the same proportions of width to diameter. The diameter has gone from 50mm to 55mm and the width has gone from 35mm to 38.6mm. The other big change is to the axle system: the M2 has a 12mm tapped axle where the M1 had a pressed nut axle system. The pressed nut system was a predecessor to Side Effects but we decided in the effort of affordability that the M2 would have a tapped axle. Interestingly, even though the M2 is bigger than the M1, it weighs less, coming in at 64.4 grams where the M1 was 65 grams. This is achieved by changes to the weight distribution (more rim weight and thinner through the middle).
In play you can tell they are related, but the M2 has more rim weight and overall feels more modern with a 27% increase to spin inertia as calculated by our resident scientist, Dirty Birdy.
“We are so proud and honored to have Jordan Hacherl on our players team. He’s an amazing yo-yoer and even greater person. He was overdue to get a signature model.
When he visited the factory and sat in the designing “hot seat” with The Machinist (Shawn), he proposed an interesting idea: intentionally make a yo-yo with different halves. One half being rounded and curvy and the other half being angular and straight BUT making sure that they both have the exact same basic specs (diameter, width, gap, and weight). Jordan describes the idea and the process this way:
”When David and Shawn approached me for my signature model, I initially wanted to design something more traditional. While thinking about my ideal yoyo, I realized that a unique element of One Drop’s design philosophy is innovation and trying the unconventional. Side effects, M1, the CODE series, 1-to-1, Marquis and Mantis, Fat Tire; their unique approach can be seen throughout many of their models. I wanted to approach this as not just a signature, but a true collaboration and something that would challenge the status quo of yoyo design. Shawn and I sat down and meticulously went over the design, ensuring that the halves would balance at the same center point, that weight would be distributed similarly across the separate designs, and that the width and diameter would be aligned. This ensures Perspective is extremely smooth, does not precess, and maintains balance and harmony out of the visual contrast.The two halves are representative of the earth and sky, mountains and clouds, twin spirits in union, the duology and dichotomy of all things.I hope that as you play with Perspective it encourages you to change the perspective of your tricks and reminds you to challenge the perspective of your everyday experience.'”
“The original 54 was released in 2010 and was the first yo-yo to feature the Side Effects axle system. Side Effects are something we are really proud of and they have stood the test of time. They are a genuine system for modding your yo-yo and nothing wears out. We adorably named it the “54” because it was the biggest diameter we had made to date – at the time, it was considered oversized but not so much now.
With that in mind, the Gen 2 obviously needed to retain the 54” diameter, be a Side Effect yo-yo, and ship with an extra set just like the original did (in this case, clear aluminum Ultra Lights are installed and brass Micro caps are Included). Our idea was to imagine if we could simply hold both ends of a 54 and pull to stretch it out to be considerably wider. We feel like the Gen 2 pays excellent homage to the original while bringing the look and play up to modern standards.”
“In contemplating a new version of the Cabal, we decided to borrow our favorite parts of the original Cabal and the Rally. We stuck with the machined delrin and the organic shape of the Cabal but added aluminum weight rings similar to the Rally. Compared to the original Cabal, the Gen 2 is about 1.5 grams lighter, a little bigger in diameter, ever so slightly less wide and the gap is just a touch bigger.”
“An experiment in algorithmically informed cross-sectional mass distribution.”
Do no’t ask us what this means as we have no idea! Upon release this description was met by many conversations online, which made fun of One Drop, claiming they must have used AI to come up with it.
