INCEPTION

The first production 7068 aluminum, titanium rim, bi-metal yoyo…

After completing the design of the VOW, we knew we wanted to keep making more unique designs. At the time, we had just introduced Jonathan Saelens as our newest team member. He has competed in many state competitions, placed highly and is not new to the yoyo contest scene. We had gotten many requests about making a competition-oriented yoyo, since our previous two yoyos had been organic-shaped and geared for a more relaxed style of play.

So, we got together with Patrick Dressel (Dressel Designs) and Jonathan and began brainstorming different ideas. At the time, Jonathan laid out a design that he used in the past for a yoyo shirt. We decided to go with that design and specs for Inception.

The overall design was inspired by the Yoyofactory Edge Beyond and Bi-metal Shutter. Jonathan enjoyed the overall shape and design both yoyos had, especially the big rims. So, he used that as the starting point and added his own touch to it by changing and combining specs and adjusting the shape where he thought it was necessary to make the yoyo perform better overall and to his liking. Jonathan wanted a yoyo that could handle any trick you could throw at it, especially horizontal. He wanted a stable, powerful, floaty, yet fast yoyo, but that could also be fun for those who have no interest in competing. We believe all of this was achieved with Inception.

The original plan was to make the body 7068 aluminum and the rims stainless steel, but as we began to make it with the specs we wanted, we quickly realized that the stainless steel rims would be too heavy, therefore changing the weight of the yoyo. With this problem, we had two options: we either change the specs of the yoyo or we change the rims to be titanium instead of stainless steel. We really did not want to change the specs, so we opted to change the rims to titanium. This did up the cost of production, but ultimately it was worth it for us.

We began to do our research on titanium rimmed bimetals and saw that it was pretty uncommon. The ones that we had seen were made by Turning Point (Hinemosu and Collapsar), but these were made from 6061 aluminum instead of the 7068 aluminum that we were going to use. Luftverk made the Evora which was a 7075 Titanium rim bi-metal. We decided to dig a bit deeper and found out that Damian Puckett did make a prototype run of a 7068 aluminum, titanium rim bi-metal, called the Ti-Wing. He only made 5 of them due to the fact he had too many B-grades. So, we are not the first to make a 7068 titanium bi-metal but we are the first to put them into production and release a run to the public.

Once we received our prototypes in, we sent some off to be tested by our team members, as well as, other testers. We received some great feedback and decided to put them into production. Along the way, while we were playing with the prototype Inception, we ran into a problem with the response slipping a little at the beginning when it wasn’t broken in. To solve this problem, we contacted our manufacturer and they were able to place grippier pads in the production run so that there wouldn’t be a break in period.

After figuring out this problem, we proceeded to decide which colors we wanted for the run. The first color was decided by Jonathan. He wanted a white body, gold rim colorway. Unfortunately, the manufacturer couldn’t do white unless it was painted and they couldn’t paint it, so we asked them what was the closest color to white they could do and they said that they had a very light silver/grey that was close to white, so we agreed on that body color. This colorway is Jonathan’s signature colorway.

Moving on to our second colorway, we wanted a color that was used in the film and we actually were able to find a color palette that had most of the colors that were used in the film. My wife, Celen, spent hours trying to find the correct color pantone to match the unique blue in the film. She finally decided on which blue and we could not be happier on how it turned out! The blue color on the yoyo, depending on the lighting, can appear light grey, light blue, or even a light violet color. It is definitely one of the most unique colors we have used on one of our yoyos.

Last but certainly not least, we wanted to do something special for our supporters and what better way than collaborating with Unknown! We reached out to the brand and they loved the design and concept of Inception. Little time went by before we already had engravings to go with our collaboration. We decided to do an all black body, black titanium rims and with white engravings to stay true to the Unknown colorway. It was an absolute pleasure working with Unknown and we look forward to working on more projects in the near future.

The engravings, with the exception of the Unknown edition, were done by Celen. It was such a gratifying moment seeing her work long and hard on them, seeing that she shares the same passion that I do for each yoyo and for our company. She went through many renditions and variations until she decided the specific designs that would be engraved. The engraved maze carries out the complexity of the film’s concept. We wanted to make emphasis on the totem or top that is in the film. If it is spinning then you are in a dream, if it stops then you are back in reality. Lastly, we wanted to include a quote from the film that resonated with us and could be applied to yoyoing. The quote says, “Downward is the only way forward.”

Lastly, we contacted ZipLine Strings. We love the quality and care they put into making every one of their strings; it was a no brainer to work with them again. This time we decided to go with their Stranger Strings Case Study #050 in black and white to accompany Inception.

For the custom boxes and stickers, we have worked with Gaites Klein who is an avid member of the yoyo community and his father, for all of our runs and we cannot thank them enough for the time and effort they put into making these for us. Their quality and attention to detail is truly spectacular!

As always we will be including some extras in the boxes, which consist of matching colored totems/tops, stickers, pins, ceramic bearings, gold bearings, and for the Unknown edition their Unknown Square Counterweight.

All in all, this has been one of our more unique projects. We were a little nervous since it was our first bi-metal yoyo, but once we received the prototypes our nervousness went away and we knew we had something special on our hands.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us. We really appreciate all the feedback and love we have received. We hope you guys enjoy Inception as much as we do.