Fakies by Global Style - glasseye

Jeff from Global Style contacted me around July of 2001 and began telling me about their newest product. It was a yo-yo in the shape of a skateboard wheel. They gave me a blank prototype and asked me to give them feedback on how to make it play better. Felix and I spent a few days messing around with it and after some tweaking, we managed to create some sort of frankensteinish yo-yo using some spare parts and a dremel. The yo-yo played pretty well for something that wouldn't even take a braintwister a few days earlier. I sent the prototype back to Jeff and said something ingenious like "Make yo-yo play good like this."

A few weeks later, they sent me another prototype with graphics and packaging this time. Jeff wanted more feedback on the yo-yo. It looked slick and I started getting excited that I was getting a sneak peek at this stuff. On the side of the yo-yo, their was a two-piece metallic plate that was supposed to look like a bearing. When I tested the prototype, the metal would rattle around and after a while, it got really annoying. I sent Jeff an e-mail and told him, "Me no like rattle. Rattle bad." Jeff replied saying that they were already working on that problem. I said "Good."

So now I have the finished product in my hands and I'm pretty damn impressed. They changed the assembly to take a bigger bearing which in turn widened the gap and made this thing play smooth. Felix cleaned out the bearing and stuffed it with some powdered graphite (which is something a lot of the so cali DXL peeps do). So how does it play now? Like BUTTER BABY! This thing is a new school player. Whips, suicides, lacerations, slack string... it'll take it. But I do gotta warn you... you have to be up on your game to play with this sucker cause it's an imperial shape. I spend some time practicing with this yo-yo to bring up my string hit accuracy.

The bearing is the same size as all the Duncan bearings, but instead of brass spacers, the fakies use plastics. One word of warning, though this hasn't happened to me yet, I've heard that the axles can snap if you overtighten them. So when you're tightening this yo-yo up, just tighten till it's snug. Jeff said that they are aware of this issue and are already changing the axles for a stronger material. For a return system, the fakies use starbursts. They don't seem too agressive though, so don't expect them to eat up your string. It seems that the plastic on the yo-yo is a bit softer than polycarb, maybe that's why the starbursts aren't so agressive.

Anyways, I think Global Style did a great job on their first yo-yo. I'd love to see a butterfly shape in the future. It might happen if another boom comes around. If you're an imperial shape purist, looking to work on your chops, or just a little tired of how every company is trying to make a bigger wider yo-yo, then be sure to try out a fakie. Now available at Infinite Illusions.