The story of Shine

Shine by yoyofriends and Drake Bogataj

Specs：

Material：7068 aluminum alloy
Diameter：56mm
Width：46.1mm
Gap：4.45mm
Axle：M4*8mm
Weight：64.6g

Yiyang messaged me sometime in early 2021 about a signature yoyo and I had a strong idea of what I wanted. The Sync was my go-to ever since it was released so I started with that as a baseline. I started a group chat with Yiyang and the designer.  and we had a lot of fun with the process of creating my signature yoyo (too much fun? nah). 

A concise and elegant appearance was important to me and I tried to remove visual lines and cuts to replace them with curves. I also molded the profile to be comfortable to catch. 

I was very particular about the response area because I like to incorporate flashy binds into my tricks, and the idea I settled on was taken from the Float by Andrew Bergen and Smashing Yoyos. The area coming from the gap is rounded out with a small wall, allowing the string to catch the response well without being snaggy or having loose binds. 

Because we fine tuned the design before prototyping, the first yoyo was just about perfect. The light blue yoyo I have been posting and competing with since September 2021 is that first proto. The gap width was the only thing that changed between proto 1, proto 2, and production Shine. Shoutouts the designer Jacky, yoyofriends, and FPM for letting me create exactly what I imagined. 

I was stuck on what to name it for ages but recently I decided on Shine. In competitive smash bros, Fox shine is a move that does everything you want it to. It combos, reversals, edgeguards, whatever, and I feel like this yoyo does everything in the same way. You won’t find fault with this yoyo. I’ve gotten great feedback from those who’ve tried it and releasing it feels like posting one of my best tricks. I’m super proud of where I’ve come overall in yoyo and I’m thankful to yoyofriends and everyone else along the way. Thanks for reading about Shine! 

Drake Bogataj

The packing contains:

1 x Shine
1 pairs x pads
1 x string
1 x Shine sticker
1 x yoyofriends sticker