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The Shawn Exploder Yo-Yo – Coming August 2nd, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to announce The Shawn Exploder, a new yo-yo coming on August 2nd to DoctorPopular.com and YoYoExpert.com.

The Shawn Exploder is Shawn Garcia‘s first signature yo-yo. Shawn is a yo-yoer and photographer known for taking beautiful photos of yo-yos floating in air. This “exploded” photography is what first drew me to Shawn and was the inspiration for the name. The Shawn Exploder is a wedge shaped competitive yo-yo that was designed to look great in photos. I’ll say that again…

The Shawn Exploder yo-yo was designed to look great in photos.

All photos by Shawn Garcia (obviously)

When I asked Shawn to design “a yo-yo that photographers would love” he sent me a sketch of a wide v-shape design with stepped edges. These hard contours created distinct areas of light and dark on the yo-yo. In stark contrast, and because I’m a huge fan of organic throws, I added a smooth contoured bowl to the outer walls of the yo-yo. These work great for fingerspins and claw grinds, but also distribute weight in an interesting way. I think the end result is a competition style yo-yo that feels fun and floaty.

The Shawn Exploder will be available in blue or yellow on DoctorPopular.com, with a small batch of red fades going on YoYoExpert.com. Additionally, a run of “Superblack” Shawn Exploders are now available exclusively to my sponsors on Patreon.com/docpop. Each Shawn Exploder comes with a silkscreened micro fibber cloth (for wiping your camera lenses) and an acrylic yo-yo stand featuring art by Rob Armin and Doc Pop.

I’m excited about this yo-yo because it represents many firsts. It’s the first signature yo-yo I’ve released for another player. The first wedge shape design I’ve released. The first yo-yo released with “yotography” in mind.The first 7075 aluminum yo-yo I’ve released. And it’s the first time I’ve released a designer yo-yo stand.

Specs:

  • Weight: 63.25grams
  • Bearings: Size C
  • Size: 53mm by 45mm
  • Gap size: 4.4mm
  • Response: 19x14x1.15mm
  • Material: 7075 aluminum
  • 3″ x 3″ acrylic yo-yo stand
Shawn’s self portrait
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How to get an exclusive Superblack edition of a Weekender, Shawn Exploder, or Bolt II yo-yo

Many of y’all may not know this, but the PopCast Yo-Yo Vlog is a crowdsponsored yo-yo show. It’s made possible with the help and support of my patrons on Patreon.com/docpop (shout out to John Anderson, Taka from Spingear, and the rest of my sponsors on Patreon). As a special thanks for their support, I offer my patrons a 10% coupon code and access to a virtual yo-yo club each month.

I also offer an exclusive “Superblack” colorway to my Patreon backers whenever possible. The Superblack editions are yo-yos that are laser etched before they get anodized. The end result is a subtle black-on-black logo that looks super rad.

I’m currently offering Shawn Exploders, Weekenders, and Bolt Part IIs in this Superblack color. If you’d like to get your hands on one of these special editions, sign up for the Patreon for as little as $2 a month. This will get you a 10% off coupon and access to this post where you can buy the Superblack yo-yos.

Superblack Bolt Part II (photo by Shawn Garcia)
Superblack Bolt Part II (photo by Shawn Garcia)
  • Superblack Shawn Exploder
  • Superblack Weekender
Superblack Shawn Exploder with complimentary yo-yo stand
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PopCast Vlog: The Overhand 1.5 Whip

I’ve been wanting to do a tutorial for the Overhand 1.5 Whip for many years. It’s been one of my favorite moves for a while, but it’s always been a little hard for me to break it down. I’ve finally shared a tutorial and I think it does a great job teaching this beautiful flourish. You can see it here

Huge thanks to all of my Patreon.com/docpop sponsors for their support and to Clifton B., the editor I hired to put this video together.

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Responsive 5A Workshop livestream on Youtube tomorrow

I’m teaching a responsive 5A workshop on Saturday July 3rd from 3-4pm PDT for those who want to learn the basics of modern responsive yo-yoing with a counterweight. This livestream will be free and the recording will be archived. You can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk3klVEYtEg

You can use any yo-yo, as long as it has a snappy response, and a little counterweight on the end. If you’d like to get a head start, you can watch some of these tutorial guides here before the workshop, but it’s basically the same stuff I’m going to cover.

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Pop Arts back in stock and an upcoming responsive 5A workshop

Howdy y’all. Just a quick update to say that Pop Arts are back in stock. The Pop Art is a machined delrin yo-yo I designed with the folks at Rain City Skills. I believe it is the first modern responsive yo-yo designed specifically for counterweight play. Most counterweight yo-yos are designed for long sleep times, but this is designed for snappy response and high walls for string stalls.

Pop Art – Responsive Counterweight Design

I’m also teaching a 5A workshop on Saturday July 3rd from 3-4pm PDT for those who want to learn the basics of modern responsive yo-yoing with a counterweight.

If you can’t make it, or just want to get a head start before the livestream, you can watch my ongoing responsive freehand tutorial series on Youtube.

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Nerdcore, KnifeTank, Beefy, and me

One thousand folks have asked me “Who’s that rapping on your Kickstarter video?“. I produced the beat and hired a death-metal singer to scream on the hooks, but the real star of the song is Beefy, a legendary nerdcore rapper from Kennewick, WA.

Beefy is one of my oldest buddies in the nerdcore rap scene. We’ve made dozens of songs over the years including “Ball Pit”, “Tub of Tobasco“, “Tilt“, and “The Sound“, but our KnifeTank collabs are some of my favorite projects.

Ten years ago, when we were working on a point and stab adventure game called KnifeTank: The Hauntening, I reached out to Beefy to add hist talents to that soundtrack. His verses for the “Crimson Dreams” perfectly captured the silly/scary/metal vibe of the KnifeTank universe. You can check out the full album, which was co-produced by Crashfaster, here or check out the 8bit Betty remix of “Crimson Dreams” here:

https://knifetank.bandcamp.com/track/crimson-dreams-8bit-betty-vs-doctor-popular-vs-crashfaster

Beefy and I still collaborate occasionally. In fact I recently appeared on Beefy’s new song “Tag Team” along with MC Frontalot, ytCracker, Glenn Case, Mikal Khill, and Lil Jordo. That song just went live this morning as part of the Nerdcore VPC 6 challenge coming later today.

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Linda Sengpiel, the First Lady Of Yo

Linda Sengpiel (1944-2001) was a National Treasure. She is considered the first female yo-yo pro and was a fantastic performer. She was an incredible performer and trick creator and I’m lucky to have been able to meet her early on in my yo-yo career.

i was recently searching for some videos of Linda and came across this broken page on the Found Footage Festival’s site. I reached out to the festival’s organizers and sent me a copy of this wonderful video of Linda Sengpiel doing her thing. Huge thanks to the FFF for archiving this footage and sharing it.