Cosmic Yo-yos DVD: Reviews and Awards

Back to product page

Awards

Cosmic Yo-yos Wins the Communicator

Cosmic Yo-Yos Ultimate Trick Collection won the Crystal Award of Excellence for Exemplary Instructional Video. The Communicator Awards is an international awards program founded by communications professionals to recognize excellence in the communication field. The Communicator Awards gives winners and their clients the recognition that the work they are producing is outstanding and highly regarded by their peers. The Crystal Award of Excellence is given to those entries whose ability to communicate puts them among the best in the field. --Communicator Awards

---

Professional Reviews

"The wealth of yo-yo tricks is indexed several ways and accessed via a menu system. We found the menu system to be very workable and user friendly." --Greg Beatty, YYT Staff Writer, Yo-yo Times

First, an apology. We received Cosmic Yo-Yo’s Ultimate Trick Collection DVD for review many months ago, and due to lots of shakeups here at YYT have not had time to review it. Well, they say Good Things Come to Those Who Wait and Cosmic Yo-Yo’s Ultimate Trick Collection DVD is no exception.

Three things set this learning tool apart from the pack of yo-yo videos, CDs, and DVDs. First, it’s a true DVD. By “true” DVD, I mean the quality of the picture is DVD sharp. I have seen DVDs that were very poor transfers (as they say in the video biz) and they look as bad or worse than VHS. Not so here – image quality is fab, even on a large screen TV. This means its easier to see the string and what is going on; and it will not be an eyesore the many hours that you may spend with this DVD set.

Second, there is a TON of content on offer – over 300 tricks. If you gave this to a beginner, he or she could spend a lifetime and not learn everything on here. Starts off with the basics – stringing the yo-yo, getting the string length right, managing the twist of the string, etc. and goes on to such advanced tricks as Velvet Rolls. So much stuff here it wouldn’t all fit on one DVD.

Third, the DVD is interactive. No more maddening fast-forwarding and rewinding trying to find the trick you wanted to learn. The wealth of yo-yo tricks is indexed several ways and accessed via a menu system. We found the menu system to be very workable and user friendly. We especially liked the touch of putting the “path” to where you are at the bottom of the screen and having each level in the path be a navigable link. Makes backtracking with confidence a breeze.

The DVD also lets you select if you want the video to “loop” (no pun intended) and play the same trick over and over. You can also select slow motion replay or even “loop” it in slow motion. And each trick was filmed from two angles and you can choose which angle to watch. Very thoughtful tools that make the DVD more useable as a learning tool. This capability is only on Disk 1 of the set.

Disk 2, which is more “extreme,” is cataloged by trick type but lacks the full list of trick names. Disk 2 gets very advanced including Grinds, Lacerations, Offstring, Slack String, Suicides, Whip Tricks, and more.

A negative, and this is a very small negative, is that the explanations are often not enough to get you to be able to do the trick that is demonstrated. One recommendation for the user of the DVD is to work through the tricks in order of difficulty. This way, an explanation such as, “Do a Houdini Drop and then a Ferris Wheel” will make more sense as the Houdini Drop and the Ferris Wheel were explained earlier. This is no different than how experienced yo-yoers explain tricks to each other. It is a learned shorthand for explaining combinations.

In summary, I believe this DVD set has content to offer for almost anyone with a yo-yo short of those who already yo at the world class level. And even then, this is a well-structured and extensive video catalog of classic and nu skool tricks that deserves a place in your collection.

"See the Star of Cosmic Yo-yos On NBC!" --Consumer

See the St. Louis legend, Brad Urani, spinning his hottest tricks live on Show Me St. Louis.

Click here to watch the broadcast.