Bootlegs and Rip-offs
Oct 14th, 2007 by $eth
More super affordable versions of the Freehand Zero, 888 and a hitman/black knight hybrid.
Thanks to PCU for posting this at Yo-Yo Nation.
here are a few pictures of the yo-yos…
Concave Bearing too huh?
These come with h-spin sized bearings and stock silicone. Hells ya!
This looks a LOT like a mod Dave Poyzer made with a Bolt and Zombie rims. Or a Dark Knight/Hitman?
There’s a bapezilla from this company too.
From what I have heard….
So is it possible to get a hold of these? id really like to try them even if they are bootlegs of our yoyos.
Plus “affordable” is a word id love to hear when buying 888-ish yoyo
Dimi,
Any info leading to the copy Bapezilla would be appreciated.. or anybody else out there. i’d love to see it.
I love how the packaging on these chinese bootlegs is 1000 times better than the original products. They do look like fun, but i just can’t get behind that! -m
oh snap, a bapezilla knock off! i need to see it.
Isn’t buying these just promoting future knock off’s?
yup.
rofl
the fapezilla!
A couple of Malaysian players just came back from China and they did supposedly found a Bapezilla bootleg. How sure am I is another thing because I haven’t seen it yet. We are meeting up this weekend. So pictures by then I hope.
I do know that there’s a Radian MkII bootleg. These are made by another company called AODA. I think they are direct competitors of Auldey at this moment in time.
Here’s a couple of links.
Dark Magic
http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/0/item_detail-0db2-2da006eacce408acb2029ddc0b531c81.jhtml?from_shop=true
Kickside
http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/0/item_detail-0db2-14cf331c4cca0cc4fbe39f91e7bca1b7.jhtml?from_shop=true
ColdFusion
http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/35-50008745-2539-50006948/item_detail-0db2-938771dd8907b07add8df178c0289cf7.jhtml
Radian MKII
http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/0/item_detail-0db2-ee6c509cd7b39f5b76cbea95edf9d034.jhtml?from_shop=true
Takuto L2
http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/0/item_detail-0db2-e6b366fccfb6dc9ed26e0855d3992d78.jhtml?from_shop=true
Another thing, all the metals come with concave bearings.
There probably homemade junk. But I’ve never tried one.
Its kind of a 2 edged sword. First its taking ideas from someone else… in many cases friends of ours…
but the flip side is, this is putting competitive level yo-yos in the hands of kids who are living off of very little…
whats more important? Getting kids into yo-yoing and expanding the community by posable leaps and bounds… or fretting over something that no one can do anything about?
That’s a good point $eth… I haven’t really thought of it that way. To me though its just the idea of yyf putting so much time and effort into their yo’s, and then having another company copy. But thats nothing I can change, i guess.
Also keep in mine there is, to my knowledge, no legal action Yo-Yo Factory, Yo-Yo Jam or Anti-Yo can take against this company (or Auldeys, if this isn’t them) to counter whats happening. It a weird twisted way, its totally legal. So does that still make it morally wrong to us? We can’t legally get our hands on these yo-yos anyways.
I can’t wait to see bootleg Save Deth t-shirts and DVDs.
Then, I wonder, how you’ll feel about someone else making a dime off your work.
The way that I see it, if something is out of production- there’s no harm in making a bootleg of it. Seeing as how the 888 and Hitmann are in-production items, purchasing the items from this company instead of their original creators could hurt the original companies (YoyoFactory, Yoyojam, etc.).
As far as bootlegging Bapezillas goes, however, if you don’t want people to pay $30 for a cheap ripoff- make more and sell them for $80-something again. That way there won’t be a price gap of $200 between getting a brand new yo-yo and a near-exact copy. I will always choose a new yo-yo from the original company over a knockoff… but would I buy a Bapezilla/Eetsit/DV8 knockoff? You bet your ass I would.
change that “brand new” to “used”. there, I’m satisfied.
Latest Update, There is no Bapezilla.
It was an honest mistake from the guy because he thought the Radian MKII is a Bapezilla.
Will pass Seth photos of what I got soon…
d
i don’t think i really have a strong opinion either way, but i’m pretty sure i want the fake hitman.
and dimi. i want dimi, too.
fake hitman? I have none. Dimi on the other hand, I have aplenty.
I’m getting a bonechip, L2 and radian amongst other things this weekend. the L2 was sold for like Rm 60? (1 USD = RM3.80) Will confirm on this price.
I was looking on the China yoyo website web board and their is this guy that has a signature photo of a bunch of Knock off’s yoyo’s and a Luchador that has a axle bolt that goes all the way through the yoyo halves also in the photo. So maybe the Luchador is next.
His name on the board WYYnkcknh some thing like that.
It is just a bunch of letter’s.
This is really starting to suck and the problem with bootleg yoyo’s is some people might try to sell them on Ebay as the real yoyo they are copying. A unsuspecting parent or yoyo player might just by them self or a gift for their child.
Matt
The knock-offs don’t have anything to do with limited demand of their American made counterparts. There’s knockoffs of currently high-volume production yoyos too - like the Freehand.
I’m all for getting cheap yoyos into the hands of kids who can’t afford them. I’m not for ripping off the exact specifications of someone else’s work. The same company could’ve easily made their own inexpensive yoyos without completely whoring out a low-grade version of a pre-existing product.
Latest news!
I have in my hands an Auldey Barebones, Aoda’s Radian MKII and L2.
Pictures will be up soon enough!
d
I’m with you on ripping off production runs- that’s just low. When the matter isn’t one of demand, but to make a quick buck I certainly agree that it’s wrong.
how long it sleeps?
Hi,
Just bought those bootlegs..
In My Opinion…
These bootlegs has poor performance … Seriously,
The radian Bootlegs Feels So Heavy… -_-
The 888 a.k.a sunshine (Sheesh… what a “cool” name) and the L2 Wobbles Like Hell….
So.. Go Buy the original one…
It plays better… (100 times better.., at least for me)
=)
i have tried one (L2 version) , very smooth.
your definition of smooth is?
no wobbles, quiet.
grinds like?
The reason I ask is because I have one and I belive it was made in the dark by someones pet. It plays horrible… but it is one which may or may not be indicative of the majority of them…
Grinds , i just can compare with eetsit, eetsit better than it. different surface, eetsit can grinds longer than it. for play not big different. coz i am not a expert player
one thing , the pin for spintop play, it’s make wobble
so where does one get a bootleg 888?
Did you know that according to ?
Terrible place .
Brek the habbit .
It all depends on luck. Say that u come across a load of these in, hm, chinese toys r us. There is probably no way yu can tell whuich ones wobble, becuz they are made imperfectly. But wat do you expect? These are knock-offs from the real products.