In short: First Base is an excellent plastic yoyo for both beginners and professionals. It's an ideal yoyo for those who want to learn the basics, and are looking for the best possible tool to help them show the way to the best tricks possible. First Base is also a yoyo which you're not going to put into a drawer once you learn the basics because you can throw virtually anything at it and it's going to do it. That is thanks to the fact that it's ready to play out of the box and has both the starter & the professional ball bearing included in the packaging. It's fun to play with and it looks very cool as too! Unlike many other "first yoyos" the First Base doesn't look like a toy but as a tool for professionals who know how to handle it.
Designing an average metal yoyo is not that difficult. One just needs to stick to a couple of basic rules and eventually ends up with a fairly usable yoyo. Worst case scenario - you'll just have to make another prototype to fix whatever seems off. It's a way bigger challenge if you want to do a plastic yoyo. You can't just make one prototype after another because it's very, very expensive and time consuming. To make a plastic yoyo one has to have experience, patience and a clear vision. Once you decide that your blueprint is done you have to invest into a super expensive mould which can't be adjusted once it has been done. So if you made a mistake, bad luck. You have to start all over again.
Tyler Severance, founder of Recess Intl., knew exactly what he wanted to create. He gathered experience both on stage (he's a world yoyo champion, apart from many other things) and doing workshops on his tours around the US schools (teaching kids how to yoyo). And from his expirence doing both he gathered that the first thing leading to success is proper equipment. A yoyo which is going to work perfectly the moment you pull it out of the box and put it onto your finger. A yoyo which will show you the way to better, more difficult tricks and a yoyo which is not going to end up in a drawer once you learn the basics. A yoyo which is durable, fun to play with, cool looking, low maintenance, affordable and most of all - fun. And that's exactly what the First Base is.
First Base is great for both beginners and yoyo professionals. If you're just starting out with yoyoing you'll get a yoyo which works perfectly the moment you pull in out of the box. You just need to put the string on, throw it and the yoyo starts to spin unlike anything else out there. And than it comes back to your hand really easily (which is crucial to a beginner). The main reason for this is the fact that the yoyo comes with a half spec C sized ball bearing as standard. It gives the player enough space for simple, easy tricks but in the same time it still allows the yoyo to come back to the hand very easily. No beginner has the ability to unlock the full potential of his first yoyo on their first throw but the First Base gives you that rewarding feeling of completing your first trick even if it's barely spinning. It's very well thought out even if you throw it for the first time. Tyler knows that there's nothing worse than setting up the yoyo before trying to accomplish the simplest tricks (which is a nightmare if you have 20 kids to teach a Long Sleeper). The First Base just works and you can go straight to learning something amazing.
If you're an advanced player, you already know how to bind and you have all the basics already covered, you just switch the standard bearing for the CenterTrack (already included in the box!!!) and you have a unresponsive yoyo which surpasses many cheap, metal yoyos available these days. First Base has a massive sleeper time, it spins without a single hint of vibration (which is a massive accomplishment with a plastic yoyo) and most of all - it's so much fun to play with. Thanks to it's very wide "catch zone" and the "friction reducing bump" it can handle whatever you throw at it. Horizontal tricks and grinds, super long combos, regenerations and many other modern, complicated elements. It's a perfect yoyo to carry around and impress your friends without having to worry about loosing or scratching your hundred dollar metal throw. Tyler is known for gaining the World YoYo Champion title with a 20 USD plastic yoyo. We think that the First Base is capable of doing the same.