I took these pictures for Paul of the new Crucial Tres Leches (aka the Milk 3) prototype.  Yes, I know that most of you guys still haven’t had a chance to purchase a Cream.  I’m not going to lie about it, the Creams have been held up due to packaging issues.  They will be on their way to yoyonation.com once that’s settled.  Anyways, I’ll let Paul post about the Tres Leches details but let me just say this thing kicks some serious ass.

Paul: The creams are delayed by the packaging, but they have been resolved and will ship off to yoyonation early next week.  For those who I owe packaging to for the creams, email me and I will get that to you.  As for the TL, these are currently finalized for production, but no set date on the release of these yet possibly late Aug or early September.  I may have some pre-production for sale at BLC which will not have any packaging.

The TL or the Tres Leches is the 3rd and final yoyo in the “Milk” series, following the original Milk and the Milk 2%.  When designing yoyos, I have always concepted them for the competitive “freestyler” in mind.  This is because I do many competitions every year, which is where I get my inspiration from.  For the TL, I wanted to design a yoyo that would be good for 3A.   For this style, I like a lot of rim weight, a slimmer shape and a full size.  More rim weight means it would be more difficult to do regenerations, but would help to keep the yoyo more stable.

The most noticeable changes from the previous Milks would be the “H” profile shape.   Similar to some of the H shapes done by Yoyofactory, but original in design.  By doing an H shape, I am able to put  more mass of the delrin on the rim.  The TL is also slightly slimmer than the original milk.  It also shares the same SPR and response set up as the cream and heavy cream.  I will be using the TL to compete at the World yoyo competition in a couple weeks. 

Stats:
Diameter:  2.225″
Width:  1.625″
Weight:  65 grams

We all scream for icecream! Introducing the creative collaborations between UNI4RM and Crucial. The collab consist of a special limited run color way of the Heavy Cream yoyo that will be sold along with a shirt with our Japanese model Ayanna in front. Limited to only 80 pieces worldwide! The pic and colorway of the yoyo will be selected by the designers at UNI4RM. This will be your first chance to snatch up the Heavy cream yoyo. A general public release will be available down the road in a different colorway. Packaging? well..you’re gonna have to wait and see. Trust me, it’s worth the hype. Make sure to peep www.uni4rm.com and subscribe, cuz they’re going live real soon. Special thanks to MakeupAnne, Ayanna, Randy & Rodel, Louie B, Kawabunga, and Playa Song.

The Crucial Summer 2009 Collection will be debuting this Saturday in Hollywood at the BLC contest.  Don’t even front, you know you need these threads and we’re happy to provide them.  If you can’t make it out to Hollywood, we will also be selling at the World Yo-Yo Contest in Orlando, Florida. The remaining shirts will eventually make their way to our webstore (currently under construction).
Yo-Yo Master:

Cream:

Capcom:

Sheriff:

DXL Shadow:

Yo playas,  Crucial will be at BLC next Saturday and Sunday helping out Bride with the contest. We will also have a vendor table there. We’re not sure of what we’ll have for sale yet, but I’ll post it up here once we decide. Hit up the contest website for more info at http://yoyomafia.org/blc2009/. Peace.

My insurance company is making me fill out a Vehicle Theft Questionnaire for my truck that recently was stolen.  Sometimes I just don’t understand what answers they’re looking for.  *Sigh*

The raw production Heavy Creams are in! Paul snapped a pic of them before they get sent off to the anodizer.

All finished with the production of the creams.  This is a batch that will go to Yoyonation.com.  They will receive 100 white and 50 black for their first run.  Second run will be about the same, maybe less.  I’ve also finalized the production shape and body for the heavy creams.  Most likely, I will have these finished by worlds. I also might have the Tres Leches and the metal version of it prototyped by then.

The 5A world champ just can’t stay away from us and we’re not complaining. We had lunch yesterday and chilled a bit in Artesia. Tyler ordered a sandwhich with fries but only ate the fries. I guess Tyler is a baller now and has some cash to throw around from his new job working with YYF. “Screw ordering a side of fries, I’ll just order the whole damn plate!”

The kite shop at Redondo decided last minute they’re going to have a scaled down mini-contest at the pier. Tyler will be there. It’s all supposed to start around noon so go out and make it if you can.

I spent some time toying with the lathe this past week and came up with this. They play surprisingly well, but I’m going to do some more work on the insides to improve the response system.
Note: These are 2nd-Gen Metal FHZ. The 1.0 denotes the first version of the mod. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for your concern for Paul everyone, but it’s just us having a good laugh. Here’s the whole story. Last Saturday was the last round of demos that Paul and I were doing for Toys R Us and Duncan. It was a long day of demos throughout the southbay, but it was good to get out there to help kids throw their first yo-yo.

After the demos we wanted to get some grub. Getting paid to yo-yo takes a lot out of a person you know. So Paul, Randy, and I decided to meet back at Paul’s house and grab a bite to eat.

Me and Randy Parked out in front of Paul’s house on the street and went inside. After we chilled for a bit and played a little SF4, we hopped into Paul’s car in the driveway and started backing up. That’s when I hear Paul say, “YO, ISN’T THAT YOUR CAR?!?!?” I look and see my Suburban driving away followed by two other cars. That’s when Paul turned into the homeboy from Initial-D (minus the drifting haha) and we chased the thief down the street into a dead end. The thief then pulled a 180 in my freakin Suburban! Smoke was flying up from the tires and everything! We were sitting there head to head staring into the thief’s face. At that moment, my instinct told me to get out of Paul’s car and try to pull the thief out of my truck but then reason kicked in and said “that’s a really stupid idea.” The thief would have probably tried to run me over.

The thief floored it again and headed right for us, Paul had to back up in reverse or the guy would have hit us. The guy then swerved around us and went down another street. We tried to follow, but the other two cars that were with the thief blocked us from chasing him. We eventually made our way around those two cars and sped off in the direction that we last saw the suburban, but we ended up losing him. I called 911 and told them everything that just happened. We were still driving fast and checking each street as we passed by, but 911 had us pull over so the sheriffs could come and take our report.

That was one intense adrenaline rush. The sheriffs took my report and told me in all likelihood my truck was being stripped as we spoke. I surprisingly took it a lot better than I thought I would. I think I was just glad that none of us were hurt. When we were about to drive off from talking with the sheriffs, another officer drove up, got out of the car and said, “Which one of you guys got your car stolen?” I answered, “Me”, and he said,” I need you to come with me, I think we got the guy.” So me and Randy jumped into the back of the sheriff’s car to go ID the guy. Now, I’m no angel, but this was the first time I got to ride in the back of a police vehicle so I busted out my iPhone and took video! Typical right?
Here we are in the back of sheriff’s car, and all I can think of is getting pictures and videos to post on the blog. Ha! The sheriff explains to me and Randy that because we called right when the truck was stolen, they were able to put the pressure on him with all the car patrols and helicopter. The thief knew there was too much heat so he ditched the car. There were witnesses that say he had a gun with him too. (Good thing I stayed in the car earlier!) To wrap up the story, we positively ID’d the thief, but the guy denied it so the sheriff’s took my car in to get fingerprinted. I finally got my truck back a few days ago. I took it to the dealership to get repaired, my ignition was jacked up, stereo was gone, and there’s a weird buzzing coming from under the driver’s floor. I got insurance, but I still got to pay a deductible. Damn. Oh well, at least I got a good picture.

Happy Independence Day!