Did you get into the yo-yo craze of the 70s? What about the 90s? I was part of both. Though I don’t remember much about the craze in the 70s other than I had one and played with it all the time. The craze of the 90s I remember well. I actually got quite good with some neat tricks. I never did do multiple yo-yo tricks, but I had fun and could entertain a small crowd. Even if just for a few minutes.
I still have my Yomega Fireball that I bought back then. It was a time when money was tight and buying a $10 yo-yo was about the most I could afford. I did dream about some of the $40 yo-yos, but knew that was out of my price range and would stress the goodness of my wife too much.
Today I stumbled onto a yo-yo website (while doing a Google image search for dripping paint?) and was just curious as to what they are selling for these days. It was good to see that there are still a good handful of toys selling in the sub $15 category. But then I looked at the high end too. Yikes! The most expensive unit they have is the $450 Freehand MG Anodized. And who makes it? Duncan. Yup, the same people who make your basic $3 unit.
So you can go to both extremes with the company who started it all.