Submarine

C3yoyodesign - Submarine

Submarine is the signature model of C3 Japan's original team member, Shotaro Masuda.

In 2012, Shotaro became C3's first Japanese team member, and it's been 9 years since he first came on board. All that experience and know-how has been poured into his new signature off string model, the Submarine.

It has a H-profile based on a straight shape, with a thick weight visible on the sides as a double rim, giving it a taste that's unique among C3's off string lineup.

That weight gives a great sense of power and long sleeps, with an appropriate sense of weight, but still gives a high degree of control during play. It has an ideal balance between its weight and easy control, which just puts a grin on your face.

Submarine comes with a total of four spacer settings for fine control over your gap width. The initial setting uses the "MSD Spacer" (blue spacer), giving the widest setting that Shotaro prefers for himself. By switching to the Gold or Green spacers, you can narrow your gap which increases the responsiveness of your off string yo-yo. Of course, you can mix and match for even finer adjustment; you can also play with your combination of string type and length for the ultimate feeling.

The axle is made of hardened iron, but Submarine also comes with a lighter stainless steel axle that you can swap out to find your best setting.

*Blue spacers are the thickest, followed by Purple, Green, and Gold. For the narrowest gap setting, use the Gold spacer on both sides.

*The hardened iron axle is more durable than the stainless steel version.

Comment from Shotaro Masuda:
Finally, I am proud to present to you my signature off string yo-yo, the Submarine.

My off string playstyle is a little bit different from other players... Rather than relying on lots of regens for long combos, I incorporate a lot of complex string tricks, almost like I'm playing 1A, but also with off string elements mixed in, so you can't forget that this is still 4A. Maybe it's kind of strange...

Of course, whether you're attempting my "kind of strange" style, or more normal 4A play, the Submarine was designed to meet your demands. The yo-yo itself is 66.68mm wide, with a diameter of 73.90mm, and it weighs 81.0 grams even.

At over 80 grams, it's a little heavy for the current trends, but while that gives it extra power, it doesn't feel overly heavy during play.

Then the biggest point of the design is of course the gap width.

Originally I would use the Neo Solar as my main throw, but I felt that even with thick spacers I still wanted them a little wider, and resorted to using bearing shims.

So for the Submarine, I decided to please not just my own fancies, but serve everyone's desires, and deliver a highly adjustable gap. With the included spacers, you can have very fine control over your gap width, from pretty narrow to my preference, which is admittedly quite wide for off string play! Play with your settings and find the right balance for you; this was the foundational concept we build the Submarine on!

The Submarine comes with 4 different spacer sets. The first three "normal" sizes are thin, normal, and wide, with an EXTRA wide "blue" spacer which we called the MSD Spacer, which make the gap a full 3.221mm wide. With normal off string gaps averaging 2mm, this is "kind of" wide, to be sure!

This MSD spacer was especially made to satisfy my desire for an extra wide gap, and is definitely not meant for "all around" 4A tricks. To put it bluntly, I think most people would find this setting really difficult to play with. If this is the case for you, it's no problem! Just change the spacer to the gold or green spacers, and you'll feel like 4A is suddenly easy by comparison!

The name Submarine is a nod to my unusual style of play. While normally we would associate off string with the sky, and flying through the air, my style buries the yo-yo in the string, as if it's sinking to the depths of an ocean of string. The ocean is full of mysteries, and I wish to explore this style from new angles, made possible with this MSD spacer. We hope that the Submarine will help explorers looking for romance and buried treasure of their own!

Official Description

The first member of Team C3 in Japan. Shotaro Masuda’s first signature offstring yoyo "Submarine" finally release!!!

Shotaro Masuda, the first member of our Team C3 in Japan, is known for his super unique 4A tricks. The champion of South Japan Yoyo Contest. Every times brings an amazing freestyle to audience. Shotaro joined C3 Contest Team since July 2012, and it took nine years to release his first signature yoyo.

C3 has launched different offstring yo-yos over the years. From first generation of Solar to the latest Solar+, Solar series is Shotaro’s favourite. In the 2019 Contest, Shotaro still using Neo Solar on stage.

In mid-2019, C3 proposed to Shotaro a plan to launch a signature yo-yo for him. Shotaro was shocked. He said, "Hahaha! Really? Will anyone buy my signature yoyo?!” At the same time, C3 went to Fukuoka, Japan and personally design with Shotaro for his signature yoyo, and it start a long journey of designing and testing.

Through the several times of prototyping and testing. Shotaro finally confirm the design at the end of 2020.

Design ideas from Shotaro:

1. Shotaro’s favourite C3 1A yoyo Mater Galaxy as the body sharpe.
2. Same weight and feeling of Neo Solar.
3. Distribution of Jenos and longer spinning time.
4. Have enough rebound power once drop on ground.
5. Special designed spacer for a wider gap (MSD Spacer).

Shotaro has always believed that the shape of Master Galaxy has potential to be a 4A yoyo, because the ultra-wide ratio helps the accuracy of tricks, and it also has a longer hang time in the air. He want to transfer this to 4A design, so C3 has done a lot of modification and finally changed "Submarine" to the 4A version of Master Galaxy.

It also keeps the soft feeling and weight close to Neo Solar as much as possible, and combine with the weight distribution of Jenos, so it can keep stable during high-speed moving, and spinning time has also been improved.

In addition, we design a new spacer base on Shotaro’s need. Basically, it have 3 type of spacers (thick/medium/thin) for C3 off string yoyo. But Shotaro have special need for the gap width. He need a wider gap for more space for string wrap into the yoyo. Special spacer named "MSD spacer" which available for Shotaro play a unique off string tricks.

About the name of "Submarine", Shotaro said all of the off string yoyo named concept for the sky, but his tricks style is very different than other players, he want his signature yoyo dive into the ocean, so it named "Submarine".

First run release with 3 colors, Yellow Submarine body with Blue hubs, Ocean Blue body with Yellow hubs and White body with Green hubs.

Original installed the MSD spacer

"Submarine"

Diameter: 73.8mm
Width: 66.7mm (orignal setting)
Weight: 80.9g
Sphere: POM
Gasket: blue (MSD) / purple (thick) / gold (thin) / green (medium)
Bottom axis: 16mm iron / stainless steel
Bearing: C3 high-speed flat bearing
Sticker: C3 white silicon pad

The following are the data of four different spacer setting

Gold+gold 2.097mm
Green + green 2.417mm
Purple + purple 2.737mm
Blue+Blue 3.221mm