Arctica

Say hello to the latest installation and the first plastic model in our Weatherman Line – the Arctica.

SPECS
Diameter 58.6mm
Width 53.0mm
Weight 66.6g
Material machined polycarbonate

The Arctica began with a nostalgia for past eras of yo-yos. 

Plastic designs have a special place in the industry – not just for the fact they occupy a more accessible price bracket than metal contemporaries, but also because they form a part of a player’s experience that is unique and wholly distinct from performance metals. 

a duncan freehand zero — a kind gift from jayson, a tenured member of the local scene in singapore.

We grew up in the scene on a steady diet of plastics. even though now metals dominate the narrative in performance and design, we’ll always have an affection for the way plastics feel, play, sound – and how they exist in every collector’s case, and every player’s rotation.

The business case for plastic yoyos today is narrow, unless you’re injection-molding them in the thousands. today, plastics cost just about the same to machine as aluminiums, but take a lot more thought and engineering to get them in the same ballpark in terms of precision, smoothness, and play capability. We say this in appreciation for the many small brands and outfits in our community that still make small-batch plastic designs as a matter of passion, in a world where they’re becoming less and less of a sensible pursuit. 

For that very reason, we insist on plastic designs having their time of day in our product lineup. Practicality says to maximize for trends and margins; we intentionally resist those instincts so we can pay attention to things that we feel matter.

The Snowberry was our first plastic release – and also our love letter to plastic designs in general. It speaks to our love for the material, and that special feeling that comes with designing for fun and joy. 

If the Snowberry is a Delrin reimagination of the Cloudberry, the Arctica – clearly – is a polycarbonate incarnation of the Ari, the sophomore release of the Weatherman Line. The Ari is a wide, W-shaped titanium that became favored for its quick, light and floaty play, despite its relatively large size. It was also Side Effects-compatible, which made it a tinkerer’s dream. The Ari also took Duncan-spec caps, which were CNC-machined for an incredibly precise fit, and allowed a player to take on the hollow-body feel of older, nostalgic designs, if they so desired. This unique stack of product features made the Ari a favorite amongst the Atmos faithful, and a core design in our lineup.

At heart, the Ari is a big, light, floaty W-shaped titanium that promises hours of fun.

The core concept of the Arctica was to lean into the essence of the Ari and what made it special, and to craft a plastic version that tapped on years of nostalgia, fun, and feel.

We toyed with the idea of using Delrin, but eventually opted to go with polycarbonate. More on this later, but given the early design blueprints of the Arctica, we needed to work with material that had a high degree of rigidity. Delrin is beautifully smooth to the touch, but is also relatively soft, which can make it a challenging material to work with when designing for a multi-part model, since there can be some give in the fit between parts. Polycarbonate is a lot more rigid than Delrin, and when designed and machined for precise fit, can be used for more complex assembly. 

And – speaking purely from an aesthetic perspective – frosted polycarbonate just has a look to it.

the arctica is possibly the most over-engineered plastic yo-yo in circulation. it’s made up of an assembly of 12 discrete precision-machined polycarbonate and aluminum parts. for context, an injection-molded plastic has, on average, 6 independent components; a regular monometal has just 4. it generally follows that having more moving parts in a dynamic object such as a yo-yo results in more overall flex, give and imbalance, which can lead to vibe – but the arctica was designed and machined to outstanding degrees of precision.

the arctica comes with a level of smoothness that is generally not associated with plastics – especially if they are injection-molded.

following a method we pioneered with the snowberry, we designed for the aluminum spacer construction to sit embedded in the plastic hub, which conceals it for a purer, uninterrupted facade. the dimensions here were further altered and optimized for an even tighter and precise fit, which contributed greatly to the arctica’s smoothness and quality. 

the plastic hub, which packs a significant amount of mid-to-outer rim mass, is then concealed by a cnc-machined cap, similarly styled to the batch we produced for the ari.

the internal complexity of the arctica is concealed by its minimalist, and understated external features – you’d never guess what went under the hood.

note: while it is physically possible, we strongly recommend not removing the caps on the arctica.

the first prototype we machined came in at 64g, but it felt a touch too weak. we went back to the design blueprint and re-machined another prototype, which was more than 2g heavier in the mid-section, and it turned out feeling perfectly full and whole. 

it has that beautiful float and feel of a hollow-body plastic, while simultaneously having the stability of an ultrawide design. it felt closely reminiscent of the signature playfeel of the ari, and we knew we were on the right track.

the arctica is a real big boy at 58.6mm (diameter) and 53.0mm (width), but experientially, those numbers feel a lot less bombastic, and actually natural and comfortable in play. the string gap is a wide, forgiving chasm, and has a gap width that can take on multiple layers in more complex tricks.

in a similar vein, the arctica weighs in at 66.6g, but the density of polycarbonate and its overall diameter makes that number deceptively large. for reference, in terms of pure “feel”, we personally find it feels more akin to a 64g design.

it’s incredibly light, stable and floaty, and it’s massive fun. you’ll feel right at home with whatever style of play you throw at it. it’ll go wherever you want to take it.

here are yuji and vladimir, shredding on arctica prototypes – a quick glimpse of what it’s capable of.

the working title of the arctica was “polyari” all through prototyping and production – a literal description of its design concept – but it came too close to the polaris, which was released just before it. it eventually evolved to arctica, in reference to its icy, frosted appearance, while paying homage to the weatherman naming convention of taking after natural terminology, and also embedding “ari” in its name.

come enjoy the arctica.

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the arctica is equipped with premier kit in

stratos pads by atmos
type ii concave bearings by atmos
first class xl string by kitty
atmos carry pouch

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may 2024

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