Good answer;)
I'm thrilled that yo-yo companies, (or spin toy companies ) are taking an interest in tops. The amazing progress in yo-yo design and manufacture bodes well for us top spinners.
What the hobby needs is more publicity. I showed a top to a couple of my teenaged neighbors and they said that they had never seen one before! That doesn't surprise me as I never saw an ad for a top on TV when I was a kid, but there were plenty of Yo-Yo ads with some very adept players to entice the kids with tricks. I don't know how well tops caught on in later years, but I don't recall ever seeing a top spinning "pro", while even comedians used Yo-Yos as a prop. Remember Tommy Smothers doing his Yo-Yo man routine? There are no tops on display in Toys-R-Us or in any other store that I've seen. So how can kids learn about them. When I was a kid they were part of kid culture, like pea shooters, sling shots, Spaldeens, and water pistols. They didn't need advertising as they were readily available, everyone knew what they were, and every kid *needed* one. It seems that now they need to be re-introduced to the kids through TV advertising or at least a few decent tops need to appear on an endcap at Walmart or TRU.
Ed