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[ta0]

Huitzinakantli gave me this trompo in a (World Cup South) Africa 2010 "commemorative" card.  What is curious is the World Team ProYo label!  According to YoYo Wiki, the World Team Proyo was disbanded when Duncan bought Playmaxx/Proyo (and members went on to start YoYofactory, Yo-Yo People, and All Yoyo).

 

I guess Team ProYo still lives in Mexico 

The model in the card is actually a Premier Zebra which has the same internal ribs as a 5 Estrellas Ultra/Zebra (in fact, the logo is almost identical to that Zebra).

[ta0]

Another Premier top in an interesting card:



What I find interesting is that it says: "PRACTICE THIS SPORT"!  Yeah, baby, a sport! That is what we have been claiming for a long time . . .

By the way, the crown says Samurai, a model I had not seen before:

[lincolnrick]

That's some neat stuff you got from Huitzinakantli. The commemorative lion is great. 

[kyo]

I don't recognize that as being any of the logos that ProYo used.. theirs was always 1 word. It was also not the name of the company.. the proyo was a promotional thing done with Koosh though it did get used by many interchangeably with playmaxx (the name of the actual company)

World Team Proyo was certainly their name for their team, but I don't recall anything being marked that way on packaging.

I wonder if it was a knockoff?

Kyle

[ta0]

Well, the card says just Africa 2010, not South Africa 2010, to avoid the world cup copyright.
But the ProYo logo has the MR symbol for Marca Registrada and the distributor listed on the back is the same as on other Premier cards I got. So it is safe to assume that they own the ProYo copyright in Mexico. And there is no question that the name is not a coincidence as they use the full "World Team Proyo" wording.  Now the question is if at one time they distributed or manufactured for Playmaxx or if they just highjacked the name outright.

I was very happy to find this vintage Premier Junior on the card:



In spite of its name, it is a little bigger than the standard Mexican top. It has no tabs: the body and cap are glued together. The opaque plastic seems to be of lower quality than current tops. But I was told that at one time it was a favorite of Gus. It required some modding: he hit it on the side to break the seal and separate the body and cap, so he could balance it before gluing it back together!

There are some designs that are a favorite in Mexico and each brand seems to have its own version, such as the Diamante. Another one is the Cobra, only that Premier calls it Gótico:

 

[Dick Stohr]

I have ProYo II yo-yos that were made by PLAYMAXX.  One of them has John Higby hologram on one side and the other side is a Julius hologram but turned over and signed by Kati Miller.  All three were members of World Team ProYo.  Don't know if this helps any with this discussion but I thought I would throw it in.

[kyo]

I have ProYo II yo-yos that were made by PLAYMAXX.  One of them has John Higby hologram on one side and the other side is a Julius hologram but turned over and signed by Kati Miller.  All three were members of World Team ProYo.  Don't know if this helps any with this discussion but I thought I would throw it in.

Right, they did a whole series of WTP members.. they exist for all of the members at the time.

Hans would know the answer to the question of if they actually licensed the name for the tops or if they were just knockoffs.. will have to remember to ask him at worlds. To my knowledge, Playmaxx never produced any spintops (closest they came was the stunt pilot yoyo).. but I suppose another company with the license to their name could have.

Kyle