[Question] Swirly Star and S-Line

[jonkimbertx]

Innova and Discmania are churning out a lot of this stuff right now. Can somebody explain the appeal of it? I feel like 90% of the discs I see are a mixture of brown/gray/dull green. Not only unattractive but I would imagine crazy camouflaged to boot.

 

[NathanNoodleArm]

I have a few. I wouldn't buy one unless I can see it first. The ones I bought were on sites that picture every disc.

 

[SD86]

Innova and Discmania are churning out a lot of this stuff right now. Can somebody explain the appeal of it? I feel like 90% of the discs I see are a mixture of brown/gray/dull green. Not only unattractive but I would imagine crazy camouflaged to boot.

Which is why I either buy from a site with pictures, or ask the Proshop for orange to get a reasonably bright and visible disc (and it has worked thus far).

The plastic feels pretty good to me, so that's a plus AFIAC.

 

[Flick Maniac]

I kinda feel like they have taken a part of the process that happens naturally and used to be waste (i.e. changing color in the plastic mass produces in-between colors) and marketed it as something desirable. (like some confectionaries are actually broken and repurposed other treats). Some injection mold expert may prove me wrong but thats what I think. Great business move if so.

Still waiting for the S-CD2 production run to get solid colors.

 

[jonkimbertx]

Why even make such ugly runs of plastic though? Seems like a waste of materials for the manufacturer and retail space for the sellers.

 

[Bradimous1]

Why even make such ugly runs of plastic though? Seems like a waste of materials for the manufacturer and retail space for the sellers.

They may be making them with a bunch of leftover plastics from solid runs. You never know.

 

[Anthony_G]

I'm curious if basic color theory is understood and applied when making swirl runs at Innova? Murky grey colors and worse in my opinion- fleshy tones are probably innevitable but I bet they could be minimized with basic understanding of how colors mix. Mixing complimentary colors like Red and Green (very popular in the swirl world) creates grey, which is good for painting but probably bad for swirl consistancy. Instead of trying to do extreme contrast swirls like complimentary colors they should start by mixing two primary colors to get the most range of colors. If you start with Red and Yellow the mix result would be Orange so they could probably go pretty far with it for a while and have a nice range or Red, Yellow, and Orange swirls without the murk. Red and Blue would get a good range of Red, Blue, and Purple. White should be used more with the cool colors to avoid the flesh tones. Seeing tons of blah greys and dull tones is so painful.

 

[sandelius]

Swirly discs are sold at higher price. Swirly s-line disc is still just an s-line disc: make more money using plastic which is used in normal production.

Customers have to buy a lot of discs to actually get couple nice swirled discs. So it's a double win for Innova/Discmania.

 

[Questatement]

My new eBay search criteria is;

disc golf -nybo -sexton -allen -koling

 

[Anthony_G]

Swirly discs are sold at higher price. Swirly s-line disc is still just an s-line disc: make more money using plastic which is used in normal production.

Customers have to buy a lot of discs to actually get couple nice swirled discs. So it's a double win for Innova/Discmania.

But if they did it right they would have more desirable discs out there to sell. I doubt their business model is to have only few discs come out good while most come out bad in order to create hype for the good ones. I really feel like they don't know what they are doing and just throwing colors in there and hoping for the best.

 

[Monkeypaws]

Bump.

Swirly Star.

I've bought 'em, and many times was bummed that the disc I eagerly awaited was earth-tone, vomit colored, or booger green. Barsby Eagle, Big Jerm Thunderbird, Sky God, etc.

With the beautiful ESP swirl that Discraft put out after McBeth's arrival, I think Innova needs to do better. Cloud Breaker went from hottest ticket to meh as soon as people saw what the majority of them looked like.

 

[discerdoo]

I dug through a stack of about 12 Madison Walker Wraiths and settled on one that's about a 2/10 on the visibility scale. The rest were worse.

 

[wims]

No burst or swirly discs for me. I prefer my discs to not have camouflage thank you very much

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Just stick to primary colors and white on these innova. Plastic feels great but looks terrible.

 

[GoobyPls]

I've seen maybe 4 Swirly Star/S-Line discs that weren't a murky mess. Literally every Cloud Breaker, 2019 Jermbird, and BarsbEagle I've seen has been awful. That includes my BarsbEagle, which looks like a dollar bill (dark green/darker green). Super fun to look for that thing, even when it's in the fairway.

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

I got 2 barsbeagles and feel like I lucked out with light grey with very few swirls. I throw the one with the more reflective stamp, catching the stamp in the light is usually my best chance to find it. The flat black stamp stays on the shelf, that thing is invisible in any kind of shadow. And since I play in the woods, where it's a hunt to find even bright pink sometimes, I'm not jazzed about throwing it.

 

[phishbiscuits]

If we stop buying them, maybe they'll change the approach. I stopped buying any Swirly S-Line because of everything stated in this thread. It shouldn't be US compromising and searching fairways for $24 discs!

I did see that the majority of Cloudbreakers left are literally grass colored. I also have no business throwing that disc. Most don't! Local course yesterday, 250 foot straight shot... dude in front of me threw a Swirly Philo Destroyer. Lost it in the fairway. First, a Destroyer for that distance? Second, right in the damn fairway? That's a no from me, dog.

Notice that this thread started in 2017. It seems WORSE now.

 

[SD86]

I was lucky. When I ordered my Hannah Leatherman Swirly Star Terns and Leo3s, I asked for pink or blue. And the ones I got were pink-'ish' and blue-'ish' enough to be findable and not too bad looking. The plastic does feel good, too.

But I agree with the sentiments: for the most part they're :gross: . And Innova needs to understand that, so contact them and let them know. Otherwise, they will continue shoving that garbage down our throats...

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

People will just keep buying them. Discmania collectors are crazy about those cloud breakers. I buy them just to support the pros I like.

I think that's just the way it is. Maybe next year some of the pros just say, "do mine in regular Star with weight options please, I'm having trouble selling the max weight swirly ones."

 

[ChefKoolaid]

I have a few really nice swirly blue Walker Wraiths and Nybo Birds. The good swirls are out there just gotta hunt for em. Also I want to comment on how incredible the swirl star in the Madison Walker Wraiths is. It's fantastically grippy!

And while still weak I do think Innova has imoroved their swirl game a bit this year.