[Innova] The Valkyrie, a discussion.........

I don't have a ton of knowledge about the variations of Valks, but I picked up a 4x JK Champ Valkyrie in a used bin today. Is this CE plastic time period, or regular champ plastic? Feels great, and is super flat. Haven't had a chance to throw it yet unfortunately.

4x JK Valks occured right when CE ended. Definitely CE like, and comparable in durability to the "Jolly Launcher" plastic that came out somewhat recently. Very tasty plastic, at one point I owned about 20 of them. So no, not true CE but yes absolutely coveted by long time players. Picture?
 
4x JK Valks occured right when CE ended. Definitely CE like, and comparable in durability to the "Jolly Launcher" plastic that came out somewhat recently. Very tasty plastic, at one point I owned about 20 of them. So no, not true CE but yes absolutely coveted by long time players. Picture?

Thanks for the info. It's been thrown, but sure feels good in the hand. Can't wait to give it a try.
 

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Thanks for the info. It's been thrown, but sure feels good in the hand. Can't wait to give it a try.

That looks like Champion to me. I have one in same color from 2005 saying 5x and it is Champion. CE was more of an opaque then early Champion that was translucent. Well the Disc would be that blue but it turned green due to having a yellow 2009 Ice Bowl Star Valkyrie behind the disc and in front of disc until 2016. Worthless disc due to being so beat up and is now like a speed 7 Dragon in terms of speed now, was a speed 9 disc at one point. Also bad color choice for me, I had a really hard time finding the disc even when it was blue. green grass made disc hard to see. Replaced it with a Champion glow Valkyrie in flatter top but not as flat as my 5x disc and the Champion and is almost as gummy as my early Champion.
 
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Yes Casey his disc says Champion on it. I'm talking about the plastic itself.
 
You crack me up. Usually I go elsewhere for lulz:thmbup:
 
The plastic its self then is the same as what I had for my 2005 5x disc, the closest in modern champion is the Glow or leaving discs in a car for an hour to make them gummy.

How hot does the outside temperature need to be in order for the gummy goodness to occur?
 
4x JK Valks occured right when CE ended. Definitely CE like, and comparable in durability to the "Jolly Launcher" plastic that came out somewhat recently. Very tasty plastic, at one point I owned about 20 of them. So no, not true CE but yes absolutely coveted by long time players. Picture?
Is there any difference in the 4X that are stamped "JK Pro" and the 4X that have the more common Champ stamp? I had a bunch of the later Champ stamp 4X and they were flat with the record (or zipper) top and made from pearly champ plastic, which are the same characteristics I hear about the JK Pros. I've never seen a JK Pro, though.

Oddly, the best feeling Valk of that bunch was stamped 5X. I still have it, it was light for Champ (scaled at 161g.) It's flat with the record top and the plastic is a lovely gummy Champ. It's the best Valk I've ever thrown; it was money in its day. I've always thought it was probably an old stock blank that got stamped later, because it's clearly a 4X Valk. I wonder how often that happens? Probably more often than we want to know.
 
Is there any difference in the 4X that are stamped "JK Pro" and the 4X that have the more common Champ stamp? I had a bunch of the later Champ stamp 4X and they were flat with the record (or zipper) top and made from pearly champ plastic, which are the same characteristics I hear about the JK Pros. I've never seen a JK Pro, though.

Oddly, the best feeling Valk of that bunch was stamped 5X. I still have it, it was light for Champ (scaled at 161g.) It's flat with the record top and the plastic is a lovely gummy Champ. It's the best Valk I've ever thrown; it was money in its day. I've always thought it was probably an old stock blank that got stamped later, because it's clearly a 4X Valk. I wonder how often that happens? Probably more often than we want to know.

My 5x Champion was the best Champion plastic. The Glow Champion is as close as I have been able to find in person though the one in the store was too heavy for me, a 175 gram disc is too heavy for a Disc Golf Driver, 171-172 grams is about max.

They had a Pro Valkyrie that was in the 2000's but I never saw the Pro models that were 4x in the store.

I had a DX one from late 2004 with the guy From Sweden or Finland who had the 1999 record with a Valkyrie for distance on the disc, new from a store not in my area but in my state because nobody really sold disc golf discs until 2005 or 2006 and internet was not used as much to buy discs. Yes they had a few Wham-O Frisbee's that were PDGA legal sold in my area at the time but they were not true Discs.
 
Is there any difference in the 4X that are stamped "JK Pro" and the 4X that have the more common Champ stamp? I had a bunch of the later Champ stamp 4X and they were flat with the record (or zipper) top and made from pearly champ plastic, which are the same characteristics I hear about the JK Pros. I've never seen a JK Pro, though.

Oddly, the best feeling Valk of that bunch was stamped 5X. I still have it, it was light for Champ (scaled at 161g.) It's flat with the record top and the plastic is a lovely gummy Champ. It's the best Valk I've ever thrown; it was money in its day. I've always thought it was probably an old stock blank that got stamped later, because it's clearly a 4X Valk. I wonder how often that happens? Probably more often than we want to know.


The JK Pros vary a ton, I just posted in the "My old bag" thread saying something quite similar. For Valks, the barstamp 4xJKs are opaque and CE like. You know the plastic. Sorta firm but giving, grippy, flat. Here's an example:
innova_valkyrie-jk-pro-4x.jpg

Next comes the swoosh 4x, typically gummy, overall translucent(-parent?), and also flat:
innova_champion-valkyrie-jk.jpg

Then the "current style" PFN which was more firm and generally more pearly and/or opaque than the swoosh 4x:
champvalk.jpg


Zippertops for Valkyries occured well after first runs, I'm not aware of a new mold piece ever being used so I'm not sure why they're a unique mold for that. Typically zippertops are only on fresh mold pieces and the first few runs of plastic. ANYWAY, could have been old stock but might not have been, hard to tell. Especially without pictures. Hope that helped!
 
I never owned a taffy 4x but the clear jk pros were awesome. Had some turn and fade and glide and flew like a valk should. All of the zippertop 4x champ valks I've thrown we're beefy. I've had some factory dyed 4x champs that were definitely the late run CE/candy pro stuff.

Ultimately I gave up on valks for a while after losing my favorite 4x jk pro years ago. Seems like they started getting inconsistent but recent valkyries seem to be more like how I remember them.
 
The last pro I saw mention having the Valkyrie in their bag was Jessica Weese. Can't recall a pro mens player mention it. Just a thought. Odd for an all time great driver mold to not be in more Innova sponsored bags.
 
As great of a disc as the valkyrie is, it doesn't really fit into the current pro game very well. Reliable distance aka 450 foot hyzers is what wins now. A valkyrie might get a little more distance than say a thunderbird, but the consistency of a thunderbird on something in the 375-425 range is what most pros will grab for.


The last pro I saw mention having the Valkyrie in their bag was Jessica Weese. Can't recall a pro mens player mention it. Just a thought. Odd for an all time great driver mold to not be in more Innova sponsored bags.
 
As great of a disc as the valkyrie is, it doesn't really fit into the current pro game very well. Reliable distance aka 450 foot hyzers is what wins now. A valkyrie might get a little more distance than say a thunderbird, but the consistency of a thunderbird on something in the 375-425 range is what most pros will grab for.

This. At this point I'd grab a Thunderbird over a Valk all the time. I haven't bagged a Valk in a long, long while. Good flying disc, but I don't really have a need for it on a daily basis. The Thunderbird is way more vital.
 
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