Honey Buzzard
a ZipLine x G Squared Collaboration* Dark Side Edition *
General Product Description:
The Honey Buzzard is a cross between the original G2 Hawk (body/catch zone) and the ZipLine Honey Badger HB23 (cup zone). The diameter lands exactly between the two designs and the weight distribution is a hybrid between the two as well. It plays light and brisk and feels extremely comfortable in the hand - sorta like playing a classic game of catch. It still has the original Hawk essence, while having a bit more momentum on the spin, and it fills up your hand a bit more than the OG on the catch. The Honey Buzzard is honestly the type of yoyo that makes me want to play more yoyo, and it’s so stinking fun. It feels very nostalgic and modern at the same time, while having that unmistakable, premium G2 flare and quality. My face literally hurts from smiling every time I throw it.
Specs:
Aluminum: 6061
Diameter: 55mm
Width: 42.45mm
Mass: 62.6g
Gap: 4.30mm
Pads: G20 Clear
Axle: 10mm
Bearing: Ripper v2 (size C)
Blast: Diamond
Colorway from G2 customs/(USA) shop
“Dark Side” (navy base, black splash, green/blue acid wash speckle)
*Testing and assembly by G2 Jake, himself*
Includes:
- Honey Buzzard Yoyo
- Custom branded packaging
- G2 Diamond Blend (string)
- 12 Man Twist (string)
- Custom Executive Class (string)
- Custom sticker and coin
::: Here’s The FULL Backstory :::
First off, G Squared Yoyos has been in my top favorite yoyo brands ever since I played my very first G2 Banshee (the original), back in the spring of 2017. At this point in my yoyo journey, I had never felt anything like it; such a floaty feel, while having just the right amount of power and stability, and it was incredibly glass smooth. After sharing my excitement with other throwers in the community, I was introduced to the term “G2 Smooth,” and it became blatantly obvious that Jake’s level of QC was impeccable. I was totally hooked and was completely convinced that the value was totally worth the price tag. I became a huge fan and have been nudging Jake to collab with me on a yoyo release ever since. It’s so wild to think that it would take a little over 9 years before this would actually become a reality for me!
If you’re unfamiliar with G2 Jake and G Squared Yoyos, you’ve either been living under a rock or perhaps you just moved into town from another universe, lol. As long as I’ve known G2, the brand has always held a firm reputation for having some the most unique yoyo designs and premium colorways, in addition to being known for having the best quality control that this market has ever seen. I’ve always admired Jake, his work ethic and his dedication to quality. And in many ways, he’s been an inspiration for many aspects of what we do here at ZipLine. It seemed like working on a yoyo project with G2 would only ever be a life-long dream, but after years of growing a business relationship and a real friendship … here we are :)
Story behind the design:
We actually started brainstorming on this design idea since January of 2023 (looking back through my texts and emails). It began with Jake surprising me with a random check-in, “hey, you still making yoyos?” Then we eventually got into talking about preliminary details - having it be something that Jake could use for limited edition Patreon shipment, while also having a limited amount reserved for a ZipLine release. Around this time I was obsessed with smaller, organic shaped yoyos and I was frequently carrying the Ti Hawk in my daily bag. I suggested perhaps redesigning the Hawk as more of a full sized yoyo with larger response pads and a similar weight as the OG, and Jake suggested also integrating the Honey Badger cup/spike design. This was a pretty casual back and forth conversation until Dec of 2024, when we finally had an actual design file/render to look at. Around May of 2025 we received the first round of prototypes, and we didn’t get to cutting yoyo parts for the production run until October of 2025, followed by finalizing custom anodization choices in February of this year. AND that’s exactly how long it’s taken from conception to having actual yoyos in hand - a little over 3 1/2 years.
Story behind the name:
I started researching alternate birds of prey names and somehow had the idea to do a search for “Filipino hawk-like birds”. To my surprise, the first thing that popped up was “the Philippine Honey Buzzard”. What’s the connection with the Philippines? We’ll I’m actually 1/2 Filipino and just had a wild hair about incorporating a piece of my family heritage into the rebranding. Honestly, we got really lucky that this worked out so perfectly; getting to use the first word “Honey” from the Honey Badger, and “Buzzard” to stand in as an alternative for “Hawk”.
According to eBird.org and Wiki, "the Philippine Honey Buzzard is a fairly large raptor of lowland and montane forest. Brown above with a heavily streaked chest, a barred belly, a fairly long flattened crest coming from the back of the head, and piercing golden eyes. In flight, note barred, bulging wings and fairly long barred tail with a broad terminal band. Juveniles are much paler. Remarkably similar to Philippine Hawk-Eagle, but in flight Philippine Honey-buzzard has a narrow head which projects more from the wings. Voice consists of a drawn-out, two-noted “weeeeeeee lew” repeated at intervals.
Diet mainly consists of wasp and bee larvae (or potentially pupae and adults), with regular additions of small nestlings, lizards and perhaps frogs. They hunt by soaring or sitting, perched on a large branch, waiting for prey; also known to follow and catch their prey in flight."
Story behind the colorway, Dark Side:
For those who don’t know, my wife and I are long-time Seattle Seahawks fans. From 2003-2008 we lived in Seattle so I could pursue an education in Audio Production, which later lead to a full-time carrier as a music producer/engineer. After witnessing the 2006 Seahawks Super Bowl loss to the Steelers, I experienced the entire city of Seattle mourning together, which for the first time, introduced me to an indescribable sense of community around a home team. That being said, that’s exactly when I became a Seahawks fan. I’ve stayed through all the good times and the bad (mostly bad) times ever since. But something crazy happened in 2025, after they dropped their long-time head coach and a few key, yet declining players, a new team was emerging. At the beginning of the season I told my wife, “I’m really going ALL IN this year - following all the stats, truly nerding out on learning about the players, and I’m not missing a single game - I’m even going to go watch them live.” And you know what? … something magical happened … they made it all the way!!!
It’s a very rare and special thing to experience your favorite team winning the Super Bowl; as a true fan, you can’t help to feel like your investment really paid off, and you can’t help from feeling like you’re an actual part of the extended family. It’s community … you know … just like WE are with YOYO. Well, to celebrate the team making it to the Super Bowl, I decided use my one and only custom colorway option to commemorate the Seahawks. I mean, this is likely going to be my only opportunity to take advantage of the G2 customs experience, so I just really had to commit to making it a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime thing!
According to the Seahawks website, “The “Dark Side” is the dominant nickname for the suffocating Seattle Seahawks defense that anchored the team’s championship run. Conceived by veteran defensive leaders durning the 2025 season, the moniker represents a fierce, physical identity.” Many of us became believers that, “defense actually CAN win games!” Well, it sure helped them achieve a record of 14-3 in the regular season, followed by sweeping the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl ;)
I’ve seen lots of Dark Side branding with Darth Vader themes and dark navy/black color combos. This is primarily where I got the idea to use Seahawks navy as the yoyo base color, paired with a black splash - it really darkens the look of the navy. Additionally, I really love the Seahawks highlight color “Action Green”, and I wanted to use it to add a little spice. As it turns out, the only way to mimic this color with ano was to use a blue/green acid wash, which we decided to incorporate as a highlight speckle. *This step majorly added to the overall anodization cost, but it was really important to me - “if we’re gonna to this, we’re REALLY going to DO THIS.”*
While the yoyo is spinning (shown in photo), the acid wash blends with the dark navy in a way that coincidentally resembles the Seahawks “Rivalry” uniforms iridescent blue/green helmet color. We truly lucked out on this … OR … was it fate?!?
Final Thoughts:
After everything was said and done, I couldn’t be more proud with how the entire project came together. From the yoyo design AND the name being a true combination of the Honey Badger and the Hawk, to the Sea”HAWKS” elite defense inspiring the colorway, to the fact that I finally got to collab on a yoyo with my all-time favorite yoyo maker and really great friend, G2 Jake. Holding one of these Darkside Honey Buzzards in my hand truly feels like holding a trophy - it’s just so incredibly special to me, and hopefully it will become something special to 27 other people out there who might also appreciate such a rare piece of ZipLine history.
With love,
Jeremy
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2023 Easter Prototypes (Possum • Geo • Ripple)
A collaboration with our radical friend and designer Terry Orchard
Release Date: 04/07/23 @ 6pm MT /8pm ET
*** VERY LIMITED RUN - ONLY 15 OF EACH MODEL WILL BE AVAILABLE ***
Around September of 2019 we got into a discussion with Terry Orchard (aka @wizradical) regarding the very first SF Cadence prototype, which we had each played and really adored. This all started with leaving comments in an IG post with SF; it went something like, "please let us do a production run of this Cadence prototype!” SF replied, “let’s talk!” To our surprise this wacky dream became a reality, and the yoyo later became known as the BMC upon its official release in 2020.
In August of 2020 we started up another conversation with Terry about the potential of working on some more projects together. We were gazing through Terry’s catalog of designs, which he’d been posting on his instagram feed, and we made note of a few of our top favorites. After sharing opinions about specs and aesthetic tweaks, Terry dove back into these designs and we began working together on refining a few gems. We went back and forth on design revisions for what seemed like ages until we both felt that everything was perfect for prototyping.
Sometimes in the midst of prototyping we get to a point where we’re like, “geez, I think it’s perfect, but what if we…?”, and you wish people could experience just how special the latest version was before things start to change. This is kind of how the BMC came about and why we think it was so special. In our opinion, SF and Keiran made a perfect yo-yo (Cadence) on the first try. However, they needed it to be a different kind of perfect, so they pushed it in a direction that would achieve maximum performance - revising several more rounds of prototypes until it was extremely perfect. Sometimes that first or second version had some magic that you just can’t explain.
After getting to work with Terry on a few of his designs we’ve experienced a few of these moments, and our latest round of protos have “that kind of magic” that’s hard to explain. So we’ve decided to make some of this magic accessible this Friday in the ZipLine Shop.
As a special Easter treat, we’re releasing a limited run of the latest version of prototypes that we’ve been working on. Only about 15 units of each design will be made available, and they’re pretty fantastic!!!
:::: Included in package ::::• 1 yoyo
• 1 variety pack of CS118 strings (special edition)
• 1 special edition ZipLine Sticker
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::::: ABOUT THE YOYOS :::::
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A) Possum (light green)
Terry: The Possum cutaway profile was inspired by the button nose and floppy ears of small mammals. Given that, it has an undersized diameter and fits comfortably in a pocket or EDC bag.
Jeremy: The Possum is unlike many other undersize throws, as it still feels super light and nimble on the string, and it's very capable. It plays very fast and has incredible catchability (feeling pretty wide compared to it's smaller diameter.
Diameter: 48.6 mm
Width: 43.94 mm
Gap: 4.45 mm
Weight: 62 g
Material: Aluminum 6061
Bearing: size C, CT ball bearing
Pads: 19mm One Drop Flow Groove Slim Pads
String Choice: CS118 or CS50 (70/30 poly/nylon)
B) Geo (light pink)
Terry: The name for this project was originally "Geometry" due to the geometric curves and cuts in the cup. The curved H-ish catch zone is a result of those choices to give it a more even balance of weight across the larger diameter.
Jeremy: The Geo has a pretty commanding and stable feel on the string, but it returns back to your hand with a pleasing softness that will surprise you like no other. I really love how it basically has 2 thumb grind lips (inner and outer) and it lends itself to so many possibilities.
Diameter: 56.46 mm
Width: 42.54 mm
Gap: 4.45 mm
Weight: 63.7 g
Material: Aluminum 6061
Bearing: size C, CT ball bearing
Pads: 19mm One Drop Flow Groove Slim Pads
String Choice: CS118 or CS50 (70/30 poly/nylon)
C) Ripple (light blue)
Terry: This yoyo is based off the first design I ever rendered and uploaded, it went through a ton of CAD revisions before this prototype. Focused on comfort and aesthetics, this not-quite-organic is a unique full-sized throw for casual play.
Jeremy: The Ripple was actually the first design that caught my attention from Terry's collection. The original design had a bit more of a traditional organic profile, and while it still has the catchability and in-the-hand feel of an organic, we've pushed it in a direction that gives it some of the essence and performance of a stable H shape.
Diameter: 54.96 mm
Width: 45.37 mm
Gap: 4.45 mm
Weight: 64.6 g
Material: Aluminum 6061
Bearing: size C, CT ball bearing
Pads: 19mm One Drop Flow Groove Slim Pads
String Choice: CS118 or CS50 (70/30 poly/nylon)
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::::: Notes/Tips :::::
• We've designed each of these yoyo models to take One Drop Flow Groove slim pads, so if you need replacement pads you'll definitely want to pick those up as they have a slightly slimmer thickness than standard slim pads; around 1 to 1.1mm vs 1.2mm. (we'll have some available in the ZipLine shop.) Other types of 19mm replacement pads could protrude beyond the pad groove.