gelada
Our second
CHANCE !
The Birth of the Gelada: A Wild Ride
That first release? It was a grind. But we clawed our way through and managed to pull off a couple of major wins. Suddenly, MonkeyfingeR was on the map, in not one, but two legit stores: Highspeed YoYo (shoutout to Bret!) and YoYoExpert (Andre you are the MAN!). We weren’t out of the woods yet, but hey… maybe we had a shot.
We weren’t out of the woods yet
These guys took a leap of faith on our very first throw, so we knew we had to bring the heat. The plan? Keep it organic, give it that buttery floaty feel, and step up our anodizing game like never before.
We had two prototype designs in hand, both serious players. The team came back with nothing but good vibes. Tough call, but one stood out just a little more. Enter: the Gelada.
Todd came up with the name, inspired by a totally unhinged monkey from Africa with lion like fangs and a wicked tail. Trust us, this thing wasn’t cuddly. Neither was our throw. The Gelada was raw, powerful, and ready to tear it up.
This time, we weren’t holding back. We’d learned a ton from that first release and were ready to go all in on the second. We wanted details. We wanted bold. We wanted to blow minds.
with lion-like fangs and a wicked tail
So what did we do? We dropped a throw with polished cups, blasted play sides, and next level finishes the community hadn’t seen before on a production run. Tattoo style engravings. Ghosting effects. Acid washes. Wild colour combos. We were like kids in a candy store, experimenting with every anodizing technique and colour we had learnt from the first release.
And it paid off.
The community loved the Gelada. The Online shops were moving our throws, even though we were still struggling to move less than ten units through our store. Didn’t matter, as long as our retail partners were winning, we knew we could keep this thing rolling.
The Gelada was a hit. That feeling? Pure magic.
Now the big question was… what’s next?