My wife’s in love with Eagle McMahon …
If you think I’m joking, we named one of our sons after him.
Seemingly everything the guy touches becomes cool. As such, when I first heard about the Mutant, I wanted one. And before it’d even arrived on my doorstep, I knew what was coming:
- The Mutant would be mega-beef.
- The Mutant would feel funky in the hand.
- The Mutant would offer a wannabe-Justice flight.
Still, I couldn’t resist …
I’m now the (kind of) proud owner of a dayglow Neo Mutant.
Keep reading to see if you need one, too.
The feel of the Mutant
Let’s not beat around the bush …
The Mutant feels different.
It has nothing to do with the plastic, either. Currently, the Mutant’s only available in Neo plastic. Discmania’s Neo Evolution plastic is a special combination of Latitude 64’s Opto and Gold Line polymers. If none of that makes sense to you, it feels like Champion plastic – it’s freaky firm.
The defining characteristic of the Mutant is its abnormal shape. Built like a Cybertruck, there are no rounded edges on the thing. This makes for a bulky, aggressive-feeling disc. To go along with the randomness of the idea, there’s a small, five-inch puddle in the center of the flight plate.
I’ve never seen ANYTHING like it …
It’s weird.
I’m not a disc dork, but it almost feels like the Discmania guys started with the “Mutant” name and worked backwards. Whatever mad idea popped into their head, they ran with it for branding purposes. Even if you’ve been in disc golf for decades, you won’t have felt a disc like this one.
If you’ve read any of my reviews, you know I prefer beaded frisbees – this one’s beadless. With the rigid, shelf-like rim, however, I hardly notice it. It’s almost like there are multiple beads on it, really. When backhanding, I fan grip 100% of my mids – this thing feels great when doing it.
Forehand approaches are a BIG part of my game …
Thankfully, the Mutant hardcore delivers on that front – the low, flat profile helps.
No complaints on forehand feel.
The flight of the Mutant
Overstable. Glideless.
Like, REALLY overstable and glideless …
That’s all you need to know.
Foundation Disc Golf’s Hunter Thomas reviewed the disc back in March of this year over on YouTube. He compared the flight of the disc to a midrange version of the Tilt. While I wouldn’t go quite that extreme with it, he’s not that far off, either. The Mutant is too overstable for me.
* Note: Totally skimped on the flight numbers – my bad: 5 (Speed) 3 (Glide) 0 (Turn) 4 (Fade)
In my bag, the overstable midrange slot is occupied by the Star Croc or Glow Gator – whichever is jiving with my game at the time. In my opinion, both of those are FAR more workable than the Mutant. Granted, you can’t release the Mutant on a “chop” line and expect it to come out …
It’s NOT a Tilt …
But for mortal arms, it might as well be.
The more I tinkered with this thing, the more I came to understand why somebody like Eagle would want one in their bag. The Mutant can handle Tornado-level winds. It can subdue superhuman arm speeds, too. If you live in Kansas and bomb like crazy, buy one.
Otherwise, eh …
Maybe not.
The aesthetic of the Mutant
Mine’s a stock Neo Mutant.
It’s simple, fresh and professional.
Discmania’s known for this – they delivered, yet again.
Did the Discmania Mutant make my bag?
I wanted it to …
I wanted it to SO badly.
It’s fun to be the guy who makes weird molds work for his game, but this one was simply too much of a stretch for me. Again, my Crocs and Gators are able to do so much more, while still upholding their overstable reputations. I don’t want to use the G-word with this thing, but …
It’s gimmicky.
There are easily better options out there …
Buy a Justice. Bag a Justice.
The Final Green Splatter Grade: B-
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