Page: 1 2 3 ... 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
^Dan came through for you 
I was a fan of this episode. We knew it'd have a lot of big names, but the newbies also turned-out to be decent too.
The rain was clear a few times and likely hurt a few people in their attempts (particularly Drew on the Mega Wall), but I don't think it led to too many failures that wouldn't have happened on the same obstacle anyway.
Floating Steps are more bearable this year, prefer the shorter jumps so that not half the field is having to pull themselves up and drag the one obstacle on forever. Plus starting several people mid-run most weeks, we don't see them a sickening amount at all 
Fly Wheels seem different in this position (and I don't just mean the third wheel starting at an angle), not sure if harder or easier - on the one hand, the jumps seem bigger, but on the other, less people actually failed the transitions from wheel to wheel.! The initial jump from tramp to wheel definitely seemed bigger though
Razor's Edge was definitely more cutting this year (JJ  ) and some of the falls on it looked to have come straight-out-of Wipeout!
Ring Turn was smart in that rather than making an arbitrary rule ("you have to hook the ring on the indent"), the main idea of the obstacle was actually necessary to progress. If the competitors hadn't hooked the ring, they wouldn't have had enough swinging ability to reach the next ring anyway! So overall I liked it, and it's interesting to see lowerbody being included. The small ring at the end is somewhat anti-climatic, but fits the obstacle best and forces the second ring to be hooked
Slippery Summit's name is another thing that yells Wipeout to me, but I like the obstacle much better than the Rail Runner counterpart. I don't love how everyone is constantly jamming their head into the beam (maybe make it thinner for Finals?), but I appreciated seeing what the Rail Runner always should have been (and would've if the producers went simpler and smarter). And at least we didn't see any broken noses!!
Mega Wall was slick with rain (at least by the last runs by the looks of it), so only one clear again. Ryan's $10,000-winning surmount was a surprise to me, but I'm a fan of his and certainly glad for him to make some money after 10 years
It was another more storyful episode, but I still really enjoyed watching. My favorite piece was on Ryan Stratis' ninja career over the years (loved the nine Warped Wall comparison pictures), closely followed by Drew's about the cool challenges he's done (all of which I follow). Notice a common theme here: they relate to ANW.
That said, I really, really supported Gabe Stewart and wanted him to make it so bad. His amazing attitude for the whole situation, and continuing to try to help his community is extremely admirable.
I also really appreciated the idea of being less predictable and showing the first run of the night CLEARING!! Even though I find it a bit depressing to see every single obstacle in the first run, I really like them shaking it up, and making any type of result possible 
Overall, I really enjoyed this. As I was at next week's episode, I will honestly say that editing will either make it amazing or terrible*. I'll be interested to see how it goes!
*Knowing my accuracy, it'll probably just be a very average, mediocre episode 
|
|
15/Jun/18, 5:58 am
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 694
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
Cheers Dan, and JJ's fall was shocking. I just wish the producers would cut the films before the runs - surprised they don't class the show as a documentary!
|
|
15/Jun/18, 7:23 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
Contrary to what I said two days ago, Indy felt like one where they might focus more on the story of the runs/results more than the stories. Of course you'll have Isaac's story and all, but I'm expecting to see more runs tomorrow night!
Catch me in the crowd: a 15-year-old boy at the Spin Hopper, standing at the rail!
Forgot what I was wearing
|
|
17/Jun/18, 9:57 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 694
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
I completely forgot it's on tonight, nice surprise for me! 
Oh, and btw, I have made a SM account, same username so you know who I am.
Edited by Takeshi1, 18/Jun/18, 5:32 pm
|
|
18/Jun/18, 5:11 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
As someone who was there, I can have a very honest opinion here: they butchered an episode that could've been quite entertaining.
Back at beginning of May, I was like "Hey, these returning obstacles are all kinda meh" and "These obstacles were all taken right from last year's LA course (obstacle spoiler: Fly Wheels replaced Cannonball Slider in Finals, so there were three LA obstacles returning in this region  ). I thought the new obstacles could have been better as well, but by the end of night one, I was a fan of both overall and thought they'd come together to make a very good "story." This didn't happen. More on that at the end, after individual obstacle reviews:
Floating Steps don't tend to have their fails shown much anymore - especially in full. There were a handful of them that I saw in real-time though, and many struggling with them, like Jody Avila's wife. Height definitely is a large factor on these.
Cannonball Slider was fine, and haven't really tired of it as much as I expected. It did take out Lorin Ball though 
Wheel Flip was borderline decent, though I would appreciate it more if it and Block Run switched spots as I began to tire of seeing its function almost every run. They also made it seem like this wasn't really deadly, but in reality it was! We saw a good amount of people failing it - mainly when transferring from wheel to wheel, rather than from the drop's impact. The hanging barrier for the first flip struck me as strange and I thought if they had one there, there should be one for the final flip to make it symmetrical.
Block Run gets harder every year and I liked it this year. Fast-action and nerve-wracking in this episode. The blocks had an automatic-weighting-system (using sand) that got them to the right position.
Spin Hopper was good, though I feel like it got a bit downplayed from what it really was, and it showed. Not all that many who failed it were shown, as demonstrated by the leaderboard. Also, I thought this when I was there, and still do now: the middle bar was a bit disappointing. I was hoping it'd spin like the plank on the Propeller Bar or that they'd at least make it swing around a bit. Though, to be fair, it obviously was still tricky the way it was so thick (actually, all the holds looked far thicker on TV than they did from my perspective in real-life). Also, the reason they locked the third "pill" on the descent in place was because they were trying to encourage people to lache straight from the top bar to it, for some reason.
Mega Wall had its first week without clears and I'm perfectly fine with it, makes it more special when it does happen. That one competitor who got his finger over the lip put his hand on top of the shorter Wall (if I'm remembering correctly) so hopefully they wouldn't have let his count even if he had held-on!
But worst of all: I was hardly in the broadcast at all 
 Turns out they ran a lot more people before we got in than I realized - and favored that group heavily over the second group (which was half made-up of walk-ons, to be fair!).
This episode seemed to have less stories, similarly to the LA episode, though I don't see a specific reason they'd need to have less this time. It's crazy, but I'd almost had liked more stories this week as the obstacles (especially in the runs they chose to show) just didn't work for me. Ironically enough, I've preferred both of the episode WITH a ton of stories this year, which is interesting...
Anyway, the untold stories of ANW:
-The Wheel Flip was a massacre in real life, probably taking-out about 30 (many due to being sloppy on their dismount attempt). They hardly showed any of these.
-Block Run was tricky this year, but didn't take out that many people. They showed just about every Block Run fail.
-Spin Hopper had four or five of the people who attempted it fail the very last transition (that's why a couple of the people they did show tried to skip the last grip). I think only one of these fails was shown.
I would've preferred the episode if they focused more on Wheel Flip fails than showing the excessive amount of clears that they did, and showing all of the final Spin Hopper jump fails around the middle of the episode and building on the story that people are never safe on the ANW course.
The obstacles names in the last couple of regions have been disappointments, as well.
|
|
20/Jun/18, 9:08 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 694
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
I've got some stats for the obstacles in Indianapolis - can't guarantee they're 100% correct but if they are then you must have missed quite a few block run fails as it's pretty much the same as wheel flip and spin hopper:
Number of competitors: 110
Fails on Floating Steps: 6
Fails on Cannonball Drop: 32
Fails on Wheel Flip: 22
Fails on Block Run: 19
Fails on Spin Hopper: 21
Fails on Warped Wall: 0
Mega Wall failed attempts: 8
Mega Wall completions: 0
Course completions: 10
|
|
21/Jun/18, 7:09 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
I could've - as I clearly missed a ton of the runs (and a lot of the Block Run fails they did show, I wasn't there for). Nineteen seems a bit high, but totally possible at the same time...
|
|
23/Jun/18, 8:33 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
Replying to Takeshi1's most recent posts in the Australia topic (here: http://bkeshiheads.runboard.com/t3377,offset=30#post352644), just to keep both discussions relevant and on-topic. Sorry for going all ANW in the wrong country
One of my friends, actually works for the obstacle designing company now and I recently asked him if he knew why they stuck with the predictable two years of appearance per obstacle. He said he wasn't sure, but it probably has to do with there not being enough storage space to keep old obstacles for years. On the contrary, though, another friend told me last year that the testers tried an obstacle out with the metal nunchucks from Venice season five (they are small enough to easily transport, I suppose) so I'm not sure if that's why...
I kind of like how they've started giving some obstacles three seasons. I know that technically this makes the obstacle even more repetitive, but it also makes the format less predictable than when they strictly put the cap after two years.
Yeah, I've noticed the similar obstacle combos too. I tend to think it's a coincidence (and I'm fine with it, better than a ton of compex rules that make it easy to guess which obstacle will appear where), though with a similar second obstacle in the Jumper Cables, I thought that was a bit too similar to Dallas. Two obstacles is fine with me though.
But yeah, I'd say it's really just random as we've had other abnormalities before - Rumbling Dice and Log Grip both appearing in the same region two years in a row (and both times this happened to the Baltimore/Philly/St. Louis regional). Another strange one is that Broken Bridge appeared in three regional episodes this year (Finals for Dallas and both parts of Philadelphia). I'm guessing they would've swapped-back the Tuning Forks for Philly Finals had the weather been better that day.
But yeah, there've been various weird obstacles repeats.
I look forward to tomorrow's course. I really dreaded seeing the Spin Bridge and Sky Hooks together again (as I didn't love that combo to begin with), but we know the Broken Bridge won't be any different to last year and I've always preferred Wingnuts to Sky Hooks. (Surprisingly) I think both look slicker this time around, too! Plus, the Bowtie Swing looks better than the clunky Rolling Pin and the fifth obstacle looks a bit more exciting than Rolling Thunder.
Whoops, I seem to have already given away my "first-impression obstacle thoughts" 
|
|
25/Jun/18, 6:05 am
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Takeshi1
*Choose a Title*
Joined: 04-2018
Post Count: 694
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
I think broken bridge might have an extra thing this year. (I don't really know what to call it so I'll stick with thing). Never liked the sky hooks, always liked the wingnuts and was probably one of the only people to both like wingnut alley and expect it back this year as well coz let's face it, ANW abandoned speed courses long ago.
|
|
25/Jun/18, 5:45 pm
|
Link to this post
PM Takeshi1
|
Messup434
Administrator
Joined: 12-2014
Post Count: 13005
|
|
Reply | Quote
|
|
Re: American Ninja Warrior General Chat Topic
Quote:
I don't really know what to call it so I'll stick with thing
Doritos?
Yeah, you're absolutely right - I just meant it wasn't completely butchered like we saw with the Spinning Bridge this year. I'm glad it kept its original (well, original for Qualifying rounds) shape anyway! I wonder if the additional triangle is what enabled so many people to just walk across this time? It'd make sense as it's slightly smaller gaps then.
If they ever bring back the Broken Bridge next year, I might suggest changing things up by forcing competitors to CRAWL across  They won't do it, but I think it'd be cool. Same structure, they already have the pieces, but crawling would completely change-up the obstacle!
Review coming up, sorry it's a bit delayed!
|
|
29/Jun/18, 12:37 am
|
Link to this post
PM Messup434
|
Page: 1 2 3 ... 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
You are not logged in ( Login)
|
