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WateryMimosa Profile
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Re: ANW 11


Quote:

The Wingnuts in Qualifying have always been like this (though they have gotten uglier by the year). The ones you're thinking of are in Wingnut Alley, which is the fifth obstacle in Stage Two.



Ooooooh. -pretends to understand what Messup is on abouf-

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14/Jul/19, 6:43 am Link to this post    PM WateryMimosa
 
Takeshi1 Profile
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Re: ANW 11


Ok this is a bit late but here's my Cincinnati Qualifiers review:

Won't lie, I legit forgot I watched this - had to watch the gbajabiamoments again to check I had. The episode itself was just a little boring and some of the biggest shocks they fast-forwarded or cut entirely.

Ring Swing is an obstacle I've never liked - it's boring and too easy to get hung up on.

Spinning Bridge is a great obstacle that despite being the oldest balance obstacle around, doesn't seem to have aged much.

Wingnuts is another obstacle I like (at least the normal version, can't say the same for the stage 2 wrecking Wingnut Alley).

Slingshot is yet another good obstacle. I like obstacles that an be done quickly and can easily go wrong. Wish they would say on the show if an obstacle comes from the obstacle design challenge - there's been literally no mention of it at all this series, despite at least two obstacles already coming from the viewers.

This week's Power Tower was probably the most entertaining after the LA one. Ethan coming from behind to win and the rookie's fall made it really exciting.

Overall Qualifying thoughts to come.
14/Jul/19, 9:57 am Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 11


I think there was one too many obstacle that we've seen a lot recently. If the Spinning Bridge or Wingnuts weren't there, even if another rerun was there instead, things might have looked better.

Quote:

WateryMimosa wrote:

Quote:

The Wingnuts in Qualifying have always been like this (though they have gotten uglier by the year). The ones you're thinking of are in Wingnut Alley, which is the fifth obstacle in Stage Two.



Ooooooh. -pretends to understand what Messup is on abouf-



https://sasukepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Wingnuts

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14/Jul/19, 7:14 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 11


The first episode of Finals was a pretty good start. Aside from a few things, I thought it was a solid episode.

The Modifications: So we once again have the lame version of the Spin Hopper. Doing that for Finals is acceptable, and I know the results in Qualifying were bad, but it looks lame. Also, hate Matt and Akbar saying "We've made the obstacle more difficult by removing a pipe." And then my family tells me I'm wrong and it is harder, and I'm annoyed. emoticon Also think the final bar on Spring Forward was more straight than last time? Fair change.

Salmon Ladder is a fine obstacle, but did anyone fail on it this time? I can't recall.
The Hinge once again appears too easy for an eighth obstacle, though I think the new color-scheme grew on me. The last board shook more than it did in Minneapolis last year, but I think less people struggled with that bit!
Leaps of Faith was an interesting new obstacle. I really liked how it worked-in elements of the Crazy Clocks (and that part looked really cool) and Mission Impossible: Fallout. I feel like the second half of the obstacle lacked a bit of character, but I don't really mind simple. The obstacle was killer enough anyway!
Spider Trap looks cool as an ending, but I do wish it'd be modified somehow. I don't know how they would change it, but most everyone has cleared it, which is kind of weird. Maybe they should bring back the Invisible Ladder, but they wouldn't do that.

Power Tower new version is interesting, and the light-up poles for the holds are cool, but I prefer the Qualifier style overall.

A little note I made that I thought was interesting is that this is the second year in a row that LA's eighth obstacle has been modified a bit from its previous appearance to be made less stable. Last year, the actual cube on the Giant Cubes tilted side-to-side, and this year the last board on The Hinge tilts more! I just thought this was interesting as these are the only two occasions where I can recall the show doing that.

Brian Burk's run was a good way to start, though everyone being so shocked by his performance strikes me as a bit insulting. People can have autism (and similar issues) and still do just as well. I know all of the comments on him are meant in a nice way, but it just seems a bit patronizing to me. Never mind, though, it's great watching his run and even seeing him having some fun on The Hinge. Will be great to see him in Vegas!

One thing I loved about this episode was that it saw more success for the old competitors. Brian Kretsch's run was admittedly shocking to watch, and it was great seeing him get credit for it. He has good technique, and the back of this course was quite technique-heavy. And David turned in a great performance, as well - glad to see his comeback continue!

I enjoyed watching Flexington and The Lizard's runs. They both are interesting and relatively unknown newbies. I think The Lizard was on to something with his early dismount idea, but swung a bit too high. Well, he definitely learned his lesson! The fall face smash looked really bad, but the sound-effect was too funny (even in slow-motion!).

I'm also very surprised with the results of the course. I knew the Qualifier had an insanely early cut-off point, but without rain and with the easy Spin Hopper (plus relatively easy eighth obstacle), I thought we would see about seven clears. I was wrong! I guess I'm used to the LA Finals course of recent years being the easiest. And I'll say it again: Leaps of Faith is a lot harder than I thought.

I'm getting really frustrated now with the lack of attention the leaderboard gets. The Akbar moments are funny (though this week's quotes were clearly scraped together last-minute since they apparently only came up with the Akbar Gbaja Bia-moments idea after editing the Atlanta episodes), but I would much rather focus on who is moving on, and what obstacles people failed at the end. Maybe do the moments as a montage before the Power Tower, that makes more sense to me.

I don't know how I feel about only taking the top 12 now. I mean, it ended-up being 15 this week (and possibly most weeks ahead), but it seems like a weird decision to cut-down the number of competitors in Vegas. Plus, it throws me off a bit, and I think anyone who makes it to obstacle #9 is safe, when that probably isn't true anymore. It might not be a bad thing, but will take some getting used to.

Edited by Messup434, 23/Jul/19, 3:11 am


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17/Jul/19, 6:55 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 11


Quick summary of thoughts about LA Finals:

Hinge is just bad. I like how it's different to pretty much everything else they put in that spot but it's just a bland spider flip rip-off that blocks the Salmon Ladder leading to awkward camera angles.

Leaps Of Faith was again a bit bland. I liked the second set and how they folded together like a book, the backwards grab on the last one was a little awkward but I quite liked that as well (and rip Hunter Guerard's head).

The biggest shock of the night was fast-forwarded - I really wasn't expecting Kyle Soderman to fall on the Salmon Ladder.

Finals power tower is just a bunch of holds, prefer the qualifying version. Plus, where they start just looks underwhelming and the tower itself lacks the drama of the balance section or the big lache from qualifying. However, this could provide some pretty close races. And as I've said before, I'm not a fan of the safety pass.
19/Jul/19, 11:55 am Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 11


The Hinge felt more intrusive on the Salmon Ladder this year, for me. It's probably the same though emoticon

It is a cool idea (haven't really had an eighth obstacle that encourages lowerbody use since... the Ledge Jump in season 5?), but I'm meh on it.

Leaps of Faith was good, but I am surprised how highly some people talk of it. emoticon

The Finals Power Tower will have a bit of a new element soon. In the last three regionals (probably all the others) at least, the ninjas start by climbing the stairs and then climb down on a rope to reach the hold.

Forgot to discuss it, but the starting platform was a surprise to see!

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19/Jul/19, 10:14 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
WateryMimosa Profile
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Re: ANW 11


The Finals annoyed me lmao. The Hinge is a good obstacle because it's not so damn hard lmao, but the next obstacle with the ledges was so stupid.

The spin Hopper obstacle feels somewaht contrived for my liking.. lmao. It takes out to many strong people.

I wanted the cat guy to run but I guess you can only run one region each. The Chad flexington run was fun but i won't be asking to see it again xD

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20/Jul/19, 7:03 am Link to this post    PM WateryMimosa
 
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Re: ANW 11


I find it creative. The new season of A
american ninja warriors is hugely creative a little. I have not watched it o.

You know my husband just said we should cut down our backyard so Messup can run around it more. I said what does that mean? I was confused o. He said we should cut down trees and crap. I find it environmentilly rude o.
22/Jul/19, 5:59 pm Link to this post    PM miamigirl
 
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Re: ANW 11


It's going to be hard to live up to miamigirl's review, but I'll try emoticon

It's interesting that the front half on the course had no modifications to make it slightly easier. It showed, too, as many struggled on it (especially early on).

Salmon Ladder is a classic obstacle, but it may be about time for something new, but of a similar vein. It does do a job of exhausting grip before the eighth obstacle, nonetheless.
Up for Grabs is an interesting idea. The function of the obstacle is cool, and it's clearly a lot harder than it looks. I think it may get old fairly quickly, but it's an interesting, difficult new idea.
Fallout looks like a real Mission Impossible, if you catch my reference emoticon I actually think it's good for a hodge-podge obstacle, and it has many elements that would go well on their own. The tipping disc seemed to tilt a lot for some, but not at all for others (and they all grabbed the same part). emoticon
Spider Trap shouldn't get used to the reputation it had tonight, but made for an exciting end to the course! Even the start of Drew's climb was sketchy, which greatly enhanced the obstacle.

Power Tower is slightly better with the addition of the rope wall, but still fills a bit less interesting than the Qualifying one to me. I just think the Qualifying one incorporated a greater number of more unique skills. emoticon It's not bad at all, anyway.

I think it's important to note that Drew's run was shown at the end of the episode, much like Hunter's last week. If they continue to show Speed Pass-winners at the end, I'll be fine with it, as it helps "organize" things a bit. Good move!

On the other side of the coin (but also on a positive note), the editing to kick this episode off was especially random. Starting with someone who failed so early on the first half is a great way to throw us off (and Off the Hook officially feels harder than last time emoticon), and there were several early fails later on. I appreciate the surprises.

One thing that was weird was how they caught-up with Stratis on the Ferris Wheels, yet recapped his injury on Block Run. It'd have been almost the same amount of time if they'd started him at Block Run and exactly the same had they just returned with him doing Block Run. Still, sometimes new editing styles can spice things up, so I'm not saying it's awful.

I was expecting big things from Jessica Clayton, so it was a shame to see her fall early. I think this is another example of a trampoline obstacle that is simply too unpredictable to figure-out, but it's too bad it happened to her. The way they saved the fail to the end was reminiscent of how they showed Quest in Oklahoma.

I was glad to see Craver get a full run and a story, though he was seen for all the wrong reasons, unfortunately. I also enjoyed Carbone's run, and the Wall spin was amazing. I would be curious to see what he would've done if he missed it, but never mind emoticon

With this episode, I predict it is farewell to Off the Hook, Block Run, Bouncing Spider and Fallout. They could surprise us again, though.

One comment I found interesting was the one on charging competitors to use the Ferris Wheels - a good joke, but interesting in light of the debate on whether or not ninjas should make money. I mean, I think that's a ridiculous idea, but it's still interesting to hear them say it.

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23/Jul/19, 3:09 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 11


It's time for my thoughts on the Oklahoma Finals - hard to believe we're already halfway through! emoticon

The Modifications were the most substantial we've seen in a while. I was impressed with the static bar on the Wing Swing being removed and the flow of the obstacle changing (rather than the usual "make this move around less" or "remove the last grip" for Finals ideas). I thought that was original, while still making it easier. The usual Fly Wheels modification was fine, and the Coconut Climb was clearly changed, though didn't seem to help people substantially.

Salmon Ladder once again felt a bit stale.
Crazy Clocks was a good obstacle to begin with, but even better with the modification! Having a swinging board in the middle is a cooler idea than the "Fly Wheel ledge" from last year, and I'm happy with the second clock being at an incline. There were lots of people who were close to making it, but still failed, which is exciting to watch.
Snap Back is an interesting concept. To me, it actually feels a bit simple for position nine, but it obviously did its job. For some reason, it felt to me like an Ultimate Beastmaster obstacle, but I don't know why. emoticon
Spider Trap is... back to being boring. emoticon The race at the end for the second fastest time gave it a bit of character, though!

Before moving on from the obstacles, I find it very interesting that all three position #9 challenges so far have included a switch-grip lache of some sort. It's certainly a tough move to make, so I'm glad it's getting some love.

Maybe it's just me (because I wasn't around for the whole episode, this time), but I was shocked that Snap Back took out six people! Did I miss some, or did the show skip over those completely? emoticon

I definitely feel like a lot of runs had to have been cut (or fast-forwarded), seeing as almost all of the segments only contained one person. emoticon There seemed to be more stories this week (especially near the beginning), which ate-up time from the other competitors.

Mean I know, but I had to chuckle at Day's lighting-fast descent down the Coconut Climb and Wiltin's trampoline mishap emoticon

This region had a lot of star-power, but I honestly wasn't overly-impressed by anything. The battle between Gil and The Kid is very tight (and impressive!), but they give the rivalry a bit too much attention, in my opinion. The girl from College Madness was good, but struck me as a bit arrogant. That may just be me. I like Maggi, but I didn't understand why they made a huge deal of the story she's told several times again. I much prefer watching her saves on the Diving Boards!

All in all, there was nothing spectacular about this episode, for me. But I actually quite enjoyed it overall. The course was pretty good, but the editing could've been a lot better.

Edited by Messup434, 2/Aug/19, 4:44 am


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2/Aug/19, 4:43 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 


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