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Rank the Third Qualifier Obstacles


By third obstacle, I really just mean whatever obstacle followed the Big Balls on a course (regardless of whether there is a mud pit obstacle or not!). I just didn't want to put a much longer title emoticon

I won't count the season 1 Swing since I see that as more of an ending obstacle than anything, but there're still 14 others to rank!

Coming in at...

#14: Trippity Skippity Flippity Doo - I didn't care for this one too much, and I think it's clear why. When you see the Sweeper windmill and (occasionally) spinning platform, the obstacle looks promising, but then you realize these things all have virtually no effect and it just comes down to a Rumble Bridge that knock people off. Fail.

#13: "Shake & Spin" - I'm talking about the Jiggleator/Sinister Snowflake combo from season 5. This obstacle saw a couple of twists, but it usually ended up being the same thing. While it was cool to see someone clear it, most people just fell on the Snowflake and it felt lame.

#11: Snowfall - It's a good obstacle, but truly the ONLY one to not get changed whatsoever (yes I just checked). While it produced good wipeouts, it just felt like a slight letdown and in the end doesn't measure skill too much.

#10: Playpound - I respect this obstacle for being interesting, but it's still silly as there's no timing - it's just whenever the slide happens to tip. If the slide wasn't tipping, I'd like it more as the 'X' and small turntable are pretty cool. Also interesting to me that people seemed to benefit from the foam as they slid better!

#9: Jiggleators - I probably dislike this one more in retrospect since they inspired a lot of the future shaking obstacles (even in later rounds!). While the animal variations were fun and helped make the obstacle special, it did all come down to when the controller tipped the platform and when they pulled it back.

#8: Beaten Path/Organ Grinder - I actually didn't mind these ideas and would've enjoyed seeing a full block with different podium variations. Still, it's not a very interesting obstacle and the wipeouts were pretty lackluster. I do think they could've tried this with the Sweepers to see if that improved it, instead of completely changing the obstacle to Trampoline Sweepers!

#7: Shakealator - The Shakealator was annoying for being mechanical, but still gave contestants a chance and offered something different most weeks. Still, it wasn't as popular with me as most obstacles of the first few seasons.

# 6: Hurtles - The Hurtles were a ton of fun and made for lots of memorable crashes, but at the end of the day were hard to fail and ended up feeling out of place - especially in the Qualifier. For season 2, it also offered a low amount of variation which also hinders its rating.

#5: Trampoline Sweepers - I liked this one and the less effective variations were acceptable as it only made seven appearances. I did think the trampolines were a bit useless though and that the obstacle may have benefited from bigger gaps to give the contestants reason to bounce high and wipeout better.

#4: Snowplow Sweeper - While the only real change was having it rotate towards the contestants in the first couple of episodes, I still thought this was a really cool obstacle to have. I think this might be my highlight of the Winter Qualifier that year (and ever, really) as it revived the Crazy Sweeper and wasn't a stupid mechanical thing. It was fun to see lots of people get close and then get swept away at the last minute emoticon

#3: Poundabout - The Poundabout was a real surprise when it debuted as the majority of its appearances contained a new arrangement of bars/rings/punching-bags. It was fun to watch and brought a pretty simple idea into the Qualifier that was previously surprisingly underused. Unfortunately, this obstacle was (I believe) the least shown in all the Qualifiers that year emoticon

#2: Spring Fling - I loved the Spring Fling for similar reasons to the last couple: It was the main source of variety on its course! While they only modified the modes of entry, it had quite a collection and recycled the Green Ball and rectangle Turntable in a cool new way. Slide and trapeze were also really cool. They got more creative as they went.

#1: Log Roll - As usual, I really haven't named this as my favorite in the past, but it really is a good obstacle. It was variated every week, extremely difficult, yet passable. It was also the first dynamic regular obstacle to be included in a Qualifier which is cool. Okay, it didn't provide the best wipeouts, but it was a good one.

Your turn emoticon

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Keshi Heads
20/Nov/20, 5:46 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: Rank the Third Qualifier Obstacles


14. Beaten Path/Organ Grinder - While I did like seeing it for the 2 episodes it was in, the wipeouts just weren't that good and it just didn't feel exciting.

13. Trippity Skippity Flippity Doo - This just really felt like they had run out of ideas. While the wipeouts were good and it was nice seeing the spinning platform show up every now and then, this obstacle just wasn't good enough to stay interesting for 8 episodes.

12. Jiggleators 2.0 - While the falls on this obstacle were decent, it just felt so lazy and I just wish we could have gotten something new rather than some weird mashup of 2 obstacles that didn't really go together. However, I did like that it had some variation and don't dislike it.

11. Snowplow Sweeper - I actually really enjoyed this obstacle. However, I wasn't too into it by the end of the winter block.

10. Snowfall - This obstacle had some absolutely brutal wipeouts and was the highlight of the season 5 winter qualifier for me. However, I really wished that they did something like add foam to it.

9. Jiggleators - This obstacle was a great addition to the season 4 summer course and had some nice variation. However, I do agree that it could be a bit unfair at times.

8. This obstacle with the velvet ropes was probably one of the best ideas they ever had as far as variation goes. Other than that, this obstacle was fun to watch and felt more fair than the Jiggleators.

7. Rolling Log - I loved seeing the variations in this obstacle week to week. The actual falls were pretty good. If they hadn't added in the blue balls, this would probably be at the bottom of my list.

6. Playpound - This was another obstacle with absolutely brutal wipeouts. However, I agree that they should have found away to have some form of timing like having the contestants press a button. Other than that, it was tons of fun to watch and exciting when people cleared.

5. Hurtles - This might be one of the most painful obstacles in the show's history. It was absolutely brutal and I loved seeing it with the trampoline and hoops.

4. Trampoline Sweepers - While most of the variation here was kind of pointless, I still really enjoyed this obstacle. However, I'm with you in wishing that there was more space between the trampolines so that they could play up that aspect of the obstacle more.

3. Poundabout - I loved seeing an obstacle get this much variation especially in one of the later seasons. The obstacles were great. However, I just wish they showed it more. It's not like the starts or the Rumble Room were doing any better. emoticon

2. Spring Fling - This obstacle just looked so massive and intimidating. I think the varying entrances worked here better than any other obstacle and the falls were pretty much always top notch.

1. Tongue Twister - I don't know what it is, but I just loved this obstacle. I loved seeing the two variations of it as well as all the amazing falls that it gave us. This obstacle also benefits from having a good smackwall. I loved seeing it push people all the way into the center and slam them into the padding. I loved seeing people desperately trying to run back to the trampoline from the center and seeing them surprise by the water. It just felt like a fun obstacle. I would have liked to see some more variation with it. Maybe one with both tongues replaced with sweepers.
20/Nov/20, 10:10 am Link to this post    PM LS6
 
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Re: Rank the Third Qualifier Obstacles


Oh, I skipped a number and left out the Tongue Twisters. It'd probably go between Hurtles and Trampoline Sweepers though. I enjoyed it a lot!

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Keshi Heads
20/Nov/20, 10:55 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Giving the Big Balls
added bounce!


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Re: Rank the Third Qualifier Obstacles


My ranking isn't too different though will say watching again this year the Hurtles weren't as good as I remember. Wouldn't mind a variation back though on a narrower beam. Also was a bit gutted we didn't get the full run of the Organ Grinder/Beaten Path.

Log Roll though is absolutely the best in that position, though to be fair they rarely had a poor obstacle there.

Edited by Brekkie, 29/Nov/20, 11:35 pm


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"It's a bit like water boarding. It's got water in it... and I'm bored!"
Charlie Brooker on Total Wipeout
24/Nov/20, 11:12 pm Link to this post    PM Brekkie
 
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Re: Rank the Third Qualifier Obstacles


I feel like most of the "bad" obstacles (or the ones they admitted to being bad at least) had lots of room for development.

As you say the Organ Grinder could've had a full run and I think they'd have a lot of interesting twists if they worked it.

The Tramp-O-Mean also could've even been improved by putting foam/balls/gaps in the mesh itself.

Okay, those are the only two I can think of that they dissed, but still! emoticon

And yep, the only egregious edition (IMO) was Trip Skip Flip. Everything else was pretty solid.

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Keshi Heads
25/Nov/20, 12:07 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 


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