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Messup434 Profile
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Re: ANW 14


Interesting how so far the finals have both had all-new fifth and eighth obstacles (the two most intense upperbody obstacles where there's no chance of skipping). From my quick research they also all seem to be kind of awkward grip things.

I'm guessing both sets of these upperbody obstacles will return in episodes 3 & 4.

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7/Aug/22, 12:42 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 14


Episode 8 (Semi-Final 3) Mini-Review

The course:
Shrinking Steps
Over Under (NEW)
Clockwork
Diamond Dash (predictably replacing Spinning Bridge)
Hopscotch
Warped Wall
Salmon Ladder
Box Office
Flipped Around (NEW) / Diving Boards
Spider Trap

Finally got round to watching this one. Better results than last time with 6 clears and around 11 reaching obstacle 9. I assume this is mainly from the final box of Box Office being visibly larger.

The two new obstacles were both fine, nothing special but they do their job. Both seemed quite taxing on the upper body.

This is exactly the same point in the competition as last year that I got sick of qualifying-style courses and wanted Vegas to start. Ended up watching this one in two parts which was much better.

Honestly the editing was decent by their standards, no real complaints. And a couple of big shocks... literally a couple! Jesse Labreck didn't look in the mindset from the outset and failed obstacle 3. It's a shame that her fall was made even more obvious by them editing her directly after showing RJ Roman's clear. Chris DiGangi also fell early, at obstacle 5, and both won't be moving on to Vegas.

The Power Tower ended up being between two Iowa ninjas: Levi Enright and Jackson Twait. It was a very close race, with Jackson a hair ahead for most and Levi reaching the buzzer first by a fraction at the end. That means Twait is 0 for 2 on the Power Tower and Enright has a safety pass in his pocket.

I think I'm caught up now (for a few hours until the next one comes out I think... unless I'm already a week behind? I don't know at this point!).

Edited by Takeshi1, 8/Aug/22, 8:45 pm
8/Aug/22, 8:42 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 14


Episode 8 (Semi-Final 3) Mini-Review

The course:
Shrinking Steps
Over Under
Air Surfer
Diamond Dash
Kaleidoscope
Warped Wall
Salmon Ladder
Ghost Town
Flipped Around / Diving Boards
Spider Trap

A course of repeat obstacles this episode. Strange that they didn't bring one or two new ones like last year but at least we had a fairly solid course. The episode itself was actually fairly strong and enjoyable with mostly good editing (by their standards).

6 clears overall, Power Tower was won by Nate Hansen in a come from behind victory after Austin Gray fell off the Cliffhanger portion.

Good end to what were, in fairness, a good set of semi-finals. I found it difficult to engage in the middle two mainly from episode fatigue after all the heats but if I was watching just the semis I think I'd have enjoyed them all for what they were. All the shock early exits of some big names managed to make the usual predictability less of an issue.

Vegas coming up next, they showed some course spoilers in a preview - looking was too tempting but I made sure not to focus so I don't have too many spoilers. Saw a couple of interesting things and a couple of predictable things, the majority is still thankfully a surprise to me tho. Looking forward to these last 3 (I assume?) episodes.
13/Aug/22, 10:27 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 14


Interesting that it was all repeats. Let me check how it was done last year... ah I see that was better. It seems like they went for two semifinals appearances per obstacle this time, rather than last time having some slots of 2x2 and some with three different obstacles, with only one appearing twice. This change definitely isn't helping make it seem any less repetitive, then.

[WARNING: SOMETHING THAT COULD BE POTENTIALLY INTERPRETTED AS A SPOILER OF THE SEASON RESULTS BUT IS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE]






Also, I read that they have recently changed Vegas from four episodes to three as a result of poor ratings. That's not a good sign. Though it's interesting that it was four to begin with and could be comfortably edited down to three. Not sure if that implies anything.

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Keshi Heads
14/Aug/22, 11:49 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 14


Quote:

Messup434 wrote:

Also, I read that they have recently changed Vegas from four episodes to three as a result of poor ratings. That's not a good sign. Though it's interesting that it was four to begin with and could be comfortably edited down to three. Not sure if that implies anything.


If true that is very interesting indeed. Suggests slightly better results than last year perhaps? But then again one of the things I did see was a *Stage 2 obstacle that gave me flashbacks to another* (spoiler, highlight to read) which would I assume make results worse! That being said I really don't think they'd want to return to ANW 8-10 difficulty.

Should probably make some Vegas predictions before it airs (not that I'll be watching straight away anyway):
Stage 1: 30 clears
Stage 2: 7 clears
Stage 3: 1 clear
Stage 4: 1 clear

I don't know the course so this is a punt in the dark! Feel like a result spread like that is somewhat realistic maybe? But maybe I'm SO wrong! We'll have to see...

(Would love to see predictions from you as well Messup, hopefully you'll see this before you have an idea from post-ep discussions!)

Edited by Takeshi1, 15/Aug/22, 9:45 pm
15/Aug/22, 9:42 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 14


Yes, I was about to make some predictions! I think yours definitely look reasonable. Let me see how many people are in Vegas: 69? That based off the tables on Sasukepedia and figuring out how many women did or didn’t qualify via the top 15, but I think that’s right. Based on the number, I think I’ll bet:

Stage 1: 24 clears
Stage 2: 8 clears
Stage 3: 2 clears
Stage 4: 1 clear

I don’t think that high of a proportion of 69 should be clearing stage 1, but I would not be surprised. Of course, the bigger thing is how much they’ve pared Vegas down in number of competitors emoticon I agree it probably won’t be as hard as seasons 8-10, but maybe it should be (just more evenly distributed). Definitely after a Total Victory if there is one.

Kind of ironic that I read that a bunch of people had to be replaced due to covid when I thought this whole vaccine rule was made to avoid that..

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15/Aug/22, 11:45 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 14


Episode 10: Vegas Stage 1 (Part 1) Spoiler Warning!

The course:
Slide Surfer
Three-Ring Circus
Giant Rollercoaster
Jumping Spider
Tetherball
Warped Wall
Dipping Birds
Fly Hooks / High Road


The part of the season that we actually want to see! They're doing the same editing structure as last year:
• Night 1: Most of Stage 1
• Night 2: The rest of Stage 1 & first part of Stage 2
• Night 3: Everything else

The episode as a whole wasn't very well edited in comparison to usual Vegas episodes. Of the 5 fastest times, 4 were ff'd including all the top 3! Last year's LNS Kaden Lebsack got a ff too, as did Kyle Soderman who reached Stage 3.

There were times of big predictability: Levi Enright being the first runner showed he'd be using his safety pass, Sean Bryan being runner 3 (and being shown straight after an ad break) suggested he would indeed be failing early.

But at other times they were unpredictable: they showed Josh Levin just after Josiah Singleton's first clear of the night and I thought he was set to fall - but no, he cleared (using the High Road). However, a lot of high profile ninjas got skipped over, but I suppose Vegas is full of talent and you can't show them all.


The course had only 3 changes from last year but felt quite different. This Vegas tournament, it hit me how difficult the obstacles are now and how ahead of the rest of the ninja world the US is. My views are still early so may change after night 2 but here we go:

Not sure why Slide Surfer came back, it doesn't function as meant to, yet gets 2 seasons?? Lacking ideas to replace it perhaps?

Three Ring Circus is actually two rings and a UFO, it's fine as an obstacle but quite a slow and awkward one for 1.2. Also circus theming on a Vegas obstacle does not fit the aesthetic one bit.

After seeing Rollercoaster in the heats, I assumed Double Dipper was probably gone from Vegas. Giant Rollercoaster in hindsight seems like an obvious replacement. Uncreative and would've liked something more different in the 1.3 slot but it worked well. Well, it malfunctioned in taping leading to reruns, but on camera it worked well!!

Jumping Spider took out the most people of any obstacle tonight despite being joint-longest surviving obstacle. After all the more complicated newer stuff, it's quite nice to have an obstacle that's simpler in concept and design.

Tetherball is very slow, it takes all the pacing out of the stage, also seems quite hard to control your dismount - on an obstacle based around it's dismount! Not a fan, they need to stop rigidly sticking to the same pool structure - making obstacles based on the pool they are meant to fit leads to bad designs.

Dipping Birds, High Road and Fly Hooks are predictable returners from last year. All work pretty well for their position and Dipping Birds has had significantly more fails this time around.


From the edit so far, RJ Roman and Jay Lewis got favourable edits so might be ones to watch. That being said, the editors ff'd Kaden in Stage 1 last year and he went all the way to the Final Stage so we probably shouldn't read too into this. I think Flip has a decent chance of reaching Stage 3 after getting a deserved last runner of the night. If Josh Levin can break his Stage 2 curse he could be a one to watch too. Two of the favourites are out from covid rules though: Joe Moravsky and Najee Richardson won't compete in Vegas this year.

Still decent as an episode but definitely let down by not good at all editing. I am though looking forward to the remaining two episodes!

Edited by Takeshi1, 17/Aug/22, 3:17 pm
17/Aug/22, 3:11 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 14


I watched a couple clips.

I thought the Three Ring Circus would be more like Carnival 2.0 when I saw the name and design. I guess I’m glad it’s not as it’d prob be a bit slow, but it’s still kind of scattered with all the different elements (loosely tied together as “rings”?). The transition to the UFO thing looked tough though, did a lot of people fail that?

The Double Dipper was aging, but yeah they’ve replaced it with a similar and slower version of itself. The gray thing in the middle also looks kind of sloppy (yes I know it serves a purpose).

Tether all at least looked a bit unique. But it does look like the 50th thing to go in that slot that will essentially go unfailed emoticon I kind of like the sort of precision landing, but stuff like this would work better on Sasuke with an actual time-limit. Also, the ball steps while themed are just plain and make it feel even more formulaic with obstacles in the past.

I’m surprised the Dipping Birds are back, but I guess I’m glad they’ve done better this year.



I saw a clip of a new competitor doing flips on every obstacle and then failing Jumping Spider by trying to flip into it. The video kind of annoyed me TBH. I mean yeah it’s his attempt, but it just gives vibes of “I don’t really care about taking this seriously, pls give me airtime”. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

But the real thing is that the Stage One course just doesn’t work or flow anymore. It’s a few genuinely hard to beat obstacles (Rollercoaster, Jumping Spider, Three Ring Circus maybe?) mixed with a bunch of obstacles at the end that are mostly just timekillers. This isn’t far off from the Sasuke format of Stage One in its glory days, but their time limit actually worked. Ours is ridiculously high due to the complex course so allows for much more fluctuation in finishing by times and fewer close finishes. When you instead have a straight 90-second course you get a ton of close finishes, mistakes due to people rushing, fails on obstacles that are just challenging and good wipeouts. That’s what ANW needs - to reimagine every stage as it’s not only predictable now as you mentioned, but also not fitting the changes that ANW has made to its course over the past decade.

ANW’a basically cut connections with its Sasuke roots where possible, yet the entire course is basically still built to be like Sasuke 27. The biggest changes in layout we’ve had were the added height to Stage One obstacles 2 & 3 in the second Vegas season and moving the Jumping Spider to be in line with the rest of the course ion ANW… 10? Also, have they since moved the Flying Bar so it’s aligned with the rest of the course, rather than perpendicular? Or am I just remembering myself saying that I expected them to do that?

Either way, not much has changed and it’s crazy that certain things (particularly obstacle 5 of Stage One) haven’t changed in essence despite the obstacle itself changing several times.

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18/Aug/22, 7:04 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: ANW 14


Quote:

Messup434 wrote:

The transition to the UFO thing looked tough though, did a lot of people fail that?


Only 1!

Quote:

Messup434 wrote:
I saw a clip of a new competitor doing flips on every obstacle and then failing Jumping Spider by trying to flip into it. The video kind of annoyed me TBH. I mean yeah it’s his attempt, but it just gives vibes of “I don’t really care about taking this seriously, pls give me airtime”. Sorry if that sounds harsh.


He knew he couldn't win so went for the social media content instead!

Quote:

Messup434 wrote:
But the real thing is that the Stage One course just doesn’t work or flow anymore.


So true, 3RC and Tetherball in particular completely disrupt the pacing and the clock seems like an afterthought now rather than something you're keeping an eye on throughout the run.

Quote:

Messup434 wrote:
Also, have they since moved the Flying Bar so it’s aligned with the rest of the course, rather than perpendicular? Or am I just remembering myself saying that I expected them to do that?


Yep you're right!

Was hoping editing would improve for the last two episodes - it really didn't. The bad editing overshadowed everything else. Far too many sob stories, awful pacing, awful decisions about who to show. And finishing Stage 1 with about 10 fast-forwards in a row?! Who does that???

I give up typing out the courses - they were not good. Stage 2 was the same as last year but 2.3 was Piston Plunge, 2.5 was Hornet's Nest (nerfed wingnut alley but beehive). 11 clears is a few too many.

Stage 3 was also unchanged other than two obstacles. 3.1 was Patriot Pass, 3.3 was Chop It Up. Bad names, bad obstacles. The course seemed too easy because everyone had practiced for it. They should have brought back the ANW 8-9 Cliffhanger, the ANW 11 one is awful. There was no need for the rest platform between the first two obstacles. Eyeglass Alley didn't need the second eyeglass, having one for the whole obstacle would have worked better. I don't get why they don't adjust the heights of the Flying Bar to increase the difficulty... or get a new stage ender? 5 clears, I think that's two much.

Then the final stage: all failed because they gave most of them no pull! They clearly had no intention of having a winner. Either that or they tried and failed to have Jay win, his harness looked a little tighter but perhaps I'm imagining things, don't think he got a huge amount of pull either way.

Quote:

Takeshi1 wrote:
From the edit so far, RJ Roman and Jay Lewis got favourable edits so might be ones to watch. That being said, the editors ff'd Kaden in Stage 1 last year and he went all the way to the Final Stage so we probably shouldn't read too into this. I think Flip has a decent chance of reaching Stage 3 after getting a deserved last runner of the night. If Josh Levin can break his Stage 2 curse he could be a one to watch too.


I actually got some predictions right for once! My clear numbers were off but other than 3 & 4, not hugely. My individual competitor predictions were really good though so I'm happy about that.

Apparently the show has been renewed (!) so they've got another chance to make us all suffer. Before Vegas I was thinking in future years I might just watch 1 heat, 1 semi and all of Vegas. After this Vegas I'm not sure I want to even do that to myself. Awful awful awful. Destroy the course, destroy the editors and producers.
5/Sep/22, 5:28 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: ANW 14


I speak as someone who hasn't actually watched it, but from many negative decisions/results, I do see a silver lining.

Stage Two looked a bit easy, Stage Three looked way too easy, BUT I think it's actually a good thing that they had five people fail the Final Stage.

The Final Stage got no respect for awhile because the first two (or I guess three... didn't Drew go first on ANW11?) people beat it, so the past couple years have finally allowed it to establish a "You better take me seriously" tone. It'd be better if this didn't happen all at once and there was just a failure or two every couple of tournaments, but at least it now looks hard.

Though it'd be better if they could establish this difficulty by building a new final stage rather than just giving everyone slack ropes emoticon Although to be honest, I was of the feeling they definitely wanted a winner this season. Why else make the first few stages easier again? That seems to suggest they want a winner, at least judging by the 7 and 11 courses and wins. I actually thought they wanted a winner last year too as the course really didn't feel harder.

Is it possible Jay went last? I haven't watched it and have no idea about the tightness of the harnesses, but I could honestly almost see them rigging it in the hopes that one and only one competitor would win. I think they would rather have a sole grand champion than have multiple, so I could see them doing that. I'm probably wrong.

I thought the new Stage Three obstacles were at least visually unique, but the first is essentially a fancy Rope Junction and Chop it Up is just a bit of a nothing obstacle and kind of awkward. I find the I bigger issue though is keeping Pipe Dream - that's the kind of obstacle I'd consider a one-off AND definitely something to remove after a victory. But evidently it's not in their mind!

Also, have we never had a Stage Three clear with eight obstacles?

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Keshi Heads
5/Sep/22, 10:51 pm Link to this post    PM Messup434
 


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