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Takeshi1
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Re: ANW 13
It is in the same area but haven't heard anything about an audience - and now I think about it I haven't seen any audience stands in any pictures I've seen so far so I assume there's no audience but don't know for sure. I assume they'd have to test them all which would be far too much unnecessary effort on top of everything they have to do already.
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22/May/21, 5:13 pm
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
That's true. I was hoping things were calming down just in time, but you're probably right.
Well, next year I'll apply for the show, but if that fails I should be able to attend a taping again anyway 
The one good thing about no audience is it'll be harder for spoilers to get out. Though I suspect if someone did climb Midoriyama this year, people driving past the lot would have seen something!
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24/May/21, 11:43 pm
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
There's a trailer out featuring a run from one of the women in the upcoming episode.
[Spoilers follow]
All four interchangable obstacles are new and look pretty unique. Well, one of the balance choices is an old returnee, but still four new obstacles! This is very good, but now I'm nervous they've made them all new simply because we're going to be seeing them across multiple Qualifiers again (since they're all taped in the same place). That would be a major disappointment. But hopefully not!
Correct me if you disagree, as the new obstacles themselves are all pretty creative, but do many of their new ideas starting from 2020 forward all blend into one in people's mind? I don't know if it's the minimalistic styles they've been using on them or just the weird formats of last year and adjusting to this year, but I just find the new obstacles to seem samey. Even though in themselves they are all very unique. They look good, so it's hard to explain! Anyone? 
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29/May/21, 8:21 am
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
I'm enjoying this season so far! I'm not going to review it as I'm going to release a YouTube review later on (and this thread isn't exactly booming anyway ), but it's overall good.
I think it may be possible that we see a teen winner next. They're very good and typically have the advantage of being lighter (and having more time to train!).
I do wish they would stop repeating obstacles 2-5 in different episodes and have mock "regions" with the typical groups of competitors (and specific courses for each). I guess they find this format more profitable, and I suppose in an Olympics year it's better to have fewer episodes. But if they'd done five Qualifiers and five Finals they could've done something like:
-Build Course #1
-Northeast Qualifying
-Northeast Finals
-Dismantle obstacles 2-5, 8-9
-Build Course #2
-Midwest Qualifying
-Midwest Finals
Etc.
It might've taken a bit more effort, but it would've felt more like a regular season AND feel normal once again.
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18/Jun/21, 12:18 am
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Takeshi1
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Re: ANW 13
Perhaps the fact that I felt the need to write an Australian Ninja Warrior review very quickly after episode 1 but forgot about reviewing either of the first two episodes of American Ninja Warrior conveys my feelings more effectively than a review itself. I've not disliked the season so far but it just hasn't got me excited. The move to do all the heats in one location is much more practical and I think the new normal for ninja but it removes the sense of scale that the series once had, and the individual identity of each heat.
I think the main reason for my lack of excitement is the course. I'm not a big fan of any of this year's obstacles so far and the course layout and format once again remains essentially the same despite consistently declining ratings year on year - and the poor editing and slow pacing issues remain (no surprise there). Split decision now we've seen it in practise was clearly just a method to bring back old balance obstacles to distract from the lack of new or substantially different balance ideas. Perhaps the city finals one may offer more of a decision with the obstacle types being different but we'll see when it airs. I think I've got to a point now though where, having watched ANW and many of its international counterparts, I've seen this all before and I need something substantially different in the earlier rounds to attract my interest.
I am however looking forward to seeing what a few of the obstacles to come do (although I've heard one which hasn't appeared in commercials yet is a bit of a stinker) - the mini double dipper lookalike in heats 4 & 5 looks particularly intriguing. But ultimately Vegas is what I'm really interested in here, looking forward to seeing the return of large-scale fast-paced courses. Stage 2 this year looks slightly different to usual and hopefully we'll see a high single digit or low double digit number of attempts on Stage 3. Despite what I said earlier, I'm optimistic for the future of the season... once the heats are over that is!
Edited by Takeshi1, 20/Jun/21, 11:01 pm
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20/Jun/21, 10:59 pm
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
I think after seeing the ratings so far this year (at least I've read they're really bad) they may try to make next year normal. It seems there's a correlation between ratings and level of effort put into course design, so they really should consider that.
Yes, it's good that Vegas is back to usual, but the fact is that regionals are 70% of the season, so not paying them with the usual amount of effort and care is going to be a problem.
I commented my concerns on their newest YouTube trailer (which they seem to have chosen specifically to spoil the whole episode  ) and got attacked by a bunch of the show's loyal defenders, but according to one of them NBC is operating all of it's shows under Covid guidance still, so maybe they've just been forced to do this and next year they'll go back to traditional regionals (or at least their initial plan in 2020 before Covid).
PS: I'm so glad they're not doing the Power Tower every week, but it's stupid that they're keeping it in Finals so they can give out Safety Passes. It thought they realize those sucked. It might've been better to only have it for Qualifiers with a Speed Pass for semi-Finals as at least that doesn't mess with Vegas rules. Or just offer a small cash prize. Or just don't have it!
Edited by Messup434, 21/Jun/21, 7:51 pm
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21/Jun/21, 7:04 pm
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Takeshi1
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Re: ANW 13
Quote:
Messup434 wrote:
Yes, it's good that Vegas is back to usual, but the fact is that regionals are 70% of the season, so not paying them with the usual amount of effort and care is going to be a problem.
So right and that's my problem! The flaws with the current heats format, which is magnified by this year's poor obstacle line-up, combined with their poor editing makes the heats not a great watch. What makes that even worse is it's the first thing casual viewers see so if they find it as boring as people who love ninja shows they'll not come back for the better parts of the show later in the season. Of course ratings were always going to be bad after 13 seasons at a time when tv ratings as a whole are low and declining but the heats do nothing to reverse that decline. Show us something new, exciting and fast-paced like Sasuke which was the show that first sparked some ninja interest in the US on g4 and led to where we are now.
Anyway enough of me being unrealistic, let's get to what we actually have... episode 3. A lot of people have been really harsh on this episode but I actually didn't dislike it as much as others. I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations for their long-term favourites to be shown in the qualifiers when they usually use them to show new competitors and people with stories. Usually the focus shifts towards top competitors in the city/semi-finals and Vegas. Admittedly Warnky's run and one other, maybe RJ Roman, would have been good to see but not make or break.
I think this was my favourite course so far - I prefer Overpass to Weight For It and this Split Decision to the BB/BR one last week. Air Surfer worked much better than I thought and was certainly more entertaining than hexagon-winch-injury (honestly forgotten the name). The only obstacle I liked less than the previous episode was Pretzel Twister - an absolute mess, and that's saying something considering it replaced a 2-half-obstacles-in-one obstacle.
Still not great but the slightly better course made it a better watch for me, that and two Mega Wall clears this episode in a season lacking standout success.
Edited by Takeshi1, 23/Jun/21, 10:37 pm
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23/Jun/21, 10:28 pm
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
I watched Will's review of episode 1 and found myself agreeing with most of what he said (although I didn't loathe the first episode myself). They are definitely editing it to be "fun", but only the segments that we skip are packaged that way! The actual stuff we watch in full (videos, runs and all) are presented much more seriously, which makes it feel weird and kind of confused. It's weird - I never thought of that myself but now that I've heard someone else say it I wholeheartedly agree!
But I personally find it to feel less fun or authentic when it's indoors. I know it was introduced before covid and season 12 was going to be largely indoors before Covid hit anyway, but for me it most just reminds me of this pandemic stuff. Same with the Power Tower really - they're both guilty by association. It feels especially stupid to have these stadiums for indoor tapings but not having an audience. Yes, I'm aware of the reasoning, but doesn't make it feel less abnormal. Plus, my dangerous self believes they could at least allow some people inside of the stadium to watch. I really hope they had some kind of audience in Vegas - it was so life-affirming to see one in Holey Moley.
The obstacles this year also just fele a bit convoluted. I think the new 5th obstacles from the past two years have been largely "misses". I found Sideways pretty awkward, V Formation is random and hodge-podge, and I didn't hate the Pretzel Twist, but it felt weird or a fifth position - especially how the pretzel would just lock into place in thin air (without some kind of hook to land it on or something). It's particularly disappointing since the fifth obstacles are the most important in these episodes AND they've had the privilege to pick and choose more since they had to scrap some ideas last year thanks to the modified season AND they've only had three in the past two seasons.
Here's to sanity in both the world and the course design for the rest of this year!
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24/Jun/21, 8:30 am
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Takeshi1
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Re: ANW 13
Episode 4 was probably the best episode of the series so far. Double Down is good enough but yet another winch obstacle - Messup your comment about obstacle designs this year being very similar to those last year definitely holds up. Split Decision was very one-sided with nearly everyone picking Log Runner over Block Run - both seem very hard to me! Still not a fan of Pretzel Twist and Air Surfer is fine but the novelty has worn off this week. The obstacle repetition in back-to-back episodes caused by the new format really does hurt the show I think, one of the things ANW has always done well on is changing up their course to keep viewers watching.
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29/Jun/21, 9:20 pm
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Messup434
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Re: ANW 13
Yes, I enjoyed it too! It was good to see the veterans sort of have a comeback and interesting having a much less "split" decision than usual with no one failing Block Run at all!
Also, don't know if it was supposed to be funny, but it amused me that the Amish family couldn't watch live because they don't have a computer
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30/Jun/21, 9:40 pm
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