Post by Messup434 on Sept 3, 2018 16:01:25 GMT -5
My veeeery loooong review is finally here! (Copied-and-pasted from Keshi Heads):
I finished yesterday. I do agree that most of the new ideas are good.
"Rough-around-the-edges" is a great way of putting this whole season's presentation, actually. I feel like Alex was right about nine hosts ruining the dynamic (and I can't really recall all of the hosts because there were so many) and making it so you really don't get to know who's who. I feel like the Italian hosts got a lot more chance to shine in season two (despite it's maaaany problems!), but I did still like them a lot.
I didn't think all of the props were necessary. The fact that there are less stages AND competitors did make some episodes (particularly the first ep, I felt) drag on with talking. All of the "good luck charms" and flag-suits made things feel a bit too silly. I really loved season one's dynamic in that the atmosphere was serious, with Terry and Charissa's commentary (rather than lame props) being the main source of humor.
I think Tiki has warmed-up well this season and Punk is harmless - at least not as try-hard as Chris. Still want our season one commentators back.
While the presentation part of the show felt a bit flat, I feel the profiles were a bit overdone! It feels much like the time when ANW went to NBC and became a lot more focused on the competitors overcoming their adversity. So many people talked about their past medical problems, family deaths, etc. that it ruined the show's previously fast pace a bit.
I'd definitely opt to go back to the original format after this season for those reasons.
I did like A LOT of the obstacle ideas!
While, the lack of changes on things like the swinging gear, sideways trampoline and Coil Crawl (I'm calling it that because I don't remember the new name it had and can't see how the two are different anyway) became frustrating near the end, I thought they all did decently as obstacles.
They could've made some changes for the finale or semi-finals (such as making the stationary gear on Gearhead spin), but most of the stuff they did was still a welcomed change.
Level one does feel improved, though I feel like the balance beam at the beginning is too long for an opener (that didn't take-out anyone anyway) and the new version of the Energy Coils is a bit odd (mainly because of the moving up and down making it hard to fail if you aren't going for the point-thruster. After this season, I'd give the Energy Coils, and its descendants, a hiatus to make the obstacle a bit less tiresome.
The Mag Wall gets old as an ender, but at least it's still not in every episode. The tilting bungee platforms can stay another season as they're a lot less common to see last than the Mag Wall.
A lot of the second-to-last obstacles really looked like ANW ideas - especially the first few. While some of them were ones I would tire of rather quickly, a few would've been nice to see some more (such as the rolling log with steps and the spinning objects hanging below the gear). I do wish they would've taken some of the older obstacles and brought them into the Level One "guest-obstacle" position, while their better new ideas were placed in for the whole season. For example, take the shish-kabob thingy and put it after Digestive Tract, moving the Dreadmills into Level One for one last cameo as the second-to-last obstacle. They could've kept the spinning objects before the Mag Wall all season and selected a couple more things to hang from the apparatus, because that had more potential than they credited it with.
Level Two is refreshing now that it's finally changed!
I like the opening, while the big jump down bit was too easy. I'd replace that next year for sure, along with the samey Digestive Tract and Dreadmills. I really hate some of the changes they've made to the Dreadmills, namely how they made the sides so grippy that people can pull themselves up from the water, but I do like how they customized the landing platform and made it a bit steeper.
I really like the last two regular obstacles of the stage. The monkey-bars that drop can be pretty exciting when the competitors are slow enough to be dropped down, while I just love the concept of the obstacle prior to it, with all the circles. It's like a more precise Spider Walk! It's replacements for later rounds weren't as good, with the wheel on the track being too easy and the bungee pipes being too difficult! I do appreciate seeing a different obstacle on a later stage, though (just wish it replaced Digestive Tract instead!) emoticon
Level Three got some flak for eliminating the treadmill's jump this time around, but I prefer this new version! Too many people had been failing just because of a trivial timing mistake. Plus, I always applaud them for incorporating vertical-grip obstacles, and they did just that here. I also applaud them for modifying obstacles (please do this more!), so I loved that they swapped from poles to bungees mid-season emoticon
The hanging chandelier would also be cool, but the lenience with people continuing until all four limbs hit the water made it almost unfailable. Coil Crawl redo should go, boring and unfair (I swear people can be standing in the water and keep going emoticon ). I love Viper Climb, very interesting concept, while keeping it simple enough. For next time around, I would like this obstacle to be halved, with a halved Hang Man before or after it, because that was another idea I liked. The ending is as plain as it was last year, but it's so rare someone does get there that it's exciting to view anyway.
Level Four was really cool - much prefer individual races to end it emoticon I do wish we saw more of it, especially because it held some interesting new ideas. I really liked the Breakaway Planks-inspired idea and the swirling log thing. Dunno how I feel about the alternative choice to the upside-down log being a plain old wobbly bridge, but, again, we didn't see it much; it's fine. Glad the Level kept the side elements as well.
I like the new Mega Thrusters - they make time matter! I bet they got the idea when they were planning how they'd run Level Four and just added a few in throughout the course.
The Mega ones being an afterthought does make sense, as I do think there're a few too many Thrusters in-general - almost everything has one! For example, the one on the slope of the sideways trampoline doesn't need to be there as pretty much every competitor who sees it will hit it! I had no idea about the really high Face Plant button until the Mexican guy tried to hit it in one of the later episodes. These two can definitely go (the latter of which for safety reasons!).
Overall, it was a fine season - I'd say definitely better than season two, not quite up-to-par with the first season.
Presentation is what brought it down the most, while other little mishaps annoyed me too.
I thought it was quite unfair how the dude that was completely in the fuel of Level Three was able to continue, whilst the people who bounced back and landed on the trampoline again were instantly DQ'd. If you want to be so liberal with the water-touching, just let the lucky people continue as well!
The obstacles changed-up enough to be more than passable this time around, loved how there was always one thing that was new (except in the second semi-final, I think). All I can say is variation, variation, variation. Go back to alternating between rope and chain on Face Plant, have the conveyers move the opposite way on Dreadmills, anything would satisfy me!
I finished yesterday. I do agree that most of the new ideas are good.
"Rough-around-the-edges" is a great way of putting this whole season's presentation, actually. I feel like Alex was right about nine hosts ruining the dynamic (and I can't really recall all of the hosts because there were so many) and making it so you really don't get to know who's who. I feel like the Italian hosts got a lot more chance to shine in season two (despite it's maaaany problems!), but I did still like them a lot.
I didn't think all of the props were necessary. The fact that there are less stages AND competitors did make some episodes (particularly the first ep, I felt) drag on with talking. All of the "good luck charms" and flag-suits made things feel a bit too silly. I really loved season one's dynamic in that the atmosphere was serious, with Terry and Charissa's commentary (rather than lame props) being the main source of humor.
I think Tiki has warmed-up well this season and Punk is harmless - at least not as try-hard as Chris. Still want our season one commentators back.
While the presentation part of the show felt a bit flat, I feel the profiles were a bit overdone! It feels much like the time when ANW went to NBC and became a lot more focused on the competitors overcoming their adversity. So many people talked about their past medical problems, family deaths, etc. that it ruined the show's previously fast pace a bit.
I'd definitely opt to go back to the original format after this season for those reasons.
I did like A LOT of the obstacle ideas!
While, the lack of changes on things like the swinging gear, sideways trampoline and Coil Crawl (I'm calling it that because I don't remember the new name it had and can't see how the two are different anyway) became frustrating near the end, I thought they all did decently as obstacles.
They could've made some changes for the finale or semi-finals (such as making the stationary gear on Gearhead spin), but most of the stuff they did was still a welcomed change.
Level one does feel improved, though I feel like the balance beam at the beginning is too long for an opener (that didn't take-out anyone anyway) and the new version of the Energy Coils is a bit odd (mainly because of the moving up and down making it hard to fail if you aren't going for the point-thruster. After this season, I'd give the Energy Coils, and its descendants, a hiatus to make the obstacle a bit less tiresome.
The Mag Wall gets old as an ender, but at least it's still not in every episode. The tilting bungee platforms can stay another season as they're a lot less common to see last than the Mag Wall.
A lot of the second-to-last obstacles really looked like ANW ideas - especially the first few. While some of them were ones I would tire of rather quickly, a few would've been nice to see some more (such as the rolling log with steps and the spinning objects hanging below the gear). I do wish they would've taken some of the older obstacles and brought them into the Level One "guest-obstacle" position, while their better new ideas were placed in for the whole season. For example, take the shish-kabob thingy and put it after Digestive Tract, moving the Dreadmills into Level One for one last cameo as the second-to-last obstacle. They could've kept the spinning objects before the Mag Wall all season and selected a couple more things to hang from the apparatus, because that had more potential than they credited it with.
Level Two is refreshing now that it's finally changed!
I like the opening, while the big jump down bit was too easy. I'd replace that next year for sure, along with the samey Digestive Tract and Dreadmills. I really hate some of the changes they've made to the Dreadmills, namely how they made the sides so grippy that people can pull themselves up from the water, but I do like how they customized the landing platform and made it a bit steeper.
I really like the last two regular obstacles of the stage. The monkey-bars that drop can be pretty exciting when the competitors are slow enough to be dropped down, while I just love the concept of the obstacle prior to it, with all the circles. It's like a more precise Spider Walk! It's replacements for later rounds weren't as good, with the wheel on the track being too easy and the bungee pipes being too difficult! I do appreciate seeing a different obstacle on a later stage, though (just wish it replaced Digestive Tract instead!) emoticon
Level Three got some flak for eliminating the treadmill's jump this time around, but I prefer this new version! Too many people had been failing just because of a trivial timing mistake. Plus, I always applaud them for incorporating vertical-grip obstacles, and they did just that here. I also applaud them for modifying obstacles (please do this more!), so I loved that they swapped from poles to bungees mid-season emoticon
The hanging chandelier would also be cool, but the lenience with people continuing until all four limbs hit the water made it almost unfailable. Coil Crawl redo should go, boring and unfair (I swear people can be standing in the water and keep going emoticon ). I love Viper Climb, very interesting concept, while keeping it simple enough. For next time around, I would like this obstacle to be halved, with a halved Hang Man before or after it, because that was another idea I liked. The ending is as plain as it was last year, but it's so rare someone does get there that it's exciting to view anyway.
Level Four was really cool - much prefer individual races to end it emoticon I do wish we saw more of it, especially because it held some interesting new ideas. I really liked the Breakaway Planks-inspired idea and the swirling log thing. Dunno how I feel about the alternative choice to the upside-down log being a plain old wobbly bridge, but, again, we didn't see it much; it's fine. Glad the Level kept the side elements as well.
I like the new Mega Thrusters - they make time matter! I bet they got the idea when they were planning how they'd run Level Four and just added a few in throughout the course.
The Mega ones being an afterthought does make sense, as I do think there're a few too many Thrusters in-general - almost everything has one! For example, the one on the slope of the sideways trampoline doesn't need to be there as pretty much every competitor who sees it will hit it! I had no idea about the really high Face Plant button until the Mexican guy tried to hit it in one of the later episodes. These two can definitely go (the latter of which for safety reasons!).
Overall, it was a fine season - I'd say definitely better than season two, not quite up-to-par with the first season.
Presentation is what brought it down the most, while other little mishaps annoyed me too.
I thought it was quite unfair how the dude that was completely in the fuel of Level Three was able to continue, whilst the people who bounced back and landed on the trampoline again were instantly DQ'd. If you want to be so liberal with the water-touching, just let the lucky people continue as well!
The obstacles changed-up enough to be more than passable this time around, loved how there was always one thing that was new (except in the second semi-final, I think). All I can say is variation, variation, variation. Go back to alternating between rope and chain on Face Plant, have the conveyers move the opposite way on Dreadmills, anything would satisfy me!