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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 6, 2022 17:43:46 GMT -5
It would honestly be easier to just shake up the organizational skills of the producers than re-design the entire course around it being possible to do in the rain; as ahzoo mentioned any decently hard Stage 1 obstacle bar the Rope Ladder is going to cause havoc in the rain. Maybe they should just pick a date where no rain is forecast, or if it starts raining then delay the remainder of taping to the next day, like they did in Sasuke 32 and 37. In the unlikely event that it's like raining the entire week, at least force every competitor to run in the same sorts of conditions. I've said this a thousand times but Sasuke 8 was filmed in torrential rain but it was largely considered one of the best tournaments as it served as an additional hurdle for EVERY competitor, not just handicapping the last 10 runs unfairly. If anything, having a tournament like that would be cool as it'd be a test of resilience and adaptability to such a handicap. There are barely any obstacles that 'wouldn't be affected' by the rain, except for like the Jump Hang but with the Dragon Glider I assume there's not much room for that obstacle in Stage 1. Also Inui would never get rid of the Soritatsu Kabe; he's added another one for god sake lol. No harm, but if you think they can organise this quickly enough that they can simply pick a day where no rain is forecast you have absolutely no concept of the amount of advance planning that goes into shooting something like SASUKE - those dates will be planned and booked months in advance, not to mention camera and equipment hire, staff recruitment, risk assessments, shooting schedules... it is not a small undertaking!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 2, 2022 19:17:26 GMT -5
The fact that Ryo was able to pass Stage 2 is proof that he has been training. Stage 2 has not been his strongest stage and he did really good job on that. I reckon his borderline bizarre performance on the Salmon Ladder last tournament gave him a bit of a shake-up - I think he’s been getting back in the zone since his breakthrough run in 36, but 38 was perhaps the wake-up call that if he really loves SASUKE and wants to be up there, he needs to step it up a gear - which he certainly has! As I said, I believed he would do well, but given his history with Stage 2 I thought he’d hit the Walls again and he 100% proved me wrong! On a slightly different note, I think people tend to somewhat underestimate how important the mental game is to any sport, including SASUKE - it’s easy to point at his slump and poor attitude in 32-35 and say Ryo wasted some of his prime years being petty or foolish or not trying, but in truth, when you fall into a mental block like that, whatever the source, it can be a brutally hard thing to get out of again. I’m really glad that he seems to have found a way to tap into his passion for the show again.
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 12:01:37 GMT -5
Yeah I kind-of struggled with that but I wanted a distinction between ‘let’s see something brand new here somewhere’ and ‘I dislike this specifically and it needs to be buffed or it needs to go’ - it’s a bit janky but the alternative was a poll with way too many options xD I fully agree about Rolling Hill, it’s my No.1 target for deletion, but personally as someone who loves 90s style obstacle shows I just hate the current Stage 1 look (or lack thereof) so, so much. Absolutely the obstacles are more important than the trimming, but as someone who works in and studies art and film I do believe in the power of good presentation and Stage 1, frankly, sucks. I’m also an adamant Pipe Slider defender but I know that I seem to be in the minority on that! That is fair r/e the look of Stage 1. I think the main issue is that the biggest obstacle of the stage, the Dragon Glider, is just two metal tracks which is hard to make look fancy. Mind you, it is better looking than Sasuke 28 which was just the most bland looking course, especially compared to Shin-Sasuke. My personal gripe with the aesthetics is that the main colours of the course, those being red, yellow, and grey, just sort of don't go together but I suppose that's subjective? Shin-Sasuke was obviously all red but idk that just seemed to work a lot better for some reason. I wouldn't mind keeping the Pipe Slider as the final obstacle, but I think the main complaint is that the jump is just too easy. The end of Stage 3 needs to be the most nail-biting aspect of it, the 'you've done well to make it this far but can still f*** it up' sort of feeling, and that fundamentally comes down to the jump. The jump should've been even harder than the brutal Sasuke 14-17 version given that it's a 10+ year newer course that's harder in almost every other aspect. I mean Rene, who's not that tall (5'10), literally walked on to the landing platform lol. It doesn’t even need to be fancy, per se, it just needs to be cohesive, which right now, it isn’t even quite managing! This is also the problem with covering over the warped wall(s) - sure, it’ll prevent rain wipe-outs, which seems wise if we keep the late-autumn tapings, but what’s that going to look like on camera? Unless someone comes up with a very smart solution it will look like crap! It’ll close the end of the stage right over, mess up those sweeping camera shots everyone likes and make actually shooting the stage harder - if you think visibility in the Backstream is poor, see how a 10ft+ tarp and struts get in the way! To make it work it would need careful positioning and to hide it, some strong theming, which is what I want anyhow, and I don’t feel like we’re going to get it xD The colour scheme right now is also poor, I’m not at my computer so I can’t check, but I suspect the red and the blue on the mats is actually at the same or a similar level of saturation (how they look in black and white) which is a big visual no-no, never mind the general garishness. As for the Pipe Slider, I feel it is iconic to SASUKE, and to be frank, I just don’t enjoy watching Flying Bar very much! By all means, buff the swing distance to the platform, but it is one of a couple obstacles I would be very sad to see outright replaced.
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 11:34:42 GMT -5
Apparently after sitting on the tournament for half a week I’ve had all my energy and ideas come out today xD
Anyway! Given budget, H&S and other considerations I’ve noticed a lot of people, myself included, incorporating the return of older obstacles into course wishes/upgrades, and I was wondering - what are everyone’s favourite obstacles that are currently not in use? For me, I think it’s:
Stage 1 - Lumberjack Climb - I like the current shorter S1 with the lower time limit, but I did also love this as a S1 closer, a different kind of movement to all the rope climbs and netting that came before.
Stage 2 - Chain Reaction - I love this, it’s hardly a field-killer but as a dynamic opener for S2 it just can’t be beat, especially with that stained glass backdrop
Stage 3 - Spider Flip - this was very nearly Lamp Grasper but there’s just something about the tension of that leap that I love, although you could argue it needs the lead-in from Hang Climbing and the Jumping Bars to truly be effective. Bonus shout-out to the Devil Steps, I always thought they looked really fun!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 11:06:08 GMT -5
Isn't 'new obtacle for Stage x' and 'Remove obstacle from Stage x' the same thing? Personally I couldn't care less about how the stage looks; substance over style any day. Though I think Stage 2, for all it's flaws, has always stuck out to me as being the most visually exciting and that hasn't changed which is good. I'd prioritise a new Stage 1 obstacle, specifically either replacing the Rolling Hill and/or the Silk Slider. I've said this on another thread but the latter is far too easy and the former becomes quite painful to watch as a lot of competitors take AAAAGES on the obstacle. I'd replace either/both with a more fast-paced, far more failable obstacle to ween out the joke competitors as early as possible, like Shin-Sasuke and even earlier shows did successfully. It ain't the world's hardest obstacle course if anyone can get halfway through Stage 1. Controversially I'd 100% prioritise this over modifying Stage 2, given that despite Stage 2 being considered too stale or easy, it still does a good job at failing the fodder who get lucky. Stage 3 has just been revamped so not much to say on that. The Pipe Slider still being the final obstacle sucks, sure; I'd much rather have the original Flying Bar as the final obsatcle and the Ascending Drum Hopper as the first, but it's no longer anywhere near as unbalanced difficulty-wise as Stage 1 with the new modifications. Yeah I kind-of struggled with that but I wanted a distinction between ‘let’s see something brand new here somewhere’ and ‘I dislike this specifically and it needs to be buffed or it needs to go’ - it’s a bit janky but the alternative was a poll with way too many options xD I fully agree about Rolling Hill, it’s my No.1 target for deletion, but personally as someone who loves 90s style obstacle shows I just hate the current Stage 1 look (or lack thereof) so, so much. Absolutely the obstacles are more important than the trimming, but as someone who works in and studies art and film I do believe in the power of good presentation and Stage 1, frankly, sucks. I’m also an adamant Pipe Slider defender but I know that I seem to be in the minority on that!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 10:22:49 GMT -5
It would have to be a heck of a system, because these things are always fallible to some degree, and people aren’t normally hanging out on the tracks in between the cars! Given how the original Banzuke was cancelled, I highly doubt production, insurance or TBS would touch that with a barge pole, fun as it is to imagine.
Imagining that Inui persuades TBS to give him a budget boost for the anniversary, and Covid recedes and stops playing hell with the budget and the taping, this is my wish list:
- The steps are classic, maybe time for a new version but I can’t say I’m too fussed
- Replace Rolling Hill (it slows the stage to a crawl and it’s had it’s day, now) - with what, I admittedly don’t know - some kind of balance obstacle, perhaps extend the first water pit and have it floating on top? Or the steps into a rope or chain swing, I miss the more dynamic, swinging obstacles
- Upgrade the Silk Slider landing pad so it floats, like some of the Takeshi’s Castle set-ups - I appreciate this is a lot of floating, but it would be a relatively easy? way to upgrade it without replacing it outright, it’s already in water
- I’d honestly like to see Fishbone go at this point, but given I’ve already full-replaced one obstacle, at the bare minimum give it a freshen up and a better colour scheme xD
- Dragon Glider is fun, I’d probably leave it as-is, if you really wanted to mix it up, maybe exit to a rope net a la the obstacle from 23 I can’t remember right now that gave Nagano his infamous re-run
- My big controversial change - get rid of Tackle! Now, I love Tackle, it’s a very smart idea, creates tension going into the wall(s) but I’m forming this revamp around the rough idea of making S1 a pure speed/agility stage again and Tackle does not fit that MO - replace it with the Spin Bridge, perhaps
- Return to a single Warped Wall with the buzzer at the top - I don’t mind Ni Ren but without Tackle it really doesn’t have a purpose, so I’d send it straight back to obstacle graveyard
- D-d-drop that time limit! I have no idea how this would all shake out, but it could go down as low as 60 or even 50 and still be manageable, perhaps? Really make S1 the SPEED stage - lots of balance obstacles, lots of rushing, but fully do-able with precision and concentration - and then make S2 the killer Power stage which cleans a lot of people out before S3
I was thinking, and part of both S1 and S2’s problem is that they basically share an identity right now - they’re both sort-of speed stages but have some really slooow obstacles in there, they both have heavy, power obstacles that create time crunch and I think they need to try and separate themselves again and the easiest way I can think of to do that is something like the above.
Also, I sound like a broken record today, but if any budget left? Give Stage One some visual TLC please, the current look is somehow both garish, ugly and nondescript!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 9:24:58 GMT -5
If I were being truly objective I would vote for Twice-Yearly Tournaments (even if it squeezed the budget so tight there couldn’t be any changes) but in the interest of spicing it up a bit, I’ve gone with a Stage 1 visual revamp - it’s so ugly!
There’s no theming or even cohesion of visual style! The Fishbone is two different colours, one of which is bright neon yellow! I understand that new mats are surprisingly expensive but that red/blue colour scheme is so garish and unlike the older courses which had the green/ivy aesthetic or the red+stone or the shin-SASUKE ‘everything is a little bit grimy and menacing looking’ the current one just... exists. And I don’t think it helps how ponderous S1 can feel sometimes.
So that’s my change (ideally Rolling Hill would disappear while I was at it) but, sticking to my own rules, I’d give S1 a visual face-lift to a cohesive theme that isn’t trying to stab the viewers eyeballs out! Probably a return to a more nature/wilderness themed look to contrast with S2 and S3 but as I said in the S2 Changes thread, that’s my Crystal Maze/Raven bias talking xD
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 9:07:53 GMT -5
In a hypothetical 2022 where you had control of the SASUKE budget and had enough money and time to make ONE of these changes, which one would you go for?
I tried to create a spread of common complaints that I see, plus a couple of my own bias, but I’m sure I have forgotten some xD Please vote Other and comment for anything I haven’t put up there!
I haven’t included things like time limit changes on the assumption that they don’t really cost much, comparative to planning, machining, testing and approving new or changed obstacles. Similarly, tearing down all of Stage 1/2 and starting over is assumed to be beyond the scope of the budget and I was trying to keep the list fairly realistic!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 8:51:29 GMT -5
Honestly I don’t mind Stage 2 as much as a lot of people do, I think the Rolling Log spiced it up nicely - I suspect it was shortened to make it function a bit more reliably, even if that dulled its effectiveness a bit. Lower the time limit to account for how quickly the field has adapted to its effects and I think current S2 is fine, at least for 1 or maaaybe 2 more goes.
The Salmon Ladder could definitely use a freshen up at this point, and I personally really like Spider Walk so I’d never advocate for its replacement, but agree that seeing the original moving walls back would be a nice upgrade. Spider Drop, however, just slows the stage down at this point so I wouldn’t mind seeing it disappear.
My main problem with Stage 2 at the moment is that I feel like it lacks a proper visual identity. Sure there’s the yellow mats and circuit decoration on the Salmon Ladder but it’s all a bit clinical in my eyes - I miss the All-Star era S2 with the industrial/stained glass theming - I would almost take a strong visual upgrade for S2 (and S1) over any major obstacle changes - but that’s my love of the Crystal Maze and Raven talking xD
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 8:34:44 GMT -5
I think so (I hope so)!
I had noticed in the run up to 39 that he was definitely more involved, showing up in more training videos and pictures than he used to, looking a bit more chipper, and was being brought up as the one to watch in a decent number of those mini interviews. I banked on him to do well, and he actually did better than I thought, as I had the Wall Lifting getting to him!
There was a bit, I think either just before or during his S3 run where he let out this big grin, and it’s the happiest I remember him looking in years, so I really hope he’s found his second wind - a lot of SASUKE competitors hit their peak in their 30s, after all!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 31, 2021 19:18:23 GMT -5
Aargh confound it! I thought with Tada as my Inner I might wash out quite well despite some blunders, but it was once again not to be. I badly overestimated the effectiveness of those walls!
24th in a field of 38 might actually be my best result proportionally, so I’ll take it! Congratulations also to my friend Cuoiriall who after just 2 years has already surpassed me xD
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 29, 2021 18:23:44 GMT -5
So some bonus footage has been released of the dinosaur that they had roaming around before Stage 3 as a cross-promotion, and it consists mostly of it terrorising every small child in the vicinity by pretending to eat people! Normally I would say this is hilarious, but given all the children there are like, toddlers, it all seems a bit harsh xD
Still going to laugh at it munching on Yamada and Morimoto though!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 29, 2021 14:27:47 GMT -5
I posted my guessing game then barely looked at the forums afterwards and accidentally created some gigantic rumour mill, apparently!
Yes, according to some people on the various discords, that video was a retirement announcement, and then post-tournament, what with the rain, he has decided to give it another go next year after all - so the classic SASUKE non-retirement!
As-is, I’m glad - I quite like Tomo and I’d have been sad to see him go, especially given the conditions didn’t let him run at his best potential.
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 29, 2021 14:23:58 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure Goto would've been DQed, but it didn't matter since he lost his grip anyway. Knowing Inui he probably has some rule like that in effect for the transition between Salmon Ladders. I'm kind of surprised he did that though. Goto said on twitter that he had whacked so much spray on his hands before his run the bar actually stuck to him when he tried to grab it and that’s why it bounced away from him and he lost control.
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 15, 2021 18:58:55 GMT -5
Hblerg! Apologies for the last-minute finish, and also to my friend Cuoiriail, because I just realised Araki was an invalid Dark Horse, and you probably got that from me!
1st Stage Clears: 11 2nd Stage Clears: 5 3rd Stage Clears: 3 Final Stage Clears: 0 #1 Katsuhide Torisawa: 3 #2 Kyohei Oshita: 4 #3 Takeru: 1 #4 Shogo: 2 #5 Yoshihisa Kobayashi: 2 #6 Kento Miyahara: 1 #7 Boruneesan: 4 (I want to see them in Stage 2 because it raises many logistical questions, but their rectangular form surely dooms them on Fishbone) #8 Shota Fujimoto: 2 #9 Koji Saikawa: 7 #10 KAREN: 2 #11 Makoto Aiuchi: 3 #12 Keiya Ohishi: 2 #13 Takashi Honma: 4 #14 Yusuke Goto: 7 #15 Yukari Oshima: 5 #16 Chiaki Sano: 3 #17 Yuiri Murayama: 1 #18 Shoko Takiwaki: 2 #19 Kasuga Toshiaki: 2 #20 Rinne Sugeta: 7 #21 Takka: 3 #22 acre: 1 #23 Yoshito Sato: 2 #24 Taiyu Shoinji: 3 #25 Hiroki Nunokawa: 1 #26 Miki Ando: 2 #27 Airi Shimizu: 4 #28 Mei Higashimura: 5 #29 Kaede Sato: 2 #30 HIKAKIN: 1 #31 Hideki Ajima: 4 #32 Daiki Myo: 1 #33 Yusuke Takemoto: 1 #34 Oni Acrobat: 4 #35 Hayate Kajihara: 5 #36 Daisuke Matsuda: 7 #37 Shinya Sunagawa: 5 #38 Naoto Komiyama: 4 #39 Rinnosuke Nagao: 5 #40 Taku Hashiya: 1 #41 Chang Jackie: 3 #42 Shinya Tomonaga: 4 #43 Murasame Tatsumasa: 5 #44 Yuko Sanyutei: 4 #45 Ryoshiro Tsuji: 3 #46 Raiga Terasaka: 2 #47 Ruito Aoyagi: 4 #48 Fuwa-chan: 2 #49 Soichiro Kawachi: 7 (New BT members are always unpredictable, but Yamada wall curse is forever?) #50 Yoshiyuki Yamamoto: 22 (He was kinda robbed last time, so barring upset, this seems plausible) #51 Kenji Honnami: 4 #52 Yoshiyuki Ogata: 5 #53 Ryuta Kuwayama: 2 #54 Michael Keida: 3 (wow, no returning Akko Gundam members? I'm not surprised, but new people may not get very far) #55 Yoshinori Isa: 17 (Always a bit more shaky than his old BT compatriot, I feel) #56 Zin: 7 #57 Shohei Urukawa: 5 #58 Kaisei Takechi: 5 #59 Masashi Hioki: 18 (He should make it out of S2 with the experience of it, I hope, and he was always good at resisting new obstacles in S3...) #60 Seiya: 1 #61 Soshina: 2 #62 Reina Kusaka: 3 #63 Rio Tsubaki: 4 #64 Gabby: 2 #65 Nishida: 1 #66 no Oniisan Obata: 3 #67 Daiki Kanechika: 4 #68 Yuta Maeda: 5 #69 Hiroyuki Takagishi: 2 #70 Wasabi: 5 #71 Tomohiro Mutou: 2 #72 Kouki Takayanagi: 4 #73 Takafumi Kimoto: 2 #74 Nao Hashimoto: 1 #75 Shunsuke Nagasaki: 5 #76 Hitoshi Kanno: 7 (Upgraded a bit, but only a bit...) #77 Yusuke Suzuki: 7 #78 Yutaka Can: 3 #79 Miwa Oba: 2 #80 Ayaka Tadano: 5 #81 Kōko Tsurumi: 1 #82 Ayano Oshima: 7 (Mmm this hurts, I don't think she'll plonk DG again, but that double wall scares me a bit) #83 Kaito Streets: 4 #84 Taiju Shiratori: 5 #85 Daiki Yorogo: 5 #86 Naoyuki Araki: 7 (Ripped this one out - his S1 times are always tight, so...) #87 Ryoichi Tsukada: 7 #88 Hikaru Iwamoto: 13 #89 Ryo Matachi: 14 (Ryo's been looking a bit more involved this year, I feel? IDK if he'll make it out of S2, though) #90 Keitaro Yamamoto: 14 #91 Tatsuya Tada: 23 (He's got the prior experience now, I think he can make a good run) #92 Shingo Yamamoto: 12 (by all rights this should be 7 at best, but honestly? He looked real good in the youtube fluff piece this year - I want to believe!) #93 Yudai Ikeda: 14 #94 Takeru: 5 (He's been out for a while, but maybe he'll surprise me!) #95 Kenji Fujimitsu: 7 #96 Katsumi Yamada: 4 (It was a minor miracle that he passed it last time, but maybe he'll surprise me xD) #97 Kenji Darvish: 7 #98 Tomohiro Kawaguchi: 14 (He's declared 'retirement' on S1 failure, so I'm hoping for a Yuuji-in-34 power up, but I feel like S2 might get him on first try) #99 Yuji Urushihara: 22 (Yuji has been on the warpath for a while now, bar an upset on 7 I fully believe he can do this) #100 Yusuke Morimoto: 7 (Speaking of upsets... I don't want this at all, but I do have a very bad feeling about it) Bullseye: Tada Tatsuya (INNER) Dark Horse: Yudai Ikeda
To Boruneesan, the true Inner Bullseye of my heart, if not my head xD
I actually made a somewhat harsh list! Everyone going out in second feels a bit incorrect but I'm never very good at this anyway!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Dec 12, 2021 21:36:04 GMT -5
So you're saying our new rock climbing queen has the best chance of Kanzen... I've gone from ambivalent about Boruneesan to actually really liking them once I found out what their whole deal was xD This article really helped, along with their fluff video that you posted: www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/meet_boruneesan_-_japans_climbing_wall_mascot-13930 They actually seem pretty fit, but I feel like they're kinda doomed for Fishbone, and if they can clear Stage One even in that suit, they're super doomed for Backstream in S2... That said, a Boruneesan in Stage 2 is something I would pay to see xD
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Aug 25, 2021 12:04:08 GMT -5
For me, I'm a very beige person and I would honestly keep them all xD
But if I had to choose, I'd put a 100% no-kill protection on the Pipe Slider and Spider Walk, and maybe scrap Salmon Ladder, as I honestly don't know how much else they can do to keep it fresh in S2 - I do love it in the final though!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jun 13, 2021 20:12:15 GMT -5
Not an official obstacle, but at a Ninja... theme park? (it's not a proper gym, you pay to go in and try a couple of obstacle gauntlets and the wall) here in Belfast, they had this set of bars you could lache between, but they were rigged up so when you swung one, the rest would swing too - I got on the first and started swinging, and just thought "If I try this transfer I'm gonna snap my wrists like twigs" and completely bailed xD Is that Swing Ladder? Ah, no - imagine a series of 4 semi-circular bars maybe a metre or so apart, which, when you jump up and swing the first, the rest start swinging too so they remain the same distance away. Or at least, that's how I remember it - it was over a year ago at this point xD But no, no resemblance to Swing Ladder!
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jun 12, 2021 16:50:41 GMT -5
Totally backing up Spider Flip - just flinging yourself through the air while that high up? Terrifying. Completely duff it up and you could really hurt yourself if you somehow go wide - being deep in Stage 3 was probably the only thing that stopped it from being a terrible accident source given you had to have good physical control just to get there.
Not to mention that time Okayuma (I think? In 23?) must surely have given himself awful friction burns when he grabbed the far plank and slid all the way down it and dropped. Owwwwww.
Also, Spider Walk (apparently my favourite obstacles are also the ones I'm most scared of xD) - that time Nagano failed, well, technically the back half of the Jumping Spider, in 24, and bounced off the walls like 3 times while falling down? Ooh, nasty.
Not an official obstacle, but at a Ninja... theme park? (it's not a proper gym, you pay to go in and try a couple of obstacle gauntlets and the wall) here in Belfast, they had this set of bars you could lache between, but they were rigged up so when you swung one, the rest would swing too - I got on the first and started swinging, and just thought "If I try this transfer I'm gonna snap my wrists like twigs" and completely bailed xD
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Post by ArbuthnotBlob on May 21, 2021 17:11:24 GMT -5
Tell Shingo to remember that the plank exists in SASUKE 22...
Although then we wouldn't have one of the admittedly funniest fails in the whole show, so perhaps not!
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