I’m probably going to get shot for this, but hear me out
1a completion freestyles are packed full of mind blowing talent and all, but I find them kind of… boring. Generally speaking of course. It just seems… like a bunch of point-whoring. It’s like watching a guy shred the neck of a guitar at a rock show during a solo; sometimes it is epic, but it can easily get boring. like “cool dude, you can really shred that thing. Yes, we all see you flexing.”
Some, if not most of it, is so fast and technical that I can’t even tell what is actually going on. Again, it’s very impressive, but not my cup of tea.
Competitions are just kind of lame imo. There’s too much going on for me. Nothing personal against competitors, again, mad respect for their talent. It’s just not for me
No I tend to agree with you as well. That’s the nature of competitions. I enjoy watching Instagram videos or YouTube videos for the most part. They seem like they are enjoying it more. Now some competition routine are really good. But alas to win you have to get clicks.
Like skateboarding, i love Mike Vallely. His stuff is new and old school and for the love of skating. Skate videos and clips are awesome, the Berrics are fantastic games of skate. But competitions are different. You have to do what you know you can hit consistently and will score you points.
I don’t really like watching that stuff at all. I appreciate the talent though but have no patience for a 3+ minute routine. Maybe if I was there it’d be different. I prefer a 10 second speedy combo. I have no favorite players. I also lose track of what’s going on and it sometimes seems like the same thing over and over. I like watching tutorials more.
i somewhat agree. When I watch videos of yoyoing, they’re usually the ones that are heavily edited and aren’t a straight freestyle. Theyre a type of art in a sense. The only reason I’d watch freestyle videos is to slow them down and study the elements in them.
I tend to agree with your point of view. “Technical” seems to equal “boring”.
This has been a complaint now for some time. One point that is not touched on is the self-fulfilling nature of “technical”. As more and more tricks are developed that torture yo-yo string into ever-more intricate shapes and soon to be undone knots; their content becomes one of tribal knowledge rather than skill. Instead of a new cool trick everyone can see and attempt to replicate; technical almost demands someone teach; or show you how these tricks are done. Yeah, you can break one down frame by frame, but the guy who knows someone who can teach them will be light years ahead especially when it comes to combos and new variants.
I kind of wish for the days when a freestyle made me go: “Wow”. Instead of “Yawn”. Sadly, I see myself saying “wow” more in 3A, 4A and 5A now.
Yes exactly my point. I love watching those kind of videos. His competition freestyle is good too, I have to give home credit where it’s due. But competition is different for sure.
I’m inclined to agree. I must say, however, that there are players out there who, despite how the system works, still manage to provide the audience with very unique and interesting freestyles. And, watching some of the most recent freestyles, I can say that certain players have been seriously trying to up their game, maintaining flow, using music to compliment their style, adding unique elements, etc.
But for me at least, this is the epitome of a mind-blowingly fun freestyle:
I can watch that all day. Hopefully, we can find our way back to freestyles like that.
i follow chucks philosophy on throwing. i think he said in his interview with docpop, that he wants to see yoyo showcases/festivals instead of competitions. with skating, theres two sides of it; the competitive side and the more fun side of it, where the focus isnt on trying to win. i want to compete in competitions, but i also dont want to make my tricks just clickers. i want that old school flow, the elegant execution, the slow, but beautiful presentation of retro style. i want to change the game. many compete with speedy, techy tricks, but that isnt really the point of yoyoing. the real point is just to have fun. we see quite a huge resurgence in old school throws and styles.
i dunno man. competitions can get boring. sometimes it just seems outlandish for a childs toy to have competitions where people literally go neck to neck just for fun. it seems more fitting for just a toy to have showcases just presenting talent.
it is just a toy after all. there is no need for people to change the purpose of the toy just for, idk, publicity, fame, money, exposure, and all that other materialistic stuff. in perspective, i think its better to show talent of what someone can do with a toy instead of using it for something else.
Yeah, I feel the same way about baseball. It makes no sense to me that a child’s stick-and-ball game gets taken so seriously by anyone. I think e-sports (i.e., professional videogaming) elicit similar feelings of “WTF?” from most people as well. The degree to which so many people take so many childish things so incredibly seriously is impossible to fathom sometimes.
I will admit I have always found intricate string tricks, along the lines of “look at this crazy tweaked out arrangement of string I can make” … kind of boring. I like things to be in motion!
