Going to totally play devil's advocate on this Wyatt Bray deal...so here it goes. We live in a society where people are constantly playing Monday morning quarterback and criticizing they way people handle a certain situation. I personally feel this is wrong, and people are absentmindedly dismissing other people's emotions because of it. Wyatt has dedicated a large portion of his life to being one of the best players in the world; if he loses and feels he should have won, let the dude be pissed...let him throw a tantrum, those are his emotions, not yours. If he wants to be upset and feels the judges wronged him, then who are you to tell him how to live his life? As long as he isn't harming another person, then who are you to tell him he is in the wrong?! People's judgement of another often blocks them from understanding that person's emotion. No one here has even brought up the obvious counterpoint...perhaps the judges did fuck him and he should have advanced to the next round. Perhaps his anger was entirely justified and being a passionate kendama player, it was too much for him and his emotions got the best of him. Oh my God...what does that mean...it means he is HUMAN BEING. There, I said it. Wyatt Bray, as amazing as he is at kendama, is still a living breathing person. Let the dude rage if that is what keeps the fire burning.
couldn’t agree more! nothing wrong with being upset about losing, it’s called being competitive. now i know kendama shouldn’t be viewed as something super competitive, but being a world champion he wants to hold himself to a higher standard and winning is a part of that. he didn’t yell at anyone on stage or in anybody’s face according to the other posts, so him taking it outside was exactly what he should’ve done. i can tell wyatt is a super competitive guy, but that’s ok because that’s just how some people are.
At the highest levels of kendama emotion is always going to be a part of the game. Imagine being at the cutting edge and feeling like in order to defend that position you have to keep lacing. I would lose it too. I definitely feel weird when pros post videos of just them raging that don't even include a trick. That said, that's their prerogative. I like the parts of the community that don't celebrate toxic rage and anger. That said, we gotta remember that most of us here have no clue at all what it would feel like to have a big part our lives literally rely on hitting insane tricks all the time. Also the kendama cringe account seems so shit. Just trying to create division in the community for no other reason than that whoever runs it has opinions and wants to share them anonymously. I like the idea of a dialogue about anger and shit but not this way.
This brings me to my question. Is a group/person/account like kendama_cringe necessary/needed/wanted in a community like ours? There are many meme and joke accounts on IG for kendama (and many as far as I know have dropped off) but like @Qonnor mentioned this new one account's posts just seem to cause drama for the sake of drama whether it's their intent or not and tries to play it off like a joke. My favorite post about kendama_cringe is on FKC about how the person behind it is too scared to post their own name on the account and take responsibility.
Yeah I feel that there's no need or want for this kind of thing in the kendama community. I feel like it's fair to be turned off by rage clips and it's totally fair to have preferences about types of tricks. At the end of the day though, everyone who is posting juggle tricks or rage clips is putting their name behind it and willing to be held accountable and have their actions dissected by the community. Whoever runs this account is doing literally no good here, especially by choosing to be anonymous.
On the Kendama_cringe issue, I do get his point (and it's valid), but said point is expressed in a manner that is questionable and, at worst, unfair. First, the positives. Kendama, at least traditionally, is treated with respect. In @goenKendama's competitions which are heavily JKA-influenced, there is a no-throw policy with kendamas, where throwing your kendama onto the ground will get you booted from the competition automatically. To see such things being done to a kendama does warrant some "cringe" in my opinion. This is the point kendama_cringe wants to get across and it's perfectly valid. HOWEVER, kendama_cringe crosses the line on so many points, like @Qonnor has previously said. They unfairly generalize americans as these uncultured, short-tempered savages with no respect for kendama, which is far from the case. They post clips of pros when they are on grind mode; in this state of mind, all bets are off, and you aren't in control of your emotions because you are so focused on lacing the trick. Thus, rage clips are not the best measure of the character of these kendama players. Finally, they post these clips anonymously, leading to a lack of accountability and true discourse between players. Why would kendama_cringe engage in meaningful conversation when he can just hide behind an alias and troll people? These are a few reasons why this person, in trying to get across their message that kendamas should be treated with respect, does so in a distasteful manner. P.S. To answer @KeeganS's question, I don't think we need this kind of account, but it's always nice to have something new to think about in the marketplace of ideas.
Incredibly well put!!! My biggest criticism of @Kendama_Cringe is that they are criticizing these behaviors by throwing more negativity out there in the Kendama community. If it had been more of a blooper reel instead of just bashing people and using blanket criticism regarding Americans, it would be more entertaining and positive. The anonymity and negativity does make it feel like it’s trolling. Regarding Wyatt’s and other “hot headed” behavior, I totally understand the libertarian “live and let live” approach to understanding others’ various emotional expressions especially with the degree of dedication and competitiveness at that level, however it’s incredibly unclassy. The level of your competitiveness shouldn’t permit you to not be responsible for your emotions. That behavior makes more sense in a more violent or physically exerting competition like football, MMA, or even power-lifting where aggression is generally favorable. I’ve never seen an established Master chess player flip the board and smash the pieces out of rage or victory. They would probably get booted from the competition like with the “no throw” rule mentioned above. I love this rule! There is no place for rage in a Kendama competition. The premise for my opinion is that rage is a fundamentally undesirable emotion that generally has more negative repercussions than benefits. Rage bothers me, and it’s particularly bothersome when someone allows or invites that rage to take over their actions.
I'm with you. I definitely find rage clips pretty distasteful. Every time someone slams a dama out of anger I'm hoping for this kind of instant karma.
Looks like @kendama_cringe was taken down, I never got to see what was on there but from what I've heard, this is a positive thing. Any negativity or 'stereotype' like things should not be in Kendama. In the Twilight Zone, Kendama players bash other players for the type of wood they are using, the ken shape, tama color, brand, paint type, how they wrap their damas, how they hold them, wear them, react when playing, ect. Let's not let that happen in our dimension.
A number of people from what I saw, both on here and on FKC, share the opinion that kendama_cringe had about not liking when players overreact and throw their damas on the ground but that account just went about it in a way that garnered negative feedback.
I'm super stoked that Kendama Cringe is gone. It also made me so happy to see that despite that account getting so much attention here and on FKC, it didn't get many followers.
Not really a "bad" trend but an observation coupled with some personal musings. Kendama edits don't have the same "feel" that they had 4-5 years ago, during the "OG" era. "Epic" edits (Think "Count Me In" and, more recently, The Sweets World Championship 2016 edit) drop less often now. In their place are 1-2 minute long videos that are more just a compilation of bangers than short films actually telling a story. Call me old fashioned and nostalgic but I don't really get hyped on YouTube edits anymore given this shift in style, and it's sad. By extension, I am sorely missing the old-school kendama vlogs (Sweets Life, Max Norcross, Wiens and Fuegs show, and Cutthenoise come to mind).
I totally feel that. I think there's way less incentive now to put a ton of work into really telling a story with an edit. I think GT is filming one at KWC. I'll be anxiously awaiting that.
Grain Theory releases a GT vs. JPN video every year! I always look forward to them. Right now I put GT and Sweets on top of the edit game.
@Emil Apostol @xplodit It's been a minute since these have been updated but there are a fair number of links to investigate over here: Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Radio: Links