Xen

yata, you started this last season. Fess up and own up to it. =P

Look at the origin costume: -Fan request: LGC hair. (check) -Black and gold (check) -Lace (check) -Feathers motif (check) Coincidence much?

I wonder if this otonal outfit is in its final form yet?

We only learn from The Best!

don't be me from last season, when I mentioned that a 4A was just half a rotation more than other quads. For reference, 4T when accounting for PR on the take off and allowance of 90 degrees on landing, is actually around 3.5-3.75 rotations in the air. 4A still has him take off with a bit of PR, and he could opt to have a bit under perfect for landing, so minus the take off PR, it's actually about 4-4.25 rotations in the air. See where we're going?

@Hydroblade: what type of pancake is ACI2018? I don't think your pancake chart has a matching one. Probably something with slight charring at the edges, and the weirdest mismatched toppings (judge's scores) on top.

I would imagine 5 quad layouts would be problematic. With 4 mins, stamina is at a premium. If 4Lo is included, he'd have all quads in the first half and open the second half with a quad combo. The other variance that could work is if he did //3ALo3S 3A2T 3F/3Lz/3Lo in the second half, that might be more feasible stamina wise, and maximizes points for triples.

His 3F is back, so even if he pops the 4A, he could go 3A 4T 4Lo 4S3T//4TLo3S 3A2T 3F or something like that, or maybe 3A 4T 3F 4S3T//4TLo3S 3A2T 3Lo what if he's going to evolve the LP layout to 4A 4T 3F 4S3T//4TLo3S 3A2T 3A?

Am I the only one who saw the training time and went "Wonder if he's doing his thesis?"

what would be the metaphorical equivalent to popcorn in Russia? In China we usually say "eating sunflower seeds."

Oh man, there's going to be a lot of popcorn flying around later on.

Well actually he does get into an interesting situation if he does it in the LP and pops the 4A into a 3A. If he's not comfortable with 3F or 3Lz yet, he'd have to modify one of the 3As in the second half to a 3Lo. So then his layout would be 3A 4T 4Lo 4S3T//4TLo3S 3A2T 3Lo? If so wouldn't the higher value LO be 3A 4T 4Lo 4S3T//4Tlo3S 3A2T 3Lz?

I just realized, the ones we use to enter spins is CW..so my good side is actually my back CW crossovers that I can do in my sleep. My CCW ones are bad.

Well I do a warm up drill for class that has me do back CW crossovers, slide to back CCW ones, and according to my coach, it's because the coordination and push from my left foot for the CW ones are not as smooth. =/ She told me to just go practice more. Q_Q

Back CCW are also easy, back CW are okay, but I do have a tendency to drag my toepick on the underpush more often, and this is the side where I have infamous "toepick meet back of blade and fall" episodes. There was this one time where that happened and I slide a couple meters on my butt. XD

I cheated by doing backwards ones when I got tired. XD Backward ones are fairly easy for me? Especially once you pick up speed. And sometimes I cheat on my forward ones by not picking up my free foot when doing the first cross over push (not the underpush, that one you can't really cheat). Hmm, I'm wondering if it's alright to put up youtube videos of warm-up drills? If anyone is interested, these are pretty similar to the ones my coach makes us do: (if you have guts, do the double-3's with arms up =P) Also, try to do this section of Yuzu's warm-up sequence down the length of a rink (without the besti squat):

Uh, you need to sharpen the blades girl! It makes a difference, don't rely on the factory default sharpening. I've had my blades' factor default sharpening measured before by my skate tech, and he said the 2 were at different depths. For new skates when you are still breaking them in- go on for about 10-20 mins , and you may opt to leave the top hook alone when lacing. Do simple movements, then go off ice and rest a bit with the boots unlaced. Then re-lace and go back on ice for 10-20 mins. It may take you a while to break them in depending on how fast you adjust. Also, if you are feeling pain in your feet, check where the pain points are and speak with your coach. It might be normal pain you get from breaking in skates, but it may not. I had a pair of skates before where I felt no pain, except when I landed jumps where my right toe hurt. I thought it was normal, until I started getting a purple bruise under my toenail. Turns out the boot might have been half a size too small in the toebox region, and the top was pressing on my toenail. And my right toes were curling up a bit to fit. So I had to then switch out into 1 size larger. Videos (not all tips applicable):

Ah, yes that would tire out your legs. But yay, progress is good.

I do wonder if Jason's best quad, in theory, might actually be a 4F? That does appear to be one of his better jumps.

Oh, that will be an interesting battle at galas for The Waist. Wonder how other skaters will react? If they put their hands on his back during photos, they're touching The Back, without mesh. And then we'll have flower girls telling us that not only does he smell like lemon and chocolate, his skin upon closer inspection really does glisten with the sheen of bone porcelain, and is a shade of fragile delicate sakura pink that rivals the greatest flower petals in the universe. Maybe now he'll smell of peaches and sakura?

We went from 4A polls to chocolate bananas. What should we make of this? How should we read this? A 4A is like 90% cacao dark chocolate, an acquired taste? As rare as a banana stuffed with chocolate-for the few, the brave, the crazy ones?

Yata is correct that it's safer points wise for him to go for broke in the FS rather than the SP. I would say if he does bring the 4A for LP, the 4Lo is going to SP, so SP would be 4Lo 3A//4T3T because that would fit the rhythm of his SP's so far. And he can fall back on 4S 3A/4T3T if he has issues. You can't win a competition with a good SP, but you can lose a competition if you bomb an SP. 4Lo3A/4T3T is good BV for an SP, and all his jumps there can earn high GOEs. So 110+ with spare change is fine and gives him a cushion for the LP.

Well the uncertainty isn't really due to him, it's just due to the jump itself. It's never been landed. I think we all figured that the 4Lz was coming, and we were right, because no one bought the last 3Lz jumping pass from the media day run through. So the boy got smarter this year with a) not showing us a run-through in the SP and not showing the full layout for the LP; and b) announcing publically he wants to land the 4A and that it'll likely be first jumping pass. So fans can stop speculating. Well we're still speculating, but it's not a matter of "if" more a matter of "when." Which is good, because this season, somehow we're calmer than last season with the 4Lz looming. XD We're seriously so accepting of 4A's inevitability than how we approached the 4Lz last season. And should he decide to continue past this season, any mention of Yuzu+4A means he's still at the top in the TES. So long as his TES doesn't fall significantly behind, his GOEs and PCs means all things being equal, it's still a game being played on his terms. This was the issue with Patrick Chan and to an extent, Javi- as BV takes on more importance under the % GOE system, they'd fall too far behind with just 4T and 4S. Lastly, this is possibly wishful thinking on my part. But judges do judge skaters relatively to each other. So long as a clean/cleanish Yuzu is in contention, I think the other guys' PCS might be reined in a bit.

How long did you skate? The last time I experienced that, I was doing 1 hour of crossovers.

Hmm, if he does that, do you think he'll move 4Lo back into the SP? SP: 4Lo 3A//4T3T LP: 4A 4T 3Lo 4S3T//4T1Lo3S 3A2T 3A I didn't add the 4Lo after the 4T because I do think 4 quads in a row is a bit insane, even for his level of stamina and it's more likely to lead to messy second halfs, so for now, just 4 quads in the long. You know, last season we'd all tear our hair out going crazy over this layout, but this season, we're really zen about it. Kind of "we've seen it all, nothing can surprise us anymore." Guess we're all whipped by now.