Avatar Pro-Bending Tournament 2013 [APPROVED!]

[RobinOfLocksley]

So this was an epic success. Sure, we had some uh, hiccups, but that was to be expected for a first time, after all. I especially loved Azula's Agni Kai for a finale!


Here's me and my awesome team!




Go Ghost Sharks!


Hahaha. Anyway, I definitely want to play some more sometime soon. I'm totally geeking out.

[bunny_jean]

This was totally awesome! If possible we should try to do this year round and make it a big deal!


My only suggestion would be a bigger playing area. It was hard to move without stepping on a line. XD Also extra balls, and balls that don't sting as much on non-clothed skin, like the foam ones that are covered in rubber.

[FilkAeris]

Aaaaand that's a wrap on the KumoriLeague 2013 pro-bending season! 

The winners were as follows:

THIRD PLACE (2 TEAMS): Team Ashoka and Team Team Team
SECOND PLACE: Team Sexy Sailors
FIRST PLACE: Team Illuminati

Thank you so much, everyone who participated in making the tournament such a great success - the phenomenal players who gave it their all out on the court, the forumites who helped us hammer out the shape of the thing in advance, the attendants who repeatedly rescued our elements from being lost forever, the referees who went above and beyond to keep things fair and reasonably sane, and of course Kristina and Jaki (the Programming staffers who went heroically to bat for us from the beginning) and Dane and Zach (our fantastic announcer and color man).

These panels were a bigger hit than I ever dreamed, especially considering the last-minute decision by the Red Lion Hotel to not allow the games to be held indoors. We had to make do with a smaller-than-planned arena in an obscure corner of the conspace, a "scenic" riverside location with a low railing that barely kept the elements from going in the drink, and sunny weather that got us all sweating hard - and still, every participant came through beautifully when it counted. <3

It was a first-time attempt at a very complicated panel, and we learned a lot that we can use to improve on the formula for next year (foam dodgeballs with extras-just-in-case are definitely on the shopping list - the rubber inflatable ones were a purchasing error we caught too late to fix - and I'm eager to read more advice and feedback in your comments to this thread), but I'm so happy with how it all turned out. Watching a Firebender leaping right over a flying element in a perfect dodge, a Waterbender catching a water attack just in time to use her element for a smooth double block, or an Earthbender regaining his balance on the very brink of falling back a zone, with pounding Korra soundtrack music and Dane and Zach's commentary, is a Kumoricon memory that will always make me grin.

At the risk of sounding utterly cheesy, you guys are all champions. Thank you for playing, and here's hoping for another even better tournament next year!

[owl]

Congrats to the winning team! I really loved the pro-bending. I think it was great fun to be in and to watch. I just wish some of the rules had been better enforced. My teammate has a massive burn on her leg from getting hit by a ball and can't bend her knee. It was blistering this morning. Plus her pants were ripped. So foam balls might be better next year. And better enforcement of the "no extreme aggression" rule.

[FilkAeris]

Yup, I ended up with a ball-burn on my leg, too, and I was refereeing - not even playing. These balls are definitely out for next year, and we apologize for the trouble enforcing excessive roughness fouls. (We had fewer referees sign up than we hoped for, and it was all we could do to keep track of the basic points and the most blatant foot faults - we did make a point of telling the opposing team to back off whenever a complaint was made, though.)

There was a purchasing error with the dodgeballs - we honestly planned for foam balls from the beginning, but bought the rubber ones by mistake - and didn't have the time or resources to buy all new balls with the con coming up fast. We did our best to reduce the problem by deflating them slightly, but it clearly was not enough. Next year, we're going with a gentler option for sure. Nobody should be getting hurt playing this game, even superficially.

[Magic Mik]

PLEASE have this next year!! it looked great! My friends and I cosplayed as the Fire Ferrets, (with Mako switched for Iroh 2.0) and were SO exited to participate but didn't make it in. we're so excited for next year hoping they'll have this again so we can get in. Planning to be the Fire Ferrets in their probending armor

[Jalak]

I wanted to participate in this so badly, we had a fun team idea ready to go too, but our staffing schedules prevented us from playing. Next year! I heard the people watching really enjoyed it too. I could definitely see this becoming a big yearly event!

[TomtheFanboy]

I'm going to be putting together a highlight reel of the tournament.  There's a couple of things I need.
Does anyone have pictures or footage of the preliminaries? I'd love to supplement the stuff I already have.
Does anyone have pictures of footage of the finals? (I had to film Cosplay Chess)
Does anyone have cool team logos like the Ghost Sharks (see above)? I wanna give you the Sports Center treatment.


I'm going to wait until I've finished archiving my other footage to DVD before I start this project so I have plenty of room for drafts and edits. I will definitely post a link here once its done!

[FilkAeris]

Tom, you get cooler every year. This sounds amazing!  If any teams don't have logos or the resources to make one, I'd be happy to come up with some in Photoshop!

I'm not sure if anyone was filming the finals, though. Guys? Did anybody get the finals on camera? I was trying to focus on eight things at once out by the ring, so I wasn't paying much attention to the stands...

[TomtheFanboy]

Are these the rules that you started with?
http://thebestofkorra.tumblr.com/post/54787168429/the-rules-of-pro-bending-official-pro-bending
I've whipped up a rough index page ready for links from other photographers.
http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/bendingindex.html

Here's the roster, in case you guys lost track.

]

[FilkAeris]

Those are the rules, yes! But we edited them to take out elemental content that wasn't relevant, and put in our own rules about the dodgeball bending. : )

Oh, and if I remember correctly, we had to switch up part of the roster because team members had gone for a drink of water, so the Wolfbats, the Hermits, and the Fighting Spirit ended up in a different order. I don't remember the exact order that they were in, though. I thiiink it was Turtleducks vs. Hermits, Ghost Sharks vs. Wolfbats, Illuminati vs. Fighting Spirit. Can anybody confirm me on that?

[TomtheFanboy]

[size=78%]Oh, and if I remember correctly, we had to switch up part of the roster because team members had gone for a drink of water, so the Wolfbats, the Hermits, and the Fighting Spirit ended up in a different order. I don't remember the exact order that they were in, though. I thiiink it was Turtleducks vs. Hermits, Ghost Sharks vs. Wolfbats, Illuminati vs. Fighting Spirit. Can anybody confirm me on that?[/size]

I caught the revised line up in the footage, so I'll go find a screenshot. I just posted this so that everyone could remember their names. 
Here's the roster from the last video of the preliminaries. I think that it is clear which side has the advantage, the side not facing the sun! The only team that beat the sun had to dislocate an ankle to do so!

[TomtheFanboy]

Potential team logos I have found online.





[size=78%][/size]

[FilkAeris]

One more reason to push for the panel to be moved indoors next year! It isn't really fair to make people push back against the sun.

[FilkAeris]

There's also this tool for creating custom team logos!

[TomtheFanboy]

I made some custom ones too!

[Tsukinya]

Tom,


Photography Coordinator here...  I got full photo coverage of both preliminaries and the finals.  I did not see anyone filming the finals.  I'd be happy to share my personal photos with you; I have 220 edited across both.  What would be the best way to get them to you?


I also agree about the balls, though I understand the circumstances.  Regarding the sun, would it be possible to have the teams switch sides between rounds?  Few had more than one or two, so I think it would balance out anyway.


I had a blast participating in this event, and I think it was a great idea.  It was pretty popular, though it did overlap Cosplay Chess.  I'm even pleased it was outside and ended up where it did - aside from the heat and the Avatar crashing our party during the finals, it was a good setup.  I was disappointed winners weren't announced during Closing Ceremonies :\


Lots of fun - please do this again next year!


 

[FilkAeris]

Thanks for the revised lineup, Tsukinya! The winners of the last two rounds were Team Team Team and the Catowls.

We can't make any promises yet, but we have strong hopes (if the panel is approved for a second year) of integrating it more fully into the convention - which would ideally mean an announcement of winners at the closing ceremonies. If the hotels are comfortable with the use of Gator Skin foam balls, we're going to gun for an indoor location, too, to beat the heat, get a better sound system setup, avoid the rough concrete and wind and the sun-in-the-eyes issue, and relax about possibly losing elements into the river. 

[Tsukinya]

The second picture didn't come through :p





Sexy Sailors played the Illuminati, with the latter reigning victorious

[bunny_jean]

Another thing I was thinking was that with the con being four days next year, we could possibly have more teams competing, or do a round robin, then tournament sort of thing, and have it be over three days instead of two. I'm not sure if that would work out or not though.

[TomtheFanboy]

Another thing I was thinking was that with the con being four days next year, we could possibly have more teams competing, or do a round robin, then tournament sort of thing, and have it be over three days instead of two. I'm not sure if that would work out or not though.

I think that would depend mostly on the hotel space and the schedule. Having more time to recover between rounds would be good for the players. The priority for next year though is to be indoors, with softer balls, and a sound system for the announcers. If they (she, FilkAeris really) can get that then it will be a good enough step to move forward with the event.


The main benefit of a 4 day schedule will be more flexibility to hold the tournament in the Live/Main events rooms.

[TomtheFanboy]

Working on some more logos. I'm actually missing team names though! My video of the check-in got corrupted so I can't go back and see which team is which. can you guys help me identify these teams?


http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/team_7747.png


http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/team_7748.png


http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/team_7749.png


http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/team_7754.png


http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/team_7757.png

I've organised the teams and their logos/names on the following page;

http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/teamindex.html


I've also updated some of the team logos. I'm very happy with these two.

[Tsukinya]

For those interested, I have posted a few pictures on my personal FB page, mostly of the Pro-Bending tournaments, as these are what I covered.  Feel free to peruse and tag yourself


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101169461396973.1073741830.19224784&type=1&l=1bb4abacdf


We hope to have full albums up on the Kumoricon website within the next month or so (LOTS to process!).


~Brianna, Photography Coordinator

[TomtheFanboy]

OK, so I seriously need to ID the last four teams...

[TomtheFanboy]

For those interested, I have posted a few pictures on my personal FB page, mostly of the Pro-Bending tournaments, as these are what I covered.  Feel free to peruse and tag yourself

Time to review the player matches and see if I can put the clues together to identify the last four teams.
OK, so I seriously need to ID these remaining teams; Team Team Team, the Wolfbats, and Riff Raff.


Team Team Team made it to the finals so somebody has got to recognize them!

[TomtheFanboy]

Thanks to tumblr I was able to find Team Team Team!



http://tomthefanboy.com/kumoricon/2013/probending/t_teamteamteam.png

[Tsukinya]

From what I'm able to determine based on my pictures, Riff Raff was the team with this gentleman:



The Wolfbats didn't make it into the finals, so I don't have many pictures of them.  However, I know they played the Ghost Sharks, so they would be this team:



and





Hope that helps!

[TomtheFanboy]

Yes! Excellent! Thank you! Now there's only one mystery team left. At least I can block out the art now!


Now the only problems I have to worry about is the controls in Premiere.

[TomtheFanboy]

There was a request for a finals bracket with Team Wendell.

[Kangetsu]

Any chance we might see Pro-Bending make an appearance at Sakuracon as well? I just might have to start practicing now for the next outing, is was great fun to watch!

[TomtheFanboy]

OK, so I need suggestions on what music clips to put in the background of the photos from the finals.

[Tsukinya]

Survival by Muse (aka: the song from the Olympics)

[TomtheFanboy]

Survival by Muse (aka: the song from the Olympics)

Right on.

[TomtheFanboy]

OK, I got the bulk of the videos trimmed down, now I've just gotta get a nice montage of the team art and the photos from the finals.


SOON.

[Tsukinya]

Tom,


I posted a bunch of photos from the finals (and preliminaries) on my FB page, publicly visible via a post on Kumo's FB page.  LMK if you need the link, more photos, or higher res.  I can hook you up with my Dropbox if need be

[FilkAeris]

Tsukinya, do you have a link for those of us who aren't on FaceBook? The photos sound awesome!

Tom, can't wait to see how this turns out! Thank you so much for putting all this time and effort into the project! <3

[TomtheFanboy]

I've finished editing already but the rendering won't complete.
I've spent the last 3 days trying different settings and none of them are working.
If I could get it to save I might go back and flesh out video with the latest sets of pictures but at this point I just want to get it pushed out.


If anyone has any ideas about Premiere CS2 rendering issues, let me know. 

[TomtheFanboy]

Tsukinya, do you have a link for those of us who aren't on FaceBook? The photos sound awesome!

So if Kumoricon's pictures are here....
https://www.facebook.com/Kumoricon/photos_stream


This link works for me and I don't have a facebook.


I had my wife log in and check the facebook profile...
https://www.facebook.com/brianna.shade.31/
She found this
https://www.facebook.com/brianna.shade.31/media_set?set=a.10101169461396973.1073741830.19224784&type=3
But it only works if you're logged in.

[TomtheFanboy]

OK, so I've finished uploading the video! Because of rendering errors I had to break it in two.
Part 1 http://youtu.be/3XZ1wJ11tgM
Part 2 http://youtu.be/8LebyTRkqmQ


Credits are at the end of part 2.

[bunny_jean]

^^^^^^^^^^^THESE ARE GREAT

[Tsukinya]

Sorry.. been away from the forums for a bit (moving!)  Sorry the album wasn't easily found outside of a FB login!  Kumoricon is publicly visible, but you'd have to sift through the posts to find mine.  For those not on FB, this is the public link to the album.  Please let me know if you're still having trouble seeing them!