Ok, I re-read the whole thing. Yeah, it's like a commentary all over again. Sorry. For 2006 I'll be brief!
Whole Video
6:50 is where the battles start.
Note: I know I refer to Hong 10’s freeze a lot here even
though the bboys may just be doing a halo freeze – which is basically what a
Hong 10 freeze is. But the fact that it’s quite prevalent in this year’s battle
as opposed to last year’s Red Bull Competition tells us that maybe Hong 10 has
had a huge influence in introducing it to the others. So when I say they’re
taking his freeze, what I mean is that they’re using what he’s widely known for
against him.
Top 16
Moy: USA; Havikoro | Hong 10: South
Korea; Drifterz, Project Soul, Red Bull BC One All Stars
Hong 10 begins the round while I’m here grooving with the music when suddenly, he pulls out this totally awesome backspin transition into a Y elbow freeze. He does a lot more awesome floor work, threads his head while on a bridge then pulls out an airchair variation. Moy does a really high backflip, some tight munch mills and a few Russian steps. Hong 10 does an elbow freeze but in the middle of a glide changes into an airchair. Man, this guy’s transitions are awesome. He follows that up with some stacking of his trademark Hong 10 freeze while doing halos in between. Then he does this amazing float – like a stabbed hollow back or something. Moy gets on the floor doing some nice floor work and then a crab dance. Hong 10 enters and executes a reverse air baby and glides it. Moy counters with some threading and a diss but that’s not enough to win this battle. Hong 10 wins unanimously.
Brahim: France; Pockemon | Machine: USA; Rockforce, Zulu Kings
Brahim gets on the floor first, shows us a really deep pike
and at the end of his set executes some nice transitions before hitting his
freeze. Machine attacks with some really tight moves, and acrobatics. That was
also a really smooth headslide. Brahim enters with a corkscrew and does some
air flares but also performs glides and hand hops in between. He ends with an
elbow freeze. Machine does some pretty common bboy moves opting with his style
of course and performing it with an edge. Brahim gets down with his set and
does a pretty cool thread ending with that same repetitive freeze. Machine’s
next set includes this really mean headswipe into a headspin. Mean! Brahim puts
his drink bottle down but Machine takes it to mean he crashed. Heh. Brahim ends
his set with a roll back freeze and sweeps his shoes which means it’s a clean
set – surely he can’t be telling Machine to clean up his set? Machine does one
last set before the judges rule him winner.
Cico: Italy; Spinkingz, Red Bull BC One All Stars
Pelezinho: Brazil; Tsunami All Stars, Red Bull BC One All Stars
Cico enters the battle first and does some pretty solid
airflares to suicides combo. Pelezinho enters with some tops and does tricks
with the Brazilian flag in between his legs. Then he busts some power moves
like elbow airflares, munch mills and a hollow back. Cico performs some tight
90s. Pelezinho does some floorwork, and does this headstand flip thing before
ending his set in a Hong 10 freeze variation. Heh. Cico responds with some
airflares-mills combo before entering with some tombstones. Pelezinho wins the
match, and although I believe that Cico is quite the polished bboy when it
comes to powermoves, I’m still a purist when it comes to all roundedness.
Rubber Legz: Germany; Insane Prototypes, Terror Bunch | Sonic: Denmark; Natural Effects
Next up is Sonic’s round and he’s sporting some nice – I
think they’re called Shanghai Tang clothes – like the ones Bruce Lee wore. Heh.
I enjoyed his sets last year. Rubberlegz open up their battle and he does some
coffee grinders in a pretzel position. He really is what his name says. Sonic
does some really nice tops and this awesome knee spin. Rubberlegz has a
personality he likes to stick with, doing flares and ending up in his pretzel position.
With such rubbery legs, doing threads definitely emphasizes his flexibility –
so alluring to watch too. I still love watching Sonic’s sets – they’re so
funny. He makes mistakes but he continues to make it look like they’re part of
his sets – and it’s done really well too. Rubberlegz shows off some more of his
flexibility and Sonic responds with some more of his creativity. I’ve so much
respect for Sonic’s respect for his opponents. Sonic goes through the next
round.
Lilou: Algeria, France; Pockemon | Physicx: South Korea; Rivers Crew
As Rahzel introduces the bboys neither wanted to bump fists, but I’m sure it was mainly due to the language barrier. Lilou looked so young back then, and he definitely was a feather feet. In the first round Lilou keeps it simple using his agile feet to kill some beats. Physicx unleashes his airflares, and attempts a hollow back only landing a couple of times on his feet. Lilou crashes a 2000s but kills some more beats. This was quite a slippery start for both bboys, making mistakes here and there, and although Lilou had some crashes and slips, his musicality and creativity won the judges over.
Omar: USA; Jive Turkeys | Benny: South Africa; Hand Break Turn
There’s a lot of attitude between these bboys which makes it
all the more better for everyone to watch. Bennie begins with a set that ends
with a Hong 10 freeze. I guess there was some trading going on in the Red Bull
Bboy camp. Omar responds with a battle rock, airflares, and mill variations.
Bennie’s next set included a backflip which he failed to land properly. Omar
gets creative while Bennie executes an airchair – glide – reverse air baby
combo. At the end of this battle, votes were going to Omar but do I hear some
boo-ing in the crowd?! Ya’ll need to be educated. Bboy is a dance – dancing is
just as important, or even more so, than executing those wild moves. When doing
something wild – you at least got to know how to do it cleanly to let people
know it’s no fluke. Omar is clearly the winner. Besides, he was killing beats
while up rocking behind Bennie when he wasn’t looking; it’s why you never turn
your back on your opponent.
Jora lays it down first, doing some nice tops and a barrel
variation, elbow freeze and some threading. Junior returns it with some tops
then shows us how a flag should be done; that unsurprisingly gets the crowd
worked up. Jora flashes his muscles telling Junior he’s got it too and carries
on to show us a nice freeze, some amazing floor work and a lotus freeze. Junior
does the rotating flag variation he did during the third place battle last
year. It’s still impressive how he holds it so steadily. He touches the floor
at some point though. Jora does a few more tops and rolls back into a
thread. Junior enters with some foot
work and 90s but with so little momentum – he crashes. I thought this was a
close battle but then again, I’m watching it without the original music. What I
can see though is that Junior must have killed some beats on top of his
amazingly difficult moves to win in spite of some messy executions and that
crash right at the end. Jora had crashed once too and his moves were not quite
in the same level of difficulty – so my vote would go to Junior. Junior goes through.
Born: South Korea; Rivers Crew, Floor Gangz; Mighty Zulu Kings
Ronnie: USA; Full Force, Super Cr3w, 7 Commandoz, Red Bull BC One All Stars
Born starts the battle off with a really tight set and a
really nice munch mill to a stabbed glide - his signature. Ronnie comes back stronger than the
previous year, still true to his threads but more creative, and ends with a 4
elbow freeze. Born enters with a backwards rotating glide and does some tapping
floats to a baby freeze. Ronnie responds with yet another tight freeze. Born enters
hopping on one foot and thrusting at Ronnie but Ronnie calls a bite. I don’t
think thrusting is a bite – did I miss something? Did he meant that hopping
move Born did cuz it was completely different to the hopping move Ronnie did
before he thrusted. Even Born’s like – what did I do?! Born does an awesome
float. He does a headswipe to an airchair then its Ronnie’s turn. He does more
of his threading and some tight floorwork. Asia One voted for Born – that’s all
that matters. But Ronnie goes through. I still think Born is madd fresh!
Quarter Finals
Junior | Ronnie
Junior gets down with his first set. He does that awesome crawl thing he did last year. Ronnie’s quite full of his hand gestures – he’s telling Junior he crashed. He does a flag – leans it to the other side and switches hands. Then he holds a hollowback and walks with it. Eek. Ronnie enters with his threads and ends with an airchair freeze. He’s quite fond ending his sets with the ice baby pose. Junior holds down a tight set with a flag. Ronnie responds with a set sans too many threads but with crickets, elbow airflares, munch mills – and ending a little bit dizzy? Junior throws down, what you call those – UFOs? Boomerangs? He ends with a hollow back only touching the floor and landing ungracefully. Ronnie ends the battle while Junior uprocks next to him. Junior looks injured – but just as well that Ronnie won then.
Lilou | Omar
Lilou smiles at Omar but Omar stares through him. Ow. Lilou comes across as quite geeky back then but he’s such a mean bboy – I totally love the anti-stereotype he carries. Omar opens the battle strong with airflares, elbow airflares, shoulder suicides and a very clean 2000s. Does that mean he’s got a lot more to show for later? Lilou shows off some of his own flares only topping Omar’s with legs that form lotuses each spin. Creative. His energy tips and you’ve got him doing threads and freezes, then asking Omar to come at him.
Omar does a short no hands windmill because his momentum didn’t quite work out. You got him doing tight floorwork and zulu spin variations. Lilou does some creepy jog around Omar – go go Pokemon! Then battle rocks. He crashes at times but transitions so fast to his next move you don’t have time to think about it. He does a pretzel freeze to end his set.
Omar does a reverse knee drop and does an airchair at the end but crashes. Lilou calls him out on the airchair but Omar calls his call out? Hah, this battle sure is quite animated. He then tops it off with an awesome-r transition to airchair but Omar calls him out on it – so Lilou tops it again by doing another variation. This is crazy. And they won’t stop. OMG lol. Now I know why Omar had to start strong – he probably knew Lilou’s capabilities and it was a threat to his throne. But alas, the King’s reign has come to an end! Lilou will now catch-em-all. Meanwhile in the background, Omar’s practicing his airchair, like he should. Heh.
Pelezinho | Sonic
Yes, he sure does have one of the fanciest foot work on the planet – I agree! He opens the battle and Sonic’s versatility never ceases to amaze me. He starts off stacking. Pelezinho also has some classy footwork and even tops Sonic’s stacking before finishing off with a headspin. Sonic goes in again with some more of his musicality. Pelezinho asks if his set is over and starts mocking him heh. He’s out to teach him a lesson only to do a reverse corkscrew and not landing right. Sonic enters with some creativity and does an awesome transition to a suicide. Pelezinho does a short set to redeem his earlier failed landing on his corkscrew. Pelezinho took the round.
Hong 10 | Machine
Oh! Hong 10 is back! Yus. Machine starts off, doing some tops leaning towards the salsa side of things. Then he gets down doing some quick simple steps. Hong 10 enters chillin on his top before getting down to do airflares, elbow airflares, flares and mills, then entering some halos and ending with his trademark. Machine gets in with the jig with a headslide coming from nowhere! He also does this pretty solid flag. Hong 10 starts breaking and freezing with just one hand. He does some slow elbow airflares and not landing too well but transitions it into a freeze.
This is why I hate watching a dubbed version because Machine goes in pointing at his ear – it means Hong 10 needs to listen to the music more. He battle rocks and probably killed some beats – but I don’t see the crowd reacting, so maybe not? He starts doing some acrobatic moves and starts zulu spinning around Hong 10. Bboying is not a contact sport, son. But like it was a Kung Fu movie, Hong 10 gets the crap out of there doing some bboy moves too. Is there beef between these two? Hong 10 goes in and does his thing, doing some threading while on a one handed freeze position. Machine gets in and makes the mistake of using Hong 10’s trademark move against Hong 10. Heh. Check mate Hong 10. But it’s all good for Hong 10 – it’s the end of the battle. Hong 10 wins unanimously.
Semi-Finals
Hong 10 | Pelezinho
Hong 10 begins the battle. He does some floor work. Was that a shoulder suicide or a crash? He does some threading which transitions into an airchair – that was cool. Pelezinho gets in doing a double corkscrew – you can feel his capoeira vibe. He does some flips and crashes (or not) and ends in a Hong 10 freeze. What’s up with everyone getting caught up in his freeze – was that all they learned in the red bull camp? Hong 10’s like crap not again. Then he shows Pelezinho how to transition from an elbow airflare to halos to a headspin and into his freeze. He does some more technical moves and awesome transitions. Pelezinho raises the bar with some mill variations and headspins. Hong 10 retaliates with airflares, then with his own headspins and one handed halos, finishing his set by pulling a Junior. Pelezinho flips into battle, and Hong 10 stands rigid with his hands in the air just as how a gymnast would land after a performance – this is to say to Pelezinho was too gymnastics; more breaking please. The judges the judges the judges – rule Hong 10 winner. Wow, this is the first time my girl Asia One does not agree with me.
Lilou | Ronnie
Lilou was so cute as a nerd; what’s up with him bboying with a chain on his neck. He starts off the round filling the floor with all his creativity. He does this incredible spin but fails which *spoiler central* he improves years later. Ronnie does a lot of technical moves and an elbow airflare. Lilou enters and does a freeze. His nerd turn fierce on the floor persona is kinda scary. Then he takes Ronnie to a whole new level of threading, but Ronnie doesn’t take him on and only threads a bit at the end of his set. I was thinking Lilou looks like he’s gliding because he doesn’t seem like he’s touching the ground, when he out of nowhere puts a leg around his neck. Siiiiick. Ronnie keeps it simple in his next set and nothing new comes out of it. Lilou pulls the same sick trick with his leg and does a whole series of freezes. It was over all too soon and Lilou moves on to the finals.
Third Place
Ronnie | Pelezinho
It’s
the battle for third place and Pelezinho starts giving all his moves that he
couldn’t carry to the finals, and those are some tight tops. He does a reverse
glide. Ronnie enters with some flares and elbow airflares before showing us
some more of his threads. Pelezinho draws a line – did he want to have an up
rock battle? He shows us some power moves before Ronnie skips around him to get
his turn. He produces some floorwork before Pelezinho does a corkscrew and
crashes hard – ouch. Ronnie, always expressive, makes sure to smack that floor.
Ronnie does some up rocking before getting down. When the battle’s over, Rahzel
top rocks in. Heh. That’s fresh. It’s Ronnie’s win.
Finals
Lilou | Hong 10
We're have finally reached the finals!
Hong
10 initiates the battle and everything is unleashed now. That is some pretty nasty
floorwork. It’s Hong 10 freeze galore coming from the one and only Hong 10.
Lilou enters and the way he holds that V kick freeze is pretty solid. That
glide was creative – even how he transitioned into it. Hong 10 does an airchair
but couldn’t catch it well. He resorts to some threads, does a fine elbow freeze
but couldn’t catch his landing. All these mistakes are worrying, Hong 10! Lilou
tops him on the airchair – he follows it with a series of threads but even
Lilou couldn’t catch his freeze and lands flat on his butt. Maybe it’s a
mixture of nerves and fatigue.
Hong 10 gets his set down, trying to do the
bridge roll only crashing everytime. Lilou comes in with his rendition of Storm's performance before giving us a solid set. Hong 10 attempts a flag but
can’t quite hold it. He does manage a freeze in the end though – but Lilou
calls him out on it. There’s beef as Lilou tells Hong 10 to get on his side of
the stage. Lilou looks like he wants to have an uprock battle and starts
motioning chicken flaps. Hong 10 motions to the floor – telling him to get back
with his set, or do some floorwork. Lilou then does this really cool move – I don’t even know how to
describe it – he threads, headstands then land on his hands but his legs are in
a floating position. Hong 10 responds
with a glide to an airchair – but almost losing his balance. He then does
headswipes meanwhile motioning kicking Lilou’s face.
Lilou tries to rile Hong
10 up by skipping around him and running oh so femininely across the stage. He
then busts out a series of moves showing us just how much energy he still has
left. On the other hand, Hong 10 has just about reached his limit, executing some messy
halos and flares. Hong 10 drags himself across the stage on his Hong 10 freeze,
and I would have done the same thing as what Lilou did – pretend I’m holding a
leash on him. Lilou goes in and shows us he’s got a lot left in the tank. Then
it’s time to announce the winner. Lilou is the 2005 champion.
Performances
Masters of Locking, Hilty and Bosch
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