I've talked before on this blog about the difficulty in defining what makes a "Trick", as opposed to a combo. The definition has never really been laid down to my satisfaction, so I thought I'd take a new angle on it. Rather than obsessing over what a trick is, I've decided to mention a few instances that demonstrate what a trick isn't.
First, a bit of laundry for our newer readers. When you combine tricks together, sometimes you create a new trick and sometimes you create a combo. Take as an example an Instep Kick, a Wolverine and a Trampoline. If you did an Instep Kick, do a Wolverine around the Myachi and then hit it with the Trampoline, you've done a single trick:
Instep Kick > Wolverine > Trampoline
The reason this is considered a single trick is because you only touch the Myachi twice; once when you hit it with your instep (the beginning of the trick) and once at the end when you hit it with your T-Shirt. The Wolverine is an aerial and doesn't require that you hit the Myachi at all.
Now, if you did an Instep Kick, a Trampoline and then the Wolverine, you'd have done 2 tricks:
Instep Kick > Trampoline + Wolverine
The reason is, of course, that you touch the Myachi for a second time before you did the Wolverine. You did an Instep Kick (1st touch) to start the trick and a Trampoline (2nd touch) to end the trick. The fact that you've added a Wolverine to the end doesn't count as part of the next trick because it came after the second touch. The Trampoline > Wolverine was a trick done after the Instep Kick > Trampoline.
The system becomes particularly confusing when you start figuring in grinds and centrifugals. All other trick types are pretty easy:
Traps: (Require a Touch) Are always the beginning or end of a trick.Strikes: (Require a Touch) Are always the beginning or end of a trick.
Aerials: (No Touch Allowed) Are never the beginning or end of a trick.
Stalls: (Require a Touch) Are always the beginning or end of a trick.
Portals: (No Touch Allowed) Are never the beginning or end of a trick.
Flips: (No Touch Allowed) Are never the beginning or end of a trick.
But with Centrifugals the Myachi never moves and with Grinds there is a long, continuous touch. That makes things pretty confusing. How does a Snake fit in? What about a Dark Slide?
Well, though it is imperfect, the standing definition has to do with the motion of the Myachi. Let's say you do a Roller Coaster and toss right into a Double Illusion. That would count as a single trick because the motion doesn't actually stop and the Myachi isn't redirected within the trick. But if you did a Double Illusion then caught the Myachi and went into a Crane, it would be two tricks (unless you're so good you can catch a Double Illusion and move straight into a Crane without interrupting the motion of the Myachi).
Like I said, the definition is pretty imperfect. It would be easy to imagine two people arguing about whether or not the motion of the Myachi actually stopped or whatever so there should be more precision there.
But for the purposes of this article, I don't want to split hairs about Grinds, but rather point out a few things that are not tricks. People often think they've invented a new trick but then when you see it, you have to break the news to them that no, sorry, they didn't actually invent a "trick" per se.
These are a few of the really common ones that I see:
It's a Combo.
This ties right into what I was talking about before. Somebody will say they've invented a new trick and then they'll do something like "Toe Stall to Trampoline to Hulk to 720". Now, that would certainly be pretty sweet, but it's a combo, not a trick.
That's not to say that you can't give it a name. Maybe the name sticks and maybe it doesn't; that will depend on how popular the combo becomes. The combo listed above is such a random string of tricks that I can't imagine it becoming anybody's go to jam, but classic combos like the Wavy Gravy have been known to earn names from time to time.
It Doesn't Involve the Myachi.
We had to draw the line on this one early. According to the officially sanctioned rules of what constitutes a trick, the trick must somehow involve the Myachi. In other words, if the "trick" is just throwing the Myachi in the air, doing some random action and then catching the Myachi, that's not a trick.
Examples of this are legion. If you toss the Myachi up, pick your nose and then catch it, that isn't a trick. If you toss it up, wipe the sweat off your brow and then catch it, that isn't a trick. If you toss it up, rub your belly while you pat your head and then catch it, that isn't a trick. If we allowed stuff like that, there would be a gazillion silly tricks and it would be silly to try to keep up with all of them.
The only exception to this rule is the "In-Spin", where you toss a Myachi up, do a full spin and then catch it. The reason this is still considered a trick is because it does involve the Myachi... you have to take your eyes off of it, spin away from it, etc. It's not just something you're doing while the Myachi is in the air, it's something that actually makes the catch harder.
It's Already a Trick.
Sometimes people do a trick where, for example, all they're really doing is a well known trick. For example, if you do an Illusion but make a Fist with the hand that goes around the Myachi, you're still just doing the Illusion. Since the "Illusion Hand" doesn't actually touch the Myachi, there's no functional difference between doing it with your hand flat or in a fist.
Another great example of this (and the one I saw that prompted me to write this article) would be the position of your hands in a Flying Fish. A Flying Fish is still a Flying Fish whether your hands are in fists, sideways, longways, or making little dinosaurs. The reason is, of course, that it makes no real difference to the move what position your hands are in when you do it. The Myachi is sitting on your leg and your hands aren't touching it.
Now, to be clear, if you do a Flying Fish and then catch the Myachi on your fist, that would be a trick that would be different from just doing a Flying Fish and then catching it on the back of your hand. What I'm talking about above is a person who was doing a Flying Fish with his hands in a weird position, but then flattening them back out for the catch.
Other?
I'm sure there are others, but it's almost one in the morning so I'm going to stop here. We're still working on cementing a meaningful and fully encompassing definition for what makes a trick a trick and when we hammer it out, you'll be the first to know.
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