What's your opinion on the swoop? More specifically, what's your opinion on the play of a kendama given the swoop? Personally, I can live with it but I'm not its biggest fan. It makes handle and ringstall balance awkward for me.
I like it, but the gt damas aren’t the best in my opinion (aside from KA and BH). I’d like to see it on other damas.
It’s not something I need, but for sure love having those setups that feature them. Specifically GTs, i’ve tried few other brands that also featured swoops but just didn’t feel as comfortable as on GT kens.
As long as it doesn't mess with handle stall, I'm fine with it (indifferent, I suppose) It does change the overall aesthetic, so the rest of the ken profile just needs to be changed to match. Just to keep it looking nice, and consistent!
Has anyone found that it significantly affects lunar balance? People say that it's one advantage of the swoop cause it relieves weight on the base cup and makes the ken more lunar-friendly.
Indifferent i suppose. I do like the swoop though and its a great point of reference for juggles and flips IMO. First swooped 'dama I had was a Ronin Neo Tokyo. It definitely took some time to get used to though. I drilled the base cup to improve lunar balance as the swoop didn't seem to make that much difference. The paint on it however was great. Maybe a precursor to Prime and LOL style paint. I have a maple x raw ash GT Stodd mod which is really nice. Great balance and really nice for all stalls, including handle and ring(unlike the Ronin). Finally a GTE1 Walnut. Again swoop is cool however there is 9 grams difference between sword and sarado. Unfortunately in favour of the sword. No amount of base cup drilling is going to improve the lunar balance on this ken, but its not un-lunar able, but you do have to be really on your game when doing more than one flip with it. Lots of knees and soft touch, otherwise the lack of weight in the sarado just makes it bounce off the tama. The Stick AF really helps though.
I've played a GT-1, E1, and a Ronin, and all of them are somewhat different for me. -My GT-1 felt balanced overall with the swoop, but like Emil said, ring stalls and handlestalls felt so odd. I have to catch it at a different angle than I would with a Kaizen 2.0. -E1 has the same story as the GT-1, but the swoop didn't really make a difference because my maple E1 ken was more sarado heavy. Even though the spike is kinda short, it lunars pretty well. I find that the ring stall on here was easier because it was rounded and a bit chunkier than the GT-1 shape imo. -Ronin was a bit odd for me. Handlestalls and ring stalls were okay, but like GT, the angle had to be adjusted so that I could catch handlestalls. I couldn't really lunar too well until the sarado was pushed past the "point of no return", but it felt nice when I was doing juggles and catching it in the "swoop" area.
I personally love it. I experienced a hand injury years ago and dont have much dexterity in my right hand (cannot make a clinched fist). So the swoop allows a more comfortable grip and reference point for ken flips and any juggling related tricks. Both my GT-1.5 and my E1's are really well balanced. I have no issues with lunars or lighthouses and both designs lock in really well. Maybe I got lucky with the ken weights and balance. As far as handle stalls and ring stalls, I would have to agree with Emil and James about it feeling awkward but I would guess it would be that way if swoops were standard and the current designs were the outlier. It just takes some adjustments when going back and forth, but I seem to have better consistency on the swoop just because there is no extreme angle I need to contort my hand to stall. Either way I am a fan of innovation even if its more aesthetic than for function.
I like your point about how adjustments have to be made when it comes to the awkward handlestall and ringstall. Guess I've been playing with non-swooped kendamas for too long.
The swoop is amazing, especially how it was executed in the GT-1 and similarly on the E1. I have not found any negatives about it, and I love the way it feels, looks, and plays. If it gets matched with some big cups and a well designed ken, people will love it. So far, the only things coming close to that horizon are the GT pro mods such as the GT-KA and GT-BH (Aynedter and Ben Herald mods). These can still be perfected, but I would love to see more kendamas incorporate the swoop. The only problem with this, is that there will always be haters saying that the copied GT. But as with the rise of larger cup sizes, swoops may become the norm if companies actually start selling swooped kendamas. I doubt this because most kendama companies seem to be looking into other kendama qualities. Over all, buy yourself a GT, and I hope you will love that swoop!
I dig it, I play pretty much exclusively GT-1 swoop. If anything, they helped me train my stalls better for when I play a non-swooped dam. It just feels good for juggles and kenflips cause your thumb fits perfectly in there, for me at least. Also, I think it looks cool and makes your dama stand out. We all kind of instantly know it's a GT if there's a swoop, whereas a pop and prime can be a bit harder to tell sometimes.