"What do you mean by landing and takeoff stances?" Stances are the position you land or takeoff for any given trick. All tricks takeoff and land in one of these 6 stance - it's that simple. The stances are backside, frontside, complete, hyper, mega, and semi.
Landing/Takeoff Stances can be thought of modifiers that can be applied to ANY trick. Modification of a trick's landing stance will affect the next trick's takeoff stance. This opens up the combo to different transitions than would otherwise "traditionally" be impossible.
Technical Breakdown:
Aerial [Mega] (frontswing)
Butterfly Twist [Mega] (frontswing)
Aerial [Semi] (frontswing)
Raiz [Complete] (vanish)
Cheat 900 [Hyper] (wrap)
Wrap 900 [Complete]
Hook [Hyper] (redirect)
Touchdown Raiz [Complete] (backswing)
Double Corkscrew Split.
When combo-ing in tricking, every "trick" can really be broken down into two elements, the base trick and landing stance. And every pair of tricks that are being combo-ed are being separated by a transition. The transition is the link between the landing stance of trick A and the takeoff stance of trick B.
For this example, the tricks are notated in bold, the landing stance is notated by [ ], and the transition is notated by ( ).
(video source: Michael Guthrie, "Savage" Sampler)
Technical Breakdown:
1. 540 [Hyper] (masterswing) GMS
2. 540 [Complete] (backswing) Corkscrew
3. 540 [Mega] (frontswing) GMS
4. 540 [Semi] (wrapthrough) GMS
When combo-ing in tricking, every "trick" can really be broken down into two elements, the base trick and landing stance. And every pair of tricks that are being combo-ed are being separated by a transition. The transition is the link between the landing stance of trick A and the takeoff stance of trick B.
For this example, the tricks are notated in bold, the landing stance is notated by [ ], and the transition is notated by ( ).
(video source: Rasmus Ott, "Housekeeping" Sampler)
Technical Breakdown:
1. Corkscrew [Complete] (backswing) Gainer Arabian
2. Corkscrew [Hyper] (wrap) Wrap Arabian
3. Corkscrew [Mega] (frontswing) Webster
4. Corkscrew [Semi] (frontswing) Webster
When combo-ing in tricking, every "trick" can really be broken down into two elements, the base trick and landing stance. And every pair of tricks that are being combo-ed are being separated by a transition. The transition is the link between the landing stance of trick A and the takeoff stance of trick B.
For this example, the tricks are notated in bold, the landing stance is notated by [ ], and the transition is notated by ( ).
(video source: Rasmus Ott, "Housekeeping" Sampler)
Stances are a way to describe the position that tricks can either land or takeoff in. These are all relative to the "target" and direction of movement.
Target/Audience. Where the kick or variation is pointed at.
Direction of Movement. The direction you travel in a combo. This is usually perpendicular with your target. For example, if a tricker twist to their left, their DOM is usually to the left of their target.
All tricks, regardless of actual rotation, can land in one of these four stances - complete, hyper, mega, and semi. Variations of tricks (ie. knife, round, scissor, doubleleg etc.) all land in one of these four stances.
Each landing stance can be visualized as one of the four, 90 degree quadrants of a circle. The stance you are in will depend on which foot (or feet) you are relative to the direction of motion.
Backside. The stance where your back is facing your DOM - visualized by a combination of both Quadrant 1 & 4 on the Stance Circle chart.
Frontside. The stance where your front is facing your DOM - visualized by a combination of both Quadrant 2 & 3 on the Stance Circle chart.
In terms of naming conventions, stances are used as a suffix after the base trick. For example, a Corkscrew that lands in Hyper would be referred to as a "Corkscrew Hyper".
The "default" landing for many of the base tricks (eg. Full Twist, Corkscrew, Butterfly Twist all land in complete by default). This landing marks the single, double, triple etc. rotations in tricking.
Defined by landing on the outside kicking leg (left leg if you spin left, right leg if you spin right) in approximately Backside Stance. If you landed in Complete Stance and wanted to swing, you would do a backswing (eg. gainer, corkscrew). The mid-air position that you would land in right before you hit Complete is also known as "the eagle".
Example Complete Variations:
Round, Shuriken
(video credit Ethan Turner - @eaton_tdr)
The secondary "default" landing for many base tricks (eg. Aerial, Butterfly Kick, Gainer Flash)
Defined by landing on the inside kicking leg (right leg if you spin left, left leg if you spin right) anywhere from Backside to Inside Stance. If you landed in Hyper Stance and wanted to swing, you would do a masterswing or wrap (eg. GMS or Wrap Full respectively).
Example Hyper Variations:
Swipe, Hyperhook
(video credit Ethan Turner - @eaton_tdr)
Defined by landing on the outside kicking leg (left leg if you spin left, right leg if you spin right) in approximately Frontside Stance. If you landed in Mega Stance and wanted to swing, you would frontswing (eg. Aerial or Butterfly Kick)
Example Mega Variations:
Scissor, Late Round
(video credit Ethan Turner - @eaton_tdr)
Defined by landing on the inside kicking leg (right leg if you spin left, left leg if you spin right) in approximately Frontside Stance. If you landed in Semi Stance and wanted to swing, you would frontswing (eg. Raiz, Sideswipe)
Example Semi Variations:
Wackknife (OG style)
(video credit Ethan Turner - @eaton_tdr)
Before the modern understanding of the four Stances terminology was defined, the term "hyper" was used to mean "landing on the kicking leg". So you could think of a 540 as a Tornado Hyper. What is now known as an Aerial Mega used to be called a "Hyper Aerial" because you landed on the leg that you were driving behind you. Cheat 720 Shuriken could also be called "Cheat 720 Hyper".
"Hyper" was used more as a modifier, rather than a specific landing stance using a particular foot. The benefit of using a unified Stance system is that you can land in Hyper Stance and it will always be the same, regardless of which base trick you are changing the stance of.
"Turbo" is somewhat of a pseudo-stance. All it means is landing your kick on both feet. So you could think of a Pop 360 as landing in Turbo. The Turbo term acts as a modifier of a kick, rather than a specific stance. You could consider an Illusion Twist or a Parafuso as "landing in Turbo".
Fake Stances are a concept introduced by Benjamin "Towels" Atkins, and they're an additional 4 Stances that compliment the Mainstream 4. Rather than using DOM and targeting of the overall combo as points of reference, the Fake Stances use the entrance of the second trick as a reference.
1. Fake Complete
This stance can be described as landing in eagle (like you're about to backswing) but facing towards your DOM. Basically Mega (mainstream) but ready to backswing rather than frontswing.
2. Fake Hyper
This stance can be described as landing in hyper but facing towards your DOM. Basically Semi (mainstream) but ready to masterswing/wrap rather than frontswing.
3. Fake Semi
This stance can be described as landing in semi (like you're about to frontswing) but facing away from your DOM. Basically Hyper (mainstream) but ready to frontswing rather than masterswing/wrap.
4. Fake Mega
This stance can be described as landing in mega (like you're about to frontswing ) but facing away from your DOM. Basically Complete (mainstream) but ready to frontswing rather than backswing.
True Kick Terminology uses a separate system of landing stances for Vertical Kicks and Inverted Tricks. It builds upon the older definition of "Hyper" and expands it to cover a lot of the stances that are defined by the Mainstream 4 Stances. Stances are thought of as modifiers, rather than a specific landing stance using a particular foot. TKT "Hyper" terminology only applies to Vertical Kicks.
There are 3 types of "Hypers" in TKT:
1. Hyper
2. Hyper-Style
3. True Hyper
With each type of hyper modifying inside kicks (rounds) and outside kicks (hooks and crescents) differently. Creating a total of 6 different ways of "hyper-ing".
1. Hyper. This is a modifier that means that you added an extra 180° to your Vertical Kick but did not change the foot you landed on.
This was usually used to indicate that you were swinging out of the Vertical Kick.
For Example:
Cheat 180 Round "Hyper" backswing Swing 720 Round (TKT) = Tornado (Complete) swingthrough Swing 900 (Mainstream)
Cheat 540 Hook "Hyper" frontswing Cheat 180 Round (TKT) = Cheat 720 Semi frontswing Tornado (Mainstream)
2. Hyper-Style. This is a modifier that means that you added an extra 180° to your Vertical Kick and landed on both feet. This was usually used to indicate that you were going to pop or punch out of the Vertical Kick. This definition is very similar to how Mainstream terminology uses "Turbo".
For Example:
Tornado "Hyper-Style" pop 540 Round (TKT) = Tornado (Turbo) pop Backside 900 (Mainstream)
Pop 180 Hook "Hyper-Style" pop 540 Hook (TKT) = Pop 360 pop Pop 720 (Mainstream)
3. True Hyper. This is a modifier that means that you added an extra 180° to your Vertical Kick and landed on the kicking foot. Basically this would be the equivalent of "swipe" for rounds or "shuriken" for hooks/crescents.
For Example:
Cheat 720 Round "True Hyper" vanish Aerial (TKT) = Cheat 900 Hyper vanish Aerial (Mainstream)
Cheat 540 Hook "True Hyper" backswing Swing 720 Round (TKT) = Cheat 720 Shuriken backswing Swing 900 (Mainstream)
