Developing the missing forms

[Caine Drathul]

I have decided that I am going to take it upon myself to develop the rest of the forms that haven't been documented yet. I figure since NY Jedi has developed some, why can't we on the West Coast do the same? After all, just because they were the first doesn't mean that they are the BEST and ONLY.

Since we have Shii-Cho, Soresu and Djem-So set, it looks like we have the following...

1. Makashi. It seems that Jenzo told me that one of your members already made this form, just that he won't let anyone film him or take his picture. That's too bad because how can we accurately document his form? I'll leave this one alone for now.

2. Ataru. Omar Holmes from NY Jedi created a great version of Ataru...but no one can do it except for him! It's a combination of breakdancing and acrobatics. Although impressive, I want to create a form that EVERYONE can do or modify to fit their personal skills. For martial artists that can do the jump kicks to non martial artists who can at least do a leap or jump if they want.

3. Shien, Niman and Juyo.

4. Vaapad. Please use my Vaapad if you like. I would like to teach it to you all when I come down next, but who knows when that will be. In the meantime, use my vids.

Plus there are the other forms...
* Sokan - using terrain to one's advantage
* Shien - attacking many foes at once with wide, sweeping strokes and an underhand grip
* Jar'Kai - two-handed lightsaber combat, using one blade for attack, another for defense
* Lus-ma - only once mentioned, used by Grievous' MagnaGuards
* Form "Zero" - avoiding combat when not necessary
* Dun Möch - distracting and taunting an opponent, a Sith technique
* Telekinetic lightsaber combat
* Trispzest - a type of aerial dueling
* Mounted lightsaber combat
* Double-bladed lightsaber combat
* Lightwhip combat
* Tràkata - taking advantage of a lightsaber's ability to be turned quickly on and off


Although some of these cannot be performed due to things like gravity and other laws of physics, we have lots of lightsaber forms of combat to explore, create and learn. I look forward to helping contribute and if anyone else wants to join in, let's do it. I think that we could teach the other Jedi schools a thing or two as well!

[Mirsylus]

yeah man.. nex time.. im always ready for more action..

[Bar Jedi]

Makashi has been taken care of by NY Jedi's drunken jedi...
Shii-Cho has also been adapted for the staff by Jinduri of NY Jedi

maybe it is just me, and i am no martial arts expert by any means, however i have learned a bit from kung fu theater... there are many forms of martial arts. lets take kung fu for instance, (with the exception of the flying Guillotine) i do believe that you will not me taught the bear form if you are lets say a 5'2" 95 lbs. and likewise someone that is 6' 5" 285 lbs. will not be taught the crane. this is under normal circumstances, and from my limited knowledge of kung fu... but let that not effect your getting the point of this post.
the whole wiki thing on the lightsaber forms seems pretty much the same. each form is taught depending on the individual skill set. so to dumb down a form so more people can do it is like dumbing down the flight schools for the navy and air force so more women could be fighter pilots*... yes they did, in the early 90's.
am i making sense?
oh, from what i understand a lot of the NY Jedi's instructors credits include olympic fencing coach, monkey kung fu master, and almost all are versed in some form of stage and fight choreography and/ or some form of martial art... i do not know about today, but when i was coming regularly L.A. Jedi had nothing near a tenth of the teaching team (myself included) that NY Jedi has...
with that said, i would HAVE TO SAY: yes, they are the best, and if i were going to attempt to develop a form i would join their boards and find out who is working on what form or if at all. if someone is working on a particular form that i want to develop, i would see if maybe i could get together with them (via phone or youtube or skype or email or smoke signals) and work on the form as a team.
that would be cool, to get to know someone from one of the other groups on a very personal level.

wow i think i will shut up for now



*this is true, please google it if you dont believe me. you can start with the female fighter pilot that crashed her f-14 trying to do a carrier landing in the gulf of mexico, her instructors said that she wasn't ready and were told to qualify her anyway... big investigation that made the news for months.
and by the way this is way off topic soooo...

[Caine Drathul]

Well, I am a member of the PA Jedi boards, and I HAVE tried my d**ndest to get any and all information about the missing forms. What was frustrating was that at first I got all kinds of runaround answers like..."Makashi is the alphabet" and "Omar Holmes is a breakdancer that came up with his own version of Ataru...and this form is Eskrima, and yada, yada, yada. " and so on.

Although I understand that the seven forms of combat is an individual's way of expressing their own unique fighting style and once they choose their method of combat, you MUST have a foundation to draw from...just like in real martial arts.

The reason that I want to develop the forms is that I feel that I can contribute something tangible to the lightsaber community. I feel that my qualifications are certainly substantial, but at the same time I don't overstep my lines (for example I don't know split peas from coffee about fencing and won't pretend to. However my student Admiral Hook knows a thing or two about fencing so maybe he can give some feedback.). But my background in say...Inayan Eskrima can get me started on developing a form foundation for Jar Kai. You follow?

Also, I can see that you say that NY Jedi are the best and that's fine...but we are over 3000 miles away from them. Plus, there is nothing wrong with taking what we can from them, modiying and improving it. They share, we share. God knows I have tweaked Ebon Wing's Soresu here and there, but the basic form is still there...and I am sure he would feel good about it being widespread. Just like my version of Vaapad..in my vids I said "Take what you want with this move and do what you want with it," and so on. Hell, if someone can improve on it and make it their own, more power to them...but I would be glad that I gave them a foundation.

So...that is my take on it...and that's the bottom line.

[Bar Jedi]

Rock on, I think we have an understanding of what we both would like to see come of this.
I understand taking a foundation and then focusing on your ability, strengths and weaknesses, however you do understand my point about watering down a form.
I have taken the Bo stuff I learned from one of the old instructors and imcorperated it into my fire staff dancing, which has influenced my saber staff tecnique, but I don't think what I do is worthy of a "form." unless you want to call it the Hawaiian flaming saberstaff form... Which requires lots of spam and fish.=0)
Best of luck with the forms and I would suggest contacting Flynn or the monkey Kung fu guy they are both pretty easy to talk to.