The World of Cubing is Like that of Pokémon

Hey all,

So recently, I have been watching a lot of Pokémon episodes for nostalgia.  It has been my background noise for cubing for the past few months.  All of a sudden, it seems like I now see a connection between cubing and Pokémon.  Hear me out.

1. Cubers are like trainers and coordinators.  Anyone who speedsolves for the sake of getting better times is like a Pokémon trainer.  Those who are collectors or modders are like Pokémon coordinators. - they attempt to show off their cubes as much as possible.
2. Cubes are like Pokémon.  Each cube has a different feel just like how Pokémon all have different personalities.  It is the job of the trainer to find that feel and get in sync with the cube.  More on this later.
3. Pokémon evolve, so do cubes.  Have you ever sanded a cube?  Created a hybrid?  Any sort of light modding is the same thing as evolving the cube.  When I added screws to my GuHong, the weight increased significantly, sort of like how Turtwig evolved into Grotle.  When a cube changes, the trainer needs to change as well.
4. The connection between cube and cuber is the same as Pokémon and trainer.  Ash Ketcham likes to battle a certain way, but not all Pokémon like his style.  Buisel enjoys a different style, and Ash needs to adapt.  Cubes can morph a tad (AKA breaking in), but the plastic can only be changed so much.  The rest of the bond needs to come from the cuber.  Cubers should be able to learn how the cube responds.
5. Trainers are strongest when they are in sync with their Pokémon.  Frankly, it's the same with cubing.  Ever had a bad day?  It's not because of cold or clammy hands.  It's actually because you're out of sync with your cube.  I sometimes find myself seeing one thing and turning another.  This causes lock-ups and pops and generally increases your times.  On good days, I am in perfect sync with my cube and can get good times.

The list goes on, but for now, this is enough to think about.  In Pokémon, it is never only the Pokémon's fault for a bad battle, more than half of it is the trainer's fault.  To be able to do well, a bond between cube and cuber needs to be formed.

Thanks for reading,

cyoubx

It's the Cuber, Not the Cube

What more can I say?  Well, a lot.

Based on the frequent forum posts on speedsolving.com, I can attest to the fact that there is this huge hype about new cubes.

In the past months, or year, if you will, we as cubers have gotten a plethora of new cubes.  Now, this encompasses all types of cubes, including the 4x4, but I'm less concerned about the hype of those.  Why?  Because there are clear flaws in ALL 4x4s.  Lock-ups, pops, etc.  3x3s on the other hand are way too overrated.  Here's why:

1. If you average anything over 20 seconds, you need to work on your own style, not on your budget for cubes.  New cubes will not make you faster.  Practicing will.
2. Pick a preference and go with it.  I understand if you are a hobbyist who collects all puzzles.  I also understand if you make consumer reviews.  I don't understand overconsumption if you are just an average cuber, like me.  Why do you NEED to get EVERY SINGLE CUBE AVAILABLE?!  You don't.  Stick with what you have and practice.  Now, granted, some cubes fit some cubers better than others.  However, if you're buying 52 cubes a year, you should realized by now what your preference is.  If you like smooth, go with the GuHong, if you like clicky, go with Alpha.  You don't need both.
3. New cubes does not equate to better cubes.  What makes a LunHui better than a GuHong?  Unpoppable?  My anus.  All cubes pop.  Plus, cubes can't have it all.  The LunHui suffers from less speed.  If you prefer speed to minor pops, go with the GuHong; it rarely pops anyway.
4. Stop obsessing over corner cutting.  If you rely on 45 degree corner cuts, you need better turning.  Period.
5. Stop obsessing over reverse corner cutting.  If you need anything more than what a tightly tensioned GuHong can do, you should feel ashamed of yourself.
6. Stop obsessing over speed.  This is a persistent issue.  People say Eastsheens suck because they don't cut corners.  I disagree; I say they suck because they can't turn properly.  Why would anyone want a frictionless cube?  That's absolutely ridiculous.  If you can't turn a GuHong effortlessly, work on that.  If you think fast is good, think again.  If you average 30 seconds, it's not speed you need.
7. Finally, stop obsessing over Lubix.  Lubix is a great product, but it's not the solution to every cube.  Sure, it works on 3x3's.  However, I highly doubt it's better than silicone spray for 5x5s and other big cubes.  Again, stick with what you have.   

Don't buy new cubes - just practice.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

His Cubes Are Amazing

Hey all,

Here are the cubes I use.  Take a gander.

2x2 - Maru - lubed with Maru Lube.  My first decent 2x2.  The corner cutting is phenomenal and overall I really enjoy this cube.

3x3 - GuHong (black with colored core) - lubed with Maru Lube.  Excellent 3x3.  It's a little smooth for my liking; I prefer a cube with a slight clicky feeling but this will do.  I also enjoy my Maru 3x3 Old Type DIY.  It's nice.

4x4 - Yeah...*cough.  I use an Eastsheen.  Clearly I don't care about 4x4 too much.  Actually...I'm about to get a new one.  Leave a comment below saying which one you think is best.

5x5 - Modded V Cube 5 - Lubed with Kel Silicone Spray - The mod definitely helped.  At first, it just felt smoother, but the cube was still extremely tight.  After lubricating it and solving it 20 more times the cube got better each successive solve.  Highly recommend rounding the corners.

6x6 - Modded V Cube 6 - Lubed with a liberal amount of Kel Silicone Spray - The mods were unintentional.  At first, I just wanted to stop the clicking.  However, after sanding everything down, I realized I was committing myself to do the pin mod as well (insert facepalm emoticon here).  So...I did.  Luckily, it only took 30 minutes for all four pins.  Super easy to do.  Great cube.

7x7 - Regular V Cube 7 - Not lubed...yeah, I don't care much about 7x7.


Important links -
V Cubes
Kel Silicone
General Cubes

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

This One's for Him

Hey all,

Haven't posted in a while due to school and other things, but I've gotten faster.

I've been getting sub 18 second averages for awhile now, but recently (yesterday and today), I've been getting sub 17 second averages.

Two new PB's today:
16.38 a5
16.84 a12

I've also recently broken my single a couple times.
9.91 lucky
11.73 lucky
12.93 lucky?
13.xx many times non lucky.

I hope to get a sub 15 second average of 5 by the end of the year.

This was more for me, but I thought I'd share with you anyway!

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Slow is Fast

Hi there.

Yes, I am here again with yet another cubing related post.

I've been practicing cubing lately (more so than before) and I've made a few breakthroughs.

1. 3x3 average of 5: 20.50 seconds
2. 3x3 average of 5: <20 seconds, but not recorded
3. 5x5 single: 3:12.49

 In case you didn't know (I don't think you do), the 20.50 is nearly 2 seconds faster than my last PB. Furthermore, I usually averaged around 24-25 seconds, and in one day I dropped that to 20-21.

 My secrets? Here's a few things that might help you:
 1. Take a break - as said in the Karate Kid - "Too much of something is bad for you"...or something like that.
 2. Slow is fast - Slowing down for F2L is essential as many people know, but it can be taken throughout the solve. A slower cross helps recognition for the first C/E pair, and smoother/slower turns are faster than choppy/fast turns that are prone to lock-ups
 3. Use a storebought - that's right, use the Rubik's brand cube. Reason? Using such a cube forces you to slow down (to eliminate lockups) and look ahead. It helps. TRY THIS!

 Just a note on turning speed - when I say "slow," I don't mean 1 turn per second. You should still aim for 3 turns per second to get sub-20. Additionally, 3 turns per second means ABSOLUTELY NO PAUSES, including the OLL and PLL stage. This should be even easier for two look, since you can predict the cases before finishing the previous insertion/algorithm etc.

I'll post more frequently and give some reviews. Lately, through my cubing escapades, I've noticed some things that may help you (if you are beginner/intermediate/kinda advanced).

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Epic is Too Short of a Word to Describe the V-Cubes

I haven't posted recently, and I'm sorry.

I recently got the V-Cube white collection from V-Cubes
I thought I'd do a small (I'll go into detail about each cube later) review on them, so here goes...

V-Cube 5: This was the first cube I opened and I noticed that the cube was covered in lube. I wasn't too surprised since I already heard about this elsewhere. Also, as many have said, the stickers are pretty shoddy. They're made of a cheap material. However, the actual colors are amazing, very similar to a "White Cube Bright Set" of stickers from Cubesmith. The first turn was a bit of a let down; I was unable to perform any finger tricks. However, it's more manageable now that I've done maybe 30 solves on it. Overall a very good cube.

V-Cube 6: What can I say? This cube is amazing. For one, it's the ONLY 6x6 on the market, and furthermore, the turning is quite decent. I expected disastrous turning due to the clicking mechanism. However, I've only had one misalignment and no pops. 6x6, isn't really my best event, so I didn't truly speedsolve with it. Thus, I don't feel qualified to put a verdict on the popping. All I can say is that, I love the V-Cube 6.

V-Cube 7: I expected immaculate turning, however, that is not the case. It locks up far too much in my opinion, and I was a little disappointed. Breaking it in seems to have no effect. However, don't get me wrong, this cube is still quite great. Considering it has 7 layers, the stability of the cube (cuboid) leaves a lot to be desired. The stickers are also quite nice compared to the V-Cube 5. Outside layers are smooth and outer wings are nice. The real issue comes with the inner wing layers. I tried lubing with Maru lube, but to no avail. I'll give it a couple more solves and put a final verdict on the V-Cube 7.

Before I sign off, I'd like to mention the finger tricks I've been using on the V-Cube 5 to compensate for the ready-to-chip stickers. Normally, I would have my fingers parallel to the U face and flick with the tip of my nail. Now, before you say, "Ew, cut your nails," I'd like to defend myself by saying, my nails are as short as I can make them; I have a naturally long nail bed which extends to the end of my finger.

Thus, to turn the faces on the V-Cubes, I've had to have my finger 45 degrees to the U face, and I now flick with the side of my finger. This is EXTREMELY hazardous. It hurts my fingers and makes triggers nearly impossible. Hopefully, the cube(s) will break in in about a week, and I can return to my natural finger tricks.


Again, this was a review comparable to the V-Cube stickers, so expect a more thorough review in the future.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Cubers Aren't that Smart

I just want to clarify a few things up about the stereotypical cuber.
1. If one can solve a rubik's cube, one is not automatically a genius.
2. There is more than one way to solve a rubik's cube.
3. You cannot have only 5 sides solved...
4. A cube has more than one solved state.
Which leads to
5. Professional companies are not intelligent.

Now a breakdown:
1. I cube and I feel that I'm fairly intelligent, but not all cubers are. Cubers generally either have a really good memory, or they're just very apt at spacial reasoning.
2. There are many many methods for making every face a solid color. The beginner's method, Petrus, Pochman, Waterman, Fridrich, ZZ, to name a few.
3. If you have 5 faces solved, that means that one edge is mis-oriented. Edge pieces have TWO sides and colors. If it is misaligned on one side, it is misaligned on the adjacent side. That being said, you can't even have ONLY one misaligned edge piece. You must have AT LEAST two misaligned pieces, and thus the maximum number of solid sides aside from 6 is FOUR!
4. I was reading an ad on THE Rubik's brand website, and it said this:

"With "43 Quintillion" possible moves and only "ONE" solution... it provides hours of mind boggling fun and a way to carry your keys." Rubik's.com

a) 43 quintillion isn't the exact number, but that's totally fine, since no one really cares and it's obvious that it's just an approximation
b) The issue comes when it's juxtaposed by the "ONE" a few words later. There are many more solutions than just one. every center piece on a rubik's cube can be rotated in four directions. There are 6 independent faces on a cube, and thus, collectively there are 4^6=4096 possible permutations of the center pieces. So, really, there are FOUR THOUSAND NINETY SIX solutions. Again, I would let this slide if not for the capitalization of the "ONE."

Hence,
5. Asian countries and third-world nations in general are often flamed for unprofessional-ism in product marketing and patenting. Take for example the Sharpie and Shoupie. America is the "cream-of-the-crop" when it comes to professional marketing - flawless advertisements and perfect products. Rubik's.com is no different. Admittedly, looking at the website, the UI is more than clean, and the ads are pretty decent. However, they pretend people know nothing about math or cubes (which is kinda fair, as discussed in 1.). Furthermore, the product is far from immaculate. Rubik's brands are notorious for their lack of function. Furthermore, their prices are insanely higher than the DIY cubes the rest of the world uses.

It's all about the image.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Speedsolving.com is Pretty Awesome

So hey. A pretty short update post here. Basically, I've reached a new PB avg of 22.90 seconds. Still not great, but it's a one second improvement from two days ago. Also, I've joined the Speedsolving forums. I find myself more addicted to that than Facebook...then again, I've never cared for FB that much.

That's actually about it.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

The Lepao 3x3 Rubik's Cube is Decent...Meh

I've been looking online for a review on the Lepao Rubik's Cube, but haven't been able to find one. Thus, here's my thoughts on it.

Stickers/colors: The coloration on the Lepao 3x3 is the standard American color scheme. However, the green side is more of a turquoise, a minor issue. The stickers in general are nice in that they're very bright, and the contrast between opposing sides is nicely distinguishable. On the other hand, they started peeling after one day of use. The material used is similar to the stickers on a regular Rubik's brand cube, where there's a film covered over the paper sticker. These stickers will have to be removed at some point.

Turning: The turning is a little disappointing in that the cubies respond very poorly to silicone lubricant. The cube has a "sticky" texture when turning, and when it's turned slowly, the side jerks instead of glides smoothly.

Corner cutting: The corner cuts on this are amazing, although not state-of-the-art. Compared to my Maru 3x3, the corner cuts are similar, but stiffer. Then again, the Maru DIY is fairly epic. The corner cutting is effective for any quasi-accurate cuber. Just make sure your turns are accurate enough, say 30 degrees off max, and you'll be in good shape.

Jamming: Uh oh. The Lepao cube CANNOT counter-corner cut. Once it jams, it jams. Of course, many cubes have this same issue, and you can check out my other post on how to resolve jams.

Weight: The construction on the cube is really quite nice. It has a nice heft to it, and the plastic is seemingly very sturdy.

Other: One note about the center caps: They're flush to the center pieces. This means that it's extremely difficult to remove them. I recently had to readjust the screws, and I used a precision flathead screwdriver to chisel out the caps. Luckily, the plastic is very durable, and I didn't feel like it would crack in half.

Holistic: This cube is a bit of a let-down. For the price ($12?), the cube doesn't perform as well as similarly priced cubes. The stickers are shoddy, and the cube doesn't turn as well. That being said, it's still speed-cube worthy, it just won't be my primary.

Just another note before I sign off, the Lepao cube, along with many other Asian brands, are dubbed magic cubes instead of Rubik's cubes. This actually makes a lot of sense; it's just a direct translation of how you say Rubik's cubes in Mandarin Chinese (and I'm sure a lot of other languages, too).

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx