Flea Rock: I always look for someone that has a strong foundation in breaking in their approach, the way they dress, and the way they listen to the music. How strong are their fundamentals, and being well-rounded is very important, not just doing weird stuff. Being abstract, threads, top rock, go downs, footwork, freezes, power moves, flips, musicality, character, dress, it has to be a good balance of everything.

I still believe that breaking has a form to it and if you’re not close to the form, but still have moves, I’m most likely going to go with the person who still has better form. Originality and style is very important for me. The way you do what you do, and who can really get the crowd, because it’s also about entertaining.

Hill: The three things that always take my attention are that the moves are connected with the music, and the personality of the breaker. I check that the style of the dancer looks authentic. And last, but not least, execution and variety.

Babyson: The top three things I'll be looking at from the competitors are their technique, originality and musicality.

MovieOne: Breaking essence, naturalness and style.

Kill: Originality, flow and dynamics.

Hill: Falling or crashing. Just focusing on moves and ignoring the music, because dance is the point. And definitely disrespecting the scene, by this I mean copying other breakers or being too aggressive towards your opponent.

MovieOne: Being violent, disrespectful or giving up.

Kill: Biting, shit talking and repeating.

Flea Rock: Crashing. Then, if your whole round is completely off beat, I really don’t care what you did, because this is a dance first. Sometimes people might be too aggressive and just overact, I don’t like that either. Show some composure and class. There has to be a reason you’re acting the way you're acting.

Babyson: The top three things for me that might cause their loss is no identity, crashing, and a lack of confidence.

Kill: Their ability to bring impromptu expression to any music and circumstance. Plus their battle ability.

Flea Rock: Strong foundation, good form, originality, and a good balance of everything breaking has to offer in acrobatics, dynamics, footwork, style, character, musicality and originality. A good balance of all of that, plus power moves, switching ways, and always landing your freezes and burns in front of your opponent, and on beat.

Babyson: I think the most important is being natural and authentic.

MovieOne: Honesty, confidence and presence.

Hill: Other things that I check are the style. I’m talking about the way they dress as breakers. It has to look fresh. This is very important for me. Also, that the dancers maintain a real conversation in the battle, knowing how to reply to each round.

MovieOne: I'd rather judge the whole battle. Imagine a balance where the dancers add weight, a heavy technique would add a heavy weight to the balance, a spontaneous moment would add its weight also, and so on...

Hill: I judge round-by-round, but at the very end of the battle I also count their strategy and stamina.

Babyson: I prefer to judge after all the rounds, at the end of the battle.

Kill: Usually I judge battles round-for-round, but when it come to really close contests I consider the whole flow of the battle as well.

Flea Rock: If I have to judge round-for-round I will, but if I’m already kind of knowing this person is obviously doing everything correctly and better than the other person, sometimes the win is pretty obvious for me. When it’s a good match-up and I don’t really know who won those first two rounds, that’s when I would have to go, 'ok, let me really analyse again in my head who won that first round,' and then I’d have to choose round-for-round at that point. So some of it might be round-for-round, but some of it I might not have to do that because it’s obvious this guy is smoking the other guy, and at the end of the day it’s who’s smoking who.

Kill: When two totally different styles clash in battle, especially both bringing out their top game, its really tricky to judge. Nevertheless, I try not to put out tie-breaks as much as I can and be decisive and precise in my judging.

Flea Rock: I don’t know if they allow that, so maybe not. If there is it might be, as it can happen. Sometimes we like both of the dancers so much that we want to see one more round to really see who’s going to edge it out.

Babyson: I don’t believe in ties, you're a judge and even when it’s very hard you have to choose.

Hill: I think, at this level, you have to be ready to be clear in your mind. Ties can happen, but I choose not to do it. It’s also the respect I give to the work of the dancers.

MovieOne: Yes.

Flea Rock: It was really amazing to see Hong 10. He was the oldest one up there, and for him to win, it shows you that age doesn’t matter. Hong 10 has his own style. If you see a silhouette of him, you’ll know it's Hong 10. When you watch him break, you notice how many signatures he has and how many different concepts he came up with on his own. Everybody did amazing, Phil did amazing. It was really tough, but I feel overall, Hong 10 deserved it.

Kill: Ami was so good today, especially in the final. For me, my judging for her and 671 was super close, but Ami is dancing, and in her first and second rounds, her flow was so good on the music. It was very cool to watch her compete on that stage.

Babyson: For me, Ami shows that she is mature. She doesn’t need to do big moves to show that she has a story to her dance and that she has flavour. She makes it look easy. The final was close, and it was hard to choose for me, but it came down to Ami being more experienced.

Flea Rock: Yasmin, from Japan, was really dope, I liked her. She’s a soulful dancer, a real b-girl with a super connection to the music and funk, but I could tell that she wasn’t really feeling the music on the World Final stage. She stuck out for me when I saw her in the Last Chance Cypher, but when she hit the stage, it wasn’t the same. Riko surprised me. Her beating Kimie in the first round was pretty shocking. That was tough because Kimie is amazing, so yeah, she surprised me.

Hill: I was very surprised to see some new faces, and I was very surprised with Mighty Jake. He came ready, and I think for me, he was the guy who blew my mind. He’s very new, and he felt very comfortable on the stage. He managed to do some crazy stuff against some people who are also experienced, and as an underdog, he really impressed me. Of course, in my heart, I was also supporting my homie from Mexico, Kastrito, but I had to be professional, put my emotions on the side, and be objective.

For the b-girls, I was very surprised with Yasmin because I like the style she has. I also liked Ami. Every b-girl had their highlights, but it’s nice to see, from the top 16 to the finals, someone still doing different stuff and different variations that sometimes might look the same but are not. That’s why you have an experienced panel of judges that can tell the difference, and by the final, it’s very difficult to do something crazy as a breaker, but Ami was outstanding when it came to her ability to keep storytelling in her dance, showing details and variations while still keeping with the rhythm.

Babyson: For me, Riko stood out. Her battle against Ami was amazing and really hard. Riko has power and technique and is very mature for her age. The second b-girl who stood out for me was Yasmin because of the flavour. She is crazy, and for me, she was a surprise because I didn’t know her before this. She killed it. The breaker who impressed me the most was Hong 10. He’s almost 40 years old, and he’s always doing a comeback. It’s crazy to see that he has so much vocabulary, he improvises, and he has fun. We can see that, and the crowd can see that.

Kill: Riko and Firebird stood out for me. Riko’s style is speed and flexibility with good technique, and that’s what I like in a breaking style. Firebird can do crazy power stuff that even many b-boys can’t do. For me, they were both a surprise and unbelievable to see.

Hill: There were some crazy battles that at the beginning were a little bit difficult to make a decision on, but at the very end, little details were what made the difference. Like Khalil vs Jeffro was dope, you had a local, and France vs America, which created a really crazy vibe. Hong 10 and Phil Wizard was crazy, but it was the experience that took over. I think Hong 10 was ready from the beginning to the end. He kept bringing his own stuff, and I thought he wouldn’t have so much left in the finals, but then he started to bring some of his classic moves and he took it. India vs Ami was also very nice. For me, that was very difficult to judge, but I had to decide, and Ami was more consistent with her style and presentation.

Babyson: So many battles were dope but Dany Dann vs Hong 10 I think was one of the best for me because they both have so much personality and the crowd loved both of them so it was already exciting from the very start of the battle. They are both very good dancers, but in the end, it was just about the moment, and even though Dany Dann is crazy, Hong 10 showed how much experience he has.