Robot Wars Episode 2 Review

The second episode of the metal mashing, chrome clashing, steel smashing show aired last Sunday.  If course I'm talking about the rebooted version of Robot Wars.

As we found out last week, a lot has changed: new presenters, a smaller, revamped arena and rebooted house robots.  Other than the severe lack of Craig Charles, sorry Dara O'Briain, the biggest thing the show was criticised over was the sheer amount of talking that happened.  I was originally part of this mob, but I now retract my comments.  The interviews and roboteer segments are necessary for the show to reach its one hour run time.  It's no different to the old series where on many occasions the roboteers took centre stage over their creations.  The interview segments are funny, as it's obviously the roboteers don't take themselves too seriously and it's a damn sight more entertaining than watching an advert about how I've been missold PPI insurance.

LET THE WARS BEGIN

The first four-way melee was against the Dutch horizontal crusher Tough as Nails, Thor, armed with a hammer, Disctructor a horizontal spinning disc and Shockwave, a lifting scoop.

Tough as Nails and Thor were the veterans of this heat.  Tough As Nails reached the S7 semi-finals before crashing out to BullDog Breed Three.  Thor competed in S6 and S7, but significantly underperformed.

Disctructor with its heavy spinning disc looked lethal, so Shockwave did the smart thing and pitted it as soon as possible.  Shockwave, with its strong pushing power, reminded me of the rambots of old: Tornado and Storm 2.

Meanwhile, Tough as Nails were having its own private battle with Thor.  Tough as Nails looks similar to a crab and its tactics have always been to grab a robot in its claws/grabbing arms and then pit them or leave them with the house robot.  This is what it tried to do with Thor.  However, Thor fought back and the two robots were caught in a epic tug of war.  However, Thor won in the end, as its four-wheel drive gave it more pushing power than Tough as Nails' two wheel drive.  Thor pushed the Dutch robot to the edge of the arena, where they delivered a killing blow with their hammer immobilising Tough as Nails.  After this they were able to break free and pit the Dutch machine.  Honestly, I think Thor got lucky here.  They should have been pitted by Tough as Nails who should have gone through with Shockwave, but as it always has done, controversy reigns on Robot Wars.

The second four-way melee was against Chimera, Mr Steel Squared, Draven and Foxic.  Chimera was armed with steel spikes, which I have always seen as a rubbish weapon as they do nothing.  They also had exposed wheels, which as we've already seen from the infamous Nuts and Carbide battle, are vulnerable to spinning discs.  Mr Steel Squared was a full-body spinner,  Draven had a crushing beak and Foxic, modelled on a fox, had a lifting scoop.

Chimera's weakness was always going to be its exposed wheels and Mr Speed Squared proved this by sending them flying across the arena, quickly immobilising Chimera.  They also battered Draven.  Mr Speed Squared were convincingly through with Foxic which is one of the crappest robots I have seen in Robot Wars.  They got through their first battle by doing nothing and running away, although the team claimed they were having drive problems.  Foxic was only 97kg, making it the second lightest robot in the heat, meaning that it could easily be shunted about.

Onto the head to heads

Thor Vs Mr Speed Squared

This fight was where we saw the power of Thor's hammer, as they bore down on Mr Steel Squared who was looking significantly weaker in this fight.  Their driving was off and something was wrong with their spinning disc.  It didn't speed up quickly enough.  With full-body spinners, you need to take them out before they have time to reach full speed.  However, this wasn't the case for the sluggish Mr Speed Squared who were pitted by the far more potent Thor.

Foxic Vs Shockwave

Foxic claimed to have corrected their drive problems, but this time they had problems with flipping arm, leaving them defenceless.  This meant that they could be shunted around by Shockwave.  Foxic seemed to resign themselves to defeat, as they decided to take on Dead Metal, and in fairness, managed to push them around the arena.  But in the end, Foxic ended up in the pit, continuing their attempt to win the title of least most impressive robot ever.

Thor Vs Shockwave

This was where we started seeing tactics brought into play.  Shockwave changed their weapon from a ramming scoop to a lifting bucket scoop made from a garden pipe.  The team thought that this scoop would better protect them from Thor's hammer, oh how wrong they were.  What actually happened was that Thor battered and buckled the lifting scoop before pummelling the life out of Shockwave. They obviously won, but it wasn't a perfect victory.  They showed poor control by reversing onto the flywheel of the house robot, Matilda, thus sustaining damage.

Foxic Vs Mr Speed Squared

Foxic continued to disappoint, as they once again had intermittent control problems and instead of fighting Mr Speed Squared, they went on a kamikaze attack against the house robots Dead Metal and Sir Killalot.  Meanwhile, Mr Speed Squared's weapon failed to work again, so the whole bout was spent with the two robots dancing around each other.  Nothing happened.  There was a severe lack of actual battling.  To quote Craig Charles, "that wasn't a fight.  It was just pushing and shoving and calling names.  Handbags at dawn." The fight went to the judges who awarded it to Mr Speed Squared, but not before dubbing it the worst fight in the history of Robot Wars.

Shockwave VS Mr Speed Squared

This was more interesting.  Shockwave had repaired their damaged bucket scoop and this time it did its job.  It absorbed the power of Mr Speed Squared's spinning weapon.  More so, Shockwave was able to shunt Mr Speed Squared around the arena.  In a moment of inexperience, Shockwave had Mr Speed Squared pinned against the arena side wall, with no hope of escape.  But instead of leaving it there to be immobilised, it knocked it down to continue the fight.  Graham Bone of the legendary Firestorm team wouldn't have been so forgiving.  Anyway, this didn't matter in the end as Shockwave pitted Mr Speed Squared.

Thor Vs Foxic

Foxic was a tiny more impressive in this fight, as it showed just a tad more aggression, but it just couldn't fend off Thor's mighty hammer.  After only a couple of blows, Foxic was left to chargrill on the flamepit, as a tasty snack for Dead Metal.

Thor Vs Shockwave

The heat final was between the group winners- Thor, who had stormed through the heats, and the underdogs Shockwave.  Shockwave had wisely switched back to their ramming scoop for this fight and it served them well.  They were able to push Thor around the arena.  Yet Thor defended well and got some good hits with their hammer in.  This scared Shockwave enough to run for the pit release button in the hopes of pushing Thor down there, which was exactly what they did.  In a massive Robot Wars upset, the underdogs took out the crowd favourites in spectacular fashion.  All credit for Shockwave for doing so.  They go on to join Carbide in the grand final.  Roll on week 3.