Monday 29 August 2016

Robot Wars Episode 6 Review

So this is it.  The big one.  What we've been building to for the last five weeks.  The Robot Wars grand final.  Our five grand finalists are:

the immensely destructive Carbide with a 2300 rpm spinning hammer
Shockwave, who produced a shock win against the fan favourites Thor.  They are a rambot with interchangeable weapons
TR2, the family team from Gateshead with a fearsome flipper and my favourites to win
Apollo, another flipper who has flipped 3/4 house robots
and Pulsar with a 9000 RPM spinning drum who made it through by virtue of another robot bowing out

The final place was awarded by the judges to one of the five runners-up: Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel.  The judges chose Thor which I was happy with.  They were very unlucky to go out to Shockwave in the second heat.

The structure of the final is as so: two three-way battles where one robot each will be eliminated.  The four remaining robots will enter the usual round robin with the two best scoring machines facing off in the grand final.

LET THE WARS BEGIN

Pulsar vs TR2 Vs Thor

In this first battle, TR2 hung back whilst Thor and Pulsar traded blows.  Pulsar started strongly crashing into Thor and tearing chunks out of its armour.  Then Pulsar seemed to lose mobility.  Both Thor and TR2, sensing weakness, came in for the kill.  Thor scored some great blows onto Pulsar, along with Shunt.  Together they stopped its spinning drum.  Meanwhile, TR2 began flipping Thor around the arena, but they self-righted in great style.  Whilst this was happening, Pulsar completely lost mobility and they were immobilised.  After a strong start, Pulsar disappointingly bowed out.

Carbide vs Shockwave Vs Apollo 

In this fight, Apollo was the one who hung back.  Shockwave's initial tactic was to charge Carbide before they had a chance to spin up to speed.  This worked about as well as they bringing an MDF robot into the arena.  *cough cough* Overdozer.  Shockwave bounced off Carbide.  Whilst this was happening, Apollo tried to live up to their earlier promise of flipping Sir Killalot, which worked about as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer.  But the real fight was between Shockwave and Carbide.  Carbide shredded Shockwave's right side, locking up their wheels and drive train.  The force of this attack caused Carbide to ricochet into the arena wall, taking apart the 6mm steel armour panelling designed to protect the audience.  For safety reasons, the fight was stopped, similarly to Typhoon 2 and the S7 grand final.  The original idea was to to repair the arena and continue the fight.  But Shockwave was beyond repair and had to withdraw.  Carbide and Apollo join TR2 and Thor in the next round.

Carbide Vs Thor 

Thor prepared for this fight by adding extra armour and changing their weapon from a hammer to an axe, which could penetrate Carbide's weak armour.  This worked as well as bringing an MDF robot into the arena *COUGH COUGH* Overdozer.  Carbide were on top form, reducing Thor to scraps.  Armour panelling, wheels were buckled, Thor was bashed and crashed around the arena.

TR2 vs Apollo

A battle between the two most powerful flippers in the competition.  Apollo took advantage of TR2's high ground clearance by flipping them around the arena.  TR2 wasted CO2 by self-righting- they used their flipper defensively, not offensively.  However, this was when Apollo got cocky by taking on Dead Metal.  The plucky little TR2 did their best to recover, but their flipper was too weak, their robot too sluggish.  Apollo flipped TR2 one last time and they couldn't self-right.  This was a shame, as TR2 are my favourites, but due credit to Apollo,

Carbide vs Apollo

Apollo's tactics in this fight were to go straight for Carbide before they reached full power.  This worked about, yes you guessed it, as bringing an MDF robot into the arena.  *COUGH COUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH* Overdozer.  With just two hits, Apollo were down for the cont.

Thor Vs TR2

Although Thor was much faster than the sluggish TR2, they hadn't recovered from their previous battering from Carbide.  TR2 flipped them again and again and again and again and again and Thor just could not recover.  The battle ended when Matilda flicked Thor out of the arena with her tusks.  Anyone else think Matilda's tusks are a lot more powerful than they used to be?

TR2 vs Carbide

 This was a battle of two halves.  Carbide dominated the first half by tearing chunks out of TR2, buckling their flipper and then something strange happened.  Carbide suffered an electrical fault and their spinning hammer lost all power.  They then spent the rest of the fight running away from TR2's flipper, which was powerful at first and then lost power.  However, TR2 proved why the 15yo Alex Brown is one of the best drivers in the new Robot Wars, by repeatedly pushing Carbide into Shunt.  The super-plucky TR2 hung onto a judge's decision, which they eventually won.  This gave them enough points to move into second place and have a rematch with leaders Carbide for the championship.  This all depended on the winner of the final head to head.

Apollo vs Thor

For TR2 to be in the grand final, they needed Thor to beat Apollo.  However, Thor was a beaten machine and this wasn't going to happen.  By this point, Thor had already gone out and they were playing for pride.  But they were just too weak for Apollo's mighty flipper.  With a couple of flips, pieces were falling off and Thor were immobilised.  Apollo winning, meant that sadly, they had gained more points than TR2 thus consigning them to third place.  This was a shame as they're a great robot with a lovely family team, but third place is still a great achievement.

Apollo Vs Carbide 

In the final, we had the series' most powerful flipper and spinning hammer pitted against each other.  Anyone else have flashbacks to the S3 grand final between Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc?

3...2...1.  Activate!

As before, this was a battle of two halves.  Carbide dominated the first half, tearing Apollo apart and sending them hurtling across the arena.  Whilst Apollo got a few flips in, they were definitely on the ropes.  And then Carbide suffered electrical faults...again.  Their spinning hammer stopped working and they were weak without their weapon.  Apollo took full advantage of this by flipping them around the arena and into the house robots.  And then Apollo's flipper lost power and refused to close.  The fight went to the judges and they unanimously awarded it to...


Apollo.

Apollo are the winners of Robot Wars 2016 and they are deserving winners.  Their robot was durable enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Carbide should have won, but their electrical problems stopped this.  Also, Apollo flipped over three house robots.  Well done to the Apollo team.  Worthy winners.

And that's it for the first season of Robot Wars.  Will there be more? I sure hope so.  This wasn't perfect, but neither was the original first season *COUGH COUGH* Jeremy Clarkson.  It took years for it to evolve into how we remember it today.  I'm sure that this Robot Wars will be the same.  Dara O'Briain will never replace Craig Charles, but he is great in his own right.  I found Angela Scanlon bland and insipid, but as always Jonathan Pearce has been great as commentator.  If it continues for a second season than brilliant, if not then I am satisfied with what I have already seen,

Cue the lights
scream your applause
Apollo is our new champion
on Robot Wars.

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