Episode 1
The metal mashing, chrome clashing, steel smashing show feature fighting machines has returned for its second episode. Without further ado...
LET THE WARS BEGIN
Cobra Vs Eruption Vs Hobgoblin Vs Behemoth
The first heat of this episode featured four very different robots. The first was called Cobra which was from Belgium and was armed with a crushing head. Designed to look like a cobra, the crushing head is supposed to grab opponents and shove them around the arena.
The second robot was Eruption who had competed in Episode 4 of the last series, but failed to make it out of the heats. Eruption was back this year with its powerful flipper.
Thirdly we have Hobgoblin described bizarrely as a "beater bot." Its weapon is a curiously shaped spinning drum and doesn't like flippers. Whilst it did have a schrimech or self-righting mechanism, it was untested, which isn't very good.
Lastly, we have Robot Wars veterans Behemoth. Behemoth has been competing since the second series of the original Robot Wars and has never achieved any real success. They fought in the first episode of the last wars, going out in the heat final. The team behind the machine is the same as well. In the original Wars, they were teenagers and now they're men. It was pretty strange to see.
To help their chances of success, they came with some new weapons. Behemoth has always been armed with a titanium lifting scoop, but this time, they had two new scoops. One of them was designed to deflect against spinners and the other is a peculiar grabbing weapon.
And we finally discovered how exactly to say Behemoth. I always thought it was said "Bear-moth," which is what commentator Jonathan Pearce says. However, Dara O'Briain calls it "Be-he-moth." But, team captain, Anthony Pritchard also pronounced it "Be-he-moth," so now we know. Enough talking:
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
Behemoth and Cobra began with their own private battle with the former pushing the latter into the arena wall. Eruption the joined the battle on Behemoth's side and began flipping Cobra around the arena, but the alliance ended quickly, with Behemoth soon flipping Eruption. And then Cobra and Behemoth were flipped by the floor flipper. Flipping heck! From here the battle became a war of attrition with each robot fighting to take it to a judge's decision. Cobra was constantly being flipped around, but pluckily kept going on the attack. However, this wasn't enough to stop them going out to Behemoth and Eruption with their powerful flippers.
Wondering why I didn't mention Hobgoblin at all? Because they didn't do anything. Eruption flipped them over and they were out.
Draven vs Push To Exit vs Cherub vs PP3D
Draven, similar to Cobra, was armed with a crushing arm. Push to Exit used to be Dantomkia who fought last year, as well as in the original Wars. They were armed with a front-hinged flipper designed to topple robots. Next up, we have Cherub who was teamed by the children of the bizarre robot Gabriel who made it to the heat final in series 1. Their robot was armed with a lifting arm and had some strange wing attachment to help them self-right and do a handstand. Lastly, there was PP3D armed with a lethal spinner, which knocked out Eruption last year.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
PP3D's spinning disc was devastating. Every time it collided with other robots, sparks flew, as well as the robots themselves. The shockwave sent them hurtling across the arena. They dominated this battle, as Push to Exit's flipper was largely ineffective. There were a few occasions when Cherub was perched nicely on top of them, but they missed their chances to flip them. Draven did very little crushing. Rather they were expertly pushed into the CPZ by PP3D where the house robot Shunt immobilised them with a well-placed axe blow. A few more hits by PP3D immobilised Push to Exit. PP3D and Cherub were through with the latter doing very little.
What was interesting was that in the post-match interviews, we learnt that PP3D's disc was too powerful for its own good. The shockwave created as it collides with enough robot soon created engineering problems for the PP3D team. These were problems that had to be addressed if the robot expected to succeed.
Behemoth Vs Eruption
As are so many battles, this was a battle of two halves and a very good one. Behemoth went on the attack straight away, flipping Eruption all over the place. But then bad driving led the Behemoth boys to getting stuck in the CPZ. This allowed Eruption to take the revenge and they did not let up at all. They punished Behemoth for their carelessness, eventually sending them out of the arena with a mighty flip. Eruption were the convincing winners.
PP3D vs Cherub
As Craig Charles always said "controversy is never far away on Robot Wars," and I don't think there have been anymore controversial fights than this one. PP3D with their lethal weapon looked like the obvious winners, but was their spinning disc too powerful for its own good? Meanwhile, Cherub didn't have any effective weaponry, but they did plan to attack PP3D's exposed wheels.
PP3D started strongly smashing into Cherub, denting and buckling its armour. But all credit to the Cherub team, they didn't hide away from the scary PP3D. Cherub then decided to hit the "Dial of Doom," in the hopes of sending the House Robots after PP3D. This backfired as bad driving sent them into the clutches of Dead Metal who sliced into the Cherub machine. Just as Cherub escaped, PP3D hit them with an awesome blow that sent them spinning across the arena, breaking part of the arena wall.
The fight had to be stopped for safety reasons and the arena was repaired. Afterwards, the fight was restarted exactly where it left off. However, there wasn't any more fight to be had. PP3D had knocked Cherub into submission, but they had knocked themselves out too. We learnt later that PP3D's motors was heavily damaged.
The decision went to the judges who gave it to Cherub. This made absolutely no sense to me at first. PP3D brutalised Cherub. They were more aggressive. Their aggression was controlled. But I think that PP3D must have suffered some internal damage that we as the viewer didn't see. The force of their powerful disc immobilised them, which it shouldn't do. So, I respect and understand the judges' decision. Do I agree with it? No.
Eruption Vs Cherub
This was a one-sided fight. Eruption went on the attack from the start and Cherub just couldn't recover. Just like with Behemoth, Eruption flipped Cherub all over the arena before flipping them out.
Behemoth Vs PP3D
To help defend against PP3D's lethal disc, Behemoth changed their scoop to one specifically designed to deflect spinning disc. This fight exhibited PP3D's danger not only to their competitors, but also to themselves.
The fight started slowly with PP3D getting some glancing blows on Behemoth, but then one mighty blow ricocheted the robots away from each other. And then PP3D exploded. The sheer force of that spinning disc caused it to short-circuit and began sparking. To make things worse, Shunt then began attacking it. This has to be a Robot Wars first. I've never seen a robot explode from the force of its own weapon before. Behemoth were the winners here, but more thanks to PP3D than anything.
Eruption Vs PP3D
The most powerful flipper of the competition against the most powerful spinning disc. PP3D began this battle on the attack getting in a few early blows, which Eruption then withstood. But again the power of PP3D's disc led it to stop working, leaving them weaponless. Eruption took full advantage of this and in standard style, they flipped it all over the arena before flipping them out.
Behemoth Vs Cherub
Another controversial fight, but more on that later. For this battle, Behemoth decided to equip their bizarre grabbing scoop. It looked like the jaws of a mighty predator. The idea of it is to grab Cherub and then drive them into the pit or CPZ.
It didn't quite happen like that. Behemoth pushed Cherub, just as the floor flipper sprung, leaving the latter to become stuck. The fight was stopped, Cherub was rescued and the fight continued. I'm not sure this was entirely fair. Cherub was immobilised under the flipper and I think they should have been left there. But the controversy doesn't stop here.
Whilst Behemoth's grabbing arm was largely ineffective, so was Cherub's lifter. Neither robot did much damage to each other or showed much control. Behemoth's bad driving sent it into Dead Metal's CPZ. The fight went to the judges who awarded it to Cherub.
This led to Behemoth Team Captain Anthony Pritchard storming out off the post-match interview. This unsurprisingly led to a massive online backlash branding Anthony Pritchard a sore loser. Yes, the Cherub robot wasn't very good, but he wasn't actually upset that he lost to a group of kids. In a later interview, he explains that he was angry at his team-members for making the decision to use the silly grabbing weapon instead of the regular scoop. He also apologised to the Cherub team.
Whilst the apology happened off-cameras, the explanation for his behaviour wasn't, and I do feel that a lot of people jumped to conclusions without looking at the full picture. Also I do empathise with Anthony Pritchard. Behemoth has one of the worst track records of any machine. They've been competing since 1998 and have never always underperformed. Except for the second wars, they have never made it out of the heats. After twenty years, it must be pretty galling to lose once again.
And it's not the first time that something like this has happened. Whilst for the most part, the Robot Wars community is one of sportsmanship and camaraderie, you do get long-running grudges. Tornado and Razar is one of them, as well as Pussycat and Razar. In fact I remember, Ian Lewis of the Razar team complaining about how Pussycat continued damaging them, even though they were immobilised. He didn't think it was very gentlemanly. Well, hate to break it to you, Ian Lewis, but all is fair in love and Robot Wars.
Eruption Vs Cherub
Time for the heat final between the impressive Eruption and the underdog Cherub. This fight has to be a record for one of the shortest fights in Robot Wars. One powerful drive and even more powerful flip from Eruption sent Cherub flying from the arena. Eruption is a robot to watch, having achieved four OOTAs (Out of the Arenas.) A worthy winner indeed.
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