I was aware that it had been sold at least once, but I've not looked into it in any detail. A shame indeed, it'd be good to see it in the retro battles at the live shows if nothing else.
It was good to see Rob Knight still taking an active part in roboteering as part of The Obwalden Overlord team in this year's BattleBots. Still pushing the high-tech, innovative designs, though not quite as practical in combat as Mortis.
I remember Hypno Disc being my favourite; it was offensively powerful but could be vulnerable defensively on occasions. It did make for some pretty exciting fights because of this. I still remember when it totally shredding other robots apart. Other teams did suss it out though; those like Behemoth & Tornado had too much amour to get destroyed by the disk.
I'm psyched for it to come back but as much as I like Dara O'Briain I don't think he's right for the host. No one will top Craig Charles boundless enthusiasm, it would have been great to have him back.
Does anyone have any thoughts/predictions about tonight's Week 1 lineup? It feels like they're going for the nostalgia appeal by putting Razer, Terrorhurtz and Behemoth in the same heat, a combo that would have been worthy of a semi-final at least in the series' first run. Here are my thoughts on each competitor (based on previous series/live show performance, stats from the wiki, and photographs):
Behemoth: Underperformed in virtually every past TV series, but it was always a good robot. Unlike most of the other veterans, they remained active in the live circuit, where they've done quite well.
Bonk: Team Mute's new robot. Looked alright in the few live show videos I've seen on Youtube, but I'm guessing the upgraded Terrorhurtz will be the stronger of this heat's axes.
Carbide - New robot from the creators of Tiberius. That spinner looks absolutely deadly, though these kinds of weapons can cause just as much damage to the robot itself if they're unlucky. They're the one to watch out of the new machines, in my opinion.
Kill-E-Crank-E - New robot from the creator of Bodyhammer/original team captain of Pussycat. Blade looks a bit too small, and the body too long, so should be vulnerable to being pushed around.
Nuts - I love Nuts' design, though it seems to trip over its own weapons a lot in the live show footage I've seen. Very intrigued by the minibots, definite inspiration from BattleBots there. Presumably they won't be bound by the same 'one robot immobilized = whole robot immobilized' rule that affected clusterbots in the original run.
Razer - At the risk of angering a whole thread of nostalgic fans, I don't think the robot will have aged well. Too slow to self-right, too vulnerable to spinners, and crushers tend to be less effective on today's armour. Depends what upgrades they've made, I guess.
Terrorhurtz - I think the low-armoured Terrorhurtz got an unfortunate draw, facing Razer right off the bat, as it's one robot they definitely should be able to get their teeth into. They've fought before, and I imagine this will end the same way unless Terrorhurtz or the others get a good hit in first.
The General - Does anyone remember this one from the Robot Football in Series 3? I didn't either, but this will be their first actual fight. Thin armour, exposed wheels. Cannon fodder, IMO.
Behemoth doesn't really have any threat other than flipping you over. On paper it works but a lot of the winning robots in the past were flat and would work even if upside down. If Behemoth were to fight Razer, Behemoth would win. Also Razer is GOAT
Behemoth doesn't really have any threat other than flipping you over. On paper it works but a lot of the winning robots in the past were flat and would work even if upside down. If Behemoth were to fight Razer, Behemoth would win. Also Razer is GOAT
I'm thinking that Behemoth's scoop acts as a good defense against spinners, so it should come out alright from its first battle with Carbide (though its sides look as vulnerable as ever). From the looks of the arena, there are enough hazards to make the whole flip and push tactic work, though I guess we'll see.
That was the most fun I've had watching TV for many, many years!
Slightly disappointed that Charles isn't back, as he was a huge part of the original, but I thought it was pretty good with Dara. I wonder if Tornado/Storm will be returning, as I really liked those two. I remember essentially every episode of the old series I loved it so much. I'm also wondering if Chaos 2 will return.
Do many people here remember the original airings of Robot Wars? Sometimes I feel too old for tsr.