Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars/Semi-Final 2

The Fourth Wars - Semi-Final 2 was one of two semi-finals to determine the Grand Finalists of Series 4, out of eight semi-finalists. The eight robots were paired off in Round 1, with the four victors pairing off in Round 2.


 * This Semi-Final consisted entirely of veteran robots, but only one of the previous year's Grand Finalists.
 * Hypno-Disc's battle against Splinter was deemed by Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide to be the Bloodiest Battle of Robot Wars, with Splinter completely obliterated.
 * Stinger's victory over Panic Attack was very unpopular with the audience, with the judges awarding it the battle by one aggression point.

Veterans

 * Hypno-Disc (Seeded 2) - Winner of Heat P
 * Mousetrap - Winner of Heat K
 * Panic Attack (Seeded 4) - Winner of Heat O
 * Spawn of Scutter (Seeded 10) - Winner of Heat L
 * Splinter - Winner of Heat I
 * Stinger (Seeded 30) - Winner of Heat J
 * Wild Thing (Seeded 11) - Winner of Heat M
 * X-Terminator 2 (Seeded 22) - Winner of Heat N

Stinger (30) vs Mousetrap
Stinger attempted to bring its mace into play, but was unable to before Mousetrap closed the gap and brought its 11-kilo trap crashing down onto Stinger. Mousetrap took time retracting its weapon, but as it did, Stinger landed a blow on the spring. Mousetrap slid its wedge beneath Stinger and attacked, but Stinger's weapon swung in at the same time, negating the spring and propelling Stinger off the wedge. Once again, Stinger dealt a powerful blow to the spring of Mousetrap, whose trap just missed the retreating 30th seed. Stinger launched another attack, but Mousetrap raised its retracting weapon, hooking beneath Stinger's wheel and pushing it off to the side, causing Stinger to flail on one wheel briefly. Recovering, Stinger hassled Mousetrap, who did not launch an attack with its trap. Mousetrap missed another attack, and Stinger slammed its wedge and sides repeatedly, until a chain used to control the trap became dislodged. Two more powerful hits seemed to knock Mousetrap out. "Stan certainly does look perplexed...This does not look good for Mousetrap"

- Jonathan Pearce

The house robots advanced, and Sir Killalot roasted Mousetrap on the flames, before dropping it into the pit.

Winner: Stinger

Spawn of Scutter (10) vs Panic Attack (4)
The two robots rammed each other, with Panic Attack's forks slipping beneath Spawn of Scutter both times. The second time, it raised Spawn of Scutter off the ground and let it fall down. The former champion then attacked and raised Spawn of Scutter up, pushing it around and into Shunt, who axed it whilst it was still raised up. Spawn of Scutter escaped and attacked, but was unable to press its advantage during the brief moment it was under Panic Attack's ground clearance. Panic Attack raised Spawn of Scutter up once more, and positioned itself to ram Spawn of Scutter against the side wall, stranding it on its wedged end. "Look at all the House Robots, all waiting to respond and come in. They're poised like vultures to come in for the kill...predators, to pick up the pieces of the carnage."

- Jonathan Pearce

Dead Metal was the first to attack, knocking Spawn from the wall and slicing in. It was quickly joined by Shunt and Bash, the latter of whom dragged the beaten Spawn to the pit. Meanwhile, Panic Attack raised Shunt from the ground, catching its forks in the frame, but unsuccessful in toppling the house robot.

Winner: Panic Attack

Hypno-Disc (2) vs Splinter
Splinter employed the tactic of using its scoop weapon to negate Hypno-Disc's weapon, and held a surprising resistance against the second seed in the opening moments. Despite running into the side wall and taking a slam from the disc, Splinter fought back and rammed Hypno-Disc into the side wall, stopping the disc and allowing Dead Metal to catch it. However, all changed when Hypno-Disc's weapon merely tore off the scoop entirely. "If they keep attacking on a frontal collision with that disc, they'll protect their more vulnerable sides...and maybe, who knows - oh no, they won't!"

- Jonathan Pearce just before the scoop goes

A subsequent attack rendered both axes useless and severed the remains of the scoop from the machine's body. Hypno-Disc repositioned itself and tore off a side panel, quite literally reducing Splinter into sawdust. Splinter vainly tried to stay alive, but broke down terminally by the Arena wall, allowing Hypno-Disc to batter it more and more in the sides, ripping the exposed mechanics away at the same time. After Dead Metal finished attacking, Sir Killalot raised the carcass of once-proud Splinter and hurled it across the arena, strewing wreckage everywhere. "Well it was a very close battle, we're going to have to go to the judges...only joking."

- Craig Charles

Hypno-Disc was well and truly through.

Winner: Hypno-Disc

Wild Thing (11) vs X-Terminator 2 (22)
Although not able to get its lifter beneath, Wild Thing took the offensive first and pushed X-Terminator 2 backwards, but the 22nd seed retaliated, using its four-wheel drive to overpower Wild Thing and slam it into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Wild Thing bumped Sir Killalot and fled the CPZ, knocking Sir Killalot's breastplate off in the process. "As Wild Thing just squeezed away, it caught Killalot's breastplate and pulled it off! So now we see a nude Killalot, which is a new for Robot Wars. Don't get too excited."

- Jonathan Pearce

Wild Thing pressed its advantaged and slammed X-Terminator into the side walls, X-Terminator seemed unable to move away, so Wild Thing bashed it several times whilst it sat idle. X-Terminator finally revved up and pulled away from the punishment. It managed to flip Wild Thing up, but not over, and Wild Thing powered forward and slammed X-Terminator into walls and CPZs whilst avoiding the flipper. X-Terminator became trapped in Shunt's CPZ, but managed to escape. However, for some reason, both the lifting scoop and the flipper were locked open for several seconds after its escape. Wild Thing dodged more attacks and shunted its opponent into Dead Metal, who carved a long and deep cut into X-Terminator 2. X-Terminator 2 was under pressure as it escaped, and Wild Thing took advantage once more, finally managing to get beneath the ground clearance of X-Terminator and toss it over into Dead Metal. X-Terminator's position against the side wall, and angle of its shape meant that its self-righting arms (which were bent) did not work properly, and it was left flailing whilst Dead Metal, Bash and Shunt attacked. Finally, Killalot seized X-Terminator 2 and pitted it. "X-Terminator - exterminated!"

- Craig Charles' cliché

Winner: Wild Thing

Stinger (30) vs Panic Attack (4)
Stinger battered Panic Attack's forks three times, with Panic Attack unable to retaliate against the axlebot. It did attempt to push Stinger aside, but Stinger managed to relatiate with its mace, dealing powerful blows against the former champion. Stinger spun, but when it became clear that Panic Attack was not going to attack, it gave up and continued to try to batter it with the mace. Panic Attack remained unsuccessful in its attacks, with Stinger continuing to land heavy blows after failed attacks. Panic Attack finally became successful by pushing Stinger into the side wall and pressuring it there. Once Stinger escaped, Panic Attack shoved it around and into Matilda's CPZ, although Matilda was unable to attack either machine before they had escaped. Panic Attack then shoved Stinger into one of the external flame jets, holding it in the flames. Stinger escaped, but Panic Attack slipped beneath and pushed it around, with Stinger pulling away and running to safety just as cease was called. The judges went for Stinger on aggression. "Listen to that crowd, they don't agree. You've got them split down the middle; you've got people shouting 'Stinger', and you've got people booing the decision from the Panic Attack side!"

- Craig Charles to the Panic Attack team

Winner: Stinger

Hypno-Disc (2) vs Wild Thing (11)
For some reason, Wild Thing's lifter was raised to its absolute highest point. Hypno-Disc avoided it whilst raising its disc's speed, with Wild Thing in hot pursuit, at one point slipping the wedge beneath Hypno-Disc, but unable to complete the attack. Having finished its warm-up, Hypno-Disc slammed into Wild Thing, sending it spinning uncontrollably in response. Wild Thing settled back and once again drove its wedge at the rear and sides of Hypno-Disc, but the second seed's retaliation was much more deadly, carving chunks of the wedge from Wild Thing, in addition to rupturing the left wheel. A hobbled Wild Thing valiantly attempted to respond, managing once again to use its wedge, but with the lifter malfunctioning or otherwise unusable, it was futile and Hypno-Disc escaped. Wild Thing still refused to give in, managing to push Hypno-Disc into Dead Metal, and then into the side wall by use of its wedge. As time expired, Hypno-Disc pulled away, and the audience burst into applause for the valiant Wild Thing. "And in the end, it was so brave, and the applause was for that team!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Despite taking immense damage, Wild Thing scored well on the other criteria, but Hypno-Disc was unable to be denied, and it claimed the last spot in the Grand Final. Winner: Hypno-Disc