User blog:Combatwombat555/Some thoughts on Hypno-Disc vs Razer

Some thoughts on Hypno-Disc vs Razer
So I’ve got exams coming up and I should probably be revising: I can think of no better time to try and tackle possibly the most debated and difficult-to-call battle in the history of Robot Wars (so far). Yes, my priorities are possibly slightly messed up, but oh well. Disclaimer, these are all just my opinions, if you agree or disagree please feel free to say so in the comments.

First a note on the robots. Both have extremely powerful weapons, although they suit very different styles of fighting. Hypno-Disc seemed more of the ‘power up big weapon and shove at opponent’ school of thought, and was probably the more overtly destructive of the pair, particularly in Series 3 and 4 when most robots didn’t have particularly good armour. That’s not to say the team lacked finesse, or that the robot was a one-trick-pony, of course: most notably (for me at least) driving up Stealth to tear out the flipper workings or delicately removing Bulldog Breed’s link in Series 5 showed great driving skill, especially in the latter of those when Bulldog Breed was withstanding the disc and looking dangerous. This conveniently points to Hypno-Disc’s main weakness: against a well-armoured opponent, because the weapon was relied on so much, Hypno-Disc lacked any real answer, and that happened more and more throughout the later series.

Razer, in contrast, was more of a precision weapon, feeling out its opponents’ weaknesses, then penetrating through the armour and into whatever unlucky electronics lurked beneath. Compare the two to medieval soldiers: Hypno-Disc would be a man with a huge broadsword, bludgeoning away armour to expose the flesh beneath and then rip them apart, Razer would have a thin sharp blade meant for piercing through the armour or getting at the chinks. Again, the early series seemed to have Razer just crushing through the weak armour at whatever space they could get a grip: later on, with stronger armour coming in, the team (and I suspect mainly Ian Lewis with his ‘research’) seemed to instead have the knack for seeking out the vulnerable electronics, most notably against Wild Thing in Series 6, when it was ‘totalled’. Again, the crusher seemed most effective in the earlier wars: tearing apart Inquisitor, Aggrobot and Robochicken. Weaknesses? If you know anything about Razer, the notorious unreliability in the early wars: Inquisitor and Aggrobot, for example, were left with huge rents in their armour, but kept going and ended up winning when Razer conked out (although the unreliability curse only seemed to be in the domestic series). Other than that… Weak armour, although only really in the early wars, and exposed wheels, although only really against Pussycat in Extreme 1 did anyone take advantage of that.

Of the two, Razer is probably objectively the better, and has the statistics to support it, although I don’t think any roboteer would be pleased to have been drawn against either of them. However, against each other, the story might be different. Let’s take a look war-by-war.

Series 3: The first war in which both could have fought, and what a fight it would have been: two of probably the three most devastating weapons of this stage (the other being Chaos 2’s flipper). You might think that Hypno-Disc would take this one easily: powerful flywheel against exposed wheels and reasonably weak armour on an unreliable Razer, no contest, right? Well, for a start, I’ll rule out the breakdown, partially because this fight wouldn’t be any fun if it was, and partially because Razer wasn’t actually that unreliable. In 8 battles at the time of Series 3, Razer broke down in 1: ok, not exactly ideal, but not abysmal. In addition, Hypno-Disc’s flywheel only has the ‘slicing’ teeth on at this stage, and Razer’s armour was still pretty decent for the time, more akin to Berserk 2’s, which Hypno-Disc didn’t manage to do a lot to, than Robogeddon. The thing that decides it for me is that every time Hypno-Disc had to spin the disc up it had to stop, and against a machine as nimble as Razer was even then, that’s a massive flaw. It’s how Chaos 2 managed to get the killer flip in, and I think Razer can weather the first blow or two, charge in and get the crush on, and once Razer’s got that grip, I think it’s all over. Winner: Razer

As a small aside though, Series 3 is also the only war in which they could conceivably have met in Round 1. Just let that sink in for a moment.

Series 4: Now, this is where things start getting interesting. Razer hadn’t improved an awful lot from the Third Wars, maybe some tweaks to reliability, but Hypno-Disc was now coming into its prime. Hypno-Disc had some real power now, with the different shaped teeth on the disc now able to tear off entire armour panels and dismantle opponents. Again, I’ll rule out Razer breaking down (another 1 mechanical failure from 8 battles), but Razer’s armour wasn’t particularly thick at this stage: consider that Attila the Drum managed to put a hefty dent in it, and then think that Hypno-Disc had a lot more power. I’m not sure about a knock-out, and if Razer got a grip then it could still go either way, but I think it’s more likely that Razer’s going to be battered by the end, with quite severe damage. Winner: Hypno-Disc

I’ll come back to Extreme 1/Series 5.

Series 6: Here, Hypno-Disc is on the wane: modifications made since the Fifth Wars hadn’t really kept up with improvements to armour, and it seemed to be starting to get outclassed, not being able to deal damage to Tornado and conking out in the losers’ melee. However, don’t take this for a foregone conclusion: Hypno-Disc still had some power, able to take out the well-armoured Bulldog Breed quickly and dealing a one-hit knockout to Barber-Ous 2. Razer hasn’t really changed much since Series 5, with thick armour at this point, a fantastic wedge, and decent protection to the front wheels. Like in Series 3, I think Razer can take a couple of hits (which would shake Hypno-Disc badly), then close in whilst the disc is slowed. Razer has also shown that it’s got staying power, able to last until the judges’ decision if necessary, whereas Hypno-Disc as the battle wears on would get weaker and weaker. Winner: Razer

Extreme 2: It’s only getting worse for Hypno-Disc: if anything it seems weaker than before, unable to withstand the force of its own disc and causing very little damage to (albeit well-armoured) opponents in both Extreme 2 events that it entered. Razer again has improved (or at least you’d hope it would with £1000 of internal modifications): it seems maybe less reliable, but faster around the arena, and it can certainly take the hits as shown against 13 Black when it really didn’t sustain much damage. Same result as Series 6 I think. Winner: Razer

Extreme 1/Series 5: Now, here’s the tricky one, and I wanted to save it until last (and I don’t think either robot was different between these series, so I’m lumping them together). Hypno-Disc is at its best particularly in Series 5, as shown by its devastation of Bigger Brother, and Razer is just hitting its prime. Hypno-Disc’s weapon has increased in speed and mass, and Razer’s got some thicker armour, a far better wedge, and the reliability improved dramatically.

And, after all this, nearly 1300 words, I just can’t call it. If I really have to decide, then I’m leaning ever so slightly towards Razer because it’s so nimble and can (I think) take the hits at this point, but I would say that’s coloured slightly by bias, and if Hypno-Disc gets a good couple of blows to Razer’s sides without being grabbed… Honestly, it probably depends what mood I’m in at the time, as much as anything! And if this match ever did happen, I doubt that’d even settle it: ‘So what would happen in the case of a rematch?’

I guess that’s the point: this battle has become legendary among Robot Wars fans for the simple reason that it never happened, and if they had indeed fought, would it have such a stigma about it? Would Hypno-Disc vs Razer, the Series 5 Grand Final, or the Extreme 1 All-Stars Quarter Final, have become quite so ingrained in everyone’s heads? It almost certainly could not give you, reader, as epic a battle as the one that you’ve imagined the result of for years.

Anyway, I’ve wittered on for long enough: what do you think? Who wins?