User blog:ThatRedOtter/TheRedOtter goes to Cheltenham

So much like Mr. Diotoir the Son of Nemesis, This past weekend (at time of writing this exact sentence) I was also at Cheltenham. Unlike Mr. Diotoir the Son of Nemesis, I was not there for a single part of the weekend. But for the whole show. And not in the audience either. Due to doing a favour for John Findlay a few weeks before I was allowed to go, backstage for the whole thing, and spend my weekends in the pits. So before I talk about anything else, I do want to give an absolutely huge thank you to everyone involved in this, John Findlay himself, and others.

Now while I did talk with a few roboteers, I didn't learn anything ground-breaking about a robot's run during reboot series so if you're Toast wondering just how much Gabriel's entanglement did to Aftershock, go somewhere else you numpty.

Walking into the event felt like an absolute dream. It was at Leisure at Cheltenham, and walking in with robots such as Aftershock, Eruption, Two Head Death Flamingo and such felt like something out of a fantasy I regularly dream about in my Friday lectures. It was only after I was brought to my shared bench with the guy I was coming with (Name withheld at their own request) and was being introduced to each roboteer (has to be said I almost died when I shook hands with Tom Brewster) that the lights dimmed down and suddenly I felt a lot, and I mean ALOT of atmosphere... with the show not starting for another 40 minutes. It was then when I met good friend of mine and Middleweight roboteer Theo with his robot known as Voodoo. This would basically be my "team" for the weekend but I digress. I can't comment on the first time I saw the start because I was having a nose around in the featherweight part, when I hear a bunch of almighty crashes from the main area, I run over... and see in the arena, Eruption fighting Manta, Two-Headed Death Flamingo and a robot that I hadn't seen before called Real Steel, an invertible Wedge that certainly looked the part, but I don't remember doing anything too special.

Anyway from here on out I was glued to the side of the arena, watching every battle with the widest eyes in existence. But before that, we had the hosts, known as Trevor and Chris. And I just wanna say, I have never seen two better hosts for anything. Their Chemistry? Perfect. The jokes that weren't repeated every session? On point. Their audience participation? I was getting involved in it for crying out loud! I would have genuinely felt like the weekend was worth it if none of the robots were able to fight and it was just those two screwing around for 2 hours straight. They introduced the arena, with its CO2 jets that terrified me every. Single. Time. Then there was the pit, and the floor flipper, overall, it's a great arena and feels very balanced. Not to mention, it's one of the only arenas in the UK that has the power to contain... SPINNERS! As a result of this being repeated 4 times and the resulting music, I now have a Pavlovian reaction to the word spinners where I start singing "you spin me right round". After all that though, it was time for the tournament to begin. I'll be covering every battle (apart from the Eruption whiteboards because honestly they all blurred together in memory) much like an extended part of NJGW's Ranking the Reboot. However, they are completely subjective rankings, watching a battle right in front of you is different to watching a battle on TV, let me tell you. So with all that out of the way. Let's get this started.

Saturday: Show 1

ST Ripper VS 2Point O

This was one hell of a wild card-opening fight, Two robots that I'd never seen in action before (ST ripper, a "drisc" and 2 Point O, a vertical spinner). The match started in 2Point O's favour, getting a few decent hits on STripper, until STRipper got the drum into play, getting a very good hit on the orange vert. Then it started smoking. Then it stopped. 2 Point O took the fight, and that was the first full battle I ever saw live, and damn it was a good one! Decent back and forth struggle, and hard to see an overall winner until the last few seconds.

The Red Rating: 6/10

TR3 VS Aftershock

Well damn. This was a draw I didn't expect to see until at least the top 4. But that's what happens when you do things completely randomly. I was shown to a different viewing position right on the side of the arena, so I could see the whole thing, without any angle troubles. Aftershock being there also helped immensely with my excitement. So the battle starts, TR3 gets a flip on Aftershock, and as the spinner came into contact with the arena floor, my life flashed before my eyes for the first time of many, calming myself, I watched with awe as Aftershock completely destroyed TR3 from here on out, ending by throwing it up into the air. Very quick destruction fight, but man was it great to watch in person.

The Red Rating: 7/10

Tauron VS Cyclone 360

I can't say I saw this match coming. When I was asked to go around with the person I was going to the event with to ask each team if they were in the main competition or not, and Tauron said they were gonna be Whiteboards only, I have to admit my heart sank lower and faster than it did when I first watched Behemoth VS Cherub, and Cyclone 360 is practically an unknown to me, had never seen it fight before, and here it was about to take on one of my favourite robots because this Tauron was BattleBots Monsoon in all but name and that machine is amazing. Strange to think I've written this much without mentioning the battle but... I gotta write more. Because this is where Major Damage came in for the first time. For those who might not know somehow, Major Damage is... well think Mr Psycho, but first off, he weighs a literal ton. And the claw has a flamethrower. I think it's safe to say that I was very excited to not just see, but feel this beast lumbering into the ring... Until he blocked half the battle from my line of sight. The fight started in Taursoon's(as that's what I'm calling it now) favour,, tearing small parts of Cyclone, then it lost drive on one side. Even then it managed to punch Cyclone into my line of side so huge thanks to Tom for that, but after not much, the battle ended with Cyclone as the victor which, at the time I thought was a bit of a robbery, but after seeing the battle in full, it's a decision I can sadly agree with.

The Red Rating: 6/10

Beast VS Apex

I knew Apex had been very fine-tuned since series 10, but I don't think I can be entirely blamed for being slightly scared every time it entered the arena. At the same time though, I was excited to see it, Apex is a robot that, to me always does much worse than it deserves to and I was very much hoping to see a lot of redemption here. That didn't happen in this fight. Apex's bar was barely a blur before Beast bounced it into the air, (Try saying that 5 times fast.) Apex landed bar-first and there wasn't much chance of self-righting, so the battle was over, but not until Major Damage picked up Apex, torched it a bit and then dumped it into the pit. As sad as it was to see Apex go out so easily, the showing from Beast was insane, I've never seen someone charge a spinner with less fear, and unbeknownst to me, this was the start of a redemption of both robots in my own eyes.

(I mean come on, all I'd see of Beast before was Series 8)

The Red Rating: 5/10

Backflip VS Gaston VS Kaizern

Middleweight time! This one I was excited for due to it being the first match I was right up close for so that alone scores it some points. Variety wise, this was a nice little melee, with a very interestingly shaped flipper (Backflip), a raised vertical spinner (Gaston) and an axe (Kaizern). It also has to be said, this really was a proper melee, with all the robots going at each other as well as they could until Backflip got Kaizern on their wedge, at which point it became Gaston hitting Backflip until they pitted themselves with Kaizern on top. That amount of dead air after such a strong opening to the fight really did drag this down for me, but the quality of all three robots does also push it back up. My main issue though? Gaston could have sat back and still won this, which ultimately for fights like this drags them down a lot.

The Red Rating: 4/10

Bonus Section Next up was the featherweight rumble, but since all of these blurred together, I'll more be using this segment to talk about the general atmosphere and things that happened throughout this event. The atmosphere in the pits was exactly like you would expect from the show, utterly amazing. Everyone was friendly, I personally didn't see any insults or anything like that being thrown around, heck, despite being the "Make a wish kid" (My own words) I felt very welcome and included into the whole thing! Incredibly big shoutout to Theo of the Middleweight Voodoo Chile, who even if I was friends with beforehand, got me feeling like part of his team by having me right next to him in his fights (more on those later) and even doing small tasks on the robots! Other people who I recall talking to a lot were James Davies of Donald Thump, Craig Colliass of Gabriel and the kid (Completely forgot the name so sorry!) of team 2PointO, both of whom completely endeared me to their robots as well as themselves and I found myself seriously rooting for them both in any fights after. Will Thomas was also someone I talked to a fair bit but that was more for other, university-related reasons. All in all though, being in the pits is legitimately one of the most friendly experiences I've had in a long time.

The Red Rating: 10/10

Gabriel VS Ace

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this battle I have to admit. Well apart from a splitting headache. Seriously, for those of you who haven't seen it in action, Gabriel is LOUD. I had been told this before, but flipping heck, it's even louder than I was expecting! Ace, on the other hand, is a simple wedge flipper, perfectly functional but not anything amazingly special as far as I know. The battle was a fairly simple affair, nothing groundbreaking but not mind-numbingly boring. It was simply nice to see Gabriel do what Gabriel does - which is rupture my eardrums as well as the internals of its opponents. Something which had me in mental stitches though was the moment where Gabriel, a robot that's less designed for pushing than Psychosprout, causally pitted Ace. It's just a great stand out moment that it raises the battle for me alot by itself.

The Red Rating: 6/10

So after one more Eruption whiteboard fight, which again, all melded together in my memory so I won't be saying too much on those, that was the end of the first of four segments. And holy crap, it was amazing. Every second I loved (apart from the first whiteboard when I ran into the building wondering what that ungodly noise was, turns out flippers are very loud) and every match was at worst decent to watch. I really don't think I could have had a better start to my event though, but the best was still yet to come...