User:Thetubberlad

Welcome
Welcome all! I'm Tadhg, I live in Kerry, Ireland and I was a massive robot wars fan. I used to watch it on TG4 (an Irish language channel here in Ireland) and enjoyed the first watching the four series (in my opinion, the four best series as they held onto the classic robot wars feel) at my grandparents homes, having stumbled upon the show through sheer boredom. Before long, I became hooked, and had all the info and all the seedings off by heart.

Top four favourite robots
1. Chaos 2

In my opinion the best ever to grace the arena. Awesome flipper and agility made it close to unbeatable for two series. Sad how it petered out but a marvellous robot, and George Francis' driving and engineering were second to none.

2. Pussycat

I just remebered being taken by the odd design and fabulous colour. And the team were a great bunch of lads. Alan Gribble was one of the nicest men to partake in robot wars, Robert Bettington was modesty personified and just easy to get on with in general. But the real star was the shy, unassuming David Gribble. He led the toughest robot to control to numerous titles and a second place in the UK Championship, a result that filled me with great pride. He was also loved by Julia Reed and Philippa Forrester, the gorgeous pit reporters. After being out of touch with the show for many years, I was shocked to recenty learn of David's death in 2001. I don't think a death has hit me as hard since the passing of snooker player Paul Hunter.

3. Hypno Disc

I still remeber the first time I saw this robot in action, against Reizer Blade and another robot who's name escapes me. I just couldn't figure out how so much metal could be stripped off a machine. By the end of the heat I was in Robotic heaven after witnessing three awesome displays. His series semi-final win over Splinter was quite simply the most stunning performance I've ever seen, mangling a very good robot to shreds. His performances against Stealth and Robogedden were also the stuff of legend. The Rose family were also thoroughly gracious in defeat.

4. Panic Attack

Such a strong solid robot, but I think Kim Davies really extracted the full potential of the machine with some incredibly good driving. His defeat to Stinger on a judges decision in series 4 was a robot wars scandal and denied the team a deserved second appearance in a Grand Final. I thought their series two win was merely a fluke, but thankfully they remained consistently good therafter.

Top four leat favourite
1. Razer

An arrogant team. A beautiful robot with an amazingly effective weapon, but just plain boring to watch. Their lack of grace after losing to Pussycat was sick. Razer had mangled so many Robots themselves and had no problem with that, but when Pussycat gave them a taste of their own medicine it was 'breaking a gentleman's agreement'. They know very well how honourable a team Pussycat are, and their hypocrisy was shocking. Thankfully, Pussycat repeated the trick when they faced off in a grudge match. That said, I must admit Razer were a very fine robot.

2. Tornado

Boring. Simple as. A box on wheels, and although they were very effective and their pushing power was incredible, they just never capture the imagination. Also, their two Extreme wins over Chaos 2 signalled the start of their decline, and marked a very sad period for me Robot Wars-wise.

3. Stinger

Another dull robot. Their entire gameplan just seemed to involve spinning in circles. The main reason I dislike them however wasn't really their fault, it was because of a very poor judges decision against Panic Attack in the 4th wars.

4. Dominator

Just too clean cut for me. Everything was just a little bit too perfect.