User blog:Toon Ganondorf/Read TG's raw live messages to Toast whist watching Series 9

Poor Toast, when you inevitably check your messages you will receive over 30 live reaction messages of me watching Series 9. What highs and what lows. Here are my raw thoughts as posted, and some comments added by me in hindsight.

Episode 1

 * Get ready for my live reaction
 * That Apollo killalot tease
 * Damn that OOTA on nuts was brutal and beautiful
 * I actually paused it to check if this were legal.
 * Terrorhurtz axe looking not good
 * And how!
 * And jellyfish confirms how I felt
 * By this I mean that I was correct to call Jellyfish a waste of space.
 * TMHWK confirming the axe distinction Ftw
 * See ongoing debate between Toast and myself about whether axes should be considered two different weapons.
 * Hahah Esme poor girl doesn't want to get her hopes up
 * This was after Esme's uncertain reaction to whether they had qualified from Round 1. By the end of the episode I was very charmed by the Stroud family.
 * Oh aftershock I'm so in love with your blade
 * I predicted Aftershock would be like Barber-Ous 2, and it did exactly that. The bang/pop sounds it made when tossing Crank-E around made my heart sing.
 * And Robin Herrick poor fellow need to stop ruining team cold fushions record
 * You're capable of great things Robin. You can do them!
 * JP sounds old I wonder what he looks like
 * I honestly don't think JP even goes to the arena. I fully expect someone just shows him the footage and he commentates elsewhere.
 * John Reid is such a badass
 * Carrying that axe around for the introduction.
 * Wow wow wow Sabretooth
 * That was impressive indeed and really highlights Terrorhurtz is not invincible
 * We haven't seen Terrorhurtz take such brutal damage since its fight with Fluffy. I fully expect that this will be a big factor in the Ragnabot 2 tournament.
 * But that damage to the drum could be crucial
 * If Sabretooth gets one more win it goes from 0-3 to 3-3 and shows that Sabretooths losing streak wasn't really that bad
 * But when will we pray for Team Terror Turtle?
 * You know I think the reason they're promoting female engineers was the cringeworthy dominance of "tactician" "cook" and "support" female team members last series
 * Oh wow rapid and aftershock killed each other simultaneously, how very Typhoon Atomic. Rapid should have been less enthusiastic with the flipper because the wedge was unaffected by the weapon which is too high
 * This episode gave me quite a few previous wars vibes. Watching Sabretooth recover was very much like watching Raizer Blade. Aftershock hurting Sabretooth was very X-Terminator v Bulldog Breed, and the Typhoon 2 Atomic thing speaks for itself.
 * Did anyone else notice that Rapid's wedge could beat Aftershock. Timing really is everything.
 * Sabretooths not invertible what a lie
 * This may have been caused by damage, but it was very noticeable.
 * Aww Esme I got serious Robert somerfield vibes with x Terminator haha
 * Rapid wtf
 * Well that was my pick wasted
 * I wonder how Rapid will go down in history with Robot Wars now? Overrated because it looked so good and only lost to the eventual Grand Finalist on unlucky timing?
 * Well this is free points to Terrorhurtz
 * At which point I immediately realised...
 * This is an exact replica of last year. Terrorhurtz have to beat aftershock to reach the final whereas Sabretooth has to beat bloody Jellyfish
 * This is why I don't like them dropping joke bots in with Terrorhurtz! This just keeps happening! Give Terrorhurtz a non-opporunity heat and make four robots beat down on each other. I'm aware that Aftershock didn't fight Jellyfish and Sabretooth actually lost, but something is obviously going wrong!
 * This episode is going to be an enormous wake up call for Terrorhurtz fans
 * OMG SPIN TO WIN
 * Ah the best quote of the night is the throwback to Hypno-Disc. How proud they would be of Aftershock.
 * "One of the best drivers in the history of robot wars John reid"
 * File:Killerhurtz_suicide.jpg
 * Awww Gabriel don't cry
 * Oh boy I wonder if jellyfish will win, not
 * The hype train is very much not real.
 * oooooh the word heat makes an appearance
 * This was interesting, and unfortunately the only interesting thing that happened in the last ten minutes of the episode.

In Conclusion The episode had some wonderful moments. The Terrorhurtz v Sabretooth fight is one for the ages, with Terrorhurtz v Aftershock also being of note. Aftershock was a very worthy winner and a terrific robot in its own right. Angela Scanlon continues to be positively adorable as host without being ditsy like a coin flip bimbo. Sabretooth finally won a fight - didn't manage to fix its win/loss record completely, but it's nice to see that its new "Robot Wars icon" status seems to be somewhat justified. Gabriel Stroud was very charming, and so was Esme (where did she go in the second half?)

Rapid was a massive disappointment. Clearly a powerful and well-designed machine and it showed that it had what it took. I was incredibly disappointed with Jellyfish wasting so much space on the show - I love Dave Lawrie for what he represents, but the robot was just not capable of staying power to do what we needed. Maybe Jellyfish will be upgraded and win my hearts like Destruct-A-Bubble and Clawed Hopper did, but I doubt it. Crank-E and TMHWK were about what I expected.

The episode petered out towards the end, with JP noting that Jellyfish had to KO Sabretooth for Terrorhurtz to progress, when in fact Terrorhurtz was already out. With that factor removed, the episode was predictable - Aftershock had already beaten Sabretooth and no one expected Jellyfish to actually win. Jellyfish took one blow from Terrorhurtz and died.

Overall, a loud and exciting start to the season that petered out towards the end.