User blog:NJGW/Series 9, Heat E afterthoughts

By now, this blog should be a Grand Final review, but, hey - we got a good ol' lovely session of Golf instead. With plenty of time still to spare, let's belatedly go through Heat E.

Group Battle 1
Better. Much, much better! Not because of the standard of robot but because it was fun and entertaining. Ms Nightshade was rubbish - we all knew it'd be rubbish, but it's unique, and it showed it perfectly with the way its 'petals' flailed around and he way Dead Metal got entangled with it and dragged it around the arena. It was classic melee madness and laughs - and that's something we haven't seen enough of in melees this series. Rusty was also rubbish, and somehow even flimsier than I thought it would be, but it was a laughably out of its depth robot that didn't die in one hit and still fell apart. Again, a fun addition, and for melees that's very important. We know the worse robots are going to be weeded out, and it's important to get rid of them in a classic, funny way.

Group Battle 2
Another good melee - wow, this is getting too much! First, we have Trolley Rage: an endearing robot that is out of its depth, and although its front panel was ripped away easily, it still moved, it tried to get involved in the battle, it fired its axe and then a critical blow came in. Again, a perfect way to lose a robot in a melee. We're then treated to great visual sparks from Carbide off of Crackers 'n' Smash until that explosive moment quite deep into the battle. Not to mention that it was all topped off by Charles the cheese being pitted.

Other battles and general relevant thoughts
Straight away, and once again, we have talk of additional damage after an immobilisation. As I will always maintain, I don't like when robots do additional damage when it's not necessary, but I get it 100%. It's a TV show, it's Carbide - a robot associated with damage of the highest order, and it was a rivalry. The damage will always be accentuated by the repair time, and that's the problem. Not the format itself, not the robot doing the damage, but the repair time. If it can't be increased to aid the roboteers in the future series then a change a format will be needed, but the format itself offers variety and more battles, and it's a shame if it has to be got rid of because of the time in between battles.

Coyote was a slight disappointment. I'm glad it got through to this stage, and I didn't expect it to get to the Heat Final or anything, but it was a shame to spot those drive issues consistently creeping up. Still a great, organic design that did itself proud against Carbide, but I do wish it could have ridden out the remaining time against Crackers 'n' Smash and been able to try to do something against Apollo.

Crackers 'n' Smash - Well let's start with the positives, and wow, what a pleasant surprise these little guys' ability to last a battle was! In a series where the gap between the worst and best robots feels so big a lot of the time, it was refreshing to see a robot able to take the stick throughout.

Aside from that we do have controversy unfortunately, although for half of the issue it's another one where I think the setup of the rule in the first place is the problem. The situation with the active weapon rule is I never really liked it in the first place because it tries to discourage how legitimate Tornado's title win was by saying it wasn't entertaining in doing so - albeit that was also down to audience feedback.

Also, it's a rule that feels like it doesn't cover all bases properly, so is played out as a bit of a mess overall. I don't really mind if teams don't use their weapons in a specific fight, but considering the point of the rule being introduced, the weapon should really have to be used at some stage in a fight - if not, the only time the active-weapon rule actually penalises a robot is out of the arena, whereas in the arena you don't need to use your weapon anyway - you just need a weapon there to qualify, and that feels completely counter-productive.

However, because this is Robot Wars, that technicality has a grey area in itself, because if the weapon breaks or suddenly doesn't work during the battle then that would feel harsh to penalise for. I mean, if you want the rule to actually affect the competition with its intention then Terrorhurtz shouldn't have been allowed its victory over Carbide. Yeah, it was awesome driving, but if the axe can't be used then for that fight alone then Terrorhurtz wasn't in a legal state for combat under the rules and is just another wedge. The rule in itself only covers out of the arena evidence of the weapon working, but then if the rule doesn't actually translate to the combat itself, what's the point? For this particular incident I understand that it was supposedly one that slipped under the radar and then Team Carbide gave their own consent for the battle to go ahead. Really, it makes a mockery of the rules, but for that particular incident it probably saved hassle after it was spotted by production so late. Nevertheless, the rule in itself causes the problem, and with the show having more power than ever to accept which robots they want, then they should just allow wedges to apply and if you don't like what the robot offers, then don't let them in still.

As for the forfeit itself, I do find that bizarre. For the other talking points so far it's been open for debate, but for this is one that I just do not understand how it was allowed to happen. What makes it worse is the way the team were so open in their reasoning for forfeiting and it still went through. They didn't try to hide anything at all - it was all to do with them not wanting to sustain more damage from Carbide. I'm not targeting the team by bringing this up either, but it's more to do with how bamboozled I was when it just so casually happened, because it really is a big thing that could lead to extra problems down the line if it isn't tightened up.

It's obvious to say, but isn't Carbide just awesome? The consistency in its weapon isn't even necessarily the thing that impresses me most either, but more the way that the machine feels that bit more precise now. Before, in close quarters with other robots Carbide felt like it couldn't target turn and twitch the extra inch or two it needed to make the right hits, but now it just such a precise piece of kit - it really is scary.

Apollo did as well as I thought it would. I adore its Series 8 Grand Final win, but these type of defeats from a new, improved Carbide were always on the cards. I'm happy to see and hear about the improvements for the new version of Apollo, and I hope these solve most of the issues it has. The thing I take from this episode most from Apollo isn't even related to the machine itself, but to flippers - because we really needed more for this series and need a good batch for next series. They're perfect for the Head-to-Head format with the way that their fights go, and with so many good spinners now, I really would like to see at least one more of the notable live event flippers as well as Eruption, Apollo and, of course, TR3.

Conclusion
I may have negatively spoke and rambled about the talking points and controversy from this episode, but that doesn't mean these were things that stinted my enjoyment of the episode - they were simply talking points, so I went through them. This episode was full of fun, variety and memorable moments. This episode could have easily been Apollo and Carbide simply stealing the show - and yes, in a way they did, but it was in a way where those two machines showed some of their explosive power while other machines still competed and tried to make a battle of things.

Score: 9/10