User blog:RA2/Nostalgia

Before I discovered the Robot Wars Wiki, my only source of Robot Wars was the occasional times that channels would import it. Those viewings left a real marked impression on me, and for the sake of retention, I thought I'd share the bits of Robot Wars that I remember seeing before I discovered them archived on Youtube

Series 3, year 2001
This was my first exposure to Robot Wars. It was shown on PBS, which was good because my parents didn't like commercial television. There were two episodes per night but my parents only let me watch one.


 * Heat A: The names Brimhur and Wheeliwacko were particularly memorable, I loved Wheeliwacko's design, great fun to watch. I laughed when Stinger fell into the pit.  I was disappointed when the good-looking Red Dragon lost, and when Suicidal Tendencies beat Forklift's Revenge and Raizer Blade, but happy that Mace 2 took it out.  I also remeber vivdly the clip of Kill Dozer fighting Ivanhoe


 * Heat E: I should mention that I was terrible at predicting outcomes - I pegged Hammertron to beat Sonic, tought to be fair I didn't know that the hammers spun that slowly. Surprisingly I forgot about The Big Cheese completely, though I did remember bits and pieces of Chaos 2's performance and thinking that it stood a pretty good chance.  In hindsight, I'm amazed how quickly I latched on to the idea of a "flipper"


 * Heat H: Aww yeah, Hypnhodisc!!!! I knew this would be something special, my favourite part of the heat. Embarrassingly, I called that match wrong - I thought it would be the classic flipper vs no srimech story.  When I saw that disc before the fight, I remeber quipping "What's it going to do? hypnotize the other driver?"  Needless to say, I was proven dead wrong.  I missed the heat final, so when I saw the semifinals, I remember praying that it had pulled off the win.


 * Heat K: Lots of memorable robots in this one - this time I did call the matches correctly. Judge Shred made a marked impression on me - I thought its armour was leather for some reason.  I loved those pincer thingies but knew that they were too impractical to beat X-Terminator.  Same story with Toe Cutter.  X-Terminator was my favourite, using that axe to lift robots off the ground and then flip them, I loved that.  I was gutted when Panic Attack beat it.


 * Heat M: I hadn't discovered Red Dwarf yet, so I thought a "Scutter" was the name for that blade on Scutter's Revenge. I remeber Thermidor too, although I didn't remeber its name. Pussycat's design was far and away my favourite, I was rooting for it to beat Cassius even though I knew Cassius had the better design.  I was very disappointed that Pussycat didn't get a second chance after the blade shattering incident.  I als have a vivd memory of the walker battle, I found it quite funny how ineffective Mammoth's walking was, though my sister freaked out when it caught on fire.


 * Heat O: I loved Diotoir, like really loved it. After it surprised me with its win over Sting (the "whipping tail action" sounded legitimately threatening) I wanted it to pull off more and more surprises and go all the way.  I was ecstatic when it beat Steel Avenger, and was disappointed when it lost to Firestorm - though in my heart I knew it didn't stand a chance.  I remember Facet though I couldn't put its name to the visual, nor remember its matches.  I also was introduced to Razer in its amazing pinball run.


 * Semifinal 1: I remember all the names and designs, though very little about the matches themselves. I remember Mace's "lucky star" and how the cameraman had to hold it upside down, and the M looked like a W.  I felt bad for Joe Watts when he lost, so I was glad when Chaos 2 vindicated his team.  I was also very happy when Firestorm vindicated X-Terminator by beating Panic Attack.


 * Semifinal 2: As soon as I saw Hypno Disc on the board, I begged my parents to make an exception and let me watch the second half, and they eventually gave in. Steg-O-Saw-Us was a great name, and I loved Beast of Bodmin's eyes. 101 beat Scutter' revenge, which I was quite happy about.  Of course, I was thrilled to have more Hypno Disc fights, and was relieved when it beat 101 on the closest judges' decision ever.


 * Grand Final: I saw the awards, and loved Cerberus' beautiful design and shiny exterior. I was amused by the Sir Chromalot team's air-guitar performance, and that bit where they appeared to have put dry ice in the boot of an expensive car. I vividly remeber the soccer finale where Sgt Bash set the ball on fire and none of the bots wuld touch it after that - I knew Evil Weevil won, but forgot the other bots' names.  I can't believe I forgot about witnessing the first out-of-the arena flip, I guess it's because I was too focused on Hypno-Disc.  The final, I was so very happy that it was between my two favorite robots, thought I knew the winner was a foregone conclusion.  Though I would have preferred to see Hypno-Disc smash up Chaos 2 and win, I was still o kwith Chaos 2 winning, htey deserved it.  I loved watching them take on the house robots, whom up to that point had been so invincible that I never thought a contestant stood a chance.  I was disappointed that they called cease before Chaos 2 had a chance to have a got at all of them.

I loved the house robots, how they towered above the contestants, and just were so much better controlled, using the weapons as extensions of their own bodies, instead of as tacked-on appendages that mayhap do their intended purpose. It was like ,the house robots lined up an attack and always hit, it was fascinating that no saw could cut like Dead Metal's and no axe could pietce like shunt's - heck even Matilda's chainsaw was better than a host of cutting weapons.


 * International League: I'd seen Razer in the Pinball, now I got to see that bizarre looking weapon of its. What a treat that was, it instantly became my favourite with that amazing power behind the crusher!  I'd never even considered that you could win by just digging right into your opponents like that, it was just so fascinating to my young mind.  The highlight had to be when it dug into Shunt and exposed some wires, it was rare that I saw a house robot in such a vulnerable state, and it was really impressive.  Of course, I was hoping that Diotoir would beat it, what with the underdog story, but I had little problem with Razer winning a trophy.  I also remember seeing Tentomushi, another very cool design, and hoping that it would beat A-kill, and I was properly chuffed when it did.