User blog:Drop Zone mk2/What I want to see in the new series

Well, it's finally happened! After all these years, all this hoping, Robot Wars is coming back to TV! I had put off writing anything about it for a while, partially because I didn't want to just say some generic comment about how excited I am, I wanted to write something a bit more in depth.

We don't know at this stage what the new series is going to be like. The BBC have told us there will be more battles, more robots and more science, but that the first series of the revival will only be only six episodes long.

So, here is a list of 10 things I hope are in the new series. Some of them just personal preferences, but also things I think would improve the show.

Joint 10) The complete original series on DVD AND a new Robot Wars video game – OK, I’m cheating here, as these are two pieces of merchandise I want to see released as a result of the series, not things in the series itself, but I have wanted to talk about these for a while, and I needed to fill a couple of places on this list.

Firstly, the complete original series on DVD. I know that the BBC and Five would probably be somewhat reluctant to release the series, given it has been off air for so long, but seeing as there is still a cult following for Robot Wars that kept interest alive in the show for all the years it was off our screens, live events and interest in robot combat in the show is still going strong even before the revival was announced, and repeats of old episodes are still drawing in viewers on Challenge and the History channel, why shouldn't they be released on DVD?

Also, the DVDs would be a great opportunity to find out more of the "behind the scenes" story of Robot Wars. Just imagine all the behind the scenes footage that must exist, like unedited battles for the featherweights, lightweights and middleweights in Series 2 and Extreme 2, and all the pictures that must exist from the qualifiers. I would pay to see that, and I'm sure thousands of other Robot Wars fans would.

As for the Robot Wars video game, the reason I would like to see this is because technology has come so far since the last game. As much as I enjoyed playing Arenas of Destruction and Extreme Destruction, they did suffer from a lack of realism in the combat. However, physics in games has come so far - just look at modern racing games - so they would be able to capture the Robot Wars experience much better now.

8) Antweights - The BBC have confirmed that only Heavyweights will be in the new series, but I hope they don't always stick to this rule. Because lower weight classes, especially the antweights, were always entertaining, and antweights are a good way to encourage people to get interested in robot building, seeing as they are easier to build.

7) Spinners – Pretty simple, this one. Spinners have long since been banned at the live events, so they have seen little action since the show ended. Now they will be allowed back, I hope they will not just be left behind. True, robots are very strong now, but hopefully this will encourage people to build very strong spinners.

6) Typhoon 2/The Swarm/Typhoon 3 - Gary Cairns confirmed no to long ago that Team Typhoon will not be in the new series, and while many people might be happy, I am dissapointed. The reason is I have always liked Typhoon 2, and I feel that it is a shame that people overlook its best moments due to the Grand Final controversy. When Typhoon 2 was at its best, it was possibly the best full body spinner ever in the show, and I would have liked to have seen more of it, especially seeing as it failed to qualify for Series 6 and fell in Round 1 in its other appearance. Remember Iron Awe? or Hammerhead? Or X-Terminator?

5) Mr Psycho – There has been a lot of rumours and speculation about whether the original House Robots will return, and which ones will (Matilda and Dead Metal have been confirmed), but of all the original House Robots, the one I want to return the most. This is because, whilst some of the older House Robots would struggle with the improved standards of competitors (Let’s face it, they were even beginning to struggle in Series 7 – look at Shunt!). However, with his huge size and powerful weaponry, Mr Psycho would still hold up, and it would be a nice bit of familiarity.

4) Roboteers home videos – This was an idea used on Battlebots (as you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgA1Xgc77Wc), and I think it should be used on the new show as well. After all, one of the main aims of the show (at least originally) was to get people interested in engineering, what better way to do that than by giving us a glimpse of how the robots were made? The difficulty of building a robot and the hard work that went into the robots was glossed over in later series. Also, I’ve read many comments from people saying that one of the main reasons the show declined in popularity is that the formula became stale. Giving a look at the construction of the robots would add to the show. The BBC have said they want to include more science in the show, so a good way to do it might be to have competitors film videos of them testing their robot, explaning the science behind how it works.

3) Trials – Another way of keeping the formula fresher than only having battles. Now, I don’t think they should have trials as part of the main competition as they did in Series 1 and 2. However, keeping them as a side event would give the roboteers a chance to show off some other skills, adding another dynamic to the show. They should make it like the Third and Fourth Wars, with Football, Sumo, Pinball etc being a side competition. The BBC have said they want to include more robots, so they could use the same strategy as in Series 3: robots deemed not good enough for the main competition, or better suited to the Trials can be used for the trials.

2) Comedy robots/wacky designs – Now, whilst I do enjoy watching the live events, I have to admit, I watch them less than the original show. I don’t hate the live events at all, but one of the reasons I prefer the original show is seeing some of the creative designs. Of course, with the show off air, roboteers priorities have changed to winning, rather than being creative for the TV cameras. I hope that when the show returns, creativity will be encouraged (and perhaps rewarded with a “Most Original Entry” Award), and that roboteers won’t be encouraged to enter comedy robots. Whatever happened to joke entries like Grannies Revenge, or wacky designs like Barber-Ous?

1) Higher arena walls – Another problem I have with the live events is the dominance of flippers. Don’t get me wrong, the power of flippers since the show has ended is remarkable, great feats of engineering, but there are so many flippers these days, and they are all powerful enough to throw robots out of the arena. The last series of the show suffered a bit from this as well, with almost every episode containing an OOTA, and many episodes containing several. I don’t think the solution is to have a completely enclosed arena like Battlebots, just make them higher, so that only the most powerful robots can flip robots OOTA. This would stop everyone resorting to the same tactic in the arena, and when it comes to building robots.

Drop Zone mk2 (talk) 14:44, February 12, 2016 (UTC)