User:Datovidny

Thoughts of The Month
To see previous poll's results, see Previous Polls below.

Edit this section of the page if you read a question and wish to place a vote for one of the nominations. Only vote a maximum of once per day, I will know if you have cheated. Voting for each poll will end on the date listed.

Voting ends: 25th November 2010

Thought 1
Which robot would've been better suited to be the 'filler robot' for the Series 7 All Stars instead of Dantomkia?

Mighty Mouse/Velocirippa - 2 Votes

Mega Hurts LT - 0 Votes

Steel Avenger - 4 Votes

Judge Shred 3 - 1 Vote

Aggrobot - 1 Vote

Stick with Dantomkia - 3 Votes

Thought 2
Was the new Series 7 regulation that all robots required a moving weapon a good idea?

Yes - 0 Votes

No - 7 Votes

Previous Polls
None

Team Datovidny
We are Team Datovidny, David and Tony. We are brothers from the South-Western county of Cornwall. We also have our own page on Roaming Robots Wiki, under the name of Wikia Veteran, this was issued in the beginning of October. It is I (David) that deals with everything that goes on with us on Wikia.

David

Footballer

Tony

Student, Rugby Player

Background
Having watched Robot Wars from the beginning (live on occasions) we have learnt a lot. However, we are only just entering the practical side of Robotics for three main reasons; 1, we are only now of an age where we can understand how a robot works; 2, our father was not willing to help us those years ago when Robot Wars was being shown; and 3, by the time we were ready to start building robots, Robot Wars had stopped being aired, so we had less desire to start building a robot anyway.

We have only begun building robots recently.

Our Robots
With being such fans of Robot Wars, we have designed dozens of robots, and built some as featherweights, below is a list of those already built.

Slightly Blighty

Largely resembling the original Killertron, it's chassis is a cuboid with a domed top. The weaponry is an overhead axe, but that's where the similarities end, the axe has adopted a much smaller shape, and is only able to hit anything at one end of the robot, due to the motor not being powerful enough to swing an axe any bigger. The robot is painted completely in the colours of the Union Flag.

Scraptosaur

A basic box-wedge design, the design on the body-shell is loosely based around Raizer Blade. It's armed with a fierce, 2-bladed spinning disc on the front, spinning at almost 3000rpm, which has been proven to slice fingers (accidentally of course)! Originally designed with a static spike on the back and coned wheels to avoid being flipped, it has since lost these features, and is now very vulnerable to flippers.

Peril Penguin

(Currently still under construction)

A small wedge shape robot with a spherical head to act as a roll bar, it has no proper self-righting mechanism but does have a rear support behind the head and side and rear skirts to make it harder to flip. It's armed with a circular saw blade at the front but its outer shell is made of wood! It was originally inspired by Mighty Mouse, although it shows more of a resemblance to the Series 5 version of Velocirippa.

Competition
As even the first of our machines was built and completed only very recently, we have not competed with them in any Robotic fighting events or shows yet.

Wikia Contributions
Our first edit was on The Gauntlet page on 7th September 2010 and since we have made hundreds of edits on the main wiki in almost three months and we have created (from scratch) the following pages:

Battles

Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1/German Melee

Categories

Category:Heats won by a newcomer

Robots

Doodlebug

Automatic Jack

Death Jester

G-Man

Share+Destroy

Crocodilatron (Series 7)

Tecumseh

Judge Mech

Also there have been many other pages that we have made contributions to, some are major and cover paragraphs and many are just the addition of some sentences or just a few words. A large amount of our edits have been images being added onto other pages to do with the topic in question.

Badges and Awards
Any badges or awards achieved by this user will be posted here.

Userboxes
Think about it...

Top 10 Favourite Robots
Despite only beginning to watch Robot Wars during Series 3, we videoed the vast majority of them as they were being aired, we can still watch them now (as we are probably one of the only families that have a VCR still working in their house) and we've watched several youtube clips of the previous series that we missed. So we've seen every robot that has qualified for a series and many others that didn't, but even out of every single one we each have our top 10 favourite robots from Robot Wars!

Some of these robots were also a lot of inspirations for our concept robots.

If you can, try to spot some similarities between the two lists of favourites.

David
1. Wheely Big Cheese

The team always used to make me chuckle in pre and post-match interviews, and whenever Wheely Big Cheese was preparing for a battle I always got excited as I knew I would be in for a good and entertaining battle. I found the design intreging and inspiring as the design at least made Wheely Big Cheese seem invincible. I also felt sorry for the team a lot of the time as they regularly suffered very bad luck in Robot Wars, particularly towards the end of Wheely Big Cheese's Robot Wars career. I knew that Wheely Big Cheese was my favourite robot as soon as I realised that I was more disappointed than usual when they went out of any competition. I also found myself very fond of this robot's predecessor Big Cheese as they were both very similar in design.

2. Pussycat

I often find that most robots that regularly perform extremely well have little to no charisma, for me, Pussycat is one of few exceptions. When we went to see Robot Wars live during Extreme 2, we were watching the All-Stars Tournament, on our way to the seats we walked past the pits, we ran into the Pussycat team, after they were flipped out of the arena by Bulldog Breed in the Tag Team Terror. My brother and I talked for a rather large extent to Alan Gribble, and as they were about to leave, he gave my brother and I Pussycat posters that were unavailable as merchandise, so he said, not surprisingly, we still have these posters. Despite many changes in the team, Team Cold Fusion had been with Robot Wars since Day 1 (as Bodyhammer at first) and I was solely routing for them in Series 7, I was disappointed when they lost to M2 but was elated when they won the All-Stars, as they should've done for technically being the most dedicated team. It was difficult to find my Top 10 robots, but Pussycat easily made the Top 2.

3. Behemoth

Perhaps not number one, but certainly Behemoth was one of the unluckiest robots in Robot Wars history. Behemoth was another robot that I greatly cheered on in Series 7, in my opinion, Behemoth could've beaten Mute and it could've done so much better in Series 7 if reliability was out of the equation. No matter how quickly it went out in a series, Behemoth was always a robot feared by others. The design was very complete towards the end of Robot Wars, and if the House Robot Rebellion is anything to go by, Behemoth was a very impressive robot when it worked properly and as I've seen at live events it still is.

4. The Steel Avenger

As I started watching Robot Wars in Series 3, naturally, most of the robots from that series stood out for me, The Steel Avenger was one of them. As the years of Robot Wars went by I always noticed The Steel Avenger was still there fighting where others had either stopped competing or switched to completely different robots. By Series 7, I was probably cheering The Steel Avenger on more than anyone, it astonished me how such an old robot with such an old design could still work really well in Robot Wars, it's a big shame that Storm 2 had to knock it out with ease. It saddens me that it eventually retired, after seing the concept for SA2. It was also a shame that the feather duster was eventually taken off it too. I don't really care what Craig Charles said in Series 7, it doesn't matter if its old, its how good the robot is, and The Steel Avenger was a brilliant robot that should've been seeded at least ONCE!!!

5. Cerberus

Another robot for me that stood out in Series 3, Cerberus. It did fairly well in its debut series, reaching the heat final and the quarter finals of the World Championship, but then very quickly, every other robot caught up with it and overtook it in robot standard. The clamp weapon design was very unique and innovative but sadly it wasn't used to its full potential when it was installed, only in Extreme 1 when it scraped S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s paint, and that hardly counts. Admittedly, I really liked the looks of Cerberus, even in Extreme 2 when the shiny bodywork and chrome etc. was taken off it I still found Cerberus an appealing robot, it's just a pity that by Extreme 2 it was so outdated and so old that Crushtacean disposed of it in its last Robot Wars battle in just 49 seconds (don't judge me on that statistic, I watched the battle on Youtube and calculated Cerberus' time of survival).

6. Major Tom It must be made clear that it is the '1970s Bumper Car' Major Tom that has won it this 6th seed. Major Tom was one of few robots that flew flag, badly, but was a robot that always underachieved and that I always backed, with little success in return. If you ask me, the Extreme 2 Annihilator was Major Tom's finest hour and I remember cheering madly as each round passed where they survived, however, in round four, I really knew what was coming. I think Major Tom would've done so much better in Series 7 if they stuck with the bumper car and fixed that up (I know it was a wreck at the end of the annihilator) rather than change to what was known as Major Tom 3, then for various reasons it might not have been flipped out of the arena by Tsunami in the first round.

7. Roadblock/Beast of Bodmin

If you ask me, The Beast of Bodmin and Roadblock were pretty much the same robot, with a few differing details. Also I needed to make my Top 10 robots easier to crack down.

Somewhere in the Top 10, there had to be a Cornish machine, but I doubt I felt in the same way about St. Agro as I do with the two robots from the Bodmin Community College. The designs for the two robots were rather simplistic and not too ambitious, even back in the days of Robot Wars that they were competing in. However, they were designs that were worked well on, the robots never failed to reach a Semi-Final and Roadblock even won Series 1. Despite this great achievement, as explained with Pussycat above, this is an exception for needing to like a really successful robot. I'm not being stereo-typical about that either.

Before we even saw Robot Wars itself live, I have vivid memories of seeing the Beast of Bodmin on display at a South West Steam Fair, but for me, that was my first Robot Wars experience. I think the team shouldn't have retired from Robot Wars after Series 3, maybe they had little more to give in terms of a new robot etc. but the team may still have done well, and my brother and I wouldn't have had to wait until Series 6 to see another Cornish robot on Robot Wars (St. Agro), and until Series 7 to see one even nearly as successful as either Roadblock or Beast of Bodmin.

8. Ming Dienasty

I don't care how many people on this earth say anybody else would've been better suited to the Series 7 15th Seed placing, if you've entered Robot Wars for five years with little to no recognition, you at least deserve something!

It's Ming Dienasty only out of the Ming robots that has won this Top 10 place.

I personally felt that the originality of Ming Dienasty deserved credit, things like the drill coupled with the lifting arm. I believe that the judges decision involving Ming Dienasty could've gone any way, Ceros stayed out of the action towards the end and Scraptosaur had only minor flips at a time and even those were limited in quantity. Ming Dienasty had the potential, and I was heavily disheartened when they lost their only battle. If losing in Round 1 was the only reason for leaving Ming Dienasty out of the Series 7 All-Stars Tournament, then I'm disgraced!

9. Stinger

Certainly, Stinger is up there for the best designs of all time. Despite doing extremely well in Series 4, it's a big shame that Stinger didn't truly do very well. It's appalling that a new regulation for Series 7 came in that meant all robots required a moving weapon, Stinger was meant to at least attempt to qualify for Series 7 but wasn't allowed due to this new rule. If the Robot Wars commitee was so worried about boring robots qualifying for the main war, they needn't do because all but maybe a few wouldn't even qualify for the main series anyway!

The case with Stinger is that it was always out for a laugh, as was the team, I still remember chuckling away as I watched Stinger sail through Series 4, mind you I was only 4 years old and I probably would've laughed at anything at that time. Also, Stinger only really lost to the very best, robots like Chaos 2, Pussycat and S3, try to forget the Northern Annihilator.

10. Onslaught My final seed is Onslaught. Onslaught was one of very few robots along with the likes of Chaos 2 and Mute that proved that size isn't everything and was always a robot that couldn't perform and show for its efficiency as a robot. All Onslaught really has to show is a second place in the Southern Annihilator when they only truly lost on its own accord by driving into Matilda's CPZ. Onslaught in many ways was a complete machine. I enjoyed watching the Southern Annihilator and was very miffed when Tetanus beat it in Series 5 via bad luck for Onslaught. Since Robot Wars and a brief spell in Roaming Robots Onslaught has been replaced by the team's new robot Ka Pow! This robot, was coincidently named after the team name: Ka Pow!

Narrow Misses

Choosing a Top 10 isn't easy when you adore Robot Wars and you've seen every robot that has competed. These are some robots that were considered for the Top 10.

Sumpthing

Plunderbird 5

Velocirippa (from Series 7) Six Pac

Robochicken

Thermidor 2

Pitbull

Favourite House Robot

Shove

Shove had a very simplistic design, but it was still awesome. If I'm honest, before I knew of Shove, I bet I speak for everyone when I say I thought Shunt did all of the cleaning and sweeping before Refbot came onto the scene. Shove was easily the greatest house robot of them all, for being the only house robot that didn't lose anything of its dignity, the only Series 1 robot to go unmodified to the very end of Robot Wars and for being the only robot with only charismatic characteristics. Never being shown on TV and being replaced by Refbot were obviously bad things but they also made Shove just who he was: an inexalted legend!

Tony
Explanations Will Be Added Later.

1.St. Agro

2.Gemini

3.Firestorm

4.Bigger Brother

5.Roadblock/Beast of Bodmin

6.Dantomkia

7.Stinger

8.13 Black

9.Thermidor 2

10.Pitbull

Top 5 Least Favourite Robots
Along with favourites, we had our least favourites, robots that annoyed us for every victory they took and the robots that they often defeated. Like the favourites above, try to spot some similarities between our two lists.

David
1. Tornado

The most boastful team ever to compete, except for maybe Random Violence Technologies. The boring red box on wheels defeated Wheely Big Cheese, Pussycat, Behemoth, Stinger, to be honest, nearly all of my favourites, except for The Steel Avenger and King B who gave it what it deserved in the Extreme 1 mayhem. It won the majority of tournaments like they were pieces of cake, the competitions were no longer open to anyone else. Although I dislike the Series 7 regulation that every robot had to have a moving weapon, at least it largely stopped the invasion of boring little boxes on wheels like Tornado, it was only Storm 2 that slipped through the net. Since Robot Wars ended in 2004, the team has seperated and the robot is now retired from combat...good.

2. Mortis

"This is the most impressive weapon here, I don't think you'll see anything else here this impressive"

- Arthur Chillcot on the axe in Series 2

That one quote alone almost somes up everything wrong with Mortis and the team. Their big heads and extremely expensive equipment made them think they could win everything, thankfully, they didn't as they only reached one semi-final, and even then, they got further than they shouldv'e done because they were sore-losers. I applauded Gravedigger when Mortis went down the pit and Steg 2 when Mortis went down the pit again. Mortis could've been so much more, after spending £100,000 on it, luckily...they weren't.

3. Dantomkia

Praise Pussycat for beating Dantomkia in the All-Stars final, I know by my polls that most people disagree with me when I say Dantomkia shouldn't have been in the tournament, but I believe this for two reasons:

It wasn't in Robot Wars for anywhere near five years

It ruined the chances of more deserving robots

It ruined the tournament by being such a better robot than everyone else, it flipped out Behemoth and King B in Round 1 alone, that was enough to sicken me. But also I hate Dantomkia for proving Chaos 2 had had its day, I know 13 Black did the damage but it couldn't exactly keep Chaos 2 away.

4. Storm 2

Despite beating Tornado twice, Storm 2 never stopped there. Storm 2 won every one of their battles, excluding the very conversial grand final with Typhoon 2, which they were very sore-losers about, especially when typhoon couldn't enter The Third World Championship. If you can't beat it, what's the point in trying to do so. Additionally, Storm 2 beat The Steel Avenger, this makes things worse. Nobody can actually tell me that they liked Storm 2 whilst watching Robot Wars, unless they just supported the best to not be disappointed. There was also no sense of drama, it was Tornado with more power. Next time team, build a robot with a proper weapon and an interesting theme, then I may be intrigued.

5. Dominator 2

Watching Dominator 2 on TV, I always thought that the axe, when it stood proudly in the air, represented the smirking face of Dominator as it always did really well. Dominator 2 was another robot that consistently did very well in the main competition, this meant that Dominator had little charisma anyway. Dominator was actually quite a show-off itself as it humiliated several amateur robots like Eye of Newt and Inquisitor, Dominator 2 was no better. Plus, losing to Tornado so stupidly is one thing but beating robots like Wheely Big Cheese and Sumpthing without really doing the crucial damage really sumed up my hatred for Dominator 2.

However, if I'm honest, I'm a little intrigued into how Dominator 2 may have done in Series 7 if it hadn't had the mechanical problems, but then how would've Ming Dienasty been given the 15th seed?

Tony
1.Tornado

2.Gravity

3.Typhoon 2

4.Dominator 2

5.Mortis

Dream Competitions
Admittedly, there are some competitions that I believe Robot Wars couldv'e put into their shows or even create as specials. Here are a few competitions that I've made up that I wouldv'e enjoyed to watch during Robot Wars' time on air.

Football League

A selection of robots are entered into a competition where two robots go into the arena at one time to play a one on one game of football, both robots aiming for the golden goal. The robot to score the goal would get 3 points, the loser would get no points, and each would get 1 point if neither robot had scored. Each robot would play a number of games against different robots in the competition until everybody has played the maximum amount of games. In goal would be Dead Metal with either Matilda or Sergeant Bash playing outfield.

The number of robots competing could vary but obviously would need to be a multiple of two and at least four for the system to even work.

Second Flipper Frenzy Formatted the same as the Extreme 2 Challenge Belt, 8 flipping robots would fight each other beginning with two four-way melees, followed by two head to heads and a final head to head battle. The last surviving robot of the original 8 robots would then fight Thermidor 2 at the end of the program.

No robots with mere lifting shovels or thin lifting arms such as Behemoth or the original Killer Carrot will be allowed into the competition for not being true flippers, also, no robots with flippers that also have additional weaponry will be allowed to use their additional weaponry in battle.

Creativity Special

Give all joke robots like Granny's Revenge and Fat Boy Tin a purpose and something to fight for. Enter a number of joke robots into their own competition in a quest to find the best of the worst! House robot Sergeant Bash would require to be in the arena at all times in the event of it being time for a flammable robot to enter the arena. No robot would be able to enter this competition if they'd ever at least reached the heat final, for they would then be accidentally or intentionally serious or successful robots.

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