The Disc of Doom (also known as the Floor Spinner) was a short-lived arena hazard that first appeared in Season 2 of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors as well as the one-off series Nickelodeon Robot Wars. An altered version later made appearances throughout Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars, Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2, German Robot Wars and the second series of Robot Wars Extreme.
The hazard was initially located near the centre-left of the arena, where it was intended to fling competitors across the arena whenever they drove over it. This would interfere with their manoeuvrability, often disrupting attacks against opponents or simply causing them to lose control.
History[]
The Disc of Doom/Floor Spinner was a circular-shaped spinning panel built into the floor, similar to the smaller Spinners used in the American robot combat show BattleBots. It was activated by a button similar to the pit release button, located on the upper-left side of the arena wall, though there were multiple instances where the spinner would already be active at the start of battles. The activation button initially took the form of a bumper labelled DISC (striped black and yellow in US Season 2/Nickelodeon, plain yellow in Series 6/Dutch Series 2/German Series), which was replaced by a yellow tyre in Extreme 2. All featured a hazard symbol depicting a spiral pattern, in a similar fashion to the symbols found on the pit release buttons.
The Floor Spinner saw two major changes during its time in Robot Wars:
US Season 2 and Nickelodeon[]
Side view of the Disc of Doom (below) in the Nickelodeon series; note the teeth along the surface
The first version of the Disc of Doom, used in the US and Nickelodeon series, had a spiral pattern on the spinning panel, along with welded teeth positioned along the spiral to tear the bottom of any competitors driving over it. However, this capability was never demonstrated, as the panel rotated slowly and competitors such as Bunny Attack and Bigger Brother often got stuck on the Disc after getting caught by the teeth. The Disc, nevertheless, also damaged Xylon's front wedge at the start of its battle while it was stationary. This version of the Spinner made rare appearances in some battles from Dutch Series 2, by this time sporting the later cog pattern. The Disc was also known to have determined the outcome of some matches, with robots like Amok and Dragbot both becoming immobile by driving over it.
UK, Dutch and German Series[]
Bigger Brother activates the Floor Spinner on Rick during the Extreme 2 Minor Meltdown
The second version of the Spinner, used in Series 6, Extreme 2, Dutch Series 2 and German Robot Wars, had the more familiar cog pattern on the panel surface. This version initially had no teeth attached to the surface and could only be used to throw competitors off-course. This was shown to have been effective on robots such as Stinger and 13 Black, which both lost control during their Heat Final match. However, for the most part, the Floor Spinner failed to make an impact on competitors with many surviving the spin. The hazard had an additional issue of wedge-shaped robots like Firestorm 4 and Dantomkia becoming wedged underneath the panel.
For Extreme 2, rivets were briefly added to the Spinner's surface at the insistence of Series Producer Bill Hobbins, with the intention of catching robots in a similar way to the teeth previously employed by the Disc of Doom. This work was partially undertaken by Robot Wars: The Official Magazine editor Darryl Curtis, who documented her involvement in the task for a behind-the-scenes article on the BBC Visual Effects crew. However, this alteration would not be utilised in the televised series, as Hobbins ordered the rivets to be removed prior to the start of filming.[1] Following the series' conclusion, the Floor Spinner was removed and retired altogether.
Activation Buttons[]
Notable Instances[]
US Season 2[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robots Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panzer Mk4 vs Joker vs Snake Bite | None | Panzer Mk4 | First appearance of the Disc of Doom. The Disc's teeth briefly stopped Panzer Mk4, disrupting its first ramming attack on Joker in the process. |
| Probophobia vs Snake Bite | None | Both | Both machines became stuck on the Disc and were freed by Refbot. |
| Conquering Clown 2 vs Black Widow | Black Widow | Black Widow | As Conquering Clown 2 had its clown head set alight, Black Widow charged aimlessly across the arena, hitting the Disc trigger at one point. Near the end of the match, Conquering Clown 2 rammed Black Widow across the Disc which threw Black Widow away. |
| Conquering Clown 2 vs Unibite 2.0 | None | Unibite 2.0 | Unibite 2.0 drove over the Disc and became stuck on the teeth. This allowed Conquering Clown 2 to slice into Unibite 2.0's sides and damage its wheels, which lead to Unibite 2.0 being unable to move on one side for the rest of the match. |
| Brawler vs Dragbot | Dragbot | Dragbot | First immobilisation caused by the Disc itself. Dragbot became wedged under the trigger after slamming into it and Brawler. Later on, it drove head-on into one of the teeth while trying to push Brawler, losing mobility for a few seconds as Brawler in turn pushed it further over the edge of the Disc. Dragbot proceeded to take several hits from the Disc teeth as it tried to move away, eventually escaping before losing mobility again. |
| Buzz vs Tyranabot vs Xylon | None | Xylon | Xylon drove over the Disc's teeth and damaged its wedge at the start of the melee. |
| Tyranabot vs Bunny Attack | None | Bunny Attack | Despite how vulnerable Tyranabot was with its mobility issues, Bunny Attack was caught by the teeth and unable to move until Tyranabot backed into it. |
| Ninjitsu vs Snookums | None | Ninjitsu | Ninjitsu became caught on the teeth of the Floor Spinner, which briefly activated to free Ninjitsu. It was not utilised for the remainder of the fight. |
Nickelodeon Robot Wars[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robot Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ming 3 & Rick vs Bigger Brother & Kat 3 | None | Bigger Brother | While coming under attack from their opponents, Kat 3 dragged Bigger Brother onto the Disc using its axe, in turn causing Bigger Brother to get caught on the teeth. Bigger Brother was quickly freed when Rick pushed it off a few seconds later. |
| Hannibal vs Bunny Attack | None | Bunny Attack | Bunny Attack once again drove over the Disc and got stuck. The Disc spun up briefly to free Bunny Attack. |
Series 6[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robot Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbaric Response vs X-Terminator vs Robochicken vs Spirit of Scorpion | Robochicken | Robochicken, Spirit of Scorpion | First time the Floor Spinner was activated in the main UK Championship. Both machines were caught and temporarily stuck on the Spinner. |
| Dantomkia vs Mighty Mouse | Mighty Mouse (As a result of being flipped) | Both | Dantomkia flipped Mighty Mouse into the activation trigger, then as it backed away was thrown off course after driving over the Floor Spinner. As Dantomkia attempted to flip Mighty Mouse over, the spinner unintentionally helped Mighty Mouse self right. However, Mighty Mouse would be affected later on after the Spinner propelled it off-course while charging over it. |
| Sir Chromalot vs The Alien vs GBH 2 vs ICU | Sir Chromalot | Refbot, ICU | Refbot was caught by the disc as it spun, and struggled to move off of it while preparing to count ICU out. The eliminated ICU was later affected by the Spinner as it attempted to get away from the House Robots. |
| S3 vs Shredder | Shredder | Shredder | Shredder hit the activation button, but was spun wildly after driving over the Spinner itself. Later on, it got stuck on the edge of the Spinner, allowing S3 to attack its side. |
| 13 Black vs Stinger | Stinger | Both | Stinger struggled to make impact against 13 Black as a result of being spun off course. 13 Black was also affected, but managed to damage Stinger by being spun away by the disc. |
| Dominator 2 vs S.M.I.D.S.Y. | Dominator 2 | Dominator 2 | Dominator 2 used the force of the Disc to turn around and attack S.M.I.D.S.Y. with its axe. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then pushed Dominator 2 over the still-active arena hazard, but neither robot was affected. |
| Bigger Brother vs Killer Carrot 2 vs Major Tom vs Riptilion | Riptilion | Bigger Brother, Killer Carrot 2 and Riptilion | Riptilion activated the button and reversed onto the Floor Spinner, sitting on top of it for a while. Later, Bigger Brother was spun on the spot along with Killer Carrot 2, which was left vulnerable to an attack from the defending UK runner-up. |
| Hypno-Disc vs Tornado | Tornado | Both | As Hypno-Disc attempted to get away from Tornado it drove over the Spinner and was thrown off course. Later, a ramming attack by Tornado caused both robots to spin out of control. |
Extreme 2[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robot Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firestorm 4 vs Bigger Brother | None | Both | Immediately into their All-Stars Heat Final, Firestorm 4 sped under the stationary Spinner, briefly getting wedged and allowing Bigger Brother to flick it from the side. Seconds later, Firestorm 4 wedged itself under the Spinner again, inadvertently allowing it to flip Bigger Brother when the latter drove over the Spinner and up its wedge shape. |
| Bigger Brother vs Rick | Bigger Brother | Rick, Bigger Brother, Dead Metal | Rick was immobile and was counted out on top of the Floor Spinner. Bigger Brother backed into the activation button, causing Rick to spin around and be flung off the arena hazard. Bigger Brother then attempted to get in underneath Rick, but the Floor Spinner proved troublesome and Bigger Brother had no traction or gauge on Rick to flip it, finding itself pushed into Dead Metal instead. Soon after, Dead Metal attempted to grab Rick to pit it, but was swerved off course by the still-active Floor Spinner. |
| Lightning & The Steel Avenger vs Nasty Humphrey & Stinger | Lightning | All Robots | After pressing the button, Lightning got underneath Nasty Humphrey and brought it to the Floor Spinner, but it the arena hazard dragged Nasty Humphrey from their wedge. As Lightning attempted to shove it across the arena, Floor Spinner propelled both machines off course. Lightning attempted to adjust for another attack but continued to be affected by the Spinner. Nasty Humphrey was later affected again when chasing Lightning, where the Spinner sent it off course and open for an attack. During the same fight, The Steel Avenger and Stinger were disrupted by the Floor Spinner as they fought one another. |
| Argh! vs Bernard vs Cutlet vs Gladiator vs Katnip vs Micro Mute | Micro Mute | Argh!, Bernard, Cutlet, Micro Mute | Micro Mute spun wildly off course every time it sped over the spinner. Argh!, when attacking Bernard and Cutlet, was affected and spun on the spot with the other two robots multiple times when driving over the spinner. |
| Dantomkia vs Iron-Awe 2 | None | Iron-Awe 2 | Iron-Awe 2 became wedged by the Floor Spinner, allowing Dantomkia to capitalise with an attempted side-on attack. |
Dutch Series 2[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robot Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amok vs Cyclone | None | Amok | As the battle began, Amok made a charge towards Cyclone, but suddenly turned and drove over the already-spinning Floor Spinner. The Spinner propelled Amok off course, and in doing so caused its removable link to come loose. |
| Das Gepäck vs Gravity | Das Gepäck | Gravity | Das Gepäck activated the spinner, however Gravity was not affected by it until after flipping Das Gepäck into Sgt. Bash. Afterwards, Gravity reversed onto the Spinner and was spun around on the spot. |
| ODT-Zero vs √3² | ODT-Zero | Both | ODT-Zero was affected only slightly as it slowly made its way forwards. The clusterbot segments of √3², being significantly lighter, were heavily affected as they were shot across the arena by the Spinner - one cluster even sat on top of it while spinning around. |
| Pika 3 vs √3² | None | √3² | After two of the √3² segments became stuck on the Spinner, the hazard started rotating, hurling them across the arena and leaving one open for attack by Pika 3. |
German Robot Wars[]
| Battle | Initiated by | Robot Affected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ansgar's Revenge vs Golem vs Junkyard Queen | Junkyard Queen | Junkyard Queen | Junkyard Queen got stuck on the edge of the Spinner, having one of its tyres slashed and requiring Refbot's assistance. |
Appearances in Merchandise[]
The Disc of Doom (right) in the GBA version of Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction
- "A high speed turntable that causes extreme damage to the underside of robots as well as knocking them off course."
- — In-game description from the GBA version of Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction[2]
Though rarely featured in merchandise, the Disc of Doom appears prominently in the Game Boy Advance version of Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction. It can found in all playable arenas (including the game's recreation of the Series 5-7 arena), plus as a selectable hazard in the Arena Editor.[2] Activated by a yellow button on the arena wall, it functions similarly to its real-life counterpart. Unlike the real-life versions, the Disc of Doom in Extreme Destruction features a unique yellow and black pattern, possibly resembling cutting blades or a radioactive symbol.
Trivia[]
- The Disc of Doom was the only major hazard not to be featured in any way on the Minibot arena sets.
- The button trigger was pressed more times than the disc was actually used.
- The souvenir programmes for Series 6 and Extreme Series 2 both use the 'Disc of Doom' name to refer to the Floor Spinner, suggesting that the two names were considered interchangeable. Additionally, the Series 6 programme description mentions the Disc as still featuring teeth carried over from the initial Extreme Warriors/Nickelodeon incarnation, though these would not feature in the UK Series.[3][4]
- The Disc of Doom was also the only arena hazard to appear packaged with the Tornado/Pullback toy. The Other arena hazard packaged with the Firestorm/Pullback toy being the Arena Wall Flamethrowers.
References[]
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