Changes: Flails

Revision as of 06:47, 29 May 2019

Flails are a loose-hanging and versatile type of rotating weapon found in Robot Wars. They first appeared in Series 2, with Caliban being the first of six robots from that series to be equipped with them. The most successful and notable robots with flails are Mace, which reached the Semi-Finals of Series 2 and 3 with this weapon, and Nuts 2, which used flails in tandem with its Meltybrain technology to finish joint-third overall in Series 10.

Definition

A flail is a rotating weapon with spikes, blades or other objects that dangle loosely from the weapon mechanism, usually by a chain. The mechanism can take any form, from simple axles to flywheels/discs and even revolving rings attached to the robot's chassis. When the weapon rotates at full speed, the objects at the end "flail" around, hence the name, with the intention of hitting opponents and causing cuts, scratches or dents to their armour or locomotion.

Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with other spinning weapons, such as full-body spinners, their flexible designs helping to prevent recoils to the robot's main body and armour.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Mace chaos — Mace uses its flails to cause further damage to the eliminated Chaos

Nuts 2 vs Androne 4000 — In tandem with Meltybrain technology, Nuts 2's flails were able to damage Androne 4000's hydraulic lines during their Series 10 Heat Semi-Final

The non-rigid nature of flails allows them to often keep spinning even upon contact with other robots, unlike weapons such as bar spinners and cutting discs. Mace, for example, was able to continue damaging Leighviathan and Chaos even after repeatedly hitting them with its rear flail.
Flails can be attached to large discs, full-body spinners or - less commonly - sit-and-spin robots, increasing their damage output even further. This was best demonstrated by Nuts 2 in Series 10, whose flails were able to cause significant damage to Concussion, Androne 4000 and Carbide during its run.
They can be incorporated into invertible designs, as demonstrated by Nuts.
The length of flails give the weapon a wide damage radius, which can help prevent opponents from attacking close to it. This was the logic behind Nuts' tactic against Carbide ahead of their Series 8 Head-to-Head battle, and which later contributed to Nuts 2's successes in Series 10.
Flails can be designed to double up as entanglement devices, which can be absorbed by spinners.

Disadvantages

Carbide vs nuts — Nuts' flail ring detaches following sustained attacks from Carbide in Series 8

File:Chaos 2 vs Mace 2.JPG

The position of Mace 2's flails left it unable to self-right after getting flipped over by Chaos 2

Flails are less durable than solid spinners, consisting of much thinner and less rigid metal, which can occasionally be ripped from a robot entirely.
The usage of flails powered individually by a motor became outdated as Robot Wars progressed due to a history of lower damage output, and generally have to work in unison with another spinning weapon or body in order to be effective.
Flails attached to powerful spinning mechanisms originally posed safety concerns with Robot Wars producers. Mauler was infamously disqualified from The First World Championship after the producers deemed that its weapon was too powerful for the arena to contain safely, while modern flail spinners often have to be tested in the full-size Robot Wars Arena instead of the test arena.

List of Robots with Flails

Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background.

Tornado flail — Tornado with its flail scoop

Robot	Series Appearances with Flails	Notes
Caliban	Series 2	Pioneer of flails. Interchangeable with a full-body spinner.
Hoot	Dutch Series 2, Nickelodeon	Loanerbot
Humdrum	US Season 1, Nickelodeon	Loanerbot
Inquisitor	Series 2	Was destroyed by Razer before it had the chance to be used in combat.
Jackson Wallop	Series 7	Attached to a top-mounted spinning disc. Disc was 1.2m in diameter, the largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed.
Joker	US Season 2, Nickelodeon	Attached to an angled spinning disc.
Mace	Series 2-3	Series 2 and 3 Semi-Finalist, the latter as Mace 2.
Marauder	US Season 2	Middleweight entry, although eligible for heavyweight competition. Two truck hitch balls at the end of a curved spinning bar, rotating at 3,000rpm.
Mauler	Series 3	Two flails and two chisels dangling from a top rotating lid. Disqualified from The First World Championship due to safety concerns.
Nuts	Series 8-10	Flails attached to chains on the ends of a rotating ring surrounding the robot. Primarily relies on sit-and-spin tactics, but the flails could move independently as part of the ring in the original Series 8 version. In Series 10, the flails and interchangeable rings of Nuts 2 can operate as a conventional spinning weapon through the robot's Meltybrain technology. Finished joint-third in Series 10 in the latter form.
Tantrum	Series 2
The Parthian Shot	Series 2	Never made it into the arena
Tornado	Series 7	One of its interchangeable weapons for Series 7 only. A modified version of the 'Spiked Scoop', with the flail mounted in the centre of the scoop.
Victor	Series 2-3	Interchangeable with a lawnmower blade in Series 2. Modified into a 2ft long 'morning star' flail for Series 3.
Whirling Dervish	Series 2
Whirlpool 70	Extreme 1	Built out of a swimming pool cleaner.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Weapon
-[[File:Mace leighviathan.JPG|thumb|Mace's flail]]
+|title1=Flails
-'''Flails''' are a loose hanging type of rotating weapon.
+|image1=[[File:Mace leighviathan.JPG|thumb]]
+|caption1=Mace's flail damages Leighviathan
+|category_of_weapon=[[Rotating weapons]]
+|pioneer=[[Caliban]]
+|notable_robots=[[Mace]], [[Nuts|Nuts 2]]
+|house_robots=
+}}
+'''Flails''' are a loose-hanging and versatile type of [[Rotating weapons|rotating weapon]] found in ''[[Robot Wars]]''. They first appeared in Series 2, with [[Caliban]] being the first of six robots from that series to be equipped with them. The most successful and notable robots with flails are [[Mace]], which reached the Semi-Finals of Series 2 and 3 with this weapon, and [[Nuts|Nuts 2]], which used flails in tandem with its [[Sit-and-spin#Meltybrain|Meltybrain]] technology to finish joint-third overall in Series 10.
 ==Definition==
-*A '''flail''' is a spinning weapon that dangles loosely, usually by a chain. When it gets up to speed, it "flails" around, hence the name. Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with [[Full-body spinners]], their flexible designs helped prevent backlash to the robot's shell.
+*A '''flail''' is a rotating weapon with spikes, blades or other objects that dangle loosely from the weapon mechanism, usually by a chain. The mechanism can take any form, from simple axles to flywheels/discs and even revolving rings attached to the robot's chassis. When the weapon rotates at full speed, the objects at the end "flail" around, hence the name, with the intention of hitting opponents and causing cuts, scratches or dents to their armour or locomotion.
+Flails were sometimes used in conjunction with other spinning weapons, such as [[Full-body spinners|full-body spinners]], their flexible designs helping to prevent recoils to the robot's main body and armour.
 ==Advantages and Disadvantages==
 '''Advantages'''
+[[File:Mace_chaos.JPG|thumb|Mace uses its flails to cause further damage to the eliminated Chaos]]
-*The flailing motion of the blades increases the amount of kinetic energy they carry.  This allows them to cause more damage than an equivalent rigid weapon.
+[[File:Nuts_2_vs_Androne_4000.jpg|thumb|In tandem with Meltybrain technology, Nuts 2's flails were able to damage Androne 4000's hydraulic lines during their Series 10 Heat Semi-Final]]
-*Flails absorb shocks better than rigid blades.
+*The non-rigid nature of flails allows them to often keep spinning even upon contact with other robots, unlike weapons such as [[Bar spinners|bar spinners]] and [[Cutting discs|cutting discs]]. [[Mace]], for example, was able to continue damaging [[Leighviathan]] and [[Chaos 2|Chaos]] even after repeatedly hitting them with its rear flail.
+*Flails can be attached to large discs, [[Full-body spinners|full-body spinners]] or - less commonly - [[Sit-and-spin|sit-and-spin]] robots, increasing their damage output even further. This was best demonstrated by [[Nuts|Nuts 2]] in Series 10, whose flails were able to cause significant damage to [[Concussion]], [[Androne 4000]] and [[Carbide]] during its run.
+*They can be incorporated into invertible designs, as demonstrated by Nuts.
+*The length of flails give the weapon a wide damage radius, which can help prevent opponents from attacking close to it. This was the logic behind Nuts' tactic against Carbide ahead of their Series 8 Head-to-Head battle, and which later contributed to Nuts 2's successes in Series 10.
+*Flails can be designed to double up as [[Entanglement devices|entanglement devices]], which can be absorbed by spinners.
 '''Disadvantages'''
+[[File:Carbide_vs_nuts.gif|thumb|Nuts' flail ring detaches following sustained attacks from Carbide in Series 8]]
-*Flails are prone to breakage, which could leave the robot spinning wildly off-balance. Mauler was infamous for flipping itself due to stability issues.
+[[File:Chaos_2_vs_Mace_2.JPG|thumb|The position of Mace 2's flails left it unable to self-right after getting flipped over by Chaos 2]]
-*A dangling flail can often restrict a robot's ability to self right.
+*Flails are less durable than solid spinners, consisting of much thinner and less rigid metal, which can occasionally be ripped from a robot entirely.
+*The usage of flails powered individually by a motor became outdated as ''Robot Wars'' progressed due to a history of lower damage output, and generally have to work in unison with another spinning weapon or body in order to be effective.
+*Flails attached to powerful spinning mechanisms originally posed safety concerns with ''Robot Wars'' producers. [[Mauler]] was infamously disqualified from [[The First World Championship]] after the producers deemed that its weapon was too powerful for the arena to contain safely, while modern flail spinners often have to be tested in the full-size Robot Wars Arena instead of the test arena.
 ==List of Robots with Flails==
-Robots are listed alphabetically.
+Robots are listed alphabetically. Robots which are not heavyweight entries are listed with a green background.
+[[File:Caliban.jpg|thumb|Caliban, the pioneer of flails]]
+[[File:Cjaksonwallop.png|thumb|Jackson Wallop]]
+[[File:Mace 2 offical_image.png|thumb|Mace 2]]
+[[File:Marauder.jpg|thumb|Marauder]]
+[[File:Mauler2K.jpg|thumb|Mauler]]
+[[File:Nuts 10.png|thumb|Nuts 2]]
+[[File:Tornado flail.jpg|thumb|Tornado with its flail scoop]]
+[[File:Victor 2.jpg|thumb|Victor 2]]
 {|class="wikitable"
 !Robot
@@ Line 23: / Line 49: @@
 |[[Caliban]]
 |Series 2
-|Pioneer of flails. Interchangable with a full-body spinner
+|Pioneer of flails. Interchangeable with a full-body spinner.
 |-
 |[[Hoot]]
@@ Line 30: / Line 56: @@
 |-
 |[[Humdrum]]
-|US Series 1, Nickelodeon
+|US Season 1, Nickelodeon
 |Loanerbot
 |-
 |[[Inquisitor]]
 |Series 2
-|Was destroyed by [[Razer]] before it had the chance to be used.
+|Was destroyed by [[Razer]] before it had the chance to be used in combat.
 |-
 |[[Jackson Wallop]]
 |Series 7
-|Attached to a spinning disc. Largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed
+|Attached to a top-mounted spinning disc. Disc was 1.2m in diameter, the largest body-to-weapon ratio allowed.
 |-
 |[[Joker]]
 |US Season 2, Nickelodeon
-|Attached to an angled spinning disc
+|Attached to an angled spinning disc.
 |-
 |[[Mace]]
 |Series 2-3
+|Series 2 and 3 Semi-Finalist, the latter as '''Mace 2'''.
-|The flail weapon prevented Mace 2 from self-righting in the Semi-Finals.
+|-bgcolor="#BFFF00"
-|-
 |[[Marauder]]
 |US Season 2
+|Middleweight entry, although eligible for heavyweight competition. Two truck hitch balls at the end of a curved spinning bar, rotating at 3,000rpm.
-|
 |-
 |[[Mauler]]
 |Series 3
-|Not allowed to compete due to safety concerns.
+|Two flails and two chisels dangling from a top rotating lid. Disqualified from [[The First World Championship]] due to safety concerns.
+|-
+|[[Nuts]]
+|Series 8-10
+|Flails attached to chains on the ends of a rotating ring surrounding the robot. Primarily relies on sit-and-spin tactics, but the flails could move independently as part of the ring in the original Series 8 version. In Series 10, the flails and interchangeable rings of '''Nuts 2''' can operate as a conventional spinning weapon through the robot's Meltybrain technology. Finished joint-third in Series 10 in the latter form.
 |-
 |[[Tantrum]]
@@ Line 67: / Line 97: @@
 |[[Tornado]]
 |Series 7
+|One of its interchangeable weapons for Series 7 only. A modified version of the 'Spiked Scoop', with the flail mounted in the centre of the scoop.
-|One of its interchangable weapons
 |-
-|[[Victor|Victor 2]]
+|[[Victor]]
-|Series 3
+|Series 2-3
+|Interchangeable with a [[Lawnmower blades|lawnmower blade]] in Series 2. Modified into a 2ft long 'morning star' flail for Series 3.
-|Interchangable with a lawnmower blade
 |-
 |[[Whirling Dervish]]
@@ Line 79: / Line 109: @@
 |[[Whirlpool 70]]
 |Extreme 1
+|Built out of a swimming pool cleaner.
-|
 |}