Remembering the Robot Wars Reboot - RW History Podcast

[@njgw1465]

The Robot Wars reboot concluded its third and final series nearly 5 years ago, and today, NJGW, Toast and TG thought it was around about time we remembered the renaissance of robot combat in the UK, and what was done right and wrong during Robot Wars' second spell.

[@GoodGarret777]

Razer coming back only to lose due to a technical problem was absolutely perfect, wouldn't change a thing.

[@Retrosicotte]

Went out the way it came in.

[@nametab6415]

The podcasts are back good fun as always! Bots that I'd cut from series 9: -Trolly Rage -Tomahawk -Cobra -Foxic -Chimera -Expulsion -Wyrm -Frosbite -High-5 -Rusty didn't do 2 per heat

[@TaleOfTheToaster]

See you in 5 years for another one, right? Side note - this podcast was recorded slightly before Mech+ became a thing

[@smithyblue]

I was at home browsing on the web and out of interest I was looking at when the Robot Wars Live Tour was gonna start (before the organisers changed the name to Extreme Robots), I typed it in and the main topic was that Robot Wars was returning, I was both happy and stunned that my childhood show was making a come back. As the guys in the podcast summed up about the reboot that Series 8 was good, 9 was okay but it started showing the drawbacks and whilst 10 wasn’t perfect it was still a big improvement (the best series of the reboot). I agree that the bbc aren’t the broadcasters for the programme, especially with how badly they treated it with a lack of promotion and deliberately putting it up against shows like the Blue Planet documentary, and topping it off with a ridiculous excuse “to make room for news shows” when their still making programmes that look as though they’ve had their time long enough on the small screen. Streaming sites like Netflix or Amazon would be right for Robot Wars if it was gonna make a comeback (online seems like the right place for the sport since mainstream media won’t give it the benefit of the doubt), I would bring back the Redemption format since it proved to be better thought out than the round robin, and also have more focus on lightweight classes such as the featherweights as a cheaper option due to how expensive heavyweights are. Saying that I’d be happy if there was gonna be a programme focused on the featherweight class since they’ve proven from events like Robo Challenge and even NHRL to be just as entertaining to watch, and to finish off the organisers of Extreme Robots sound like their putting a lot into their event this year to try and gain more recognition for the sport.

[@KiyokaMakibi]

BBC are wankers. I wish they’d sell the rights, including the house robots to someone who cares, but they won’t. That’s just the way they are.

[@Hello_there_obi]

It boggles the mind how badly they messed up the reboot… The house robots looked like chinese copies, the lightning was awful, the arena was shrunk and dumbed down, there was nowhere to throw out the robots anymore either so flippers were penalised. There were way too many presenters. They managed to get craig charles back but sidelined him instead of making him the “master of mayhem” as he used to be? I just don’t get it. It was a mess. And the thing that spoiled most bot fighting now is disc weapons. These days that’s all you should make.

[@AquaMarina369]

This was an interesting listen, I kinda fell off Robot Wars and Robotic Combat in general once I entered high school and only got back into it in 2020 so I completely missed the reboot airing entirely, I knew it was a thing but that was it I think lol. Nice to see the podcast back ^^ I guess since Mech+ is a thing now, do you think there'll be some sort of revival on there down the line? I doubt it's realistic but I could see them streaming some sort of reboot/successor if it takes off, I could see that being the aim of the platform. It was only after listening to this I realized they have a live player always broadcasting episodes, I feel like weekly episodes with a live stream could be a really good way of reviving the show. There's obviously limits on the profitability though but maybe a centralized site where it's allowed to be kinda niche is a good thing Rambling now, great listen as always ^^

[@seanretro2930]

I found out Robot Wars was coming returning from a bronies site back in 2016 and had to get a Blu-Ray recorder to record like what I did back in the classic Robot Wars. For series 8, since they have been off the air for a few years, I can be fair on them since it is all trial and error for them. For series 9, the round-robin format was starting to show its flaws since there were spinners everywhere. For series 10, easily the best of the reboot, the battle format works giving the robots at least two fights. With the 10 way, rumble loved it was complete chaos. Now if Robot Wars came back again. I would use the battle format from series 10 since it works, start with 5 heats just to start off the second reboot. Then when we have more robots competing we'll have 10 heats, 2 semi-finals, and a grand final. For the 10 way rumble, the winner from the first rumble from heat 1-5 would go to the second semi-final and the second winner of the rumble from heat 6-10 would go to the first semi-final to mix things up a bit. Also for side events, I would have FW battles to show that you don't need to start with HW. As for where to host the second reboot of Robot Wars? Maybe ITV or Channel 4 and if I remember right you don't need a TV license to their Iplayer.

[@adamh2900]

The thing that pissed me off the most is that the BBC cancelled the show just as it was getting good when it had successfully ironed out the flaws from the previous two series We could easily have had another two or three series at least before 2020 would have put an obvious end to it Robots I would remove from Series 9: Rusty, Trolley Rage, Ms Nightshade, High 5, Frostbite, Wyrm, Heavy Metal, Mr Speed Squared, Chimera 2, Foxic Robots I would remove from Series 8: Bonk, The General, Chimera, Disconstructor, Mr Speed Squared, Overdozer, Sweeney Todd, Terror Turtle, Crazy Coupe 88, Chompalot

[@KiyokaMakibi]

IMO there was still a flaw that needed addressing; bar spinners. They were far too powerful, and it became predictable who’d end up in the finals. If the series ever came back these weapons need restrictions.

[@Living_Murphys_Law]

Favorite RW reboot bot? Answer in replies, I'm curious as to people's thoughts. As for mine, it's Cherub from series 9.

[@darklife5091]

I wish Robot Wars just did what BattleBots is doing with the random matches, best of 3/4 format. And for actual merchandise....

[@KimFareseed]

5 years ago... ouch...

[@ItsWaterContainer]

I got mech+