Robot Wars Series 5 Semi Final A

[@sterlingholobyte]

Shunt "hates everything that moves." I think Shunt hates everything that doesn't move as well.

[@TomHenksYT]

That fight between Chaos 2 and Wild Thing was epic, it had all the qualities you'd normally want in a series final. However... (not spoiling anything for those who haven't finished watching)

[@duxwontobey4887]

Wild Thing vs Chaos 2 might be one of the best fights in robot fighting history.

[@InfinityRektic]

i wouldnt say its amazing per say, but iconic af with those near pits

[@alexthehunted]

in my opinion the best epiosde of robot wars ever

[@brainspider]

Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing is one of the best battles of all time, if not the best.

[@BenMcKenn]

@@brainspider Bigger Brother vs Hypno Disc tho

[@brainspider]

@@BenMcKenn that was another excellent battle. One of my favourites as well.

[@captinkilljoy961]

chaos 2 deserves a lot of respect going so far (at least in British wars) without being defeated

[@johndasalty111]

I'd say that Stinger defeated it but the judges are biased :/

[@fellowinternetstranger8700]

@@johndasalty111 i disagree. Chaos 2 winning Is the right outcome

[@ryanodonovan9497]

@@johndasalty111 No, they weren't biased. I found it strange that they said Chaos 2 and Stinger were equal on damage when no one could see any damage to the latter whatsoever, but they got it right that Chaos 2 was better on control. And they also should've given it the edge on aggression since it was doing all the driving around to make the attacks whereas Stinger was mostly waiting on the spot lazily to spin around. Whilst damage is the most important in the scoring criteria, which Stinger clearly did better at (and that's unless the judges found something we never knew about) Chaos 2 was better at two other criteria.

[@davidkerr7350]

@johndasalty1115 No I rewatched battle and I think Stinger only won damaged everything else goes to Chaos 2.

[@TheRoboteer]

Here we are. The single best episode of Robot Wars ever produced in my humble opinion. An unbelievable lineup of bots for this episode in terms of sheer quality of bot. S3 vs Bigger Brother. Short but frantic this one. S3's narrow field of attack compared to its very wide footprint was always its main drawback, and Bigger Brother exploited it here. Almost got it out of the arena twice, S3 smashed the wall, and then down the pit it went. Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing. And here we have it. What is, in my opinion, the single best fight in Robot Wars history. Two fantastic robots with brilliant drivers and amazing pedigree, and look what the result is. An incredibly tense, close fight that lasted the full 5 minutes, with not a second of that 5 minutes being dull. Chaos 2's early domination had me worried as a Wild Thing fan. George very nearly had Wild Thing out of the arena a couple of times. Wild Thing, as always though, got stronger as the fight went on. That first time they almost pitted Chaos 2 had me on the edge of my seat the first time I saw it, and I still get tense today. Unbelievable that they held on. You can see George Francis in the control pod giving it his absolute all and who can blame him. By this point Chaos 2's flipper has clearly run down on power, and Wild Thing was definitely exploiting that. Then comes the second push, and somehow it was even more unbelievable than the first. I have absolutely no idea how Chaos 2 managed to stay out there. It looked like it was either Wild Thing's lifting arm pinning it and just preventing it from going in. Either that or Chaos 2 can literally defy gravity and we just don't know about it. I know it's a cliche, but I certainly would NOT have wanted to be the judges for that one. Whichever bot you put out is getting absolutely robbed pretty much. Razer vs Spawn Again. There was only one way this could really go. Spawn Again was easily the weakest of the bots in this semi final (Which is, admittedly, saying something) and is incredibly bulky which gives Razer lots of places to grab onto. Not that it mattered since SA was mostly dead after the first slam. Probably the only fight in this episode where a robot was truly dominant (Which is exactly what you want to see. One bot wiping the floor with everything else is no fun whatsoever) Losers Melee. Oh god, two of my all time favourite bots facing each other. It;s basically the unstoppable force of S3 vs the immovable object of Wild Thing. Oh, and Spawn Again is also there. S3 clearly has the standout weapon of this bunch, but Wild Thing's weapon was never really the flywheel or the lifter. It's weapon was it's wedge shape, its immense drive power, fantastic driver, and ridiculous resilience. S3 goes straight for Wild Thing and understandably so since Wild Thing only gets stronger as a fight goes on so taking it out early is your best bet. Superficial (Though severe superficial) damage inflicted by that lethal vertical disc (On a sidenote, I miss the days when superficial damage was a thing. Now you're either trashed, or in full working order). I know I'm dismissive of Spawn Again, but lets be honest it was basically just an obstacle for the other two in this fight. I love how you can literally see Wild Thing's aggression building as the fight goes on. Right about the point where SA died was the point where Wild Thing started to find its groove. That wasn't enough to stop a few more colossal hits from S3 though. After the hit which damaged Wild Thing's wheel though S3 was very much on the back foot, which, as is Wild Thing's speciality, makes the judges decision basically impossible to call. In any other fight both bots would easily have done enough to go through. And now for the passing of the baton. Bigger Brother vs Chaos 2. I swear there was something wrong with the Series 5 version of Chaos 2 after George put the new rams for the flipper in. The gas system seemed to leak CO2 like a sieve. If you'd have put the Series 4 version of Chaos 2 in there with Bigger Brother I'm convinced it would have won by virtue of being able to flip for longer (Even if it had less absolute power). Chaos 2 is basically a reverse Wild Thing in that it opens strongly and then tails off towards the end of the fight and there's no better demonstration of that than this fight. If you showed the opening 30 seconds of the match to someone who'd never seen Robot Wars before they'd think Chaos 2 would absolutely curbstomp Bigger Brother, but BB just had more staying power and C2 paid the price. I love S3, but it's just about the worst design to face Razer due to how incredibly wide it is. Part of me does wish that Wild Thing had gone through so we could see them give Razer a real run for its money. Nonetheless a very cagey, tactical battle to begin with this one. Razer wisely avoiding the spinning disc, because one wit would almost certainly have turned them into paste, and then timing their attack very well to get hold of S3 without touching the disc. I must commend the Razer team's driving there because it was a brilliantly timed attack. Sadly my praise for the Razer team must end there as yet again they abuse the lack of enforcement (Or, depending who you ask, lack entirely) of a 10/30 second pinning rule. Razer held on to S3 for OVER A MINUTE (Grabbed hold at 37:23 and finally dropped it, which was only due to Shunt hitting it, at 38:24). By this point of course the fight is well and truly over as S3's disc got burnt out. Nonetheless, my opinion of this episode as the best of all time remains unchanged. Some truly amazing fights in there. That said, the next two episodes are very nearly as good as this one, hell, they may even be better depending who you sake. Good god series 5 was a good series. I knew it was my favourite bu this reupload has confirmed and reinforced that 1000 times over

[@ToaArcan]

I don't think Razer *could* let go. They had the claw as open as it could be without the tail being on the floor, were driving around the arena, and gravity wasn't enough to pull S3 off.

[@killdozer7792]

Yeah, also think it was a case of Razer simply being unable to release S3 from its grip, rather than deliberately holding it there. Honestly, I'm surprised a robot getting stuck on its claw never once adversely affected its performance. I mean, yeah, technically, Tornado a series later, but it wasn't the claw that got stuck.

[@lampini]

ya know in all honesty I never really thought about what the best episode of robot wars of all time was but I tell you this one is a contender. You made some great points and all these fights had their moments of greatness.

[@datguy8805]

TheRoboteer yknow ive wondered if the chaos 2 guys did anything later. I should check.

[@anduril38]

I'm sure in the UK the pinning rule was 60 seconds. But I could be wrong. It was quite sketchy.

[@woollster00]

Nothing but love for bigger brother , it was good to watch them progress from useless flail to champion destroying flipper

[@StFidjnr]

chaos 2 vs wild thing IMO was closer than the judges indicated

[@Lysimachus]

Chaos 2's narrowly avoiding the pit twice probably gave them huge style+control bonuses in the judge decisions.

[@brainspider]

@@Lysimachus indeed, that would have earned them some serious points for control and style.

[@Wrathchild1995]

Wild Thing should've won that fight, technically Chaos 2 was in the pit. Doesn't matter if they drove out.

[@TheLegacyofHitchcock]

@Wrathchild1995 Chaos 2 wasn’t pitted on either occasion; in the first only its rear casters went over the gap, in the second it was perched on the edge but fell back onto the arena floor when Wild Thing reversed. The rules state that if all of a robots’ wheels/legs are suspended over the pit without being pinned by the opponent, then it is classed as being pitted. That never applied to Chaos 2 in the Wild Thing fight. Being fully submerged in the pit is one thing, but we’ve seen robots like King B get their wheels caught on the pit, yet manage to gain enough purchase on the floor to escape.

[@cr10001]

Well that was superb control by Bigger Brother to place S3 in the pit so quickly. Although they did nearly fall in twice themselves :) Wild Thing face a tough fight, drawn against Chaos 2 (but at least they're spared the horror of Razer). And what a classic flipper battle that was! Chaos somehow managed to claw itself back out of the pit TWICE. This has to be a contender for the top battle of the series. George Francis rated it the most exciting fight he'd been in. I think Spawn Again drew the short straw - Razer is probably the worst opponent they could have faced. And so it proved. The Loser's Melee - had Spawn Again managed to repair all the damage? Well it was a genuine three-sided battle, Spawn Again broke first, Wild Thing was more aggressive but suffered a lot of body damage from S3's flywheel, apparently without inhibiting its mobility. I definitely had Wild Thing down as the winner but the judges went for S3. So then (this semi-final is very oddly structured) S3 get to face Razer. But first we have Bigger Brother vs Chaos 2 - another flipper duel. And a good battle it was, but a definite victory to a massively improved Bigger Brother. S3 vs Razer - all went Razer's way, the S3 shape that was so hard for flippers to control was easy for Razer to bite.

[@esunsalmista]

George Francis had always been a bit too willing to use the flipper rather than picking his moments. This was bound to happen. Greatest run ever though. (I actually haven’t watched past series 6 so I don’t know for sure but I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised).

[@benconway9010]

Watch the new series mate it's good

[@leefisher6366]

Phillipa's comment at 23:00 took a bit of thinking about. Of course you're the third flipper, Phlippa!

[@brainspider]

LOL! Well, technically Wild Thing's lifting arm is more of a self righter there, but yeah, Philippa should be on their team as a honourable flipper ;)

[@SophieCrane-o7v]

10:26 The Absolute BEST Battle in Robot Wars history Begins!🤩

[@timthememer2785]

I swear the Bigger Brother team on paper should be so annoying but in reality they were always one of the most sweet teams in Robot Wars.

[@Giratina70]

Nah they are actually annoying, more so the kids - couldn't stand them. The father was pretty cool though.

[@chompette_]

Ian Watts was a lecturer at the University of Brighton when I did my mech engineering degree, he was very cool. We had a fun project where we'd collab with the electrical engineers to make fighting robots. Bigger Brother featured as the house robot in the final melee and would go around flipping the immobile robots for the crowd! (The CO2 level was greatly reduced to avoid it sending anything into the crowd though!)

[@InfinityRektic]

@@chompette_luckyy

[@finleyjennings6051]

​@@chompette_ Did many people know what bigger brother was?

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

10:10 This has to be the second-most exciting fight in the 5th Wars

[@brainspider]

One of the best fights of all time, if not the best.

[@burzaburza2970]

O M G Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing is best battle EVER! They should kick houserobots off the arena, they were just disturbing. And imagine Wild Thing having a flipper...

[@StanleyV64]

Am I right in saying that Bigger Brother is the same team as series 10 Swarm? And battle bots Four Horesmen?

[@Jreves15]

you are right, it's the same team

[@finleyjennings6051]

The driver is the same. I don't think Ellie and Joe appear after the seventh wars.

[@dspencer8827]

Were in the grand final i cant believe it .neither can we 😲....runs in to razer 😲😲

[@Votesaxon07Reviews]

Cant wait for MystrSykos review of this... in a year's time.

[@theragepig7636]

It will probably be even more than that lol, given he has to get through all of the series 4 specials, Robot Wars Extreme, AND all series 5 heats first...

[@Votesaxon07Reviews]

Joshua Hilton Haha I know. Plenty of Robot fighty madness still to get through!

[@JPSN1P3RZ]

VS07 Reviews Ill be waiting in my elders home when it does

[@alexthehunted]

yes work it out so we got to wait 2 weeks for him the finish the main part of series 4 5 weeks for all the specials 15 weeks for all of extreme 1 and 12 weeks for all series 5 heats so thats 9 and half months

[@killdozer7792]

17 weeks for Extreme 1, actually. There's the two special episodes as well.

[@burzaburza2970]

Everobody's talking about Razer crushing power, but come on their DRIVER is amazing~!

[@smallwaves]

32:28 The torch has been passed

[@Jovian999]

Wild Thing on the unlucky end of a couple of close decisions. I feel their tenacity should count for more.

[@adrianyoungs8166]

nah they were lucky to get to the semis, prizephita clearly won that fight.

[@Frosty_tha_Snowman]

Dream house robot rebellion: Razer, Hypnodisc, and Wheelie Big Cheese, vs Dead Metal, Matilda, and Sir Killalot

[@tyreesetjjoyner1995]

S3 vs Bigger Brother, Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing and The Losers Melee Wild Thing vs Spawn Again vs S3 are on the top 15 battles of series 5 of Robot wars.

[@ufoash1066]

The house robots in this semi-final seem a bit biased in favour of the higher seeds. Whenever both robots in a fight ended up in the CPZ's, they'd always hit the lower seed. Happens loads of times in Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing, and also in Razor vs S3. Probably some behind-the-scenes nudging from the BBC there

[@burzaburza2970]

Actually it's because Chaos and Razer were pushing opps into CPZ

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

It wouldn't have been from the BBC - more likely it would've been from Mentorn.

[@esunsalmista]

The rules are to attack whoever is pushed into the zone. I don’t think this episode is a great example of the bias, but the grand final episode is. Fire storm pushed Razer into the CPZ several times and the house robots just kind of moved it around or worse, did nothing. Because Razer is everyone’s favorite. It’s embarrassing and why I’m glad BattleBots ultimately turned out to be the surviving series. This is always what made Robot Wars kind of ridiculous, any chance to push a narrative, they took it.

[@benconway9010]

@@esunsalmista what series was that??

[@briankoops5171]

Ever notice how George Francis looks like an old man , and a toddler ,at the same time? lol

[@rhysjones8506]

and a woman...

[@forzatoby]

Brian Koops and sounds like a man, woman and toddler at the same time?

[@davidetralli3905]

I saw a picture of him recently and he aged BADLY

[@davidetralli3905]

@obi wan Just Google ''George Francis robot wars now". He looks like 65

[@brainspider]

@@davidetralli3905 WOW! he has aged badly!

[@jamesmitchell8922]

The king is dead! Long live the king!

[@benconway9010]

Do you have the very first series when Jeremy Clarkson presented it??

[@njgw1465]

It hasn't been rebroadcast in good quality, so no, but full episodes of it are available

[@Headbanger142]

Razer could handle S3 but it couldn't handle diet S3 aka Kill-E-Crankie lol

[@ForwardSynthesis]

Well, it could handle it. The problem was the unhandling part!

[@achmed45662]

Forward Synthesis it had an addiction. It could quit any time

[@2506JJhudson1990]

Probably didn’t want to face Carbide. Would’ve been a shame if one of the greatest ever robots got taken out of the arena in bin bags.

[@carribob1992]

In hindsight, Razer falling into the pit was probs for the best. Be like watching John Cena Vs Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014.

[@ryanodonovan9497]

Big difference - 15 years had passed and the hardness of robots' armour had increased a lot. Honestly, Razer shouldn't have returned after it initially retired when it wasn't truly up to the standards of the modern competition anymore.

[@MaasdfgcQwerty]

Chaos 2 was at the zenith of their power, but here marks their sharp decline.

[@burzaburza2970]

Let's watch. I think first pairs are easy to predict: Chaos, Razer and S3. Edit: Ok i failed.

[@madcowlive1081]

mercy death, hit the pit release and wait for death.

[@Cykelpump33]

Razer might have the larger fanbase, but Chaos 2 has honestly the bigger legacy. No robot went undefeated for so long during the UK Wars. Not to mention Razer struggled alot in their earlier years. Especially Season 3 & 4 when they had the most powerful robot but lost due being ignorant and cocky. If Razer's roboteers didn't had such a big ego, they could have easily won more UK championships.

[@rudierasmus8162]

wild thing vs chaos wow

[@joeandrews7329]

Bigger brother won the minor meltdown episode in extreme 2 of robot wars. From Joe. X

[@joeandrews7329]

It was 2nd in series 5. From Joe. X

[@dspencer8827]

Im suprised chaos2 didnt go into a loser melee

[@mtvta1981]

After all these years I still think that Wild things won, not S3.

[@reyzorisk2783]

I know Bigger brother spoiled us fans from seeing Hypnodisc vs Razer but still Bigger Brother is one of my favs of all time after this series. The driver Ian is such a darn good driver (aside from season 7 Lol)

[@quenzmo]

"frantically wiggling the sticks"

[@jamesmitchell8922]

Matilda is absent

[@Dvonbringsdaknowledge]

5:30

[@AbdullahAbdullah-ng9wh]

Zaid

[@johnn278]

I always fancied Isabelle Adams

[@johnn278]

SPEC Yea lovely glare in her eyes. Most likely yes, the kids from Bigger brother aswell possibly now. Madness.

[@benconway9010]

Who's Isabelle Adams??

[@johnn278]

@@benconway9010 She's the daughter on the wild thing team

[@benconway9010]

@@johnn278 oh

[@briankoops5171]

rhyse Jones....lol....ya..I can see him in a cute frock with a pearl necklace...both kinds..lol no hate...just an observation.

[@mummygiraffepresentsclassi8722]

Fuckin brillyboos stuff that week 😊😊

[@MrGriser]

I think the judges decision was wrong Wild Thing should have won not Chaos 2.

[@rudierasmus8162]

wild thing vs chaos wow