Robot Wars Series 5 Semi-Final B

Competing machines:
Pussycat, Panic Attack, Firestorm 3, Hypno-Disc, Dominator 2, Wheely Big Cheese

[@Dead25m]

40:52, haha, the guy in the middle on Pussycats team thought they'd won it after Craig said "The number 2 seed". Big oof

[@Biadaz]

Who was the number 2 ?

[@brainspider]

@@Biadaz Pussycat.

[@samuelgiles7571]

This episode marks the final ever appearance of Wheely Big Cheese on Robot Wars. The reason it didn't appear after Series 5 was due to a lack of funds to keep it in fully functioning condition.

[@lafeelabriel]

The end of a era really, as the Cheese had been there from the start in it's various forms.

[@Weird.Dreams]

10 years later, the builder Roger Plant became a homeless hermit living in a field.

[@killdozer7792]

Dominator 2 really should have been counted out. It was clear that Hypno-Disc was waiting for Dominator to be counted out.

[@xtheamazingax]

Agreed. Drive was gone on one side. You're not moving properly if you're only moving on one side...

[@tombardsley3081]

Dominator still had enough mobility to move across the arena . It wasn’t going in a circle the whole time

[@ryanodonovan9497]

What is it with people complaining at Hypno-Disc for not causing any further damage? The team didn't have to risk damaging themselves further prior to the Grand Final - they did enough to win and owed a spectacle to no one. It's Refbot that should've taken the blame for not doing his fucking job and counting Dominator 2 out as the latter was blatantly in circles and unable to fight on. If Refbot had done that, the battle wouldn't have played out full-length in boredom.

[@brainspider]

It has always been a controvertial decision. I was in the pub watching this when it first aired, loads of us were RB fans so would have it played n the TV there. When the battle ended there was a lot of booing and cussing at the screen. The RefBot had counted others out for the same or lossing some directional control before, should have been the same here.

[@Cream147player]

Yep, just count him out and let the house robots come in and do their thing for the audience. The fight was over the minute that Dominator 2 was unable to even move in the direction of Hypno Disc.

[@Cream147player]

The comments by the Dominator 2 team very odd too. "They didn't want to fight". You do realise you weren't driving your robot at them either right? Yes, that was because you couldn't, but then that's because you were already immobile!

[@ryanodonovan9497]

@@Cream147player _Odd_ comments? That's as much of an understatement as Team Hypno-Disc's justification they gave in the post-battle interviews for backing off after they'd done enough to win. Team Dominator, Craig and the judges came across like fucking idiots with their comments, and so did the audience with their booing. As you pointed out, it was arse-backwards of Team Dominator to belittle Team Hypno-Disc for not fighting on when they'd obviously already beaten them. And how did Craig and the officials not see this? When an unqualified person for this competition like me can see the truth so clearly yet the professionals can't, that's embarrassing. And why didn't Team Hypno-Disc point any of these facts out? They were way too nice. Also, "the most boring fight in the history of Robot Wars"? Yeah, "judges". REALLY more boring than the Reserve Rumble from The Grudge Matches in Series 2 where only three out of five competing robots even worked, barely touched each other, and was only won by a sole survivor for literally no reason other than not breaking down like all the others did (making it no surprise whatsoever that none of these combatants were selected for the UK Championship)! How the fuck does that happen when there are FIVE robots facing off in free-for-all? People really struggle at times to get it into their heads that the competition aspect takes moral priority over the entertainment aspect. It's not a professional wrestling show (no matter how much the producers tried to make it resemble such), it's a real-life combat competition where you have to earn victory. Hypno-Disc did that and didn't need to do anything else.

[@BambiTrout]

Also, as someone pointed out in another comment thread, I can't imagine Hypno-Disc were too keen to risk getting hit by the axe when they had already won the fight. Shunt's axe hitting the disc in S4 literally caused the robot to rip itself to shreds internally because of the massive kinetic energy built up in the disc. Normally the energy would be dissipated into the other robots, or would cause Hypno-Disc to ricochet across the arena floor, but because they were pinned, all of that energy went directly into the robot itself in a fraction of a second. The disc, the gears, the flywheel shaft, and the drive system were all completely wrecked by that single impact, so I can imagine they were EXTREMELY wary of going near D2's axe any more than absolutely necessary.

[@dru4111]

Dominator was THROWN probably 12 feet in the air by Wheely Big Cheese….bounces down….self-rights near instantly and Rams right into WBC….what a Machine

[@TheRoboteer]

Not long left for Series 5 now and here we are at the second semi final, and what a lineup of bots. All of them absolutely iconic. Wheely Big Cheese vs Dominator 2. This one was a battle of two halves really. Coming into this fight it was clear in the heats that WBC was on its absolute A game in series 5, while Dominator 2 seemed a bit weaker in S5 compared to its storming performance in S4, and the opening of the match seemed to confirm that. That first flip from WBC was absolutely COLOSSAL, and again makes me question if the rumours of them running illegally high pressures, or running notrogen instead of CO2 are true. D2 has always been a resilient machine though and even a flip like that won't be enough to kill it. D2's srimech always impresses me with just how quick it can get the bot back on its feet despite the bizarre shape, and thank god it has a good srimech too when its in there with the single most powerful flipper that RW had seen up to this point. That said, I'm sure even the D2 team were worried when they, by some miracle landed point-first onto the arena floor after that second flip. Fortunately they managed to recover though and then WBC's lack of manoeuvrability led to its downfall. The gargantuan size of WBC, combined with its lack of mobility made it an easy target fro D2 to rain blows down on, and though they didn't penetrate the tough titanium shell off WBC, the internal damage must have mounted up because it was all over from that point on. A good, back and forth fight with not a dull moment. Just what you want to see from RW, especially at this stage. Hypno Disc vs Firestorm. As a colossal Firestorm fanboy this fight makes me cringe watching it. Oh the things that could have been... A sad failure of the removable link for Firestorm but I'm a firm believer that they're an absolute necessity and even this fight can't change that. Not much to say really so I'll move on. Panic Attack vs Pussycat. Pussycat had a lot to live up to in this fight given its performance last series, and Panic Attack's truly dominant performance in its heat (While PC scraped through by the skin of its teeth) and fortunately (Especially given David Gribble's tragic and untimely death later) it managed to do itself proud here. PA just didn't really have an answer to PC's awkward shape, just like with Stinger in the last series, and PC was able to take advantage and inflict some damage to them. Panic Attack did seem a bit sluggish in this fight, I'm not sure if that was because of an initial slam from PC, Damage from Extreme (Their motor magnets got shattered in an annihilator), or something else entirely. Either way PC was able to put in a good showing against the former champ here. A deserved victory for Pussycat here over a somewhat disappointing Panic Attack. Losers Melee. "The three yellow perils" as Phillipa described them. Firestorm's knack for lightning fast, hyper aggressive starts immediately put this battle under their control really. Both the other bots here were rather sluggish, most likely as a result of prior damage while Firestorm was zipping around at its usual speed, and Graham Bone took full advantage of that speed difference by bullying WBC right from the start. Honestly rather sad to see PA barely mobile in this fight given its amazing pedigree and rivalry with Firestorm. Would have been nice to see them both on top form battling each other again like they did in S3. The aggression of Firestorm was too much for the always-temperamental WBC, but they couldn't quite kill the ailing PA who actually managed to begin a Wild Thing-esque comeback at the end of that fight, but unfortunately for Kim Davies it was too little too late. Hypno Disc vs Dominator 2. Ah, another ever-controversial fight. I do have to sympathise with the Hypno Disc team's unwillingness to put themselves in harm's way of that axe given the catastrophic damage caused to them by Shunt the series prior, but at the end of the day this is a spectator sport and one robot avoiding a barely mobile opponent doesn't make for good TV. I do have to admire the resilience of D2's armour here given that Hypno had trounced basically everything it faced up to this point, a few small gashes (And presumably some large internal damage, admittedly) were all it could manage on D2. Rewatching this fight again does make me wonder though why Dominator 2 wasn't counted out given that it was clearly only capable of driving in circles, though I'm not 100% sure if the 1 wheel immobility rule had been introduced by S5 (It definitely was by S6, perhaps as a result of this fight). Either way a slightly crap fight (Though nowhere near as crap as many before or since that don't get nearly the same level of hate as this one) puts HD through after a very very easy semi final for them. Firestorm vs Pussycat. I love this fight. Firestorm after a horrendously rocky road through the semis comes out after a series of bodged repairs and absolutely beats the living tar out of the prior series' runner up. The 5mm Aluminium (And added duct tape :D) armour of Firestorm was surprisingly resilient to PC's blade which to this point hadn't really had trouble cutting through anything, and in a battle between two of the most aggressive drivers in RW history Firestorm's wedge shape and front hinge flipper made the difference by allowing it to control the fight (Which is a horrendously underrated advantage of low pressure flippers in general, but particularly of the front-hinge variety). A good, fast paced battle and a truly sad end to David Gribble's robot wars career. A bittersweet fight in general for me as a fan of both machines and considering the tragedy that would befall the Gribble family soon after. I still rate the first semi final slightly higher than this one (The HD vs D2 fight being good would likely have pushed this one higher), though both of them, plus the next episode would sit comfortably in my top 10 RW episodes of all time. Another truly great episode with a brilliant bot lineup and some fantastic fights.

[@JPSN1P3RZ]

TheRoboteer In regards to HD vs D2. Considering after ST vs WBC in s4 I think it was fair game and personally D2 should have been counted out.

[@MrGriser]

I think Pussycat should have gone through not Firestorm I mean if they was no time limit Pussycat would have won because it was on the offensive at the end and would have knocked out Firestorms link.

[@JPSN1P3RZ]

But for most of the duration of the fight, Firestorm controlled the battle. Time limits exist, to prevent it from going on forever.

[@MrGriser]

i think Pussycat would have won if they made it last that bit longer I would have loved to have seen it face Bigger Brother and Hypno Disc to face Razer.

[@JPSN1P3RZ]

Eh, I think Firestorm deserved the win, pussycat was only on top for the last 20/15 seconds

[@jasongreen7652]

Why was Dominator not counted out? I thought Hypno kept back to allow that to take place and so as not to cause damage beyond the minimum required to immobilise them.

[@HotRodRacer463]

What Kim Davis really should have done after series 5 was update Panic Attack into a more powerful flipper robot to help regain it's competitive edge. None the less still a very popular team and one of the first Robots I ever saw on Robot Wars back in series 2.

[@cr10001]

Now that's six *really* good robots! Every one a potential winner. Wheely Big Cheese was spectacular launching Dominator 2 - until WBC broke down. Dominator 2 was impressive in surviving its involuntary flights without breaking. Firestorm vs Hypno-disc - one of those is going to get wrecked, I'd hate to say which. Depends if Firestorm can get under Hypno-disc quick enough. But Firestorm immediately broke down. Flippers not having much luck so far. Panic Attack vs Pussycat - two unique robots. Not sure if PA will be able to control the bouncy Pussycat, but it's fairly well armoured against Pussycat's blade, I think. But not well enough, and the Cat was much the more aggressive, helped by being faster and PA having control problems. So then we have a lifter and two flippers in the melee. Lots of yellow in the arena and the control rooms. Started with a tight three-bot tussle, then all three seemed to be showing signs of fatigue, WBC broke down first, PA and Firestorm grappled for a while and swapped the ascendancy - either could have won. Overall, I think the judges were right to give the win to Firestorm. Dominator vs Hypnodisc - I half-thought the axe would wreck the disc but it didn't happen, instead Hypnodisc proved easily capable of ripping through Dominator's nitride-coated titanium (or whatever it is) and quite rightly forbore to attack further - why would they? when they had inflicted good damage, no damage to themselves, they were still fully working, and Dominator was virtually immobile and unable to attack them. I absolutely agree with Hypno-disc's tactics there. Why should they risk damage (and do further unnecessary damage to Dominator) for nothing? I don't give a sh*t what the crowd or the producers wanted. Firestorm vs Pussycat - Firestorm faces virtually the same problem Panic Attack did, how to get a grip on the rapid bouncy Cat. But Firestorm is fast around the arena too and won the ding-dong battle on points.

[@burzaburza2970]

Dominator's weapon is strange... it's never making any holes, but somehow it's really a disaster for other robot's electronics xD

[@tombardsley3081]

It did to some robots plus was useful to grab onto a robot to pin them or drive them into a CPZ

[@BluThundr]

Honestly, i'm still sad Dominator 2 never fully made it to the finals, woulda been something to see, but at least Firestorm made through in probably one of my favourite battles of all time vs Pussycat.

[@burzaburza2970]

Im surprised how well the Firestorm did, even without their full power

[@dru4111]

Before Carbide’s Death Hum, we had Hypnodisc’s Screech of Death. God it sounds terrifying.

[@InfinityRektic]

Typhoon 2s was the scariest of all time

[@quenzmo]

23:21 imagine your hands there

[@burzaburza2970]

or cawk

[@xtremegaming1837]

@@burzaburza2970 dirty minded I see 🤣

[@cdname47]

What a shame Panic Attack was in juddery mode in its first fight here, I firmly believe it could've got Pussycat beached on top of it and marched it around wherever it wanted Lucky series for Pussycat really, the first robot it faced that was actually at full strength, it lost to. A front hinged flipper, of all things, the one design it should've been immune to.

[@ryanodonovan9497]

What I would've done if I was driving Panic Attack is just open up the pit and try to barge Pussycat in. Why didn't Kim Davies just do that? He must have seen that Pussycat would easily outmatch him in inflicting damaging, and that it would be difficult to get a firm hold of with it able to run both ways up and wriggle clear of a firm hold, just like when facing Stinger in Series 4. Talking of the latter, I don't get why the pit wasn't opened there either.

[@alicannonfodderfun8596]

Well if the robot was just jittering you wouldn’t have done better.

[@TheGood888]

Very rare to see Firestorm be counted out and be thrown by the floor flipper. If I remember correctly, with the exception of the Series 4 Tag Team Terror Final, Firestorm's losses came by being pitted, losing a Judges' decisions or being thrown out of the arena.

[@forzatoby]

Minardi's PIF Show when was Firestorm thrown out of the Arena? It got pitted by Storm 2, and it lost to Dominator 2 on a Judges Decision but I don't ever remember it being tossed out of the arena?

[@forzatoby]

Minardi's PIF Show when was Firestorm thrown out of the Arena? It got pitted by Storm 2, and it lost to Dominator 2 on a Judges Decision but I don't ever remember it being tossed out of the arena?

[@forzatoby]

Minardi's PIF Show when was Firestorm thrown out of the Arena? It got pitted by Storm 2, and it lost to Dominator 2 on a Judges Decision but I don't ever remember it being tossed out of the arena?

[@TheGood888]

You need to watch the Series 3 Grand Final then.

[@forzatoby]

Minardi's PIF Show oh yeah... I was thinking Series 4 on, forgot about Chaos 2 tossing it out of the Arena

[@Mezame9]

Was she about to say cocaine? 28:33

[@erikhopper2545]

yup

[@brainspider]

PLasma Cocaine Coating would have made things in the pits very interesting.

[@cdname47]

She meant....what do you call them...? RAISINS

[@Frosty_tha_Snowman]

Was watching Pussycat vs Panic Attack and accidentally coined the term "Pussy Attack" when trying to talk about them... so there's that

[@treasurekings5631]

the music in the background sounds a lot like Metallica Enter Sandman.

[@smallwaves]

4:22 You still don't see that many bots throw opponents around like WBC. Dominator went completely out of frame. Also, how wild would it have been if Pussycat made it to Grands? It honestly would've had a very good shoot given the line-up: All robots and weapons it has historically done well against.

[@HJCofficial]

i love at 15:18 kims son is wearing a team raptor hat from the ghost raptor team

[@madcowlive1081]

how disappointing, i really want to see wheely big cheese flip more

[@cdname47]

12:07 Fly-restorm ;)

[@tyreesetjjoyner1995]

WHAT THE HELL? Dominator 2 and Wheely Big Cheese didn't press the pit release button. The pit descends down by itself.

[@brainspider]

It;s not the only times that has happened. The actual control was somewhere else, the tire is purely symbolic. I am guessing the controller sometimes got a bit trigger happy.

[@BambiTrout]

It could be an issue of editing too. All the battles lasted 5 minutes unless a robot got immobilised sooner, but we often only see 2 or 3 minutes of this because the producers edit out any of the more boring moments, or in the event of a tight decision they will sometimes edit it to make the winner look more justified by removing or reframing some of the moments where they were struggling.

[@WedThursday]

Wheely Big Cheese did slightly tap the tyre at 4:11, it just took the pit a while to descend

[@AnvilAL94]

35:42 Oh the fucking irony of this statement would ultimately backfire for Hypno-Disc.............hard.

[@charlie.hubbard5463]

ajwHull123 To be fair they didn't hold back, they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time

[@xtremegaming1837]

27:29 that face…….. 🤣😂

[@paultaylor4061]

Plasma cocaine rofl

[@burzaburza2970]

My predictions before watching: WBC, Hypno Disc, Pussycat and from losers bracket Dominator 2 (surely not Firestorm after facing HypnoDisc)

[@StFidjnr]

41:20 pussycat showed why they are the nominees for the sportsmanship award

[@jamesmitchell8922]

Poor WBC

[@Dreska_]

90mph in 2 seconds... Sure

[@cr10001]

He's talking about the tip speed of the disc, not the robot's speed across the floor.

[@madcowlive1081]

dominator couldnt move, lol

[@smegmalasagna]

They need to make a Fidget Spinner robot

[@ryanodonovan9497]

Agreed. It'd be good for an autistic charity's cause, like how Panic Attack originally competed for a charity (I've never known which it was).

[@JPSN1P3RZ]

jeff

[@StFidjnr]

19:28 it is unanimous

[@burzaburza2970]

Real..y 39:40 Shunt GTFO omg its so annoying

[@smegmalasagna]

21:38 cringe