The History of Chaos 2 (Robot Wars Retrospective)

[@KahnuevsKrake]

Chaos 2 was my favourite when everyone else loved Hypnodisc and Razer at the time. I have fond memories of being so excited over the wins in series 3 and 4. I remember the Chaos 2 website and in series 5 they rebuilt the flipper, upgraded the rams and rearranged the innards to accommodate a bigger gas bottle. The only problem was they had to put smaller and inferior batteries in it because the rams were bigger, and they were much lighter, which had an adverse effect on the manouevrability, so they resorted to putting a lead weight on the batteries to restore the balance, and it still ended up only weighing in at 84KG. That's why they never took advantage of the remaining 16kg weight allowance they had, because there was basically nothing useful they could do with it. Chaos 2 was a very tightly designed and engineered robot, so there wasn't really much wiggle room for upgrades.

[@first-gen-gamer7030]

Finally someone else who loves chaos 2 as much as I do. What a machine I still have my framed poster when I was kid.

[@whatislife7363]

Chaos 2 costed so much less than all its competitors and I think that's often overlooked

[@AlfredTheGreatestEver]

One key event from the life of chaos 2 is the world championship fight against razer, when razer burst the CO2 canester, and George drove directly into the pit to avoid future cost of damage.

[@Raven9010th]

I was one of Chaos 2's biggest fans. I absolutely lost my sanity from excitement every time when it showed up.

[@jay-p9r6m]

He was from Ipswich. From Joe. X

[@dellzincht]

Chaos 2 was my favourite robot too, ironically I saw Dantomkia as it's successor the moment it entered Robot Wars, and always rooted for it. That said, them being flipped OOTA by Gravity was hilarious.

[@jay-p9r6m]

The new boy kayoed him!. From Joe. X

[@jellyboy123]

The BBC didn't provide him with any financial support. Just imagine the scenario: you create something, it gets destroyed on television, and you have to bear the cost of repairing it every week while the presenters make thousands you get nothing you and your robot is the star of the show. There's a story that emerged about George not being able to afford CO2 for Chaos 2 during its last fight with Razor, resulting in its demise. In his pre-fight interview, George appeared agitated because he lacked the funds to purchase a canister, which was uncharacteristic of his usually laid-back nature. George still possesses Chaos 2 but could never afford to have it repaired. A few photos of him are available online, showing him with gray hair but otherwise looking the same. He has deliberately kept himself away from the public eye. It's unfortunate to see the online abuse that George receives, which is perhaps the reason why he chooses not to engage with the public anymore. He played a significant role in making our childhoods a little brighter. However, when someone doesn't receive the financial support they deserve and is left feeling neglected, coupled with the relentless abuse from trolls, it becomes understandable why they prefer to retreat from the spotlight.

[@ThomasFisher-jr6bn]

Where did you find this story about George not being able to afford CO2 for Chaos 2 during its last fight with Razer?

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

If I recall, champions of Robot Wars always received some kind of cash prize, but some regulation or other at the BBC meant that they couldn't disclose said cash prize until the show moved to Channel 5. Infuriatingly, this still seems to be an issue with televised robot combat. Paul Ventimiglia, captain of the team behind 3-time BattleBots reboot champion robot Bite Force, has gone on record stating that the cash prize for winning the series is greatly outweighed by the cost to build, upgrade and/or rebuild competent heavyweight combat robots.

[@AMCspikly]

@@ThomasFisher-jr6bn While it's certainly true that nobody got rich by doing Robot Wars, this "story" is made up nonsense right from the start. Competitors didn't have to pay for CO2 refills during filming, they were provided for free. George also joined the RW technical team for Series 7, he wouldn't have done that if he was unhappy with the show.

[@magicalrobster]

If anyone's interested, the weight limit went up from 80kg to 100kg from S4 to s5 and George didn't have the money or the time to rebuild a chaos 3 until after series 6. The weight limit change was a problem for chaos 2 it was front wheel drive skid steering and perfectly balanced at 80kg. Any weight goerge tried to add For the new flipper caused it to become rear heavy and oversteer so it was stuck 17kg under the weight limit. In the end robot wars moved from amateur to professional and like his friend rex, he wasn't in it for that. It was one of my favourite robots too

[@jay-p9r6m]

You're correct sir!. From Joe. X

[@wimblewomble21]

I wonder what George is doing these days? Hopefully a successful career in engineering somewhere. Great memories of Chaos 2

[@Motorsport101]

You need to make more of these, immediately.

[@CookProductions1]

In the works as we speak ;)

[@JLvatron]

Yes, 1 on Bumblebot!

[@BellyLover06]

Chaos 2 also fell into the pit in the (2nd?) World Championships with Mastiff. Granted, it's not about the design and more of an accident. Still, it's a part of the history. I remember when TNN showed that late at night in 2001.

[@ToaArcan]

It really can't be stressed enough just how amazing Chaos 2 was, and what a quantum leap it was compared to its predecessor. Chaos, the original, was competent. It could've gone far if George had remembered the plastic semicircles that would've helped it roll over. But then the sequel changed _everything._ The sleek, black paintjob and that iconic text across the flipper panel, its fairly unique shape among flippers, and the speed and power behind its attacks were like nothing else we'd seen before. Many of the show's most iconic robots made their debut in Series 3, but with Razer still having its teething troubles, Hypno-Disc unable to drive and spin its weapon at the same time, Pussycat still using crappy tool blades for its weapons, and Fire Storm being far from up to standard, none of them seemed to compare. (Okay yeah, Razer mullered it in Worlds, but Worlds wasn't nearly as widely available as the rest of the show at that point) Series 4 saw all of those robots upgraded- Razer was as threatening as ever, Hypno-Disc had sorted its issues, Firestorm II ditched the spike and the belts in favour of a pure flipper, Pussycat had its iconic custom blade, and Dominator 2 now existed... and none of it mattered. Chaos 2 wasn't just a year ahead of everyone else, it was _two years_ ahead of them. Okay, yes, Pussycat did kinda eliminate everyone that had winning matchup against Chaos 2 for it, but that's how the tournament goes. You don't have to beat _everyone,_ you just have to beat the bracket you get drawn against. Even with the questionable upgrades that George was able to afford for the weight increase era, that inefficient flipper that vented gas like a motherfucker and flipped Chaos 2 itself as much as it flipped other bots, it was still a damn good machine. Reaching Round 2 of the Semis is no easy feat, and Wild Thing made them sweat for it like no other battle seen on the show to that point. Ironically, it was Chaos 2's weird shape that arguably saved them in the fight with Wild Thing, but would equally be its undoing against Bigger Brother. And BB was no slouch either, at that point. It's kinda fitting, in a way, that of the Big 3, it's the one with probably the weakest matchup against the other two that was the two-time champion.

[@CJC_RW]

Thanks so much for this great comment. There's a great video of Chaos 2 in a live show going up against M2, and while it lost the fight, it gave M2 a damn good run for its money. M2 was a good robot too! A robot that was definitely decent of its era, so the fact that a robot made in 1999 was able to go toe to toe with it shows how ahead chaos really was. That and I'm an absolute sucker for flippers. They're always gonna be my favourites. Hydra is my current fav in battlebots for goodness sake!

[@Weird.Dreams]

Stinger, Pussycat, and Wild Thing were all robbed by those fkin geriatric judges!

[@dspencer8827]

Chaos 2 was an amazing robot and still is today

[@Flawlesslaughter]

Chaos 2 was the goat, it still hurts to see them lose

[@jay-p9r6m]

To Dantomkia. From Joe. X

[@dspencer8827]

Chaos 2 an amazing robot well ahead of its time .with an excellent driver

[@jay-p9r6m]

George Francis was his full name. From Joe. X

[@Jimjamatic]

Really like this series, with great editing. Would love to see more of these in the future :)

[@DJAGER]

Легендарный робот, болел за него в детстве. И помню по сей день, мне 28 лет 🇷🇺

[@bennyfisher9157]

Chaos 2 couldn't self right in it's heat final battle against SMIDSY because it's flipper panel was damaged when the two robots first collided, which showed how weak Chaos 2's armor was by this point.

[@SC-qm4df]

Great video this! You deserve more subs!

[@adventuresofmika147]

The good old days , i miss them 🥹

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

I love chaos2 and team and i still love it

[@PeterBrookF1]

In all fairness, Chaos 2 dominated the melee in S6 and only lost the heat final because Shunt pushed it into the corner upside-down and not Dantomkia...otherwise it could've easily won

[@CJC_RW]

I think it's easy to think of a million different variations and probabilities with fights like these but imo I think DTK would win more often than Chaos would. And that's despite being the ultimate fanboy. That gas tank was suuuuper limiting.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

Chaos2 s. Strength. Became its own enemy in the end 2 rams = strong flipper .but drinks co2 . Biggerbrothers flipper snd dantomkia s. Flippers became just as powerful flippers and just as strong with 1 ram which makes the flippers much more co 2 efficient 👍

[@StrangerGamer10]

Chaos 2 wouldve won more titles and would probably have come back for the rebooted series had it got the financial support needed.

[@denistodeschini55]

CHAOS 2 LEGGENDARY ICONIC HALL OF FAMER❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@SagheerAlNajid1]

I loved chaos2

[@mariomanno1]

I know this is a 3 nearly 4 year old video but yeah Chaos 2 is a fantastic robot, I just wish we could've seen what else George Francis was capable of if he had the finances to actually pull it off (I believe it was a money issue that lead to Chaos 2 seeing no improvements at least.) That Dantomkia flip feels strangely personal compared to other arena flips simply because of the circumstances surrounding Chaos 2 at the time with it falling behind and starting a new series worse than it had ever done before. A special mention for using Saturday Sun at the end of the video too. Love me some Nick Drake and just wanted to say I appreciated its usage in this video.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

It does feel strangely personal .surrounding chaos2's curcumstances a little but there we are 👍

[@AJRMitchell]

Great video man

[@robertdavies9957]

No mention of razer crushing the shit out of it in the world championships? :)

[@CrazyHorseTheSiouxW4rrior]

lol that was one of the best fights ever and the hynodisc vs chaos 2 fight

[@ENKTDeeColon_and_randomnumbers]

Well it was more like Razer got the co2 bottle pierced and after that Chaos 2 surrendered, but yeah that was a lovely showcase or Razer's potential once things didn't go wrong

[@matthewruss]

Can you make one abojt how much team tornado complained when they lost

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

"RaZeR nEvEr LeT uS gO" - Andrew Marchant, David Gamble & Brian Moss, 2001

[@jellyboy123]

George was always a nice guy

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

Thats what i like about this team .they were never cockey or over confident or giving it mr big . As like george always said he just entered robot wars and the usual give it a go and see . He won series 3 he was happy he won series 4. .i dont think chaos2 had anything to prove . Even today years later the only robot to win tv uk series twice back to back . 👍

[@Leatherface123.]

5:29 Biohazard won back to back 1996 & 1997 for robot wars

[@BrodieGH]

The US Competitions and the UK series has a different linege. They were acknowledged a lot of times during the UK Competiton. But at no point did they say that Series 1 of Robot Wars a continuation of the early US version.

[@CJC_RW]

I like to think of the 1997 US RW competitions as part of the BattleBots timeline, since most of the bots that made their name in that competition became BattleBots favourites.

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

@@CJC_RW All of that because of the legal shenanigans between Marc Thorpe & Profile Records over who had legal ownership over the Robot Wars brand.

[@Leatherface123.]

It’d be cool if you did this with a lot of the classic bots from back in the day from both battlebots & robot wars

[@CJC_RW]

I'm actually working on a Hypno Disc video! This video got a huge chunk of views last year so I thought it would make sense to continue it

[@Leatherface123.]

@@CJC_RW could you do backlash or minion?

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

Hypnodisc yes please .anouther favorite of mine

[@jay-p9r6m]

After he was thrown over the fence by Dantomkia in series 6, Chaos 2 was tagged pretty badly by 13 black in the extreme 2 all stars round 1 second heat. He never fought in robot wars ever again after that!. From Joe. X

[@jay-p9r6m]

But was the series 3-4 king. From Joe. X

[@TheChazza246]

Please do a video on your hate for damtomkia! 😂 I would love to watch and hear why! 😂

[@lampini]

why do you hate dantonkia?

[@tdyerwestfield]

As with everything now, you can only succeed if you have lots of money. The robots on the remake in 2017 all costed a minimum of £12000. Carbide was £25000. Storm was upwards of £30000. Chaos 2 was £250, adjusted for inflation, that's just over £1000.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

All the uk champs are my favourites 👍

[@Mp5Drummer]

The thumbnail really says it all.

[@d.r.dproductions6519]

As a dantomkia fan he won fair and square

[@quenzmo]

Chaos 2 showed truly how ahead of the competition it was while later on showing how quickly the sport progressed.

[@TheHumbleFellow]

Chaos 2 was ahead of its time when it first entered the wars. But I feel like George Francis was a bit too complacent with its performance in series 3 and 4, so never really bothered making any improvements. And in series 5, where practically _every_ returning robot had improvements or modifications in some way, Chaos 2 ended up being a victim of power creep.

[@Mitjitsu]

That's because he didn't have the money to upgrade it when the weight limit went to 100kg.

[@bennyfisher9157]

Also, why do you hate Dantomkia?

[@JontysCorner]

More. Need more. When is there more? Now? No....Shit Ok maybe later but make sure there's more. (also Dantomkia? Wasn't a fan sure but interested to learn the hatred) Is there more yet?

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

My guess is it's something to do with the amount of fights Dantomkia would win via OOTA. Oddly enough, Mike Lambert revealed back in 2015 or thereabouts that one of his OOTAs (IIRC on Behemoth in the 3rd All-Stars championship of S7) was "suggested" by the showrunners. Makes you wonder how many other Dantomkia OOTAs post-S6 were set-up. Nevertheless, the consistency of the robot was frightening, and were it not for the rather fragile innards (how many fights did they suddenly lose because the safety link fell out or the batteries failed?) Dantomkia truly could've been the successor to Chaos 2 - a consistent force to be reckoned with that didn't go down the "make the flipper bigger" route of Spawn Again, Gravity, Wheely Big Cheese et al.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

Bigger brother and robots that beat chaos2 only did by luck only 👍

[@ishakehands]

Rapid's the modern Chaos 2 in design, even down to the clear sides. I look forward to hearing why you hate original Dantomkia.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

Me too

[@dspencer8827]

Why do you hate dantomkia so much ??

[@CJC_RW]

Since I'm probably not going to make any more RWHT's anytime soon, the answer is basically childhood pettiness. ie; DTK beating Chaos 2, getting more OOTA's than Chaos 2, breathlessly beating other favourites like Hypno Disc etc. Things that I've decided were enough to warrant its own video. Glad I didn't make it in the end cause it wasn't going to have much substance.

[@JohnSmith-lm4nn]

I appreciate your honesty 👍 I must admit when i seen chaos2 flipped out of the arena .at the i said something like oh f#$k me 🤭😲 i even remember that episode to this day .but over time .ive managed to accept it happened .but there we are 👍

[@stumorphet5722]

Hypnodisk for the win! (Wait they never won anything- childhood me sobs)

[@erkdaj3rk]

Wait, why do you hate Dantomkia?

[@elixier33]

I like razor. I didn't think this robot was anything special.

[@BarneveldDarts]

Chaos 2 good

[@CrazyHorseTheSiouxW4rrior]

Judging by your thumbnail are you butt hurt because razer beat chaos 2 😊

[@CJC_RW]

I could never be butthurt by someone who doesn't spell Razer correctly

[@CrazyHorseTheSiouxW4rrior]

@@CJC_RW well you basically just proven my point because now your butthurt by my spelling lol 😂

[@dellzincht]

​you're, not your