I absolutely loved Robot Wars as a kid, always hoping I would be able to design my own robot one day to compete! I really hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane and would love to hear your feedback. If you like the video, it would mean the world if you could give it a like and subscribe to the channel. Hard at work on the next video. Thanks all!
I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the event Robonerd? It’s a big robot wars and combat robotics social event, like a car show for the old robots. If you’re curious about robots and competing I could lend you a beetleweight robot to enter the yearly content creator rumble.
There is a digital TV channel called Mech+ on channel 290 that shows nothing but Robot Wars if you are interested. I often stick it on when I can't be arsed to watch anything else.
Why do you think it's acceptable to have a disgusting vocal fry and narrate videos? Maybe you irritating speech impediment is the reason why this channel is so dead.
I absolutely agree. When I first saw it I was like huh if that's not cheating I don't know what is. I also heard that hypnodisc lost a lot of it's battles due to the decision they had to tone down there disc speed so it didn't do half as much damage as it should have done.
I remember as a young kid being absolutely incensed by Tornado's robbery of Razer! It was bad enough that they were allowed to make such a drastic change to their robot last minute, but for it to be too big to fall in the pit - that was taking the piss!
I loved robot wars but to me this was the last fight that I watched, it was absolutely without a doubt cheating how they changed that robot just before the fight, its like changing a racing car right before the race to be as wide as the road so nobody could get passed, even if the mods where not against the rules in the end razor had it pinned and it couldn’t move so it should have been eliminated on those grounds
I remember that too. I think the rules allow for interchangeable weapons but if my memory is correct they had to weld that extra frame on right? Then it shouldn't have been allowed. Razor was the fan favourite. Also had a soft spot for Mortis but they never really got very far in the competition.
The colombian marching power probably helped. Around this time he was pretty much spending every penny on the stuff, but is doing much better now. It's amazing the difference made by swapping out Clarkson made.
@@awordabout...3061 was going to comment the exact same thing! Its funny reading all the comments about the energy he brought, everyone realised that energy was by the gram, right?!
You know, I'll add. I think both Craig Charles and Dara O'Briain were both perfect for the show in very different ways. Craig Charles was the host for my childhood, with the same kind of boundless enthusiasm and energy I had for these awesome machines Dara was great when I was an adult though, someone who was clearly really interested in the robots as machines and wasn't just playing to the camera but seemed like he genuinely *did* want to know more about them, not to mention already being a great comedian.
Razor was still holding onto it. You have to be incapable of movement without interference by another competitor to be considered immobile, which is the same for the pit. This includes being lifted up or pinned down. Had Razor been able to unhook itself it would have won but they just ran out of time (they were still trying to do this when cease was called.) you don’t have to be in the pit to be counted as out, you simply need to be hanging over it in a way that you cannot drive away, which Razor was capable of doing. I don’t really have a dog in this race, as I don’t particularly like either team in this case (at the time I remember wanting Razor to win as I hated Tornado more). But Tornado won that fight.
@@intergalactic92 strong disagree lol its like being back at school 🤣 they only won cos they modded thier robot. if they hadn't done that they'd have got smashed. I can't remember if anyone else did the modding thing. don't think so. seems super cheaty
@@RikariousNo really, those were the rules of engagement. Whether it’s 'fair' or 'cheesy' is up for debate, and I have made no such comments on that matter. The point i'll always make is that razor's own modification to counter it worked. They managed to pick them up and move them around. There was a position that Tornado could have been placed that would have counted at them being in the pit. 30 seconds more and they would have had the KO, but you don’t get wins for nearly KOing your opponent. In judo you don’t get the win for nearly getting an Ippon if you're still behind on points.
@@Rikarious "I can't remember anyone else doing the modding thing" Razer themselves made a modification for the fight, adding a hook to the beak in order to pick up Tornado. The head judge also was on record saying it was legal. I don't know what to tell you, you aren't looking at the evidence in front of you.
Shoutout to the Robot Wars video game for PS2 that, despite janky gameplay, delivered on the fantasy of Robot Wars by letting you play as known competitors but also creating your own bots. It also had arenas that took advantage of the fact it was a game to add extra excitement like a Siberian missile base with a minefield and a silo hatch that can be opened. Also no mention of Diotore?! The robot best known for always being set on fire? Blasphemy!
The Robot Wars games were REALLY ahead of their time! Sure, they were buggy and felt too easy but they were the best way to experience the show. It truly made you feel you were a roboteer controlling your favourite robot.
I’ll never forget the first self righting robot built by Rex Garrod’s team. It was a stunning moment when it was flipped and then “boom!” It was back on its wheels!
Robot Wars holds a deeply special place in my heart. A shared British childhood cultural touchstone for those of us born around 1990 to 1995. Friday evenings, watching The Simpsons at 6pm, followed by Robot Wars with Fish and Chips brought by dad coming home from work, the heralds of the weekend. Excellent video here. Ignited a lovely warm nostalgic flame ❤.
Robot wars was a massive part of my childhood and teenage years. I competed in series 2 with Rottweiler and later in Series 7 with Constrictor. Also built the worlds first featherweight (12kg) robot with a full pressure flipper running on unregulated liquid co2. I still have constrictor in a rather sorry state of repair.
I worked at the company that made Dominator 2 and they still had most of the parts from it in the aptly named "robot shed" found battle damaged axe arms etc rooting around in there, was like heaven for someone that was a kid religiously watching every episode of robot wars.
Looking back I can't believe Hypno-Disc never won it. Hypno-Disc was a bonafide household name, and arguably the one robot most people could name. Kind of like Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy in Wrestling haha!
Tbf Hypno-Disc entered the competition at the wrong time. Flippers dominated the 3rd and 4th wars and with no SRIMEC, one flip and they were always done
Could have been very different considering that judge's decision was very close and somewhat controversial. In fact the judging in season 3 and 4 seemed off.
never heard those wrestlers and i used to watch wrestling as kid. first wrestler name that pops to my head is the undertaker and then maybe hulk hogan and kane. sting i remember too and btw he's still active in AEW (it's basically ECW rebooted, with the good old gore and violence that viewers want to see). when someone asks me about robot wars, Chaos 2, Razer, Tornado and Hypno-disk come into mind. but compare hypno to Carbide or tombstone ... just no competition.
Absolutely loved this. The one thing that I think could have been included was a special mention for Diotoir always getting set on fire. It was definitely one of the most entertaining bots alongside Razor, Hypnodisc and Chaos 2, but for all the wrong reasons.
Jonathan Pierce's commentary really helped 'make' the show, imo. He really had a way for amping up the excitement and made what could have come across like a bit of a nerdy pursuit, or a 'dad's shed project' type of thing, feel like a bona fide combat sport (albeit with hydraulic fluid in the place of blood!)
Loved Robot Wars! And still do. Can you tell xD I can remember the day Sir Killalot caught on fire and I had it recorded on VHS. Me and my cousin would watch it over and over. Still have all my Robot Wars toys too kept on display.
Loved this show as a kid, and Scrapheap Challenge every Sunday at my nanas after tea Totally agree when you say the role was made for Craig Charles, he's a legend
this was really nicely put together, thank you. i’d like to add a few more emotional thoughts: 1/ the master stroke that was getting pearce on board as commentator- a very familiar and distinctive voice to football (soccer) fans in the uk, he absolutely helped make robot wars the success it was and you could say he was to robot wars what murray walker was to grand prix racing. 2/ the camaraderie and sportsmanship among the competitors was great and well highlighted in the behind-the-scenes segments in every episode. often teams would be helping each other complete repairs or source parts between heats, and most controversial decisions were taken in good humour. 3/ this was a time well before arduino, 3d-printing, or 1-click pcb design and manufacture services. these engineers were the real deal and that was reflected in the judging panel being dominated by professors of cybernetics, robotics, ai, etc. the fact that teams were allowed to have quite young members was fantastic encouragement for aspiring youth engineers such as myself, and must have been a wild time for the kids themselves! 4/ shout out to the house robots’ designers and pilots: i know next to nothing about them, but great job all round with iconic designs with genuine personalities. 5/ as the series progressed, we gained some awesome vernacular to describe particular events or technologies, even as the implementation of different types of robots diversified in pursuit of dominant designs. for example- spinning discs or blades, flippers, pincers, rammers, spikes, all with pros and cons. but what stands out is SRIMECH: self-righting mechanisms to recover from being flipped over. Hypno-Disc gained a little sideways-flipping arm, Razer gained its little wings which made it look even more awesome, Chaos 2 learned to flip itself as well as everyone else! great stuff. 6/ the owners of these robots did lots of demos in schools and such. i grew up near Razer’s base of operations and got to see it a couple of times in person (i believe they have continued running demos?). those things were BIG and really heavy and seeing them in person made the arena battles on tv seem truly terrifying at times. no wonder the studio audience were placed way back and behind protective screens! anyway thanks for reading :)
There is still a live Robot Wars style show going round the UK, I've been along a couple of times and it's always good. Back in 2001 I was invited to attend filming at Leavesden helping one of the middleweight teams at Extreme 1 which was being filmed at the same time as series 5, and I watched the Hypno-Disk vs Bigger Brother fight and saw the state that BB was in when it came out of the arena. As soon as they finished the post match interview, EVERY team in the place descended on BB and helped rebuild it, there were about 40 blokes working on that machine to get it up and running for the final. If you think the fights are impressive on TV, you want to go to a live event and watch two 100kg killing machines beating the snot out of each other, you can feel the ground shaking. I really hope they bring it back in the future.
The problem with Robot Wars is that it's a big enough mniche to be popular but not a big enough niche to not get cancelled, so it would take a sizable niche network to take it on (probably Netflix of all people, but knowing Netflix, they'd probably cancel it after one season regardless of how successful the show was)
Man in the sixth wars, Razor was robbed. Had Tornado not had the frame they added they WOULD have gone down the pit, regardless of the rest of it - especially as Razor hooked them by the main body.
@@PrototypeNo98 Nobody was chanting "cheat". Also, Team Razer praised Team Tornado for their tactics, so if they didn't care, that's what matters, right?
If Razer had dropped Tornado over the pit with the frame, it still would have been classed as pitted as all four wheels were suspended over. It was unable to let go and pulled it off.
@@killdozer7792I was there and I remember some disgruntled chants of "cheat" from the crowd and I was upset too that Tornado shouldn't have allowed to be too big to fit into the pit and he was suspended over it therefore should of counted as immoblized. I hated Tornado after that.
Excellent video, thanks! The only thing missing for me was Cassius flipping itself back over. It was such an unforgettable moment that showed the genius of Rex Garrod.
Yeah, they glossed over an awful lot of stuff. Didn’t even mention the controversy surrounding the series 7, but I guess that wasn’t the in the scope of the video.
In primary school we used to make our own robots. Made out of shoe boxes, pencil cases etc wrapped with paper and other things with pens etc as weapons sellotaped at the front and threw them across the table at each other to see who would win. Not exactly safe but this is how big robot wars back then. Loved it 😊
Man. As a kid i was heartbroken when Chaos 2 beat Hypnodisk, but as an adult, I can see Chaos 2 was such a well made little machine. The manoeuvrability, the flipper, it was so damn good. Hypnodisk really didn't stand a chance, it was too rigid, too brutish. My heart will always belong to hypnodisk, but as a grown up, I have so much respect for Chaos 2
It has been 2 decades but I am still absolutely fuming about Stinger being robbed by the judges against Chaos2. This was a great trip down memory lane, thank you
This video is criminally underrated. Not only is it so high quality in production, but in managing to get such high quality videos from the original series. I always loved the original series (despite being born in 2006) and this was such a good look back at some of the most iconic moments of such a good show.
Thanks for the feedback! This video took me so long to edit. I'm by no means an expert at editing. Working on the next video now. Might not be quite as long!
"but in managing to get such high quality videos from the original series." It's apparently available for streaming now so broadcast quality should exist now.
I especially like that Craig insisted in reminding him of that fact at every opportunity: "Now, you don’t lose very often, and when you do you won’t talk to me, you go out back and throw your toys out of the pram…" I did take some pleasure in seeing them show up for the revival, ending up in the same heat as the pussycat team and they immediately went for each other and took each other out. I was like, 'yes, the grudge is still there!'
The nostalgia hit this video just gave me. Just scrolling through with nothing on my mind and then bam; smacked right back to 1999. Thank you so much for this upload. I’m 8 years old all over again. ❤
I remember being so excited as a young kid watching robot wars. Me and my Grandad would sit and watch it whenever I was round for an evening, and I'd think endlessly about what kind of robot I would try to make. The older I get to more I appreciate the creative bots like Pussycat, but like so many others Razer was the coolest thing going. One day my Grandad got us tickets to go and see it live. I got to see Tough as Nails in its first round fight against Robochicken and two others I can't remember the names of (Disco? and one with a spinning top?) Anyway, it was special and I managed to see some of the pits afterwards and even got to meet the drivers of the house robots! It was one of those shows that brought out the true spirit of the people in the U.K. Inwardly quiet, kind fair and good sports, but the creativity and craziness goes into the machine building, sharing designs and ideas that brought joy even when they were smashed to pieces. Presented and made by people who genuinely seemed to love the concept. Nostaglia is a hell of a drug, but it's truly one of those things that looking back was exactly as good as I thought it was when I was younger. That's rare and very special.
I attended the Robot Wars shows when I was little and meet many of the roboteers. The teamwork, creativity, competitiveness and all the good old laughs. I witnessed first hand the controversial season 6 Grand Final between Razer and Tornado and remembered being devastated and felt Razer were cheated with Tornado being suspended over the pit. Such a shame that show like Robot Wars will never return. Now its a tremendous place of nostalgia for me.
Never say never! We just had our second reboot of Gladiators, and Battlebots in the states is still going strong (with talk of a UK Battlebots series if they continue getting good ratings on ITV4)
The fact that Tornado come into season 7 without their "new weapon and support structure" says everything you need to know about what they did in season 6....
Brilliant video! I know you couldn't go through every detail, but i think the best part of the Finals of the 5th Wars was the aftermath of Hypno-Disc and Bigger Brother. BB was so damaged in the fight that there was doubt as to whether or not they could even fight in the final, but all the Roboteers in the Pits came together to help re-build BB. That's one thing I loved about Robot Wars. Yes, there was drama and controversy but there was such great sportsmanship and a sense of unity even from those in direct competition.
A brilliant documentary, not too long or too short. It was only at the end when I realised this wasn't a TV programme as such. Perfect commentary and background music that didn't sound like a casio keyboard on demo mode, a rarity on RUclips. Wonderful!
What a brilliant video and a marvellous trip down memory lane! I was actually there back in 1997, in the audience at Docklands, for the filming of the Series 1 Finals. The series 1 champion, Roadblock was built by classmates of mine. Hender built the robot as a A-Level Technology project, along with Chris, who did it as part of his GCSEs. Peter, Chris' dad, was also our Technology teacher at Bodmin College. When they had made it through the heats, a bunch of us from the class were invited to travel up to London to watch them compete in the final bouts, and ultimately witness them winning the first wars and experience history being made first hand. We were all very proud! Sadly, I never made it into any of the audience shots, so dodnt get on telly myself...though friends of mine did and I think you could just see my arm at one point. 🤭 However, I did get to meet Jeremy Clarkson (he is very, very tall!) and Phillipa Forrester...which was a hugely memorable moment form me in itself as I had a massive teenage crush on her! 😊 Also...I will always remember that during the coach journey from Cornwall up to London, there was a passenger got on mid-way, who I would later realise was the judge, Prof. Noel Sharkey! 😁
Cool story. I also met Jeremy Clarkson, sometime in the 2000's during the filming of "Q.I". First thing I also thought was "Good God he's tall!". They say the TV makes people look bigger, but in his case it was the opposite, he was way more a tower of a man than I expected.
I competed in RW back in the day. This brought back some some great memories. Sadly some of the faces are no longer around but my memories are golden. There would be all kinds of capers going on behind the scene and at the live events it was hilarious. Happy days.
Be really interesting how many of the original robots still exist and what did the teams get upto afterwards. Team Tornado still have their website running with their build photos and others like Terrorhurtz and Thermidor came back in the reboot. The only bit missing from the video was Diotor on fire :D
The Irish lads still have their robots, Team Big Brother have all their robots still around and Ian still, I believe, gives demonstrations on robotics using Bigger Brother, Steel Avenger exists after it got caught up in a plot to assassinate Trump, Chaos2 still competes from time to time in events amongst others
There's an annual event called RoboNerd in Wolverhampton where a lot of the old contestants display their robots. Sadly it's taking a break in 2024, but should hopefully be back next year.
1998 - 2004, I was aged between 11 - 17 & this show was my favourite of my childhood. Watching your video took me back down memory lane all those years ago the reboot was good but it couldn't hold a candle up to the original Robot Wars. Great video mate👍
I remember being very vey young and watching Robot Wars thanks to American PBS switching over to BBC after 9pm. I managed to watch and record all of season 2 onto VHS that way and has cemented my love for robot combat to this very day with shows like Battle Bots.
I love Robot Wars, I go back and watch old fights all the time. My hot take is that Tornado vs Razer final was what killed the original series, as nothing was never really the same after that fight.
@@officialbackintheday Personally, I prefer it to seeing Razer just eat Tornado for a third time (Extreme 1 All Stars, Second World Championship) It made a more interesting fight than either of those, and Tornado was entirely compliant with the rules as written at the time. In a way, Razer actually lost due to the modification they added as well, since the hook meant they couldn't release Tornado above the pit, which would have counted as a pitting.
100% I think everyone can agree that the Tornado modification was total bullshit. It would have been a good fight (although likely Razer victory) without it
Its very telling that the anti pit device was not allowed in the reboot and never seen in the US battle bots version, as I saw this on the day in the crowd everyone was mad, and it was deemed cheating.
@@whitewolf1743 Tornado never entered the reboot, nor did it enter Battlebots. If you meant Extreme Warriors, the US version of Robot Wars, it actually did use it vs Razer in the series 2 International Championship.
My brother competed on robot wars and I got to go to some of the shows around the season 4-5 era. Met a bunch of the other competitors in the pits and Craig Charles too, was a blast! Would love to see it come back again.
this hit me in my nostalgia bone, this was so well put together, honestly it is amazing. Also the fact that stinger, a bot which can be described as, 2 wheels and a pointy stick. Almost made it to the final, blows my mind
Thanks! I've been working on the next video for a little while now. It takes me quite a long time but I'd rather spend longer on each video and make it as good as I can make it. Suggestions are welcome!
Chaos 2 forever holds a place in my heart, the size of the thing compared to the immense power of its hydraulic lift which flipped everything from rivals to house robots brought so much pleasure to my childhood.
What a show. I loved it when growing up and loved the reboot too. The names of Chaos 2, Panic Attack, Razor and Hypnodisc etched into the memory and debating with my brothers who would win.
I was raised on Robot Wars, it was awesome! Hypno Disc and Razor were my favourites because of how destructive they could be. I was delighted when the BBC rebooted it. The only thing I didn’t like was how much stronger the armour was in the reboot. Watching the robots annihilate the opposition’s armour was the best bit.
I loved Robot Wars so much growing up. Getting onto that and Crystal Maze were my dream. I can't remember how many 'robots' I designed and build of out scrap metal and wood while having no idea how to make them move. I'd get as far as needing to do something eletrical and stop then go make something else. I drew sketches in school all the time. Then when I got to highschool I managed to get some like minded friends on board and even got help from the D&T teachers to start really building a competitor, only for the show to get cancelled half way through. I was crushed. Dreadge Pirate was a wedge shaped flipper bot with two mean spikes that would be fired up from the wedge by compressed argon canisters. It was basically one use but the idea was to drive under a bot, impale its undersides to grab it and go flip it into the pit. It had its armor and then an inch above it was covered in wire mesh to catch saws and picks/axes. It was running on two lawnmower motors so it was going to be quick. Then for the rest of the battle we'd use its high speed to ram and flip whenever we could. It was going to be a goddamn champion. I could have been a champion. God I miss this show.
Ah Robot Wars! A huge part of my childhood. I remember competing with our robot, Chip. Sadly we never progressed very far in tournaments but it was fun nonetheless. I still have a lot of Robot Wars merch including the official guide books that came out (wished Chip had been included in them). We also competed in Techno Games around the same time (copycat version of Robot Wars) and we won a bronze medal in the 'Sumo' contest...a medal that I still have!
Me and my father competed in the third wars we never got through the first qualifier. Dad built our robot on the premise that it should be more maneuverable based on the second wars trials challenges the change in format really threw him for a loop. My cousin and uncle also competed.
This was a huge treat to come across. being an avid fan as a kid hearing the House robots and the likes of Tornado, Firestorm and Hypno-Disc unlocks core memories alongside the more avant-garde bots like Gemini and that one walking bot (that always got destroyed). Couldn't believe they canned the new series after just a few seasons but oh well, thems be the way contracts be. If anyone has nay knowledge, i'd love to know the fate of some of these bots and maybe the House bots, they're national treasures worth preserving, dents and all
Oh wow, memories flooding back, Hypno disc, Chaos, roadblock and many more. 22:10 I remember this decision and in our house we thought it was criminal and favoured reigning champions.
I grew up watching this show. I saw Nickelodeon Robot Wars first, and then I saw the UK series on G4 Tech TV. I still have the pullback toys in my room. I had dreamed of being on the show with a robot of my own, but I don't have any robot building experiences. Still, maybe the show will come back. It did once, and it can happen again.
I saw Robot Wars being filmed when I was a kid. I think it was series 6 that was being filmed. An amazing memory, i still can hardly believe I went. I loved the revival series as well and was so upset when it was cancelled l. Dara was a great host.
I was a Robot Wars Club member and saw a few seasons of taping (Hypnodisk in person was a sight to behold). Still annoyed about that Tornado final, haha. The reason why it was cancelled wasn't just because of the lower viewing figures but down to cost. The price of competing got really high around seasons 5 and 6, which led to the battlers calling for more price money. It went slightly up in 6, but not enough, and the beeb wouldn't put any money in, hence the switch to Channel Five. I was sad to see it go and did enjoy the reveal, though I wish Crag had been involved. Pretty good documentary: D.
Man, this was such a cool show. Thank you for such a thorough documentary, it brought back so many memories. I was a 90’s kid and my grandpa recorded a couple of the “wars”, I think 2 and 3, on VHS, as well as a couple seasons of Battle Bots. I watched them a several times as a kid.
I remember as a kid i loved this show and loved shunt, i once tried to design my own robot based on him called “return of shunt” but due to my lack of knowledge around robots. I sadly couldn’t do it :(
Great nostalgia trip, I watched a lot of Robot Wars (reruns) when I was growing up in the late 2000s, I used to make cardboard models of the robots and some of my own designs
I remember watching that sixth wars final as a kid and RAGING at my telly. How Tornado got away with that modification I will never know. Razer was robbed.
Because they entered with interchangeable weapons, and this was one of their interchangeable weapons approved at the start of the competition. You do realise Razor modded their robot as well.
Brilliant nostalgic look at love of my favourite programmes. I'd love there to have been a quick moment on Cassius 2 - the first self righter. That first time Rex Garrod did that is one of my strongest RW memories!
I remember going to watch an episode of this being filmed, the battles were great fun although there was quite a wait in between battles which for a 7/8 year old was quite boring and so it meant we only saw a few battles which was a shame. I think I remember getting a tour of the workshop behind as well though. On our way home we stopped at a service station for food and while there one of the teams came in (maybe firestorm? I remember it being yellow). We went over to ask them questions and they offered to show us their robot in their car which was nice. Those things were huge in person, well to a child they were huge! Good memories, I had various toys of them as well including chaos 2, razor and the ref bot (which I got given at the filming I think, maybe to compensate for the long waits). I wonder if I still have them in the loft somewhere.
The Spaced episode that features a Robot Wars crossed with Fight Club street fighting mash up! So funny and the robot that Tim and Mike build even has a re appearance in the tear jerking finale of Spaced. This Robot Wars episode showed just how ingrained Robot Wars had become into UK life, EVERYONE had fun watching Robot Wars (unless you were some kinds heartless, boring weirdo)
@@krashd I get ya. I have watched that series on near repeat every year along with Red Dwarf. I wish they'd made another series! So I instead watch The Corneto Trilogy to pad things out!
Robot Wars was always a personal childhood favourite. I was rooting for Chaos 2 after such an iconic final battle in the third series. Watching George Francis and his team get flipped out of the arena by DanTomKia in a later season really stung... It's a shame the rebooted series didn't last long. The show still deserves a place on modern TV sets.
Literally my favourite show there has ever been, still watch it on a regular basis. Hot take: I don't mind Tornado having some mad configuration for certain battles, and I was a massive Razer fanboy at the time lmao
I always remember thinking Tornado's big frame thing must have been somewhat cheating because it stopped the robot from fitting in the pit. Surely that should have been factored into the decision
I LOVED this show! And like many have said, I hoped to grow up and build my own robot to compete. The American version of this show is a bit cheesy at moments but flip they are building some insanely powerful machines!
I wasn't even all that bothered by the frame, I was bothered that Tornado was left suspended over the pit, unable to move, and wasn't eliminated for it.
We used to watch this at university. I remember the first series where a team from Cambridge University had created a mini-tank armed with what Jonathan Pearce called a Tanto Blade. Was it Mortis? They went out in the first round to a robot which was a bit more ramshackle. And they didn't look best pleased by it! They eventually won one of the spin-off events I think. The other memory was one of the house robots (Matilda) getting totally wrecked by Razer. It came back held together by tape 😂
It was one of my favourite shows and had to argue with my dad if I was allowed to watch this "nonsense"😅 Think nobody thought at this time that it was becoming such a huge and important topic (not just the fighting of course). thank you for reviving the great moments and the old heroes. Keep up the great work. Greetings from Germany.
I absolutely loved Robot Wars as a kid, always hoping I would be able to design my own robot one day to compete! I really hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane and would love to hear your feedback. If you like the video, it would mean the world if you could give it a like and subscribe to the channel. Hard at work on the next video. Thanks all!
I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the event Robonerd?
It’s a big robot wars and combat robotics social event, like a car show for the old robots.
If you’re curious about robots and competing I could lend you a beetleweight robot to enter the yearly content creator rumble.
Beetles, US Ants, and UK Ants are relatively cheap to build. Its still a thing its just mainly moved back to the live circuit where it started.
did you ever watch X-Fire ( the paintball gun gameshow ?)
There is a digital TV channel called Mech+ on channel 290 that shows nothing but Robot Wars if you are interested. I often stick it on when I can't be arsed to watch anything else.
Why do you think it's acceptable to have a disgusting vocal fry and narrate videos? Maybe you irritating speech impediment is the reason why this channel is so dead.
Allowing tornado to basically change their whole bot mid contest was OUTRAAAGEOUS 20 years later im still fuming.
I absolutely agree. When I first saw it I was like huh if that's not cheating I don't know what is. I also heard that hypnodisc lost a lot of it's battles due to the decision they had to tone down there disc speed so it didn't do half as much damage as it should have done.
Absolute liberty wasn't it?
I too demand justice!
Cheating fucks they were. I'm still furious
Tornado, "am I allowed to cheat?"
Judge, "yes"
I remember as a young kid being absolutely incensed by Tornado's robbery of Razer! It was bad enough that they were allowed to make such a drastic change to their robot last minute, but for it to be too big to fall in the pit - that was taking the piss!
Tbh I always hated the pit, such a boring end to a fight, was glad to see it defeated
I loved robot wars but to me this was the last fight that I watched, it was absolutely without a doubt cheating how they changed that robot just before the fight, its like changing a racing car right before the race to be as wide as the road so nobody could get passed, even if the mods where not against the rules in the end razor had it pinned and it couldn’t move so it should have been eliminated on those grounds
I was so angry about this. Tornado was clearly in the pit.
I remember that too. I think the rules allow for interchangeable weapons but if my memory is correct they had to weld that extra frame on right? Then it shouldn't have been allowed.
Razor was the fan favourite. Also had a soft spot for Mortis but they never really got very far in the competition.
@@Mannchini they were yes and razer then pulled them back off of it😢
Razer was a work of art, and totally lethal
Razer, Hypno-disc and Chaos 2 are the 🐐s
Razer was my favourite
i've built all of them in brick rigs (videos on my channel). they're fully functional and detailed.
You forgot Wheely Big Cheese
Hypno-Disc is the GOAT
Also Cassius! The first robot to have a high powered flipper as well as the first robot to self-right from being flipped.
Craig Charles was perfect for this show. He brings so much enthusiasm and energy while staying grounded and real
The colombian marching power probably helped. Around this time he was pretty much spending every penny on the stuff, but is doing much better now. It's amazing the difference made by swapping out Clarkson made.
@@awordabout...3061 was going to comment the exact same thing! Its funny reading all the comments about the energy he brought, everyone realised that energy was by the gram, right?!
You know, I'll add. I think both Craig Charles and Dara O'Briain were both perfect for the show in very different ways. Craig Charles was the host for my childhood, with the same kind of boundless enthusiasm and energy I had for these awesome machines
Dara was great when I was an adult though, someone who was clearly really interested in the robots as machines and wasn't just playing to the camera but seemed like he genuinely *did* want to know more about them, not to mention already being a great comedian.
All that rock he was smoking
@@definitelynotatroll246Yeah that was the lowest point in his life
"And the show was moved to Channel 5." Is a sequence of words that inspire a very particular kind of dread.
The fact tornado won because they were too big for the pit was an absolute travesty!
Amazing doc though mate 👍
100% cheated. scandalous at the time xD
Razor was still holding onto it. You have to be incapable of movement without interference by another competitor to be considered immobile, which is the same for the pit. This includes being lifted up or pinned down.
Had Razor been able to unhook itself it would have won but they just ran out of time (they were still trying to do this when cease was called.) you don’t have to be in the pit to be counted as out, you simply need to be hanging over it in a way that you cannot drive away, which Razor was capable of doing.
I don’t really have a dog in this race, as I don’t particularly like either team in this case (at the time I remember wanting Razor to win as I hated Tornado more). But Tornado won that fight.
@@intergalactic92 strong disagree lol its like being back at school 🤣 they only won cos they modded thier robot. if they hadn't done that they'd have got smashed. I can't remember if anyone else did the modding thing. don't think so. seems super cheaty
@@RikariousNo really, those were the rules of engagement. Whether it’s 'fair' or 'cheesy' is up for debate, and I have made no such comments on that matter.
The point i'll always make is that razor's own modification to counter it worked. They managed to pick them up and move them around. There was a position that Tornado could have been placed that would have counted at them being in the pit. 30 seconds more and they would have had the KO, but you don’t get wins for nearly KOing your opponent. In judo you don’t get the win for nearly getting an Ippon if you're still behind on points.
@@Rikarious "I can't remember anyone else doing the modding thing"
Razer themselves made a modification for the fight, adding a hook to the beak in order to pick up Tornado. The head judge also was on record saying it was legal. I don't know what to tell you, you aren't looking at the evidence in front of you.
Shoutout to the Robot Wars video game for PS2 that, despite janky gameplay, delivered on the fantasy of Robot Wars by letting you play as known competitors but also creating your own bots. It also had arenas that took advantage of the fact it was a game to add extra excitement like a Siberian missile base with a minefield and a silo hatch that can be opened.
Also no mention of Diotore?! The robot best known for always being set on fire?
Blasphemy!
Man my mate had the xbox version of the game, really solid stuff ngl. Definitely sold the fantasy, with some fun stage designs
The Robot Wars games were REALLY ahead of their time! Sure, they were buggy and felt too easy but they were the best way to experience the show. It truly made you feel you were a roboteer controlling your favourite robot.
I’ll never forget the first self righting robot built by Rex Garrod’s team. It was a stunning moment when it was flipped and then “boom!” It was back on its wheels!
The term 'Srimech' stuck with me ever since.
He also built Brum for the kids tv show!
Cassius 2.
@@JP28X 😁👍
@@jackspence6061 awesome! 😎
Robot Wars holds a deeply special place in my heart.
A shared British childhood cultural touchstone for those of us born around 1990 to 1995. Friday evenings, watching The Simpsons at 6pm, followed by Robot Wars with Fish and Chips brought by dad coming home from work, the heralds of the weekend.
Excellent video here. Ignited a lovely warm nostalgic flame ❤.
throw in a splash of dragon Ball Z and pokemon
My exact childhood. All gone now mate.
Wcw wrestling on channel 5 at the same time after family affairs 😂
Hell yeah i was born in 91 loved this damn show.
I was born in 88 but yes all of that rings true!
Robot wars was a massive part of my childhood and teenage years. I competed in series 2 with Rottweiler and later in Series 7 with Constrictor. Also built the worlds first featherweight (12kg) robot with a full pressure flipper running on unregulated liquid co2. I still have constrictor in a rather sorry state of repair.
amazing!
I worked at the company that made Dominator 2 and they still had most of the parts from it in the aptly named "robot shed" found battle damaged axe arms etc rooting around in there, was like heaven for someone that was a kid religiously watching every episode of robot wars.
Looking back I can't believe Hypno-Disc never won it. Hypno-Disc was a bonafide household name, and arguably the one robot most people could name. Kind of like Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy in Wrestling haha!
Tbf Hypno-Disc entered the competition at the wrong time. Flippers dominated the 3rd and 4th wars and with no SRIMEC, one flip and they were always done
100% it's my favourite robot of all time on the show. However they always had major reliability problems.
Could have been very different considering that judge's decision was very close and somewhat controversial. In fact the judging in season 3 and 4 seemed off.
never heard those wrestlers and i used to watch wrestling as kid. first wrestler name that pops to my head is the undertaker and then maybe hulk hogan and kane. sting i remember too and btw he's still active in AEW (it's basically ECW rebooted, with the good old gore and violence that viewers want to see).
when someone asks me about robot wars, Chaos 2, Razer, Tornado and Hypno-disk come into mind.
but compare hypno to Carbide or tombstone ... just no competition.
@@SethiozProjecthe's talking about wrestlers from the "golden age" of British wrestling.
Absolutely loved this. The one thing that I think could have been included was a special mention for Diotoir always getting set on fire. It was definitely one of the most entertaining bots alongside Razor, Hypnodisc and Chaos 2, but for all the wrong reasons.
Jonathan Pierce's commentary really helped 'make' the show, imo. He really had a way for amping up the excitement and made what could have come across like a bit of a nerdy pursuit, or a 'dad's shed project' type of thing, feel like a bona fide combat sport (albeit with hydraulic fluid in the place of blood!)
Craig Charles absolutely carried this series. So much energy. Gotta love the pationate northerner when it comes to simple tv
Still not over the sixth war final… the fact tornado couldn’t fit into the pit was a joke.
Loved Robot Wars! And still do. Can you tell xD I can remember the day Sir Killalot caught on fire and I had it recorded on VHS. Me and my cousin would watch it over and over. Still have all my Robot Wars toys too kept on display.
I remember that. It was the first time killalot showed weakness.
Loved this show as a kid, and Scrapheap Challenge every Sunday at my nanas after tea
Totally agree when you say the role was made for Craig Charles, he's a legend
this was really nicely put together, thank you.
i’d like to add a few more emotional thoughts:
1/ the master stroke that was getting pearce on board as commentator- a very familiar and distinctive voice to football (soccer) fans in the uk, he absolutely helped make robot wars the success it was and you could say he was to robot wars what murray walker was to grand prix racing.
2/ the camaraderie and sportsmanship among the competitors was great and well highlighted in the behind-the-scenes segments in every episode. often teams would be helping each other complete repairs or source parts between heats, and most controversial decisions were taken in good humour.
3/ this was a time well before arduino, 3d-printing, or 1-click pcb design and manufacture services. these engineers were the real deal and that was reflected in the judging panel being dominated by professors of cybernetics, robotics, ai, etc. the fact that teams were allowed to have quite young members was fantastic encouragement for aspiring youth engineers such as myself, and must have been a wild time for the kids themselves!
4/ shout out to the house robots’ designers and pilots: i know next to nothing about them, but great job all round with iconic designs with genuine personalities.
5/ as the series progressed, we gained some awesome vernacular to describe particular events or technologies, even as the implementation of different types
of robots diversified in pursuit of dominant designs. for example- spinning discs or
blades, flippers, pincers, rammers, spikes, all with pros and cons. but what stands out is SRIMECH: self-righting mechanisms to recover from being flipped over. Hypno-Disc gained a little sideways-flipping arm, Razer gained its little wings which made it look even more awesome, Chaos 2 learned to flip itself as well as everyone else! great stuff.
6/ the owners of these robots did lots of demos in schools and such. i grew up near Razer’s base of operations and got to see it a couple of times in person (i believe they have continued running demos?). those things were BIG and really heavy and seeing them in person made the arena battles on tv seem truly terrifying at times. no wonder the studio audience were placed way back and behind protective screens!
anyway thanks for reading :)
Great recap. I remember one bloke refusing to shake the hand of a child he'd just lost to and storming off! Quality telly
Behemoth, they did do a good line in sulking.
Yeah, that was in the revival, and it went viral. 😂
I did lose a lot of respect for Behemoth after that.
There is still a live Robot Wars style show going round the UK, I've been along a couple of times and it's always good. Back in 2001 I was invited to attend filming at Leavesden helping one of the middleweight teams at Extreme 1 which was being filmed at the same time as series 5, and I watched the Hypno-Disk vs Bigger Brother fight and saw the state that BB was in when it came out of the arena. As soon as they finished the post match interview, EVERY team in the place descended on BB and helped rebuild it, there were about 40 blokes working on that machine to get it up and running for the final. If you think the fights are impressive on TV, you want to go to a live event and watch two 100kg killing machines beating the snot out of each other, you can feel the ground shaking. I really hope they bring it back in the future.
The problem with Robot Wars is that it's a big enough mniche to be popular but not a big enough niche to not get cancelled, so it would take a sizable niche network to take it on (probably Netflix of all people, but knowing Netflix, they'd probably cancel it after one season regardless of how successful the show was)
Man in the sixth wars, Razor was robbed. Had Tornado not had the frame they added they WOULD have gone down the pit, regardless of the rest of it - especially as Razor hooked them by the main body.
Oh yea I don't think that should have been allowed to happen. Loved Razer!
That was the moment I lost faith in the franchise.
The crowd chanting "Cheat!" was a sure sign the judges f'ed up.
@@PrototypeNo98 Nobody was chanting "cheat". Also, Team Razer praised Team Tornado for their tactics, so if they didn't care, that's what matters, right?
If Razer had dropped Tornado over the pit with the frame, it still would have been classed as pitted as all four wheels were suspended over. It was unable to let go and pulled it off.
@@killdozer7792I was there and I remember some disgruntled chants of "cheat" from the crowd and I was upset too that Tornado shouldn't have allowed to be too big to fit into the pit and he was suspended over it therefore should of counted as immoblized. I hated Tornado after that.
Excellent video, thanks!
The only thing missing for me was Cassius flipping itself back over. It was such an unforgettable moment that showed the genius of Rex Garrod.
Yeah, they glossed over an awful lot of stuff. Didn’t even mention the controversy surrounding the series 7, but I guess that wasn’t the in the scope of the video.
@@intergalactic92what was the controversy in series 7?
I thought I had imagined that whilst watching this, I remember being blown away at the casual "up yours" when it flipped it self back over
Cassius started the self right mech that became standard, epic! Absolutely mad that it lost to Panic Attack
I had Matilda as an RC car when I was a kid, I'll never forget running over my Grandads feet with this sizable representation of the real thing.
In primary school we used to make our own robots. Made out of shoe boxes, pencil cases etc wrapped with paper and other things with pens etc as weapons sellotaped at the front and threw them across the table at each other to see who would win.
Not exactly safe but this is how big robot wars back then. Loved it 😊
Man. As a kid i was heartbroken when Chaos 2 beat Hypnodisk, but as an adult, I can see Chaos 2 was such a well made little machine. The manoeuvrability, the flipper, it was so damn good. Hypnodisk really didn't stand a chance, it was too rigid, too brutish.
My heart will always belong to hypnodisk, but as a grown up, I have so much respect for Chaos 2
It has been 2 decades but I am still absolutely fuming about Stinger being robbed by the judges against Chaos2. This was a great trip down memory lane, thank you
This video is criminally underrated. Not only is it so high quality in production, but in managing to get such high quality videos from the original series. I always loved the original series (despite being born in 2006) and this was such a good look back at some of the most iconic moments of such a good show.
Thanks for the feedback! This video took me so long to edit. I'm by no means an expert at editing. Working on the next video now. Might not be quite as long!
"but in managing to get such high quality videos from the original series."
It's apparently available for streaming now so broadcast quality should exist now.
Ian's rant after Razer lost to Pussycat is one of the greatest moments in TV history and you cannot convince me otherwise!
Lost the grudge match too 😂
I especially like that Craig insisted in reminding him of that fact at every opportunity: "Now, you don’t lose very often, and when you do you won’t talk to me, you go out back and throw your toys out of the pram…"
I did take some pleasure in seeing them show up for the revival, ending up in the same heat as the pussycat team and they immediately went for each other and took each other out. I was like, 'yes, the grudge is still there!'
@@intergalactic92 Honestly, with the fuckery of Tornado, I think some poor attitude is well earned
"You can stick your vegetarians,
and your old carnivores,
we only eat metal here,
on Robot Wars".
The nostalgia hit this video just gave me. Just scrolling through with nothing on my mind and then bam; smacked right back to 1999. Thank you so much for this upload. I’m 8 years old all over again. ❤
Glad you enjoyed the video and welcome!
I remember being so excited as a young kid watching robot wars. Me and my Grandad would sit and watch it whenever I was round for an evening, and I'd think endlessly about what kind of robot I would try to make. The older I get to more I appreciate the creative bots like Pussycat, but like so many others Razer was the coolest thing going.
One day my Grandad got us tickets to go and see it live. I got to see Tough as Nails in its first round fight against Robochicken and two others I can't remember the names of (Disco? and one with a spinning top?) Anyway, it was special and I managed to see some of the pits afterwards and even got to meet the drivers of the house robots!
It was one of those shows that brought out the true spirit of the people in the U.K. Inwardly quiet, kind fair and good sports, but the creativity and craziness goes into the machine building, sharing designs and ideas that brought joy even when they were smashed to pieces. Presented and made by people who genuinely seemed to love the concept.
Nostaglia is a hell of a drug, but it's truly one of those things that looking back was exactly as good as I thought it was when I was younger. That's rare and very special.
That's an awesome story. So glad you had the opportunity to see it live. Your Grandad seems amazing!
This and Gladiators I adored, i was born in 91 i loved this show so much.
I attended the Robot Wars shows when I was little and meet many of the roboteers. The teamwork, creativity, competitiveness and all the good old laughs. I witnessed first hand the controversial season 6 Grand Final between Razer and Tornado and remembered being devastated and felt Razer were cheated with Tornado being suspended over the pit.
Such a shame that show like Robot Wars will never return. Now its a tremendous place of nostalgia for me.
Never say never! We just had our second reboot of Gladiators, and Battlebots in the states is still going strong (with talk of a UK Battlebots series if they continue getting good ratings on ITV4)
The fact that Tornado come into season 7 without their "new weapon and support structure" says everything you need to know about what they did in season 6....
Brilliant video!
I know you couldn't go through every detail, but i think the best part of the Finals of the 5th Wars was the aftermath of Hypno-Disc and Bigger Brother. BB was so damaged in the fight that there was doubt as to whether or not they could even fight in the final, but all the Roboteers in the Pits came together to help re-build BB.
That's one thing I loved about Robot Wars. Yes, there was drama and controversy but there was such great sportsmanship and a sense of unity even from those in direct competition.
Didn't it go into battle with Chaos 2's spare gas cans?
Bring Robot wars back, it is one show I really miss.
Just watch Battlebots
@@mech-x-xaviousRobot wars was spicier
It got boring, all the robots were the same just loads of spinners, and just looked too clinical.
@@mech-x-xaviousWhy would I watch an inferior show? No arena traps? No house robots? No thanks!
@@Dannysince1985 that makes it better, no bull crap to swing fights for no reason, nothing but driving and building skill
A brilliant documentary, not too long or too short. It was only at the end when I realised this wasn't a TV programme as such. Perfect commentary and background music that didn't sound like a casio keyboard on demo mode, a rarity on RUclips. Wonderful!
Thanks so much!
What a brilliant video and a marvellous trip down memory lane! I was actually there back in 1997, in the audience at Docklands, for the filming of the Series 1 Finals. The series 1 champion, Roadblock was built by classmates of mine. Hender built the robot as a A-Level Technology project, along with Chris, who did it as part of his GCSEs. Peter, Chris' dad, was also our Technology teacher at Bodmin College. When they had made it through the heats, a bunch of us from the class were invited to travel up to London to watch them compete in the final bouts, and ultimately witness them winning the first wars and experience history being made first hand. We were all very proud!
Sadly, I never made it into any of the audience shots, so dodnt get on telly myself...though friends of mine did and I think you could just see my arm at one point. 🤭 However, I did get to meet Jeremy Clarkson (he is very, very tall!) and Phillipa Forrester...which was a hugely memorable moment form me in itself as I had a massive teenage crush on her! 😊
Also...I will always remember that during the coach journey from Cornwall up to London, there was a passenger got on mid-way, who I would later realise was the judge, Prof. Noel Sharkey! 😁
Cool story.
I also met Jeremy Clarkson, sometime in the 2000's during the filming of "Q.I". First thing I also thought was "Good God he's tall!".
They say the TV makes people look bigger, but in his case it was the opposite, he was way more a tower of a man than I expected.
I competed in RW back in the day. This brought back some some great memories. Sadly some of the faces are no longer around but my memories are golden. There would be all kinds of capers going on behind the scene and at the live events it was hilarious. Happy days.
Be really interesting how many of the original robots still exist and what did the teams get upto afterwards. Team Tornado still have their website running with their build photos and others like Terrorhurtz and Thermidor came back in the reboot.
The only bit missing from the video was Diotor on fire :D
The Irish lads still have their robots, Team Big Brother have all their robots still around and Ian still, I believe, gives demonstrations on robotics using Bigger Brother, Steel Avenger exists after it got caught up in a plot to assassinate Trump, Chaos2 still competes from time to time in events amongst others
Diotoir was always on fire. :) I'm surprised they didn't just cover it in petrol and spark it up at the start of each match for the laughs. :)
There's an annual event called RoboNerd in Wolverhampton where a lot of the old contestants display their robots. Sadly it's taking a break in 2024, but should hopefully be back next year.
1998 - 2004, I was aged between 11 - 17 & this show was my favourite of my childhood. Watching your video took me back down memory lane all those years ago the reboot was good but it couldn't hold a candle up to the original Robot Wars. Great video mate👍
I remember being very vey young and watching Robot Wars thanks to American PBS switching over to BBC after 9pm. I managed to watch and record all of season 2 onto VHS that way and has cemented my love for robot combat to this very day with shows like Battle Bots.
I love Robot Wars, I go back and watch old fights all the time. My hot take is that Tornado vs Razer final was what killed the original series, as nothing was never really the same after that fight.
Yea I agree. Definitely shouldn't have allowed Tornado to modify itself like that.
@@officialbackintheday Personally, I prefer it to seeing Razer just eat Tornado for a third time (Extreme 1 All Stars, Second World Championship)
It made a more interesting fight than either of those, and Tornado was entirely compliant with the rules as written at the time. In a way, Razer actually lost due to the modification they added as well, since the hook meant they couldn't release Tornado above the pit, which would have counted as a pitting.
100% I think everyone can agree that the Tornado modification was total bullshit. It would have been a good fight (although likely Razer victory) without it
Its very telling that the anti pit device was not allowed in the reboot and never seen in the US battle bots version, as I saw this on the day in the crowd everyone was mad, and it was deemed cheating.
@@whitewolf1743 Tornado never entered the reboot, nor did it enter Battlebots.
If you meant Extreme Warriors, the US version of Robot Wars, it actually did use it vs Razer in the series 2 International Championship.
My brother competed on robot wars and I got to go to some of the shows around the season 4-5 era. Met a bunch of the other competitors in the pits and Craig Charles too, was a blast! Would love to see it come back again.
this hit me in my nostalgia bone, this was so well put together, honestly it is amazing.
Also the fact that stinger, a bot which can be described as, 2 wheels and a pointy stick. Almost made it to the final, blows my mind
Thanks! I've been working on the next video for a little while now. It takes me quite a long time but I'd rather spend longer on each video and make it as good as I can make it. Suggestions are welcome!
Chaos 2 forever holds a place in my heart, the size of the thing compared to the immense power of its hydraulic lift which flipped everything from rivals to house robots brought so much pleasure to my childhood.
What a show. I loved it when growing up and loved the reboot too. The names of Chaos 2, Panic Attack, Razor and Hypnodisc etched into the memory and debating with my brothers who would win.
I was a huge fan of Robot Wars, but the quality of robots and battles on BattleBots is a different league.
I was raised on Robot Wars, it was awesome! Hypno Disc and Razor were my favourites because of how destructive they could be. I was delighted when the BBC rebooted it. The only thing I didn’t like was how much stronger the armour was in the reboot. Watching the robots annihilate the opposition’s armour was the best bit.
The organisers from live events such as Extreme Robots, deserve recognition for keeping the sport going.
Absolutely yea. Would love to attend one.
I got to meet the firestorm team once. I can you these robots are much bigger than you think they are just from seeing them on TV.
Very high quality editing, i can tell a lot of effort was put into this. Keep up this quality and you’ll have a ton of subs in no time
This one took a very long time haha!
I'm glad the series retured for a few seasons but wasn't renewed again.
Carbide was a frikken monster with the damage it could dish out.
I remember being in awe at Razer when i was little, always waiting on the edge as i knew the second that pincer got a hold of you it was over
I loved Robot Wars so much growing up. Getting onto that and Crystal Maze were my dream. I can't remember how many 'robots' I designed and build of out scrap metal and wood while having no idea how to make them move. I'd get as far as needing to do something eletrical and stop then go make something else. I drew sketches in school all the time. Then when I got to highschool I managed to get some like minded friends on board and even got help from the D&T teachers to start really building a competitor, only for the show to get cancelled half way through. I was crushed. Dreadge Pirate was a wedge shaped flipper bot with two mean spikes that would be fired up from the wedge by compressed argon canisters. It was basically one use but the idea was to drive under a bot, impale its undersides to grab it and go flip it into the pit.
It had its armor and then an inch above it was covered in wire mesh to catch saws and picks/axes. It was running on two lawnmower motors so it was going to be quick.
Then for the rest of the battle we'd use its high speed to ram and flip whenever we could. It was going to be a goddamn champion. I could have been a champion. God I miss this show.
Ah Robot Wars! A huge part of my childhood. I remember competing with our robot, Chip. Sadly we never progressed very far in tournaments but it was fun nonetheless. I still have a lot of Robot Wars merch including the official guide books that came out (wished Chip had been included in them). We also competed in Techno Games around the same time (copycat version of Robot Wars) and we won a bronze medal in the 'Sumo' contest...a medal that I still have!
Me and my father competed in the third wars we never got through the first qualifier. Dad built our robot on the premise that it should be more maneuverable based on the second wars trials challenges the change in format really threw him for a loop. My cousin and uncle also competed.
Robot wars changed my life as a child! I loved it so much
Thank You! It is indeed a Nice trip down Memory Lane.
Hard at work on the next one so stay tuned!
This was a huge treat to come across. being an avid fan as a kid hearing the House robots and the likes of Tornado, Firestorm and Hypno-Disc unlocks core memories alongside the more avant-garde bots like Gemini and that one walking bot (that always got destroyed). Couldn't believe they canned the new series after just a few seasons but oh well, thems be the way contracts be.
If anyone has nay knowledge, i'd love to know the fate of some of these bots and maybe the House bots, they're national treasures worth preserving, dents and all
This show was so damn hype, and the Spaced Robot Wars episode was an absolute classic
Oh wow, memories flooding back, Hypno disc, Chaos, roadblock and many more. 22:10 I remember this decision and in our house we thought it was criminal and favoured reigning champions.
man I remember seeing Robot Wars Live such an experience was honestly amazing
I grew up watching this show. I saw Nickelodeon Robot Wars first, and then I saw the UK series on G4 Tech TV. I still have the pullback toys in my room. I had dreamed of being on the show with a robot of my own, but I don't have any robot building experiences. Still, maybe the show will come back. It did once, and it can happen again.
Yea I have no doubt that it will return again some day. I would love to build a robot for competition!
I saw Robot Wars being filmed when I was a kid. I think it was series 6 that was being filmed. An amazing memory, i still can hardly believe I went.
I loved the revival series as well and was so upset when it was cancelled l. Dara was a great host.
that was a lovely and nostalgic 45 mins
Glad you enjoyed!
I was a Robot Wars Club member and saw a few seasons of taping (Hypnodisk in person was a sight to behold). Still annoyed about that Tornado final, haha.
The reason why it was cancelled wasn't just because of the lower viewing figures but down to cost. The price of competing got really high around seasons 5 and 6, which led to the battlers calling for more price money. It went slightly up in 6, but not enough, and the beeb wouldn't put any money in, hence the switch to Channel Five. I was sad to see it go and did enjoy the reveal, though I wish Crag had been involved.
Pretty good documentary: D.
This show was my childhood until I was about 8. I had loads of the toys from it and used to play with them on the fireplace.
They should bring it back 😢
Man, this was such a cool show. Thank you for such a thorough documentary, it brought back so many memories.
I was a 90’s kid and my grandpa recorded a couple of the “wars”, I think 2 and 3, on VHS, as well as a couple seasons of Battle Bots. I watched them a several times as a kid.
Such a great show. I wish the BBC hadn't cancelled it again!
I remember getting the toys from the show as a present once. This is proper nostalgic. Great video😊
What a lovely video! Thanks.
That mod Tornado did to keep them away from Razor was terribly bad form!
I remember having the robot wars arena as a toy with loads of robots, those were the days haha.
I met the razor team with their robot in Bournemouth when I was a kid. I felt like I'd met big-time celebs at the time
I remember as a kid i loved this show and loved shunt, i once tried to design my own robot based on him called “return of shunt” but due to my lack of knowledge around robots. I sadly couldn’t do it :(
Bigger brother beating chaos 2 and hypno disc back to back and taking razor to the judges is a crazy run
I loved the robots, the teams, the characters, but most of all, The Empress of RW…Phillipa Forrester…in leather 😍
Outrageous nostalgia watching this
Great nostalgia trip, I watched a lot of Robot Wars (reruns) when I was growing up in the late 2000s, I used to make cardboard models of the robots and some of my own designs
Same here 😁😁
Loved this show, was obsessed with hypno-disc. SPIN TO WIN!
I remember watching that sixth wars final as a kid and RAGING at my telly. How Tornado got away with that modification I will never know. Razer was robbed.
I feel you, man. Still rankles a bit today, to be honest, and I'm now a 33-year-old functioning adult with a wife and everything! 😆
Because they entered with interchangeable weapons, and this was one of their interchangeable weapons approved at the start of the competition.
You do realise Razor modded their robot as well.
Really nice video to watch before bed. Thanks for the nostalgia!
Brilliant nostalgic look at love of my favourite programmes. I'd love there to have been a quick moment on Cassius 2 - the first self righter. That first time Rex Garrod did that is one of my strongest RW memories!
I remember going to watch an episode of this being filmed, the battles were great fun although there was quite a wait in between battles which for a 7/8 year old was quite boring and so it meant we only saw a few battles which was a shame. I think I remember getting a tour of the workshop behind as well though. On our way home we stopped at a service station for food and while there one of the teams came in (maybe firestorm? I remember it being yellow). We went over to ask them questions and they offered to show us their robot in their car which was nice. Those things were huge in person, well to a child they were huge! Good memories, I had various toys of them as well including chaos 2, razor and the ref bot (which I got given at the filming I think, maybe to compensate for the long waits). I wonder if I still have them in the loft somewhere.
use to love watching scrapheap challenge too
Me too 👍
A really fab look back at probably my favourite show of all time! Great job!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@officialbackinthedayPhillipa Forrester was gunged on get your own back in 1992. From Joe. X
The Spaced episode that features a Robot Wars crossed with Fight Club street fighting mash up! So funny and the robot that Tim and Mike build even has a re appearance in the tear jerking finale of Spaced. This Robot Wars episode showed just how ingrained Robot Wars had become into UK life, EVERYONE had fun watching Robot Wars (unless you were some kinds heartless, boring weirdo)
I can't remember that from Spaced, which is a perfect excuse for me to watch it again!
@@krashd I get ya. I have watched that series on near repeat every year along with Red Dwarf. I wish they'd made another series! So I instead watch The Corneto Trilogy to pad things out!
Robot Wars was always a personal childhood favourite. I was rooting for Chaos 2 after such an iconic final battle in the third series.
Watching George Francis and his team get flipped out of the arena by DanTomKia in a later season really stung...
It's a shame the rebooted series didn't last long. The show still deserves a place on modern TV sets.
Literally my favourite show there has ever been, still watch it on a regular basis. Hot take: I don't mind Tornado having some mad configuration for certain battles, and I was a massive Razer fanboy at the time lmao
I always remember thinking Tornado's big frame thing must have been somewhat cheating because it stopped the robot from fitting in the pit. Surely that should have been factored into the decision
I always remember seeing cassius' self-righting by flipping itself back. It was a first and it was EPIC
I LOVED this show! And like many have said, I hoped to grow up and build my own robot to compete. The American version of this show is a bit cheesy at moments but flip they are building some insanely powerful machines!
Tornado abused the rules to cheat a win... Well done lads, hated forever...
I wasn't even all that bothered by the frame, I was bothered that Tornado was left suspended over the pit, unable to move, and wasn't eliminated for it.
I worship those men for their ingenuity.
We used to watch this at university. I remember the first series where a team from Cambridge University had created a mini-tank armed with what Jonathan Pearce called a Tanto Blade. Was it Mortis? They went out in the first round to a robot which was a bit more ramshackle. And they didn't look best pleased by it! They eventually won one of the spin-off events I think.
The other memory was one of the house robots (Matilda) getting totally wrecked by Razer. It came back held together by tape 😂
Don't believe you didn't even mention the first SRMECH in season 2! I still have that memory etched into my brain!
It was one of my favourite shows and had to argue with my dad if I was allowed to watch this "nonsense"😅 Think nobody thought at this time that it was becoming such a huge and important topic (not just the fighting of course). thank you for reviving the great moments and the old heroes. Keep up the great work.
Greetings from Germany.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed the video :)
Razor was my boy 💪
I loved the show.
I still see some events promoted on Facebook of the robot battling concept