Robot Wars: Series 5 - Top 15 Battles (2002)

Honestly, the fight between S3 and the wild thing was interesting, but how was the aggression criterion given to S3, the wild thing was pushing almost the entire fight either into the patrol zone, or into the pit, or into the arena wall, and by the end of the fight S3 was barely moving, how S3 won I don't understand

The hypnodisc boys were always very gracious in defeat

Chaos vs wild thing
And
Razer vs firestorm 3
Are 2 of the all time best battles in robotwars in my opinion

Behemoth was one I never liked

Series 5 is probably the golden series of the classic run. So many good battles and surprising victories, plus Razer finally getting their UK championship win. So many good moments and surprising fights. I really didn't expect Reactor II to win against Gemini as much as I hoped it would, but yet here is it winning the fight! Hypno-Disc losing to Bigger Brother despite the damage it caused, Wheely Big Cheese throwing Axe-Awe across the arena and out, Tornado being out-pushed and defeated by Diotoir, the destruction of Atomic 2, Razer and Firestorm driving constantly over the open pit... just so many good fights and surprising victories for robots! Who can forget Granny's Revenge too, and the last of the semi-final appearances for Panic Attack.

Razer won series 5. From Joe. X

Diotoir getting the big push on Tornado surprised me, I keep forgetting that there's a beast of a bot under all that red fur.

#15 That moment made me a Robot Wars fan

It's kind of sad how series 5 was Tornado's worst run.

Always loved that Tornado got beaten at its own pushing game by Diotoir of all bots.

I'm sorry....Wild Thing is piloted by the Literal Adams Family, and that's the best theme they could come up with?

I love watching these fights, but god that announcer is fucking annoying.

very poor editing Should have shown who won the battles at the end of the fights.

Probably the best season. Not a fan of Razer (love the creativity, just found it mostly boring to watch) but just the general matches were fantastic.

I noticed the pit didn't lower until Reactor 2 drove off of it. Even though it wouldn't have mattered, since Gemini was already counted out

Mousetrap vs S3 was one of my personal favs form this series

Behemoth wiped the floor with supernova!

Good sport he didn't have to flip it back over could have taken the win

Is Diotoir's weapon single use?

It feels like Gemini’s flippers in series 5 were a lot weaker than in series 4

Love how reckless Firestorm drives in the match against Hypnodisc. They've got nothing to lose, so they just go for it!

Wild Thing almost went out in round 1 of series 5, but they got more aggressions

Chaos 2 vs Wild Thing is the best RW match in history. Better than HypnoDisc vs BB or Razer vs Firestorm.

I hate the kid that called them chickens
"They didn't really come at us"



Well what do you think your dad put the piercings on the bot on purpose

Razer is a complete monster. One of my top bots

Why base your whole bot around the flipper weapon and then make it weak as hell? No point using a weak ass flipper

I feel bad for atomic😩😩😩

Gu

With battles like these, Series 5 is where Robot Wars really shone. Wheely Big Cheese got to show its true power and Diotoir put the wind up Tornado.
Battles 1 and 4: When you put Razer, Firestorm, Hypno-Disc and Bigger Brother in the grand final, you get two explosive closely fought duels to the death and the fans of those bots on the edge of their seats (and getting what they want, more or less).

As a sidenote, Extreme 2 will be the next series uploaded. Unfortunately, my recordings of Series 6 from about a year ago are all incompatible with my laptop apart from the first couple of heats, so I'll have to wait it out until Sky 2 or Challenge show it again before uploading.

Please do Series Six.

15 - I suppose this is here in the same way Supernova/Frostbite was from S9, because while it's a one-hit KO, it's god damn mental to watch.

14 - I get that this is low down because at the end of the day it was a one-sided match, but you gotta hand it to the Willoughbys for never, never giving up and being there to put on as good a show as possible. Some roboteers might try and avoid C2 out of habit, but going directly in on it again and again gave Chaos 2 the chance to show off to the audience, got them to bring the axe down - it was about giving a good show and they definitely did that.

13 - Another one-sided match you can't help but admire for the sheer skill on show. Bigger Brother's spear arms that came out from the flipper were more effective than you might think, I'm surprised Or Te doesn't have them. S3 finally met a robot that can deal with it and shows why it was arguably one of the weakest semi-finalists of the Fifth Wars.

12 - Clinical driving display over just a bit too quickly. Makes you wonder if the Active Weapon had been removed for the Ninth Wars, could Michael Oates have just put a 15mm hardox block on Eruption and done the same to Carbide? I mean probably not - the internet would have had a riot if he'd won like that, but it would have been a good match to watch.

11 - Surprised this is so low down on the list! Back and forth, back and forth, and the kings of Extreme getting their butts handed to them by the ultimate 'joke entry' of a robot. Really hoping Tension Flippers take off again - Lock Jaw's rumble in Battlebots S7 was a fantastic example of 'em.

10 - My above reasoning for Tornado/Diotior being so high suddenly feels like hypocrisy when I honestly don't think this should be this high up. Yes it was back and forth for a long time, but part of me feels Reactor's win was luck more than anything, and bad design of Gemini - but then it's the same story above. Hmm. It's personal preference I guess, maybe I don't like Reactor as much as Diotior? I respect it immensely, but it doesn't grab at your heart. I did like Gemini more than Tornado so that could be it too. Strange feelings.

9 - Hey, it's Team Forsey's first appearance! And the only time they'll ever appear in a 'best fights' montage (Sorry Mr Speed Squared). Some people think this a controversial one - I think it's close, but not wrong. Yes Trouble 'n' Strife did a lot more damage itself but there was control and aggression from Wild Thing, and damage was sustained by T&S by direct work from Wild Thing - and it kept working despite the wheels being a little askew, kinda like Sewer Snake/Stinger TKB from the US. Good fight though, maybe should be a touch higher.

8 - Seriously? This one so high? Like, I get that the Americans in particular love the Sri Lankan WMD, but this was an atrocious fight - Supernova got some nasty damage dealt to it by Matilda, but who didn't in this goddamn series? No accuracy or driving style, this was sheer luck. I'd have put it below Iron-Awe/WBC honestly.

7 - Oooof. This one is a rollercoaster of emotions before and afterwards, and while I said when the video was uploaded I stand by Wild Thing deserving it, I'm not so sure any more. yes, Prizephita was slowing towards the end, but it wasn't out. If it's still mobile, no matter how sluggish, it's alive, and WT didn't stop it. Prizephita got lots more flips in and for long parts of the fight controlled it and fought back against the ineffective disc of WT. I think it could have gone to any but I do feel bad for the Prizephita team, you can see how gutted they are as well afterwards. Again, this is why we needed Wild Cards for these series. Great battle though.

6 - Good fight, I'm not sure it's quite worthy of a high position though, certainly not above WT/Phizephita. Was Atomic the only machine to ever make Hypno Disc use its' self-righter?

5 - Another good fight with Wild Thing in it that had an awkward judges' decision. Every time Wild Thing fought, it didn't always have the killing power but it put on a good close fight, it ran the distance and could run it some more - it would have done well in an Annihilator or the Round Robin tournament in S8 and 9. Again I can see why the judges gave it to S3 - some big hits and damage, and if we're told that damage will always win out over control, style and aggression... you may not agree with it, but if them's the rules. That said it was probably more that S3 had an atrocious fight against Bigger Brother and the producers wanted that blade to get more air time since Wild Thing had already had a nice good battle.

4 - Said this before in the Grand Final comments, I was amazed this wasn't boring. Like I said earlier, I think Razer only got this one because Damage is weighted so much higher than the other categories because Aggression and Control were definitely Firestorm's. But then again, them's the rules.

3 - Surprised to see this one so far up - it's a cracking fight but not nearly as good as some of the other ones we've seen before. Not much that can be said about this one that hasn't already been mentioned across a few other times you've uploaded this. Lots of the fight there was nothing happening - it's why I can't in all good faith vote for Panic Attack vs Tiberius despite that being a hell of a challenge for Kim Davies.

2 and 1 - I think the RW Wiki voted Wild Thing vs Chaos 2 below Bigger Brother vs Hypno Disc as well and in both cases I think both of you are wrong. BB/HD was a massive upset and a wonderful display of driving talent but only on one side - it's great seeing a robot tank hits but the best fight should surely be one where both robots are breathing, growling and still in motion at the end both having exchanged massive blows - Wild Thing svs Hypno Disc and Chaos 2 vs Stinger in S4, Carbide vs Apollo and Carbide vs TR2 from S8, Lock Jaw vs Yeti from Battlebots S7, stuff like that. I think the KO at the end kinda spoils some of the fun, and while I don't mean to diss Ian Watts' driving and stopping the monster of Hypno Disc, it's just not up to two of the best drivers in the competition going at it hammer and tongs, and two near pittings.

Also shame on you for not including Pussycat vs Firestorm.

I can't believe you put the Dominator 2 V Hypnodisc at No. 1😊

The top 3 battles here are I think the 3 best battles ever.

Graham Bone: Explains in the pits that he's removed the flipper as the pneumatic ram has been wrecked by Razer so they've added extra armor on top instead.

Jonathan Pearce: Is the Firestorm flipper working?

Me: Sigh.

Can't argue with that top 5. I personally would have had Wild Thing vs Chaos 2 above Hypno Disc vs Bigger Brother, and Firestorm vs Razer above S3 vs Mousetrap, but that's all just personal preference. Great list, and really makes you realise just how incredible Series 5 was. This could easily have been a top 30 really.

Thanks for the upload

For any questions as to which robot wins a Judges' decision, the winner is the robot I listed first for that particular battle.