Just to respond to a few points (here I go again):

Christian: Regarding spinning up, I can see that the decision could have been made to try to carry on as if T2 hadnt hit the wall. Nonetheless, T2 *did* hit the wall, and I feel that permitting it to spin up afterwards was unfair on its opponents. My opinion of the directors decision, no reflection on any of the competitors.

Regarding the chain, I have to agree that Gary Ss post perhaps had the wrong tone. Presumably the chain in question was from elsewhere - Id be interested to know from where (although I believe Gary when he says it wasnt from Typhoon). Typhoon would have been mobile even if it had thrown a chain, of course, because the drive train is redundant.

I believe Gary if he says Typhoon was not significantly damaged (although Ill be very surprised if its not slightly dented here and there, or bent a tooth, and if nothings been a bit strained). Im happy to admit that Storm apparently sustained greater damage, although that damage seemed also to be pretty superficial (the armour plate looked intact, just detached, and the rest of the robot was fine). As Ive said, I feel Ed would have done better towards the end of the fight by concentrating on pitting Typhoon rather than trying to break it. My point wasnt that I know better than the judges whether theres any damage, just from looking at a quick bit of TV coverage compared to their direct inspection. Im not claiming that I saw damage they didnt, and Im certainly not claiming that Gary wouldnt know (nor, as Gary S seems to be implying, that Gary knew and kept quiet), Im just suggesting that Ive never particularly trusted the, er, judgement of the panel of judges used by Mentorn. My opinion, and partly tempered by show editing, but theyve clearly been known to make mistakes in the past. Funny how Ive never disagreed with a judges decision at Debenham...

I suspect style is highly subjective, and if the judges want to decree Typhoon the winner in that category then thats their prerogative, but I was just making the point that I cant see how they reached that decision. Its not clear to me that, unless something incredibly stylish happened and was edited out, anything Typhoon did could be counted as stylish; maybe Storm lost points for hitting the wall (under Typhoon) so often, but I think in addition to exemplary control, Ed showed off all the tactics and capabilities of his robot much better. Unless you get points for painting rings on your robot and turning up in uniform? I dont know, and its not my place to dispute it, but I *am* curious.

The reason I was picking up on that, Mike, was that although I agree Typhoon was (apparently) ahead on damage, and I dont dispute that damage should be weighted more highly than the other categories, I felt that Storm was massively ahead on the other three categories. If, somehow, the style decision went to Typhoon and the others were as close as the judges seemed to be making out during the repairs then fair enough that the weighting from the damage should carry it. But unless the TV footage is grossly unrepresentative (and there was a lot of it for much to have been cut) I happen to disagree with them.

Also, Mike, Im not sure that Id be arguing that Typhoon particularly deserves it solely on the strength of achievement compared with their lack of experience. Bear in mind that variants of Typhoon have been around for several years now, and that they have a large group of people backing them; Storm on the other hand was completely rebuilt for this tournament, the pre-rebuild appearance was their first at a televised event, and the original Storm was also relatively recent. Its true that team Storm have had some live event experience which the Typhoon team havent, but not with the robot in its current form. Im not suggesting that Typhoon 2 isnt a great and laudable achievement, but I wouldnt suggest that its so much more of one than Storm 2. Ed and Gary have both been valuable and vocal on these fora for some time, and I wouldnt class either as a novice - certainly not in comparison to myself.

And yes, Jayne is and always has been (IMHO) an unmitigated disaster. I give her a small amount of credit for apparently starting to care by the end of the programme, but that the director felt the need to show this fact just highlights how much the whole event was passing her by at the beginning (glazed expression). Shes been another Carmen, but probably with less of a viewing figure draw for dirty old men (and maybe a slightly less detrimental effect on the people shes trying to interview).

End rant, again. :-)

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Fluppet