The first spot of the series semi-finals is up for grabs! Now we will determine who will snatch it from the other€™s sight!

Heat A Final
Wedge Devolution vs. Death Threat 0.2

Roboteers, stand by€¦

Booth #1: Steven McGregor
Booth #2: Daniel Bailey

In the arena, for the house robots, we have Golden Lotus, the 500kg spinning flower of doom, and Charon, the lifter, clawer, drummer€¦tolling the bell for those who have fallen.

3€¦
2€¦
1€¦
Activate!!!

Straight off the mark it€™s Wedge Devo, on the attack, not fearing a frontal assault at all and is immediately under the front claws of Death Threat - wa-hey! How about that! A little bit of gymnastics from Death Threat as Wedge Devo zooms right under him sending Danny€™s bot into extreme airtime mode€¦and with a WHUMP, down comes Danny€™s bot, but it€™s barely begun to even move again when Wedge Devo attacks the rear, almost instantly! No flip, but it€™s carrying Death Threat towards the arena wall€¦but€¦no. Didn€™t think so€¦but it€™s stacked - or it was. A flick towards the wall sends Death Threat against it€¦not over, but resting on its claws for just a second before sliding down. Wedge Devo rushes in to attack once more, but Death Threat finally gets the chance to escape and does so.

A fuming Steve directs his robot straight after Death Threat straight away, confident that a constant wedge attack will keep Death Threat on the ropes. And indeed that seems to be the case. Danny starts sweating, as Death Threat is caught up and flicked again, this time so that the claws face Wedge Devo. They close, but too soon, and Wedge Devo moves in again. Unfortunately it€™s not a centered attack and Death Threat falls off the side of the wedge. Not too much of a problem for Steve as Wedge Devo makes another turn and another flip, sending Death Threat tumbling every which way across the arena floor. Wedge Devo chases after it again, the clear winner of the fight so far.

Death Threat makes a sudden turn, but it doesn€™t do much other than give Wedge Devo a different area of attacking. It is almost like the skirts on Death Threat don€™t exist to Steve, Wedge Devo sliding under them every time, and this time as well as Death Threat is tossed against the arena wall. It slides off due to the side spikes, but can€™t get away and Wedge Devo moves it diagonally along the wall, flipping it again. It slides across the wall and into an empty CPZ, but he gets out of there before Charon or Golden Lotus can make a move€¦courtesy of one of the four flippers in the CPZs!!! It sends him flying past Wedge Devo and into the center of the arena. Wedge Devo immediately chases after it and rams it, sending it flying into the air with the sheer force.

Death Threat looks dazed, and rather sheepish, as it turns to try and get around to Wedge Devo€™s sides and/or to find some way of coming back into the fight, but Wedge Devo is impassive in his movements and flies straight into the side of Death Threat again, tossing it yet again and using that side spike as leverage to toss again. Death Threat still can€™t get away from these abusive flights of unfancy and is rammed straight into Charon€™s CPZ. Charon turns to give Death Threat some drum tasting, and it slams straight into that side spike on the left side€¦or whatever side it is!

CRASH!!!

Ripping it clean off and sending Death Threat over onto its€¦other end! It€™s hard to tell which way up Death Threat is now, after all that flipping. The fuming of Steve seems to have been forgotten, replaced by an expression of smug confidence, as Wedge Devo moves again to attack as Death Threat moves away from Charon, and tosses it again, and almost out! Oho! Death Threat has a chance to attack, but Wedge Devo backs off before Death Threat can have a go at the sides. It€™s really looking one-sided, and Steve is keen to finish the job. Death Threat is rammed again, goes flying overtop of the €˜Devo and turns to attack, only to find Wedge Devo attacking again! This time he doesn€™t go flying over Wedge, but is positioned beautifully on the flipper. Wedge Devo carries to the wall and€¦half-flips?

Death Threat thuds against the wall, but now we see something alarming: Wedge Devo€™s flipper has run out off power. It must have been all those flips, and I don€™t think Steve was being wise using up all that energy€¦truth is, has it worn Death Threat out as well? Wedge Devo moves in and pins Death Threat against the wall€¦and starts to move it towards of the Discs of Death, but Death Threat falls overtop of Wedge Devo€™s rear and lands with the claws facing away. Wedge Devo pushes backwards with the rear skirt and sloped backside, but here is where he is defeated by Death Threat€™s rear skirt, and the shaken clawbot now has gained an extra life as it pushes Wedge Devo towards the Disc of Death! Not all of the €˜Devo€™s wheels are touching the ground, only two€¦Steve tries to spin around to attack but no go!

CRASH!!!

The bottom of the tooth on that Disc of Death smacks into Wedge Devo€™s top and shears off a panel instantly, €˜Devo held in place by Death Threat, but also stopping the disc. Have the tabled turned? Wedge Devo pushes back, as Death Threat yields, but that wasn€™t a wise move. Wedge Devo spins around and buries the wedge again, flipperless but not powerless by a very long shot. Death Threat is taken to the wall and slammed against it ala Storm II, and bounces away across the arena floor, and here enters the Death Egg, spinning up from the center of the arena and making its presence known! Yep, half the match has gone by and the house robots are starting to feel restless, but they€™ll have to wait.

Death Threat turns around but is rammed again, with albeit less force than before but enough to carry Death Threat over the wedge and onto the rear of Wedge Devo, who backs Death Threat towards that Death Egg. Fortunately, Death Threat falls completely off before this can happen€¦and Wedge Devo has nowbeached his own rear skirt on Death Threat€™s side skirt! Danny€™s face flitters with shock before screwing up with intense concentration as Death Threat turns ever-so-slightly to try and grab the side of Wedge Devo€¦but it doesn€™t work, and Wedge Devo moves off and away. Furious, Death Threat pounds after him, only to get rammed again by another menacing charge by the €˜Devo and taken to the wall to get mashed against it.

The attack continues as Wedge Devo wedges Death Threat again and slams it past the pit release button, sending Death Threat away towards Golden Lotus€™ CPZ, and backs into the button, opening the pit on the other side of the arena. Death Threat backs away, but straight into Wedge Devo€™s path, who slams into it, sending it flying off the back of Wedge Devo€¦AND WEDGE DEVO SLAMS INTO GOLDEN LOTUS!

CRASH!!!

That didn€™t look good, a hit on Wedge Devo€™s front corner. A driving error from Steve results in the side panel that got knocked off by Salamander III last round, coming off again and settling down onto the flame pit. Also the front wedge isn€™t looking good. Wedge Devo backs off, still quick, but Death Threat has finally come in from behind, and started to clamp hold! Trapped between his opponent and a house robot, Wedge Devo goes for the 500kg spinner but Death Threat moves forwards as well, keeping him in check and the left-side claw has managed to pierce the chassis of Wedge Devo€™s exposed side! Oh dear, what damage has been done? Wedge Devo€™s wheels are still moving, but Death Threat has him pegged€¦Golden Lotus is spinning up again€¦Wedge Devo pushes and pulls, but the situation Steve wanted to avoid all along has unwittingly happened, and now the house robot is reached max speed. Death Threat feeds his baffled opponent to Golden Lotus.

CRASH!!!

Baffled and bashed-in, that is! The wedge is dented, but not so much compared to the flipper, which looks completely beaten in! And€¦and€¦Death Threat pulls the Wedge backwards, which doesn€™t seem to be resisting. In fact it doesn€™t seem to be doing much of anything anymore, but Death Threat, just to be completely sure, or maybe for all that ramming, decides that Wedge Devo should take a beating from our beloved Death Egg. Death Threat bullies him against it.

CRASH!!!

The other side panel is taken out, and the front wedge is almost off as well, confirming the belief that Wedge Devolution has forgone the quest for the FVAL trophy. Before the Refbot can even count out Wedge Devo, Danny has already booked his opponent a nice safe bed€¦in the pit. BOOM!

CEASE!

Wedge Devolution needs an evolution in higher CO2 capacity.
Death Threat 0.2 advances to the Series Semi-Finals!