Thanks Leo

Mechanical Maelstrom Season 2.0:
Semi-Final 2

Ladies and Gentlemen... Dantu!
This heavily armoured axlebot with a powerful vertical spinning disc has proved a surprise contender this season, getting through the first round melee with a bit of luck thanks to the tenacity of its fellow contender Visioned in said round. However, since then it has proved to have great staying power in matches and is able to inflict a lot of damage without sustaining much at all, having defeated two excellent flippers, Eternia and the number #2 ranked Gabriel IV, and both were dispatched after exceedingly close judge€™s decisions.

Presenting... Wedga Triton!
This box-wedge shaped flipper robot is nothing spectacular to look at in terms of originality, but effectiveness is a different story. This powerful rear hinged launching weapon has over 1600kg of force to throw the other robots around with, and this has proved to be more than powerful enough to toss robots over the barrier on two occasions, first against Pure Evil in round one and then in the quarter-finals when Traffic Warden was launched onto the camera tracks.

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

The two machines get off to a very aggressive start as this match begins, the box wedge shaped robot of Wedga Triton speeding full force towards Dantu and getting underneath the front of the axlebot straight away before the disc is even up to speed, ramming Dantu against the wall and firing the flipper to try and end the match quickly by sending Dantu onto the camera tracks like Traffic Warden in the previous round, but Dantu with its high ground clearance design manages to drive halfway off the flipper before it was activated and so is merely flicked upside down.

Alex attacks with the disc now, putting a scar in the side of Wedga Triton but flipping itself back the right way up, putting its rear end towards Wedga, who jumps at the chance to attack and rams underneath the axlebot€™s behind, firing the flipper and sending Dantu head over heels again, this time with the spinner robot performing an odd dance on its side as it landed on its wheel, using that to right itself before it goes back on the attack again, this time hitting Wedga Triton just as the flipper resets and bending the front flipper plate up slightly so as to make it tougher for Wedga Triton to get underneath Dantu.

Undeterred, Andy drives in on the attack and slams Dantu into the spike strip with quite considerable force, putting a dent in the rear of Dantu before firing the flipper and tossing Dantu up onto the rails surrounding the arena! Dantu wobbles precariously before bouncing back down, and Andy curses as he realises that with an undamaged flipper plate Dantu most probably would have gone out of the arena! But it didn€™t and now Wedga Triton is paying for it as Dantu rams back in on the attack, slamming into the side of Wedga Triton, who is skirtless for this match because Dantu is a spinner and puts another scar in the hardox monocoque, flipping Wedga up and over as it does so!

Wedga Triton self-rights swiftly and goes back on the attack, driving underneath Dantu again and flipping it up against the pit release button, and Dantu seems to be having some trouble with the disc, which seems to be shorting out occasionally. This must be from connection knocked loose inside the machine earlier on, but at this moment in time the disc is spinning and Dantu is going back on the attack, ramming the front flipper of Wedga Triton and this time buckling the front of the flipper a bit more! Hardox isn€™t all it€™s cracked up to be it would seem and Wedga has taken some notable damage from that spinning disc.

Yet still Wedga Triton is aggressive, driving at Dantu again and pushing it over the killsaws with a shower of sparks on Dantu€™s hardox to show for it, but it€™s struggling to get underneath properly now and although it flips when Dantu€™s wheel goes up onto the side of the flipper plate which isn€™t damaged at all it isn€™t really enough to use to the full power of the flipper and so when Andy uses this weapon Dantu merely turns over once, not taking any damage, but failing to go back on the attack because this is one of the times when the disc isn€™t spinning. Nevertheless Alex attacks the open flipper of Wedga Triton, pushing against the blue robot with its spikes, but the flipper resets and pushes Dantu away, allowing Andy to push Dantu back across the arena with his superior drive and ram the axlebot against the spike strip.

Dantu escapes as Wedga Triton is forced to reverse away by the judges, and the disc is now spinning again as it goes back on the attack and bumps into the side of Wedga with a lot of force, throwing it up and over again, but this time there€™s no immediate self-righting! Andy looks worried and the crowd count Wedga Triton down and out of the fight as we now notice the removable link knocked out by that last blow, and the judges agree that this is a disappointing end to the back and forth fight seemingly dominated by Wedga Triton, who was prevented from taking out it€™s worthy adversary by tiny little damages here and there.

CEASE!

Wedga Triton is shell shocked; Dantu advances to the finals!

Play-off:
Hypertension MK3 vs. Wedga Triton

Grand Final:
Holepunch 2.0 vs. Dantu

Tactics/Predictions/Comments?