*Opening music plays to various pictures of robots being destroyed in previous seasons*

They came to fight... They came to destroy... They came to win...
The Box Is Locked, The Lights Are On - Let The Wars Begin!

Welcome back robot fans! Mechanical Maelstrom€™s main competition is back after almost two years of Annihilation, and how things have changed! The new ranking system, intended to stay in place for this season and the next, makes it€™s debut along with some fantastic new competitors, but don€™t forget the famous veterans that are back to kick bot. So with no further ado, let€™s see the draw for today€™s episode!

Battleboard
Sheer Heart Attack 2 [#1] vs. Knyfe vs. Assegai vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Super Gore Eahta vs. Gravity vs. Mornington Crescent

That€™s right, the return of the two best robots from Season 1.0, as well as a few other familar faces! So with no further ado, let€™s get down to the Annihilation Stadium, which is sporting some dangerous looking pneumatic flipping spikes in the interchangeable weapon modules!

From Enschede in the Netherlands, representing Team Varying Everyday, ranked #1, Sheer Heart Attack 2!
What a machine! Immediately recognisable as the first ever champion of Mechanical Maelstrom, this powerful spinner can rip up the opposition and also push them around with the dual hinged wedges at the rear. The tracks provide excellent grip, but their also exposed to overhead attacks from axes and crushers.

MM1.0 ~ Ripped up MeCannibal 3.0 and Spin Dash Unleashed in spectacular fashion to reach the final, where it clawed past Gabriel III to win the first ever MM trophy.

MM2.0 ~ Started well in the melees, strolling past Death Sentence and Roo 2, and also made short work of the impressive Supreme in round 2, but met it€™s match in the form of eventual runner-up Holepunch 2.0 in the quarter-finals.

Annihilation ~ Reached the heat final, but unexpectedly lost to the powerful Jinx.

From Orpington in Kent, representing Team Insanity, Knyfe!
This powerful rammer is packing a six wheel drive as well as thick hardox armour and a lot of strategical interchangeable weapons! Don€™t mess with Knyfe, as for this match it is using two long wedges to beach opponents and push them to where it wants them. However, lack of any real weaponry could haunt it.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation ~ N/A

From England in the UK, representing Team Zarte, Assegai!
Another invertible box newcomer, this innovative machine uses unique weaponry in the form of a pole that smacks against the opposition, powered by the force of gravity. This of course gives it unlimited hits and could do lot of damage, but it€™ll need to work up a lot of acceleration for each attack.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation ~ N/A

From Patricia in Canada, representing Team Alt, Mobile Failure 2.5!
Last time we saw this bot it was all purple and 1 and half less experienced! Now it€™s back to kick bot, with a better axe and less conventional shape. This time around it€™s packing a gutsy lynch motor drive and a lot of hinged wedges, but they could hinder manouevrability and the armour isn€™t the thickest either.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation [as Mobile Failure] ~ Got through the first two rounds of its heat as Venus Fly Trap II and Spring-BOK! bit the dust, but found itself in the pit by the end of round 3.

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Varying Everyday, Team Zarte
Booth Blue: Team Insanity, Team Alt

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

And they€™re off! A quick to start to the tournament as the spinning drum of the rank #1 and former champion Sheer Heart Attack 2 gets up to full speed dangerously quickly and heads for the centre of the arena. Knyfe moves out menacingly to meet SHA2 head on, but the front wedges smack into the drum, sparking off like fireworks! The thin front of the wedges is bent up rather badly in the impact, but that doesn€™t stop Paul and he rampages forward, getting in underneath Sheer Heart Attack 2 and slamming the champion backwards into the spike strip! No real damage done to SHA2, but Knyfe scores some aggression points. Paul can€™t hold Martijn in place though and the tracked machine crawls up and over the top of Knyfe, grinding away at the top armour with that spinning drum as it does so! Paul reverses to try and shake SHA2 off, but Martijn reverses back off Knyfe and slams forward into the already damaged wedges, further buckling them with another impact from the drum! The main part of the wedges is fine as the thick titanium there holds strong, but the thinner ends are really taking damage here and it€™s going to be difficult for Knyfe to get under anyone sooner or later!

Meanwhile Assegai is playing a tentative, defensive game, unlike Mobile Failure 2.5! Tracy hunts Zarte€™s machine around the outskirts of the arena for the first few seconds of the match before the invertible machine guns it in reverse and slams into Mobile Failure! The pole swings out, but MF2.5 is already underneath with the front hinged wedge and so the innovative weapon of Assegai strikes at thin air! An unfortunate attack there, but this puts Team Alt in a very good position and Tracy pushes forward, swinging the meaty axe of Mobile Failure 2.5 over and putting a large dent in the titanium top of Assegai! Good stuff early here, as the match seems to have divided into two one-on-ones, with Knyfe now on the attack of SHA2, slamming against the side of the tracked machine and trying to push it across the arena, doing so but with no great speed due to the immense traction held by SHA2 on the steel arena floor. Eventually Paul gets Martijn to the pneumatic floor spike, which fires up and flips the #1 machine up onto its side, giving Knyfe the opportunity to ram in underneath and slam the Dutch machine into the pit release button! The chasm descends, who will be the first to go down?

Tracy has a clear idea of who she wants in the pit, and holds Mobile Failure€™s axe tightly to Assegai, now turning and pushing her clamped opponent across the arena to the pit, relieving her deathly grip just over the chasm and letting Assegai slither slowly off the wedge and into the pit! An unforunate early end for Assegai in MM3.0, as it is the first robot to fall, mostly due to a lack of wedge protection against the fantastic hinged wedge of Team Alt, who now turn their attention to Knyfe, who is holding SHA2 pinned against the arena wall.

The white and purple box shape of Mobile Failure zips up behind Knyfe, sliding the hinged wedge underneath the rear skirt with considerable ease givent its thickness, and that powerful axe comes over again! It strikes a large dent into the hardox armour of Knyfe, and exactly like it did to Assegai Mobile Failure drags the boxy opponent backwards before turning and dropping it into the pit, this time front-first! Knyfe slots snugly in next to Assegai, both balanced vertically on their backs against the side of the pit, the first two machines to fall from Mechanical Maelstrom 3.0! Low boxes beware, Mobile Failure is about!

Team Alt€™s new machine is looking very impressive in this first round of the competition, but it is now faced with the rank #1 Sheer Heart Attack 2, who fell down from the wall when Mobile Failure removed Knyfe and now has the drum spinning at full speed ready for damage! Martijn races forward as Tracy turns to meet him, and the hinged wedge of Mobile Failure is ripped right off the robot in one hit! Mobile Failure is flipped up, but not over by the hit and sparks fly off the titanium! The crowd cheer as SHA emphasises its status as Season 1.0 champion, but Team Alt aren€™t finished yet! No sooner are their wheels back on the ground than they€™re back on the attack and the axe comes over again, slamming directly into the track of Sheer Heart Attack! The meaty axe clamps onto the track and holds on, allowing Mobile Failure to pull back and drag SHA2 towards the pit! However, there isn€™t much room in there and Team Varying Everyday are still able to move one track, gunning it as much as they possibly can to make things as difficult as possible for Team Alt! Both machines use LEM-130 motors to drive their machines, and the tracks of SHA2 give extra grip, but with one track being held by Mobile Failure the match is cancelled out. As it isn€™t underneath Mobile Failure can€™t really pit SHA2 as easily as it did Knyfe and Assegai, and this violent tug of war isn€™t going anywhere, so eventually the judges order Team Alt to relinguish grip of SHA2 and back off.

The 15mm titanium track of SHA2 appears to be fairly undamaged by Mobile Failure€™s axe blow and Team Varying Everyday now goes back on the attack, ripping some gashes in the front titanium of Mobile Failure 2.5! Tracy looks worried and pushes forward to stop the drum, swinging the axe over as she does so, but connecting only with the gap on the floor behind SHA2! This allows Martijn to push forward and hit the front of Mobile Failure again, flipping it up and over! Luckily for Team Alt this doesn€™t provide Martijn with an opportunity to hit the polycarbonate base armour and Tracey quickly self-rights by pulling the axe back and pulls around to push against SHA2 from the side! She swings the axe over one last time, striking the opposite track and making a nice little shower of sparks as the match ends!

CEASE!

Two robots remain and so the match as to go the judges! It€™s so close!

Judge€™s Decision:

Damage ~ Sheer Heart Attack 2 damaged Knyfe€™s wedges early on in the match, and also caused a lot of damage to Mobile Failure towards the end of the fight, ripping off the hinged wedge and putting several gashes in the front armour. Mobile Failure 2.5 put large dents in Assegai and Knyfe with it€™s axe, and although it hit SHA2 the damage was mostly just superficial as the thick titanium tracks held up well.
21/9 in favour of Sheer Heart Attack 2

Aggression ~ Sheer Heart Attack 2 moved to meet Knyfe early on, but was shoved around and held against the arena wall. It also took a good opportunity to attack Mobile Failure when it ripped off the hinged wedge and an even better one when it flipped it over. Mobile Failure 2.5 was very agressive from the beginning of the match, tailing Assegai around the arena and then attacking Knyfe straight after it pitted Assegai. It also wasted no time in attacking SHA2.
15/5 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Control ~ Sheer Heart Attack 2 showed good control driving over Knyfe, but was pushed around and held against the arena wall for a lot of the match, and was also pinned by Mobile Failure€™s axe for the full pinning time, not showing good dominance in the match. On the other hand Mobile Failure 2.5 scores points for controlling all three of its opponents at some time in the match, but also loses some for badly missing SHA2 with its axe when it struck the floor between the tracks and left itself open to attack.
7/3 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Overall ~ 31/29 in favour of Mobile Failure 2.5

Assegai and Knyfe in the pit; Sheer Heart Attack 2 [#1] falls out in the first round! Mobile Failure 2.5 advances to the second round having felled the top machine on a breathtakingly close judges decision!

Battleboard
Sheer Heart Attack 2 [#1] vs. Knyfe vs. Assegai vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Super Gore Eahta vs. Gravity vs. Mornington Crescent

From Pontefract in West Yorkshire, representing Team Picus, ranked #3, Gabriel V!
The pyramid shaped flipper, back for another wars! This yellow machine has seen significant success in previous seasons, finishing runner-up first time around and also doing respectably in Season 2.0. This newest incarnation of the machine features large ears to stop opponents going over the top and looks deadlier than ever, but it didn€™t go that way in Annihilation.

MM1.0: Flipped Do Or Die out of the competition in round one and then dealt with Leprosy Infection in the semi-finals to reach the final, but it was beaten away from the championship by Sheer Heart Attack 2.

MM2.0: Squeaked past Talisman and Cobalt in round one, and again scraped through round 2 on a close judges decision against Neo-Mecha. Put up a good fight against eventual champions Dantu in the quarter-finals, but was beaten out on another judges decision.

Annihilation: Started strongly, breezing past Minseweep3r and Bloody Frigid with little difficulty, but found itself the victim of the judges decision in round 3.

From Toronto in Canada, representing Team Zlayerz, Super Gore Eahta!
A tracked beast, this bot is heavy on grip and pushing power as well as packing some extremely powerful hydraulic claws. It has interchangeable setups too, with wedged claws like those of Under Pressure able to swap with more traditional TAN-style arms. However, the wedged claws have no Under Pressure-style points to grip opponents and we€™ve seen thicker armours. Using the wedged claws for this match.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation ~ N/A

From the Netherlands, representing Team Robot Wars, Gravity!
This powerful Dutch realie resembles a snowspeeder, but with a gravity-defying flipper. It threw all comers out of the arena in RW7 and looks to do the same here. To date it is the best performing realie in Mechanical Maelstrom, having reached the 4th round of Annihilation due to the powerful flipper, but the weak armour could let it down.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation ~ Performed well, surviving the first three rounds of the annihilator before it was pitted by Traffic Warden in round 4.

From Glasgow in Scotland, representing Team Braveheart, Mornington Crescent!
This innovative ring spinner brings something new to the table in that it has two spinning rings instead of one. This could mean twice the destruction, or it could mean half the destruction times two.... which would be the same! But nevertheless it€™s a treat to watch in the arena and proved it in Annihilation, but the high ground clearance could make it flipper fodder.

MM1.0 ~ N/A

MM2.0 ~ N/A

Annihilation ~ Helped to knock out Orka RV and the favoured Wedga Triton in the opening rounds, but was knocked into the pit by an unfortunate collision in round three.

Roboteers, standby!

Booth Red: Team Picus, Team Zlayerz
Booth Blue: Team Robot Wars, Team Braveheart

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

The second match gets underway! It€™s a far more aggressive start this time, with Super Gore Eahta making a beeline for Mornington Crescent, who, in turn, heads straight for the ranked Gabriel! Joey seems keen to dodge the ring spinner though and dodges Steven€™s onslaught, allowing Kody to get in on the attack, slamming into the dual spinning rings of Mornington Crescent and pin it against the spike strip! The claws come into play and slide nicely around the circular shape of Mornington Crescent, gripping a tight hold and so stopping both the rings! Steven looks worried as his robot is under a lot of pressure very early on here. Meanwhile, Gravity has decided to attack Gabriel so as not to allow Joey to hide away from the action and rams on the attack! However, it wheelies slightly in the attack and drives up the side of Gabriel due to the absense of the ears for this match. Joey turns and flips the Dutch machine over with a flick of his front hinged flipper, only for it to swiftly self-right in a smooth 540* somersault! It doesn€™t give up either, turning and pushing against the rear of Gabriel, who tries to escape, but is quickly caught when the flipper resets and Gravity rams the ranked machine across the arena, firing the flipper to send Gabriel tumbling over into the corner! It is quickly righted by the pneumatic spike and turns back on the defensive though, keeping it€™s low front in Gravity€™s direction in case of another attack.

Mornington Crescent is still between a rock and a hard place, or at least, and a claw and a claw, as Super Gore retains its deadly embrace and easily drags the circular machine backwards across the arena, gently bumping into the pit release button so as not to release Team Braveheart€™s body before gliding over to the pit with fantastic grip and agility, deftly dropping the Annihilation competitor into the abyss to disappear in a puff of smoke. A shame really, as like Assegai it was the victim of quick-and-easy grab and pit tactics, never getting a chance to impress.

Now that Mornington Crescent is down and out Gabriel V seems to have far more aggressive, driving on the attack of Super Gore Eahta, who turns and comes forward to meet it, attempting to dodge around the flipper slightly but to no avail as the elongated pyramid design of Gabriel thwarts the ground clearance with disconcerting ease and slams Super Gore back against the spike strip, firing the powerful flipper to turn the wide robot over onto its back sideways! This is unfortunate for Kody, as the claws are ineffective upside down, and Gravity has immediately sensed this, driving in on a frontal attack the Dutch machine breaches the overturned claws of Super Gore and although Kody attempts to escape over the top of the wedge shaped machine WJ is too quick at the controls and fires the flipper to throw Super Gore over the side of the arena! It turns in mid flight and crashes down directly onto its claws, meeting an early end in the competition soon after it dealt one!

With only the two of them left, Gravity and Gabriel V turn their attention to one another, with Joey immediately capitalising on the open flipper of the Dutch entrant and pushing in underneath, ramming it across the arena and flipping it over! Gravity is quick to self-right, but Gabriel spins, smacking the side of Gravity with its spike and actually getting through the thin polycarbonate armour! Now latched together, Gravity attempts to control the match, but Gabriel boasts the better drive and drags the Dutch machine towards the pit! Mornington Crescent sits in there at a pretty unfortunate angle though and there€™s no chance of getting another bot down there, even if you could muster the extreme driving skill to pull an opponent down with a spike! WJ at the controls of Gravity fires the flipper to try and shake loose of Gabriel and does so, but Joey again takes advantage of the fired flipper and drives underneath the snowspeeder-shaped robot, launching it over again with a flick of its own flipper! The dutch machine self-rights again, but just can€™t get under the skirts of Gabriel because it keeps wheelying when it drives forward and mounts the side of the yellow machine in a rather peculiar manner! Time is ticking down though and it looks like another match is going to go to the judges.

CEASE!

Gabriel V [#3] and Gravity remain mobile, let€™s go to the judges!

Judge€™s Decision:

Damage ~ Gabriel V put a hole in the side of Gravity with the spike, scoring some points there. Other than that there wasn€™t really much damage, as with both machines packing flippers there was no real destruction. However, Gravity did get a large flip in on Gabriel which gets it some points.
25/5 in favour of Gabriel V

Aggression ~ Gabriel V showed very little aggression at the beginning of the match, actually attempting to escape from Gravity, who hounded it voraciously. Team Picus also drove away from Mornington Crescent earlier on, but Joey did do more attacking later on. However, Gravity also scores points for flipping Super Gore Eahta out of the arena.
16/4 in favour of Gravity

Control ~ Gabriel V exhibited good control throughout the match, keeping Gravity on its back, to which the Dutch machine had no answer, although it was well driven to flip SGE over the barrier.
8/2 in favour of Gabriel V

Overall ~ 37/23 in favour of Gabriel V

Mornington Crescent rests in the pit and Super Gore Eahta languishes on the camera tracks; Gravity is defied by the angel! Gabriel V [#3] advances to the second round via judges decision!

Battleboard
Sheer Heart Attack 2 [#1] vs. Knyfe vs. Assegai vs. Mobile Failure 2.5
Gabriel V [#3] vs. Super Gore Eahta vs. Gravity vs. Mornington Crescent

And next up....

Battleboard
Wedga Ennea [#5] vs. Iron Awe 6 vs. Under Pressure vs. Hexadecimator
Psychosis [#7] vs. Supersonic vs. Orrion vs. The Servant€™s Assistant