"Robot Combat League"

Anyone seen this?

Yeah, I'm a sucker. I remember the earlier robot fighting shows. Little remote controlled robots running around banging and smashing and hammering and sawing and chomping on one another. Lottsa fun.

The new robots are big big big. All are hulking humaniod monsters. They look like SF versions of the old battling robots game that was so much fun when we were younger. Hit the other and his head pops up. Remember?

Anyway, this new show has two controllers. One sits at a console and controls the legs for forward and backward and sideways movement. The second is fitted into a harness with big gloves with which they control the arm movement. Kinda like I remember Segorney (SP) Weaver in one of those Alien movies.

The robots move into the arena on long horizontal poles to help them keep up right and then begin to flail about at each other with big swings of their arms until one of them begin to squirt hydrolic fluids.

We get about six minutes of action in an hour. The rest of the show is comprised of "reality show like" snippets with the controllers rambling on about their battle plans and this and that. Then there are the color commentators hyping the whole thing to the sky.

So basically we have two big SF looking machines punching almost blindly at one another for a few minutes, some squirting, a lot of hype, and then commercials followed by commercials followed by commercials and previews of next week.

Now this may be the infant version of a future sports industry which, knowing our penchant for bigger and wilder carnage, may happen, but for now, if one is not into the "tech" of each robot, is one big bore. I watched the first and almost slept through half of it. I recorded the second show and FF to the actions scenes. And now I won''t bother with the rest of them.

reply to post by TerryMcGuire


Yeah, I almost watched an episode. Then I read the reviews. From what I hear it's pretty bad.

Seems like a TV version of "Real Steel", that movie that was out not too long ago. Are the robots real, or CGI? It was difficult to see from the quick preview I saw.

reply to post by Gazrok


Just did a quick search on YouTube and they have the first Episode.
Robot Combat League
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Edit to add
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Here's a whole fight.
Complete fight
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Reminds me of this

Looks like "reality" show garbage. not interested.

reply to post by Gazrok


I don't think the tech we have is up to par quite yet. When they'll actually stand by themselves and deliver controlled punched not just flailing about then I'll watch the show. Plus the fake cheering from the crowd as if it was the most exciting thing they have ever seen is a bit too much for me.

After watching that clip, I have a feeling the whole thing is fake and scripted. I bet production team made these robots to fall apart at the right moment to make it more exciting. Don't even get me started on the fake "sparks" pyrotechnic show. This actually makes the other robot fighting show from 5-7 years ago look like a masterpiece. I think I'll pass.

The robots are somewhat cool and are reminiscent of real steel robots. The fights are fun to watch and they are not CGI, however, the fake sparks when one robot gets a good punch on the other is cheesy. But the hydrologic damages are real and so are the dismemberment.
I like it.

reply to post by twohawks


Seems like the tech has some ways to go for this to be truly amazing... I'd rather watch some MMA but-kickin'

reply to post by Gazrok


They are real mechanical devices, controlled by command and by human motion enhanced tech. Like the way you control a Wii game. It was fun to watch for about a minute and a half.

reply to post by Gazrok
When I was in middle school, I had a favorite episode of Twilight Zone with Lee Marvin titled "Battlin Maxo".
Marvin is a fight manager, on the robot fight circuit with Mickey Rooney as the mechanic for a man sized robot called Maxo.
Maxo is an old x2 model and has a bout with the new x7 model and he springs a leak and will not work. So Marvin costumes up to look like Maxo and fights and takes a big beating just to win the consolation purse. I have loved fighting robots ever since. When Real Steel came out I caught it the first day and liked it a lot. This show has let me down.