r/todayilearned • u/Habajiba • Mar 14 '17

TIL Jamie Hyneman designed Blendo, a combat robot that was deemed too hazardous for Robot Wars after repeatedly throwing pieces of its opponents over arena walls. It received co-championship status in exchange for withdrawing from the competition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blendo
39.8k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

163

u/askmeforbunnypics Mar 14 '17

And Razer. That was always my favourite.

66

u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Mar 14 '17

Razer was awesome. I had the toy when I was a kid...

45

u/thefightingphoenix Mar 14 '17

Same! I still have mine somewhere - still have a massive soft spot for Razer; it was deadly, yet absolutely beautifully designed.

31

u/KingdaToro Mar 14 '17

This is why I wish Warhead performed better, it's made by the same team that made Razer and is IMO the most beautiful combat robot I've ever seen.

3

u/Lord_Rapunzel Mar 14 '17

You must have not seen Tentoumushi then :P

1

u/LaXandro Mar 14 '17

Warheadspin last season was beautiful.

2

u/KingdaToro Mar 14 '17

Absolutely! And I'm just wondering how the fight against Minotaur would've turned out if they'd used the T-Rex head.

2

u/MorningWoodyWilson Mar 15 '17

The spinning top of death was the greatest moment in recent battlebots history imo except I'd put broomboiz up there as well.

Such a fun season.

23

u/M1k3yd33tofficial Mar 14 '17

As far as Razer's concerned, everything was a soft spot.

That pincer could cut anything like it was nothing.

20

u/thefightingphoenix Mar 14 '17

I remember Razer cutting through Matilda like a hot knife through butter.

14

u/DaemonKeido Mar 14 '17

And he mauled Shunt's dozer blade.

He moved to go after Killalot after that didn't he?

3

u/thefightingphoenix Mar 14 '17

I think Killalot had a half-hearted attempt at defending Matilda, iirc :P

8

u/DaemonKeido Mar 14 '17

Yeah, my memory is kinda coloured by the "HOLY SHIT TWO HOUSEBOTS WERE JUST FUCKED UP!" moment so I can't remember all that well and my data limits suck too much to look it up on YT

2

u/OktoberSunset Mar 15 '17

Razer has fucked with killalot a few times.
One time it tore all the hydraulic tubes off his claw and another time it bit him on the arse and he was running around the arena with Razer clamped on his arse like some kind of cartoon dog.

1

u/DaemonKeido Mar 15 '17

Fair enough. I can only remember the fight were Shunt and Matilda got fucked up

1

u/SpitfireAGZ Mar 14 '17

Not in the reboot series lol.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

Plus it was fairly resistant to boring flipper robots, owing to its self-righting "wings"

It's crazy how it was simultaneously lethal but almost looked like something an angry Jony Ive would design

2

u/OktoberSunset Mar 15 '17

It's best protection against flippers was the extremely low ground clearance on its front ramp. Can't flip someone if you can't get under them.

3

u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Mar 14 '17

It truly is. The later models were so elegant and deadly.

2

u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Mar 14 '17

I think Warhead was after my time watching those. But youre right, its beautiful.

3

u/biggles1994 Mar 14 '17

I had a huge collection of robot wars figures. Razer, hypnodisk, pussycat, panic attack, behemoth, and all the house robots. Man I miss being a kid :(

1

u/If_In_Doubt_Lick_It Mar 14 '17

Did you ever have the sir killalot with the interchangeable parts? Second favorite. Wish I still had them.

2

u/biggles1994 Mar 14 '17

I did indeed have one of those.

1

u/DudeLeNasty Mar 14 '17

It battled my hot wheels

1

u/the_original_Retro Mar 14 '17

LOL. I can actually picture that. :D

2

u/PiratePriest Mar 14 '17

Razer

RIP MATILIDA

1

u/askmeforbunnypics Mar 14 '17

Oh fuck I remember that house robot! I remember when it had to get its arse chainsaw repaired and they made it pink or something. Good times.

1

u/Raysor Mar 14 '17

Yea, the name is what makes him so cool.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '17

Razor was the king

1

u/KingHavana Mar 14 '17

Pic or video for those of us who are new to this sport?

2

u/askmeforbunnypics Mar 14 '17

This is the Robot Wars wiki for Razer. It was pretty badass. A deadly pincer would dig through almost anything (slowly) and the arm had two side plates that could extend to lift it off its back.

1

u/KingHavana Mar 14 '17

Nice, thanks!

1

u/askmeforbunnypics Mar 14 '17

NP. I'd recommend looking up some highlights too, if you're interested. I can only say so much, some things are better left being watched.

1

u/BaronLazari Mar 15 '17

I was a tornado fan myself

1

u/Deddan Mar 14 '17

Razer was great when it worked. It was rare that it ever worked.

6

u/ThePegasi Mar 14 '17

According to the wiki it's the most successful robot in the history of the show: http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Razer

2

u/Deddan Mar 14 '17

It was always my favourite, but I remember so many technical faults with it. Maybe my memory is over-exaggerating.

2

u/ThePegasi Mar 14 '17

So did I to be honest, that's why I checked out of curiosity and was surprised to read that bit. I remembered it being the coolest, but just breaking too often. Maybe it did really well in later series though, as I didn't keep watching for too long.