Robot Combat League

I can see this being of value for younger viewers, but personally I found it way to "bad imitation" boxing, with "robots" that had jerky movements, that almost seem mechanical even though they use hydraulics. I wonder why they didn't put the hydraulic lines inside the metal shell of those robots, also, why there are no over pressure release valves, so the damned hoses won't burst all the time.

The hoses bursting almost seemed remote controlled to me.

I think these unnatural movements, kinda jerky, almost as if someone where pulling strings to control them, and a "as if" they where made out of cardboard, effect, comes out of a "weak" "flexing" frame inside their metal shells, making the arms movements seem "cheap" and jerky.

Some of the team members seem to have little or no understanding of both the concept, the mechanics of the robots, limitations of the robots, the controls, and the physics.

Sometimes it feels like it's scripted. Like when one team is mastering the controls, and beating the crap out of the other team, while the other team is struggling to control\understand the controls of their robot, next round, the situation is completely flipped, as if the first team suddenly forgot how to control the robots, while the second team have suddenly become experts in controlling theirs....

No, this is like Rockem Sockem, only slightly scripted and with sparks for no apparent reason, probably good for the younger audience, but utter crap to me.

I was very skeptical when I first saw this advertised on Hulu Japan but decided to watch it with an open mind and since I'm a subscriber I was able to watch the entire season in a few sittings.

It's never been done before and though, yes, it could have been executed better I was glad to see a production house gutsy enough to present what could possibly become a new form of professional entertainment or sport. Of the negative reviews I read I noticed that many of of those people were expecting to see boxing Pacific Rim bots complete with professional Jaeger pilots and to them I say, "Please quit whining and go rent Transformers again while the rest of us watch real robots made with today's real technology beating each other into spare parts."

Despite it being peppered with the typical reality-series crap that passes for entertainment in the US I actually really enjoyed watching this. I hope that Smart Dog Media learned from the mistakes that were made and stay on the ball and keeping running with this series.

The lessons learned that RCL needs to address:

1) Final round should **always** go until one robot can no longer fight or is destroyed. The fight footage can be edited as necessary to meet TV airtime constraints.

2) Hire another robotics expert so Mr. Mark Setrakian isn't required to "time share" between the two teams during the 20 minute repair recesses.

3) Invest a bit more funding into the creation of the robots so they are more sturdy and have stronger skeletal infrastructure, particularly in the arms.

4) Take out the spark throwers and just show us the fight in all its bent steel ugliness AND streamline & clarify the rules so we the audience can understand how the judges are making decisions so no one can complain of a match being "rigged."

5) If they keep the same teams then the teams should be rotated between different robots. This will really highlight which teams are *skilled* and which are *lucky* enough to be assigned to the really well-designed robots.

Though these bots aren't of the caliber I'm used to seeing here in Japan RCL is highly entertaining and exciting and I'd pay to go to see these tournaments in person.

My final thoughts on this show are...

AWESOME!! Finally a new sport to Entertain the Masses! If I was back in California during season one I'd *definitely* have gone to see as many of these at the arena as I could.

*********** LET'S SEE RCL SEASON TWO!!! ***********

Right away 5 stars are taken away because of the contestants. Another 1 star gone because of the cheesy pyro-technics.

The Robot Combat League itself is a good concept. I added 3 back because of the future potential of the series.

First thing you need to know is the robots are standardized. They are all the same frame and hydraulics. They are all built to take 'some' punishment not too much or fights would last forever. The difference is in their armors and weapons. I think the standard sub frame is a good idea but they should let the contestants design the armor and weapons.

I get the cheesy pyro, the annoying contestants, and the camera angles- they are there to keep the audience interested. You can't compare it to Robot Wars because Robot Wars got really one sided with all the robots being low to the floor machines with a high-powered drum spinning in the front. Why do think it got canceled because the robots were boring boxes; all the creative designs were tossed out for what works.

When you boil Robot Combat League down you do get rock-em sock-em robots but that was a fun game for us... then we grew up and moved to Mech- warrior and the internet. Then we grew up again and either built our own bots or went into programming. Robot Combat League needs to grow up a little and given the right rules and people it can.

This show is likely much less scripted than any other reality crap on TV. As an engineer I enjoy seeing the robots operate and the carnage incurred during the fights. This is the FIRST SHOW OF ITS KIND so take it easy on "herky jerky" and "they move weird". These robots cost an insane amount of money to build, no amateurs are going to be able to start this kind of show without a network funding it. I eagerly wait each week to watch it and give it an 8/10. They could do without the staged fireworks, but they are probably just based on an accelerometer on the robot most likely to indicate to the viewers when a hit was delivered so they do have some meaningful use.

Many viewers have said what I wanted to say. Bad camera work. fake enthusiasm by audience. lame robots. nothing advanced about it. Leaves you feeling empty inside if your a robot geek like me. Bottom line is this is hardly robot combat. Much more like rock-em sock-em robots on a big scale and the production is lame and insulting. I got 3 shows in and could not stomach any more. I will not be watching this show any longer. Robot Wars was a million times better and was 'real'. The producers need to learn from that show and take that format to the next level. I would be excited to see robot teams that have a set amount of money to work with and a base frame to work from that are not tethered. Hell, just bring back robot wars!