The Spinners, also known as Floor Spinners, are a now-retired BattleBox hazard introduced for Season 2.0 of Comedy Central BattleBots.
They consisted of circular discs which were embedded into the BattleBox floor. Although not intended to cause damage, the Spinners were designed to disrupt any robots that drove over them and interfere with drivers. However, this was typically more effective with lighter classes as larger robots tended to be too heavy for the forces at play to affect their drive.
Season 2.0[]
Mauler 51-50 is affected by the Spinner.
Debuting in Season 2.0, the Spinners were painted to resemble a bullseye target.
Mauler 51-50 vs. Bigger Brother[]
In Mauler 51-50's fight against Bigger Brother, the Tilford family's robot lost one of its chisels early on and broke into its infamous "Mauler dance" after becoming unbalanced while spinning its weapon.
Though appearing as if it would land right side up, Mauler 51-50 landed over an active Spinner which disrupted its motion and forced it to land on its lid. Mauler 51-50 was unable to right itself and was subsequently taken to the Pulverizer before being deemed immobile.
Season 3.0-5.0[]
For Season 3.0 onward, the Spinners were repainted to make their presence more obvious to drivers when active. They were given a radioactive aesthetic. However, heavier robots with low edges or weaponry were able to get underneath the hazards and damage them, sometimes raising the discs themselves out of the BattleBox floor.
The Spinners were retired after Season 5.0, omitted for untelevised events as well as BattleBots IQ. With the ABC reboot of BattleBots confirmed in 2015, the Spinners were also absent from the modern BattleBox and have not been seen again since.
Appearances in Merchandise[]
Outside BattleBots[]
A larger, but functionally identical hazard was also seen in later series of UK show Robot Wars, as well as in both US spin-offs for Nickelodeon and TNN. Known as the Disc of Doom, it was black and yellow with a red perimeter in each of its appearances. A much smaller hazard was made as part of the scaled-down arena built specifically for the 150g competition during Robot Wars: Extreme 2, black in color with the Robot Wars logo adorning the disc itself.
During the US series, it had a spiral decoration and small teeth welded across its face. For the UK series, the floor spinner lacked teeth, but had a cog pattern instead. In all series it appeared in, the Disc of Doom was activated by a trigger on the side of the arena, but was scrapped ahead of the seventh and final series of the show's original run.
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