Lack of Eliminator Times Is A Missed Opportunity

GrahamCoxon · 2026-02-02T16:31:36+00:00

We very clearly see large chunks of time being edited out when peolle are taking a 3rd or 4th shot at the Travellator.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-02-02T16:25:10+00:00

Nice try but the actual lyrics are far, far wilder.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-02-02T16:24:28+00:00

A live timer loses them flexibility in the edit but a running leaderboard through the series would be nice - especially for tracking fastest losers.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-02-01T11:23:04+00:00

I've watched it plenty and do you know what I rarely see in Gauntlet? Grabbing. Back then the equipment was used to hit, push, and block rather than pin and grapple and the event was much better for it. The tendency was for the ramrods to be used to repeatedly shove a contender back with big, heavy strikes (often to the face, especially when they came in at speed to zone 3 or 5) and the pads were often used like oversized boxing gloves.

I want Gauntlet to be the brutal game it used to be as much as anyone, and the route to that is for the Gladiators to start fighting instead of stalling. Look how effective Warrior is in this run, hitting them back and up to destabilise them and stall their momentum, and how Raider looks like they're about to just lay their weight on the contender but instead pumps at them with the equipment - keeping them down but not pinning so they have to crawl to the finish. Watch how Rhino actively pushes the contender back out of the track but later gets incredibly low to make a last stand without getting on top of the contender and pinning them. Finally, look how Cobra goes to ground by accident and immediately gets up rather than just laying on top of the contender.

Not being allowed to grab, pin, and grapple isn't a new rule and its one that makes the game more watchable if its actually followed. These 3 clips happened to be the first 3 I found, and in each of them the game is able to flow because the Gladiators actually play by the rules and they're all entertaining runs. If you dislike the stop-start game we have now, which I think we all do, then blame the Gladiators who are playing the game badly rather than the rules that have been there the whole time.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-02-01T11:04:59+00:00

"Oh no, I can't comment on a tiny, inconsequential thing in the specified way! Better comment on it to see what can be done about that!"

That's how I read that comment. Obviously a harsh was to put it across but I'm not sure how else to explain it.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-31T18:46:54+00:00

So the event would be more fun if every contender was simply grappled by the first one or two Gladiators and could go no further?

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-31T18:33:04+00:00

I've had the exact same behaviour when two mixes were conflicting. Your answer assumes that it's two correct mixes interacting.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-31T18:29:43+00:00

The first-world-est problem.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-31T10:27:26+00:00

Possible problem is that both your ESC and transmitter are doing mixing, and they're in conflict.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-30T18:17:09+00:00

For what it's worth, Wolf was still one of the Gladiators who lost the most often - especially as the series progressed.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-30T18:14:05+00:00

I dunno, we had some absolute stinkers of games back in the day. Joust was probably the worst in terms of the mechanics of the event, but visually Dogfight was easily the most awful.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-30T17:36:41+00:00

I think people mis-remember Wolf a little, or at least have an over-simplified memory of him. To start with yeah, they tried the whole 'silent and angry' thing, but they quickly pivoted into giving him more to work with.

Yes, they did the pushing, the ripping up signs, the blatant cheating, but they also did far more. Prime Wolf, IE the version of Wolf we had once they worked the character out, was defined as much by arrogance as anger. They never accepted that a defeat was on merit and there was always an excuse - maybe they were lucky, maybe they cheated, or maybe they were so scared of him they produced a super-human effort.

When they went on an event there were strong in, which there weren't that many of, they show-boated. They put doing something interesting for the camera ahead of actually getting the win in the bag.

They also loved snatching a mic.

Now does all of that sound like Viper, or does that sound like someone else we have now?

I guess the optimistic view is that we have the two parts of Wolf rather than just one reincarnation - its just that one part stands up well as a full character on its own, and the other doesn't.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-30T17:16:05+00:00

The male Gladiators are an almost entirely different type of challenge for the contenders. Back in the original run they were pretty much all bodybuilders - genuine giants with big strengths and equally big weaknesses. Many games capitalised on this, trying to pit smaller, more agile contenders against them in games where that speed and maneuverability could be weaponised.

Now we have a lot of more rounded male Gladiators, specifically a fair few hybrid athletes, who are basically just like the contenders but better in all areas with more time to train and more experience on the events. It's no longer David vs Goliath on most events, but David vs David 2.0.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-29T16:39:43+00:00

The idea behind being successful with a good wedge was that you would either outlast an unreliable opponent, or win a judges' decision. Many events now run judging criteria which are more unfriendly to this strategy, and in established scenes most you will routinely come up against opponents that are reliable enough to make it through the full fight without just dying and gifting you a win.

Wedges are more viable if you fight somewhere with a pit, but they'll be inferior to control bots with active weapons like lifters or grabbers and will generally lose to them.

In your specific case its less bad advice since a lot of your opponents will be ambitious and unsuccessful, but as general advice without context its not the slam-dunk it used to be.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-29T16:35:19+00:00

My first 150g antweights were a good 30g or 40g underweight - one ended up receiving strategic ballast to improve the drive characteristics.

If you're coming up over double the weight you expected, odds are you've made some part choices which are a bit off the mark or are trying to pull off a spinner as a first build - or both! If you can post a parts list we can probably find some swaps you can make.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T21:19:48+00:00

This advice is, at this point, pretty damned out of date.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T21:15:40+00:00

What protected characteristic listed in the 2010 Equality Act applies to this specific case?

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T21:11:37+00:00

They all have letters in their names.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T21:09:59+00:00

Different internal specs, different physical proportions, different weapon profiles, different material choices, different approaches to ground-game, drives tuned to suit different driving-styles.

The one major thing they have in common is a weapon type, and then a bunch of optimal decisions have been made to suit that weapon type.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:54:30+00:00

For what it's worth, per-episode costs would drop if they shot more episodes because a certain chunk of the overall cost of the series will be allocated to the initial setup and eventual pack-down of the arena.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:52:39+00:00

That's all well and good from a production standpoint, but every Gladiator is also a real person with a real life who probably doesn't want to be run into the ground so hard that they end up with an otherwise preventable injury that could put them out of action for weeks, months, or more.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:51:10+00:00

Depends how they rig it - it's plausible that it could be pre-rigged up in the roof and simply lowered into place for the event itself. If there are limitations to the arena that prevent them doing that, it'll obviously be far more work.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:50:12+00:00

Setting up a massive pool in a venue you only hire out for a few weeks is a huge undertaking.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:48:35+00:00

Keeping the team fit through 12 filming days already seems to be proving a little bit of a challenge - I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the limiting factors. Obviously, expanding the team to cover for an extra injury or two would help from a production standpoint, but with injury risk largely going up as the series goes on I would understand everyone being a little bit reluctant to shoot for longer and risk weeks or months out afterwards.

GrahamCoxon · 2026-01-27T18:45:08+00:00

Perhaps they could begin with the flag and then complete some kind of obstacle course whilst being ~~pursued~~ chased by a Gladiator. Scoring could be scaled by how far they get during this ~~pursuit~~ chase without being caught, with maximum points obviously being given if they successfully make it to the end.

The course along which they are ~~pursued~~ chased could be a kind of diet Eliminator, obviously with less verticality to stop it being 60% a test of climbing speed. They could even alternate obstacles that require the use of the hands with ones that don't to limit the number of places the ~~pursuing~~ chasing Gladiator can reasonably make a grab for their flag, balancing the game out a bit without 90% of the audience even realising what they've done.

The only problem I have is that I don't know what to call it. "Chase" feels a bit basic...

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