As Chris Bell had overseen our request for the Disco Pit of the Adelphi (A twin to that of the Britannia), we knew it was sorted. A month before the event, the Disco burnt down. When informed of this, we asked if the event could still be staged there, amongst the charred wreckage. Chris had already asked. Sadly; it was too dangerous. A last-minute rescheduling put BC in a side room with 50 minutes to set up, perform and then take down again… with no Tek. Tim Kirk, Matt and SMS managed to resite the event in the Main Hall where Tek (Again!!) did a splendid last-minute job (inc; Video playback). However; this meant it had to be rescheduled first thing (And SOBER!) in the morning, and no-one had planned on the Flu that struck Matt and SMS (Particularly after they'd performed their 'Post Millenial Mediafans' set and Sms and Eira had acted in 'Captain Tartan Saves The World')…
Teaser 'Hard Nuts' poster
campaign by M@. 'Blue Peter' style presentation. First
Pre-Match Video and 'Theme Tune'. First Semi-scripted
commentation. First 3-Umpire/Commentator system. First 'Serious
Hazards' round instituted (Two types: Mousetraps and wool). Tim
wrangled six big boxes of plastic kits out of the lovely K-Nex people
AND held a K-Nex Workshop!. Helpful Progress Report
Editors scuppered by Printers going bankrupt, hence Thog and friends
helped us produce an In Con Newsletter. First 'House Robot'.
Video'd by Steve Lawson and Phil.
Suddenly the Umpires decide to start using an inefficient and outdated numerical system "Coz it looks cool and might confuse people".
The Con Donated Special (Edible) awards. We forget who to. We were
ILL!
No-one was surprised that it was… a house. Splendid soft furnishings, beautifully painted and with charming pebbledash effect. Remote controlled with a massive torque, but little action. The most ironic of all the casualties of the 1999 Law of Motion. By Matt and Miche.
"Returned after Practicing and had a course of steroids". (Still packed up though). Gav'n Dave.
A miracle of engineering. An elastic band powered hovercraft. Not a lot of offensive capability… or staying power, but received some of the largest cheers. By Brian.
Beautifully designed metal and balsawood machine worthy of Gerry Anderson. Interchangable weapons: Drill, circular saw, flame-thrower and ram. "Piloted by 'Hex (Aka: Morningstar)" it says here. Unfortunately; The 1999 Law of Motion got to it before the match, but it did recover long enough for a round of terror. "I came. I sawed. I torched. I rammed" By 'Rising Star Enterprises', under the inspired Directorship of Andrew Langhammer.
"Klingon Diplomatic
Corpse". Pilot: Gilmoriel. Any similarity to last years Over
the Top is coincidental. It's tougher and it's blue!
Probably caused some of the most damage in this match and spent
most of its time laying into the House Robot. Also from Rising Star
Enterprises, under direction of the Langhammer Managerial
Masterplan.
(Special Award) To the uninformed observer; a beautifully constructed little robot with LED's and furry dice, which nipped about a lot. In fact; BSR was the best engineered robot we'd had to date as it's actually light, motion and sound sensitive, allowing it to run away (Yes; like it's namesake) and thus survive the match. The Umpires (And spectators) were uninformed so the sheer brilliance of BSR's tactical manouvers are only appreciated on video.. and he narrowly missed the MBE. Come back Brave Sir Robin! By Simon Meacock.
Similar Psimonic Art at: www.oddmags.com
(MBE) Another miracle of K-Nex
engineering. This one; by cunning cam-work WALKED!!! Since MIT and
NASA have been working on this for decades, we thought this was
pretty nifty. Offensive capability; twisty-turny fork-y thing which
beat Brave Sir Robin in a fair fight. Crusher Mystery child entry
from the K-Nex workshop. According to the blurb, it can 'Go
downstairs'. Sadly; stairs are not (Yet) a part of BC. By Tim
Apparently throws cakes at its opponents. The 1999 Law of Motion fixed it good'n proper. Some actual cakes would have helped! Another mystery entry.
In the absence of K4.5; this
Cardboard-and-Gaffa- Tape 1:4 Scale Robotic Dog scored on the
accuracy scale by having a proper (Gaffa) tartan collar and looking
hard for its small size by smoking a fag throughout the match.
Sadly; it got pushed about by all the other robots. There's a
moral in there somewhere. By Matt and SMS.
A remote-control mini-Kosh
armed with a chainsaw. "Technology is partly organic in nature
and the product of a highly evolved culture. Shame he didn't
bring any of it with him really. This, coupled with the ability to
confuse the enemy with seemingly endless non-sequiteurs make him a
formidable foe". Very nippy indeed and a great favourite with
the kiddies. By Mark Slater and Elaine Coates.
Superficially; gaffa tape and a cardboard flex reel. According to the blurb, '"Rejected by PsiCorps in favour of the Star Fury" and "Powered by knicker elastic" … which amused us no end until the knicker elastic broke… Mystery entry (Tek suspected).
An (All white) K-Nex Workshop entry. Friction-powered; "The front wheel would be lethal if the blade was sharpened and powered" (It says here). Designed to look pretty and get utterly trashed. It did both splendidly. By Lucy Smithers (Aged 8?).
Richard was here to watch his second creation wreak havoc. "Son of Attila the Chip Pan". A brilliant use of a wire garden basket, surreally piloted by garden ornaments, powered by remote control and armed with a garden fork "And lack of steering". Terrific use of a 'theme' and it actually was bloody scarey and dangerous! By Richard Roaff.
It's maker, wearing Hi-Tek lights, mask, helmet, gloves and
gaffa tape, a hideously impressive K-Nex tank which lumbered about
throwing plastic balls at its opponents with a catapult! Words
failed us. We strongly urge contestants to dress as stupidly (Or as
safely) as this Cychotic. By 'Bazooka'
A blatant attempt to ingratiate themselves with the Umpires. A godawful Kinder Surprise toy powered this K-Nex augmented monstrosity… and it fell satisfyingly to bits! By… Whom?
A response to our prayer for an
inflatable robot;- a balloon powered hovercraft! Again; brief, but
some people couldn't breathe for awhile due to laughter. Brian
couldn't breathe for a while due to inflating it. By Brian.
K-Nex and Gaffa tape. Originally intended to be powered by electric motor. Due to the 1999 Law of Motion, powered by Michelle… just the once. By Michelle (Aged: 7?).
One I Made Earlier. Bob.
(VC) Superficially
similar to 'Nigel', but with a Dalek-like
'Skirt' and 'Guns' that moved with a
mysterious 'wobbling' motion. Won hands down by
appearing to shag everything in the arena. High point;
Nigel taking K 2.25 Doggy-Style… By Rob.
A last-minute appearance by the massive balloon that powered Rover as it slowly advanced through mid air to attack the Umpires. Eerie. By Brian.
Nigel of Skaro.
Lucifer.
Killer Kosh. The Baby Eating Bishop Of Bath And Wells.
EJF SPCPU EJF!
Die Robot Die!
ADXNMC BXADQCQNLD QTKDR N. J. !
Beyond Cyberdrome rules ok!
ZTJNPW HP IPNF!
Asimov go home!
MKNN! MKNN! MKNN!
Kill! Kill! Kill!
BYGQW, BYGQW, EGTC KC WMSP YLQUCP, BM
And so on.
The Bletchley Park Typing pool Formation Dancers are now appearing in 'No Sex Please, We're Binary Cryptographers' at the Windmill Theatre, London.
