Interview with Martijn Benschop

[Un Autre Monde]

Hi there Marti! I thought I would jump on the bandwagon (isn't that one of Mark's alleged robots?) and do a vapourboteer interview!

First question: How and when did you get started in vapourboteering?

[Apeman!]

It was a hot summer night and the beach was burning
There was fog crawling over the sand
When I found the Panic Attack Community I saw the whole world turning
I heard the shooting stars
Falling through its trembling hands
The community was great and its lipstick shining
I was dying just to ask for a taste
We were lying together in a silver lining
By the light of the moon
You know there's not another moment
Not another moment
Not another moment to waste

[Un Autre Monde]

...right XD

My next question: When you started, were you inspired by anyone in particular or did you go your own way early on?

[Apeman!]

And now the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes there were times I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all
And I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing

To think I did all that
And may I say not in a shy way
Oh no, oh no, not me
I did it my way

For what is a man what has he got
If not himself then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes it was my way

To be entirely fair in the very beginning I'd say Jamie McGarry was very helpful since, well, he provided the Panic Attack Community with its fan fic, and most of all, and he provided the game with its rules which in turn gave great suggestions for weapons and other design aspects. The same goes for the rest of the community, looking at there robots was great, especially those of the 3 most succesful FRW'ers, Tim (Hewitt?), Ben Gross and Hector Gilbert, but also, well, everyone else (hi Andy!)

[Un Autre Monde]

Who do you have friendships and rivalries with in the vapourboteering community?

[Apeman!]

Misty and Brock are my best friends and Gary is my main rival.

But sadly Misty and Brock havent build a vapourbot in ages, neither did Gary luckily, nowadays my main friends would include the like of Joey McC, Andrew J, Kody K and Alex H to name just 4, but Steven McG and Lewis M and Jack O and... well... many others are great too. Can't say I have huge rivalries but there have been missunderstandings here and there, I can happily say most of them were solved alright but sometimes they were never solved (like with Timmy who's luckily banned) and sometimes I doubt they are really over, like with Mark who has shown improvement every so often but still repeats some mistakes every so often that I find unneeded and annoying. I genuinly think he has improved compared to some years ago but some more improvement should take place.

[Un Autre Monde]

What is your main approach when designing vapourbots, do you come up with a design to counter specific robots, get an idea for some aspect of a robot and develop around that, or some other method?

[Apeman!]

Well I think about win conditions, which in UK Robot Wars there are 3 main types of; physical knockout, pit and OOTA. I think of an idea how to meet such condition and build the best robot I can think of to, well, drive that idea around the arena, while at the same time having as much of a blank sheet as possible, don't look at standard solutions until the very last moment and make everything from scratch, only when you're stuck somewhere look at how other robots have solved it. Thats the general idea.

[Un Autre Monde]

Which of your vapourbots are you most proud of and why?

[Apeman!]

Well you`re just 17 and all you wanna do is disappear
You know what I mean there`s a lot of space between your ears
The way that you touch don`t feel nothin`
Hey hey hey hey, it was the DNA
Hey hey hey hey, that made me this way
Do you know, do you know, do you know, just how I feel
Do you know, do you know, do you know, just how I feel

Sheer heart attack
Sheer heart attack
Real cardiac

I feel so in-articulate

Gotta feelin`, gotta feelin`, gotta feelin`, like I`m paralysed
It ain`t no, it ain`t no, it ain`t no, it ain`t no surprise
Turn on the TV let it drip right down in your eyes
Hey hey hey hey, it was the DNA
Hey hey hey hey, that made me this way
Do you know, do you know, do you know, just how I feel
Do you know, do you know, do you know, just how I feel

Sheer heart attack
Sheer heart attack
Real cardiac

I feel so in-articulate
Do you know, do you know, do you know just how I feel
Do you know, do you know, do you know just how I feel

Do you know, do you know, do you know just how I feel
Do you know, do you know, do you know, do you know just how I feel

Sheer heart attack
Sheer heart attack
Real cardiac

[AJ]

;D ;D ;D

[Un Autre Monde]

Moving onto tournaments, do you enjoy writing them more than you like entering them or is it the other way around?

[Apeman!]

Writing them is much more time consuming and takes a lot more effort, the reward is nice but the same goes for the reward of participating. Looking at the ratio between effort you put in it, and what is gained from it, participating wins hands down. There's a reason I havent been writing for a while now... it is really quite consuming

[Un Autre Monde]

I thought it might be

Did you have any real inspirations when you began writing? This interests me because being Dutch you picked up a lot of your English from somewhat non-standard sources, and without being offensive I was wondering if emulating anyone's style helped early on?

[Apeman!]

I understent not wordt yoo sey

[Un Autre Monde]

...je ne spreken Nederlands, in English please? XD

(sorry )

[Apeman!]

well, most of all I had a look around to see how other people did their introductions, and how other people did there... outroductions, those are things you need to find a certain format for, I know I looked at VFT and PTT among other things, but by the time I started writing I, you know, knew English, I learned it on school and have been listening to English media for my entire live/life (I can never get that right:P). A difference may be that I may be more descriptive than natural speakers out of fear of doing it wrong by using short sentenses, a natural speaker can do so on the auto pilot, I can not.

[Un Autre Monde]

And your fights are better for it!

Do you base your fights on other vapourbot fights or on actual real robot fights?

[Apeman!]

well... both

[Un Autre Monde]

Are there any of your vapourbots that you'd like to build as a real machine; if so why?

[Apeman!]

... all of them, like duuuuh, of course it would be hella cool