ROBOT WARS
|
ROBOT WARS HISTORY (cont'd)
|
1993 - 1994
 Starting in late 1992, I began to create images of fighting machines that would give people a sense of what this was all about and to generate some excitement. I didn’t bother trying to make my robots operational -- I just wanted to make them look cool and have the illusion of working elements.
To attract entries, I placed advertisements in two publications: Radio Control Car Model Car and Art Week, a West Coast art magazine. I received a total of 70 requests for entry forms, which resulted in 17 actual entries for the first event.
DATES AND VENUE
Between late 1992 and early 1994 I scheduled and canceled event dates at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco several times due to lack of funds. I needed money to go forward, but was stretched too thin concentrating on the logistics of the event itself. I was exhausted from working full time, doing advertising, writing rules, dealing with trademark issues, arena design and contestant inquires and didn’t have much energy left to go out and sell the event. The idea was a good one, and I had the feeling that eventually the funds would come.
FEBRUARY 1994 WIRED MAGAZINE ARTICLE
I remember New Years Day, 1994. Lying on my couch with the flu, beginning to have serious doubts about the future of the project, I put together a package with images, text, flyers, ads, letterhead. .. .everything I had done to create Robot Wars . . . and sent it to Wired Magazine. Within a few days Wired called me and wanted to do an article with a photo. I was overjoyed -- and panicked. A photo? My robot was a Photoshop-enhanced captured image of my radio controlled tank with various stuff on it -- cool looking stuff – but none of it worked!
Then I realized that the robot didn’t have to work -- like in the ads I placed -- but it clearly needed to appear capable of serious destruction. So I went to the hardware store and bought a chain saw, and when the photographer, Bill Zemenek arrived I showed him the saw and the tank and told him that the saw sits on the tank; and he said that was cool and that it would look great. So we set up the shot. Jeff Raskin was to be the writer.
The story appeared in the February 1994 issue, and the photo was fantastic and the article was great. It listed my email address, and instantly, I had an unbelievable number of messages. I worked round the clock. I focused upon the rules, entry forms, design elements, contestant communications, poster, t-shirts, trophies, venue, etc. All of a sudden Robot Wars went from a bright idea to a widely known and embraced idea.
PARTNERSHIP
In June, 1994 still left me without sponsorship. I didn't want to cancel another event, so in July 1994, a partnership was formed between Profile Records and myself.
|
|
