Hypno-Disc was a contestant entry in the Robot Wars TV series, and was one of the first robots permitted to use the kinetic flywheel weapon. Hypno-Disc's design, however, was somewhat basic, and its high ground clearance made it an easy target for robots armed with flipping weapons, such as Chaos 2. Hypno-Disc was the creation of the Rose family — twin brothers Derek and David, and their father Ken. It was the first competitor robot recreated in toy form when the Robot Wars pullback toys were released.
Series 3
Hypno-Disc's debut battle was against fellow newcomers Robogeddon. In the battle, Hypno-Disc hit its opponent several times, as the armour started buckling, then coming off completely. Further attacks damaged the wheels and weapon, as well as rupturing its canister, leaving the robot in a huge mess. The wheels were still turning, and the flipping weapon was still functional, but the wheels and tyres were so badly damaged and the chassis so deformed that they couldn't get any traction on the arena floor. Robogeddon couldn't go anywhere, so cease was called, and Hypno-Disc was declared the winner of the battle, putting it through to the second round of the heat, as the rising heat favourites.
In the second round, Hypno-Disc was placed up against another newcomer to the wars in Stealth. Hypno-Disc only began by landing scratches on Stealth's front, but then used a small spot in Matilda's CPZ to turn around and attack Stealth's rear. However, the arena spike caused Hypno-Disc to fly upwards, with its disc ripping Stealth's rear circular saw right off. From then on, all armour panels began to fly off Stealth after every impact from Hypno-Disc's flywheel weapon. Stealth then finally used what life it had left to turn back around again, but still had its flipper gaping open, Hypno-Disc took advantage of this and disabled the flipper completely, before cease was called. This comprehensive victory put Hypno-Disc through to the heat final. Hypno-Disc was then placed up against Berserk 2 in the Heat Final.
Berserk's armour was notably harder than the other two competitors and Hypno-Disc was only able to cause a few minor slices in the rear of Berserk 2. However, about halfway through the bout, Berserk 2 was flipped onto its side by an arena spike. Hypno-Disc righted the machine and went through on a judges' decision. However, there was a real scare for the future runners-up, as Berserk 2 had damaged the disc and Sergeant Bash had caused the robot to have blackouts. To make matters worse, Derek departed for America, leaving Dave and Ken alone to work for four hours straight in order to avoid disqualification. They nearly had to retire from lack of parts and time, but they brought their robot back to life just in time for the Series Semi-Finals.
Hypno-Disc entered the second of the Series Semi-Finals, and was placed up against Evil Weevil in the first round. In this battle, Evil Weevil lacked the agility that Hypno-Disc had, and couldn't bring its weaponry into effect at all. Although Hypno-Disc started tentatively as well. After merely scratching the surface of the armour with the disc, Hypno-Disc soon managed to cause proper damage, After slicing both antennae of Evil Weevil off, Hypno-Disc steered Evil Weevil towards Sir Killalot's CPZ, before it smashed the side of Evil Weevil, managing to break a wheel. Evil Weevil suffered control problems, as it could only turn around in circles after the slam from Hypno-Disc, and the house robots finished the immobile machine. This led to one of the closest battles in Robot Wars, as Hypno-Disc was put through to the second round of the Semi-Final, and was placed up against the experienced 101, this was to fill the final spot in the Grand Final.
In this battle, 101 drove in and pushed Hypno-Disc. 101 managed to stop the blade and drove on top of Hypno-Disc. 101 then reversed into Dead Metal and Hypno-Disc attacked it a few times, before reversing into Dead Metal itself. Hypno-Disc escaped and pushed 101 into Dead Metal. Both robots attacked each other and the fight ended with a pushing match. This was an extremely close match; for the first time ever, the judges emerged from their booth and studied the robots for damage, before eventually making their decision, which went in favour of Hypno-Disc, putting the newcomers through to the Grand Final.