User blog:Salnax/My Dream Combatant

There is one combatant that I would love to write a Death Battle for, but don't think I could ever do well.

The Martian "Tripod" Fighting Machine from The War of the Worlds.

For those who don't know, The War of the Worlds, written in 1898, is one of the first great science fiction stories. Long story short, Martians invade England and easily crush human resistance. They begin to colonize Earth only to die due to natural diseases.

What people usually remember the most, and rightly so, are the Tripods the Martians use. They are possibly the first mechs in English fiction, and they are neat.

Highlights

 * Three-legged walker mechs approximately 30 meters tall, possibly made from an aluminum alloy.
 * Shot from a cannon on Mars at Earth, crashing into the surface with no damage taken.
 * Armed with metallic tentacle-like appendages, a Heat-Ray, and Black Smoke.
 * The tentacles are nimble enough to manipulate tools and strong enough to toss trees at people.
 * The Heat-Ray is basically a giant laser capable of cutting steel ships into half.
 * Black Smoke is a chemical weapon that solidifies the blood of those it contacts.

Why I Can't Make them Combatants
They are ridiculously fragile.

In The War of the Worlds, Tripods get destroyed multiple times by 19th century human artillery and warships. The most embarrassing moment for the Martians is the encounter with the torpedo ram HMS Thunderchild, which took down two of these mechs, one by ramming and the other by shells.

Virtually any other mech or robot in fiction would demolish this thing.