It was in a state. An absolute state. Funding had stopped, and quite frankly the only reason it didn't get sold off with the rest was because Diamond gave it to Dashboard and Sprocket. And that was the crucial thing that meant we have an Arena today: Diamond gave it to Dashboard. That mechanical genius repaired, redesigned, and reinstalled nearly half of the Arena before the time Ultimate Maximum Beetle Circus even came around to want to use it. Dashboard took that gift to heart and worked day and night to make that Arena work, and that meant that it worked.
And once it was working, did Dashboard stop there? Of course he didn't! Skies, he started securing sponsorship deals to pay for the repairs, he installed his own mechanical repair joint in the pits to keep those Mechanical Monsters ticking, and he kept going. I don't know if Diamond knew Dashboard would do such good things for the Arena, but I'm certainly glad Dashboard was given the opportunity.
The Arena lives on, and thanks to Dashboard it probably survives for many years longer too!
– excerpt from ENTROPY (formerly MAX before a lawsuit by Max Taste), edited by Max Entropy
“Oh hey, when did you get your Flambé-nator fixed?”
“I just took it down to Dashboard's - he's an absolute wizard at this, got it fixed up in under a day!”
“Dashboard? As in Gearbox Dashboard?”
“Mate, you should be thinking of Gearbox as in Dashboard's Gearbox. Dashboard's the best pair of hands I'd ever entrust my tech to. No doubt about it.”
“I could go anywhere though, why Dashboard?”
“Take a look at what he added to my Flambé-nator.”
“Shit… mate is that a gatling laser launcher?”
“Damn right it's a gatling laser launcher. Installed in the Flambé-nator. Because Dashboard is an absolute legend.”
“I wish I had some broken tech to get fixed now, damn.”
“It gets better though - Dashboard makes tech. You could just go in and ask for something.”
“Are you serious?!”
“Of course I'm serious: I said Dashboard is a legend and I damn well mean it.”
Commentators have significant difficulty when it comes to Dashboard identifying his greatest achievement. While Dashboard's work on the enlarging of Dark Steel was certainly one of his higher profile successes, Dashboard's work started in humbler beginnings. When he was still finding his feet, Dashboard created a shock whip from cable and Archaeotech alone. He recycled rusty springs to create a loaded net launcher, and if sources are correct then he managed to construct a fully functional flamethrower from Bastion-scrap alone.
Now some of that might be beaten in some minds by the technological marvel of his work on the Arena, but in my opinion true genius shines through when succeeding when faced with significant adversity. Dashboard started at the bottom, and worked his way to the top, by combining items nobody else would have dreamt of caring about in order to create something truly beautiful.
– excerpt from Technology Tycoons, a retrospective in The Watcher, business magazine