Re: Yes, it IS a game of chicken.
If I'm thinking what you're thinking, I believe the original concept was for them to have straight sides. However, the mechanicals needed to make them mobile were too big to fit in the original frames; in addition, widening the bottoms to fit them made them more stable, so they went with the modified design, and one of television's most iconic villains was created.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
