History Characters / RobotWarsSemiFinalists

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Facet was a highly impressive robot by Series 3 standards. It boasted one of the show's earliest full-pressure pneumatic flippers, capable of flipping 500kg, could travel at a whopping 48mph, and even boasted an on-board camera for precision control. It simply had the misfortune to be drawn against Firestorm in its heat semi-final. It also didn't think to try Chaos 2's party trick of throwing Firestorm out of the arena while it was self-righting; given the power of its flipper, it probably could have done so.

* MeaningfulName: Many people thought its name came from the fact it cost that much to build (in actuality, it cost around £5, still a very small amount for a combat robot). Instead the name came from the length of the robot, 1.01 metres, and that Amy Franklin's favourite movie was ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (alluded to in some of its later appearances, where it was decorated with dalmatian-like spots).

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Averted in Series 3, as Haardvark's new circular saw had to be replaced with a less effective grinding disc and they ended up breaking down in round 1.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Gained a small rear cutting disc in later series.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Gained a horizontal cutting disc in Series 5, in addition to their lifting arm. In Series 6 they removed the lifting arm altogether and had a vertical cutting disc instead. Somewhat of an [[InvertedTrope inversion]], though, as [[PowerupLetdown neither weapon was really very effective, and they prevented Wild Thing from using the wedge to take advantage of Nick Adams' superior driving skills, as they had in the 3rd and 4th Wars]].

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Had a front-mounted spinning lawnmower blade.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: In its debut appearance, it shredded 3 former semi-finalists, the only robot to do so.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Could rear up and spin on the spot, effectively acting as a full-body spinner.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: 2 large spinning flywheels in fact, one as a roulette wheel, the other with just the number 13 written on it. It was generally considered the second-best horizontal flywheel bot after Hypno-Disc.
** It could also spin on its axis to turn into a full-bodied spinner.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Each iteration of Sabretooth has been equipped with a spinning weapon.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: In Series 8 it had a vertical spinner that was interchangeable with the horizontal crushing arms. It did significantly better with the disc attached than with the claws, and in Series 10 it used the disc exclusively (except in the 10-Robot Rumble, where it switched to the claws to conserve battery power).

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: The only real similarity between the two Expulsion machines was their use of a spinning weapon. The first Expulsion didn't manage to do anything with it, and while the second Expulsion's spinner wasn't the most destructive weapon ever, it could still land some good hits.

* PunnyName / ThemeNaming: A pun on being expelled from school, as the whole team are students. This theme also carries over to the names of their other robots, Detention and Suspension.

With many long-running competitors either bowing out of the Seventh Wars or falling behind in the robotics arms race, several competent-but-not-quite-good-enough machines were given a chance to shine. Atomic is one of those machines. While its initial runs were cut short by the seemingly-unstoppable Chaos 2 and a fatal case of Hypno-Disc, Atomic finally began to prove its worth in the Seventh Wars, back with a tougher, more powerful flipper. Their bad luck hadn't completely gone away, though, and the future champion Typhoon 2 disposed of it in the semi finals; regardless, this performance consolidated Atomic as a potent machine that never lost to any but the best.

* EpicFail: Iron-Awe 5 once flipped ''itself'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_zLeFDML4k out of the arena]] at a live event.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Team Random Violence had planned to overhaul Mortis (among other things, replacing the famous tank tracks with wheels) and enter it into Series 7. Unfortunately they didn't finish the overhaul in time, and missed their chance to make a comeback.

* BornLucky: Facing down the ''terrifying'' prospect of the huge bar spinner Apex, the Track-tion team bolted on a hastily-borrowed front wedge in place of their crusher (thank to Team Vulture), tanked a single hit, then watch with horrified delight as Apex ''blew up''. Then, after being flung out of the arena in record time by Rapid, they advanced to the rumble by default when Vulture couldn't get itself battle-ready in time, forcing them to forfeit.

* ImprovisedWeapon: The robot itself was actually a repurposed and modified bomb disposal robot that had been donated to the school and armed for combat.

* FlippingHelpless: It managed to topple over onto its spinner in every one of its heat battles in Series 10, effectively immobilizing it. It still managed to win two of them, though. In testing, Expulsion could spin itself back onto its wheels if this happened, but never pulled it off in battle.

The only one of several foreign machines in Series 7 to reach the semifinals, Tough As Nails had failed to find any success in its native Dutch series (due to a minor but lethal mechanical failing) but did much better in both the UK series championship as well as the 3rd World Championship, with its potent control capabilities letting them pit opponents with ease as well as score with the judges. One of only two successful horizontal crushers, Tough As Nails fought again in the reboot Series 8, but was again knocked out early by a mechanical fault. Their final surprise appearance came in the Series 10 World Series event, when they were brought in as a last-minute replacement for another competitor who had irreparably broken down.

[[caption-width-right:200:[[TagLine "Tracks are more fun with 101"]]]]

Team Mace debuted in the 2nd Wars as another fairly-ordinary boxlike machine with a lifting arm, its most distinguising feature being the rotating chain-flail on its rear that gave it its name. Toppling George Francis' original Chaos in the heat final, it ''nearly'' changed the face of the series when it literally ''tied'' on distance with eventual champions Panic Attack during their Gauntlet run in the semifinals, but during the playoff run they were knocked into the pit by the Sentinel, letting Panic Attack through to win the series. One of the few Series 2 robots to duplicate its success in Series 3, it reached the semis again, only for the much more powerful Chaos 2 to avenge its predecessor by flipping the comparatively outdated Mace 2 over. Going into Series 4, the team designed a new machine- Gemini, the very first clusterbot. While impressive and innovative, it never quite lived up to expectations, and after being defeated early in Series 5 the Mace team retired.

* TheAllegedCar: One of the more infamous "trash-heap" robots on the show, Napalm resembled little more than a shapeless pile of scrap with a weapon that would struggle to harm a human, much less a robot. In its debut, it had a chainsaw that was ''tied to the machine with a cable''. Even Philippa and [[SelfDeprecaation its own team]] joked about how much of a piece of junk it was, although they somehow always sneak past the first round.

* JokeCharacter: The team's Series 1 entry Detonator returned in the Series 4 sideshow War of Independence tournament, where it was ''destroyed'' by its American opponent, frenZy. All of the other American robots had lost their first round battles against the other UK participants and it is widely believed that another robot was switched for Detonator at the last minute to ensure that an American robot made it to the second round.

Another long running mid-card robot from the original series, Iron-Awe started out as an axe robot in Series 4. After a brief and memorable [[CurbStompBattle (for all the wrong reasons)]] diversion as Axe-Awe in Series 5, the Iron-Awe series slowly metamorphosed into a rear-hinged flipper, first adding one to supplement the axe, then eventually removing te axe altogether. The robot had most of its success on the live circuit, being a 2-time UK champion. It finally returned to the televised show in Series 10, but constant mechanical failures prevented it from achieving more than fluking a place in the 10-robot rumble.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: To an extent; the team had already decided to retire Mortis after Series 4, but gave it one final hurrah by entering it in the War of Independance event, which they won after solid victories over both Panic Attack and the fearsome American hammerbot [=frenZy=], letting them close out their ''Robot Wars'' career by hoisting a trophy.

Weapons: [[CaptainObvious Mousetrap]]

* AnimalMotifs: [[CaptainObvious Bulldog]].

Thanks to its lack of seeding causing very lopsided heats, Series 3 saw a lot of OneHitWonder semifinalists, with Trident probably being the most infamous. A very shiny machine with an interesting stair-climbing wheel system and an ''embarrassingly'' poor axe, it managed to squeak through its weak heat to seize the last semifinal place before being flung around the arena like a rag doll as soon as it met its first serious competition- Chaos 2.

* AnAxeToGrind: One of the worst to ever win a fight.

* OneHitWonder: The 3rd Wars had more OneHitWonder semi-finalists than any other series[[note]]aside from the 7th Wars, for obvious reasons[[/note]], Trident probably foremost among them. It was considered an extremely weak bot that only made the semis by virtue of appearing in an equally weak heat.

After Nick Adams got a taste for roboteering on the Demon team in Series 2, he formed a team of his own with his two children and created the Adams Family Thing (2), a fast and agile wedge that surprised everyone with its relentless speed and aggression. Nick Adams proved to be one of the most-skilled drivers on the show and Wild Thing proved to be a constant threat to even the strongest of competitors, having legendary bouts against Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc in Series 4 and 5. Wild Thing's solid engineering gained it a reputation for being the machine that just [[{{Determinator}} would not die]] and while it never reached the finals it was always highly regarded, being in the elite club of robots that entered multiple series and never failed to win their heat.

The originalversion of The Grim Reaper was a fast, dragster-like rambot which was one of countless forgettable entrants in Series 3 to lose their first and only fight, when their wheel came flying off against Big Brother. Four series later, the team reemerged with an entirely new machine, a neon green low-pressure flipper which won its heat through solid, reliable driving and judges' decisions (perhaps influenced by their menacing mascot who stood by the judges' table with scythe at the ready) rather than spectacular ring-outs. Unfortunately it found itself facing the mighty Storm 2 in the semifinals and went no further. An updated replica of The Grim Reaper, known simply as "Reaper", took part in the reboot's unaired pilot episode, but failed to qualify for the new series itself.

If there was one robot that truly symbolised the overwhelming dominance of flippers in Series 7, it was probably M2. It was simply a vaguely barrel-shaped rear-hinged flipper, capable of throwing opponents out of the ring if it got the chance. While it had some nail-biting battles in its sole heat against Pussycat and Tiberius, as well as flipping out ''both'' of its opponents in its opening melee, M2 was a very generic-if-competent machine, and was sent flying out of the arena itself in its semifinal match against Atomic.

The only one of several foreign machines in Series 7 to reach the semifinals, Tough As Nails had failed to find any success in its native Dutch series (due to a minor but lethal mechanical failing) but did much better in both the UK series championship as well as the 3rd World Championship, with its potent control capabilities letting them pit opponents with ease as well as score with the judges. One of only two successful horizontal crushers, Tought As Nails fought again in the reboot Series 8, but was again knocked out early by a mechanical fault. Their final surprise appearance came in the Series 10 World Series event, when they were brought in as a last-minute replacement for another competitor who had irreparably broken down.

After an inauspicious start in Series 5 against a new-and-improved Razer, Big Nipper came back strong in Series 7, clawing its way to the heat final with its distinctive lifter/crusher weapon. After the end of the first series, Big Nipper enjoyed decent success on the live circuit, before returning to the reboot with an interchangeable vertical spinning disc, earning it a spot in the ten-bot melee of Series 10.

* TheBusCameBack: Having not appeared for three full championships (plus both Extremes), it holds the record for the longest gap between appearances in ''Robot Wars''.[[note]]There was a team that only entered Series 2 and Series 7, an even longer gap, but they entered two different machines.[[/note]]

* TheGrimReaper: Both its name and mascot.

* BornUnlucky: In Series 1 its axe broke down before its heat final against Recyclopse, leaving it effectively weaponless[[note]]The team converted it into a ramming blade, but Mortis wasn't really fast enough for ramming to be a viable tactic[[/note]], and it ''still'' almost beat Recyclopse before losing on a controversial judges' decision. In Series 2 its most successful run was almost cut short by the arena spikes, which the team had been told wouldn't be used; the ensuing controversy demoralized the team and they crashed out against Panic Attack. In Series 3, one of its tracks stopped working and Gravedigger was able to overturn it and push it into the pit, and in Series 4 its lifting arm jammed and Steg 2 was able to overturn it [[RunningGag and push it into the pit]].

Weapons: Front-Hinged Flipper (Series 4), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 6-7)

Battle Record: 4 wins, 9 losses

Weapons: Double horizontal flywheels (13 Black), rotating weapon arm (Heavy Metal)

Battle record: 6 wins, 5 losses as 13 Black, [[spoiler:2 wins, 2 losses]] as Heavy Metal

* MechanicallyUnusualClass: Mousetrap's weapon was unique within the show. Like an actual mousetrap, the heavy metal bar acted as a guillotine, slamming down on opponents at 100mph. It wasn't very damaging, but would trap opponents on the wedge, allowing Mousetrap to shove them around the arena.

* PutOnABus: Like George Francis and Kim Davies, Mike Franklin eventually took a job on the show's crew (he was the house roboteer for [=RefBot=] at one point, infamously driving him into the pit during the Series 6 fight between Tetanus 2 and Raging Reality and also during the Extrme 2 battle where [=RefBot=] fought against Sg. Bash). Unfortunately, this meant he was not allowed to enter Series 7 and was forced to give up his place. [[ShaggyDogStory Then the show had its budget cut and he was let go from the crew anyway.]]

* BornUnlucky: Their flipper fell off in Series 4 (in a battle they still managed to win) and they lost to reigning champions Chaos 2. In Series 5 they were seeded, but for some reason, were drawn against the other seed in the heat in round 2 (which had never happened before nor again). The other seed was Hypno-Disc. Even worse, the crippling damage they took from Hypno-Disc forced them to drop out of the Extreme series Annihilator they'd qualified for (Extreme and Series 5 running concurrently); ironically the exact same thing happened to Bulldog Breed. Then in the semi-finals of Series 7, after a long run of success, their flipper malfunctioned leaving them stranded on their back. Their opponent? Future Champion Typhoon 2. You might notice that all three of Atomic's career losses were to grand finalists, including ''two'' series champions.

* CoolButInefficient: Spirit of Knightmare was armed with a wide array of weaponry, including two blending discs, two pneumatic "piercers" and four ramming spikes in addition to its flipper. None of them were effective in practice, and even the flipper was let down by the fact that it could only lift 80 kg in a series where the weight limit had been raised to 100 kg.