History Trivia / RobotWars

** Unfortunately, after 3 reboot series of steadily-increasing quality (with Series 10 being considered one of the greatest ever), the BBC cancelled it again to make room for new programs. Fan outrage was ''spectacular''.

** A rare case where the executives began meddling with ''another show''. At first, ''Robot Wars'' entrants were allowed to take part in ''Series/BattleBots'' as well — Killerhurtz, Mortis and Razer all fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Killerhurtz and Suicidal Tendencies took part in Season 1.0. However, given the controversial reputation Mentorn had within in the robot combat community[[note]]To wit, along with their increasing preference of entertainment over education and allegations of staging up drama, the rights to the ''Robot Wars'' name and to create a show were sold to Mentorn back around 1997 by Profile Records, who sponsored the original events. Profile, who were ''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive very]]'' controversial within the community back then, had not allowed original creator Marc Thorpe to have a true say in the show's pitching. Though Thorpe ultimately did warm up to the show, working as a consultant for the First Wars and presenting Razer with their trophy for the International League Championship, the whole business with Profile led to a lawsuit that led to Thorpe having to relinquish the ''Robot Wars'' name. Greg Munson and Trey Roski, who built the early robot La Machine, started to put ''[=BattleBots=]'' together in response to keep Thorpe's vision alive ... which was made worse when Profile head Steve Plotnicki tried to sue them for since it was pretty much the original ''Robot Wars'' [[SerialNumbersFiledOff under a new name]]. Thankfully, he lost.[[/note]], most of the signature names from ''[=BattleBots=]'' (such as [=BioHazard=] and Vlad the Impaler, both of whom were veterans of the original 1994-97 events) refused to have anything to do with the British show. This, combined with Mentorn not being terribly happy at how many competitors from their show took part in Season 2.0[[note]]Bigger Brother, Killerhurtz, Mortis, Panic Attack, and Suicidal Tendencies all participated, and all made it through to the Round of 16[[/note]], ultimately led to Mentorn suddenly barring their entrants from being allowed to take part in ''[=BattleBots=]'' any more and vice versa (Killerhurtz was forced to be exempt from this rule, as ''[=BattleBots=]'' owned the merch rights to the robot. Team Hurtz compromised by relegating Killerhurtz to being a ''[=BattleBots=]''-exclusive entrant, while ''Robot Wars'' got Terrorhurtz. Also, several Brits just went for a new paint job and name — Bigger Brother became "Little Sister" while Dantomkia became “Spitfire"). This meant that the ''Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors'' and ''Nickelodeon Robot Wars'' series didn't have any famous ''[=BattleBots=]'' robots taking part (teams were allowed, but they needed different robots). Two well-known competitors, Son of Whyachi and Tripulta Raptor, notably had to be turned away ''after arriving'' because of this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in the Seventh Wars where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why the well-known robots from ''Extreme Warriors'' or ''Nickelodeon'', such as Panzer Mk or Tricerabot, didn't bother trying to qualify.

** A rare case where the executives began meddling with ''another show''. At first, ''Robot Wars'' entrants were allowed to take part in ''Series/BattleBots'' as well — Killerhurtz, Mortis and Razer all fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Killerhurtz and Suicidal Tendencies took part in Season 1.0. However, given the controversial reputation Mentorn had within in the robot combat community[[note]]To wit, along with their increasing preference of entertainment over education and allegations of staging up drama, the rights to the ''Robot Wars'' name and to create a show were sold to Mentorn back around 1997 by Profile Records, who sponsored the original events. Profile, who were ''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive very]]'' controversial within the community back then, had not allowed original creator Marc Thorpe to have a true say in the show's pitching. Though Thorpe ultimately did warm up to the show, working as a consultant for the First Wars and presenting Razer with their trophy for the International League Championship, the whole business with Profile led to a lawsuit that led to Thorpe having to relinquish the ''Robot Wars'' name. Greg Munson and Trey Roski, who built the early robot La Machine, started to put ''[=BattleBots=]'' together in response to keep Thorpe's vision alive ... which was made worse when Profile head Steve Plotnicki tried to sue them for since it was pretty much the original ''Robot Wars'' [[SerialNumbersFiledOff under a new name]]. Thankfully, he lost.[[/note]], most of the signature names from ''[=BattleBots=]'' (such as [=BioHazard=] and Vlad the Impaler, both of whom were veterans of the original 1994-97 events) refused to have anything to do with the British show. This, combined with Mentorn not being terribly happy at how many competitors from their show took part in Season 2.0[[note]]Bigger Brother, Killerhurtz, Mortis, Panic Attack, and Suicidal Tendencies all participated, and all made it through to the Round of 16[[/note]], ultimately led to Mentorn suddenly barring their entrants from being allowed to take part in ''[=BattleBots=]'' any more (Killerhurtz was forced to be exempt from this rule, as ''[=BattleBots=]'' owned the merch rights to the robot. Team Hurtz compromised by relegating Killerhurtz to being a ''[=BattleBots=]''-exclusive entrant, while ''Robot Wars'' got Terrorhurtz. Also, several Brits just went for a new paint job and name — Bigger Brother became "Little Sister" while Dantomkia became “Spitfire"). This meant that the ''Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors'' and ''Nickelodeon Robot Wars'' series didn't have any famous ''[=BattleBots=]'' robots taking part (teams were allowed, but they needed different robots). Two well-known competitors, Son of Whyachi and Tripulta Raptor, notably had to be turned away ''after arriving'' because of this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in the Seventh Wars where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why the well-known robots from ''Extreme Warriors'' or ''Nickelodeon'', such as Panzer Mk or Tricerabot, didn't bother trying to qualify.

** For the Seventh Wars, a new rule was implemented that all competing robots ''must'' have an active weapon. Therefore, robots who only had static wedges and spikes, or were thwackbots (a robot which caused damaged by spinning on its axis and slamming a clubbing or sharpened weapon into its opponent) were not allowed. Even Stinger, ''a former Grand Finalist'', which had consistently participated in highly entertaining battles and fought reigning champion Chaos 2 to a standstill in Series 4, where it placed 3rd overall, was barred from competing because it didn't have an active weapon. The majority ''hated'' this rule. As a kick in the teeth to Stinger, a blunder was made in the entry list and a sit-and-spin thwackbot called T-Wrecks, who did nothing, was let in regardless.
** The First Wars had an example that was actually justified. Because there were 36 entry slots, but only 33 entrants, the production crew created three "stock robots" - Eubank the Mouse, WYSIWYG, and Grunt - to make up the numbers. When all three made it through their respective Gauntlets, at the expense of actual competitors, the producers decided it would be unfair to have the stock robots proceed any further and contrived to have them exit in the Trials. Eubank the Mouse drove straight into a wall and [[BlatantLies "broke down"]], WYSIWIG was eliminated despite Dreadnaut having ''actually'' broken down, and Grunt [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere drove right off the Sumo platform]] in four seconds flat - much to the frustration of the team it had eliminated in the Gauntlet, who felt that their machine would have done well in that Trial.

** A rare case where the executives began meddling with ''another show''. At first, ''Robot Wars'' entrants were allowed to take part in ''Series/BattleBots'' as well — Killerhurtz, Mortis and Razer all fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Killerhurtz and Suicidal Tendencies took part in Season 1.0. However, given the controversial reputation Mentorn had within in the robot combat community[[note]]To wit, along with their increasing preference of entertainment over education and allegations of staging up drama, the rights to the ''Robot Wars'' name and to create a show were sold to Mentorn back around 1997 by Profile Records, who sponsored the original events. Profile, who were ''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive very]]'' controversial within the community back then, had not allowed original creator Marc Thorpe to have a true say in the show's pitching. Though Thorpe ultimately did warm up to the show, working as a consultant for the First Wars and presenting Razer with their trophy for the International League Championship, the whole business with Profile led to a lawsuit that led to Thorpe having to relinquish the ''Robot Wars'' name. Greg Munson and Trey Roski, who built the early robot La Machine, started to put ''[=BattleBots=]'' together in response to keep Thorpe's vision alive ... which was made worse when Profile head Steve Plotnicki tried to sue them for since it was pretty much the original ''Robot Wars'' [[SerialNumbersFiledOff under a new name]]. Thankfully, he lost.[[/note]], most of the signature names from ''[=BattleBots=]'' (such as [=BioHazard=] and Vlad the Impaler, both of whom were veterans of the original 1994-97 events) refused to have anything to do with the British show. This, combined with Mentorn not being terribly happy at how many competitors from their show took part in Season 2.0[[note]]Bigger Brother, Killerhurtz, Mortis, Panic Attack, and Suicidal Tendencies all participated, and all made it through to the Round of 16[[/note]], ultimately led to Mentorn suddenly barring their entrants from being allowed to take part in ''[=BattleBots=]'' any more (Killerhurtz was forced to be exempt from this rule, as ''[=BattleBots=]'' owned the merch rights to the robot. Team Hurtz compromised by relegating Killerhurtz to being a ''[=BattleBots=]''-exclusive entrant, while ''Robot Wars'' got Terrorhurtz. Also, several Brits just went for a new paint job and name — Bigger Brother became "Little Sister" while Dantomkia became “Spitfire"). This meant that the ''Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors'' and ''Nickelodeon Robot Wars'' series didn't have any famous ''[=BattleBots=]'' robots taking part (teams were allowed, but they needed different robots). Two well-known competitors, Son of Whyachi and Tripulta Raptor, notably had to be turned away ''after arriving'' because of this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in the Seventh Wars where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why the well-known robots from ''Extreme Warriors'' or ''Nickelodeon'', such as Panzer Mk or Tricerabot, didn't bother trying to qualify.

** A rare case where executives of ''another'' show began meddling. ''Series/BattleBots'' does not allow robots which debuted on their series to fight in ''Robot Wars''[[note]]It appears that this rule hadn't been enforced until around Season 2.0, as Rammstein was able to appear on the ''Robot Wars'' War of Independence event after its debut in ''[=BattleBots=]'' Season 1.0.[[/note]], but for a period of time the opposite ''could'' happen. This meant that the ''Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors'' and ''Nickelodeon Robot Wars'' series didn't have any famous ''[=BattleBots=]'' competitors[[note]]It did have some teams, though. The Bat in particular was entered by Team Minus Zero, better known as the team behind frenZy.[[/note]]. Son of Whyachi was notably one robot that had to be turned away ''after arriving'' once the ''Robot Wars'' producers discovered this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in Series 7 where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why robots from ''Extreme Warriors'' or ''Nickelodeon'' didn't bother trying to qualify.
*** Even robots built by British teams, or teams that appeared on ''Robot Wars'' first were not immune. Team Hurtz (famous for Killerhurtz and Terrorhurtz) were not allowed to (officially) bring beta onto the 2016 reboot by the ''[=BattleBots=]'' producers because they owned the broadcast rights to the robot (key word being "broadcast" - [[LoopholeAbuse they did fight]] in an ''unbroadcasted'' battle in the new arena). Killerhurtz wasn't allowed to be included in ''Robot Wars'' promotional material for the same reason. [[note]]To add insult to injury, at that time ''beta didn't actually get to FIGHT on [=BattleBots=]!'' They first attempted to enter it in Series 5.0, but the magnets the robot used to maintain stability when swinging its incredibly powerful hammer tore the metal floor panels up, meaning beta couldn't move under its own power in the battlebox. The team attempted to rectify this and enter in Series 6.0, but there ''was'' no Series 6.0 as the show was cancelled. When the 2015 reboot arrived, the team thought beta would ''finally'' get its chance to show off its stuff, but when they were flying the robot across San Francisco (disassembled of course) American Airlines somehow managed to ''[[DiabolusExMachina lose a 25kg bag of essential parts for eight weeks,]]'' forcing them to miss out. Thankfully, they managed to finally compete for ABC Season 2 where they did quite well, defeating Lucky, Overhaul and Nightmare before being defeated by Tombstone.[[/note]] Notably, it seemed that these rules had been started fresh when it was rebooted, as Kronic (who premiered in 2000 on ''Robot Wars'') competed in ABC Season 1 as "Chronic", but legally couldn't compete on ''Robot Wars'' again ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which ultimately turned out for the better]], as it instead led to the team entering Apollo, which went on to win series 8).
*** As mentioned above, it was initially {{Averted|Trope}} in the opposite scenario. ''Robot Wars'' competitors were allowed to take part in ''[=BattleBots=]'' - Razer fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Bigger Brother and Panic Attack, among others, competed on the show itself. However, after the above mentioned incident with Son of Whyachi, the UK producers returned the favour, and barred ''their'' UK robots from appearing in ''[=BattleBots=]''. However, there were still an ample amount of competitors whom just went for a new paint job and name (i.e Bigger Brother became Little Sister while Dantomkia became Spitfire), and much like above with the merchandising issue, Killerhurtz was an exception to this new rule.

* ExecutiveMeddling: %% Specifically in the case of Storm II. As seen [[http://www.teamstorm.com/storm2/semifinals.htm here]] and [[http://www.teamstorm.com/storm2/grandfinals.htm here]], the producers of the show were unhappy about Storm II not using its 'active weapon' in its semi-final fight (which the revamped Series 7 rules stated must be on every robot, ''but not necessarily used''), thus after failing to influence the judges to give the semi-final to Firestorm 5, they tried (and succeeded) in the final to meddle with Storm II's chances of success: first in its fight against Tornado by raising the pit after they had fallen into it, and secondly in its fight against Typhoon 2 by letting Team Typhoon repair damage to it in between the fight, not letting the house robots fight with it as normal, and not informing the judges of damage done to it (most notably Typhoon 2's drive chains having fallen off). This meant that the fight was given to Typhoon 2 in the judges' decision, prompting large boos from the crowd (albeit in post-production cheering was overdubbed onto the announcement). However, when the judges found out about this Team Storm received individual letters of apology.
%% *** According to Team Typhoon, many of these claims are false. There was no repairing going on as the teams didn't even have access to the robots during the pause, and the reason for their 'zero damage' claim was because they had no reason to suspect otherwise. They where only informed about the drive chain after the judges decision (typhoon 2 uses two chains to drive the robot, either of which could take over if the other failed). The only real explanation is that one of the teams is outright lying, but we'll probably never know which one. The general ExecutiveMeddling against Storm II is still indisputable though.
%% ** The producers attempted to screw Storm II over ''again'' in the finals of the third World Championship. In the fight, its opponent Supernova was stacked against the wall long enough for the Refbot to move in and attempt to count it out - except the Refbot's counter wasn't working, which was only communicated to the producers. However, the House Roboteers and the Storm II team all drew the obvious conclusion, and thought it would be funny for Shunt to stack Storm II on an angle grinder. Cue the producers arguing that Supernova technically ''wasn't'' immobilized because it had never been counted out, and had Supernova taken off the wall while Storm II was left there. This time, however, [[SubvertedTrope the judges weren't having any of it]], and gave the win to Storm II.

** Another instance pertaining to The Seventh Wars. With the new producers, a new rule was implemented that all competing robots ''must'' have an active weapon. Therefore, robots who only had static wedges and spikes, or were thwackbots (a robot which caused damaged by spinning on its axis and slamming a clubbing or sharpened weapon into its opponent) were not allowed. Even Stinger, ''a former Grand Finalist'', which had consistently participated in highly entertaining battles and fought reigning champion Chaos 2 to a standstill in Series 4, where it placed 3rd overall, was barred from competing because it didn't have an active weapon. The majority ''hated'' this rule. As a kick in the teeth to Stinger, a blunder was made in the entry list and a sit-and-spin thwackbot called T-Wrecks, who did nothing, was let in regardless.

** Thirdly, the sheer number of popular robots that didn't return for Series 7 (most notably Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc, and Razer) likely put a lot of fans off[[note]]In a lot of these cases it was because the teams also worked on the show as technical consultants (ie, help other teams get their robots fully working). Series 7 introduced a new rule that stated staff couldn't compete[[/note]]. Although in hindsight a lot of fans have agreed this might have made Series 7 ''better'' by finally giving some new contenders (Typhoon 2, Storm 2, M2, Tough As Nails) and long-time contestants who'd always been muscled out by the top tier (Bulldog Breed, Raging Knightmare) room to shine.

** There are also individual battles that were never transmitted and thus have no surviving footage, most notably an unaired Wild Card Warriors event between Hypno-Disc and newcomers TX-108 (which TX-108 won, making this the only WCW battle where the newcomer won). This also includes the full versions of the Series II Feather/Light/Middle weight melees (only shown in recapped form) and the rest of the Super Heavyweight Championship of which only the final was shown in full.

** A behind the scenes tv special known as ''Robot Wars: The Kick-Off'' was filmed to promote the first Dutch series. It aired once in 2001 and has never surfaced since.
** The so called BBC Choice specials of Extreme 2 (European Championship, University Challenge and Commonwealth Carnage) were set to air right as the BBC lost the broadcasting rights to the show. They ended up becoming exclusives to the aforementioned digital channel and very few knew they even existed until Sci-Fi started airing reruns of the series.

** Mick Cutter especially so. He left Team Chaos at the end of the Second Wars to join Team Cassius and didn't enter after Team Cassius pulled out. Team Chaos won the championship that year, and the year after, becoming one of the most popular and successful robots. To add insult to injury, Cutter was the one driving Cassius II during its ''disasterous'' 3rd Wars appearance when it charged at Pussycat, missed and drove straight into the pit, accepting full responsibility for their shocking early departure from the series.

** The new series was also subject to this by The BBC, who simply stopped advertising it when they realized it hadn't become the smash hit they had hoped for[[note]]There are substantial rumors that they had hopped it would replace [[Series/TopGearUK Top Gear]] which had taken a massive viewer loss after Creator/JeremyClarkson dismissal [[/note]]. Many people missed series 10 simply because they never knew it had been announced.
** The decision to have Series 9 air just 6 months after series 8[[note]]leaving even more credence to the "Top Gear replacement" rumors as it used to have the same format[[/note]] also did not sit well with teams as it barely gave them enough time to get ready. Applications closing just 10 days after it was announced (with filming taking place in two months) also made many teams miss out.

*** Robots that were turned down for the 2016 reboot, or wanted to compete but couldn't for other reasons, include Anarchy (hugely overweight due to changes in walker weight limits), Gravity (one of many powerful flippers turned away to try and diversify the field), Hypno-Disc and Tornado (both teams were interested but their robots were long-retired and they couldn't get a working one up and running in time for filming; they are still candidates for any future series).

** A few years after the show went off air, digital channel Challenge[[note]]who show repeats of old gameshows, including ''Robot Wars''[[/note]] were going to broadcast the UK championship live events, but the deal fell through.

** For the reboot, Jonathon Pierce and Noel Sharky both returned once more, as did Shunt, Dead Metal and Matilda. Sergeant Bash did not return (when creating the new House Robots they were only able to do four and Bash drew the short straw, most likely for his AwesomeButImpractical design), and Stuart [=McDonald=] did not return. Behemoth returned again but Panic Attack did not, solidifying Behemoth as the longest-running fighting robot design in the UK scene.

* TheWikiRule: Has its own [[http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Robot_Wars_Wiki_-_Main_Page wiki]] that is the only place on the internet to list all results ever.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Suffered this from both the BBC and Channel 5. Three episodes from Extreme II were never aired on terrestrial television, and the show in general got shunted around the schedules a lot, to the point that in the last series only about two episodes were shown in their originally advertised timeslots. Channel Five also moved it from its well-known Friday timeslot to Sunday evenings.
** The new series was also subject to this by The BBC, who simply stopped advertising it when they realized it hadn't become the smash hit they had hoped for. Many people missed the third season simply because they never knew it had been announced.

** Thirdly, the sheer number of popular robots that didn't return for Series 7 (most notably Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc, and Razer) likely put a lot of fans off. Although in hindsight a lot of fans have agreed this might have made Series 7 ''better'' by finally giving some new contenders (Typhoon 2, Storm 2, M2, Tough As Nails) and long-time contestants who'd always been muscled out by the top tier (Bulldog Breed, Raging Knightmare) room to shine.

** There are also individual battles that were never transmitted and thus have no surviving footage, most notably an unaired Wild Card Warriors event between Hypno-Disc and newcomers TX-108 (which TX-108 won, making this the only WCW battle where the newcomer won).
** The pilot episode of the 2016 revival was not actually recorded and no footage of the battles that took place during it are known to exist.

* Rex Garrod, captain of the Cassius team, was also the inventor of Series/{{Brum}}, [[Series/{{Teletubbies}} Noo-Noo]] -- as well as [[https://rumble.com/vdtxql-rex-garrord-teletubbies-clockwork.html?fbclid=IwAR1M9ON8aUqJmPnGMI_z9hc0KYtnLx0bAcyLwDQWK-_w49rk6R_meCcl1uE a walking clockwork robot]] for a "Tummy Tales" segment -- and [[Series/RosieAndJim Duck]].

* Rex Garrod, captain of the Cassius team, was also the inventor of Series/{{Brum}}.

* NamesTheSame: Some names have been used for several competitors who are otherwise unrelated to each other, including Cyclone, Hammerhead, Spin Doctor and Prometheus. However, they would never be in the same show, with one usually originating from the UK tournaments and the other(s) originating from one of the many international spin-offs.

** There are also individual battles that were never transmitted and thus no surviving footage, most notably an unbroadcast Wild Card Warriors event between Hypno-Disc and newcomers TX-108 (which TX-108 won, making this the only WCW battle where the newcomer won).

** Also in the Second Wars semi-finals, in the case of Mortis. In the pinball trial, when Mortis first started to move it got stuck on the arena spikes, meaning that it scored 0 points. However, somebody on the production team decided to let Mortis run again. (This at least may have been justified, as the roboteers had been told the spikes would not be used.) However, the usual driver was unhappy about this decision, meaning that another member of the Mortis team drove the robot. In the second attempt, Mortis scored very few points, and the house robots started ''scoring points for them'' (note that when the trial was introduced it was explicitly pointed out that points scored by the house robots would not count), and according to the scoreboard, Mortis had scored 100 points. In the televised version, there was no hint that Mortis had been given a second run or that the production team had fixed it. The production team clearly wanted Mortis, the favourite, to reach the final. At least when Panic Attack pushed Mortis into the pit in the next round the executives didn't try and persuade the judges that they shouldn't win. The "Grudge Matches" special at the end of the series included a fight between Mortis and Napalm, the robot eliminated as a result of the above meddling. The intro to the match didn't explain in any detail and made it look as if the Mortis team had been given a second chance by protesting to the judges, when in fact they were given one ''despite'' their protests. (Mortis won the grudge match.)

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The Hypno-Disc team were voluntarily PutOnABus for Series 7 due to family matters (they intended to return only for the show to begin a 12-year hiatus following that series); S3 could no longer afford the time and money involved, so also dropped out that year.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Specifically in the case of Storm II. As seen [[http://www.teamstorm.com/storm2/semifinals.htm here]] and [[http://www.teamstorm.com/storm2/grandfinals.htm here]], the producers of the show were unhappy about Storm II not using its 'active weapon' in its semi-final fight (which the revamped Series 7 rules stated must be on every robot, ''but not necessarily used''), thus after failing to influence the judges to give the semi-final to Firestorm 5, they tried (and succeeded) in the final to meddle with Storm II's chances of success: first in its fight against Tornado by raising the pit after they had fallen into it, and secondly in its fight against Typhoon 2 by letting Team Typhoon repair damage to it in between the fight, not letting the house robots fight with it as normal, and not informing the judges of damage done to it (most notably Typhoon 2's drive chains having fallen off). This meant that the fight was given to Typhoon 2 in the judges' decision, prompting large boos from the crowd (albeit in post-production cheering was overdubbed onto the announcement). However, when the judges found out about this Team Storm received individual letters of apology.
*** According to Team Typhoon, many of these claims are false. There was no repairing going on as the teams didn't even have access to the robots during the pause, and the reason for their 'zero damage' claim was because they had no reason to suspect otherwise. They where only informed about the drive chain after the judges decision (typhoon 2 uses two chains to drive the robot, either of which could take over if the other failed). The only real explanation is that one of the teams is outright lying, but we'll probably never know which one. The general ExecutiveMeddling against Storm II is still indisputable though.
** The producers attempted to screw Storm II over ''again'' in the finals of the third World Championship. In the fight, its opponent Supernova was stacked against the wall long enough for the Refbot to move in and attempt to count it out - except the Refbot's counter wasn't working, which was only communicated to the producers. However, the House Roboteers and the Storm II team all drew the obvious conclusion, and thought it would be funny for Shunt to stack Storm II on an angle grinder. Cue the producers arguing that Supernova technically ''wasn't'' immobilized because it had never been counted out, and had Supernova taken off the wall while Storm II was left there. This time, however, [[SubvertedTrope the judges weren't having any of it]], and gave the win to Storm II.

** The new series was also subject to this by The BBC, who simply stopped advertising it when they realized it hadn't become the smash hit they had hopped for. Many people missed the third season simply because they never knew it had been announced.

** With ''[=BattleBots=]'' being revived in 2015, and ''Robot Wars'' revived in 2016, the duel is set to continue once again. The duel had a third entrant in 2018, a day after World Series ended, when ''King of Bots'' in China began and featured many of the most successful teams from both other shows entering new robots into this one.

* ThrowItIn: Craig Charles ad-libbed the first four-line "...on ''Robot Wars''" poem at the end of his first episode. The producers liked it and asked him to do it every week. Prior to becoming a comedic actor on Red Dwarf, Craig was a performance poet both on television and touring the country and used his skills for the show.

** Fourthly, with live event shows becoming popular at the time, more robots qualified with flippers due to the practicality of having them in live shows while other roboteers added a flipper to their robot (such as The Grim Reaper). 11 of the 16 semi-finalists had flippers, so the show by that point became a game of "who's got the biggest flipper?" Ironically, of the 5 robots ''without'' a flipper, 4 of them filled out the four available slots in the Grand Final.

* AscendedMeme: [[https://www.facebook.com/UKRobotWars/posts/640048042826215 One of the Facebook posts]] done by the rebooted Robot Wars team included the hashtag #homeinabinbag, a reference to the Stealth team who entered Stealth into the arena against Hypno-Disc in one piece, and went back home in ''several'' bin bags. The phrase later became a CrowdChant when Carbide was in the arena.

* ContestWinnerCameo: Christian Bridge joining the Panic Attack team during season 4 after winning a competition in the Robot Wars Magazine.

** With ''[=BattleBots=]'' being revived in 2015, and Robot Wars revived in 2016, the duel is set to continue once again. The duel had a third entrant in 2018, a day after Robot Wars World Series ended, when ''King of Bots'' in China began and featured many of the most successful teams from both other shows entering new robots into this one.

** A rare case where executives of ''another'' show began meddling. ''Series/BattleBots'' does not allow robots which debuted on their series to fight in ''Robot Wars''[[note]]It appears that this rule hadn't been enforced until around Season 2.0, as Rammstein was able to appear on the ''Robot Wars'' War of Independence event after its debut in ''[=Battlebots=]'' Season 1.0.[[/note]], but for a period of time the opposite ''could'' happen. This meant that the US Robot Wars series didn't have any famous Battlebots competitors[[note]]It did have some teams, though. The Bat in particular was entered by Team Minus Zero, better known as the team behind frenZy.[[/note]]. Son of Whyachi was notably one robot that had to be turned away ''after arriving'' once the Robot Wars producers discovered this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in Series 7 where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why average robots from the US (or at least Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors) didn't bother trying to qualify.
*** Even robots built by British teams, or teams that appeared on Robot Wars first were not immune. Team Hurtz (famous for Killerhurtz and Terrorhurtz) were not allowed to (officially) bring beta onto the 2016 reboot by the [=BattleBots=] producers because they owned the broadcast rights to the robot (key word being "broadcast" - [[LoopholeAbuse they did fight]] in an ''unbroadcasted'' battle in the new arena). Killerhurtz wasn't allowed to be included in Robot Wars promotional material for the same reason. [[note]]To add insult to injury, at that time ''beta didn't actually get to FIGHT on [=BattleBots=]!'' They first attempted to enter it in Series 5.0, but the magnets the robot used to maintain stability when swinging its incredibly powerful hammer tore the metal floor panels up, meaning beta couldn't move under its own power in the battlebox. The team attempted to rectify this and enter in Series 6.0, but there ''was'' no Series 6.0 as the show was cancelled. When the 2015 reboot arrived, the team thought beta would ''finally'' get its chance to show off its stuff, but when they were flying the robot across San Francisco (disassembled of course) American Airlines somehow managed to ''[[DiabolusExMachina lose a 25kg bag of essential parts for eight weeks,]]'' forcing them to miss out. Thankfully, they managed to finally compete for ABC Season 2 where they did quite well, defeating Lucky, Overhaul and Nightmare before being defeated by Tombstone.[[/note]] Notably, it seemed that these Battlebots rules had been started fresh when it was rebooted, as Kronic (who premiered in 2000 on Robot Wars) competed in the 2015 season of Battlebots as "Chronic", but legally couldn't compete on Robot Wars again ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which ultimately turned out for the better]], as it instead led to the team entering Apollo, which went on to win series 8).
*** As mentioned above, it was initially {{Averted|Trope}} in the opposite scenario. Robot Wars competitors were allowed to take part in [=BattleBots=] - Razer fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Bigger Brother and Panic Attack, among others, competed on the show itself. However, after the above mentioned incident with Son of Whyachi, the UK producers returned the favour, and barred ''their'' UK robots from appearing in [=BattleBots=]. However, there were still an ample amount of competitors whom just went for a new paint job and name (i.e Bigger Brother became Little Sister while Dantomkia became Spitfire), and much like above with the merchandising issue, Killerhurtz was an exception to this new rule.

** Martin Smith went from being a roboteer with Cruella in the first and second series to be a full-time judge from the third series onwards. Justified since, while the competition is open for anybody with any skill, quite a lot of the roboteers are very capable and qualified with robotics outside of Robot Wars (indeed, at the time of his ascension, Martin Smith was a professor of robotics at the University of East London).

* TroubledProduction: An incident in the pits during the Third Wars (a hydraulic spike weapon went off and [[AgonyOfTheFeet pinned a crew member's foot to the floor]]) and the resulting investigation caused several side events to be cancelled and the rest shortened, and many robots would never be seen because of this. The Football and Pinball tournaments were truncated, and the Sumo and Tag Team events were cancelled altogether (although they would be successfully remounted the following year). The most notable casualties were the alternative weight class championships (except for the middleweight championship, which was reduced to a single battle), which would never really kick off again. Nowadays, you'll be lucky to find a roboteer with a robot that's not antweight, featherweight or heavyweight. The incident also drove Rex Garrod, one of the most talented roboteers, to leave Robot Wars in protest, just as the show was starting to really take off.

** A rare case where executives of ''another'' show began meddling. ''Series/BattleBots'' does not allow competitors who debuted on their series to fight in Robot Wars, but for a period of time the opposite ''could'' happen. This meant that the US Robot Wars series didn't have any famous Battlebots competitors. Son of Whyachi was notably one robot that had to be turned away ''after arriving'' once the Robot Wars producers discovered this clause. This rule culminated in an embarrassing Third World Championship Qualifier in Series 7 where both competitors fighting to represent the US were equally awful, and some people questioned why average robots from the US (or at least Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors) didn't bother trying to qualify.
*** Even robots built by British teams, or teams that appeared on Robot Wars first were not immune. Team Hurtz (famous for Killerhurtz and Terrorhurtz) were not allowed to (officially) bring beta onto the 2016 reboot by the [=BattleBots=] producers because they owned the broadcast rights to the robot (key word being "broadcast" - [[LoopholeAbuse they did fight]] in an ''unbroadcasted'' battle in the new arena). Killerhurtz wasn't allowed to be included in Robot Wars promotional material for the same reason. [[note]]To add insult to injury, at that time ''beta didn't actually get to FIGHT on [=BattleBots=]!'' They first attempted to enter it in Series 5.0, but the magnets the robot used to maintain stability when swinging its incredibly powerful hammer tore the metal floor panels up, meaning beta couldn't move under its own power in the battlebox. The team attempted to rectify this and enter in Series 6.0, but there ''was'' no Series 6.0 as the show was cancelled. When the 2015 reboot arrived, the team thought beta would ''finally'' get its chance to show off its stuff, but when they were flying the robot across San Francisco (disassembled of course) American Airlines somehow managed to ''[[DiabolusExMachina lose a 25kg bag of essential parts for eight weeks,]]'' forcing them to miss out. Thankfully, they managed to finally compete for ABC Season 2 where they did quite well, defeating Lucky, Overkill and Nightmare before being defeated by Tombstone.[[/note]] Notably, it seemed that these Battlebots rules had been started fresh when it was rebooted, as Kronic (who premiered in 2000 on Robot Wars) competed in the 2015 season of Battlebots, but legally couldn't compete on Robot Wars again ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which ultimately turned out for the better]], as it instead led to the team entering Apollo, who went on to win series 8).
*** As mentioned above, it was initially {{Averted|Trope}} in the opposite scenario. Later, however, they played it straight. Robot Wars competitors were allowed to take part in [=BattleBots=] - Razer fought in the Long Beach and Las Vegas events in 1999, while Bigger Brother and Panic Attack, among others, competed on the show itself. However, after the above mentioned incident with Son of Whyachi, the UK producers returned the favour, and barred ''their'' UK robots from appearing in [=BattleBots=]. However, their rules where a bit more relaxed, as UK competitors could re-enter Battlebots with a new paint job and name (i.e Bigger Brother became Little Sister while Dantomkia became Spitfire).

*** Even robots built by British teams, or teams that appeared on Robot Wars first were not immune. Team Hurtz (famous for Killerhurtz and Terrorhurtz) were not allowed to (officially) bring beta onto the 2016 reboot by the [=BattleBots=] producers because they owned the broadcast rights to the robot (key word being "broadcast" - [[LoopholeAbuse they did fight]] in an ''unbroadcasted'' battle in the new arena). Killerhurtz wasn't allowed to be included in Robot Wars promotional material for the same reason. [[note]]To add insult to injury, at that time ''beta didn't actually get to FIGHT on [=BattleBots=]!'' They first attempted to enter it in Series 5.0, but the magnets the robot used to maintain stability when swinging its incredibly powerful hammer tore the metal floor panels up, meaning beta couldn't move under its own power in the battlebox. The team attempted to rectify this and enter in Series 6.0, but there ''was'' no Series 6.0 as the show was cancelled. When the 2015 reboot arrived, the team thought beta would ''finally'' get its chance to show off its stuff, but when they were flying the robot across San Francisco (disassembled of course) American Airlines somehow managed to ''[[DiabolusExMachina lose a 25kg bag of essential parts for eight weeks,]]'' forcing them to miss out. Thankfully, they managed to finally compete for ABC Season 2 where they did quite well, defeating Lucky, Overkill and Nightmare before being defeated by Tombstone.[[/note]] Notably, it seemed that these Battlebots rules had been started fresh when it was rebooted, as Kronic (who premiered in 2000 on Robot Wars) competed in the 2015 season of Battlebots, but legally couldn't compete on Robot Wars again ([[TropesAreTools which ultimately turned out for the better]], as it instead led to the team entering Apollo, who went on to win series 8).

** Some of the robots that were turned away for Series 7 include Dutch champions Slicer and PulverizeR, as well as a completely rebuilt and very different looking Sir Chromalot.