| 1 | This is the page for Robot Wars Semi-Finalists. They can be found under which series they first reached the semi-finals. Note that neither Series 1 nor the 2016-onwards reboot have semi-finals, with the 6 heat winners proceeding directly into the Grand Final melee in Series 1, and the 5 heat winners and single wildcard entrant making it to the Grand Final episode in Series 8 and 9. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder:Series 2]] |
| 6 | !!Mortis (Series 1 & 4 Heat Finalist, Series 2 Semi-Finalist, War Of Independence Champion) (2 Seed in Series 2, 23 Seed in Series 4) (Winner of Best Engineered Robot Award in Series 1) |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-mortis_4861.jpg]] |
| 9 | [[caption-width-right:200:"The most feared and technically advanced robot of the first three wars"]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Weapons: Axe, Lifting Arm (Series 3-4) |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Battle record: 13 wins, 5 losses |
| 14 | |
| 15 | As their tag line suggests, Mortis was one of the iconic competitors of the show's early history. A sleek, gunmetal grey tank armed with an axe adapted from a Japanese ''tanto'' knife (and in later series, a lifting arm), Mortis probably most-closely resembled the average person's conception of what a combat robot should look like, and it was [[CreatorsPet a favourite of the producers]], although not always to its benefit. However, despite being touted as one of the most expensive robots ever seen on the show (though this wasn't really true)[[note]]During the show the presenters and commentator stated various huge figures for what had supposedly spent on Mortis, but the team [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBsvygXsBY#t=45m04s have said]] that this was all nonsense and was based on estimates of what the parts ''and labour'' would have cost at full price - in reality most of the parts were donated, and of course the team spent nothing on labour because they built it themselves as a hobby.[[/note]], Mortis never quite managed to live up to the hype and retired after winning its only trophy at the end of Series 4. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | You can hear a fan interview with two of the Mortis team [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBsvygXsBY here]]. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * 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 Mortis put up a very poor fight against Panic Attack, which pushed it into the pit. 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]]. |
| 20 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: The team had already decided to retire Mortis after Series 4, but gave it one final hurrah by entering it in the War of Independence 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 finally hoisting a trophy. |
| 21 | * EveryYearTheyFizzleOut: Were the overwhelming favourites in the first two series but fell just short of the Grand Final on both occasions, and in the following two series they were still expected to do well but crashed out in the heats. |
| 22 | * ExecutiveMeddling: Saying the producers loved Mortis is putting it mildly. |
| 23 | * {{Heel}}: The closest thing on the show thanks to Team Random Violence Technologies' competitiveness, tendency to come across as arrogant, the belief (erroneous but encouraged by the producers) that they were trying to win by [[BribingYourWayToVictory throwing money at the competition]], and perceived producer bias[[note]]The producers DID bend the rules in Mortis' favor during their Series 2 semi-final, but to their credit they never asked for it and driver Rob Knight actually refused to drive the robot any more for the rest of the episode in protest.[[/note]]. The audience would cheer when they lost and boo when they won. Their Series 3 battle against Gravedigger was unusually intercut with footage of the other roboteers watching the battle from the pits; everybody cheered when Mortis was pitted. |
| 24 | -->'''Jonathan Pearce:''' The robot everyone loves to hate! |
| 25 | * HonorBeforeReason: In Series 2 [[ExecutiveMeddling the producers infamously bent the rules in Mortis' favour]] when they were immobilised by the arena spikes before scoring any points at the start of their Pinball Trial run in the semis. While admittedly Team Random Violence had been told that the spikes had been disabled, they accepted that this meant that their robot had been eliminated and driver Rob Knight was ''furious'' when the producers insisted that the team repair the robot and run again. In protest, Knight refused to take the controls of Mortis and Ben Impey, an electronics genius but less experienced driver, was forced to drive the robot. While they still managed to clear the Trial (with the House Robots even scoring points for them, in direct violation of the rules) they were defeated by Panic Attack in the next stage, with Knight stoically refusing to budge and take back the controls to try and match the superior driving skill of Kim Davies. |
| 26 | * JackOfAllStats: Mortis was fairly fast (especially for a tracked machine), had good pushing power, an excellent weapon, and very tough armour. |
| 27 | * MadeOfIron: Mortis' armour was made of composite materials and was remarkably tough, especially by the standards of the early series. In Series 4 the armour was even treated with silicon carbide, an abrasive almost as hard as diamond, meaning Mortis was essentially MadeOfDiamond. |
| 28 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Means "of death" in Latin (as in "Rigor Mortis"). |
| 29 | * TheRival: To Recyclopse/Cassius. |
| 30 | * ShockinglyExpensiveBill: Most competitor robots typically cost anywhere between £500 to £5000. Mortis cost £40,000! |
| 31 | ** Somewhat misleading, however- that was how much the robot was technically ''worth,'' but a lot of it was made from donated components, meaning Team Random Violence actually spent ''considerably'' less on it that that. It was still probably the most expensive robot in the contest. |
| 32 | ** This also doesn't take into account that most of this came from upgrades and repairs. If someone tried 8 different drive motors that all cost £1000, it's easy for someone to say the drive system is worth £8000 even though that's not true. |
| 33 | * SpamAttack: The inventor or the technique, with regards to axes. Mortis' axe was able to fire continuously at a rate of three strikes per second, and in an era when most competitors' armour was very weak, anything that couldn't get out of the way would be turned into a sieve. |
| 34 | * ThrowTheDogABone: Despite being so talked-up and feared in the first few wars that it was practically TheDreaded, Mortis never ''really'' lived up to expectations, only reaching a single semifinal. However, it made one final appearance before retiring at the end of Series 4 when it entered the War of Independence event, where it defeated both Panic Attack (just) and the fearsome 95kg American hammerbot [=frenZy=] to win the event, giving Mortis its first and only trophy. |
| 35 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Team Random Violence had planned to build a new robot similar to Mortis (allegedly named "Maelstrom" - not to be confused with the Roaming Robots competitor of the same name) and enter it into Series 5. Unfortunately, due to various commitments outside of robot combat, they ultimately did not complete or enter the new machine into any competition. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | !!Haardvark (Series 2 Semi-Finalist) |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-haardvark_4637.jpg]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | Weapons: Lifting Forks, Grinding Disc (Series 3) |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Battle record: 2 wins, 2 losses |
| 44 | |
| 45 | The OneHitWonder of Series 2, Haardvark was a simple but functional machine equipped with a pair of lifting forks (a popular weapon in that series, as champion Panic Attack proved) but its determination and driving skill was enough for it to win through its heat and only narrowly miss out on a place in the Grand Final. Falling to Cassius in the semi-final, it only made one more brief appearance in Series 3 before disappearing. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | * AnimalMotifs: Can you guess? |
| 48 | * BadassBoast: The robot had the following particularly awesome one inscribed on its casing: |
| 49 | -->''Where there is harmony, may I bring discord. Where there is calm, may I induce fear. Where there is tranquility, may I summon chaos. Where there is order, may I wreak havoc. I am the necromancer and the rivet lancer, the soul taker and the circuit breaker, the foe fighter and the brain biter. I am Haardvark...and you're toast'' |
| 50 | * BornUnlucky: The team's entire Series 3 appearance. Firstly, their saw blade was deemed to be illegal (not exactly bad luck, but still), and they had to replace it with a less effective grinding wheel. Even then they were seconds away from victory over Henry in their first-round match only to break down, and were controversially eliminated despite being immobile for less than the required 30 seconds. |
| 51 | * {{Determinator}}: During its Series 2 battles against Vercengetorix and Cassius, Haardvark's lifting forks jammed against the floor whenever it tried to go forwards, so it had to spend the whole of both battles going backwards instead (this also meant it was effectively weaponless). Not only did it beat Vercengetorix, it ''nearly'' scored a VictoryByEndurance over Cassius, despite getting thrown around the arena for the entire battle, after Cassius' drive chain fell off! |
| 52 | * DiabolusExMachina: Came close to an improbable victory over Cassius in its semi-final (bear in mind that Haardvark was ''stuck in reverse for the whole fight'') which would have put it through to the Grand Final, only to be overturned by Sir Killalot and roasted on the flame pit. |
| 53 | * HandicappedBadass: Sort of. The Series 2 Haardvark had a design flaw that meant its lifting forks would sometimes jam into the floor, preventing it from moving forwards. This meant that it had to fight two of its battles that series (against Vercengetorix and Cassius) while effectively stuck in reverse and weaponless, and yet it ''still'' won the first battle and almost won the second one! |
| 54 | * OneHitWonder: Made one semi-final, lost in the first round of the next series, and then never appeared again. |
| 55 | ** They attempted to come back in Series 5 and 6 with [[OddlyNamedSequel Haardervark]], but failed to qualify. |
| 56 | |
| 57 | !!King Buxton (Series 2 Semi-Finalist, Series 3 Heat Finalist, Series 4 Tag-Team Terror Champion with 101) (17 Seed in Series 4) |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingbremix.png]] |
| 60 | [[caption-width-right:250:King B Remix.]] |
| 61 | [[caption-width-right:200:[[labelnote:Click to see the original version of King Buxton]][[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-king_buxton_9445.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | Weapons: Lifting Forks, Cutting Disc (Series 4-5, 7) |
| 64 | |
| 65 | Battle record: 11 wins, 12 losses |
| 66 | |
| 67 | Possibly ''the'' quintessential ''Robot Wars'' midcard machine, King Buxton was one of the longest-serving machines in the show's history, debuting in Series 2, fighting almost[[note]]they failed to qualify for Series 6[[/note]] all the way through to the end of the show's original run, and even returning to fight again in the first series of the reboot! Another simple but effective robot, the King Buxton team (much like Behemoth) stubbornly refused to replace their machine with a more modern design, sticking to upgrading what they knew; while they would never get as far as they did during their debut again, they remained a much-beloved competitor on both the show and the live circuit. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | * TheBerserker: Had a tendency to lose because the team lost all control, causing the robot to drive wildly around the arena. |
| 70 | * BoringButPractical: It was a 4-wheeled box with a pair of lifting forks, pretty much as basic a robot as you can make short of a rambot/wedgebot. |
| 71 | * TheBusCameBack: One of several long-standing teams who failed to qualify for Series 6; unlike the rest, however, they ''did'' manage to return for Series 7. They then returned for Series 8 under the name "King B Remix". |
| 72 | * CastFromHitPoints: King Buxton's speed and power was partially due to its drive motors being overclocked, boosting the machine's speed and power but severely reducing the motors' lifespan. Most of its eliminations were due to the motors burning out and/or catching fire. |
| 73 | * CloudCuckoolander: The entire team as of Series 8. According to [[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/week-3/king-b-remix/ the Robot Wars website]], King B Remix is now sentient and the team communicate to the robot in Japanese, with team member Natsuko acting as their "translator". |
| 74 | * EnemyMine: Teamed up with rivals 101 to participate (and win) the first ever Tag Team Terror in Series 4. |
| 75 | * ExplosiveOverclocking: Not quite ''explosive'', but King B's motors were run at such high speeds and voltages that their lifespans were considerably reduced, and in each of its first three appearances it lost after the motors burned out or caught fire. |
| 76 | ** Happened again in Series 8: Simon Harrison cranked the robot's power up to maximum ahead of one of the group matches, and the result was that one of the drive chains snapped. |
| 77 | * FragileSpeedster: King Buxton boasted ''incredibly'' fast and powerful motors, but at the cost of reliability. In Series 2 the motors burnt out entirely, in Series 3 they started smoking, and in Series 4 they outright caught fire. [[LightningBruiser Surprisingly averted]] in Series 5, in which King B Powerworks was able to withstand Dominator 2's axe without any problems, then played straight again in Series 7 where it was eliminated after a single blow from IG-88. In Series 8 it lost two of its round-robin matches due to breakdowns and had a drive chain come off in the third one. |
| 78 | * LongRunner: Another one of the elite few robots to fight in both the 2nd and 7th Wars (although it took Series 6 off), and one of even fewer to have fought in the reboot. In 2018 it was rebuilt to take part in [=RoboGames=] in America, and is still competing as of 2022, making it (along with Behemoth) one of the oldest combat robots still fighting. |
| 79 | * OddlyNamedSequel: King Buxton - King Buxton II - King B3 - King B Powerworks - King B Remix. It's since been rebuilt as "King Buxton 20" for [=RoboGames=] 2018, [[MeaningfulName celebrating its 20th anniversary]]. |
| 80 | * OldSoldier: King B Powerworks, having not been upgraded in 18 years, competed at the Dublin [=RoboRiots=] event in 2022, along with its younger brother King Buxton 20. King Buxton 20 came third - King B Powerworks came '''''second!''''' |
| 81 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: The proto-Tornado, King Buxton's main tactic was to use its speed and power to ram other robots around. |
| 82 | * TheRival: To 101. The final score sits at 2-1 in 101's favour, plus a [[EnemyMine joint win with them]] in the Tag Team Terror comp in Series 4. |
| 83 | * SpectacularSpinning: Gained a small rear cutting disc in later series. |
| 84 | * WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Downplayed. While Angela Scanlon repeatedly remarked that they'd gotten through the first round of Series 8 without doing anything, they ''had'' gotten in an early ram on Overdozer that broke one of its casters off, leaving it dead in the water. |
| 85 | * YouDontLookLikeYou: The original King Buxton was just a nondescript metal box. It wasn't until Series 4 that it gained its signature look of polycarbonate armour, blue "Meccano" chassis, and red forks, which it's kept ever since. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | |
| 88 | !!Napalm (Series 2 Semi-Finalist, Series 3 Heat Finalist) (25 Seed in Series 4) |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-napalm_1_4144.jpg]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | Weapons: Double Axe - Referred to as "Mandibles", Lifting spike (Shadow of Napalm) |
| 93 | |
| 94 | Battle record: 7 wins, 7 losses as Napalm; 0 wins, 2 losses as Detonator; 1 win, 1 loss as Shadow of Napalm |
| 95 | |
| 96 | The team from Dartford Girls Grammar, captained by their head technology teacher David Crosby, were another fixture of the show's early years, albeit a somewhat frustrating one. Their Series 1 machine, Detonator, was poor even by the standards of that series, and while Napalm made the semifinals in Series 2, it was considered to have done so by luck. The team never really managed to keep up with the march of technology, with their only real attempt at a successor to Napalm, Shadow of Napalm, failing to make much of an impression, before being replaced by an only slightly-upgraded version of the original Napalm. The outdated machine was finally retired once and for all in Series 5. |
| 97 | |
| 98 | * 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 [[SelfDeprecation its own team]] joked about how much of a piece of junk it was, although they somehow always sneak past the first round. |
| 99 | ** In the Annihilator it took part in in Extreme, it was obviously not working properly from the start and had to be pushed into the arena by Refbot. |
| 100 | * BornLucky: Oh so very much. Beat Panda Monium in Series 2 when the latter was flipped by Matilda, won a Mayhem battle against Gemini when both twins flipped themselves and couldn't self right, only survived a round in the following Annihilator because someone else was torn apart first, managed to defeat Warhog by virtue of the fact that Warhog's weapon wasn't working... |
| 101 | * BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: After Shadow of Napalm was destroyed by Dominator 2, for Series 5 & Extreme the team reverted to the version used in Series 2 & 3. They ''did'' actually build a Napalm 2 (which they strangely used interchangeably with the original model, painted black so they looked the same) but as Napalm 2 was basically a marginally-upgraded direct copy of the original (the double-axe mandibles were replaced with what looked like a pitchfork) and they didn't even ''call'' it Napalm 2, it was still basically a museum piece from the moment of its construction anyway. |
| 102 | * CantCatchUp: The biggest problem with Napalm (and the main reason a lot of people [[TheScrappy didn't like it]]) was that it was almost always badly out of date. In Series 2 it was about on par with the average competitor, but in Series 3 they brought it back completely unchanged, without even bothering to repair the damage it had taken before. Shadow of Napalm in Series 4 was only about on the level of the average Series 3 competitor, and after it failed they went back to the original Napalm design- slightly upgraded, but still ''totally'' out of its depth in Series 5 and Extreme. |
| 103 | * ChainsawGood: Came equipped with a chainsaw in Series 2 - it broke off during its run on the Gauntlet. |
| 104 | * CheerfulChild: Detonator, Napalm, and Shadow of Napalm were all built and entered by Dartford Girls Grammar School. Gradually averted as the girls in the team grew up. |
| 105 | * {{Determinator}}: Napalm may have been a pile of junk with scrap metal armour and less effective offensive power than an aggravated butterfly, but it was capable of absorbing an ''alarming'' amount of damage without breaking down. Its 3rd Wars heat final against Steg-O-Saw-Us saw it utterly ''battered into scrap,'' suffering the most brutal damage not inflicted by the House Robots any robot on the series had taken up to that point... and yet it was still going at the end![[note]]Perhaps ironically, this record for "most damage sustained from an opposing competitor" would fall in the very next episode with the debut of Hypno-Disc.[[/note]] |
| 106 | * DiabolusExMachina: Were the victims of the infamous ExecutiveMeddling that allowed Mortis to progress through the pinball round. Having scored just 65 points, Napalm would have gone through if Mortis hadn't been given its second run; it ''certainly'' would have gone through had the House Robots not started ''scoring points on Mortis' behalf'' (Mortis itself only scored about 30 points during its second run). |
| 107 | * JokeCharacter: |
| 108 | ** 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. |
| 109 | ** The team's only accomplishment of note was making the semi-finals of the 2nd Wars, when the standard of engineering was much lower and even then it only made the semis by a controversial judges decision (the result was booed by the audience) over Demolition Demon, a simple wedge with a few spikes on it. They only ever really entered an upgraded robot once, when they entered "Shadow of Napalm" in Series 4, but it didn't live up to expectations and after it was trashed by Dominator 2 they entered in Series 5 with Napalm II (confusingly just called "Napalm" again despite actually being a new machine), which was just a marginally upgraded version of their original Series 2 design painted black, leaving it ''appallingly'' outclassed. They were never eliminated in the first round during any of the team's five appearances, though all of their wins were due to either their opponents eliminating themselves, controversial judges' decisions, or the opponent just not working properly to begin with, rather than Napalm actually doing anything substantial. |
| 110 | * OddlyNamedSequel: The team entered Series 4 with "Shadow of Napalm". |
| 111 | * RubeGoldbergDevice: The primary function of the "mandibles", at least initially, was that when they came down they would hit the power switch for the store-bought, hand-held chainsaw on the back of the robot, which was literally tied on with a cable rather than actually being part of the robot. How effective this would have been was never discovered, as the chainsaw was torn off by Sir Killalot during the Gauntlet and never replaced. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | !!G.B.H. (Series 2 Semi-Finalist) |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-gbh_9538.jpg]] |
| 116 | |
| 117 | Weapons: Circular Saws (Series 1-2), Lifting Scoop (Series 2) Pneumatic Flipper (Series 3 & 6) |
| 118 | |
| 119 | Battle record: 2 wins, 2 losses as G.B.H.; 1 win, 1 loss as Facet; 0 wins, 1 loss as Scrapper |
| 120 | |
| 121 | Team On-the-Edge entered the first three series of the show with their robots Scrapper, G.B.H and Facet, with G.B.H managing to win through its heat to the seminfinal off the back of some impressive lifts, before losing in the pinball trial. Facet, despite losing in its second bout against Firestorm, was one of the most impressive machines of Series 3, a blindingly-fast full-pressure flipper that was unlucky not to go any further. They made one more appearance (as Team Joint Effort) in Series 6 with G.B.H 2, but failed to make it out of their melee and retired from the wars. |
| 122 | |
| 123 | * TheBusCameBack: Made it to the Series 2 semis, entered a different robot (Facet) in Series 3 that lost to Firestorm in the 2nd round, disappeared completely for 2 series, then suddenly returned in Series 6 with G.B.H. 2. |
| 124 | * FragileSpeedster: G.B.H.'s successor, Facet, was one of the show's most extreme examples. It had a top speed of ''48mph'', making it the third-fastest robot in the show's history, but its armour was thin and flimsy. G.B.H. 2 wasn't quite as fast or poorly-armoured as Facet but still counts. |
| 125 | * FunWithAcronyms: It was never made clear what the initials meant, though most guessed it meant “Grievous Bot Harm”. Jonathan Pearce had a ''lot'' of fun coming up with alternatives during his commentary. |
| 126 | * LegacyCharacter: G.B.H. 2 appeared four series after its predecessor and had nothing in common with it except for the name.[[note]]G.B.H. 2 was in fact originally going to be called "The Mulsanne Monster", after the legendary Le Mans straight, and in fact appeared on ''Techno Games'' [[CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown under this name]].[[/note]] |
| 127 | * MightyGlacier: G.B.H. could push a fair amount, but was very slow and ponderous. |
| 128 | * OneHitWonder: G.B.H. in Series 2 was the team's only successful machine; the rest failed to get past their heat semi-final. |
| 129 | * 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 throwing Firestorm out of the arena while it was self-righting (this being before Chaos 2 became the first robot to do so by accident); given the power of its flipper, it probably could have done so. |
| 130 | |
| 131 | !!Mace (Series 2 & 3 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 Heat Finalist and Pinball Champion as Gemini) (8 Seed in Series 4, 18 Seed in Series 5) (Winner of Most Original Entry and Best Design Awards in Series 4 as Gemini) |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-mace_5184.jpg]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | Weapons: Lifting Arm & Flail (Series 2-3), Double Rear-Hinged Flipper Arms (Series 4-5) |
| 136 | |
| 137 | Battle record: 6 wins, 2 losses as Mace; 4 wins, 5 losses as Gemini |
| 138 | |
| 139 | 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 a [[ExecutiveMeddling rules change]] in Series 6 prevented Gemini from entering again and the Mace team retired. |
| 140 | |
| 141 | * ForWantOfANail: In the Series 2 semi-final Gauntlet stage, Mace and Panic Attack initially finished joint-last, necessitating a re-run. If Mace had gotten just a ''few centimetres further'' (literally the length of a nail) then the eventual champion would have been knocked out. As it was, Panic Attack handily won the re-run and Mace went out. |
| 142 | * TheGenericGuy: The only thing notable about Mace was its rivalry with Chaos, which only really amounted to their rematch in the Series 3 semi-finals. |
| 143 | * GoodLuckCharm: Philippa made repeated references to the "lucky star of Mace". By the time of the Series 3 semi-final she'd been provided with a physical prop (a star wand with an 'M' printed on it). |
| 144 | * ItWillNeverCatchOn: During Series 2 the team are said to have stated: "If you need a self-righting mechanism, you're a bad driver and shouldn't be on Robot Wars in the first place." Come the Series 3 semi-final against Chaos 2, [[TemptingFate they were probably wishing they hadn't said that]]. |
| 145 | * MightyGlacier: Was slow at 6mph but had pretty tough armour for its day. |
| 146 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: Very much overshadowed by its innovative, but noticeably worse-performing sequel, Gemini. |
| 147 | * TheRival: To the Chaos machines. The score between them is one apiece. Unfortunately, while the producers had supposedly planned for a decider in the 4th Wars (by shifting the order of the heats so Gemini would meet Chaos 2 in the semis) Gemini lost to Tornado so they never got the chance to settle it once and for all. |
| 148 | |
| 149 | !!!As Gemini: |
| 150 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gemini_side_view.jpg]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | * AwesomeButImpractical: The clusterbot design was certainly unique and innovative as well as potentially very powerful, but also very unreliable. They were notoriously prone to overbalancing, their self-righting capabilities were iffy at best, and the narrow flipping arm was generally rather inaccurate. |
| 153 | * CrackDefeat: Lost against Napalm on account of [[EpicFail one twin flipping itself over trying to get Napalm out of the arena... and the other flipping itself trying to right the first]]. |
| 154 | * TheDividual: Effectively two robots counted as a single entry. Additionally, the ruling for clusterbots meant that if one Gemini twin was knocked out, then Gemini as a whole would be eliminated. |
| 155 | * DualBoss: One of very few clusterbots on the show, and also the very first and most successful. |
| 156 | * ExecutiveMeddling: A rule change for Series 6 made the sodastream bottles powering Gemini's flippers illegal. There was no alternative that wouldn't make Gemini overweight, so the robot was retired. |
| 157 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Due to the twins' tendency to "wheelie" when accelerating too quickly, Gemini had bars added to the rear of each twin to keep them stable. Unfortunately, this also left the twins [[FlippingHelpless unable to self right]]. |
| 158 | * IdenticalTwinIDTag: In Series 4, one twin had a red mark on its flipper, while the other had a matching gray mark. |
| 159 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: The wheelie bars added for Extreme 1 onwards left the twins unable to self-right and pretty much every defeat they suffered after that was due to them [[HoistByHisOwnPetard flipping themselves over]]. (Brian Fountain later admitted that the wheelie bars were a last-minute addition that hadn't been tested at all, which might have revealed the design flaw. A new spring-loaded design for the wheelie bars was subsequently planned, which might have avoided this, but the rule changes for Series 6 ruled out any possibility of the robot being entered again.) |
| 160 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: The two Gemini bots had no problem tossing opponents around the arena, despite weighing only half as much. In Series 4 they were the ''only'' other robot capable of replicating Chaos 2's trick of throwing another robot out of the arena (a fate they inflicted on The Creature). |
| 161 | * ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Although Gemini never enjoyed a huge amount of success in battle, it won the Series 4 Pinball Championship as the two halves were allowed to go after different targets (allowing them to narrowly beat out Spawn of Scutter). |
| 162 | |
| 163 | !!Plunderbird (Series 2 Semi-Finalist) (26 Seed in Series 4) (Winner of Best Design Award in Series 1 and Sportsmanship Award in Series 2) |
| 164 | |
| 165 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-plunderbird_2_540.jpg]] |
| 166 | [[caption-width-right:180:"What's the word? Plunderbird!"]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | -> ''We're big boys, we build big toys\ |
| 169 | We're handy with a spanner\ |
| 170 | If it don't work, we go berserk\ |
| 171 | And hit it with a hammer'' |
| 172 | --> --'''Extreme 1 theme song''' |
| 173 | |
| 174 | Weapons: Interchangeable (Series 1), Pneumatic Spike (Series 2), Circular Saw (Series 3), "Slicer Dicer" / "Plunderthocker" Claw (Series 4-5) |
| 175 | |
| 176 | Battle record: 5 wins, 8 losses (0 wins, 1 loss in the US) |
| 177 | |
| 178 | If you want to talk memorable teams (if not memorable robots), the International Wreck-Crew were your boys. While the original machine was promising on paper but got stuck in the Gauntlet, Plunderbird II proved to be the highlight of their competitive career, bulldozing its way to the semis with its shoving power. However what the team was ''really'' known for was their spectacular value as entertainers- singing, rapping, [[BoisterousWeakling loudly boasting about how they were going to crush all their opponents before being humiliatingly beaten]] and making grandiose entrances, they were a constant highlight of the show, irrespective of the fact that the machine only seemed to get worse with every series. |
| 179 | |
| 180 | * ArtifactTitle: The machines continued to be known as "Plunderbird" even though only the first one (and superficially, the fourth) were actually modelled on a [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} Thunderbird]]. |
| 181 | * BigEntrance: You know you've perfected your larger-than-life shtick when you introduce yourself by rolling out of a landing military helicopter. |
| 182 | * BlatantLies / JustAFleshWound: After Plunderbird 4 was dispatched with ease by Knightmare in the second round, Mike dismissed Craig's criticism by brushing it off as "a slight mechanical malfunction". |
| 183 | ** Their famous song from Extreme 1: "Have you got a SRIMECH? 'Course we 'ave!" None of the Plunderbird machines had a SRIMECH, and its defeat in Series 4 came after Knightmare flipped it onto its side. |
| 184 | * BoringButPractical: Plunderbird 2's battle tactics in Series 2 consisted simply of beaching their opponent on their front bulldozer blade, and then pushing them around the arena until time ran out. It made it to the semi-finals for the only time through this method. Their Gauntlet tactic that year also counts: once they'd covered enough ground to qualify, they promptly drove down the pit rather than risk tackling the rest of the course. |
| 185 | * BornUnlucky: Plunderbird 1 was eliminated in the Gauntlet after Shunt pinned it against an obstacle, and then looked like being reinstated only for Dreadnaut to get fixed. Plunderbird 5 was a totally new machine and looked much improved, but was drawn against S3 in the first round and ruthlessly torn to pieces. |
| 186 | * CallBack: Rosie the Riveter's team started making clucking sounds at the [[NobodyCallsMeChicken bemused Plunderbird team]], which was a reference to when the rest of the roboteers did the same thing after Plunderbird 2 pitted itself rather than face Matilda in the gauntlet. |
| 187 | * CurbStompBattle: For their final appearance in Series 5, they were the first team to meet up with the new hotness, S3. Suffice to say that Plunderbird 5 got utterly ''shredded.'' |
| 188 | -->'''Mike Onslow:''' Well, it was slightly worse than we thought it would be. I have to admit, we slightly underestimated the militant wing of the Salvation Army... we now have a clusterbot. |
| 189 | * EpicFail: Plunderstorm broke down at the ''very start'' of its first fight and barely moved at all. |
| 190 | * {{Expy}}: Plunderbird 1 was named and modelled after (oddly enough) [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} Thunderbird]] ''[[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} 2]]'', complete with interchangeable weapon pods. The ''Thunderbirds'' theme was dropped after that except for Plunderbird 4, which was painted in the colour scheme of Thunderbird 4. |
| 191 | * {{Flanderization}}: The first two Plunderbird robots were legitimate threats (the first version won Best Design and was just unlucky in the Gauntlet, and the second made the semi-final and was the only competitor to beat two house robots in the King of the Castle). After Plunderstorm's early exit the showmanship aspect took over. |
| 192 | * {{Foil}}: Often seen as this to Sir Chromalot, the show's other well-known flamboyant team. While Sir Chromalot styled themselves as suave gentlemen who wore suits and drank champagne, Plunderbird styled themselves as aggressive tough guys who wore camouflage clothing and sung raps. The pair finally clashed in a Vengeance Battle during Extreme 1, which Sir Chromalot won. |
| 193 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: During Plunderbird 2's first Gauntlet run, it deliberately drove into the pit rather than take on the house robots, having already covered enough ground to qualify. During its second Gauntlet run, in the semi-finals, it had no choice but to take on the house robots and was promptly pushed all the way back to the start line before having its aerial sliced off by Matilda. |
| 194 | * HandicappedBadass: While the degree of badassery was certainly debatable, Bryan Kilburn was apparently blind. Their introduction to Julia at the start of their 4th Wars heat played around with this: |
| 195 | -->'''Bryan Kilburn:''' Hallo Philippa. |
| 196 | -->'''Mike Onslow:''' Hang on Bryan, it's not Philippa. |
| 197 | -->'''Bryan:''' Oh. Hallo Craig. |
| 198 | -->'''Mike:''' Uh, it's not Craig either, mate, must be the new girl. |
| 199 | -->--- |
| 200 | -->'''Julia:''' Now I understand one of you is blind. |
| 201 | -->'''Mike:''' Who you been talking to, my driving's not that bad! |
| 202 | -->'''Bryan:''' No, I think she means me, Mike. Yeah, and? |
| 203 | -->'''Julia:''' [[{{Corpsing}} I only asked.]] On with the melees. [''leaves''] |
| 204 | -->'''Bryan:''' [''{{beat}}''] So what's she look like then, Mike? |
| 205 | -->'''Mike:''' Very nice, Bryan, very nice. |
| 206 | * IAmSong: More or less their calling card. |
| 207 | * IWasNeverHere: Went from being LargeHam Army blokes in ''Robot Wars'' to being TheMenInBlack types in spin-off ''Techno Games'', and even name-dropped this trope to reporter Ed Hall. |
| 208 | * JokeCharacter: One of the biggest in the whole show. The team would often spend more time on their appearance than they would on the robot. |
| 209 | * JokeItem: Whatever the "slicer dicer" / "Plunderthocker" on Plunderbirds 4 & 5 was meant to ''do'' was never established, as it never appeared to actually work. On the robot's Series 4 statistics it was listed as being secondary to "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus surprise, fear and brute force]]". |
| 210 | * LethalJokeCharacter: In Series 2 at least, where it pushed all its opponents around easily and even defeated two House Robots in the King of the Castle Trial, the only robot to do so. |
| 211 | * MilesGloriosus: They had a tough-guy act, but could rarely follow through on their promises in the arena. |
| 212 | * MrSmith: The team behind Techno Games entry "Stealth Stingray" consisted of a Mr Smith, Mr Smith... and Mrs Smith. |
| 213 | -->'''Ed Hall''': Haven't we seen you on TV before? |
| 214 | -->'''"Mr. Smith" (Mike Onslow)''' [[BlatantLies No, no, no]]. We're just the Smith twins, all three of us. |
| 215 | * NobodyCallsMeChicken: After their Gauntlet run in Series 2 (where they zoomed past the Sentinel then dived right into the pit instead of trying to get past the other House Robots) they were taunted by the other roboteers backstage who made "bawk bawk" noises at them. |
| 216 | -->'''Mike Onslow:''' [[BigShutUp SILENCE!]] How dare you! We're back and we're gonna stay! More violence! |
| 217 | ** This received a CallBack in Series 3 when the team returned to the pits after Plunderstorm broke down almost immediately in round 1. |
| 218 | ** Rosie the Riveter's team also started imitating chickens in front of the team, which lead to this response: |
| 219 | -->'''Mike''': You think you're big! |
| 220 | -->'''Bryan:''' You think you're tough! |
| 221 | -->'''Both''': But you ain't made of Plunderbird stuff! |
| 222 | -->[''{{Beat}}''] |
| 223 | -->'''Team Rosie''': I'm sorry, we can't understand what you're saying. We don't speak chicken! [''continues clucking''] |
| 224 | * NumberedSequels: Plunderbird 1 all the way to Plunderbird 5. |
| 225 | * OddlyNamedSequel: There was no Plunderbird 3. Instead, it was called Plunderstorm. |
| 226 | * PunnyName: Aside from the name of [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} the robot itself]], the team called themselves "the International Wreck Crew"[[note]]a play on the heroes of ''Thunderbirds,'' International Rescue[[/note]]. |
| 227 | * SelfDeprecation: In later appearances they kept up the tough guy act, but were at least more honest about their status as a JokeCharacter. |
| 228 | -->'''Julia:''' What's your biggest weak point? |
| 229 | -->'''Bryan Kilburn:''' The robot. |
| 230 | * ShoutOut: To ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' of course. |
| 231 | ** Plunderbird 4's weapons were listed as "fear, surprise, and brute force", in an apparent reference to the famous "Spanish Inquisition" sketch from Monty Python. |
| 232 | * ThoseTwoGuys: Mike Onslow and Bryan Kilburn were the ''Robot Wars'' equivalent of this, a fixture of the show for the first 5 series (and Extreme) who eventually more or less evolved into a comedy duo. |
| 233 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Plunderbird 5 had an upgraded version of a Razer-esque crusher claw first seen on Plunderbird 4, but broke down before it could do anything interesting. The only clue as to what damage it could have caused is a nasty hole it left in one of the arena doors after driving in and not stopping in time before smacking into it. |
| 234 | ** Mike Onslow joined up with the Dystopia team and tried to qualify for Series 8, but were unsuccessful. |
| 235 | ** In 2019, the International Wreck Crew launched a Kickstarter for a mockumentary named ''Plunderbirds: Talk Robots''. Unfortunately, for a target of £10,000, it only got ''£765'' (less than 10%). |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder:Series 3]] |
| 239 | !!101 (Series 3 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 Heat Finalist, Series 6 Heat Finalist as Anarchy, First World Championship Semi-Finalist, Series 4 Tag-Team Champion with King B3, Winner of Best Engineered Robot Award in Series 6 for Anarchy) (9 Seed in Series 4, 23 Seed in Series 5) |
| 240 | |
| 241 | [[quoteright:208:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/208px-101_8036.jpg]] |
| 242 | [[caption-width-right:208:[[TagLine "Tracks are more fun with 101"]]]] |
| 243 | [[quoteright:208:[[labelnote:Click to see Anarchy]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anarchy_3.jpg[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | |
| 246 | Weapons: Pneumatic Spike |
| 247 | |
| 248 | Battle record: 11 wins, 5 losses as 101; 0 wins, 1 loss as Robo Doc; 2 wins, 1 loss as Anarchy |
| 249 | |
| 250 | Team 101 was unique for entering three different robots during their time on the show but never using wheels- their first two machines, [=RoboDoc=] and 101 were both tracked, while their successor Anarchy was a walkerbot. 101 was a tough and persistent little machine which had been put together for the price of a cheap lunch, and made up for what it lacked in weaponry with determination and its extremely reliable tracked drive system. Anarchy, by contrast, was the most-powerful and effective walkerbot ever seen on the show, and was only brought down in Series 6 by the efforts of eventual series champion Tornado. |
| 251 | |
| 252 | * AttackItsWeakPoint: Memorably inverted in its World Championship semi-final against Razer. Mike Franklin used a marker pen to mark the parts of 101's body that Razer could safely pierce without damaging its motors, as if they were destroyed, he wouldn't be able to replace them in time for Series 4. |
| 253 | * CantCatchUp: 101's design dated very quickly, meaning its debut was easily its best performance. |
| 254 | * CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown: A lot of teams entered the ''Robot Wars'' SpinOff ''Techno Games'' - a robotic Olympics - with the same robot, but it had to have a different name and all weapons removed. 101's rebranding for ''Techno Games'' as Transpower amounted to sticking a piece of gaffer tape over the robot's logo. A disarmed Anarchy also entered in the heavyweight sprint event as Scuttle B[[labelnote:2]](squared)[[/labelnote]], where it unsurprisingly mopped the floor with all opposition. |
| 255 | * CreepyChild: Little Amy Franklin was normally a very quiet, shy, adorably cute child, but before 101 went into the arena against Weld-Dor in the 1st World Championship, Philippa was horrified to find Team 101's mascot, Amy's beloved toy 'Superbunny', tied on top of the robot. Amy seemed indifferent to her toy's fate, stating a desire to see her beloved toy of 9 years chopped in half and saying it was her father's fault for wanting to crucify Superbunny. Fortunately for Superbunny, though, it was removed before the fight and seen safely in Amy's arms as usual. |
| 256 | -->'''Amy:''' She's going to die! |
| 257 | * {{Determinator}}: Like a few robots, this showed in its fight with Hypno-Disc, only losing the judges' decision on damage. |
| 258 | ** Amazingly, despite being ''mangled'' by the spinning axes of Fluffy in Series 5 (losing an entire track, a side panel, and having its other track damaged) 101 managed to keep going long enough to avoid being counted out, and again lost by judges' decision (although this one admittedly wasn't even remotely close). |
| 259 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: Was given a controversially low seeding of 23 (out of 24) in Series 5 despite its status as a semi-finalist in Series 3 and the First World Championship and winning the Tag Team Terror, with many newer robots that had only reached heat finals seeded above it. Arguably justified, however, when its battle against Fluffy [[CurbStompBattle brutally demonstrated]] just how far 101 had fallen behind the times. |
| 260 | * EnemyMine: They had a rivalry with team King Buxton, but put aside their differences to win the Tag Team Terror championship in Series 4. |
| 261 | * GadgeteerGenius: While neither [=RoboDoc=] nor 101 really showed off the best of what Mike Franklin was capable of (although 101's automated spike weapon was impressive considering how cheaply the robot was made, despite not doing any damage), Anarchy and his ''Techno Games'' lightweight sprint entrant Scuttle really highlighted his field of expertise: he was an absolute ''genius'' at engineering walker systems, arguably one of the best amateur robot engineers the world has ever seen. |
| 262 | * MadeOfIron: 101 was one of only a handful of robots to be able to withstand Hypno-Disc's blade, leading to the memorable moment when the judges left their booth to personally inspect 101 for any damage. Sadly [[AvertedTrope averted]] in regards to its battle against Fluffy, although incredibly it survived to a judges' decision rather than being knocked out. |
| 263 | * {{Mascot}}: Amy's stuffed toy 'Superbunny'. |
| 264 | * 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 ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (alluded to in some of its later appearances, where it was decorated with dalmatian-like spots). |
| 265 | * 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 controlling him during the hilarious Extreme 2 battle where [=RefBot=] extinguished Sg. Bash's flamethrower). 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.]] |
| 266 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: How it won its battles, as its weaponry was VERY weak. |
| 267 | * TheRival: To King Buxton. The final score remains at 2-1 in 101's favour, plus a joint win with King Buxton in the Tag Team Terror in Series 4. |
| 268 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: After they finally retired 101, the team returned for the 6th Wars with Anarchy, the most powerful walkerbot ever seen on the show. While most walkers moved at a pace that could almost ''literally'' be called "glacial" and squandered most of their extra weight allowance on their overdeveloped but still inefficient drive systems, Anarchy moved as fast as some non-walkers, steered precisely, and packed ''powerful'' weaponry (a flipper on one end and an axe on the other), even scoring the "Best Engineered" award for Series 6. Unfortunately they came up against eventual series champions Tornado in their heat final and the robot never appeared on UK Robot Wars again, to much disappointment. It was still the most successful walker in Robot Wars history, however. |
| 269 | ** The team stated that they'd been planning to enter Anarchy for the 2016 reboot but were unable to, as the reduction in the weight limit for walkerbots meant that it was now severely overweight. |
| 270 | |
| 271 | !!Trident (Series 3 Semi-Finalist) |
| 272 | |
| 273 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-trident_6322.jpg]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | Weapons: Axe |
| 276 | |
| 277 | Battle record: 3 wins, 1 loss |
| 278 | |
| 279 | A very shiny machine with an interesting stair-climbing wheel system and an axe, Trident's victory in the final heat of the series was arguably down to Series 3's lack of seeding more than anything else, meaning the placement of veteran robots was very lopsided and there was very little serious competition facing it. This changed when it was drawn against Chaos 2 in the semi-finals. |
| 280 | |
| 281 | * BornLucky: Trident reached the semi-finals not through skill, but through its opponents putting up ''even less'' of a fight than it did. Twn Trwn broke down at the slightest touch, Victor 2 got itself stuck on the edge of the pit, and [[TheAllegedCar Dreadnaut]] [[RunningGag predictably]] broke down of its own accord. Its luck ran out big-time after that, as it was drawn against Chaos 2 in the semi-finals and swiftly dispatched. |
| 282 | * CurbStompBattle: Lost to Chaos 2 in about 10 seconds. What makes this SingleStrokeBattle so impressive was that Chaos 2 didn't roll it over from the side, but flipped the 1.24m-long robot over ''lengthways!'' |
| 283 | ** Also delivered one to Twn Twrn in its first battle, knocking it out with a single axe blow. Although it's questionable whether the blow actually did any real damage, or whether Twn Twrn simply broke down at the slightest bump. |
| 284 | * FragileSpeedster: Had a top speed of 20mph, but had its armour caved in by the house robots twice. |
| 285 | * 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 noticeably weaker than many other semi-finalists, and was widely considered to only make it as far as it did by virtue of appearing in an equally weak heat. |
| 286 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Was going to enter Series 4 but withdrew at the last minute. |
| 287 | |
| 288 | !!Evil Weevil (Series 3 Semi-Finalist, Robotic Soccer Champion) (12 Seed in Series 4) |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-evilweevil_9.gif]] |
| 291 | |
| 292 | Weapons: Lifting Forks, Hammer (Series 4) |
| 293 | |
| 294 | Battle record: 5 wins, 2 losses |
| 295 | |
| 296 | A spin-off of the Panic Attack team, Evil Weevil was basically competent but was placed into another weak heat (including a heat final opponent who failed to move an inch), earning them a free spot in the semifinals, where they suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel of a loaded [[TheDreaded Hypno-Disc]]. Needless to say, the resulting battle did not go well for them. While they managed to win the Robotic Soccer Championship in Series 3 (again by luck as nobody scored and they were chosen from the surviving competitors to be the winners by the judges), in Series 4 they bowed out early due to an embarrassing mistake and weren't seen again on the show until Kevin Pritchard returned to the Panic Attack team for the last season. |
| 297 | ---- |
| 298 | %%* AnimalMotifs: Weevil. |
| 299 | * BornLucky: Won the Robotic Soccer Championship despite not scoring a single goal, and won its heat final in Series 3 when its opponent immediately broke down. |
| 300 | * EpicFail: Its Series 4 run, in which the machine ground to a halt after a minute because the team captain had mistakenly given Evil Weevil the ''one'' set of batteries that hadn't been charged. Evil Weevil thus became the highest-seed ever to be knocked out in the first combat round. |
| 301 | * {{Expy}}: Of Panic Attack, with whom Evil Weevil's driver originally competed (and subsequently returned to in Series 7). |
| 302 | * WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Won its Series 3 heat final by default when Panzer failed to move. |
| 303 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: |
| 304 | ** Could’ve done well in its Series 4 heat, had the team captain [[EpicFail not used the only battery that wasn't fully charged]]. |
| 305 | ** The team upgraded the robot for Series 5, with a pneumatic crushing claw replacing the hammer, and competed in the qualifying rounds. According to one report, they actually ''did'' qualify, but were unable to attend for some reason. Whatever the truth, Evil Weevil took no part in Series 5 and the team disbanded thereafter. |
| 306 | |
| 307 | !!Pitbull (Series 3 Semi-Finalist) |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-pitbull_6968.gif]] |
| 310 | |
| 311 | Weapons: Grabbing Jaws |
| 312 | |
| 313 | Battle record: 3 wins, 1 loss |
| 314 | |
| 315 | Another OneHitWonder, Pitbull was actually quite a competitive machine, being fast and nimble with a decently powerful crusher/gripper. After reaching the semifinals off the back of a bit of good luck (or a bit of [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut Behemoth's famous bad luck]]), karma came around when they were taken out exactly the same way Behemoth had been in their previous fight and, not being interested in competing again, retired. |
| 316 | |
| 317 | * AnimalMotifs: Surprisingly, not a pitbull. Its design was closer to a dalmatian. |
| 318 | * BornLucky: Won its first fight when its opponent broke down, and won its heat final when its opponent was turned over by an arena spike. Ironically, this opponent was [[BornUnlucky Behemoth]]. |
| 319 | ** HoistByHisOwnPetard: Even more ironically, Pitbull lost its semi-final battle against Firestorm the ''exact'' same way it won its heat final battle- an arena spike hit it from underneath, rolled it over, and with no srimech it was done. The irony did not go unnoticed by Jonathan Pearce. |
| 320 | * FunWithAcronyms: Had PTO (Please Turn Over) written on its underside. |
| 321 | -->'''Jonathan Pearce''': ...[[TemptingFate so Firestorm obliged.]][[note]]Actually, Pitbull was flipped by [[ScrappyMechanic the arena spike]], not Firestorm, and had looked to be well on top of the battle up to that point.[[/note]] |
| 322 | * OneHitWonder: The team had no intention of entering Series 4, for whatever reason, and the robot was later sold on eBay. |
| 323 | * PostGameRetaliation: Sir Killalot was still roasting them over the flame pit ''after'' cease had been called in their semi-final against Firestorm; when he finally let go Pitbull bounced back onto its wheels and started attacking Killalot. |
| 324 | -->'''Ivar Bundulis''': [''justifying himself to Philippa afterwards''] If he can attack me after the whistle, I can attack him after the whistle. |
| 325 | |
| 326 | !!Gravedigger (Series 3 Semi-Finalist) (13 Seed in Series 4) |
| 327 | |
| 328 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-plain_gravedigger_9242.jpg]] |
| 329 | |
| 330 | Weapons: Front-Hinged Flipper Arm (Series 3-4), Axe (Series 5) |
| 331 | |
| 332 | Battle record: 3 wins, 3 losses |
| 333 | |
| 334 | [[FollowTheLeader Inspired by]] the famous Cassius, Gravedigger was a very competent front-hinged flipper which first caught people's attention after eliminating Mortis in their second round. After losing a ''very'' close, even controversial, battle against Steg-O-Saw-Us in the semis, they returned in Series 4 and 5 but bad fortune brought them down on both occasions and they retired from competition. |
| 335 | |
| 336 | * BornUnlucky: Eliminated from Series 3 on a controversial judges' decision that Jonathan Pearce thought they should have won, eliminated from Series 4 in the first round after their flipper arm failed to work, and eliminated from Series 5 in the first round after being drawn against [[TheAce Tornado]]. |
| 337 | * FollowTheLeader: Let's not make any [[StealthPun bones]] about it; it was a near-direct copy of Cassius, albeit slower and more stable. Ironically, by the time the 3rd Wars rolled around, Cassius itself had upgraded from a flipping arm to a true front-hinged flipper. |
| 338 | * IdenticalStranger: Coincidentally bore a ''bizarre'' resemblance to another robot from the 3rd Wars, [[http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Undertaker Undertaker]], both thematically and in design. Undertaker used an axe rather than a front-hinged flipping arm, but the two weapons are fundamentally very similar in design and function to the point that they can hypothetically even be interchangeable (in fact, for their Series 5 entry, the Gravedigger team did exactly that). |
| 339 | * IncrediblyLamePun: The presenters would often make the same pun about either Gravedigger or its opponents going “Six Feet Under”. |
| 340 | * MechanicallyUnusualClass: In Series 4 and 5, the flipper arm extended down the back of the robot so it could theoretically flip opponents that were behind it as well. It didn't work all that well, especially since the rear part of the arm didn't actually touch the floor. |
| 341 | * OneHitWonder: Reached the semi-finals in its first appearance, but was eliminated in round 1 in both its subsequent appearances. |
| 342 | * ThirteenIsUnlucky: Was seeded 13th in Series 4, and was promptly eliminated by Thermidor 2 and Kronic the Wedgehog thanks to its flipper arm malfunctioning. Lampshaded by Julia and the team afterwards. |
| 343 | |
| 344 | !!The Scutterbots - Scutter’s Revenge, Spawn Of Scutter & Spawn Again (Series 3, 4, 5 & 6 Semi-Finalist, Series 7 Heat Finalist) (10 Seed in Series 4, 13 Seed in Series 5, 10 Seed in Series 6, 6 Seed in Series 7) |
| 345 | |
| 346 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-spawnagain7_3706.png]] |
| 347 | |
| 348 | Weapons: Scoop (Series 3), Pneumatic Spike (Series 4), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 5-7) |
| 349 | |
| 350 | Battle record: 3 wins, 1 loss as Scutter's Revenge; 4 wins, 2 losses as Spawn of Scutter; 10 wins, 7 losses as Spawn Again (0 wins, 1 loss in the US) |
| 351 | |
| 352 | A long-standing stalwart of the show, Team Scutterbot fought from Series 3 to the end of the show's initial run, making four semifinal appearances and one heat final. Their first two machines were named after the maintainence robots from ''Series/RedDwarf'', but it was Spawn Again that was probably their greatest contribution to UK roboteering- if you want to find the UrExample of the modern "UK flipper" design, Spawn Again's long, wedge-shaped body and full-length flipping ramp would probably be it, although the design would see years of refinement before ultimately being perfected by the likes of Apollo and Eruption. |
| 353 | |
| 354 | * ActorAllusion: Scutter's Revenge was named after the robots from ''Series/RedDwarf,'' in which the show's host Craig Charles had starred. |
| 355 | * TheAllegedCar: At ''no'' point in Series 6 was the robot working beyond fits and starts (it still managed to win its heat despite this - see below), and the team were working on it round-the-clock between battles. |
| 356 | * AwesomeButImpractical / BornUnlucky: When they were working correctly, the Scutterbots were not to be messed with. However, they were hideously unreliable, as nearly all of their losses were due to them breaking down (although the sheer number of times they managed to win in ''spite'' of their chronic unreliability, particularly in their Series 6 heat, would qualify for BornLucky as well): |
| 357 | ** Won its Series 3 heat final by default due to Pussycat's disqualification, even though it had broken down and been attacked by all the house robots. It broke down again in its semi-final battle. |
| 358 | ** Broke down in its Series 5 heat final, but fortunately ''after'' it had beaten its opponent. Drew against Razer in its semi-final and took severe damage before breaking down again, and a combination of not having enough time to fix all the damage and its inherent unreliability meant it did nothing at all in the losers' melee but break down yet again. |
| 359 | ** Managed to win its Series 6 heat in spite of the fact that the robot was barely working at all: it was largely ignored in the first round melee even though it was hardly moving, leaving the other three to mutually destroy each other, won its second round without a working weapon when its opponent drove into the pit, and then in the heat final they ''just'' managed to get it working long enough to take out its opponent (fortunately it only took one attack to do this; it managed to get one more attack in and a little pushing and shoving before it broke down again). It then developed some other unspecified serious problem in the semi-finals and simply sat there whilst Terrorhurtz pummelled it into the ground. It actually managed to play a big part in taking out Hypno-Disc in the losers' melee and then ''almost'' achieved an against-all-odds victory against Bigger Brother to win the fight, but it lost forward drive just as it made a flip that nearly put Bigger Brother out of the arena and promptly got pushed into the pit, unable to put up any further fight. |
| 360 | ** Finally, in Series 7, when seemingly all the existing reliability problems had been ironed out, its pneumatic system literally exploded (without warning and totally unforeseeable except that the ram was a few years old), destroying the weapon and leaving it unable to respond against Raging Knightmare. |
| 361 | * BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Managed to help defeat Hypno-Disc in the losers' melee of its Sixth Wars semi-final (the only time it beat another seeded machine), but the damage it took knocked out its forward drive and stopped it from beating Bigger Brother to win the battle. |
| 362 | * CriticalFailure: Spawn Again failed to reach its Series 7 semi-final because the ram operating its flipper exploded. |
| 363 | * CrutchCharacter: The Scutterbots made the semi-finals on four out of five attempts (and only failed to reach the last one because of a freak accident that blew out its weapons system), but never got any further once they'd won their heat as they were drawn against much tougher competition in the semi-finals. |
| 364 | * DiabolusExMachina: The aforementioned exploding pneumatic system that cost it its Series 7 heat. |
| 365 | * DisqualificationInducedVictory: How it won its Series 3 heat after Pussycat were disqualified for using an illegal hardened blade. |
| 366 | * EpicFail: Its solitary appearance on ''Extreme Warriors'' during the War of Independence event saw Spawn Again knocked out in a single hit by full-body spinner Joker. In their defense, Joker had spun itself up to full speed before Activate was even called, which is against the rules, but it was still pretty poor that Spawn Again couldn't even survive a single hit from the chain flails. |
| 367 | * ExplosiveInstrumentation: Probably the only real example in the show's history. Early in its Series 7 Heat Final battle against Raging Knightmare, Spawn Again flipped and the pneumatic ram cylinder literally ''[[https://youtu.be/O5y2cKHZKrA?t=589 exploded,]]'' blasting out the front of the machine in a spray of metal. Unsurprisingly they lost the battle. |
| 368 | * LightningBruiser: At least, when they were working right. |
| 369 | ** MightyGlacier: The original Scutter's Revenge was this, a simple shovebot with a scoop on the front that won by pushing its opponent into the pit with its power. It wasn't very fast, but it had a lot of shove. |
| 370 | * LiteralCliffhanger: Holds the dubious honour of being the first and only robot to be [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/balance.PNG perfectly balanced on the arena wall]] during a RingOut. |
| 371 | -->'''Jonathan:''' Now you can't sit there all day! |
| 372 | * MidSeasonUpgrade: The Spawn Again in Series 5 was different to the one used in the simultaneously-filmed Extreme. |
| 373 | * OddlyNamedSequel: Scutter’s Revenge - Spawn of Scutter - Spawn Again. |
| 374 | * PinnedToTheWall: After its pneumatic system exploded in the Series 7 heat final, it immediately went running for the pit release button, missed, and hooked itself on the arena wall by the remnant of its destroyed pneumatic ram piston, which was protruding from out of the flipper. |
| 375 | * TheReliableOne: In contrast to its infamously unreliable predecessor and successor, Spawn of Scutter was a very solid, dependable machine. It was only knocked out of the 4th Wars in the semifinals when Panic Attack stacked it against the arena wall, it would have easily won the pinball if it wasn't for [[TheDividual Gemini]], and in the Southern Annihilator it was only disabled after a mauling from Razer, which is no minor whammy! |
| 376 | * RewardingInactivity: Spawn Again rose from being seeded tenth in the Sixth Wars to being as high as the sixth seed in the Seventh Wars. This was not because of any improvement in the robot's performance, but simply because it was one of the few {{Old Soldier}}s left standing after Hypno-Disc, S3, Wild Thing, Dominator 2 and Razer all decided not to enter that year. |
| 377 | * TakeThat: From Series 4 up to about Series 6 the Scutterbot team wore backwards baseball caps, bandanas, sunglasses and affected "tough guy" personalities to take the piss out of the Plunderbird team. They eventually phased it out again once Plunderbird retired. |
| 378 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: The team were contacted by the producers of the 2016 reboot about the possibility of taking part, but were unable to do so due to work schedules and the inconvenience of the Glasgow filming location. Had they done so, it would have been with an upgraded but mostly unchanged version of the Seventh Wars model of the robot. |
| 379 | |
| 380 | !!Thing 2/Wild Thing (Series 3, 4, 5 & 6 Semi-Finalist) (11 Seed in Series 4, 9 Seed in Series 5 & 6) |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-wildthing4_4690.jpg]] |
| 383 | |
| 384 | Weapons: Lifting Arm (Series 3-5), Flywheel (Series 5), Cutting Disc (Series 6) |
| 385 | |
| 386 | Battle record: 14 wins, 10 losses |
| 387 | |
| 388 | 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 Hypno-Disc and Chaos 2 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. |
| 389 | |
| 390 | * AcePilot: Nick Adams was just an ''amazingly'' good driver, especially as Wild Thing was a 2-wheeled design, making it harder to control. Wild Thing vs Chaos 2, which pitted him against 2-time champion George Francis, was one of the single greatest exhibitions of driving skill in the show's entire history. |
| 391 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: One of the nine robots who fought in more than one UK championship and never failed to reach the semis. In ''three'' out of their four attempts they were eventually stopped in the first round of the semis by the ''current reigning champion'' (Panic Attack in Series 3, Chaos 2 in Series 5, and Razer in Series 6). The one time they didn't was in Series 4, when they reached the second round, only to face the Series 3 runner-up instead- ''Hypno-Disc!'' In the main series at least, they never lost to anything but the best.[[note]]That said, the reason they have 6 main series defeats on their record is due to falling into the losers' melees in both the 5th and 6th Wars- in the 5th Wars they survived but lost the judges' decision to S3, in the 6th the pit was opened underneath them by Dantomkia and they sank to their doom.[[/note]] |
| 392 | * {{Determinator}}: [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Got thoroughly shredded by Hypno-Disc in their semi-final bout in Series 4]], and yet still nearly won the judges' decision based on their fightback. |
| 393 | ** This was Wild Thing's entire schtick, actually: they were ''incredibly'' tenacious, with seemingly bottomless batteries and internal engineering that never let them down. It was a recurring theme of their battles that they'd start out getting knocked around by more powerful robots (most notably 259 in Series 6) but would keep coming back for more again and again, still going strong and hurling themselves back at their opponents even when their enemy was starting to run out of steam, meaning they almost always finished strongly. The only times they were ''ever'' immobilised were in Series 3 when the original Thing (which had no srimech) was flipped by Panic Attack, and in Extreme when Firestorm flipped them when they already had their lifting arm raised, getting stuck on it at an awkward angle that wouldn't let them self-right. |
| 394 | * DiabolusExMachina: Like so many other robots in Series 3, they were eliminated by the [[ScrappyMechanic arena spikes]] having been controlling their battle against Panic Attack. Unlike most of the others, however, the arena spike didn't flip them over directly: it instead lifted them up onto Panic Attack's rear, and when Panic Attack was in turn buffeted by the spikes, the motion tipped Thing 2 over. |
| 395 | ** In Series 6, Wild Thing was doing well in the Losers' Melee until Dantomkia pressed the pit release button ''just'' as they were driving over it, sending Wild Thing sinking helplessly into oblivion. |
| 396 | * ForWantOfANail: At one point in Wild Thing's ''legendary'' battle against Chaos 2 in the Series 5 semifinals, Wild Thing shoved Chaos 2 side-on towards the pit and Chaos 2 literally ''teetered'' on the edge of falling in (the pit pyrotechnics even went off) before dropping back onto its wheels and desperately escaping. Later, Nick Adams admitted that this had been an error on his part- he'd instinctively pulled back on the throttle at the last second to keep Wild Thing from going down the pit after Chaos 2[[note]]which wouldn't have made a difference, as the first robot to fall in loses[[/note]], so the shove hadn't been hard enough. Just the ''tiniest'' bit more on that push and Wild Thing would have defeated the reigning champion, and who knows how the rest of the 5th Wars would have panned out?[[note]]Pragmatically speaking, the results ''probably'' wouldn't have changed as Wild Thing would have had to face Bigger Brother, which was on top form and actually beat Chaos 2. Chaos 2 lost to Bigger Brother when they ran out of [=CO2=] and were unable to self-right, which wouldn't have been an issue for Wild Thing, but Wild Thing would have really struggled to do much to Bigger Brother -their disc would be ineffective against Bigger Brother's armour and they'd really struggle to get under BB's low ground clearance- and would probably have lost a judges' decision. We can only imagine what would have happened, as the two robots ultimately never met in battle.[[/note]] |
| 397 | * GratuitousLatin: Thing 2 had ''"Aut Vincere Aut Mori"'' ([[BadassBoast "To conquer or to Die"]]) written on the front, and ''"Acta Est Fabula"'' ("The play is over") visible on the underside once they were flipped and unable to self-right. |
| 398 | * HeroicSecondWind: Wild Thing's trademark; as mentioned in the {{Determinator}} entry, it often started off a fight on the back foot, but would always still be running at close to full power by the end of the battle, while most opponents would be starting to slow down, letting Wild Thing shove them around and overwhelm them. It was often a case of whether the work they got done in the second half of the battle was enough to make up for the beating they took in the first half. |
| 399 | * LightningBruiser: Very quick and agile but also very durable, as mentioned in the {{Determinator}} entry above. |
| 400 | * MadeOfIron: You better believe it! They never stopped coming back for more, most famously against Hypno-Disc in Series 4. It was, in fact, almost completely indestructible, ''never'' being KO'd by damage alone even once.[[note]]It ''may'' have been counted out in the Series 4 Celebrity Special where it visibly stopped working for a short while, but since it sprang back to life afterwards and kept fighting it was more likely suffering signal interference issues than mechanical failure.[[/note]] |
| 401 | * OddballInTheSeries: The first two incarnations of Wild Thing were all wedge-shaped robots (as was its predecessor Demon, generally considered separate to the rest as it only had Nick Adams on the team); the last was a totally different design, more like a shield-shaped Tornado, that lacked even the picture of a demon that the previous three robots had. |
| 402 | * OddlyNamedSequel: Demon - Thing 2 - Wild Thing |
| 403 | * SequelNumberSnarl: The Series 6 incarnation was called "Wild Thing 2" despite being the third distinct robot in the series (the fourth if you include Demon). |
| 404 | * ShoutOut: Thing 2 was referred to as [[Series/TheAddamsFamily "the Adams family Thing]]". Wild Thing was a pretty obvious shout out to the famous song of the same name by The Troggs, which Craig would occasionally sing a few bars of after they pulled off a particularly impressive victory. |
| 405 | * SpectacularSpinning: 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. |
| 406 | * VictoryByEndurance: It beat 259 in Series 6 by simply resisting 259's attacks long enough for the drive chain powering its flywheel to come off, and eventually 259 broke down entirely, sealing Wild Thing's victory. |
| 407 | * WeakButSkilled: Wild Thing wasn't known for its devastating weaponry, especially in its first two appearances (in Series 3 it was basically just a wedge on wheels- it had a lifter on the back, but almost never used it). Its considerable success was almost completely down to reliable engineering and the ''stunning'' driving of Nick Adams. |
| 408 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Wild Thing was one of many robots that retired after the Sixth Wars. However, it did so much earlier than any of the others (it was the only Series 6 semi-finalist not to appear in the Extreme 2 All-Stars and its place was taken by Chaos 2), and unlike many of the others no reason for its absence in the Seventh Wars ever came to light and it seemingly never appeared on the live circuit afterwards. For whatever reason, after Series 6 the team fell off the face of the earth. |
| 409 | ** Team member Jake Addams (the son and brother of his teammates, no less) didn't appear in Series 6 without explanation. |
| 410 | |
| 411 | !!Blade (Series 3 Semi-Finalist) |
| 412 | |
| 413 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-blade_1240.jpg]] |
| 414 | |
| 415 | Weapons: Lawnmower Blade |
| 416 | |
| 417 | Battle record: 3 wins, 1 loss |
| 418 | |
| 419 | The last of the OneHitWonder semifinalists in Series 3, Blade was a functional competitor that had a stroke of good luck to win their heat (dodging having to fight Razer when it suffered one of its infamous breakdowns) before being beaten by former champions Beast of Bodmin in the semis. |
| 420 | |
| 421 | * BornLucky: Even Jonathan Pearce highlighted what a surprise winner Blade was in its heat. They won their first two battles on a judges' decision (only ''barely'' escaping falling prey to the [[ScrappyMechanic arena spikes]] that had taken out Behemoth in the previous heat, being flipped on their side but then righted again by their opponent) and defeated Aggrobot in the heat final when it broke down due to previously sustained damage. That was not the only lucky thing about beating Aggrobot - ''Razer'' had been in the same heat, but had broken down while fighting Aggrobot, meaning Blade didn't have to take them on instead[[note]]Razer had struggled to get to grips with Aggrobot because of their sloped sides, which is what prolonged the battle long enough for their breakdown to happen, while the flat-topped Blade would have been ''fodder'' for Razer's claw if they'd met[[/note]]! |
| 422 | * GenericName: Up there with "Spike”. Funnily enough, Blade beat a robot called Spike in its first fight. |
| 423 | * OneHitWonder: See WhatCouldHaveBeen. |
| 424 | * SpectacularSpinning: Had a front-mounted spinning lawnmower blade. |
| 425 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Was going to enter Series 4 as "Blade’s Big Bruva" but withdrew at the last minute. |
| 426 | |
| 427 | [[/folder]] |
| 428 | |
| 429 | [[folder:Series 4]] |
| 430 | !!Dominator 2 (Series 4, 5 & 6 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 Northern Annihilator Runner-Up) (11 Seed in Series 5, 6 Seed in Series 6) |
| 431 | |
| 432 | [[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/150px-dominator_2_9545.jpg]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | Battle record: 18 wins, 6 losses |
| 435 | |
| 436 | Weapons: Axe |
| 437 | |
| 438 | After making their ''Robot Wars'' debut in Series 3 as the first competitor in the Pinball Warrior tournament, the Dominator team gave the ailing axe bot concept a shot in the arm with their powerful, long-hafted piercing weapon and the sleek, angular, heavily-armoured machine that carried it. Consistent competitors during the show's middle years, they were another team who never failed to win their heat across multiple entries, going out in the second round of the semifinals in Series 4, 5 and 6. Unfortunately a broken baseplate caused them to miss Series 7 and they failed to return for the reboot, leaving them the most successful robot to never actually win any kind of award or trophy. |
| 439 | |
| 440 | * AchillesHeel: In Series 4, and part of Extreme 1, Dominator 2 had exposed wheels. This led to its defeat by Pussycat in the former, and Wild Thing in the latter, and the team promptly covered the wheels up. Even after that, it still didn't like being hit by spinning weapons, as Hypno-Disc and 13 Black found out in their respective battles against it. |
| 441 | ** While the vast majority of robots have steel baseplates, Dominator 2's was made of 10mm polycarbonate. While lighter than steel, it was also less sturdy, and became a weakness in later series. In Series 6 a ram from Growler split the chassis in half, and while they fixed it that time, it broke again just before Series 7 and this time the team were forced to withdraw. |
| 442 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Made the last round before the Grand Final three times in a row, and lost there every time; came runner-up in the Northern Annihilator only because it broke down; ''and'' the original Dominator was beaten in the Pinball tournament at the last moment by Razer. With 18 victories, Dominator 2 was the most successful robot to never win an award or tournament. |
| 443 | * AscendedExtra: Dominator started out only appearing in a side event in Series 3, before its successor debuted in the main competition the following year. |
| 444 | * DiabolusExMachina: Was on top throughout all of the Northern Annihilator, including most of the final one-on-one battle, right up to the moment it broke down. |
| 445 | * FatalFlaw: Its exposed wheels were this: Pussycat was able to almost tear its entire bodyshell off because of the purchase afforded by the space between the wheels, and it lost its Extreme All-Star fight because of damage sustained to them. |
| 446 | * LightningBruiser: As with a lot of the best bots, it was fast at 20mph, but also powerful and resilient. |
| 447 | * MadeOfIron: Its titanium armour was very tough, and was coated with plasma nitride to make it even tougher. While most of its losses saw it worse for wear by the end, it always held on for the judges' decision (except when it drove down the pit in Series 6), and the only time it ever broke down completely was at the end of a very long and gruelling Annihilator. |
| 448 | * MidSeasonUpgrade: The first version of Dominator 2 used in Extreme 1 still had exposed wheels. This particular version of the robot fought only once, in an All-Star fight against Wild Thing which it lost due to the exposed wheels, and wheel guards were added straight after. |
| 449 | * OneHitKill: At the start of their first bout in Series 4, Dominator 2 slammed its axe down on Henry 2 just once- and that was all it took to kill Henry 2 dead, only 2 seconds into the battle. This would remain unbeaten as the fastest immobilisation in Robot Wars for the entire life of the show. |
| 450 | * TookALevelInBadass: Dominator 1 was a small, reverse wedge shaped machine that only competed in the Pinball side event of Series 3. Dominator 2 was one of the most feared axe-wielders in the warzone. |
| 451 | * UndignifiedDeath: Its exit from the Sixth Wars. It was pushed into Matilda's CPZ by Tornado, Tornado drove in after it to try and stop it from getting out again, but accidentally drove straight into Matilda's flywheel and flew into the air, landing near the pit. Dominator reversed out of the CPZ, but in the confusion Paul Tolliday accidentally drove straight into the pit, making it the only time apart from the gruelling Northern Annihilator where Dominator didn't manage to hold on to a judges' decision. |
| 452 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Was supposed to have entered Series 7 but dropped out at the last minute (in fact, so last-minute that the robot had been seeded and still appeared in some promotional material) due to the base breaking. |
| 453 | * WorthyOpponent: The team were often quick to praise the teams they'd won against (such as SMIDSY and Hydra in their Series 6 heat) and always [[GracefulLoser took defeat well]], such as graciously conceding that the judges' decision in their All-Stars fight against Wild Thing was correct (and that was in Extreme 1, when a lot of teams had [[TookALevelInJerkass Taken a Level in Jerkass]]). |
| 454 | |
| 455 | !!Thermidor 2 (Series 4 & 7 Semi-Finalist, Extreme 2 Annihilator Runner-Up) (16 Seed in Series 5, 14 Seed in Series 7) |
| 456 | |
| 457 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thermidor_2_3875.jpg]] |
| 458 | |
| 459 | Weapons: Lobster Claws, Circular Saw (Series 3), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 4-) |
| 460 | |
| 461 | Battle record: 15 wins, 8 losses |
| 462 | |
| 463 | The original "Thermador" was just one of countless weak [[AnimalMotifs animal-themed]] robots to enter into Series 3, and was quickly dispatched like most of the rest. Returning in Series 4, they'd taken a cue from Chaos 2 and mounted a powerful flipper on their front between the increasingly-ornamental claw weapons, showing a surprising amount of power that was capable of hurling robots clean into the air in a manner comparable to the champion themselves! After their first run to the semifinals, the team suffered from a slump for the next 2 series, before coming back strong in the more open field of Series 7. They were also surprise returnees in the reboot Series 8. |
| 464 | |
| 465 | * AnimalMotifs: Lobster. |
| 466 | * TheBusCameBack: Thermidor 2 was confirmed to be returning for Series 8 by WebVideo/StuartAshen, who's the cousin of team member Ian Harvey. The official contestant list indeed confirmed Thermidor 2's return. |
| 467 | * IconicItem: The wheels for Thermidor were taken off a Mini Metro and the robot almost never appeared without them being mentioned. |
| 468 | * APigNamedPorkchop: Named after the French lobster dish of the same name. |
| 469 | * RedLiveLobster: Thermidor 2 was painted red in all of its appearances. |
| 470 | * TookALevelInBadass: Played straight and inverted. In its first appearance it only won a single fight (which was against [[JokeCharacter Plunderbird]]). When it returned for Series 4, it easily won its heat and made it to the semi-finals. In the next two series, it lost in Round 1 both times, and then in Series 7 they made a strong comeback and made it to the semi-finals once more. |
| 471 | * WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: Its very first fight against Plunderstorm in Series 3 consisted of Plunderstorm barely moving at all and Thermador nudging it a couple of times before the house robots came in to finish Plunderstorm off. |
| 472 | * UnexpectedCharacter: Thermidor was retired immediately after Series 7 and never seen at any live events afterwards, so news of its return for Series 8 took some by surprise. |
| 473 | |
| 474 | !!Mousetrap (Series 4 Semi-Finalist) (20 Seed in Series 5) |
| 475 | |
| 476 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-themousetrap_2745.jpg]] |
| 477 | |
| 478 | Weapons: Mousetrap |
| 479 | |
| 480 | Battle record: 4 wins, 3 losses (0 wins, 1 loss each with Tri-Terra-Bot and Black & Blue) |
| 481 | |
| 482 | Arguably the weakest semifinalist in Series 4, Mousetrap really illustrated how much the standards had improved since the previous series as it was quite a competent bot, with a unique guillotine bar weapon. The team had previously entered with the bizarre Tri-Terra-Bot and would later return with clusterbot Black & Blue, but neither found any success. |
| 483 | |
| 484 | * TheAllegedCar: Prone to breakdowns; it appeared to have been reduced to fits and starts in its fight against Sump Thing, but this was unintentionally turned to its advantage when one of those starts coincided with an attack by Sump Thing, causing it to immobilise itself, and in its Mayhem fight in Extreme the trap accidentally fired before Activate was even called and got stuck, leaving it weaponless. |
| 485 | * BornLucky: All four of its wins had some element of good fortune to them. In Series 4 it made it through the first-round melee because Evil Weevil forgot to charge their batteries; in its heat semi-final it appeared to lose power, Sump Thing got up some speed for a big attack, but then Mousetrap came back to life just enough to move out of the way and Sump Thing hit the wall, damaging itself in such a way that it lifted both its wheels off the ground; and won the heat final despite sustaining significant damage from Little Fly's spinning bar weapon. In Series 5 it got through the first round after Shredder drove itself into the pit. |
| 486 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin |
| 487 | * TheGhost / UnseenCharacter: Downplayed example. The team tried to qualify with a successor, Mutant Mousetrap, in Series 6, but failed to do so. Very little is known about Mutant Mousetrap, and no pictures of it are known to exist. |
| 488 | * HopeSpot: In its Series 5 heat semi-final it was drawn against the devastating newcomers S3, who had ''obliterated'' Plunderbird 5 in their first fight. Mousetrap ''nearly'' managed to beat them by trapping them for most of the fight, but S3 eventually managed to escape and tore Mousetrap's side open, which was enough for it to win the judges' decision. |
| 489 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: Its giant mousetrap was, unsurprisingly, the only one of its kind, and it was by some distance the most successful robot with a totally unique weapon. |
| 490 | * LethalJokeCharacter: Like Wheely Big Cheese, you'd assume that a robot shaped like a giant mousetrap would be an ineffectual JokeCharacter, but Mousetrap managed to make it all the way to the semi-finals. |
| 491 | * MeaningfulName: Effectively a giant mousetrap with wheels. |
| 492 | * 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. In Series 5, they actually mounted a razor-sharp blade on it that could slice into metal robot armour, which it visibly did during their match against S3. |
| 493 | * OneHitWonder: Made the semi-final in Series 4, was knocked out of the heats by S3 in Series 5, didn't qualify for Series 6, and its follow-up Black & Blue was eliminated in round 1 of Series 7. |
| 494 | |
| 495 | !!Splinter (Series 2 Heat Finalist as Ivanhoe, Series 4 Semi-Finalist) (17 Seed in Series 5) |
| 496 | |
| 497 | [[quoteright:180:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/180px-splinter4_2660.jpg]] |
| 498 | |
| 499 | Weapons: Grabbing Arms, Axe (Series 5) |
| 500 | |
| 501 | Battle record: 8 wins, 3 losses as Splinter; 1 win, 1 loss as Ivanhoe |
| 502 | |
| 503 | If any robot is famous for losing, Splinter is it. Probably the second-weakest robot in the Series 4 semis after Mousetrap, Splinter unquestionably got the worst draw as they became the all-time most famous victims of Hypno-Disc at the top of their devastating form, reducing their robot to a literal pile of spare parts. Team Ivanhoe had actually competed before in Series 2, reaching a heat final, and the rebuilt Splinter fought well in Extreme (getting its revenge on Hypno-Disc in the Annihilator) and was defeated by the red-hot Bigger Brother in Series 5, but the team will [[NeverLiveItDown always be remembered most]] for the time their machine was scattered across the arena floor in one of robot combat's most violent displays. |
| 504 | |
| 505 | * TheDogBitesBack: After being dismembered by Hypno-Disc in the Series 4 semi-finals, Splinter encountered it again in the Extreme 1 Annihilator. This time, Splinter eventually pushed Hypno-Disc down the pit. |
| 506 | * LudicrousGibs: Pretty much ended up as the robotic equivalent after its run-in with Hypno-Disc (and then being thrown by Sir Killalot). You know it's bad when Craig Charles describes what's left of the robot with the term "splattered". |
| 507 | * NeverLiveItDown: Like so many other machines, it's mostly only remembered for having been torn apart by Hypno-Disc in Series 4. |
| 508 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: On the receiving end of one of the most brutal in the show's history, and certainly the most well-remembered. |
| 509 | * NoSell: What tends to be forgotten about the Splinter v Hypno-Disc fight is that, for the first thirty seconds or so, ''Splinter was actually winning''. Its front-mounted scoop was able to deflect Hypno-Disc's blows like they were nothing, allowing Splinter to shove Hypno-Disc around... then Hypno-Disc hit it at just the right angle and ''[[OhCrap tore the scoop clean off]]''. [[CurbStompBattle What happened next is history]]. |
| 510 | * OneHitWonder: One semi-final, and then a round 2 loss to the future runner-up. |
| 511 | * PropheticName: As lampshaded by Jonathan Pearce, it certainly was left in splinters. |
| 512 | * TearOffYourFace: To its credit, Splinter actually ''did'' manage to tank Hypno-Disc's flywheel with its front scoop, but then they struck the spinner at ''just'' the wrong angle... |
| 513 | * TookALevelInBadass: The team previously competed with Ivanhoe, a slow-moving barrel-shaped robot with a weak axe. It didn't do very well (although it did at least make its Series 2 heat final). |
| 514 | |
| 515 | !!Wheely Big Cheese (Series 4 & 5 Semi-Finalist, Series 2 & 3 Heat Finalist as The Mule and The Big Cheese) (15 Seed in Series 4, 10 Seed in Series 5) (Winner of Best Design Award in Series 2 as The Mule) |
| 516 | |
| 517 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-wheely_big_cheese_5_6116.png]] |
| 518 | |
| 519 | Weapons: Rear-Hinged Flipper |
| 520 | |
| 521 | Battle record: 7 wins, 6 losses as Wheely Big Cheese; 1 win, 1 loss as The Mule; 2 wins, 1 loss as The Big Cheese |
| 522 | |
| 523 | GadgeteerGenius Roger Plant first fought in Series 2 with an innovative machine called The Mule (which managed to win the Best Engineered trophy), then returned to Series 3 with the awesome electric lifter The Big Cheese, but after losing the single-best battle in the series against eventual champions Chaos 2 in the heat final, he decided to one-up George Francis with the biggest flipper robot combat has ever seen. Wheely Big Cheese was a flipper taken up to eleven, nothing but a giant wedge-shaped titanium flipping jaw carried around on giant wheels. While unbelievably powerful, its impracticality meant it was often lucky to win through, but it still entered into legend for a single flip in Series 5 which to this day has ''still'' possibly never been equaled for height and distance. |
| 524 | |
| 525 | * AwesomeButImpractical: Made ''entirely from titanium'', a fact which would prove to be its undoing in Series 4 due to just how difficult it is to weld titanium - Tornado was able to break one of the welds, nearly tearing an entire wheel off. |
| 526 | ** Wheely Big Cheese was also fairly unreliable, especially compared to Roger Plant's previous machines, The Mule and The Big Cheese. Its flipper only ever worked to its full potential on a handful of occasions throughout the series. |
| 527 | * BestServedCold: After Sir Killalot destroyed The Big Cheese, Roger Plant designed Wheely Big Cheese specifically to flip Killalot, armed with a reported 800 kg of throwing power. Sadly, while it got the chance when Killalot drove up its flipper in its Series 4 melee, it failed to avenge The Big Cheese. |
| 528 | -->'''Jonathan Pearce:''' Come on then, throw Killalot! Go on, throw Killalot! You can't, you can't! |
| 529 | * CripplingOverspecialization: The horrific power of its flipper was pretty much Wheely Big Cheese's only major strength. It was slow, cumbersome, had exposed wheels, and was unreliable, but when the flipper worked, by ''god'' did it work. |
| 530 | * FluffyTheTerrible: With a name like "Wheely Big Cheese" you'd expect it to be something of a joke, right? ''Wrong.'' |
| 531 | * ForWantOfANail: The Big Cheese was widely recognised as an excellently engineered, powerful robot that ''should'' have gotten much further than it did. It just happened to be drawn in the same heat as Chaos 2. |
| 532 | * GlassCannon: Wheely Big Cheese only had one real trick that required getting its front end under an opponent. When it worked it was spectacular, but [[CripplingOverspecialization it sacrificed speed, durability and some pushing power all for flipper strength.]] It wasn't very fast, nor was it very tough, but it had that massive flipper, one of the most spectacular in the entire show. |
| 533 | * {{Heel}}: Wheely Big Cheese was painted as this after it controversially won its Series 4 heat final against Suicidal Tendencies on a judges' decision after driving into the pit. The official magazine marked the decision as being unpopular whenever it was mentioned, and in the semi-finals the Tornado team said they thought Suicidal Tendencies should have won and were out for justice for them. |
| 534 | * KilledOffscreen: During the Flipper Frenzy, Wheely Big Cheese is the only robot that is not shown being incapacitated on-screen; all we see is Matilda approaching it with her flywheel and the camera then cutting to the other side of the arena where the other three are busy with Sgt. Bash, and when the camera cuts back, Wheely Big Cheese is already immobilized. |
| 535 | * MegatonPunch: With a flipper that could toss 800 kg and facing off against 100 kg robots, is it any wonder that Wheely Big Cheese delivered ''the'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cvVYzvQQB4#t=160s biggest flip in Robot Wars]]? |
| 536 | --> '''Roger Plant:''' Well, we re-read the rules, you see, and it said in there that flying robots are allowed. |
| 537 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: The Big Cheese; while Wheely Big Cheese did better (reaching 2 semifinals) and was famous for its incredible flipping power, it's easy to forget that Roger Plant's 3rd Wars entry was the most powerful electric lifter ever seen on ''Robot Wars'' (it famously picked Sgt. Bash up ''completely'' off the arena floor and ''shook him to pieces'') and the only reason it ''didn't'' reach a semifinal was that it came up against eventual series champions Chaos 2 at the end of its heat, in what was later voted the single best battle in all of Series 3. |
| 538 | * PunchedAcrossTheRoom: What Wheely Big Cheese was most renowned for. In its most famous battle it threw Axe-Awe not only across the room, but ''straight out of it''. |
| 539 | * SingleStrokeBattle: Its battle against Axe-Awe is the most famous example in ''Robot Wars'' history. At the start of the battle Axe-Awe got in a single axe blow, which did nothing, and Wheely Big Cheese then slid underneath it and hurled it over the arena wall ''from fifteen feet away''. |
| 540 | * SpikedWheels: The "treads" of the wheels were spikes, but they didn't really do any damage, nor were they really meant to (they were more for traction). |
| 541 | |
| 542 | [[/folder]] |
| 543 | |
| 544 | [[folder:Series 5]] |
| 545 | !!S3 (Series 5 & 6 Semi-Finalist) (7 Seed in Series 6) (Winner of Most Original Entry Award in Series 5) |
| 546 | |
| 547 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-s3_5525.jpg]] |
| 548 | |
| 549 | Weapons: Vertical Flywheel |
| 550 | |
| 551 | Battle record: 8 wins, 4 losses as S3; 0 wins, 2 losses as Sting |
| 552 | |
| 553 | Series 5 mainly saw a consolidation of the competitive scene, with only one robot making their first appearance in the semifinals (aside from eventual champions Razer, who had finally sorted out the bugs). The 1 Law Associates team (named after [[ThreeLawsCompliant Asimov's 3 Laws]]) had competed in Series 2 and 3 with the unimpressive Sting, a robot they admitted had only been made to qualify rather than seriously have a chance of winning, but once they got serious the arrival of S3 saw one of the biggest [[TookALevelInBadass upgrades in power]] ever seen, being the first truly effective vertical spinner, capable of ripping chunks out of its opposition. However, after two consecutive semifinal appearances the team could no longer afford the time and money required to keep the machine in fighting shape and decided to quit while they were ahead. |
| 554 | |
| 555 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: In Series 5 it managed to lose to ''both'' the eventual finalists: it was defeated by Bigger Brother in the first semi-final round, made it through the Losers' Melee, and then lost to Razer in the second round. |
| 556 | * AnimalMotifs: Described by many as looking like a hammerhead shark. Its predecessor, Sting, was ''not'' modelled after a scorpion as commonly believed, but rather after the deformed tail of Pete's pet cat. |
| 557 | * TheBusCameBack: After the Sting robots fell in the first round in both Series 2 and 3, the team missed Series 4 before returning in Series 5 with S3. |
| 558 | * MechanicallyUnusualClass: Its predecessor, Sting, had a unique articulated whipping tail. It never really got a chance to use it, as Sting fell in the Trial in Series 2 and was pitted by Diotoir in Series 3. |
| 559 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: For Extreme 2, the team added an "anti-flipper skid" designed to draw flippers onto the flywheel when they tried to attack. In the one and only battle in which it saw use before the robot was retired, the skid caused it to get stuck on its end and unable to right itself, leaving them sitting ducks and allowing Bigger Brother to flip them out of the arena. |
| 560 | * SpectacularSpinning: Unlike Hypno-Disc, it wasn't the first of its kind, but like Hypno-Disc, it ''was'' the first of its kind to achieve any kind of success, proving that vertical spinners were just as viable as their horizontal counterparts and single-handedly popularising the design. |
| 561 | * TookALevelInBadass: The team had competed previously with Sting and Sting 2, which both lost early in the heats. |
| 562 | |
| 563 | [[/folder]] |
| 564 | |
| 565 | [[folder:Series 6]] |
| 566 | !!Dantomkia (Series 6 & 7 Semi-Finalist, Series 8 Heat Finalist, Series 7 All-Stars Championship Runner-Up, Series 7 Featherweight Champion with DTK]] Most Out Of The Arena flips) (5 Seed in Series 7) (Winner of Most Promising Newcomer Award in Series 6) |
| 567 | |
| 568 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-dantomkiaprofile_9108.jpg]] |
| 569 | |
| 570 | Weapons: Rear-Hinged Flipper |
| 571 | |
| 572 | Battle record: 12 wins, 6 losses as Dantomkia, 2 wins, 0 losses as DTK. |
| 573 | |
| 574 | Herald of the next generation of high powered flippers, Dantomkia took the torch from Chaos 2 when they flipped the former 2-time champion out of the arena in their heat final, and would go on to set the record for the most robots ejected from the arena (9 in total). Fast, agile, tough, and armed with a flipper of incredible power, Dantomkia's bright yellow and black colour scheme made it one of the most memorable competitors of the show's later years, and returned in Series 8 to flip again. |
| 575 | |
| 576 | * ActionGirl: The robot itself, according to former team captain Mike Lambert. |
| 577 | * TheBusCameBack: Dantomkia was one of the first classic robots confirmed to be returning for Series 8, able to be seen [[https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCTwo/status/705848239321436163/photo/2 in a publicity image of the pits of the new series]]. |
| 578 | * CurbStompBattle: In its Series 8 first-round battle, it flipped Overdozer relentlessly until the wooden robot practically ''disintegrated''. |
| 579 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first version of Dantomkia (which was never seen on television after failing to qualify for Series 4, despite winning both its audition battles) had no flipper and looked more boxy. It could ''[[BadassNormal still]]'' [[CurbstompBattle wipe the floor]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq2cVuF0NoQ&list=PL53482CDCEAAE9BEA with the other robots]]. |
| 580 | * {{Heel}}: Played up by its Series 8 team, though it was apparently an act. |
| 581 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Broke the fastest battle record, by flipping IG-88 out of the arena in 8 seconds. In its next fight, it was flipped out of the arena in ''6'' seconds by [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Gravity]]. |
| 582 | * LightningBruiser: Fast, powerful, reliable. |
| 583 | * LongRunnerCastTurnover: For Series 8, former captain Mike Lambert turned the robot over to Shane Swan, who had entered Series 7 with Trax, and Stuart Barnwell, who had been part of the Series 7 Pussycat team (itself an example of this trope). Shane himself has since passed Dantomkia on to another new team, who are upgrading it for future wars. |
| 584 | * MeaningfulName: The peculiar name came from the names of creator Mike Lambert's kids, Daniel, Thomas & Kiara. |
| 585 | * PercussiveMaintenance: In Series 8, after Dantomkia broke down in its round-robin fight against [=TR2=], Shane Swan claimed he knew ''exactly'' how to fix the problem: |
| 586 | -->'''Shane Swan''': [''striking Dantomkia with a hammer''] Damn you! Damn you! |
| 587 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: DTK, their featherweight bot and winner of the 7th Wars Featherweight Championship, which was literally a 12kg version of Dantomkia that was still supposedly capable of flipping 75kg. |
| 588 | * PutOnABus: Dantomkia, having been sold on by Shane Swan after Series 8, did not enter Series 9 for unknown reasons, and did not enter Series 10 as its upgrades were still ongoing. |
| 589 | * RingOut: Racked up more out-of-the-arena flips than any other robot on the show, and was one of the few to throw two robots out in one fight. |
| 590 | * SingleStrokeBattle: Quite good at them. Memorably flipped IG-88 out of the arena in just 8 seconds, and in Series 8 a single flip was all it needed to pin King B Remix against the arena wall. |
| 591 | * SpectacularSpinning: Could rear up and spin on the spot, effectively acting as a full-body spinner. |
| 592 | |
| 593 | !!13 Black (Series 6 Semi-Finalist, Extreme 2 All-Stars Heat Finalist) (7 Seed in Series 7) |
| 594 | |
| 595 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-13_black_9341.jpg]] |
| 596 | |
| 597 | Weapons: Saw (Limpet), Double horizontal flywheels (13 Black), rotating weapon arm (Heavy Metal) |
| 598 | |
| 599 | Battle record: 6 wins, 5 losses as 13 Black, 2 wins, 2 losses as Heavy Metal |
| 600 | |
| 601 | Team 13's first entrance into ''Robot Wars'' with the unimpressive Limpet didn't bear much fruit, and it wasn't until Series 5 that they returned with a new twist on the horizontal flywheel bot, 13 Black. The dual-disc spinner had a poor start, going out in the first round again, but on its second attempt in Series 6 it carved out a place for itself in the semis and staked a claim as the challenger to Hypno-Disc's rotating throne, especially with its unexpectedly strong performance in the Extreme 2 All-Stars tournament. The team returned with a new robot, Heavy Metal, in Series 9, but failed to recapture their former success. |
| 602 | |
| 603 | * AchillesHeel: [[FlippingHelpless Being flipped]], as the robot didn't have a SRIMECH until Series 7 (where it failed to work). |
| 604 | ** Heavy Metal's weak points were its large metal wheels, covered in numerous rubber studs to gain traction. The studs invariably flew off all over the place and lowered the machine's grip, and Concussion immobilized it by tearing off a wheel and throwing it out of the arena. |
| 605 | * TheBusCameBack: 13 Black is officially retired, but the team returned for Series 9 with a new robot called Heavy Metal. |
| 606 | * CasinoPark: Certainly the design motif the team were aiming for. |
| 607 | * DarkHorseVictory: It's easy to expect that when 13 Black was in the same battle with Razer ''and'' Chaos 2, it would quickly lose and be booted from the competition. To everyone's surprise, it quickly tore Chaos 2's flipper off and did serious damage to Razer before cease was called! |
| 608 | * DualWielding: 13 Black had a flywheel on each end, making attacking it from behind just as dangerous a concept at taking it head-on. It could also spin on the spot to attack a target with both weapons in quick succession. |
| 609 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Something almost nobody is aware of is that Team 13 had originally entered ''Series 2'' with a robot called Limpet. Unfortunately it never fought a battle, being eliminated in the trials stage then failing to requalify for Series 3. |
| 610 | * LongRunner: An oft-forgotten fact is that Team 13 are one of the oldest teams in the competition, albeit not as prolific as the likes of Behemoth. Captain John Denny first fought in Series ''2'' with Limpet (which admittedly was a completely forgettable robot that fell in the trials) and after a successful run with 13 Black, they're back in the rebooted Series 9 with Heavy Metal. |
| 611 | * OlderThanTheyThink: As stated above, the team's debut was in fact Series 2, with tracked robot Limpet, which fell in the trial stage. |
| 612 | * OneHitWonder: Its only decent performance was in Series 6. |
| 613 | * ShoutOut: Heavy Metal's bright pink and blue colour scheme is a shout out to the cover art of one of the earliest heavy metal albums, Music/BlackSabbath's 'Paranoid'. |
| 614 | * SpectacularSpinning: Two 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. |
| 615 | * TookALevelInBadass: Beaten in round 1 of Series 5, then made the semi-finals in Series 6 and more than held its own in the All-Stars tournament, taking out Chaos 2 and Dominator 2. |
| 616 | [[/folder]] |
| 617 | |
| 618 | [[folder:Series 7]] |
| 619 | !!Atomic (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 Heat Finalist) (22 Seed in Series 5) |
| 620 | |
| 621 | [[quoteright:291:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomichq.png]] |
| 622 | |
| 623 | Weapons: Rear-Hinged Flipper, Pneumatic Spike (Extreme onwards) |
| 624 | |
| 625 | Battle record: 8 wins, 3 losses |
| 626 | |
| 627 | 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-top-tier machines were given a chance to shine. Atomic is one of those machines. While its previous runs were cut short by the seemingly-unstoppable Chaos 2 and a fatal case of Hypno-Disc respectively, 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. |
| 628 | |
| 629 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Three championship runs ended at the metaphorical metal hands of Chaos 2, Hypno-Disc and Typhoon 2. Definitely not opponents there's any shame in losing to. |
| 630 | * AnArmAndALeg: They started out well against Hypno-Disc, even pinning the machine upside down at one point, but then Hypno-Disc tore the flipper away entirely and destroyed Atomic afterward. When it returned for Series 7, the flipper had very noticeably been reinforced. |
| 631 | * 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 (though to be fair, they managed to hold their own until the flipper was ripped in half). 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. |
| 632 | * TheBusCameBack: Missed Series 6 as it failed to qualify, but was back the year after that with a vengeance. |
| 633 | * DiabolusExMachina: Looked like it was on top in round 2 of its semi-final against Typhoon 2, when it mistimed an attack and flipped itself over with such force that the flipper broke. |
| 634 | * InformedAbility: The rear spike was apparently still there in Series 7 (according to its statistics), but never saw use. |
| 635 | * TookALevelInBadass: Had no great deal of success in its early appearances (though hardly through lack of effort), and then in Series 7 it won 4 fights in a row, throwing the opponent out of the arena every time. |
| 636 | |
| 637 | !!Gravity (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, Dutch Series 2 Heat Finalist, Series 7 House Robot Rebellion Joint Champion) |
| 638 | |
| 639 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-gravity_6304.jpg]] |
| 640 | |
| 641 | Weapons: Rear-Hinged Flipper |
| 642 | |
| 643 | Battle record: 5 wins, 2 losses (2 wins, 1 loss in the Dutch series) |
| 644 | |
| 645 | Spawn Again may have pioneered the modern full-body ramp flipper, but Gravity perfected the design. Boasting arguably the most powerful flipper in the warzone after Wheely Big Cheese's retirement, this Dutch machine holds the claim to fame of having the fastest win ever in the original series, punting Dantomkia over the wall in only 6 seconds, and housed a ruthless vendetta against the House Robots. Unfortunately, despite its successes and legacy, Gravity was turned away from the reboot in order to diversify the playing field, but in its short time on Robot Wars it has certainly left its mark. |
| 646 | |
| 647 | * AchillesHeel: Its large, unprotected tyres were ultimately its undoing against Tornado, who damaged them sufficiently to impair Gravity's mobility, allowing them to push it into the pit. |
| 648 | * BorrowedCatchphrase: The team borrowed Bodmin Community College's catchphrase of "straight in, straight out" in the Series 7 heats. |
| 649 | * CameraAbuse: Gravity flipped Hydra ''into'' a camera, which cracked on impact. |
| 650 | * DefeatingTheUndefeatable: With Wheely Big Cheese long since retired, Gravity had arguably the strongest flipper in the 7th Wars. It was the only robot ''ever'' to flip Cassius Chrome, Growler, and the original Dead Metal. Unlike the other two, which were relative newcomers to the House Robot lineup, Dead Metal had been in the series since the start and had ''never'' been flipped, even in the heyday of Chaos 2 and Wheely Big Cheese (and it wasn't like people had never tried, they'd just always failed before now thanks to his width, awkward shape, and low centre of gravity). |
| 651 | * FountainOfExpies: Chaos 2 may have popularised the high-pressure rear-hinged flipper as the most popular weapon in UK robot combat, and Spawn Again may have been the robot that debuted the full-body flipping ramp, but Gravity was the robot that ''perfected'' the design that has been dominant on the UK live circuit ever since. Series 8 champion Apollo and Series 10 champion Eruption can both trace their lineage almost directly back to Gravity and its distinctive tapered wedge shape, as can other notable competitors like [=TR2=]. |
| 652 | * GroundShatteringLanding: Flipped Hydra with such force that it destroyed part of the arena wall, then smashed a camera with its RingOut a few seconds later. The battle had to be stopped due to the amount of damage taken to the arena. |
| 653 | * LightningBruiser: Beat Dantomkia in ''six seconds''! Also literally, as it beat a robot called Lightning in the Heat Final. |
| 654 | * PutOnABus: Having been turned away from Series 8, the team decided not to enter Series 9 so they could focus on preparing a new version of Gravity for Series 10. |
| 655 | * TookALevelInBadass: Reached the Heat Final in Dutch Series 2, came to the UK to compete in Series 7, and reached the last 8 before being pushed in the pit by reigning champion Tornado. |
| 656 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: Attempted to return for Series 8 but failed to qualify, possibly due to the producers' attempts at diversifying the field. |
| 657 | |
| 658 | !!Bulldog Breed (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 & 5 Heat Finalist, Extreme 2 Tag-Team Terror Champion with Robochicken) (12 Seed in Series 7) |
| 659 | |
| 660 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-bulldog_breed_8610.jpg]] |
| 661 | |
| 662 | Weapons: Twin Circular Saws (Series 3), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 4-7) |
| 663 | |
| 664 | Battle record: 13 wins, 5 losses |
| 665 | |
| 666 | Another long-running competitor who finally got a crack at the big time in the newly-cleared field of Series 7, Bulldog Breed was one of the most-experienced of them all, having competed since Series 3. A steady stream of upgrades over the course of five championship runs (which included 2 heat final appearances) culminated in them finally reaching the semis (justifying the seeding they'd earned), where they truly proved it was more than a fluke by taking out Tough As Nails before running afoul of the horrific power of the new X-Terminator. |
| 667 | |
| 668 | * AnimalMotifs: Bulldog. |
| 669 | * ArtEvolution: Over time the customary painting of a bulldog on the front of the robot became less cartoony; compare the [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/robotwars/images/3/3f/BulldogbreedII.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090116055034 Series 4 incarnation]] to the version pictured here. |
| 670 | * BornUnlucky: It lost in the heats for two years in a row to the ''same'' robot: Hypno-Disc. For most roboteers, meeting them just once is unlucky, so meeting them twice is outright horrible luck. They had to withdraw from Extreme 1 after the first battle with Hypno-Disc, due to the severe damage it received. |
| 671 | * TheChewToy: It had the absolute misfortune of coming across three spinners in three consecutive wars, the first two against Hypno-Disc, followed by a new-and-improved X-Terminator, who made Hypno-Disc look like a merry-go-round in comparison. It rarely left the arena in one piece. |
| 672 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: Not seeded in Series 5, even though several robots with a lesser pedigree were. The large number of non-returning semi-finalists in Series 7 finally allowed them to be recognised. |
| 673 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first Bulldog Breed used circular saws, not a flipper, and was markedly less impressive than any of its successors. |
| 674 | * EpicFail: Its Series 3 appearance. It didn't move off its mark at all, and the only time it moved was to reverse about a metre. [[IdiotBall Right into Shunt]]. One of its members immediately [[{{Facepalm}} facepalmed]] at this display of poor driving. |
| 675 | * LightningBruiser: Fast and powerful, and only ever lost 5 times. |
| 676 | * OneManArmy: In the Tag Team Terror tournament it took part in, it was stuck with a totally useless partner that actually broke down whilst driving into the arena in the final, meaning it was effectively outnumbered two-to-one for every fight. It won all three battles pretty much single-handed. |
| 677 | * TookALevelInBadass: Had a slow climb up to the semi-finals, falling at the heat final twice, and losing to Hypno-Disc in two successive series. In Series 7 it finally lived up to expectations and finished in the top 8. |
| 678 | |
| 679 | !!The Grim Reaper (Series 7 Semi-Finalist) |
| 680 | |
| 681 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-grim_reaper_7127.jpg]] |
| 682 | |
| 683 | Weapons: Pneumatic Spike (Series 3), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 7) |
| 684 | |
| 685 | Battle record: 3 wins, 2 losses |
| 686 | |
| 687 | The original version 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 [[BoringButPractical 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. |
| 688 | |
| 689 | * BoringButPractical: All of its fights went to the judges. This was largely due to its choice of weaponry, which itself falls under this: the low-pressure flipper didn't quite have the power of the high-pressure flippers that were all the rage in the later series, but also allowed its [=CO2=] supply to last much, much longer. |
| 690 | * BornUnlucky: Could have won its Series 3 fight against Big Brother, as the Watts' machine appeared to have broken down, but it was eliminated on a judges' decision. The second incarnation of the machine attempted to qualify for Series 6 but had to withdraw from the qualifiers because the pneumatic system stopped working, and then in Series 7, while it did manage to make the semi-finals, all its opponents were invertible machines that it was unable to properly dispatch, and it was defeated by eventual runner-up Storm 2. |
| 691 | * TheBusCameBack: Having not appeared for three full championships (plus both Extremes), it holds the record for the longest gap between appearances in ''Robot Wars'' with the same machine.[[note]]There was a team that only entered Series 2 and Series 7, an even longer gap, but they entered two different machines.[[/note]] |
| 692 | ** Under the shortened name 'Reaper' (and with a new owner) a rebuilt version of the robot was one of the eight robots to take part in the unaired pilot for the 2016 reboot, where it managed 1 win and 1 loss. Unfortunately it failed to qualify for the main series of the reboot itself. |
| 693 | * TheGrimReaper: Both its name and mascot. |
| 694 | * {{Mascot}}: Had someone dressed as (can you guess?) the Grim Reaper, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent who stood right next to the judges]] whenever the battle went to them. The robot had a unique history where ''every battle it's ever been in'' went to the judges, so the poor mascot had to do a lot of standing in the Seventh Wars. |
| 695 | * MundaneUtility: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. Craig asks the Grim Reaper itself to use its scythe to give judge Noel Sharkey a haircut after the battle against Storm II. |
| 696 | * OneHitWonder: Lost in Round 1 to Big Brother in Series 3, and returned to [[TookALevelInBadass reach a semi final]] in Series 7. |
| 697 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in Series 3. It operated as a rambot back in its first appearance, but shoddy engineering caused one of the wheels to fall off when it rammed Big Brother a bit too hard, and it consequently lost. |
| 698 | * SpellMyNameWithAThe: It was officially ''"The'' Grim Reaper", not just "Grim Reaper" (even though you can plainly see in its image that the name on its body lacks any "The"). |
| 699 | * TookALevelInBadass: Its Series 7 incarnation was much more successful, reaching the semi-finals, whereas the original robot had been knocked out in its first fight. |
| 700 | * VictoryByEndurance: Grim Reaper was unique among the many flippers that reached the semis of Series 7 by being a ''low''-pressure flipper, rather than having one of the high-pressure flippers that had been popular ever since Chaos 2 had arrived in Series 3. This meant that, while its flipper was ''far'' less powerful than others in the series and was incapable of scoring a RingOut, its supply of [=CO2=] would last twice as long, allowing it to keep overturning its opponents for the entire duration of a five-minute battle. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDArhd2hmGk this live battle from 2003]], Grim Reaper fires its flipper ''over thirty times'' in 3 minutes without losing power, far more than its more conservative opponent M2. |
| 701 | * VocalDissonance: Despite his menacing appearance, the team's mascot was happy to talk normally with Jayne Middlemiss in the pits and didn't try to put on any kind of menacing voice, creating the rather surreal image of a tall, robed and hooded, scythe-wielding skeleton having a friendly chat with an attractive woman. |
| 702 | |
| 703 | !!Raging Knightmare (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, Series 4 & 6 Heat Finalist as Knightmare & Raging Reality, Extreme 1 Annihilator 2 Runner-Up as Spirit of Knightmare) |
| 704 | |
| 705 | [[quoteright:228:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/228px-hqrknightmare_4775.png]] |
| 706 | |
| 707 | Weapons: Front-Hinged Flipper (Series 4), Front-Hinged Flipper, Cutting Discs & Ramming Spikes (Extreme 1), Rear-Hinged Flipper (Series 6-7) |
| 708 | |
| 709 | Battle record: 5 wins, 2 losses as Raging Knightmare; 2 wins, 1 loss as Knightmare; 2 wins, 2 losses as Spirit of Knightmare; 3 wins, 2 losses as Raging Reality |
| 710 | |
| 711 | The original Knightmare (and its spiritual successor Spirit of Knightmare) was a fairly average front-hinged flipper which managed some modest success but was strictly a midcard machine. The team's fortunes started to change with the creation of the impressive rear-hinged flipper Raging Reality, which was unfortunately stopped in its Series 6 heat final by Razer, but Raging Knightmare struck gold in Series 7 with an impressive upset over veterans Spawn Again (with the aid of a bit of luck as Spawn Again suffered a cataclysmic weapons failure). Tornado put an end to their run in the first round of the semis. |
| 712 | |
| 713 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Competed in three Annihilators and lost all of them. |
| 714 | * BornLucky: Managed to get through the opening melee of its Series 7 heat without a working weapon as one of its opponents broke down and another had its weapon torn off, then won both its round 2 fight and the heat final when ''both'' its opponents (Revenge of Trouble & Strife and the sixth seeds Spawn Again respectively) suffered weapons failures. Their luck ran out when they were drawn against reigning champions Tornado in the semi-finals. |
| 715 | * TheBusCameBack: Spirit of Knightmare failed to qualify for the fifth series. |
| 716 | * 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. [[InformedAttribute Supposedly anyway]], since it had no problem flipping the 100 kg Steel Avenger and Disc-O-Inferno. |
| 717 | * TheDeterminator: Spirit of Knightmare got through its Annihilator to second place largely by not breaking down when its opponents were falling to pieces left and right, with two opponents having to drop out between rounds on account of damage sustained (Napalm 2 was practically dead on arrival, while Panic Attack had been roughed up so badly by The Steel Avenger and Disc-O-Inferno that even a filler battle didn't buy them enough time to fix it). Even in the final round, it just kept coming at Disc-O-Inferno despite suffering heavy damage from the latter's flywheel, and was practically coming apart at the seams when it finally died. |
| 718 | * MyGreatestSecondChance: Spirit of Knightmare made it into the Annihilator as a substitute for Bulldog Breed, who had come down with a bad case of Hypno-Disc and couldn't enter, and survived all the way to the final round. |
| 719 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: In its Series 7 semi-final it attacked and flipped Shunt... ''[[EpicFail when Shunt was attacking its opponent at the time]]''. |
| 720 | * OddlyNamedSequel: Knightmare - Spirit Of Knightmare - Raging Reality - Raging Knightmare |
| 721 | * {{Portmanteau}}: Raging Knightmare's name came from combining the names of the team's two previous robots, Knightmare and Raging Reality. |
| 722 | * TookALevelInBadass: Reached two heat finals, and then reached the semi-finals in Series 7, throwing Spawn Again out of the arena in a grudge match. |
| 723 | |
| 724 | !!St. Agro (Series 7 Semi-Finalist) |
| 725 | |
| 726 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-st__agro_9249.jpg]] |
| 727 | |
| 728 | Weapons: Double Rear-Hinged Flipper |
| 729 | |
| 730 | Battle record: 3 wins, 2 losses |
| 731 | |
| 732 | Another of the numerous flippers in the later series, St. Agro's main distinguishing feature is its unique double flipper weapon. With a flipping panel on both the top and bottom of the robot, St. Agro was able to flip opponents no matter which side was up. After falling in round 1 of Series 6, it came back with a vengeance in Series 7, flipping its way into the semi-finals before falling victim to the newly-upgraded X-Terminator. After the wars ended, St. Agro changed hands to Team Shock, who fought with it on the live circuit under the name Maelstrom. Under this new guise, it was entered into Series 8 along with Shockwave, which ultimately made it into the series while Maelstrom did not. |
| 733 | |
| 734 | * AchillesHeel: It had large, exposed and extremely fragile, brittle wheels. |
| 735 | * CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown: Is now owned by Team Shock and competes as Maelstrom. |
| 736 | * MeaningfulName: Comes from a play on words of the team’s hometown. |
| 737 | * MechanicallyUnusualClass: St. Agro was the only ''double'' flipper bot- when it fired its weapon, rear-hinged plates pushed up on both the top ''and'' bottom of the robot. This meant it could both drive and attack no matter which way up it was, making it the only ''invertible'' flipper robot in all of ''Robot Wars'' (apart from the flipper-on-wheels Wheely Big Cheese). This had the added bonus that it didn't have to waste [=CO2=] (or time) on self-righting. |
| 738 | * TookALevelInBadass: Lost in round one of Series 6, came back in Series 7 and made it to the semi-finals, flipping an opponent out of the arena along the way. |
| 739 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: The team reportedly applied for Series 9 with a new robot called "Steel City Agro", as St. Agro is now in the hands of Team Shock, but they were turned away. |
| 740 | |
| 741 | !!M2 (Series 7 Semi-Finalist) |
| 742 | |
| 743 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-m2_semi_2_4502.png]] |
| 744 | |
| 745 | Weapons: Rear-Hinged Flipper |
| 746 | |
| 747 | Battle record: 3 wins, 1 loss |
| 748 | |
| 749 | 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 [[TheGenericGuy a very generic-if-competent machine]], and was sent flying out of the arena itself in its semifinal match against Atomic. |
| 750 | |
| 751 | * DefeatingTheUndefeatable: It defeated Pussycat in ''Round 2'' of its heat, a feat that had only been achieved by two-time champions Chaos 2 in the Series 4 Grand Final, Tornado in Extreme and Firestorm in the Series 5 semi final[[note]]It technically never lost a battle to another robot in Series 3[[/note]], thus handing Pussycat its worst-ever main competition result. This defeat was sadly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], since this was its first run at the championship since the tragic death of its original driver, [[AcePilot David Gribble]]. |
| 752 | * TheGenericGuy: In a series ''overflowing'' with powerful rear-hinged flipper robots like Gravity, Dantomkia, Atomic, Raging Knightmare, St Agro and Bulldog Breed, M2 was just another pretty good flipper lost in the crowd. |
| 753 | * LightningBruiser: Zipped around the arena, and flipped its opponents everywhere, but survived being punctured by Tiberius 3. |
| 754 | * OddlyNamedSequel: The second version of a sequel to Series 4 robot Mincer. Especially odd, since Mincer never made it past the qualification stage to appear on the show itself. |
| 755 | * OneHitWonder: M2's Series 7 run was the team's only appearance on Robot Wars. |
| 756 | |
| 757 | !!Mute (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, New Blood Runners-Up) |
| 758 | |
| 759 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-mute_9686.jpg]] |
| 760 | |
| 761 | Weapons: Front-Hinged Flipper & Lifter (as Mute), Axe (as Bonk) |
| 762 | |
| 763 | Battle record: 7 wins, 2 losses as Mute; 0 wins, 1 loss as Bonk |
| 764 | |
| 765 | Entering the wars through the New Blood tournament, Mute fought its way up to second place by (to be brutally honest) being one of the small handful of New Blood machines that could actually fight its way out of a paper bag, before finally falling victim to Storm II. Of course, Mute was a competent machine in its own right, boasting one of the series' rare front-hinged flippers with gas to spare, even if it did come at the expense of self-righting reliability. Fighting its way into the Series 7 semifinals, its advance was finally halted by Firestorm 5. After the hiatus, Team Mute returned with a new machine, an axe-bot named Bonk; unfortunately, it was a victim of Series 8's infamous pneumatics malfunctions, fell at the first hurdle and failed to reappear in subsequent series. |
| 766 | |
| 767 | * AwesomeButImpractical: Mute had 4kg of [=CO2=] on board, which gave its front flipper a lot of power. Too much power in fact, as when it would try and self-right, it would often catapult itself in a full backflip, and end up back upside down. |
| 768 | ** This was best demonstrated by its semi-final loss to Firestorm, where it got flipped and (after performing several of the aforementioned backflips, not once successfully landing on its wheels) landed inverted by the arena side wall. The flipper was still fully functional, but the team didn't dare try and self-right because if they did there was a very real chance that Mute would ''flip itself out of the arena''.[[note]]When Firestorm came in to flip them out they decided to try a self-right anyway; they did so too late and did so just as Firestorm flipped, and the combined force of the two flippers not only sent Mute out of the arena but got it completely wedged underneath the camera track.[[/note]] |
| 769 | * BornLucky: Survived their opening melee fight barely, with the other qualifier doing most of the work, beat Behemoth because it got stuck in forward gear in a freak accident[[note]]admittedly an accident Mute was unintentionally responsible for[[/note]], and after being dominated for a whole battle by Judge Shred 3, it got one flip in, which caused it to also break down. Its luck ran out in the Semi-Finals, when it was thrown out of the arena by Firestorm. |
| 770 | * TheBusCameBack: The team returned for Series 8 with a new machine, an axe robot named Bonk. |
| 771 | ** PutOnABus: Bonk was then turned away from Series 9, likely due to its poor initial showing. |
| 772 | * EpicFail: Its aforementioned semi-final fight with Firestorm. After it was flipped once (having failed to make a single attack itself), it tried and failed to self-right ''five times in a row'' before it landed in a position [[MortonsFork where the only possible outcome was getting flipped out, either by itself or its opponent]]. |
| 773 | * {{Irony}}: Mute defeated Behemoth in Series 7 by virtue of its ludicrously overpowered self-righter allowing it to somersault over Behemoth and hit it on the top, shorting something out and causing Behemoth to lock into forward drive. The team fought Behemoth again with Bonk in Round 1 of the 2016 series, but on that occasion lost because of exactly the opposite reason - their axe, meant to work as a srimech, failed to work at all. |
| 774 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The team entered the Series 7 featherweight championships with Micro-Mute, essentially a compact wedge. The house robots proceeded to massacre pretty much all of the featherweights ForTheEvulz, including Sir Killalot grabbing an already-eliminated Micro-Mute and holding it over Matilda's flywheel while Matilda shredded it. At that point, the team captain stormed out of the control booth. |
| 775 | |
| 776 | !!Tough As Nails (Series 7 Semi-Finalist, 3rd World Championship Semi-Finalist) |
| 777 | |
| 778 | [[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-tough_as_nails_76.jpg]] |
| 779 | |
| 780 | Weapons: Horizontal Crusher |
| 781 | |
| 782 | Battle record: 5 wins, 4 losses (0 wins, 1 loss in the Dutch series) |
| 783 | |
| 784 | One of the most successful of the many foreign machines in Series 7, 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. |
| 785 | |
| 786 | * BadassDecay: Lost in the first round of Series 8 after Thor relentlessly shoved them around the arena before hammering them into submission. |
| 787 | ** AchillesHeel: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqQp-L7E_jE Took several direct hits to their removable link, which knocked it loose.]] By design, this [[OneHitKill stopped them dead.]] |
| 788 | * BoringButPractical: Tough as Nails had a simple strategy: hit pit release button, grab nearest opponent, dump in pit. This didn’t earn the team much favor backstage. |
| 789 | * TheBusCameBack: Returned for Series 8, and after missing Series 9 and 10, it made a surprise return in the World Series. |
| 790 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: The above strategy of grabbing the opponent and going straight for the pit eventually backfired on them when they tried it on Storm II, who proceeded to push ''them'' down the pit instead. To add insult to injury, Tough As Nails also turned out to be the ''last'' robot to lose by being pitted in the original series. |
| 791 | * MadeOfIron: Was the first robot to be armoured in Hardox-brand steel, which has since become the de facto standard for robot armour due to its sheer toughness[[note]]Velocirippa had used Hardox [[OlderThanTheyThink all the way back in Series 4]], but in its front ramming blades, not its armour[[/note]]. To give you an idea, Tough as Nails debuted in 2002, and as of 2016 it was still using the ''same'' set of claws it was using in its debut! |
| 792 | * MeaningfulName: Well, Tough as Nails [[MadeOfIron certainly was]]. |
| 793 | * RevolvingDoorBand: Captain Jeroen van der Loo was the only constant across the robot's four appearances. |
| 794 | * TokenMinority: Although it was one of several Dutch participants in Series 7, in Series 8 it was the only foreign robot in the competition. |
| 795 | * TookALevelInBadass: Lost in Round 1 in Dutch Series 2, and lost its Series 7 qualifier after it broke down, but gained a discretionary place. From there, it reached the semi-finals of both the main series and the 3rd World Championship. |
| 796 | * UnexpectedCharacter: During the World Series special in Series 10, one of the Rest of the World machines irreparably broke down and was forced to withdraw, so they were forced to bring in a reserve: Tough as Nails, which hadn't been seen since Series 8. |
| 797 | |
| 798 | [[/folder]] |
| 799 | |
| 800 | In Series 10, a new system was implemented to determine who would receive the Wild Card and a second chance at the Grand Final- the losing heat finalist and the 3rd place robot from each heat would be entered in a no-holds-barred 10-way robot rumble at the start of the Grand Final episode, with only the last robot standing getting the Wild Card and entering back into contention. Falling between a Heat Final and an actual berth in the Grand Final, the 10-robot rumble is the closest thing the show has had to a semi final since its return. |
| 801 | |
| 802 | |
| 803 | [[folder:Series 10 (2017)]] |
| 804 | !!Apollo (see the Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists page) |
| 805 | |
| 806 | !!Sabretooth (Series 9 Heat Finalist, [[spoiler:Series 10 Wildcard Melee entrant]]) |
| 807 | |
| 808 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sabretooth_2.jpg]] |
| 809 | [[caption-width-right:300:It's going to chew you up.]] |
| 810 | |
| 811 | Weapon: Shredding blades (Series 5), vertical drum (Series 8-), grabbing arm (Series 8) |
| 812 | |
| 813 | Battle Record: 5 wins, 10 losses |
| 814 | |
| 815 | The long and storied career of Team Legion and their machine Sabretooth began in the Fifth Wars, with a bizarre contraption built around a moped. Each series, the team would devise a completely new machine, each bearing the name Sabretooth and a spinner of sorts; however, none enjoyed any success, and the team were forced to drop out of Series 7 due to their new robot being too dangerous for the producers' liking. Undeterred by their failures, Team Legion continued to compete in the reboot, finally achieving victory in Series 9 and receiving a wild-card entry to the 10-Way Rumble of Series 10 with their now-signature drum spinner. |
| 816 | |
| 817 | * BestServedCold: In Series 6, Sabretooth was immobilized by Terrorhurtz and eliminated in its opening fight. In Series 9, ''15 years later'', it finally got its revenge, smashing Terrorhurtz open in the head-to-head round and immobilizing it. This was [[CallBack mentioned]] by John Reid in a pre-fight interview when [[DefeatEqualsFriendship he teamed up with Gabriel Stroud]] in order to create [=TamShe=] to take part in ''King of Bots'' together. |
| 818 | * BornUnlucky: Was crippled by technical problems in Series 6 and 8, and then [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown crippled by Aftershock]] in Series 9. In Series 10, it was demoted to robot redemption after damage from Donald Thump meant Sabretooth couldn't run upside down after being overturned in a collision with Behemoth, who, despite breaking down, won the judges' decision and later heat. |
| 819 | * BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: |
| 820 | ** Its victory over Terrorhurtz in the Series 9 head-to-heads came at the cost of the drum, which had a large chunk smashed out of it. With no replacement, they had to rig together a series of steel rings to screw the smashed bit back on again, and it was never as effective afterwards. |
| 821 | ** Its group battle in Series 10 had it knocking out Behemoth with a massive frontal impact that dislodged Behemoth's removable link... and also resulted in Sabretooth flipping itself over on Behemoth's front scoop, leaving them unable to move due to previous damage sustained from Donald Thump. To add insult to injury, Behemoth won the judge's decision afterward. Gabriel Stroud was not amused. |
| 822 | * ButtMonkey: Lost in the first round of Series 5 to a robot made of MDF, lost in the first round of Series 6 after they had to replace its weapon with a giant tyre, had to withdraw from Series 7 [[TooPowerfulToLive because the weapon was too strong]], lost in the first round of Series 8 after their srimech broke and they were flipped by Eruption... they ''finally'' made it through the first round in Series 9 only to receive the mother of all beatings from Aftershock, leaving them crippled for the rest of the heat, then in Series 10 they lost in the first round again after damage inflicted by a ''Donald Trump parody bot'' left it unable to run inverted. |
| 823 | * {{Determinator}}: Made the heat final despite being torn to pieces by Aftershock. This was after the considerably more expensive and advanced Rapid had already had to withdraw, again due to damaged sustained from Aftershock. On a larger scale, they tried for 5 consecutive series to finally score a single win in Series 9, making it all the way to the heat final to boot. |
| 824 | * DoubleKnockout: In its Series 10 rumble it hit Behemoth hard enough to knock out Behemoth's safety link, but flipped itself upside-down in the process, and damage it had sustained earlier in the fight meant its wheels were off the ground and it was stuck. The match went to the judges, who ruled in Behemoth's favour. |
| 825 | * EpicFail: Somehow, during their frantic repair job after being trashed by Aftershock in Series 9, they managed to wire the drum ''backwards'', so it kept kicking them up onto their opponents rather than throwing opponents up into the air. To be fair, given how badly they were torn up beforehand, the fact that it could spin at all is quite the achievement. |
| 826 | * FragileSpeedster: The Series 6 version took this up to eleven: after its powerful vertical disc broke, the team adapted the robot and replaced the disc with a large tyre, allowing it to move at an alleged top speed of ''70mph'', making it the fastest robot in the show's history. However, its weak aluminium armour meant it was easily beaten by Terrorhurtz. |
| 827 | * OhCrap: The team very visibly had one of these moments when they realized that a large chunk was torn out of their drum during the battle with Terrorhurtz, and they didn't have a spare. |
| 828 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Got the absolute ''bejeezus'' kicked out of it by Aftershock during their round robin battle. We're talking almost Hypno-Disc-level damage sustained here. |
| 829 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: In its Series 10 bout against Apocalypse, the drum broke down halfway through the fight, so Sabretooth (at Gabriel's urging) instead resorted to just bulldozing Apocalypse across the arena and into the wall. It worked. |
| 830 | * ShoutOut: It was named after the vicious ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain of the same name. |
| 831 | * SpectacularSpinning: Each iteration of Sabretooth has been equipped with a spinning weapon. |
| 832 | * TooPowerfulToLive: Sabretooth's Series 7 incarnation had a ferocious horizontal flywheel spinning at ''9000RPM'', but this was too powerful for the producers' liking and they were asked to tone it down. When they were unable to do so, they had to withdraw. |
| 833 | * WeCanRebuildHim: After the battering it took from Aftershock, it took a gargantuan effort to get Sabretooth working again for its final group battle against Jellyfish. Granted, it wasn't working properly - it clearly wasn't steering right and the drum was spinning the wrong way - but the fact it was working ''at all'' is a testament to the ability of the Sabretooth team and of the Robot Wars community in general. |
| 834 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: See the note above about Series 7 Sabretooth. |
| 835 | |
| 836 | !!Eruption (see the Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists page) |
| 837 | |
| 838 | !!Big Nipper (Series 7 Heat Finalist, [[spoiler:Series 10 Wildcard Melee entrant]]) |
| 839 | |
| 840 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/big_nipper1.jpg]] |
| 841 | [[caption-width-right:250:Nipping your hopes in the bud.]] |
| 842 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click to see the original version of Big Nipper]][[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/big_nipper_2.png]][[/labelnote]]]] |
| 843 | |
| 844 | Weapons: Lifting arm w. horizontal crusher (Series 5-) or interchangeable vertical spinner (Series 8-) |
| 845 | |
| 846 | Battle record: 6 wins, 6 losses |
| 847 | |
| 848 | After an inauspicious debut 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 a great deal of success on the live circuit, before returning to the reboot with an interchangeable vertical spinning disc, finally earning it a spot in the ten-bot melee of Series 10. |
| 849 | |
| 850 | * AchillesHeel: Its wheels proved to be this in the reboot. |
| 851 | ** In Series 8, the tiny size of its wheels, coupled with the new steel floor, meant that Big Nipper had very little traction and nearly slid into the pit on two occasions. It managed to escape the first time but was pitted by [=TR2=] the second time. |
| 852 | ** For Series 10 it was upgraded with much grippier wheels, fixing the problem, but in its opening melee against Carbide and Gabriel 2, [[spoiler: Gabriel 2's entanglement devices got into one of its wheels, which ended up immobilising it.]] |
| 853 | * AnimalMotifs: Somewhat resembled a stag beetle. |
| 854 | * TheBusCameBack: Failed to qualify for Series 6 but returned for Series 7 and 8. It was then an unused reserve for Series 9 but returned for Series 10. |
| 855 | * {{Determinator}}: During the World Series special it got struck by Matilda and one of its batteries caught fire. Previously in the reboot this has been a death sentence, but Big Nipper not only kept going, it ''won the fight''. |
| 856 | * KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:In the 10-Way Rumble it was the only robot whose demise wasn't shown. While the camera was focused on Sir Killalot trying to hoist Terrorhurtz out of the arena, Dead Metal drove in through one of the other entry gates[[note]]his entrance not being shown is an editing goof in its own right, as all of a sudden he's just ''there'' without any explanation[[/note]] and promptly shoved Big Nipper down the pit.]] |
| 857 | * MechanicallyUnusualClass: Big Nipper's weaponry consists of a lifting arm with pair of horizontal crushing claws mounted on the end. The idea is to grab opponents with the claws, then lift them up and carry them around the arena. From Series 8 onwards the claws are interchangeable with a 20kg vertical spinner which, since it's also mounted on the lifting arm, still counts as this trope. |
| 858 | * PunchedAcrossTheRoom: In Series 10 it punted one half of Crackers 'n' Smash ''into the lighting rig'', smashing an arena light, then followed up with a blow on Aftershock that threw both machines to opposite corners of the arena. Its disc may be small compared to Aftershock's, but it's ''alarmingly'' powerful. |
| 859 | * SpectacularSpinning: 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). |
| 860 | * TookALevelInBadass: Downplayed. It was knocked out in the first round in Series 5 by Razer, failed to qualify for Series 6, then entered Series 7 and reached the heat final. |
| 861 | ** Moreso after the series ended. On the live circuit, Big Nipper managed to win the UK circuit not once but ''twice'', becoming one of only five[[note]]along with Chaos 2, Terrorhurtz, Iron-Awe 5 and Eruption[[/note]] robots to manage the feat. Keep in mind that this was ''without'' its deadly vertical spinner weapon, as flywheels are banned on the live circuit. |
| 862 | * VictoryDance: Celebrated beating King B Remix in Series 8 by lifting its front wheels off the floor with the lifting arm, and celebrated beating [[spoiler:Aftershock]] in Series 10 by raising its lifting arm and spinning around to cheers from the crowd. |
| 863 | |
| 864 | !!Terrorhurtz (see the Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists page) |
| 865 | |
| 866 | !!Track-tion (Series 10 Wildcard Melee entrant) |
| 867 | [[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/track_tion.png]] |
| 868 | [[caption-width-right:310:Ready to school the competition.]] |
| 869 | |
| 870 | Weapons: Crushing claw, front plow |
| 871 | |
| 872 | Battle record: 1 win, 2 losses |
| 873 | |
| 874 | Indisputably the weakest entrant in the Series 10 Wild Card Melee, Track-tion was constructed as an extracurricular club project by the students of Collingwood School, mentored by Will Thomas of Team Shock. Although its weaponry and mobility were minimal at best and most of its success was due to a borrowed wedge, the machine still survived its heat, racking up a spectacularly explosive victory against the enormous bar of Apex along the way. |
| 875 | |
| 876 | * TheAllegedCar: Credit where it's due, Track-tion wasn't terrible for an after-school project and survived a hit from Apex. But with ineffectual weaponry and the speed of a snail in molasses, it was nowhere near ready for the big leagues, as shown when it got curbstomped twice by Rapid and torn up by Concussion. |
| 877 | * 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 watched 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. |
| 878 | * BringMyBrownPants: Only ''just'' [[AvertedTrope averted]] during their explosive win over Apex, as stated by team member Marcus: |
| 879 | -->'''Marcus:''' If that bar came this way, I'd need a change of trousers! |
| 880 | * DarkHorseVictory: Nobody gave Track-tion a ''prayer'' against Apex, but fortunately Apex was just too powerful for its own good. |
| 881 | * IdenticalStranger: Its basic design (tracks, slightly tapering box body, crushing claw on the front) bore a ''remarkable'' resemblance to the Series 5/Extreme version of [[Characters/RobotWarsHeatFinalists Suicidal Tendencies]]. |
| 882 | * ImprovisedWeapon: The robot itself was actually a re-purposed and modified bomb disposal robot that had been donated to the school and armed for combat. |
| 883 | * JokeItem: The crushing claw. They never got a chance to use it before they got inverted by the arena spikes and flung out by Rapid, and subsequently replaced it with a (borrowed) front plow, but from the looks of it, it wasn't actually the right arced shape to come down with piercing pressure on enemy robots anyway. |
| 884 | ** It entered the arena for the 10-Way Rumble with cardboard replicas of Aftershock's disc stuck on top of it, as well as a cardboard cutout of Will Thomas' face. |
| 885 | * TeenGenius: While mentored and assisted by their schoolteacher, Will Thomas of [[Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists Team Shock]], the team was made up of 12-13 year old students who otherwise built and drove the robot entirely by themselves. |
| 886 | * WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: See BornLucky. The robot could barely ''move'' but still managed to fluke its way to 3rd place in the heat. |
| 887 | |
| 888 | !!Concussion (see the Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists page) |
| 889 | |
| 890 | !!Iron-Awe (Series 7 Heat Finalist, Series 7 Axe Attack Event Winner, [[spoiler:Series 10 Wildcard Melee entrant]]) |
| 891 | |
| 892 | [[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iron_awe_6_10.png]] |
| 893 | [[caption-width-right:310:Shock and awe is their only policy.]] |
| 894 | [[caption-width-right:310:[[labelnote:Click to see Iron-Awe 2.1]][[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iron_awe_21.JPG]][[/labelnote]]]] |
| 895 | |
| 896 | |
| 897 | Weapons: Axe (Series 4-7), rear-hinged flipper (Series 5-7, 10) |
| 898 | |
| 899 | Battle record: 7 wins, 6 losses as Iron-Awe; 1 win, 2 losses as Axe-Awe |
| 900 | |
| 901 | 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 the 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. |
| 902 | |
| 903 | * TheBusCameBack: After failing to qualify for Series 8 and 9 with various different versions of Iron-Awe, the team qualified for Series 10 with Iron-Awe 6. |
| 904 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: Despite being one of the most feared flippers on the live circuit, winning two UK championships, Iron-Awe was turned away from Series 8 (twice) and Series 9. |
| 905 | * EpicFail: |
| 906 | ** Iron-Awe 6 once flipped ''itself'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_zLeFDML4k out of the arena]] at a live event. |
| 907 | ** Despite being hailed as one of the pioneers of the current style of "UK flipper" in Robot Wars, throughout the whole of Series 10 they couldn't get their flipper to work even ''once!'' They managed to qualify for the Wildcard Melee solely by outlasting Tauron and The Kegs in the melee, then shoving an already-damaged Androne 4000 down the pit. |
| 908 | * HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:In Series 10, Iron-Awe 6 went through its entire heat without a working weapon, and yet it still won the playoff to reach the 10-Man Melee despite being effectively nothing more than a wedge.]] |
| 909 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: The aforementioned "throwing itself out of the arena" incident. |
| 910 | * NoodleIncident: According to the team captain in the post-match interview, Bigger Brother and Iron-Awe had fought each other several times prior to the infamous battle in Series 7, although the previous encounters were never shown on TV. |
| 911 | * OddlyNamedSequel: Between Iron-Awe and Iron-Awe 2 came Axe-Awe. The second picture shown here is of Iron Awe 2.1. If you count only the televised versions, it then jumps straight to Iron-Awe ''6''. |
| 912 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: By Series 7, with Dominator 2 and Terrorhurtz both being forced to withdraw, it was probably the strongest axe left in the warzone, almost approaching the level of Shunt's mighty chopper, as seen when it won the Axe Attack special event of that series. However, the axe ended up being overshadowed by the flipper they'd initially added to the robot as a secondary weapon, which ended up flipping out ''Bigger Brother!'' Subsequent versions of the machine ditched the axe entirely, focusing entirely on the flipper. |
| 913 | * PunchedAcrossTheRoom: The knockout blow from Typhoon 2 in its Series 7 heat final sent Iron Awe 2.1 spinning over halfway across the arena and almost into the pit. |
| 914 | * RunningGag: The Awe robots acquired something of a reputation for getting flipped out of the arena- first Axe-Awe in Series 5 set a record flight distance off the gigantic flipper of Wheely Big Cheese, then in Series 6 Iron-Awe 2 fell foul of Chaos 2's legendary flipper, then in Extreme 2 they were hurled out by Dantomkia in the Challenge Belt competition. |
| 915 | ** RunningGagged: Inverted in Series 7 when, in one of the biggest upsets in Robot Wars history, Iron-Awe 2 itself ringed out former Grand Finalists (and deadly flippers) Bigger Brother! [[Series/GameOfThrones What do we say to the god of ring-outs? Not today!]] |
| 916 | *** Unfortunately their luck was unable to carry them any further- while this was their best performance, their Heat Final opponent was the robot that would go on to win the championship, Typhoon 2. |
| 917 | ** Even after the show ended (and they TookALevelInBadass as described below) this ''still'' happened to them; they helped set a new record for "shortest ever battle" in 2012, dethroning Gravity's 6-second ring-out of Dantomkia, when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gq5_6QGTLs&feature=related Kronic hurled them out of the ring in 4 seconds]]. Not to mention the time they managed to flip ''themselves'' out of the arena. Some things never change... |
| 918 | * TookALevelInBadass: After the show ended, the Iron-Awe series went on to great things. Winning the Championship title in 2008 and 2010 (with Iron-Awe 5), it's to date only the third robot of five[[note]]the other four being Chaos 2 during the show itself, Terrorhurtz, Big Nipper and Eruption[[/note]] to win the Championship twice and earned a spot in the Combat Robot Hall of Fame - not bad for a machine that only made a single heat final in the entire lifetime of the show. |
| 919 | ** Incredibly, after the reboot had come and gone, Iron-Awe 6 managed to become UK champion ''again'' in 2019, flipping Eruption out of the ring in the grand final of the FRA UK Heavyweight Championship (despite having already been succeeded by Iron-Awe 7 and 8), firmly solidifying itself as one of the greatest competitors in the history of the UK fighting robot live scene. |
| 920 | * {{Turncoat}}: PlayedForLaughs by [[Series/EastEnders Natalie Cassidy]], who left the Iron-Awe team after they lost to Adam Woodyatt with Pussycat in the Celebrity Special, and promptly joined the latter team to form "Team Eastenders and Pussycat". Unlike the other celebrities who lost in round 1, [[AwesomeDearBoy she had so much fun]] that she wanted to stay in the show "with the episode-winning team". To their credit, [[TheProducerThinksOfEverything the producers]] chose to reflect her decision on the battleboard, which said that Pussycat was now joined by two celebrities. |
| 921 | |
| 922 | !!Thor (see Characters/RobotWarsChampionsAndGrandFinalists page) |
| 923 | |
| 924 | !!Expulsion ([[spoiler:Series 10 Wildcard Melee entrant]]) |
| 925 | |
| 926 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/expulsion_10.png]] |
| 927 | [[caption-width-right:300:Disciplinary action is required.]] |
| 928 | |
| 929 | Weapons: Spinner |
| 930 | |
| 931 | Battle Record: 2 wins, 4 losses |
| 932 | |
| 933 | Another student-built machine, this one entered by the Brentwood School Roboteers, Expulsion boasted a unique flywheel weapon with retractable teeth that emerged when the weapon spun. Unfortunately, it was torn up in the first round of Series 9, so the team went back to the drawing board for Series 10, returning with an all-new pyramidal design sporting interchangeable spinning weapons. Despite its light weight, tendency to faceplant, and occasional control issues, the new Expulsion machine spun its way into the 10-Way Rumble. |
| 934 | |
| 935 | * AttackDrone: In Series 10, the team made use of a minibot named Detention. |
| 936 | * DrivesLikeCrazy: Suffered from control problems throughout its heat, including repeatedly driving headlong into the wall during its playoff battle, and it was the first robot eliminated from the Wildcard Melee after careening straight into the newly-opened pit. |
| 937 | * 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 despite the team bolting things onto the spinner to try and help it. |
| 938 | * SpectacularSpinning: 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. |
| 939 | * TeenGenius: All of the team members were high school students that studied robotics from scratch to put the Expulsion machines together. |
| 940 | * ThemeNaming: A {{pun|nyName}} 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. |
| 941 | * TookALevelInBadass: The original Expulsion was horrendously slow, did nothing of note, and fell in its first battle. The new Expulsion, while not without its flaws, at least made the 10-way Rumble. |
| 942 | * YouDontLookLikeYou: The team entered Series 9 and 10 with two different robots, both named Expulsion. Aside from the fact that both of them use spinners, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/robotwars/images/0/0b/Expulsion.png/revision/latest?cb=20170227164129 the two look]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/robotwars/images/3/30/Expulsion_10.png/revision/latest?cb=20171020171223 nothing alike.]] |
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