Robot Wars (TV series)/Characters/Grand Finalists

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.



This page is about the robots that nearly went all the way, but couldn't quite overcome the last hurdle. These robots aren't quite to the same calibre as the champs, but they left a mark on the robotic combat scene nonetheless. The grand finalists of each series will be listed in order of their finishing position in descending order.

Note that there will be some overlap between series, as some of these robots made the finals on more than one occasion; details about multiple-times grand finalists will be listed under their best or first appearance, whichever is applicable (e.g. Hypno-Disc will be listed under The Third Wars as that was its first and best performance).

For the champions, go to this page here.

The First Wars

Team Cold Fusion/Team Kat (Bodyhammer) (see The Fourth Wars about Pussycat)

Recyclops (see The Second Wars about Cassius)

T.R.A.C.I.E

(Grand Finalist in Series 1)

Win Record: 2 victories, 1 defeat

The last of six grand finalists of Series 1, T.R.A.C.I.E was one of the middleweight contenders of the series. Its design was simple; a low, flat box shaped robot with a pair of fixed ramming spikes to impale opponents. It was also the first invertible robot to appear in the wars.

  • Born Lucky: Got stuck in the fence during the Trial stage of its heat, and only progressed in spite of that because of a stock robot in the field that wasn't allowed to go past that stage.
  • First of Its Kind: As mentioned above, T.R.A.C.I.E is the first invertible robot to enter Robot Wars, and the only one to enter the First Wars.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The name stands for: Terrestrial Robotic Artificial Computerised Intelligent Engine.
  • Mundane Utility: Subverted with its invertible design. While it would prove to be a useful counter against flippers in future wars, in Series 1 there were hardly any flippers knocking about and wedge-shaped robots weren't steep enough to tip it over, so this design aspect was more of a novelty at the time.
  • One-Hit Wonder: Series 1 was T.R.A.C.I.E's only appearance. The team did try to enter Series 3 with S.H.A.R.O.N, but ultimately failed to qualify.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: It wasn't a big robot sitting at 20cm high and only weighing 52.9kg, but it did have good speed and enough pushing power to grapple with the heavyweights.
  • Ramming Always Works: It's modest 10mph top speed and fixed spikes were pretty effective in dealing damage.
  • Taking You with Me: Took out Cunning Plan by driving up on top of it, but it got stuck itself. They both took each other out in that sense.

Cunning Plan

(Grand Finalist in Series 1)

Win Record: 2 victories, 1 defeat (plus 2 victories, 2 defeats as Griffon)

Entered with Griffon in Series 1, and Griffon in Series 2 and 3.

One of the lightweight contenders of the first wars, Cunning Plan was the creation of one Oliver Steeples. It was notable for being one of the few weaponless robots to make the series final, and the only featherweight robot to do so.

  • Boring but Practical: Cunning Plan was far too small to be mounted with a powered weapon of any kind, so it was just a double-ended wedge bot with no bells or whistles.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite making the Series 1 final, Oliver Steeples' new robot, Griffon, didn't qualify initially as the producers were not impressed, so it got relegated to the reserve bench.
  • Epic Fail: Series 3 Heat N Round 2, Griffon barely moved from its starting position and was shoved in the pit by a toothless Cerberus in 10 seconds.
    • Its Series 2 appearance wasn't any better, as it only managed to clock in 3.4m in the Gauntlet and was swiftly eliminated. This was after it came off the reserve bench when Reckless Endangerment pulled out.
  • Fragile Speedster: Only natural considering it weighed 11.5kg.
  • Irony: It set the record for fastest battle in Robot Wars by beating Demolisher in 14 seconds. This record would be beaten two wars later by Cerberus who pushed its opponent into the pit in 10 seconds. Said opponent by the way, was Griffon; Cunning Plan's successor!
  • One-Hit Wonder: Griffon never achieved the success of its predecessor aside from winning a one-off side match.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Zigzagged. It's 10mph top speed and wedged front allowed it to defeat Demolisher in (at the time) a record 14 seconds. Against larger and heavier opponents on the other hand...
  • Promoted Fanboy: Cunning Plan's builder, Oliver Steeples, was described by Jonathon Pearce as a Star Wars fan. In 2015, he was responsible for building the R2-D2 model that was used in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
  • Ramming Always Works: It didn't have any weapons, so it relied on its wedge and speed it get things done in the warzone. Averted in the grand final though, where it had the disadvantage of being one-fifth the weight of the next competitor and was pushed around very easily.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: In the grand final, Cunning Plan was in the arena with a 53kg middleweight robot, and 4 heavy weights (the lightest being 77kg, the heaviest 84.6kg). Unsurprisingly, it had a snowball's chance in Hell and was quickly immobilised when sat on by the middleweight robot!

The Second Wars

Cassius

(Grand Finalist in Series 1 as Recyclops, Runner-up in Series 2)

Win Record: 4 victories, 2 defeats (plus 2 victories, 1 defeat with Recyclops, and 1 victory/defeat with Cassius II)

Entered with Recyclops in Series 1, Cassius in Series 2, and Cassius II in Series 3.

Created by the late Rex Garrod, Cassius is one of the great legends of Robot Wars. Previously a grand finalist as Recyclops, Cassius builds its concept by being faster and more agile. Cassius in particular is famed of being the first robot to use its weapon to successful right itself when turned over.

  • Accidental Innuendo: Before one of his arena battles, Rex told Phillipa that his plan was to "get his tongue in the right place". Don't think too hard about that one...
  • The Ace: Rex Garrod earned this title having made the first front-hinged flipper (and flipper in general for that matter) and inventing the srimech in the UK.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: Recyclops bares no direct resemblance to Cassius aside from the front-hinged flipper.
  • Friendly Rivalry: With George Francis of Team Chaos. The two collaborated with each other to build Robot the Bruce in Series 1 (which also reached the Grand Final) and would frequently test each other's machines by fighting each other over the course of the first three series.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: As the creator and operator of Brum, it's no surprise that Rex qualified as one.
  • Handicapped Badass: An incident backstage led to a hasty revamping of health and safety regulations, one of which led to Cassius 2's gas system being banned from the competition. While this mean it was only allowed to fire its flipper once per battle, it still won its opening battle with no problems.
  • Meaningful Name: Recyclops got its name from its construction being made from recycled materials.
  • Mechanically Unusual Class: The flipper on Recyclops was actually hidden under the shell and would slide out like a tongue to try and breech the opponent's ground clearance. The flipper, an aluminium plate, would then pivot at the tip of the tongue and tip the opponent over. Recyclops qualifies under this trope despite being the first robot with this weapon due to how unusual it is, especially considering no other robot would use this flipper design afterwards.
  • Oddball in the Series: Cassius 3 broke tradition by having a flipper that was hinged at the rear instead of the front. This gave it more in common with eventual champion Chaos 2 than its own predecessors.
  • Rage Quit: Due to an accident that occurred backstage during Series 3, Rex was understandably fed up with the producer's lax safety regulations and decided to quit the show until things started to improve. This is now known as "Garrod's Protest".
  • The Resolution Will Not Be Televised: Cassius 3 was fully built after Rex's resignation from Robot Wars, so it was only seen at live events.
  • Undignified Death: Cassius 2's demise in Series 3 when it reversed straight into the pit following a reckless charge at Pussycat.

Killertron

(Heat Finalist in Series 1, 4th place in Series 2; seeded 4th in Series 2)

Win Record: 5 victories, 6 defeats

An old hand from the very first episode of Robot Wars, Killertron stood out from the crowd in those days. The first robot to be armed with axe/overhead weapon, and identified by its garish fluorescent pink paint job, Killertron certainly looked the part, but its performance in Series 2 led it to the Grand Final, only to be stopped in its track by eventual winner, Panic Attack. Though Killertron came back for later wars, by then it was hideously obsolete.

  • An Axe to Grind: The first one to ever appear on Robot Wars, and it left a mark in the first two wars.
  • The Bus Came Back: After taking Series 3 off, Killertron came back for Series 4, fighting in Heat H, and the Celebrity Special under Chris Eubank.
  • Can't Catch Up: By the time Series 4 rolled around, robots were armouring up like nothing, and CO2 powered weapons were replacing electric ones, making Killertron extremely outdated by then. This meant the once powerful axe could barely make a dent anymore, and its electric power made it ineffective as a srimech. Also, still using a recycling bin lid for armour doesn't help with more powerful axes, crushers, and flywheels becoming more prominent.
  • Character Shilling: Killertron was bumped up to the 4th seeding in Series 2 despite not making the grand finals the previous year. In later wars, Killertron is talked up as a two-time grand finalist despite only making that stage in Series 2, where it is stated to have finished 3rd, when in fact it finished 4th. This could stem from the staff simply forgetting the robot's history since the robot sat Series 3 out.
  • Defiant to the End: Amusingly, Killertron continued to flail its axe around after it was pitted in its Series 4 second round match.
  • One-Hit Wonder: Its only strong performance was in Series 2, and holds the dubious dishonour of being only one of two grand finalists with more losses to its name than wins (the other being Bodyhammer).
  • Palette Swap: For the Second Wars, it came into the arena with an orange paint job instead of pink. This is because the team ran out of pink paint, so they settled for orange instead.
    • It received a black paint job for the one-off Celebrity Special in Series 4.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: One powerful blow was all it took it immobilise Behemoth and qualify for the grand final.

The Third Wars

Hypno-Disc

(Grand Finalist Series 3-5, Semi-Finalist Series 6; Seeded 2nd in Series 4, 3rd in Series 5, 4th in Series 6)

Win Record: 22 victories, 10 defeats (not counting withdrawals and unaired battles)

When you think of the greatest robot to never win the grand title, Hypno-Disc is most likely the first one that springs to mind. The front runner of the horizontal flywheel, Hypno-Disc set such a standard that other robots were practically encouraged to take armour more seriously when considering entering the show, because they might end up fighting this silver gleaming killing machine!

  • Badass Grandpa: Ken Rose, the father of twins Dave and Derek was 68 years old when Hypno-Disc made the Series 3 grand final, but he still had some fighting words in him, even asking Craig if the destruction of Splinter a year later was good enough for him (it definitely was).
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: When armour got thicker and stronger, the recoil that Hypno-Disc would suffer with each hit has the potential to cause just as much damage to Hypno-Disc itself, best demonstrated in its Loser's Melee battle in Series 6.
  • Crack Defeat: Suffered an embarrassing loss at the hands of German entry Nasty Warrior in Extreme, after some wood chippings from the latter's armour got lodged into Hypno-Disc's gearing, effectively immobilising it.
    • Suffered another one in an unaired Wild Card Warrior battle with TX-108, having broke down 20 seconds into the fight despite a promising start. The result was so underwhelming that the producers chose not air the fight.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Its battle against Splinter in the Fourth Wars semi-final. This legendary fight has gone down as quite possibly the most brutal battle in Robot Wars history.
    • Took it a step further in its Extreme Mayhem battle with Ming 3 and Wheely Big Cheese. Hypno-Disc, who usually struggled with more than one opponent, absolutely dominated the fight by knocking both wheels off of Ming 3 and broke the welding on one of Wheely Big Cheese's axles.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: The forerunner of the horizontal spinning disc.
  • Gutted Like a Fish: Robogeddon, Stealth, The Predator, and especially Splinter can all attest to this one.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: The team averted this trope in their Series 5 heat final by pitting Bulldog Breed III as soon as they pulled their safety link out. First two battles they ever had (and against Splinter) on the other hand, they weren't as forgiving.
  • One-Hit Kill: Gave one to Firestorm III in the Series 5 semi final.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: The main reason Hypno-Disc wasn't entered into Series 7. The Rose family had work commitments they couldn't avoid, while Derek became a father, which understandably ate up even more of his time.
  • The Worf Effect: An example of being Over-Worfed. Everyone said they were terrified to go up against Hypno-Disc, but in a 3-or-more-way melee, it was very easy to beat Hypno-Disc by ganging up on it. Hypno-Disc's final three battles were all melees (all of which it lost), and the other robots barely touched each other until Hypno-Disc had been taken care of.
  • What Could Have Been: Fans voted to see Hypno-Disc fight Razer in Robot Wars Extreme, but the battle never took place, as both teams felt it would be too damaging to each other's machines.
    • According to Robot Wars magazine, Hypno-Disc apparently would have been seeded ninth had it entered the Seventh Wars.
    • Hypno-Disc was also reportedly supposed to compete in Series 4's War of Independence special, but according to one of the Rose boys and a House Robot driver, it was too badly damaged to compete (thanks to Shunt in the Grand Final), so Dartford Girls Grammar's first robot, Detonator, was drafted in presumably as canon fodder for frenZy, just to give the Americans a fighting chance.

Firestorm

(Grand Finalist Series 3, 5 and 6, Semi-Finalist Series 4 and 7; Seeded 5th in Series 4, 7th Series 5, 3rd in Series 6, 2nd in Series 7)

Win Record: 34 victories, 11 defeats (plus 1 defeat as Groundhog)

Entered with Groundhog in Series 2.

  • Ace Pilot: The robot's driver, Graham Bone was a superb driver, and just like Panic Attack, what Firestorm lacked in destructive weaponry, it made up for with excellent driving and control...most of the time, anyway.
  • Always Second Best: Every time Firestorm made the grand finals, it always lost to the eventual champion of that series.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Dished them out on several occasions but wasn't immune to them either. Was greatly outclassed by Chaos 2 in series 3, resulting in the first "Out of The Arena" flip. Was also beaten with ease by Razer on two occasions, though it took it to a real nail biter in their final fight.
  • Determinator: Despite having its weapon disabled by Razer in the Series 5 Grand Final, Firestorm fought back by driving it across the arena into hazards, the House Robots, and nearly into the pit (twice!). Though it still lost that fight, it came down to an extremely close judge's decision.
  • Epic Fail: Firestorm's dismal run in the Sumo Basho event in Series 4 definitely qualifies. Shoved off the platform almost immediately by Shunt, it posted the second worst time of the 16 competitors, at 4.21 seconds (only a quarter of a second longer than Díotíor's 3.95 seconds).
  • Irony: It was the first ever victim of the "Ring Out" technique that Chaos 2 started, yet it later broke Chaos 2's record for most Ring Out kills.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Incredibly fast but was able to survive being perforated by Razer and defeated Hypno-Disc while its flipper wasn't working.
  • Numbered Sequels: From Firestorm all the way up to Firestorm V.
  • One-Hit Kill: Dished out one but wasn't immune to it; the first time it fought Hypno-Disc, it was killed by the first hit, and did the same thing itself to Crasher Gnasher in its very first battle.
  • Palette Swap: Firestorm II's yellow/red colour scheme was swapped for that iteration only before it reverted back to its original paint job.
  • Ring Out: The first victim of this but has dished out several of its own. It remains the only robot armed with a front-hinged flipper to achieve one of these, let alone seven.
  • The Rival: To Series 2 champions Panic Attack. Started in Series 3 when Firestorm took the crown from Panic Attack in the semi-final, again in Extreme when they flung the Welsh bot over effortlessly, then in the Series 5 Loser's Melee which Firestorm 3 won via the judges. Firestorm's final win over Panic Attack was in the Commonwealth Carnage which had a similar outcome to the Extreme encounter. The final encounter between them saw Panic Attack advance past Round 1 in the Series 7 All-Stars (and Kat 3) after Firestorm 5 and Bigger Brother dived into the open pit, settling the score at 4-1 in Firestorm's favour.
  • Showdown At High Noon: Because of Groundhog's massive ground clearance, the camera frames its opponent (Loco) through its legs, almost like an Old Western stand off.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: In Series 5 Round 2 of Heat D, it turned Sir Chromalot over immediately and didn't need to do much else after that.

Team Jurassic Park (Steg-O-Saw-Rus)

(Grand Finalist in Series 3, Semi Finalist in Series 4, Heat Finalist in Series 5; seeded 7th in Series 4, 8th in Series 5)

Win Record: 10 victories, 4 defeats (5 victories, 1 defeat with Steg-O-Saw-Rus, 3 victories, 1 defeat with Steg 2, and 2 victories, 2 defeats with 3 Stegs to Heaven)

Entered with Steg-O-Saw-Rus in Series 3, Steg 2 in Series 4, and 3 Stegs to Heaven in Series 5/Extreme I.

Now we have a robot that wasn't even supposed to compete on the show. Steg-O-Saw-Rus was initially denied entry into the competition and was merely kept on as a reserve. The robot got a lucky break however when an unidentified robot withdrew, pulling them off the reserve bench and into the warzone, where it proceeded to bulldoze its way through the competition with brute force and land in a respectable fourth place.

  • Always Someone Better: Including their Extreme I appearance, the team has only ever lost to Robot Wars champions and runners-up.
  • Animal Motifs: Based on the Stegosaurus.
  • Badass Decay: From Steg 2 to 3 Stegs to Heaven. When Rob Heasman left the team, he took Steg 2 with him, so the remaining members had to build a new machine; while it made the Heat Final in its final appearance, its journey to that point was underwhelming since the robot just wasn't as good as its predecessors. Then of course, Bigger Brother was too much of a match for it.
  • Born Unlucky: For Steg-O-Saw-Rus, it had to settle for 4th place by default since the team couldn't repair the damage the robot sustained in time to fight Firestorm for the 3rd Place Playoff.
    • For Steg 2, it made the semi final in convincing fashion with its vastly improved flipper, only to get Chaos 2 as its first opponent.
    • Born Lucky: For 3 Stegs to Heaven, it survived a judges' decision against Eleven after its disc got ensnared within its opponent's internals, just about survived against Tetanus in Round 2. Even Craig Charles lampshaded how subpar the robot performance is.
Well. You guys are ranked 8th in the UK. You'll have to do a lot better than that...
—Craig's thoughts on 3 Stegs' performance
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: It was given the lowest seeding for an incumbent grand finalist, only given the 7th seeding in Series 4. This ranked it lower than Razer and Behemoth (seeded 3rd and 6th, respectively), two non-grand finalists who crashed and burned in the heats the previous year.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Fourth place is absolutely no slouch for a robot that got pulled off the reserve bench at the last minute.
  • Everything Is Better With Dinosaurs: With a name like Steg-O-Saw-Rus, is there any question about it?
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Originally a reserve that wasn't even going to compete initially, until it got given a chance after another robot pulled out. To say that Steg made the most of this opportunity is an understatement.
  • Oddly Named Sequel: From "Steg-O-Saw-Rus" to "Steg 2" to "3 Stegs to Heaven". Invoked by the team for the second turnover, as they didn't want to call the third entry to be called Steg 3, so they held a naming contest in the Robot Wars magazine, and the final name was conceived that way.
  • Ramming Always Works: The tail flipper it had never saw action (plus the foot didn't even touch the floor) so it relied on its high speed and ramming capabilities instead. It worked to great effect though, even taking out Roadblock's successor to qualify for the grand final.
  • Spanner in the Works: Wound up being one for Hypno-Disc after the Grand Final Eliminator. Though it still lost the fight due to the sheer pounding it took from the horizontal spinner, the ferocity of Steg-O-Saw-Rus' attacks and resistance caused Hypno-Disc to tear itself apart from the inside. This resulted in the Rose family making a lot of repairs afterwards, but it never fully got going again and became canon fodder for Chaos 2.
  • Taking You with Me: As mentioned above, Steg-O-Saw-Rus' resilience caused as much damage to Hypno-Disc as it was taking itself, making Chaos 2's job in the next fight so much easier. That said, you gotta give Steg its due for putting up a spectacular fight and showing tenacity throughout the fight.

The Fourth Wars

Runner-Up: Team Cold Fusion/Team Kat (Pussycat)

(Series 1 Runner Up, Series 3 Heat Finalist, Series 4 Runner Up, Series 5 Semi-Finalist, Extreme I Annihilator Champion, Tag Team Terror Champion with Díotíor, Celebrity Special Winner, All Stars Champion)

Win Record: 2 victories, 3 defeats with Bodyhammer (31 victories, 8 defeats with Pussycat, 0 victories, 1 defeat each with Kill-E-Crank-E and Crank-E)

Entered with Bodyhammer in Series 1+2, Pussycat in Series 3, 4, 5, and 7, Kill-E-Crank-E in Series 8, Crank-E in Series 9.

A team that has had many faces in the control box and many different machines over the years, Team Cold Fusion is among the oldest competing teams on Robot Wars. The success of the team has varied greatly over the show's run, with Pussycat being by far their most successful entry with several side competition wins under its belt, and attaining runner up position in Series 4. Their first outing saw them reach the grand final, only to take second place to Roadblock on a judges decision.

  • Ace Pilot: David Gribble was an exceptional driver, guiding Pussycat to victory on numerous occasions through precise control. His tragic death at an early age meant that Pussycat was less menacing in the hands of less experienced drivers.
  • Actor Existence Failure: At some point during the filming of Extreme I and Series 5, Pussycat's driver, David Gribble tragically died in a motorcycle accident in 2001. This is the reason why Pussycat did not enter Series 6, and later under a new team in Extreme II and Series 7.
    • In 2013, David's father, Alan Gribble passed away after a long battle with cancer.
  • Always Someone Better: The only team to attain a runner-up position with two different robots, with Bodyhammer and Pussycat. They lost to Roadblock and Chaos 2, respectively.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: The aim of Pussycat is to get right to the most of vulnerable point of its opposition. This was easier said than done due to the robot's unique drive system and extreme precision required to make contact. Thanks to Dave's skill as driver though, when Pussycat did hit the sweet spot, the fight is all but decided at that point. (such as severing Reptirron's petrol tank, or catching Hypno-Disc's wheel guard).
  • The Bus Came Back: Specifically, Robin Herrick. He is the only roboteer to return for the revival in 2016 that also appeared in the very first series of Robot Wars, and we had not seen him since Series 4.
  • The Character Died with Him: Downplayed; after the death of David Gribble, Pussycat did compete again on Robot Wars under a new team, but sadly was not able to deliver a repeat performance from previous wars, as it recorded its worst domestic championship performance ever, falling in Round 2 in Series 7 to newcomer, M2.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: How Pussycat won the majority of its fights; if it can't disable its opponent with a precise hit, it will gradually cut, slash, and tear it to shreds pieces by piece.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Tore Razer apart on two separate occasions. One of, if not the only robot to defeat it cleanly. Kill-E-Crank-E managed to take out Razer in 2016, albeit via a "mutual death pact" as Robin Herrick put it.
    • Humorously, if you count the Sumo Basho performances in Series 4, Pussycat managed to beat Razer there, too!
  • Epic Fail: The fact that Bodyhammer became the first seeded robot to exit the contest after the first round after a weak gauntlet run.
  • Made of Iron: Pussycat was not only a very tough robot, but it was also very reliable; out of its 8 losses, Pussycat never lost due to mechanical breakdown, and only ever lost one fight through excess damage (specifically, a dislodged tyre that jammed its wheel tight).
  • Meaningful Name: Always lands on its feet.
  • Non-Gameplay Elimination: Pussycat was eliminated from the 3rd Wars after the team had used a Hardened Steel Blade that shattered during its Heat Final match with Scutter's Revenge. (For the uninformed, hardened blades that were likely to shatter were prohibited, as the shards could very easily have caused injuries).
  • Old Soldier: The team has been around since the First Wars, with team members coming and going, and with multiple different robots. As mentioned under The Bus Came Back, Robin Herrick hasn't been on Robot Wars since Pussycat's Fourth Wars campaign.
  • Ring Out: Pussycat was on the receiving end of this in the Extreme II Tag Team Terror competition, by Bulldog Breed of all robots. Not even Chaos 2 was able to pull this off.
  • Taking You with Me: As mentioned above, Kill-E-Crank-E managed to take out Razer by spinning its wheel and dragging the former World Champions into the pit with them.

Stinger

(3rd place in Series 4, Heat Finalist in Series 5/6; seeded 30th in Series 4, 5th in Series 5, and 11th in Series 6)

Win Record: 12 victories, 10 defeats

What do you get when you build robot with a spiked mace mounted on a axle and two large motorbike wheels, then add in some Confusion Fu? You get Stinger. Despite its simplistic design, Stinger was quite popular among fans for the sheer entertainment value it provided for its haphazard driving ability. Though it faired dismally in its debut appearance, it did get going the following year by way of pure aggression, and earning third place after pushing Chaos 2 all the way to a narrow judges' decision.

  • Achilles' Heel: While Stinger's electronics are ingeniously stored within the wheel hubs, it still needs a receiver to work, and there is only one place the ariel can be stored: within the tyres. If a robot can puncture said tyres, they could potentially damaged the ariel in the process; Dominator II did just that in Round 2 of the Northern Annihilator and left Stinger limping in tight circles for the whole bout.
  • An Axe to Grind: Technically considered an axe, and is operated through torque reaction rather than CO2.
  • Confusion Fu: A key reason for its popularity; its driving was substandard, but it made up for it by relentlessly beating the crap out of its opponents. It is among the first robots to show how much effective this tactic can be.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite its popularity and former grand finalist status, Stinger was denied entry into Series 7 thanks to a rule change that mandated the use active weapons, which also prohibited torque reaction weapons like Stinger's pendulum.
  • Epic Fail: Its disastrous debut where it found its way into the pit in 50 seconds after some of the most haphazard driving seen at the time.
  • Made of Iron: There isn't much to its design, but it is surprisingly tough. It can be thrown through the air, pinched, and kicked around by a flywheel, and continue lumbering around like nothing happened. Only S3 ever managed to immobilise it proper.
  • One-Hit Wonder: The Fourth Wars was the only time were Stinger truly excelled, as it was the only time it ever made the semi final, let alone the grand final.
  • The Rival: An unusual rivalry with House Robot, Sir Killalot that boarders on Sitcom Arch Nemesis. The two do not like each other, and Killalot will try to make scrap metal out of Stinger any and every chance he got.

Hypno-Disc (see The Third Wars)

The Fifth Wars

Bigger Brother

(Series 5 Runner-Up, Series 6 Semi-Finalist; Seeded 14th in Series 4, 2nd in Series, 4th in Series 7)

Win Record: 20 victories (plus 2 w/ Big Brother, 1 w/ The Swarm), 11 defeats (plus 2 w/Big Brother, 1 w/ Or Te, and 3 w/ The Swarm)

Entered with Big Brother in Series 3, Or Te in Series 8, and The Swarm in Series 10.

While far from the first team notable for having a child on the team, Bigger Brother was one of the most noteworthy. Young Joe Watts was very popular among roboteers, especially with pit reporter, Phillipa Forrester. He would be joined by his little sister, Ellie Watts in Extreme I. The robot itself wasn't the most interesting from a conceptual standpoint, but that didn't matter when you have a good driver and effective weapons operator. Bigger Brother was a long-standing veteran of the wars in the classic era, and held a solid performance record.

  • Always Someone Better: In a strange variation of this trope, Bigger Brother has never actually won a fight in the UK on a judge's decision. The only time it won a judge's decision was in the US during the Nickelodeon tag team special.
  • And Now for Something Completely Different: Ian Watts, with his youngest son Sam entered Series 10 with a 5-part clusterbot called The Swarm, a dramatic deviation from its predecessors.
  • Cheerful Child: Two of them in fact: brother and sister, Joe and Ellie Watts. Their dad, Ian Watts, later returned for Series 8 and 10 with another child, Sam Watts.
  • The Constant: Whether competing as Bigger Brother, Or Te, or The Swarm, Ian Watts has always been a big part of the team.
  • Dark Horse Victory: Several over the course of its Fifth Wars campaign: getting rid of the two seeds in its heat (Splinter at 17 and 3 Stegs to Heaven at 8), toppled defending champs Chaos 2 to qualify for the Grand Final, and pulled off a surprise win over Hypno-Disc despite getting absolutely thrashed before finally falling to Razer in the title bout.
  • Determinator: Part of the reason it was able to overcome Hypno-Disc in the Series 5 grand final; it took severe damage, but mechanically, it kept motoring away long enough to pit Hypno-Disc.
  • Redheaded Hero: Joe Watts was ginger, and an ever-presence in classic Robot Wars, especially in Series 5 were the robot had its best performance. Sam Watts would become this in the team's modern appearances.
    • Red Headed Heroine: Ellie Watts would become one too, coincidentally joining the team in Series 5/Extreme I.
  • In-Series Nickname: The team calls their machines a "Nightmare in Metal".
  • Made of Iron: Best demonstrated by its battle with Hypno-Disc. Hypno-Disc ripped off its flipper and destroyed its armour, and Bigger Brother still beat it. The only time it ever lost a fight through damage was in the Sixth Wars semi final when Terrorhurtz pummelled it into oblivion.
    • Averted though with its successor, Or Te, who was KO'ed by Supernova in five seconds when its safety link was dislodged.
  • Ring Out: Let's face it, its flipper wasn't that powerful, but Joe's methodical usage of the weapon, and his dad Ian's driving still gave it Ring Out potential, scoring 3 eliminations of this type over its career, doing so to Tip Top, Splinter, and S3.
    • It was also a victim of this in Series 7, courtesy of Iron Awe 2.1 as detailed just below.
  • Shocking Elimination: Was thrown out of the arena in Round 2 of the 7th Wars by Iron Awe 2.1, becoming the highest seeded robot to be defeated in this manner.
  • What Could Have Been: By qualifying for the Series final, fans were denied a rematch between Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc. By extension, its shocking win over the latter also denied fans the much desired Razer vs Hypno-Disc battle they have longed for.

Firestorm III (see The Third Wars)

Hypno-Disc (see The Third Wars)

The Sixth Wars

Firestorm IV (see The Third Wars)

Team Hurtz (Terrorhurtz)

(Annihilator 3rd Place as Killerhurtz, 6th wars Grand Finalist and 3rd Place in 10 Robot Rumble in Series 10 as Terrorhurtz; Seeded 16th as Killerhurtz in Series 4)

Win Record: 22 victories (4 as Killerhurtz, 18 as Terrorhurtz), 16 defeats (6 as Killerhurtz, 10 as Terrorhurtz)

Entered Killerhurtz in Series 2-4, and Terrorhurtz in Series 5-10.

Team Hurtz first began their Robot Wars with Killerhurtz, which enjoyed a lot of success overseas on BattleBots. In Britain however, it was not as lucky, facing strong opposition, poor driving from John Reid, mechanical failures, and so on. After notching up just 4 wins in just its final outing, Killerhurtzwas retired and replaced with the more devastating and far more successful Terrorhurtz, who not only gave the team their first long-awaited Grand Final in Series 6, but also gained notoriety on the live circuit by winning the UK championship twice with its double-head bladed axe.

  • Achilles' Heel: The front of Terrorhurtz is incredibly strong as it can withstand bar spinners from Carbide and Apex. However, despite the front end's resilience, the back end was only made of polycarbonate and weaker to attack, as Sabre Tooth and Aftershock found out and capitalised on.
  • An Axe to Grind: Quite possibly the most ferocious you'd find today.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Lampshaded by TMHWK in the World Series; the top of Terrorhurtz is completely open and vulnerable to an overhead attack. TMHWK never even came close to hitting it there.
  • Ax Crazy: Terrorhurtz had a tendency to go bonkers when it started flailing its axe wildly; in later wars though, it was better optimised to allow for more precise and better controlled blows.
  • Best Served Cold: In 2003, Terrorhurtz beat Sabre Tooth into submission in its Series 6 opening bout. Nearly 15 years later though, a new and improved Sabre Tooth returned a favour by smashing Terrorhurtz open and immobilising it in convincing fashion.
  • Born Unlucky: In 2016, Terrorhurtz was unlucky enough to be flipped over by Behemoth when its axe wasn't working, losing that fight. Then in the final round robin match against Nuts, the latter's chain flail broke off and got caught in Terrorhurtz's wheel well, hindering its control and cost it a place in the heat final due to only scoring 2 points thanks to a judge's decision.
    • In the First World Championship, Killerhurtz actually had Chaos 2 on the backfoot at first, piercing its flipper panel, and piercing its gas canister (with help from Shunt). However, Chaos 2 still had enough strength to flip Killerhurtz over after the fact, leaving stranded on its back and unable to recover.
  • Catch Phrase: "It kills, it hurts, get used to it!"
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Terrorhurtz remains to this day the only robot to defeat Carbide by knock out, and it did so without a functioning weapon.
    • Also the only robot to kill Bigger Brother in Series 6 through excessive damage. Not even Hypno-Disc can claim this.
  • Epic Fail: John Reid's disastrous driving in Series 3 when he drove Killerhurtz straight into the pit without any kind of provocation!
  • Handicapped Badass: Even when its axe didn't work, John Reid's driving skill helped Terrorhurtz score a knock out win over Carbide by charging into it (the recoil turning Carbide over in the process) and shoving it into every hazard you can think of until it was incapacitated, and eventually pitted.
  • History Repeats: Terrorhurtz went out in the Head-to-Head round in both Series 8 and 9 having lost a tiebreaker, the only robot to do so. On both occasions, the robot it lost to went on to lose the Heat Final.
  • Joke Item: The team fitted Terrorhurtz with a "Fluffy Launch Device" ahead of their Fifth Wars match with Fluffy. The device is just a cardboard ramp mounted on a plastic pipe. To say it wasn't as effective as they hoped would be an understatement.
  • Loophole Abuse: A mild example: Killerhurtz was made by a clearly English roboteer (John Reid); however, because his teammate at the time, Dominic Parkinson, was part Czech, the team was allowed to represent the Czech Republic in the First World Championship.
    • Also, since Battlebots owned the merchandising rights to beta, John Reid couldn't enter it into the Robot Wars revival in 2016. But he did use it in the untelevised pilot, though he still renamed it "Basher" just as a precaution.
    • Battlebots also owned the merch rights to Killerhurtz, so couldn't appear in any Robot Wars video games as a result. Didn't stop the developers of Arenas of Destruction from using Killerhurtz's successor, Terrorhurtz instead since the rights to it were still up in the air.
  • Memetic Mutation: John Reid's order for Nick Lynch (his teammate) to "Wait for a good hit!" has become one of these, to where two compilation videos of Terrorhurtz's Series 9 and 10 battles include a variation of this quote in the title. And we are still waiting for a good hit!
  • Non-Gameplay Elimination: In Series 7, Terrorhurtz was actually disqualified from the competition due to an unwritten clause that mandated all robots were fully completed and ready to fight upon arriving at the studio.
  • Oh Crap: This was pretty much John's reaction when Sabre Tooth tore Terrorhurtz's tail off and smashed it open in Series 9.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Killerhurtz was beaten up in the penultimate round of the Northern Annihilator in Series 4, John guided it to the arena entry gates so he could retrieve his robot as quickly as possible... or so it seemed at first; turned out Killerhurtz was stuck in fast forward again with limited control due to the amount of damage it suffered and got stuck there.
  • Spam Attack: This was part of Terrorhurtz's original design; identical back and front ends, an axe that swings fast and hard to attack in rapid succession. It may have looked bonkers when it got too enthusiastic, but it mullered everything it did hit. The new design averts this though, since the front and back ends are more defined, and the axe is used with a more measured and precise approach (akin to its American brother, beta). Of course, Killerhurtz also averted this trope due to wielding a spiked axe which tends to get stuck on occasion.
  • Took a Level in Badass: the upgrade from Killerhurtz to Terrorhurtz. Although saying that, Terrorhurtz only made it to Round 2 in its debut, but the following year, we finally got to see what John Reid's machine could do, as it cleaved though everything in its path including former champions Panic Attack, and last year's runner-up Bigger Brother to reach the Grand Final. Downplayed in the modern era since it only made one heat final, but it still performed far better than Killerhurtz ever did.
    • Killerhurtz itself got one when it not only finally won its first ever battle in Series 4, but it also finished third place in the Northern Annihilator, having taken Chaos 2 out along the way.
  • What Could Have Been: Had Terrorhurtz been ready to go in Series 7, many believed that it would have been a fierce contender, maybe even had a chance to win its heat.

The Seventh Wars

Storm 2

(Runner Up Series 7, 3rd World Champion, New Blood Champion, Heat Finalist in 2016; Seeded 16th in Series 7)

Win Record: 17 victories/ 3 defeats

If Tornado can beat opponents by being a nagging little nuisance with brute force, Storm 2 takes it one step further by using brute force to hammer the opposition into submission. Notable for winning the New Blood Championship in Extreme II, Storm rose to stardom by using raw power and high speeds to thrash everything in sight, even going toe-to-toe in the Grand Final with the very robot that inspired it.

  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: In the Series 7 Heat Final, Storm II managed to launch Steel Avenger out of the arena by brute force alone without even firing its weapon!
  • Executive Meddling: Or so Ed Hoppitt had us believe for the better part of 13 years after The Seventh Wars concluded.
  • Follow the Leader: To Tornado, only it was more compact, had double the power and double the speed.
  • Lightning Bruiser: As mentioned, threw Steel Avenger out of the arena without using its weapon, curbstomped the previous champion, and fought Typhoon 2 (which had demolished most of its previous opponents) while taking only superficial damage.
  • Nice Guys/Gal: The team were actually really good sports and took their defeat to Apollo in the heat final of Series 8 with grace. More notably, the team have no resentment towards Gary Cairns, the former captain of Typhoon 2, even being among the first to contribute to his crowdfunding project to upgrade PP3D.
    • Unfortunately, this only applies to Tim and Meral Bence; in recent years, Ed Hoppitt on the other hand was found to be rather vindictive and petty by fabricating stories about how Mentron had tried to stop him from winning The Seventh Wars, and even tried to sabotage PP3D in Series 8 by attempting to buy a motor that the latter needed for its next match. The second one is backed up by witnesses.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Storm II measured less than 1 metre on all dimensions, but it was unbelievably powerful with its ramming power.
  • Put on a Bus: Storm 2 didn't return for Series 9 as the team wanted to focus on bringing the robot back to its formerly glory. Scheduling conflicts also kept it out of Series 10. It has also been speculated that Storm 2 (specifically Ed) was actually blacklisted from future wars (allegedly) due to his fabricated stories, overstated claims about his robot's capabilities and backstage behaviour.
    • Bus Crash: Won't get another chance as the series was canned again after Series 10.
  • Ring Out: Won its Heat Final in Series 7 by hammering Steel Avenger over the barrier with sheer force alone!
  • Nerf: Storm II was unfortunately not the powerhouse it once was when the series was revived in 2016. Because it had to run with less powerful motors to reduce the risk of overheating, the robot's top speed was lowered from a blazing 23mph, to a more glacial 12mph. This meant it couldn't build the same wall slamming impacts it was known for. To put things into perspective, when it fought again in Series 8, it was slower than Behemoth (a former Mighty Glacier who could now hit 14mph top speeds).

X-Terminator

(Heat Finalist in Series 3+6, Semi Finalist in Series 4, 4th Place in Series 7; seeded 22nd in Series 4, 14th in Series 5, and 11th in Series 7)

Win Record: 16 victories/12 defeats

One of the lesser talked about robots from the Robot Wars of old, but X-Terminator was one of the more consistent in terms of performance. Reaching 2 heat finals and one semi final, it always looked like a solid contender with its bulky chassis and weighty axe. The team soon realised however, that the axe was not very effective and redesigned the robot with a new chassis and a new vertical flywheel in its final outing, which gave X-Terminator it's best performance ever, reaching the Grand Final for the first time ever in five years.

  • An Axe to Grind: Had a rather heavy spiked axe in Series 5 that weighed 37kg. The axe was its primary weapon from Series 3 up to Extreme II, but its effectiveness varied.
  • Born Lucky: Almost lost its Heat Final battle in Series 7 to German entrant, Tsunami. If it hadn't taken the gamble to throw X-Terminator over the barrier, the latter would've been immobilised.
  • Crack Defeat: Suffered an early defeat in Series 5 at the hands of Corkscrew when its right-hand drives just gave up and limited its mobility.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: As previously mentioned, the axe it had in Series 5/Extreme I weighed 37kg, which accounted for more than 1/3 of the robot's total weight. This meant that the batteries were compromised and proved to be the root cause of X-Terminator's terrible Series 5 campaign.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Boy, was it heck! The Series 7 model ditched the axe in favour of a small, but powerful 1,500rpm vertical flywheel, and it proved to be far more potent than any of the previous iterations of X-Terminator ever were.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Earlier incarnations of the robot zipped around the arena at speeds of 20-25mph. Later versions were slower, but still fairly quick at 18mph.
    • Mighty Glacier: Averted with the Series 7 iteration though, as it was much stronger, but much slower too, at only 9mph.
  • Joke Item: The rather spindly axe X-Terminator 2 had in Series 4; it was such a joke in fact, that not even the team want to discuss it!
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: For some reason, the team mounted a spike on the front of X-Terminator in place of its scoop ahead of its Vengeance Battle with Panic Attack in Extreme. Said spike prevented X-Terminator from righting itself, thus ensuring an easy and humiliating defeat at the hands of the Series 2 champions.
  • Ring Out: Launched two robot over the fence with its newly fitted flywheel. With the exception of Matilda, only the American Cyclone Raptor had done this before it.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: There's another robot called ICU, which bears a strong resemblance to an earlier incarnation of X-Terminator; axe, complete with self righting arms, spiked axe, and general boxy chassis. At first glance, it seems like a cheap knock-off...until you learn that the robot is a refurbished version of the original X-Terminator model, and the team itself is comprised of members of Marlon Pritchard's family.

Series 8

TR2

(3rd place in Series 8)

Win Record: 8 victories, 1 defeat

Part of a new wave of combat machines, TR2 left its impression on the revived Robot Wars by demonstrating how good driving can benefit one's performance while not having the most powerful weapon in the competition. Said driving by its 15 year old operator, Alex Brown, saw TR2 to a respectable 3rd place finish with fewer losses than the eventual champion, Apollo.

  • Ace Pilot: Alex Brown, who was only 15 years old, was praised for his driving skill during the robot's run, outmanoeuvring his opponents and being very measured in his approach.
  • An Axe to Grind: Had one attached to the flipper at the hinged end, but it wasn't used offensively, so it was removed for the finals. Dara O' Brien mockingly called it a "Bum Axe".
  • Born Unlucky: It was unlucky enough to lose to Apollo in the round robin phase of the Series 8 finals, and only beat Carbide on a judges' decision, the latter
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: It defeated Carbide in the grand final's round robin stage by weathering the hits and lending them to the House Robots at every opportunity.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite its strong performance in Series 8, TR2 was not selected to compete the following year.
  • Handicapped Badass: The first match it ever had on Robot Wars, and the flipper didn't even work. It got through by bulldozing Supernova around the ring until it scuttled into the pit. While the flipper did work in subsequent battles, it wasn't working at full power due to Glasgow's low temperatures choking its gas flow. That said, Alex's driving skill made former semi finalist Dantomkia look like a rookie by comparison.
  • Joke Item: The "Bum Axe" as coined by Dara; it was not threatening and was taken off after the heats.
  • Portmanteau: TR2 is short for "Toon Raider", a play on "Toon" as in the nickname for the Newcastle United football club, and the ever-popular Tomb Raider series of video games.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: The team didn't enter Series 10 at all due to Alex taking his exams at the time, which clashed with the show's filming schedule.
  • The Resolution Will Not Be Televised: It was actually the current champion of the UK live circuit when it competed.
  • Shout-Out: A double shout-out; one for Tomb Raider, the other for Newcastle United. The latter is also reflected in the black/white colour scheme and large number 9 on the front.
  • Victory by Endurance: How it beat Carbide. Yeah it took a good pasting, but it kept motoring away long enough for Carbide's weapon to stop spinning, allowing it to turn the tide of the battle.

Thor

(3rd place in New Blood Championship, 4th place in Series 8, Heat Finalist in Series 9, 10 Robot Rumble Entrant in Series 10)

Win Record: 18 victories, 11 defeats

A veteran of robot wars, Thor competed in Series 6 and 7 of the classic era of Robot Wars, and all three series' of the modern era. Though it didn't stand out much during the classic era aside from coming third in the Extreme II New Blood Championship, the robot saw more success after the show was revived in 2016, making at least the heat final each time it fought.

  • An Axe to Grind: The modern Thor has a smaller axe clearly based on Mjolnir to go with the theming.
  • The Bus Came Back: Was one of several veteran robots to come back for the 2016 revival.
  • Drop the Hammer: In 2002, it had a massive hammer with a pointed tip, but its long handle made it unwieldy and required a lot of gas just to swing it.
  • Fragile Speedster: 2016 Thor was incredibly fast, zipping around the ring at 30mph, but in the grand final of that series, we learn that its armour wasn't that strong when faced with a spinner, courtesy of Carbide.
    • Lightning Bruiser: Jason Marston addressed this weakness for the next series where Thor was noticeably more compact to allow for tougher armour while keeping its blistering speeds.
  • One-Hit Kill: A strong slam from Shockwave was all it took to immobilise Thor in their heat final clash in Series 8 Heat B.
  • One-Man Army: Starting with the 2016 series, Jason Marston is the robot's only team member.
  • Ring Out: After being flipped over and immobilised by TR2 in their round robin match in Series 8, Matilda finished it off by chucking it over the barrier and into the trench.
  • Sneak Attack: Was on the receiving end of an attack from Matilda when the House Robot went rogue during its match with Coyote in Round 2 in Series 10 Heat E. Matilda came out, bashed Thor with her flywheel and ruptured its gas valves.
  • Took A Level In Badass: Zigzagged. While Thor took 3rd place in the New Blood Championship, it didn't make it beyond Round 2 in the two wars it entered in the classic run. When it came back, it looked meaner, but it only got slightly further compared to its old campaigns, and needed a wild card from the judges to reach the Series 8 grand final. Still, the robot performed more competently than it did previously.

Team Ranglebots (Pulsar) (see Series 10 about Magnetar)

Shockwave (see Series 9 about Aftershock)

Series 9

Team Mouse/Team Outlaw

(Robotic Soccer Finalist with Velocirippa, Series 7 Heat Finalist with Mighty Mouse, 3rd Place with Ironside 3 in Series 9)

Win Record: 12 victories (1 with Velocirippa, 3 with Mighty Mouse, 8 with Ironside 3)/12 defeats (6 with Velocirippa, 3 with Mighty Mouse, 3 with Ironside 3) + 1 draw with Ironside 3.

Entered with Velocirippa in Series 4, 5, & 7, Mighty Mouse in Series 6+7, and Ironside 3 in Series 8+9.

Another veteran of the wars, Team Mouse has been with Robot Wars since the third wars. Having debuted, in the third series' Robotic Soccer competition, the team has since entered 3 different robots, 2 of which were animal themed. However, the team didn't find much success until they entered their third machine for the reboot, Ironside 3.

The Team
  • Animal Motifs: The team's first two machines were animal based; Velocirippa was a cross between a warthog and a dinosaur, and Mighty Mouse was...uh, a catfish? Averted completely with Ironside 3 though.
  • The Constant: The team has changed throughout the years, but the captain, Trevor Wright, has always been there.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Were not selected to compete in Series 10, despite Ironside 3's strong performance the previous series.
  • Loophole Abuse: The team itself couldn't enter Meggamouse in Series 9, since they had already qualified with Ironside 3, and the rules prevented teams from entering 2 separate robots. However, nothing stopped them from loaning the former to a different team and entering it that way.
Velocirippa
  • Butt Monkey: For years, it had the worst combat record of any robot (not counting its Robotic Soccer qualifier win, it lost all 6 battles it entered), until 2018, when Terror Turtle took that crown.
  • Fragile Speedster: It was a pretty fast machine, but it was also very weak and prone to breaking down a lot.
  • Gutted Like a Fish: It was ripped open by Disc-O-Inferno in its Mayhem battle in Extreme I, leaving its internals exposed.
  • One-Hit Wonder: Its only strong showing was in the Robotic Soccer competition in Series 3. Other than that, it never won a battle.
Mighty Mouse
  • Animal Motifs: Uhhhhhh..... a giraffe?
  • Born Unlucky: Its direct successor, Meggamouse, was entered into Series 9 by a different team (since Team Outlaw already had Ironside 3), only to get drawn against Carbide in the first round.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The only way to describe its Heat Final match with Thermidor 2 in Series 7. It spent the whole fight fleeing from the lobster bot, occasionally getting flipped into the air. Eventually, it lost all steering and could move forward and back. Massive credit to Mighty Mouse though: it survived the full five minutes and took it to a judges' decision, but the result was obvious to everyone.
    • Its successor Meggamouse also suffered one in Series 9; despite being a heavily upgraded version of Mighty Mouse, it was immobilised in its only battle when an attack from Carbide caused one of its wheels to disintegrate!
  • Lightning Bruiser: It was small at just 84kg, but it was also very fast and quite nippy, too.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Small, light, and very quick at 23 mph. Downplayed in the sense that all it ever did was run away, and what weapons it did have were ineffective.
  • Reincarnation: Mighty Mouse is built from the salvaged remains of the old Velocirippa, only with a new mouse motif.
  • Victory by Endurance: How Mighty Mouse managed to beat Kronic the Wedgehog in Series 7; by simply outmanoeuvring its opponent until it died, while the mouse kept on trucking.
  • Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: First time we saw it, it did nothing to get through its opening battle while former champion Chaos 2 did all the heavy lifting!
Ironside 3
  • Born Unlucky: Despite pushing Pulsar into the pit in their Round Robin battle of Series 8, the judges declared that Ironside 3 had been immobilised for longer than the time allowed after it was turned over at the beginning of the fight. It was only because of Sir Killalot's intervention that Ironside was able to recover.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: In its Grand Final match with Concussion and Carbide, it assisted in taking out the former, but the latter came in and caused severe damage to its self righting mechanism. The team had to take it off in their first head-to-head against, of all robots, Eruption. This damage ultimately cost the team their chance of winning the title.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Has a huge spinning bar mounted on top, and it was quite deadly when it got stuck in.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: In their heat final battle in Series 9 against Pulsar, the team landed a couple more blows on their stricken opponent just to be absolutely certain it was immobilised to avoid a repeat of their earlier fight.
  • The Rival: To Team Ranglebots; they first met in Round 1 of Series 8, fought again in the head-to-heads (after Pulsar was reinstated), then fought each other 3 times in Series 9. The result is 1 for Pulsar, 2 for Ironside 3, a joint win, and a draw.
  • Something Completely Different: Ironside 3 bares no resemblance to any of the team's other robots.
  • Took a Level in Badass: More so Ironside 3 compared to Mighty Mouse; it was tougher, more reliable, heavier, and leaps and bounds far deadlier than Mighty Mouse and Velocirippa could ever dream of being.

Aftershock

(Grand Finalist in Series with Shockwave, 4th place in Series 9 with Aftershock)

Win Record: 11 victories, 8 defeats (4 victories, 2 defeats with Shockwave, 7 victories, 6 defeats with Aftershock)

Entered Shockwave in Series 8, and Aftershock in Series 9/10

Originally intended to be a competitor in Robot Wars' sister show Techno Games, Shockwave made its combat debut in the 2016 reboot by Team Shock, consisting of father & son duo, Ian and Will Thomas. Shockwave made the grand final on its first attempt, but was replaced with its successor Aftershock the following year after it was ripped apart by Carbide.

Shockwave

  • Fragile Speedster: Shockwave's scoop is very strong and the robot can dart around the arena at 20mph, but its chassis was also very weak.
  • Game-Breaking Injury: The damage it took from Carbide's vicious assault was enough to force the team to withdraw, allowing Carbide and Apollo to advance to the round robin stage by default.
  • Made of Plasticine: Shockwave's alternative scoop is made of a three piece section of a plastic half-pipe. While it did its job in defending itself against the axe of Thor, it was eventually hacked off by the end of the battle.
    • Though a first time competitor to Robot Wars, Shockwave's chassis was made of aluminium as opposed to the standard steel. This is because the robot was intended to be a Techno Games competitor in 2003, so it's no surprise that Carbide was able to batter it as easily as it did.
  • One-Hit Kill: Once the HARDOX scoop went back on, it managed to immobilise Thor in the heat final with one powerful slam into the walls.

Aftershock

  • Achilles' Heel: Like Carbide, Aftershock is more-or-less defenceless once that disc stops working. Unlike Carbide though, Aftershock is not invertible, so once the disc stops, it loses its ability to self right. Eruption and Big Nipper found this out for themselves.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Downplayed quite a bit here, but it is the only robot that was able to immobilise Gabriel through damage, as the disc was just the right height to make contact with the latter's body, while at the same time shrugging off the entanglement cables. Not even Carbide was able to achieve this.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Aftershock traded in the HARDOX scoop for a vertical spinner with a single tooth spinning at 3600rpm, and is capable of punting 110kg robots 10 feet into the air.
  • Flawless Victory: Battered everything in its path through its Series 9 heat, including Old Soldier Terrorhurtz.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Showed no mercy when it fought Sabre Tooth in the round robin by utterly annihilating it.
  • Shocking Elimination: Both Dara and Angela were gobsmacked when Aftershock was tossed out of the arena by Eruption in the group battle in Series 10, as Aftershock was pegged as the favourite to win.
  • Trash the Set: Had a habit of doing this; first time was when Apollo flipped it and hit the floor disc down, tearing up a floor panel in the process. Second time was because of Carbide ripping a piece of its body off with such force that it embedded itself in the plexiglass shielding. Third time, Aftershock damaged the floor flipper, which caused confusion in the control box over whether the fight should've stopped.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Despite the astronomical damage it took from Carbide, Ian and Will Thomas still managed to get Aftershock in fighting order to continue their Series 9 campaign. Though the robot was close to falling apart after each bout, they fought hard until the end where it earned itself 4th place.

Concussion

(Grand Finalist in Series 9, 10 Robot Rumble entrant in Series 10)

Win Record: 9 victories, 4 defeats

Entered by the Dorset Roboteering Team, Concussion is another entry in the new wave of competing machines. Consisting of die-hard Robot Wars fans, the team got together and built a compact yet fearsome drum spinning drum which got them to the grand final in their debut, and still proving a force to be reckoned with in Series 10 despite a couple of setbacks.

  • Ascended Fan: Team members Tim Rackley and Carl Yeo are huge Robot Wars fans; the were even in the audience during the filming of Series 8. After this, they got together to build Concussion and competed on the show itself the following year.
  • The Alleged Car: Far from the most egregious example, but it did have issues with its controls throughout its Series 9 debut.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Tim Rackley called Concussion's fight with Heavy Metal his favourite because it best demonstrated the robot's power by snapping off one of its wheels.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Was a victim of such an attack when Nuts 2 smashed its right hand wheel with its flails, stopping it from moving freely.
  • Born Lucky: In its round robin match against Thor, it got caught on the pit and appeared to have control problems. They scored a crucial blow on Thor as the latter made a reckless run at them, flipping it over and rupturing its gas valve.
  • Dark Horse Victory: It was labelled a dark horse in a heat that had heat favourite Thor in it, but Concussion beat it twice on its way to the grand final.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The team chose to attach some plastic to the sides of their robot to protect their wheels from Nuts 2's attacks in heat final. These plastic sheets are what the team calls "Nut Busters" which is an explicit simile for masturbation. Dara, Angela, and Jonathon made every effort to avoid using that name.
  • Man on Fire: It appeared to be suffering from an internal fire towards the end of its fight with M.R Speed Squared, but the smoke petered out by the end and won the judges' decision having pulled ahead on points anyway.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: To prevent having its wheels caved in by Nuts a second time, the team opted to protect them with thin sheets of Perspex. What the team didn't account for was that said Perspex would hinder its movement when flipped over, and that's exactly what happened in the heat final when they fought Nuts 2 a second time.
  • One-Hit Kill: Defeated Tauron in its debut battle with one hit.

Series 10

Behemoth

(Semi Finalist in Series 2, Heat Finalist in Series 3, 4 & 8, Joint 3rd place in Series 10, First World Championship Runner-Up; seeded 6th in Series 4, 15th in Series 5, 10th in Series 7)

Win Record: 29 victories, 20 defeats

Behemoth is the ever-presence on Robot Wars in both the classic and modern eras. Despite recording the most combat losses of any robot, and having the worse streak of bad luck, Behemoth fought in every single series of Robot Wars since its debut in the Second Wars and fought in more competitions than any other. Even while the show went off the air, it found a good degree of success.

  • An Axe to Grind: The Series 3 iteration had a pair of twin axes on the back, but rarely saw use. From Series 5 to 7, it had a single axe mounted on top of the robot for damage potential. It was removed for Series 8 and 9, but came back as an optional add-on for Series 10 where it ultimately wasn't used.
  • Born Unlucky: Oh boy:
    • Controlled its Series 3 heat final against Pitbull until a spike from the arena floor toppled it over and put it out.
    • Did well against X-Terminator 2 in its Series 4 heat final until it started losing power halfway through the fight, giving X-Terminator a chance to come back and beat it on a judges' decision.
    • In Extreme II, it flipped Chompalot over in the Iron Maidens tournament when Shunt came out of his CPZ, righted it, and proceeded to rip out Behemoth's safety link.
    • In the University Challenge, it was a front runner when CV scored a lucky hit that damaged its safety link. Ant Pritchard was not happy about it.
    • It suffered its most embarrassing defeat in Series 7 against Mute when the latter somersaulted over it, with its spiked flipper crashing Behemoth's receiver locking in forward motion.
    • The worst case is in Series 9; to make the Heat Final, Behemoth was due to face Cherub. Ant strongly urged his teammates to use the scoop to ensure an easy victory. Instead, they went with an experimental set of grabbing claws that had never been tested before. Needless to say the weapon was greatly ineffective and Behemoth crashed out on a judges' decision.
  • The Bus Came Back: Was one of several classic era robots to come back for the series revival in 2016.
  • Every Year They Fizzle Out: Despite being a highly fancied robot to do well, something always goes wrong causing it to crash out earlier than expected. Sometimes, it faced a strong opponent like Bigger Brother, Carbide and Eruption, so no amount of luck would've made a difference.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The team's name, M.A.K.E Robotics stems from the original line up's initials in Series 2, consisting of: Michael Pritchard, Anthony Pritchard, Kane Aston, and Edward Pritchard.
  • Joke Item: The grabbing claws from Series 9 became this was their ineffectiveness was put on full display. They were unsurprisingly absent from the team's bench in Series 10.
  • Lightning Bruiser: As the wars went on, Behemoth got faster each year; starting with Series 6, it was upgraded from a 4 wheel drive to 6 and got more powerful motors to generate 12mph top speeds. This increased to 14mph when it came back in 2016 and could do 15mph in its final appearance.
  • Mighty Glacier: Old iterations of Behemoth were big, bulky, strong and sturdy, but they were very slow at 6-7mph.
  • Old Soldier: A real veteran of the wars, Behemoth is probably the oldest robot that is still fighting today, on the show or the live circuit.
  • One of These Is Not Like the Others: Behemoth is the only veteran robot of the classic era to win a heat in the modern era and reach the grand final that way.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The original Behemoth only weighed 54.0kg and was half the size of the other competitors, but it still showed good pushing power, and made the semi finals that series despite its size disadvantage.
  • Revenge: Got revenge on several robots/teams that beat it previously, including Crushtacean, Bonk (successor to Mute), and Ian Watts (with The Swarm, previously fought Bigger Brother).
  • Ring Out: The first robot to use a lifter to toss an opponent out of the arena, doing so 3 times over the course of 9 wars and 2 Extremes. Unfortunately, it fell victim to this 3 time itself, the only robot to throw out that often.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Frustrated that his team used an untested weapon for such a crucial match in Series 9, Ant left the control box in fury during the post-match interviews just to avoid saying something he'd regret. However, because Cherub's crew consisted mostly of children, this had the Unfortunate Implication that he stormed off because he lost to a bunch of kids.
  • Sore Loser: Ant Pritchard was implied to be one after his loss to Cherub in Series 9, if you were to believe the media; in context though, he was more frustrated with his teammates for the reasons stated above.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Gradually upgraded over the years, and performed better overall in the modern era by reaching its first heat final in 2016 since the Fourth Wars, before finally earning their first heat victory in Series 10 since their debut in Series 2 all the way back in 1998.
  • You Don't Look Like You: The original Behemoth bares very little resemblance to its successors due to its smaller size.

Nuts 2

(Joint 3rd place in Series 10)

Win Record: 5 victories, 5 defeats

If Stinger showed how aggressive Confusion Fu can be as a tactic, then Nuts 2 demonstrates how deadly it can be. What started off as a Joke Character, modifications and clever technology have turned Nuts into something fearsome, despite brandishing weapons that were considered obsolete by Series 3 standards.

  • Attack Drone: The main unit is accompanied to two beetle-weight minibots whose sole purpose is to nag the opponents and impede their movements while the main unit spins up. The minibots proved useful when dealing with Androne 4000, Concussion, Behemoth, and Carbide.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Throughout Series 10, Nuts 2 won its fights by landing a direct hit on their opponent's weak points, like Concussion's wheel, Androne 4000's hydraulic valve, and Carbide's weapon chain.
  • Came Back Strong: With its internals improved enabling it to move even while spinning, its came back for Series 10 and dominated its heat. What was once an ineffective thwack-bot is now a full body spinner with a massive reach
  • Confusion Fu: This is its default method of attacking. It helps that it is also hard to get a hold of even when it isn't spinning. Not even the team knew what the machine does!
  • Epic Flail: As mentioned in the description, chain flails were considered obsolete weapons by Series 3, yet nearly 20 years later, Nuts showed off their true potential with lightning fast rotation speeds and a long reach.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Got revenge on Carbide in the Series 10 Grand Final melees, giving them their first defeat since 2016.
  • Joke Character: One of the most prominent in the modern era, as the robot wasn't that quick, wasn't well armoured, and featured outdated weapons. The team on the other hand, wore brightly coloured furry waist coats and trilbies, and were there to have fun rather than be serious contenders.
  • Loophole Abuse: Under the current rules, sit and spin robots like Nuts 2 would be prohibited from entering the wars, since chain flails aren't considered "active" weapons. However, the robot's Melty-Brain technology, developed by team captain Rory Mangles, allowed the robot to move around the arena while spinning at high speeds, albeit very slowly.
    • Lethal Joke Character: Once the team got serious and worked out the kinks in the robot's innovative "Melty Brain Technology", Nuts 2 became extremely potent, reaching the Grand Final of Series 10 with relative ease.
  • Lethal Joke Weapon: There are several factors that make chain flails so ineffective, that very few robots ever used them even in the days of the show's infancy. Before Nuts, chain flails didn't have much reach and lacked the weight necessary to store kinetic energy for a crunching impact. We also have the flexible nature of chain flails that take a lot of the shock out of the impacts, reducing damage potential even further, not helped by the weighted blades not being very heavy. Most of the time chain flails were used, the robot using them could never build up anywhere near the amount of momentum needed to inflict even the slightest bit of damage on a human, let alone another robot. Then Nuts 2 came along and showed how dangerous this weapon can be by having an enormous reach of around 1 metre for each flail, rotation speeds so blisteringly fast it becomes a blur, plenty of centrifugal force and the lack of recoil after each hit allows Nuts to combine all of these factors together to make a weapon previously seen as useless and turn it into a force to be reckoned with.
  • Mighty Glacier: While the robot is capable of darting around the arena at 26mph, its speed is cut to around 10% when it starts spinning.
  • Rule of Three: Three of its opponents in Series 10, Nuts 2 face twice; it managed to beat Androne 4000 and Concussion twice each, but couldn't beat Carbide a second time.
  • Strategy, Schmategy: Combine with Confusion Fu, and you'll never know what this thing will do!
  • Took A Level In Badass: Went from a joke robot that lost every fight barring one, to a lethal machine that made outdated weapons work, effective use of minibots, and used innovative technology to reach the Grand Final and finish joint third with Behemoth.

Team Ranglebots (Magnetar)

(Grand Finalist in Series 8 (Pulsar)/10 (Magnetar), Heat Finalist in Series 9 with Pulsar)

Win Record: 9 victories, 5 defeats (6 victories, 4 defeats, 1 draw with Pulsar, 3 victories, 2 defeats with Magnetar)

Entered Pulsar in Series 8+9, and Magnetar in Series 10.

Another family team that entered the newly revived Robot Wars, Team Ranglebots entered all three wars of the modern era. The team is led by Ellis Ware, whom is described by Dara O' Brien as a "boy genius" due to being a self-taught engineer, running his own online robotic business at a young age and building his robots with custom parts that he designed himself. The team enjoyed modest success with both robots they competed with, reaching a Grand Final with them both, though they did have luck on their side on one than one occasion.

  • The Alleged Car: Specifically, Pulsar; when it was working properly, it was a monster in the arena. However, it was prone to mechanical failures due a combination of its parts being built with custom parts that were hard to replace quickly, and bad radio reception.
    • Averted with Magnetar however, as the sketchy radio reception had been resolved.
  • Achilles' Heel: Magnetar's self-righting mechanism. The 2 times it was used, it malfunctioned and didn't work when overturned a second time. This ultimately cost it its chance to win the 2017 title despite the promise it had.
  • Born Lucky: Pulsar lost its first battle in Series 8, but got a lucky break when the judges reinstated it over veterans Thermidor 2 after Chompalot took irreparable damage against Gabriel. It then went on to win the heat despite losing mobility in 3 of its 5 battles in the episode.
  • Expy: Pulsar is one indirectly to Spawn Again. Both robots were hideously unreliable, but they were fierce competitors when they worked.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Ellis Ware can be described as such, since his robots use custom parts he built himself. However, said parts aren't easy to come by, causing reliability problems in each war with Pulsar. The electronics for example don't have very strong speed controllers, meaning they aren't as capable of handling massive loads as a store brand device would be able to. Because Ellis built the parts himself, replacing them is no easy feat. Undoubtedly, Pulsar is incredibly advanced technologically, so much so that Ellis has to fix the problem himself between rounds since he knows the parts inside and out. At least the issues Pulsar had in each series weren't persistent; Series 8 Pulsar suffered control problems, and Series 9 Pulsar just burned through electronics each time it battled.
  • Generation Xerox: On the surface, Magnetar is just Pulsar with a copper paint job; it is actually an entirely new robot.
  • Hell Is That Noise: Once you hear that nightmare-inducing hum of its drum, brace yourself of a world of pain!
  • Humble Hero: Ellis Ware is dubbed a boy genius by Dara O' Brien, but he isn't a fan of being called a genius. In his words, he just builds robots as well as he can, and he never lets his self taught background go to his head.
  • Irony: Ellis had solved all of Magnetar's reliability faults when building it in spite of the challenges he faced with Pulsar, but the one part he outsourced for it, the self-righting mechanism's gearbox, broke down twice in the Series 10 grand final.
  • One-Hit Kill: Bashed Apex into oblivion with one hit in its Series 9 opening battle, in the same bout where Ironside 3 did the same thing to Crushtacean.
  • Punched Across the Room: Dealt a vicious one to Expulsion in Series 10 using Fog of War to build up momentum for an attack and punt it six feet into the air, and halfway across the arena. The floor flipper also assisted in that regard.
  • The Rival: Pulsar is one to Ironside 3; they first met in the group battle of Heat E were Ironside 3 knocked Pulsar out. They met again in the round robin stage where Pulsar emerged victorious (albeit controversially). They met again in Series 9 three times: they both progressed through Round 1, had a round robin match that strange circumstances led to a draw, and met one final time in the heat final, with Ironside 3 coming out on top, leaving the results standing at 1 win for Pulsar, 2 for Ironside, and a draw.
  • Spectacular Spinning: The drum spinner is the fastest in Robot Wars history, spinning at 9000rpm.
  • Stellar Name: Both robots are named after a type of neuron star known for spinning on their axis at incredible speeds.

Rapid

(Grand Finalist in Series 10)

Win Record: 4 victories, 3 defeats

Rapid first appeared on our screens for Series 9, boasting highly advanced and complex technology, with the financial backing of its captain, Josh Valman, bringing forth the most expensive robot in the series, costing £25,000. Despite a disappointing end to its Series 9 campaign early on, it came back strong the following war and made the Grand Final, beating long standing veteran Terrorhurtz along the way.

  • Awesome but Impractical: While Rapid's construction is very solid and its mechanics very intricate, it wasn't so easy to repair when it took damage. After getting pummelled by Aftershock, its gearbox was damaged, and its design was too complicated to replace within the 2 hours repair window, forcing them to withdraw
    • Even in Series 10 when the robot worked again, its flipper was prone to mechanical problems. It was leaking gas throughout its heat, and took noticeably longer to retract compared to most other flippers. The team got around this by making use of the arena hazards and only using the flipper when needed.
  • Bling of War: One of the most polished robot in the rebooted series with its brushed aluminium exterior. Got a bling upgrade in Series 10 with its front wedges now being painted gold.
  • Combat Pragmatist: As they geared up for their second round battle with Track-tion, the team realised their robot was leaking gas during the countdown to Activate, so they didn't waste any time in tossing their opponent out of the ring. They also played tactically against Terrorhurtz in the heat final by using the arena hazards to wear them down before dealing the final blow.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: In Series 10, Josh Valman was willing to offer a job at his company, RPD International, to anyone who can beat him. After Series 9, he employs fellow roboteer Ellis Ware from Team Ranglebots.
  • Expy: In some ways, Rapid is the most equivalent of Mortis, being an expensive, over-engineered robot that didn't quite live up to expectations. Subverted though in the sense that Rapid's team were tremendous sports after their loss against Carbide, and the fact that they actually improved the robot between wars.
  • Game-Breaking Injury: When its intricate yet complicated gearbox took damage against Aftershock in Series 9, it was too deep inside the robot to make quick repairs, so the had to forfeit.
  • Incendiary Exponent: In a repeat of Chompalot's demise two wars back, Rapid was immobilised and counted out, only to suddenly burst into flames after the fact.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Very fast at 23mph, compact in design, and a flipper powerful enough to lift a Ford Transit Van.
  • Meaningful Name: Rapid's name comes from the name of Valman's manufacturing firm, RPD Internaioinal. It also stems from the robot's high top speed of 23mph. Its record-breaking OoTA kill on Track-tion is just the cherry on top.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After Series 10 had concluded, Josh revealed that despite the severe damage Rapid took from Carbide resulting in its fiery death, 90% of the robot was salvageable. That's durability for you!
  • Ring Out: That flipper definitely has some of this potential considering it threw Track-tion out in 5.6 seconds!
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