Robot Wars (TV series)/Characters/Series Champions

These Robot Wars competitors are the best of the best. Robots that have toppled all opposition, top of the league, and have ultimately left their mark in the show's history. These are the champions of Robot Wars in chronological order.

Roadblock

(Series 1 Champion, Series 2 3rd Place; Series 3 Semi-Finalist with Beast of Bodmin)

Win Record: 7 victories (plus 4 w/ Beast of Bodmin), 1 defeat (plus 1, also w/ Beast of Bodmin)

Entered with Beast of Bodmin in Series 3.

Famous for being the first ever Robot Wars champion, Roadblock was originally built as a college project by the Bodmin Community College team. Fashioned from some old road signs, this robot proved that reliable, solid engineering was a key factor in seeing it through to the end to claim the championship title of The First Wars. The team later returned to the wars with a brand new robot in Series 3, the Beast of Bodmin. The overall design was similar to Roadblock, but now painted black with yellow spines, a CO2 powered flipping tusk, and electronically operated eyes on the rear of the machine. Though it couldn't recapture the success of its predecessor, Beast of Bodmin still managed to perform quite well in its only appearance, making the Semi Final's 2nd round that year before being outclassed by Steg-O-Saw-Us, after which the team retired from the wars.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Roadblock is the only Robot Wars champion to be replaced with a new machine after it won the title; while the robot was a solid competitor in the first two wars, its simplistic design became obsolete by the third, thus Beast of Bodmin was created.
Battle Cry: Had an unusual one in the form of a two-tone police siren that blared any time it went on the attack.
Boring, But Practical: Roadblock's design may be the epitome of simple, but its engineering and reliability were the things that made it worthy of two grand finals.
Determinator: Effortlessly cleared the gauntlet, defeated a house robot (albeit in a suicide attempt), and easily won both its battles to reach the grand final. Upon getting there, it purged the arena, defeating all but two of the five opponents (who immobilised each other). All this while being a simple wedge with a top speed of five miles per hour.
Meaningful Name: The name is derived from Roadblock's armour being made of old road signs. Originally to be called "Road Rage", but the team was forced to change it since the UK was dealing with a large number of road rage incidents at the time.
Mighty Glacier: A simple but effective design, had the ability to turn opponents over, very slow though at 5mph.
Ramming Always Works: Won its battles through pushing power and tipping over others with its wedge and was still a force to be reckoned with in the Third Wars, where it reached the second round of the semi-finals (round 5 out of 7).
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The team actually entered series 3 with "The Beast of Bodmin", which was identical except for the paintjob, moving eyes and the addition of a flipping tusk.
Weak but Skilled: Not exactly weak, per se, but had inferior weaponry to a lot of other robots in series 3 (as Beast Of Bodmin) and still mopped the floor with them.

Panic Attack

(Series 2 Champion, Series 3, 4, 5 Semi-Finalist)

Win Record: 29 victories, 12 defeats

Like Roadblock before it, Panic Attack showed that solid engineering and excellent driving were keys to success, even in spite of its simplistic design. Intended to raise money for charity, this box shaped robot with lifting prongs overcame strong adversaries and major front runners for the title to claim the crown itself though the driving skill of its builder, Kim Davis and his teammate, Kevin Pritchard.

Ace Pilot: Kim Davies was widely renowned for his careful and precise driving skill. His robot was never the strongest, but his driving ability more than made up for it.
Animal Motifs: Spiders. The motif was inspired by a Year 7 student who named one thing they were afraid of, and thus the name and motif stuck.
Badass Decay: Panic Attack suffered diminished returns with every war it entered. It never made another Grand Final after it won the title and failed to make the semis by Series 6. By the time it entered its last war, it went out to Dutch entrant Tough As Nails in Round 2 of its heat.
Boring but Practical: In series 2, it was a box with ineffective lifting forks. It curbstomped most of its foes through pushing power and Kim Davies's driving skill.
The Bus Came Back: Not the robot itself, but Kevin Pritchard, Kim Davis' original teammate when Panic Attack won the Second Wars. After leaving to build his own robot (Evil Weevil), he re-joined the team in the Commonwealth Carnage in Extreme II, and then took over as team captain when Kim Davis took the job on the show as a technical consultant.
Dark Horse Victory: In series 2, it was expected for Cassius to fight Mortis in the grand final in a rematch from series 1 (which Recyclopse, Cassius's predecessor had won). Panic Attack beat both of them (Mortis in the semis, Cassius in the grand final).
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Series 7, the team took the self-righting mechanism off and replaced it with an axe resistant panel. Ironically, Panic Attack managed to beat the one axe wielding robot it faced (Edge Hog) and was flipped over in its final televised battle.
The Rival: To Shunt. The two would butt heads frequently, starting in Series 2 when Shunt put some nasty looking holes in Panic Attack's top armour. The team held a grudge against House Robot since then...
- Also, to Firestorm. Dating back to the Series 3 Semifinal, where Panic Attack lost their crown to Firestorm just before the Grand Final. Since then, the two teams fought each other 4 more times, with Firestorm winning 3, and Panic Attack progressing beyond their final encounter without them, leaving the final standing at 4-1 in Firestorm's favour.
Weak but Skilled: See Boring But Practical.

Chaos 2

Grand Finalist in Series 1 with Robot the Bruce, Series 3/4 Champion & Series 5 Semi-Finalist with Chaos 2)

Win Record: 24 victories (plus 2 w/ Robot the Bruce, and 1 w/ Chaos), 9 defeats (plus 1 each w/ both Robot the Bruce and Chaos)

Previously entered with Robot the Bruce in Series 1, and Chaos in Series 2.

A legend of classic Robot Wars, Chaos 2 was a real trend setter for other robots to follow; the pioneer of the rear hinged flipper, the first to defeat an opponent by ejecting it from the arena entirely, and the only Robot Wars champion to ever successfully defend its title, Chaos 2 is widely considered a role model for later flippers. Before that though, its builder, George Francis, was responsible for the creation of First Wars grand finalist, Robot the Bruce in a collaborative effort with fellow grand finalist, Rex Garrod.

The Ace: Defeated nearly every opponent it faced in series 3 and 4 almost effortlessly, and again for much of Series 5, before falling to Bigger Brother.
Awesome Yet Practical: Could throw 250 kilos with its flipper, was the only robot in the shows run to retain the title and innovated the "Out of the Arena" flip.
Badass Decay: Because the robot remained the same throughout the years, Chaos 2 became obsolete by the time Extreme II rolled around, as robots became more and more durable. By Series 6, Chaos 2 was only able to dispatch the easiest of opponents. Its design was no longer effective defensively and was easily beaten by flippers who conserved their energy better.
Book Ends: Chaos 2's first and last appearances on Robot Wars were against a robot with a crushing weapon. Incidentally, this applies to its first and final defeats, both of which involved Razer.
Can't Catch Up: Because George Francis was self-employed at the time, he didn't have the time or money to make the necessary upgrades to Chaos 2; as a result, the robot started to become obsolete, and had a much more difficult time dealing with lesser opposition, while everyone else was taking advantage of the new technology and rule changes.
Combat Breakdown: As is the case with any CO2 powered weapon, Chaos 2 would start the fight with the capacity to launch robots high into the air. After about five or six flips, though, the power of Chaos 2's flipper is reduced to simply tipping them over due to the vast volume of CO2 it expended from a single flip.
Determinator: Although it ended up losing the battle against Tornado for the Challenge Belt in Extreme, Chaos 2 was able to ward off attacks from Shunt, and even flipping him over despite its own mobility being greatly limited.
Epic Fail: That one time when Chaos 2 dived into the pit while trying to pit the Italian bot, Mastiff.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Chaos 2's last appearance in the main competition saw it fall victim to its own party trick, as it was ejected from the arena by newcomer Dantomkia.
Humble Hero: George Francis never overestimated his chances of winning, and never brags about the power of his robots. If there was ever a robot he was afraid of, he'd come right out and say it (especially if the robot has an axe).
Incendiary Exponent: Not Robot the Bruce or the Chaos machines, but rather the sacrificial Ramrombit that George Francis entered into the one-off battle with Sgt. Bash and the similarly flammable Nemesis.
Lightning Bruiser: Zipped around at 20mph and threw robots straight over the wall.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Do we really need to say anything more?
No Holds Barred Beatdown: No other way to describe Chaos 2's final battle. It had its flipper split open, CO2 supply drained, chassis torn and twisted, left drive chain dislodged, and right wheel jammed solid by 13 Black, all in the same fight.
Shout-Out: The team's first machine was a clear nod to Robert the Bruce.
Took a Level In Badass: The leap from Robot the Bruce to Chaos was pretty big but subverted since although Chaos was much faster than its predecessor and featured a weapon, it was less successful than Robot the Bruce, only reaching the Heat Final (thus making Chaos the first seeded machine to fall in the heat stages). Now, the leap from Chaos to Chaos 2 on the other hand...

Razer

(Series 5 Champion, Series 6 Runner-Up, 2-time World Champion, 2-time All Star Champion, Pinball Warrior Champion, Annihilator Champion, International League Champion, 2-time Best Design Winner)

Win Record: 40 victories, 6 defeats

Razer is quite possibly THE biggest name in Robot Wars history. This robot has won pretty much every major award you can think of, including the UK title, 2 All-Stars championships, 2 World Championships, the International League, one Annihilator, a Pinball Warrior Tournament, and the Best Design Award more than once. Despite not faring well in early domestic championships, Razer is statistically the most successful robot to have ever competed in Robot Wars, thanks in part to its sheer strength and precision as well as being a prime example of a robot that does the damage while also looking cool and sleek.

Awesome Yet Practical: Razer was incredibly easy on the eyes and crushed a lot of its foes with 9 tonnes of crushing power, winning pretty much every title it was eligible for.
Book Ends: Razer's first and final appearances on Robot Wars saw it placed into the same heat as Behemoth and Team Cold Fusion.
- It was also responsible for Chaos 2's first and final defeats.
Crack Defeat: Has lost a few battles to far weaker robots, usually a result of a mechanical malfunction of some kind. Notable examples being Inquisitor in series 2, and, perhaps more infamously, Aggrobot in Series 3.
Dark Horse Victory: Sort of. In Series 2 through 4, it was a popular competitor and had won many side competitions but was prey to mechanical issues and had never got beyond the heat final. It was expected to repeat this pattern in Series 5, but it went on to destroy all foes easily and become the champion.
Every Year They Fizzle Out: Highly fancied, and expected to do well, only to be plagued by mechanical faults that snuff their chances in the early stages of the competition. Finally averted starting with Series 5 where the reliability issues were resolved.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Lost in Series 3 to the laughable Aggrobot, as its self-righting mechanism accidentally activated whilst it was on its wheels and got jammed, leaving all four wheels off the arena floor.
Lightning Bruiser: Did a lot of damage whenever it got hold of its opponents and was fairly quick and nimble to boot at 11mph (12mph in 2016).
Meaningful Name: Jonathan Pearce thought Razer was named after then West Ham footballer Neil "Razor" Ruddock. The spelling should've tipped him off that this was not the case. Razer's name is simply an extension of the word Raze.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: And raze it did.
The Rival: To Pussycat; aka, the one robot that Razer has ever faced that beat it by straight knock out, doing so twice.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ian Lewis infamously abandoned the post-match interview after the team's brutal thrashing at the hands of Pussycat and proceeded to go on a massive rant post-credits, attacking the Pussycat team for breaking a "Gentleman's Agreement" and continuing to cause damage after Razer was out of control. Granted, it was a little unfair to continue attacking a rogue robot, but in Pussycat's defense, Razer was technically still mobile, and they didn't want to take any chances. This scathing rant against Pussycat and its team was widely criticised by fans of the show and fellow roboteers alike, with some calling it the biggest act for poor sportsmanship in the show's history.
- To be fair though, once Lewis was made aware of the intent behind Pussycat's actions, he did apologise for his outburst and the hatchet was buried by the time both teams had their rematch in Extreme; any and all animosity that remained between the two teams was simply played up for laughs.
Shocking Elimination: When it came back for the 2016 revival, its legacy was not lost on anyone, and smart money was on them to do well. Razer fell in the first round of the competition when it was pulled into the pit by, who else, Team Cold Fusion's newest machine, Kill-E-Crank-E.
Taking You With Me: Razer was a victim of this in its only battle of the revival, when Kill-E-Crank-E had enough traction on the steel floor to drag both themselves and the former champion into the pit with it.

Tornado

(Series 4 Semi-Finalist, Series 6 Champion, Series 7 Third Place, 2 time Challenge Belt Champion, European Champion)

Win Record: 32 victories, 9 defeats

If Roadblock and Panic Attack showed that simplicity can carry you to the Robot Wars title, then Tornado embodies brute force and tenacity. Though it wasn't that fast, it was its 4WD system and high acceleration that give Tornado its insane pushing power. Tornado ranks 3rd for the most combat wins in UK Robot Wars with 32 wins, putting it just below Firestorm and just above Pussycat. It has the Sixth UK title, 2 Challenge Belts, and a European Championship title to its name.

Boring but Practical: YMMV, but many people feel this way, as it generally won by ramming others into submission.
Crack Defeat: Was greatly out shoved by resident Joke Character, Díotíor in Round 2 of Series 5, eventually pushed into the pit, and knocked out of the competition early on.
- It also lost a Mayhem battle in Extreme I to Steel Avenger and a similarity designed King B Powerworks after the latter managed to wear it down until it ground to a halt.
Dark Horse Victory: In Series 6 to much controversy.
Defeating the Undefeatable: The only robot to immobilise Pussycat through excess damage, beat it by knockout, and the only one to beat it twice.
Drives Like Crazy: Andrew Marchant is an excellent driver, but against Hypnodisc, he got a little reckless and vey nearly drove into the pit.
Everything's Better with Spinning: Played with; aside from its pushing power, Tornado also had a small 15kg drum it could use. It also had a vertical bar spinner fashioned from the one used in the Series 6 Grand Final and European Championship it could use in Series 7 but wasn't used as the team felt to was too risky (most of Tornado's opponents in Series 7 had some capacity to flip it over; attaching the vertical bar spinner would've rendered Tornado inoperable upside down.
Graceful Loser: Despite reeling in shock, the team were very good sports after being defeated by Díotíor in Series 5 and encouraged them to go as far as they could.
Jack of All Stats (Not Lightning Bruiser. At 10 MPH its speed is around average, but it is notable for having interchangeable weapons.)
Ramming Always Works: Although many people consider Tornado boring for this reason, it was an undeniably effective attack strategy. It took Chaos 2 to stop Tornado in Series 4 (although Tornado would later defeat Chaos 2 twice), and Razer in the 2nd World Championship. It lost out in Series 7 to a superior rammer, Storm 2.

Typhoon 2

(Series 7 Champion)

Win Record: 7 victories, 1 defeat (plus 1 withdrawal)

Team Captain Gary Cairnes later completed in Series 8 and 9 with PP3D.

Typhoon 2 was built by The Edinburgh Air Cadets. The team also entered with different versions of the robot in lower weight classes, where the team found tremendous success by winning those titles multiple times over. Typhoon 2 is the last robot to win Robot Wars in the show's original run in the early 2000's, even if their victory was a little... dubious, shall we say? Gary Cairnes, the driver of the robot would later return to Robot Wars for the revival in 2016 with a new robot called PP3D.

Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthuhlu: Typhoon 2 averts this trope by withstanding every blow it dishes out.
- Its spiritual successor, PP3D on the other hand, while a vicious machine when it worked, often damaged itself just as much, if not more so, than it damaged its opponents. This is why PP3D never did as well as Typhoon did.
Born Lucky: It actually got lucky at certain points in its one domestic championship pursuit:
- It was tipped over in Round 1 by Bigger Brother in Heat O, only saved because U.R.O and Colossus were already counted out.
- It was nearly felled by Atomic in Semi Final Round 2 before the latter flipped itself over and jammed its flipper open.
Crack Defeat: When we first saw Typhoon 2 fight in the Heavyweight competition, it fought in the Annihilator in Extreme II. It didn't last very long as it was ripped open by Kan-Opener (get it?) and toppled by Raging Reality.
- Downplayed somewhat because it was the robot's first fight, and we really didn't know what the heavyweight version of Typhoon was truly capable of yet.
Everything's Better with Spinning: A very destructive full body spinner.
Executive Meddling: For years, it was believed to be the reason Typhoon 2 was able to win Series 7, but all claims pertaining to this have since been re-examined and debunked with a thorough investigation with witness accounts and discussions on the internet with actual roboteers. A breakdown of these findings can be found in a two-part reddit post here, and here.
Hell Is That Noise: When Typhoon 2 spins up to speed, the sounds it makes is frightening! You know you're in for a world of hurt at that point!
Trash the Set: The Seventh Wars Grand Final was stopped twice thanks to Typhoon 2; both instances in which it ran into the fences and smashed them to pieces.
Vindicated by History: In 2018, Typhoon 2's reputation was vindicated from its Scrappy status after it was discovered that Storm II captain Ed Hoppitt's accusations of Executive Meddling were confirmed to be fabricated.
What Happened to the Mouse?: As domestic champions, Typhoon 2 was due to represent Scotland in the 3rd World Championship but withdrew without a fight due to mechnaical problems.

Apollo

(Series 8 champion, Wildcard Recipient in Series 9, 2nd in Series 10's 10 Robot Rumble)

Win Record: 13 victories, 7 defeats

Determinator: The second time it faced Carbide in Series 8, Apollo dug in deep to withstand everything Carbide threw at it, with the bar spinner eventually grinding to a halt. Even after its own weapon was damaged, Apollo kept flipping and pushing Carbide around the arena and into House Robots until the time elapsed. The aggression and control were more than enough to crown Apollo the first Robot Wars champions since 2004.
Defeating the Undefeatable: Managed to defeat previous runner-up Storm II, doing so twice, and the only robot to straight up knock it out.
- It also took on 3 of the 4 House Robots and beat them all! Apollo also came the closest to tipping Sir Killalot over.
Large Ham: Dave Young, the captain and driver of Apollo, is always full of energy whenever he enters the arena. Toned down a little in Series 10 when his brother Alan joined him.
Meaningful Name: Named after the space shuttle of the same name, and the team refer to the flipper as a "launcher" to tie in the theme of the famous space shuttle.
Older Than You Think: Apollo's origins can be traced backed another robot, Kronic the Wedgehog. After Robot Wars went off the air, Kronic was sold off to Team MAD, and optimised into a large wedge with flipper running the full length of the robot. The paint scheme was changed to white with black markings, giving us what we see today.
- In fact, Dave Young himself was on Robot Wars before the show was rebooted; in Extreme II, he competed in the lower weight classes with robots like Gladiator and its successor G2, and an antweight called Hades. He was only 16 years at the time.
One-Hit Wonder: Series 8 was Apollo's only impressive performance, after which it could not replicate the success. It is the only former champion to not win a heat final after winning the title.
Ring Out: Delivered one of these to a handful of opponents, namely Storm II, Coyote, Sabre Tooth, and one quarter of The Swarm. In regards to that last one, Apollo managed to toss it clean over the perspex screens.
The Rival: To Carbide. They've fought each other 4 times, with Carbide leading 3-1.
Shocking Elimination: it was relegated to the ten-robot rumble after it lost a brilliant Heat Final against Behemoth.
Too Fast to Stop: After a right old back and forth with veterans Behemoth in the series 10 Heat A Final, Apollo attempted to run up for another attack, only to spin around and allow the latter to kick its rear end up, and with very little traction, scuttled into the open pit.

Carbide

(Series 9 Champion, Runner-Up in Series 8 & 10)

Win Record: 22 victories, 5 defeats

The Ace: The only robot after Hypno-Disc to reach three consecutive grand finals, and it finished as at least runner-up in all of them (and became the champion in Series 9).
Achilles' Heel: Carbide's biggest flaw is reliability; if its opponent can weather the blows this robot delivers, Carbide will either break down, or lose its weapon. This contributed to its 3 losses in Series 8; against Terrorhurtz, Carbide lost drive, and against TR2 and Apollo, both shrugged off hits until the blade stopped working. In Series 9, these issues were ironed out, allowing it to smash everything in its path, and claim the title.
- In Series 10 however, not only did the reliability issues creep back in, but another weakness emerged: the drive chain powering Carbide's weapon is vulnerable to precise attacks from long reaching weapons. As Nuts 2 demonstrated, striking the drive chain will disable Carbide's one method of attacking.
And Now for Something Completely Different: Sam Smith is no stranger to Robot Wars; he previously entered the original series with the Tiberius series of robots, which bare no resemblance to Carbide whatsoever.
Crippling Overspecialization: Carbide's main source of damage and attack power is in the 2,500rpm bar spinner at the front. If that gets disabled for whatever reason, then Carbide will have no other means of doing serious damage, and it doesn't exactly have great pushing power, so that won't work either. Three of its five losses are a result of its weapon being disabled.
Curb Stomp Battle: Dealt one these to almost every single opponent it faced; it was actually on the receiving end of one in its second battle, where Terrorhurtz manhandled it like it was nobody's business. It was Carbide's only defeat by knockout.
The Dreaded: Almost everyone is afraid to face this beast of a machine, especially after its flawless climb on the top in Series 9.
Flawless Victory: Carbide won every single fight it entered in Series 9 by straight-up knockout. It became the first robot since Chaos 2 way back in the 3rd Wars to win the championship without requiring a judges' decision, and the third overall to do so, after Panic Attack and Chaos 2. Carbide also carries the unbeatable record of 10 victories in a single championship.
Four is Death: Managed to cleanly defeat Eruption on three consecutive attempts; Carbide couldn't beat them a fourth time though.
Hell Is That Noise: The infamous "Death Hum" of the 2,500rpm bar spinner. When you heard that sound, prepare for a world of hurt!
Punched Across the Room: Dealt a massive one to half of Crackers 'N' Smash, when Carbide hit it hard enough to smash a panel off the wall on the opposite side of the arena!

Eruption

(Runner Up in Series 9, Champion in Series 10)

Win Record: 19 victories, 5 defeats

Ace Pilot: Michael Oates was renowned as an excellent driver, as well as a superb tactician, as both qualities helped him and his dad Adrian to success in both Series 9 and 10. He was apparently quite the driver even on the live circuit before the show was revived.
The Captain: Was assigned this role in the second episode of the World Series for the UK team, consisting of themselves, Big Nipper, Concussion, and Thor.
Combat Pragmatist: How it won the 10 Robot Rumble. It often sat in the corner, but occasionally got involved when threatened. Eruption was noticeably far more conservative with its weapon than its more active opposition, and when it got down to the last 3, it then picked them off one at a time to defeat both Terrorhurtz and Apollo to re-enter the main event. Sure it was slightly cheap, but hey, survival is key when more than 3 robots are in the arena at once!
Crippling Overspecialization: Averted, but still counts. In the early days, Eruption often had secondary attachments that sat on top of the flipper, but all attack power was to be found in the mighty flipper. Said attachments weren't really that useful since the flipper did all the work, and they were eventually scrapped since the flipper only made them superfluous. Yes, the flipper was that powerful!
Defeating the Undefeatable: Despite losing to them earlier in the series, Eruption finally managed to defeat Carbide in the Grand Final to claim the Series 10 title and fulfilled Michael Oates' dream of winning Robot Wars.
Made of Iron: Proved very resistance to axes, best seen when it strayed too close to Shunt while fighting US representative Cathadh, only for Shunt to snap his own axe to two when he struck the former with it.
Ring Out: Performed the first one in the new arena and pull off several times afterward on the likes of Behemoth, Cherub (twice), PP3D, Aftershock, and both halves of Crackers 'n' Smash.
Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed in that it wasn't a bad robot to begin with but had a weak run in Series 8 due being placed in a very strong heat. After that though...

Back to Robot Wars (TV series)

Back to Robot Wars (TV series)/Characters