Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2/Tag Team Terror

"Refbot, you're in for a tough night son, as we let the wars begin!"

- Craig Charles

The Tag Team Terror of Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2 was the third Tag Team Terror competition, held during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2. The episode featuring the Tag Team Terror was originally broadcast on January 17, 2003 on BBC Choice and repeated on June 20, 2003 on BBC Two.


 * The Tag Team Terror tournament was the final appearance of Diotoir, Sumpthing and Stinger. Of the remaining thirteen robots, all but Nasty Humphrey entered Series 7, and seven of those made it to at least the Heat Final.
 * Notably, nearly all of the 16 competing robots were decorated with special Robot Wars stickers. These decorations were not seen outside this event.
 * This episode featured the only time that Pussycat was flipped out of the arena.
 * The Tag Team Terror was the second occasion that two Tag Team partners turned on each other, with Bulldog Breed immobilising Robochicken at the end.
 * The Steel Avenger and Humphrey had met in Series 4 with the same result.

Format
Two teams, each with two robots, entered the arena at once. Only one member from each team was allowed to battle at any one time. If a robot wished to let its team-mate into the action, it was to return to its CPZ. There, the robots could switch out and tag. However, these rules were very frequently broken and battles often featured all four robots battling at once.

This tournament featured eight teams, similar to the last Extreme, so the format was a simple knock-out tournament. Each robot team was given a set of coloured Robot Wars logo stickers to make the team alignments more visible.

Competing Teams
Strengths and weaknesses were not provided on statistics boards in this episode.

Round 1
Note: Robots that started in the arena are listed first

S.M.I.D.S.Y. & Sumpthing (Orange) vs X-Terminator & Mini Morg (Red)
X-Terminator and S.M.I.D.S.Y. both ran out into the centre of the arena, not colliding but rather allowing each to try and manoeuvre. S.M.I.D.S.Y. ran into X-Terminator broadside and shunted it towards the wall, but X-Terminator escaped and slammed the moving S.M.I.D.S.Y. with its axe, shoving it easily across the arena and near the waiting Sumpthing. S.M.I.D.S.Y. manoeuvred and dragged X-Terminator to the side, bending the deadly axe out of shape. Sumpthing came out of its CPZ once S.M.I.D.S.Y. slipped in and tagged. X-Terminator slammed Sumpthing into an angle grinder, but its axe was too small to strike the unusually shaped Sumpthing. X-Terminator released Sumpthing, who fled to the centre of the arena, whilst Mini Morg tagged out and entered the battle. "Out flies the yellow peril that is the barrel chested Mini Morg!"

- Jonathan Pearce

S.M.I.D.S.Y. rushed out of its CPZ and shunted Mini Morg broadside into X-Terminator, immobilising both robots against each other. S.M.I.D.S.Y. relented, however, allowing Mini Morg to reposition itself and bring its disc into play. Both robots' spinning discs collided with a flash of sparks. They both moved their lifters in next, but Mini Morg was too slow and S.M.I.D.S.Y. reversed away before it could flip. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then rammed the sidelined X-Terminator, who struck with its axe instead. "Down comes the axe of X-Terminator - shouldn't really have gone into the action there, because Mini Morg was the chosen robot out in the arena. But as I said, you can forget Queensbury rules - they do not apply!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. reversed into the CPZ, where both were trapped by Shunt, whose axe struck the former. X-Terminator wedged under Mini Morg and pulled it away from the wall, and whilst S.M.I.D.S.Y. moved out for another offensive, Sumpthing fled the two House Robots. S.M.I.D.S.Y. pinned Mini Morg against the wall, but was vulnerable to axe attacks from X-Terminator, which pulled it away from Mini Morg. The arrival of Sumpthing and its pursuers caused a distraction that scattered the robots, and S.M.I.D.S.Y. activated the Disc of Doom. By now, Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. were scissored into a CPZ by Dead Metal and Shunt, but X-Terminator was caught by Dead Metal trying to attack S.M.I.D.S.Y., and its axe was bent further out of shape. X-Terminator continued to attack S.M.I.D.S.Y., but Sumpthing had broken down and was counted out during the last 10 seconds. A Judge's Decision was made, but was in favour of X-Terminator and Mini Morg by default.

Winners: X-Terminator & Mini Morg

Velocirippa & Mighty Mouse (Purple) vs Hydra & Barbaric Response (Light Blue)
"Two machines here, from the family Wright! Will it be their night?"

- Jonathan Pearce

Velocirippa and Hydra clashed and bounced off each other, before Hydra attempted to flip it unsuccessfully. Velocirippa reversed into Hydra, but the lifting arm plucked it from the ground. However, Velocirippa's reverse motion prevented Hydra from flipping it over, and Velocirippa dropped onto Hydra's body and then free. Hydra rammed twice Velocirippa again, followed up by a hammer blow, and it quickly became clear that Velocirippa had been knocked out. "Velocirippa to me looks stone cold, out there in the water. The dinosaur is about to be made extinct by Hydra."

- Jonathan Pearce

Hydra tossed Velocirippa and battered it with its hammer, leaving it dead on the flame pit. The Wright family exchanged controls and Mighty Mouse shot out of its CPZ to try and push Velocirippa off the flames. However, this immediately proved to be their undoing as Mighty Mouse got caught on the grills. Mercifully, as Barbaric Response closed in, Shunt freed Mighty Mouse, who shot across the arena with Barbaric Response in pursuit. Mighty Mouse took a battering as it ran into Barbaric Response and even the approaching Refbot, who started the countdown on Velocirippa. Barbaric Response tossed Mighty Mouse fully over, but it rolled back onto its wheels. Barbaric Response flipped Mighty Mouse over, and then, using its scoop, pushed it into Matilda's flywheel, which sent it flying through the air. "Where can Mighty Mouse run? The Arena is full of mousetraps."

- Jonathan Pearce

Hydra then pushed Mighty Mouse into the pit release, and after a few seconds of resistance, Mighty Mouse stopped dead, giving Hydra a clear shot at the pit. After Mighty Mouse had sunk into the pit, Hydra swiped the corpse of Velocirippa and shoved it across the arena into an abandoned CPZ. Barbaric Response took damage from Matilda as it took on Shunt, but cease was called with it and Hydra easily through.

Winners: Hydra & Barbaric Response

Lightning & The Steel Avenger (Yellow) vs Nasty Humphrey & Stinger (Dark Blue)
Lightning met Nasty Humphrey in the centre, but unable to get its wedge fully underneath its opponent. Nasty Humphrey's axe struck Lightning twice, piercing the armour but not causing significant damage. Lightning tried again and managed to get further underneath, pushing Nasty Humphrey into Mr. Psycho's CPZ. The huge house robot's hammer came down, and although the hammer missed, Psycho's wrist still crashed down onto Nasty Humphrey. "It wasn't a balked attack, it was straight in there, and it wasn't a bolt out of the blue, you could see it coming, Lightning's attack!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Lightning wriggled free from beneath Nasty Humphrey, allowing the latter to escape Mr Psycho as well. Lightning activated the Disc of Doom and wedged beneath Nasty Humphrey, but when driving over the Disc, it skidded in reverse, freeing Nasty Humphrey and allowing it to attack Lightning. The blue wedge robot shot over to Nasty Humphrey, again easily manipulating the ground clearance but not bringing its flippers into play. The two robots clashed on the Disc of Doom, and once again Lightning was thrown away, whilst the heavier Nasty Humphrey showed more resilience. After more dodging around the Disc of Doom, Nasty Humphrey tagged Stinger, who shot into the fray, braking and hurling its huge mace weapon into Lightning. As Stinger began to spin, Lightning retreated and tagged The Steel Avenger. Stinger and The Steel Avenger picked up the battle, both launching blows but failing to connect. The Steel Avenger's arrowhead design broke into Stinger's attempts to spin, stopping the deadly torque of Stinger twice and disabling one of its wheels. The Steel Avenger then rushed over and activated the pit while Stinger could only move around in circles. The battle edged closer to the pit, and Stinger teetered on the brink. Seizing the opportunity, The Steel Avenger rammed its front into the axle and pitted Stinger, but kept going and fell in afterward. "Stinger on the brink! And down! Oh, and Steel Avenger follows through and goes down into the pit as well! So they're out of it, leaving Nasty Humphrey and Lightning to fight again, and the bout will end as it started, and it started in fine style, I thought!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Lightning and Nasty Humphrey shot back into their initial conflict, with Nasty Humphrey slamming its axe into one of Lightning's flippers and jamming it closed. Lightning succeeded in getting its wedge beneath Nasty Humphrey and shunted it into an empty CPZ. It did not remain empty, as Mr. Psycho moved over. Both robot fled, but Lightning temporarily became caught beneath the huge robot's track. Escaping, Lightning and Nasty Humphrey stuck together with wedge and axe, until Lightning rammed it into Mr Psycho and then the arena wall. "This is a worthy contest, and the two more favoured robots, the more experienced robots let them down!"

- Jonathan Pearce

During the last ten seconds, Lightning's flippers finally activated and it managed to side-strand Nasty Humphrey. Fortunately, time ran out before Nasty Humphrey could be attacked by the looming Mr Psycho. The judges unanimously voted Lightning and The Steel Avenger through to the next round.

Winners: Lightning & The Steel Avenger

Pussycat & Diotoir (Black) vs Bulldog Breed & Robochicken (White)
"Dog and the cat in the arena together, its gotta be tears!"

- Tony Somerfield

Bulldog Breed and Pussycat met in the centre of the arena, with Pussycat's blade scratching the wedge of Bulldog Breed, but no more happening. The two robots simply spun around each other trying to gain purchase on the other. Bulldog Breed was more successful, tossing Pussycat into the air with its powerful flipper. Pussycat, stuck on its side, spun free and landed on its wheels. Bulldog Breed charged forward, slipping its flipper under the wheeled end of Pussycat, and threw it over the arena wall. "Can run any way up, Pussycat - but not that way, thank you very much, you're out! How many lives on a Pussycat? One! And its over!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Bulldog Breed immediately followed this attack up by hurling Diotoir over as it emerged from the CPZ. The impact knocked one of the eyes of Diotoir, but the Irish machine managed to land on its wheels. Diotoir flanked Bulldog Breed, but neither of its weapons activated, and Bulldog Breed quickly escaped, tossing Diotoir onto its back, beside the flame pit. Bulldog Breed swiftly pushed it all the way onto the flames. "And we know what happens to the fur-brained machine from Dublin, when it gets onto the flame pit. That is what happens."

- Jonathan Pearce as Diotoir burns

Robochicken now entered the battle and tossed Diotoir up against the arena wall, attempting to replicate Bulldog Breed's success, but the arrival of Refbot and its fire extinguisher prevented it from gaining a suitable position. Robochicken's beak pecked at the burning Diotoir, as Refbot battled the flames and counted it out. "And that's the most emphatic victory we've seen in the Tag Team Terror, it belonged to Bulldog Breed, and a Robochicken - we hardly saw them!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Matilda entered the fray, smashing into Diotoir with its flywheel, breaking its lifting shovel and tossing it onto the ground. Cease was called and the reigning champions were eliminated.

It was revealed after the battle that Alan Gribble had placed Pussycat's blade on backward, and that was the reason it had been unsuccessful in buckling Bulldog Breed's flipper. "Stupidity again."

- Alan Gribble

Winners: Bulldog Breed & Robochicken

Semi-Finals
Note: Robots that started in the arena are listed first

Hydra & Barbaric Response (Light Blue) vs X-Terminator & Mini Morg (Red)
X-Terminator and Hydra clashed together, and X-Terminator's axe slammed into Hydra's flipping arm. Hydra pushed X-Terminator back and activated its flipper, tossing X-Terminator up onto its rear end; the motion also yanked the axe free of the flipper. X-Terminator, balanced up on its end in Dead Metal's CPZ, was seized by the House Robot, whose pincers knocked the robot down. It then sliced into its scoop with its saw, sending sparks flying as X-Terminator flailed its axe, trying to escape. "X-Terminator in the CPZ that belongs to Dead Metal! And sparks can fly!"

- Jonathan Pearce

X-Terminator managed to pull away and tag Mini Morg, who tried twice unsuccessfully to flip Hydra. After taking an axe blow from a passing X-Terminator, Hydra tagged out for Barbaric Response, who tossed Mini Morg clean over. Mini Morg rolled back onto its wheels and tagged X-Terminator, who attacked Barbaric Response but ended up stuck in the arena floor via its axe. Mini Morg darted out and knocked the axe free, and X-Terminator chased Barbaric Response across the arena. Barbaric Response slammed X-Terminator into a side wall, but was caught and attacked by Dead Metal. After escaping the house robot and an attack by X-Terminator, Barbaric Response tagged Hydra, who pursued X-Terminator into its CPZ and took on both partners. "Hydra's taking on both of them, and it coming out on top, I'd say!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Shrugging off attacks, Hydra targeted and flipped Mini Morg twice, the second one almost managing to leave it on its back, but the skidding robot managed to gain enough momentum to roll back. Hydra dodged an attack by Mini Morg and pushed it into Growler's CPZ, where it flipped it into the house robot, negating most of its skid and leaving it on its back. "Mini Morg's crashed into a CPZ, and that is the kennel for that machine, mean, moody, magnificent - its Growler! Ooh, biting in on the tires!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Growler slammed into it and clamped its jaw shut on Mini Morg, as Hydra flipped X-Terminator over. X-Terminator managed to self-right and activated the pit, as Growler hurled Mini Morg back onto its wheels and Refbot began to count it out. As Dead Metal sliced into Mini Morg, Barbaric Response and Hydra took it in turns battling X-Terminator, who continued to put up a fight even as Mini Morg was pitted by Growler. Time ran out, but as had been the case with X-Terminator and Mini Morg's first battle, the judges ruled by default in favour of the team with two surviving robots.

Winners: Hydra & Barbaric Response

Bulldog Breed & Robochicken (White) vs Lightning & The Steel Avenger (Yellow)
"I think he'll get us over quite easily, so we've got to make sure our self-righters are working well."

- An apprehensive Laurie Calvert, who drew the short straw and had to face Bulldog Breed first

Bulldog Breed and Lightning sized each other up, neither one making a move to begin with. Finally, Bulldog Breed got beneath Lightning and tossed it against the arena wall, where a self-righting attempt only threw it back into the path of its foe. Bulldog Breed flipped it again, beaching it on the wall right way up, and moved to position it to attempt to throw it out of the arena. "Lightning, teetering on the arena side wall! Lightning, you need to get out of there, otherwise Lightning will suffer a thunderclap of an attack from Bulldog Breed!"

- Jonathan Pearce

However, the arrival of Robochicken and The Steel Avenger dissuaded this attempt, and Bulldog Breed retreated as The Steel Avenger knocked Lightning free of the angle grinder. However, this move trapped The Steel Avenger between the wall and Sergeant Bash. Lightning re-engaged Bulldog Breed, but seemed to only be able to spin in circles until Growler came out and slammed it into Bulldog Breed, who tossed it back onto the arena wall. The Steel Avenger shouldered its way out past Sergeant Bash, as Bulldog Breed tossed Lightning through the air. Bulldog Breed faced Growler now, and the house robot charged up Bulldog Breed's flipper, slamming into the arena wall and beaching itself. Bulldog Breed attempted twice to flip Growler over, but the position of the two robots in the CPZ made this very difficult. The second flip did shrug Growler off, and Bulldog Breed pulled out of the CPZ, only to have Growler pursue. Turning to face its pursuer, Bulldog Breed flipped Growler over its back, although the House Robot landed smoothly. "Its the clash of the two dogs out there! A real dog fight on the arena floor! And Growler is after the Bulldog, whose gonna win this one? The Bulldog comes out on top! Growler up and over! That's great driving from the Bulldog Breed!"

- Jonathan Pearce during the clash

Bulldog Breed then attacked The Steel Avenger, flipping it into the CPZ where the waiting Robochicken sat. Robochicken opened its flipper to pin The Steel Avenger on its side, but The Steel Avenger managed to escape. It ran back into Bulldog Breed, but its lifter was unable to penetrate the robot's ground clearance, and it merely drove up and over Bulldog Breed's wedge. Meanwhile, Lightning was showing no signs of life and Refbot had begun counting it out. Bulldog Breed flipped the eliminated Lightning as Growler attacked it, then resumed its attacks on The Steel Avenger, tossing it over against the side wall. "They have a teammate, Bulldog Breed, called Robochicken. You wouldn't believe it, would you? We haven't seen much of that."

- Jonathan Pearce

The Steel Avenger self-righted, and the two darted around as Growler positioned Lightning against an arena wall out of the way. Bulldog Breed tossed The Steel Avenger over and kept its open flipper pressed against its baseplate in an attempt to prevent self-righting, but it was forced to retreat in accordance with the "no pinning" rule. Robochicken slid beneath The Steel Avenger and flipped it head over heels onto its back. The Steel Avenger self-righted and launched a few axe blows, but Robochicken flipped it up against the immobile Lightning, where it finally conked out and cease was called. "And I don't think its going to do too much avenging for its fallen teammate Lightning! Up on its side, it cannot self-right from there."

- Jonathan Pearce as The Steel Avenger is knocked out

Winners: Bulldog Breed & Robochicken

Finals
Note: Robots that started in the arena are listed first

Bulldog Breed & Robochicken (White) vs. Hydra & Barbaric Response (Light Blue)
Bulldog Breed and Hydra both shot out quickly, but neither moved within range of the other's flipper during the opening moments. Bulldog Breed took the initiative at last and tossed Hydra onto its back. Hydra attempted to toss itself back, but lacked enough momentum, and merely fell back onto its still open arm, which folded back and tried again, with no success. Barbaric Response quickly joined the fight and took Bulldog Breed by surprise, tossing it onto its back and using its still open flipper to block Bulldog Breed's self righting attempt. "That's the first time we've seen the Bulldog in trouble!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Barbaric Response left it alone to attempt to right Hydra, whilst Bulldog Breed self-righted. Hydra was righted, but Barbaric Response now conked out and was left motionless in the arena. Bulldog Breed hurled Hydra back onto its back just as its hammer fired, leaving it sprawled on its back with its hammer extended. Bulldog Breed reversed Barbaric Response into an empty CPZ, where Robochicken came in and began to peck its motionless form. "In comes Ro.....ha! Robochicken - we've waited, and we've waited to see the attack power of the chicken, and now we've seen it."

- Jonathan Pearce as Robochicken pecks Barbaric Response

Meanwhile, Refbot had begun to count down Hydra, who could still not manage to self-right. Bulldog Breed turned on Robochicken and flipped it into its back, as Mr. Psycho turned to Hydra and slammed its enormous hammer onto its underside. It then plucked Hydra up and after holding it over the flames, dropped it into the pit. "Water to fire, Hydra to flame. Carried to the pit of doom, gloom and oblivion. And the end of the Tag Team Terror contest for Hydra."

- Jonathan Pearce

Mr Psycho then closed in on Barbaric Response, and with one blow, smashed its top armour plate off. Cease was called with Bulldog Breed and its partner Robochicken as the Tag Team Champions.

Tag-Team Terror Winners: Bulldog Breed & Robochicken