Robot Wars Magazine/Issue 8

"There are some real tough nuts in this month's RWM who even I have to respect."

- "Editor" Dead Metal, Page 3

Issue 8 of Robot Wars Magazine, cover dated December 2000, was released on the 22nd November 2000.

Features

 * Heat Report: Storm Pooper Another Heat Report from Series 4, covering Heat C.
 * Ultimate Robots: Invincible! - A drawing of "The Red Baron", a fictional robot made with all the best parts from the other House Robots; Sgt. Bash's body and flamethrower, Sir Killalot's claw and tracks, Dead Metal's saw and head, Matilda's chainsaw and Shunt's plough on the rear.
 * Ultimate Robots: Unstoppable! - The ultimate competitor robot, "Chrazedortic", a fictional robot made with all the best parts from competitor Robots; Chaos 2's flipper, Wel-Dor's axe, Razer's crusher, Panic Attack's armour, Mortis' lifting arm and 101's tracks. Also features "probably the worst robot ever" - "Disastertron", a robot made from the mandibles of Scorpion, the armour of The Creature, the head of Banshee and the wheels of Wheelosaurus.
 * How to kill Sgt Bash - An article listing potential ways to defeat Sergeant Bash.
 * Robot Wars Club News - News for club members, giving a glimpse of the production of the pullbacks. This issue did not include the usual information on how to join with form, because the section took up only half a page, an advert for FBX magazine taking up the top half of the page.
 * Classic Clash: Flipped Out - A summary of the final battle of The Second Wars, where Panic Attack pulled off a famous shock victory against Cassius, with photo highlights.
 * Team Sheet: Dino-Damage - The second of a feature listing the statistics of competitors from Series 4. In this issue, the robots were Steg 2, The Creature and Mortis.
 * Heat Report: Ready, Steggy, Go! - Another Heat Report from Series 4, covering Heat D.
 * How To Draw: Razer - The second of a series showing an easy way to draw Robot Wars competitors, this time Razer.
 * A to Z of Contestant Robots - No longer included with the Robot Wars Club News, the robots were "V is for Vercingetorix", "W is for Wheelosaurus" and "X is for X-Terminator".
 * Subscribe Today!" - The usual deal was offered to readers who subscribed - 12 issues for the price of 11.
 * Letters - Letters from fans, also featuring Dr Zulu's Robot Hospital, System Check and a preview of the next issue.

Comic
Grudge Match: Plunderbird vs Sir Chromalot - A fight between "two teams with attitude". Sir Chromalot started well, drilling into Plunderbird's side. However, Plunderbird fought back, crushing into Sir Chromalot with their claw, succeeding in knocking it over. Plunderbird pushed the overturned Sir Chromalot towards the pit, and looked certain to win the battle. However, with Sir Chromalot right by the pit, the Plunderbird team made the mistake of reversing to take a "run-up". This gave Sir Chromalot an opportunity to use its srimech to dodge Plunderbird, and Plunderbird drove straight into the pit.

Competitions

 * Let Battle Commence IF YOU DARE! - A competition for the latest Robot Wars toys, with 8 Remote Control Matildas or Remote Control Shunts being available to win. 40 runners-up would receive pullbacks. The question was "Which famous Red Dwarf star presents Robot Wars?", to which the answer was Craig Charles.

Posters

 * Chaos 2 (2 pages)
 * Craig & The Robots (1 page)
 * Cease! (1 page)

Free Gifts
40 Robot Wars fact cards were included.

Adverts

 * Lego Mindstorms (Page 11)
 * Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles (Page 15)
 * Pullbacks - "Twas the fight before Christmas) (Page 19)
 * FBX Magazine (Page 20)
 * Robot Wars (Android Love) (Page 27)
 * Meccano City (Page 27)

Credits

 * Editor: Dead Metal
 * Art Editor: Simon Oliver
 * Gonzo Writer: David Hayles
 * Designers: Ben Ireland, Sam Bennett
 * Picture Researcher: Emma Peel
 * Editorial Assistant: Kelly Austin
 * Advertising: Theresa Davies
 * Marketing Executive: Siobhan Galvin
 * Marketing Manager: Helen Northard
 * Marketing Assistant: Ruth Rowntree
 * Production Controller: Sarah Hovell
 * Senior Production Controller: Jo Beattie,
 * Circulation Manager: Simon Young
 * Publisher: Toni Round
 * Editor, Boys' Magazines: Jason Loborik
 * Editorial Director, Family Group: Nicky Smith
 * Director, Family Group [UK Region]: Gillian Lasker
 * Managing Director, BBC Worldwide [UK Region]: Peter Teague
 * Contributors: John Ross, Alan Craddock, David Benham, Dr Zulu, Sir Barnalot
 * Photography: Chris Capstick, John Green, Mike Collier
 * Thanks: Odd job, Dr Serge Simon

Errors and Omissions

 * For the second time in the magazine's run (See Issue 6, Destruct-A-Bubble is incorrectly spelt "Distruct-A-Bubble", in the "worst robot ever" section, then in the Heat Report of Heat C, then in the letters section.
 * One of the fan's letters makes the same mistakes.
 * In the Grudge Match comic, Plunderbird 4 is simply known as Plunderbird, and the 4 on the front of the robot is absent.
 * In the same comic, the back of Plunderbird is drawn as being black, when it was actually yellow with a red trim at the bottom, like the rest of the robot.
 * Throughout the comic, the teams are inconsistently drawn regarding the sunglasses they are wearing (In addition, The Hub Nuts never wore sunglasses on the show).
 * In the Classic Clash section, photos of Panic Attack and Cassius' Series 3 forms are used instead of how they appeared in Series 2.
 * In the Heat Report for Heat D, a picture of a flame jet is used where a picture of the Cronos team should be.

Trivia

 * As with the previous issue, this issue was "edited" by one of the House Robots. The real person who actually edited the magazine was not credited.
 * The Red Baron would appear again in a comic in the final issue of the original run of the magazine.