Bulldog Breed

"Its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog"

- Tony Somerfield

Bulldog Breed was a roughly wedge shaped robot that competed in Series 3 through 7 of Robot Wars. The first Bulldog Breed featured circular saws. It was quite sluggish and dropped out in the first round. After this, Bulldog Breed was fitted with a powerful pneumatic flipper, and all the following incarnations featured this weapon, developing in set-up and power over time.

For Series 4, the robot was known as Bulldog Breed 2 and for Series 5 and Extreme Series 1, it was known as Bulldog Breed 3. Then from Series 6 onwards, it reverted back to its original name. Bulldog Breed's best performance in the main competition was in Series 7 when it reached the semi-finals and was beaten by X-Terminator. It also won the third Tag Team Terror competition in Extreme 2 with Robochicken.

In addition to Robot Wars, the robot also took part on Techno-Games guised as British Bulldog which teamed up with Big Bro (Bigger Brother in disguise in the football competition).

Series 3
Bulldog Breed was very sluggish and didn't last long in this opening battle. It waited by the starting spot until its opponent Robopig came towards them. It then finally moved, attempting to saw into Robopig's wheels but Robopig got away before any damage was sustained. It then appeared that Bulldog Breed had broken down as Robopig pushed it around near Shunt's CPZ. The disc was spinning but the robot itself was not moving. Robopig then pushed Bulldog Breed into the CPZ. Shunt then attempted to lift Bulldog Breed and axed a few holes into the top of the robot. Bulldog Breed then came back to life but Robopig slammed them again towards Shunt and again Shunt lifted and axed Bulldog Breed a couple of times. The arena spike then started spiking the underbody of Bulldog Breed. Matilda and Dead Metal closed in on the now immobile Bulldog Breed. Matilda attacked with her chainsaw and Dead Metal attempted to saw it but missed. Cease was called shortly after a few more axe blows from Shunt and a dissapointing start for Bulldog Breed's career.

Series 4
With Bulldog Breed's new flipper, the Somerfield boys were ready for another try. It began with a promising flips on Spikasaurus, before lifting the 30th seed Stinger. However, both robots' shapes made them immune to flips. Stinger and Spikasaurus clashed, with Spikasaurus' rollcage taking damage. This damage allowed another flip from Bulldog Breed to land Spikasaurus on its back. However, the time ran out before Spikasaurus was officially immobilised, and the judges made the decisions, eliminating Spikasaurus. Bulldog Breed fought the fourteenth seed, Bigger Brother next. Bulldog Breed 2 dodged the flipper of Bigger Brother, with the latter leaking CO2 gas as it tried to flip. Finally, Bulldog Breed 2 flipped Bigger Brother on its back, with the seeded machine unable to activate its flipper. With another seed crashing out of the competition early, Bulldog Breed 2 fought Stinger again. Stinger spun up to speed, striking hard blows to Bulldog Breed. Damage was dealt to Bulldog Breed's armour. Bulldog Breed attempted to flip Stinger, but as it had been earlier, the flipper had no effect on Stinger. Stinger drove over Bulldog Breed, before it spun up again, hitting the insides of Bulldog Breed 2. One of these blows hit a CO2 canister, causing Bulldog Breed's flipper to jam open. Bulldog Breed was attacked by the house robots after it broke down, before placing it on the floor flipper, and throwing it across the arena.

Extreme 1
In Extreme 1, Bulldog Breed 3's only battle was a Mayhem against Judge Shred 2½ and Spirit of Knightmare. The Bulldog was the most aggressive of the three robots, getting a few flips in on each opponent, until Spirit of Knightmare stopped completely. Just as it was being counted out, Bulldog Breed tossed Judge Shred who was unable to self-right. Judge Shred too was counted out and put down the pit as Spirit of Knightmare was flipped by the floor flipper. This was an outcome similar to that of Atomic's mayhem.

However, Bulldog Breed 3 was forced to pull out of the second annihilator after suffering damage from a battle with Hypno-Disc in Heat B of Series 5, just like Atomic had, so Spirit of Knightmare was allowed to qualify.

Series 5
Bulldog Breed's first battle against Juggernot 2 started slowly with both robots circling each other, until Bulldog Breed charged and flipped Juggernot 2 onto its side, which dislodged a part of its rear armour. Bulldog Breed then flipped it onto its back and then onto its wheels. Juggernot 2 drove towards Bulldog Breed, but was flipped again. Bulldog Breed then pushed the pit release button, ripping it from the wall in the process. It then flipped Juggernot 2 towards the pit, but it couldn't push its opponent in. Meanwhile Juggernot 2's flipper had broken off. Shunt then pushed the defeated Juggernot 2 into the pit. The next round saw the Bulldog against the Lamb, in the form of Lambsy. This battle started slowly as well, as Lambsy dodged Bulldog Breed and drove straight into the pit release button. As the pit descended, Bulldog Breed flipped Lambsy and the toy sheep flew off the top of it. Then as Lambsy was reversing, Bulldog Breed drove up Lambsy's wedge and got stuck, but with a helpful nudge from Refbot and using its flipper, it managed to escape. Bulldog Breed then flipped Lambsy a few more times, one of which put Lambsy onto the flame pit, but Lambsy escaped. Bulldog Breed then charged at Lambsy again and bounced off the wedge of Lambsy. Bulldog Breed attempted to flip Lambsy again, but the power of its flipper seemed to be waning. However it then pushed Lambsy into the house robots and Shunt axed numerous holes into Lambsy's top armour. The battle then went to the judges who put Bulldog Breed through to the heat final, where Bulldog Breed faced the heat favourite Hypno-Disc. Unlike Bulldog Breed's previous two battles, this one started quickly with Hypno-Disc getting an early glancing blow to Bulldog Breed. Bulldog Breed managed to get its flipper under Hypno-Disc and flipped it onto its side, but Hypno-Disc recovered and slammed its disc into Bulldog Breed more times, but doing little damage, until it attacked Bulldog Breed's rear. This attack ripped out Bulldog Breed's safety link, which instantly immobilised Bulldog Breed. Hypno-Disc was merciful though and instead of destroying Bulldog Breed, it merely activated the pit and pushed Bulldog Breed down. However this damage meant that Bulldog Breed couldn't take its place in its Annihilator in Extreme Series 1, which was filmed at the same time as Series 5. "...before sending the Bulldog to the doghouse!"

- Jonathan Pearce on Hypno-Disc's defeat of Bulldog Breed 3

Series 6
Bulldog Breed fought Kat 3, Revenge of Trouble & Strife and Spin Doctor. It went straight into the fighting as it flipped Spin Doctor into Sir Killalot's crushing claw. The bulldog then drove around Kat 3 and flipped Revenge of Trouble & Strife over. Driving around Spin Doctor for a couple of seconds, Bulldog Breed went back to Revenge of Trouble & Strife and gave it a nudge as it had not self-righted. Bulldog Breed seemed like it was trying to flip Revenge of Trouble & Strife on to its wheels again but gave up and looked on as Refbot was about to count out the round robot out. Then, it slammed into Spin Doctor and flipped it into the Corner Patrol Zone and left it there at the peril of Sergeant Bash. The bulldog then flipped Kat 3 near the pit, nearly changing who was going to go out. After Revenge of Trouble & Strife was pitted and Spin Doctor was counted out, Bulldog Breed flicked Kat 3 into the pit. In the second round, its luck was gone, as it was up against Hypno-Disc for the second time. At the start, Bulldog Breed managed to flip Hypno-Disc. Hypno-Disc managed to retaliate with 2 hits, both hit the front. A couple more hits and Bulldog Breed was driving in circles. Dead Metal started to attack Bulldog Breed because it was near the Corner Patrol Zone but the bulldog managed to flick Dead Metal off. There was an evident rip in the side of Bulldog Breed which possibly caused it to be immbolisied. Hypno-Disc hit it again and Dead Metal tried to slice into the bulldog but again it flicked Dead Metal. Bulldog Breed was counted out from lack of mobility and "Cease" was called.

Extreme 2
Bulldog Breed was the star of the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror, where it was teamed up with Robochicken. It started with a huge shock, throwing reigning champs Pussycat straight out of the arena, before flipping over Diotoir and leaving it to burn. It nudged Robochicken, who appeared to not be moving, but Bulldog Breed had already single-handedly defeated both robots and progressed through. It threw Lightning over onto its back against the arena wall, where it could not self-right from. Bulldog Breed continued to flip it, propping it on the arena wall. The Steel Avenger ran in to free its teammate, before Bulldog Breed attack Lightning again, leaving it on its back. Soon after, Growler ran up Bulldog Breed, who came very close to toppling the House Robot on several occasions. Bulldog Breed then flipped The Steel Avenger over onto the arena wall. Bulldog Breed continued to flip The Steel Avenger, whilst Lightning was counted out. However, it was Robochicken who ended the battle by immobilising The Steel Avenger with its flipper. Defeating those two, Bulldog Breed was through to the finals. Here, it threw Hydra up and over, leaving Barbaric Response to come in and help its teammate. However, Barbaric Response broke down, and Bulldog Breed flipped over Hydra once again to win the fight. Bulldog Breed won the Tag Team Terror alongside Robochicken, whom it flipped over to amusement at the end.

Series 7
For the 7th Wars, Bulldog Breed was seeded 12th and in its first round, it faced Infernal Contraption, Mantis and Jabber. It started off very well, attacking Infernal Contraption and nearly getting it out the arena. At one point in the match, it reversed and what looked like a mesh-like piece of material fell out from underneath its flipper. It looked like Bulldog Breed were going to be disqualified from the wars for using a prohibited piece of material as it can get caught on spinners. The judges were given a while to decide about who had won and it was revealed that the mesh was not a weapon, it was used to protect Bulldog Breed's rams so it was given the benefit of the doubt allowing it to survive the judges decision and go through along with Mantis. Next in Round 2, it faced the Belgian machine, Hard. One flip on Hard and Hard broke down. It was also counted out after Bulldog Breed tried failed attempts to get it out of the arena. Bulldog Breed's Heat Final saw it drawn against Kat 3, the third time that teams Press Gang and KaterKiller had been placed in the same heat. Kat 3 landed a few axe blows on Bulldog Breed's top cover (including one which grazed it, causing sparks to fly). Bulldog Breed managed to toss Kat 3 around the arena and even over the top of Sir Killalot. Both robots were still mobile at the end which resulted in a judges decision. After the judges examined the damage on Bulldog Breed's top from the axe attacks and ruling them as superficial damage, Bulldog Breed was awarded the win and a place in the Series Semi-Finals.

Bulldog Breed then faced the Dutch machine Tough As Nails in the first round of the Semi-Final. The fight was very even with Bulldog Breed flipping Tough As Nails all over the arena and Tough As Nails dragging it across the flame pit. Tough As Nails tried its signature move on Bulldog Breed in grabbing it and trying to put it in the pit, but Bulldog Breed had good traction and held on. Bulldog Breed also nearly got Tough As Nails out the arena twice, and the fight then went to a judges decision as both were still mobile at the end. Bulldog Breed were declared the winner and went through to the next round. Fighting for a place in the Series 7 Grand-Final, Bulldog Breed met the newly improved X-Terminator. Bulldog Breed tried to get its flipper around the side of X-Terminator but couldn't because X-Terminator turned around so quickly that the flywheel hit the scoop front on and buckled it, severely hampering Bulldog Breed's ability to get underneath X-Terminator's already low ground clearance. X-Terminator began chewing lumps out of Bulldog Breed's armour. After several more bashes, Bulldog Breed found itself in the CPZ where it nearly went out the arena and lost a top panel. Much to the anger of Robert Somerfield, X-Terminator continued to hit Bulldog Breed and destroying it in its attempts to repeat the battle with Tsunami. Finally, Bulldog Breed was counted out and was eliminated from the 7th Wars.

"Big Respect to Bulldog Breed, we have always felt bad for what we did to this robot, real heat of the moment stuff and not really realising how much damage we were inflicting while trying to fly them out of the arena. Since this fight I try and give other peoples work a bit more respect. As a bit of Karma, Maltida did the same to us in﻿ the finals which cost me over 2 grand, so what goes around comes around."

- Marlon Pritchard on Youtube

For entering in 5 wars, Bulldog Breed was one of many robots that was hoped to enter in the Series 7 All Stars Tournament at the end of the series, however, the damage caused to the robot by X-Terminator in the Semi-Finals was too severe and Bulldog Breed was unable to compete.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 13
 * Losses: 5

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 4: Heat Final
 * Series 5: Heat Final
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Semi-Finals, Round 2