Recyclopse

"Recyclopse was named after the fact that it was manufactured from recycled material."

- Rex Garrod on the origins of the name Recyclopse

Recyclopse was the first robot from Team Cassius, which was entered in Series 1. It was a black dome-shaped machine with a pneumatic steel wedge "tongue" that would shoot out of the front of the robot, with a reach of over 90cm, and flip its opponents over. Recyclopse was made almost entirely of recycled materials, with the only thing purchased being the wheels. As a result, Recyclopse was the first robot to cost less than one hundred pounds. The domed shape defended Recyclopse well against pointed attacks, but the robot was quite unreliable as its drive chain kept slipping. Due to this, Recyclopse broke down in three of its five appearances.

It was the first competitor robot to flip another robot with a flipping weapon rather than a plain wedge, doing so to the House Robot Matilda. The robot won its Heat Final after a controversial judges' decision against Mortis, but was immobilised in the Grand Final when one if its chains broke after an attack by the eventual champion, Roadblock.

Recyclopse was retired after The First Wars, with a good deal of its electronics being recycled into the similarly successful Cassius, and the shell being used to cover the water pump at the bottom of Rex Garrod's garden for a while, before being moved to Garrod's workshop, where it sits alongside all three versions of Cassius.

Series 1
Recyclopse took on the House Robot route in the Gauntlet and shot past the defending House Robots to complete the course in the fastest time.

In the Trial, the five remaining robots played the robot version of British Bulldog. Again Recyclopse started quickly, but was impeded by Matilda. This made Recyclopse drive into a pyramid and lose one of its chains, immobilising it. However, Recyclopse got its revenge by becoming the first competitor robot to flip over a House Robot by flipping Matilda over, and the first robot to flip another over using an active weapon. Despite being immobile, Recyclopse's progress was still enough to go through to the Arena stage, as Detonator had barely moved from its starting position due to battery failure.

In the Arena stage, Recyclopse was drawn against Scrapper. Recyclopse started poorly, driving towards a CPZ and being attacked by Dead Metal. Fortunately, Recyclopse ran away from danger quickly. Scrapper came in, but missed with its charge, and Recyclopse rammed straight into sluggish Scrapper before flipping it onto its side.

In the Heat Final, Mortis drove into a CPZ and got impaled on a spike leaving it open to attack by Matilda. However, Mortis escaped and launched some aggressive attacks on Recyclopse and came close to tipping it over. The battle ended with Recyclopse stranded on top of Mortis, who was stuck on the sidebars, in a CPZ with Mortis being attacked by the axe of Shunt. The decision went to the judges who gave it to Recyclopse, much to the dismay of the Mortis team.

"We could not really see a way to decide and kept asking for it to be a draw. But, in those days draws were not allowed and so we were forced to make a decision with a very aggressive crowd screaming in our ears and pushing us into the barriers. We decided on Recyclopse but none of us felt good about it."

- Noel Sharkey

In the Grand Final, Recyclopse appeared to be the main target for the other competitors, as it was spiked by T.R.A.C.I.E. before being pushed around by Roadblock, Bodyhammer and Robot The Bruce, nearly toppling over at one point. Roadblock then shoved Recyclopse across the Arena, causing the drive-chain to break off, just as it had in the trial of its heat. Recyclopse was immobilised, leaving it technically finishing 4th overall.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 1

Series Record

 * Series 1: Grand Final
 * Series 2-3: Entered with Cassius
 * Series 4-7, 2016 Series: Did not enter

Trivia

 * Recylopse was the first of eight robots to have flipped Matilda. Others to have done so were Chaos 2, Cassius, Panic Attack, Inquisitor Mk 2, Facet, Steg 2 and Tricerabot.
 * Recyclopse is one of 23 robots to have completed The Gauntlet
 * Recyclopse's battle against Mortis was the first to have gone to a judges decision.

Similarities with Cunning Plan
Several connections have been made between Cunning Plan and Recyclopse.
 * Both robots had a win/loss record of 2/1 during their only appearance.
 * Both completed the Gauntlet.
 * Both robots held the Shortest Battle Record at some point in the First Wars.
 * Both robot's performance in Series 1 was poorly reflected in the seeding of Series 2.
 * Both robots were retired and replaced with a powerful flipping/lifting robot that fought in Series 2 and 3 before the team retired.