Killertron

Killertron, made from a modified wheely bin lid, was a pink (occasionally orange or black) robot with a large scoop on the front and a swinging pick-axe built by an aircraft fitter, captain Richard Broad and the team engineer Abdul Degia. It competed in Series 1 and 2 of Robot Wars, and then later making a comeback competing in Series 4 and Extreme Series 1. In its early appearances, the axe weapon was so powerful it would bend on impact. This was altered before its battle with Panic Attack in Series 2. The robot was durable and speedy at 15mph and its best performance was in Series 2, where it reached the Grand Final and came fourth overall.

After missing Series 3, it competed in Series 4 and Extreme Series 1, but didn't perform very well as the axe had lost a lot of its effectiveness due to the upgrading of other robots' armour, poor accuracy and control and a generally weaker power system.

In the First Wars, it had an interchangeable mace, but it was never used due to the power of the axe.

The original Killertron was retired after Series 4 and merely given one last battle in Extreme 1 as the team built a completely new robot for Series 5 called Killertron 2, fairly similar in design to Dominator 2, only much more compact. However, it failed to qualify as it lost to Barbaric Response, who also failed to qualify.

"I tried to reshape Killertron into a new wedge shape with zero ground clearance but it was not very good and had lots of problems. So I think I will keep the old Killertron shape for Killertron 2 and my new wedge shaped robot will be called Spinnertron as I am changing the axe, the axe will now spin around. Should be interesting. I am working on a mechanism that will spin the axe one way and after impact it will spin in the opposite direction with some force."

- Richard Broad on Spinnertron After this, Broad was planning to revive the original Killertron and build a new heavyweight using Killertron 2's shape named Spinnertron, and intended to enter it into Series 7, but the robot was never entered.

Series 1
Killertron entered in Heat A of the first wars, and scored 11.02 metres in the Gauntlet, failing to get further after Dead Metal shoved it onto the corkscrew lances and failed to traverse the second ramp, falling off and getting wedged behind some springs in the process.

"You won't beat springs with a pickaxe, boys!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Killertron is trapped

Even still, this score put Killertron 4th on the leaderboard overall, which was enough to put it through to the Trial stage. It pushed back against Shunt in the Sumo Trial, holding off the House Robot until time ran out after a minute, this was enough to put it through the Heat Semi-Finals.

In the Heat Semi-Final, Killertron fought Shogun. Killertron was able to push Shogun with ease onto the grille, fully immobilising Shogun, it also smashed a hole in Shogun's top panels and shattered Sergeant Bash's circular saw on its bodywork while the House Robot attacked.

Killertron went through to the Heat Final to fight Roadblock. However, the armour of Roadblock held up better than Shogun's, and after resisting some axe blows from Killertron, Roadblock got underneath the pink machine, and with some skillful turning, managed to turn it over using its wedge to win the battle. As the end credits rolled, Matilda chainsawed the side of the beaten Killertron and Sergeant Bash sprayed its baseplate with its flamethrower.

Series 2
"It was supposed to be pink again this year...but Richard Broad bought the wrong paint"

- Jonathan Pearce explains Killertron's change of colour scheme

Killertron returned to the wars as the fourth seed. In the Gauntlet, it unfortunately tipped off the ramp after just 10 metres, and spent the rest of the time attacking Shunt, to whom it inflicted significant damage with its improved flywheel-driven axe. Killertron had still covered enough ground to head through to the Trial stage of the heat.

Killertron held off Dead Metal in King of the Castle to qualify for the Arena stage. After putting many holes in newcomers ORAC in the Heat Semi Final battle, it put the robot out of its misery by burning it on the flame pit.

In the Heat Final, Killertron went up against newcomers Technophobic, Killertron was very forceful for the duration of the fight, but Technophobic avoided the blows of the axe. However, a brief lapse in Technophobic's attention left Killertron able to get behind the silver robot and push it into the pit, allowing Killertron to proceed through to the series Semi-Finals.

For the first time, Killertron completed the Gauntlet and after doing significant damage to Sir Killalot's breast plate, it came second on the leaderboard. It also placed second in the Pinball Trial with a respectable score of 135 points. In the Arena stage of the Semi Finals, Killertron went up against newcomers Behemoth. Killertron tried to avoid Behemoth's scoop, almost being tipped over but eventually managing to escape. It then slammed its axe into Behemoth multiple times, destroying the evil eyes, before holding onto it and driving backwards to pull it over onto its side and proceed into the Grand Final.

In the Grand Final, Killertron found itself facing Panic Attack, the only remaining newcomer. Killertron's axe couldn't hit low enough to hit Panic Attack's shell, Killertron was unable to resist as Panic Attack pushed it into the PPZ and very quickly Killertron was overturned by Sir Killalot's lance. Immobile, Killertron was defeated. In the playoff, Killertron met Roadblock in a rematch from Series 1. Roadblock got straight in and underneath Killertron and pushed it around the arena before attacking with the circular saw. Roadblock then pushed Killertron into the PPZ, where both robots were attacked by the house robots, while Roadblock tried to get underneath and flip Killertron. The robots eventually escaped from the house robots and Roadblock pushed Killertron across the arena and into the pit of oblivion, ending the orange machine's run with a credible Fourth Place.

Series 4
Killertron returned for Series 4, after a one-year break from the war zone. However, this would prove to be its downfall, the other robots now having stronger armour. The only real alterations made to the former grand finalist were the addition of a plastic scoop and a return to the original colour. In its first battle, against the 32nd seeds Suicidal Tendencies and newcomers Maverick, it was continually picked on by the seeded machine, and was shoved around the arena floor impaled on Suicidal Tendencies' lifting spikes. It struck Maverick and Suicidal Tendencies with the axe, but caused only minor damage, and only managed to qualify for the second round after Suicidal Tendencies turned its attention to, and overturned, Maverick.

Killertron then found itself fighting the 15th seed Wheely Big Cheese in the second round of the heat, who flipped the Series 2 grand finalist over several times (one of these flips threw it right over the top of Wheely Big Cheese). Despite help from the House Robots to right it, Killertron was eventually rendered immobile since its axe wasn't strong enough to self-right. Killertron was attacked by the House Robots and pitted.

Killertron later made an appearance in the Celebrity Special, driven by Jamaican-born boxer Chris Eubank. Here, it was painted black and its pickaxe and side spikes were covered with boxing gloves. Despite holding on for a judges' decision, it lost to Gemini having been flipped all over the arena by each twin and giving little to no resistance as it was far too sluggish and not damaging enough with its pickaxe. "I demand a rematch!"

- Chris Eubank when cease was called

Extreme 1
In Extreme Series 1, the old Killertron was known as Killertron 1, this is so that it wasn't mixed up with Killertron 2 who had just attempted to qualify for Series 5. This version of Killertron had larger spikes and side bars.

Killertron only made one appearance in the first series of Extreme, in a Mayhem Qualifier battle, for a right to fight in the First Annihilator of the series, it was placed up against Splinter and Aggrobot 3. Throughout most of the battle, Killertron wasn't able to cause any damage to its opponents and it was extremely sluggish across the arena floor. After Aggrobot 3 got itself stuck on its own flipping arm and Splinter had been flipped by Aggrobot and was left to the mercy of Dead Metal, Killertron seemed set to win the battle, until Sir Killalot picked it up and dumped it in the open pit. Despite the fact that it was a blatantly unfair attack by the house robot (Killertron was not immobile, or anywhere near a CPZ), the judges made no stand, and Splinter was called as the winner as they were still mobile even though it was severely damaged. This was Killertron's last appearance on Robot Wars.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 5
 * Losses: 6

Series Record

 * Series 1: Heat Final
 * Series 2: Fourth Place
 * Series 3: Did not enter
 * Series 4: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 5: Failed to qualify with Killertron 2
 * Series 6-7, 2016 Series: Did not enter

Trivia

 * Despite its pink colour trademark, Killertron's best performance and only time beyond the heats was in the only main competition when it wasn't painted pink.
 * Killertron was one of only three robots with Overhead Weapons to reach a grand final, the others being Bodyhammer and Terrorhurtz.
 * Along with Bodyhammer, Killertron was one of only two robots that reached the Grand Final but still had more losses than wins.
 * Interestingly, Killertron is one of the few robots to live up to its seeding, as it finished 4th in Series 2 after being seeded 4th. It shares this pattern with Chaos 2 who defended its title in Series 4 & Firestorm 4 finishing 3rd in Series 6 as it was Seeded 3.
 * Killertron is one of 23 robots to have completed The Gauntlet. Alongside King Buxton, it failed to complete it in the heats, but succeeded in the Semi-Finals.
 * Killertron was the first robot to push another into the Pit of Oblivion, doing so to Technophobic in the Heat Final of Heat E of Series 2.
 * Killertron was the first robot ever immobilised by being turned on its back.
 * Killertron was the pioneer of the overhead weapon.
 * Killertron's battle against Shogun was the first ever UK battle which didn't require a judges' decision.
 * Killertron's team lent the mace to the same team in the first two wars, allowing it to be used on Skarab and Rameses II.
 * Throughout its run in Robot Wars, Killertron's past progress was frequently talked about incorrectly. In Series 2 Jonathan Pearce frequently referenced Killertron as having reached the Series 1 Grand Final, when it lost in the Heat Final. In Series 4, Jonathan Pearce, Julia Reed and the statistic board all stated that Killertron finished third in Series 2 when it actually finished in fourth place. Finally, just before the Extreme 1 mayhem, Jonathan Pearce claimed that Killertron had reached the Grand Final twice, despite only reaching that stage once. Robot Wars: The Official Robot Guide also made a huge error, by saying Killertron placed third in Series 3, when it didn't even compete.