Terrorhurtz

Terrorhurtz is a robot from Oxford that competed in Series 5-7 of Robot Wars as well as the second series of Robot Wars Extreme and the 2016 series. Terrorhurtz is notable for its powerful axe weapon, arguably the most powerful in Robot Wars.

It was the second entry from Team Hurtz. Terrorhurtz has had a hit-and-miss record in Robot Wars so far, finishing fourth in Series 6 but losing in the second round in Series 5 and the 2016 series and being disqualified from Series 7 after arriving at the studio in a partially-finished state.

Its name was a pun on the SI unit of frequency, "hertz", with the prefix "tera".

Design
Terrorhurtz is a roughly octagonal-shaped robot with thick polycarbonate and steel armour, two-wheel drive and a double-headed 'headman's style' axe. The axe was attached to a rack-and-pinion system driven by a single pneumatic ram, which was initially powered by a buffer tank feeding in from numerous CO2 canisters. Terrorhurtz's axe was designed to attack from both the robot's front and back with equal efficiency, served as the robot's srimech and was so powerful that it could lift the robot's chassis off the ground, leading to its weakness being cited as 'unpredictable spasms'. Terrorhurtz also featured a low ground clearance due to its side skirts, and a top speed of 12mph, later 11mph. In Series 6, a pair of wheelie bars were added to the rear of Terrorhurtz in an attempt to stabilise the robot when the axe fired, as well as revised steel plates and skirts to offer greater protection around the front, back and sides of the machine. The armour plating was extended further upwards from Extreme 2 to further protect the robot, and Terrorhurtz's name and symbol, featured on the sides in Series 5-6, were removed for this and all subsequent series. For Series 7, Terrorhurtz underwent a significant redesign, sporting thicker armour, a longer and narrower rear section and a rear strut to prevent the robot from leaping off the ground when the axe fired. Additionally, the axe and pneumatics systems received substantial revisions, most notably the use of a single buffer tank and two large fire extinguishers instead of the numerous smaller canisters previously used. However, this evolution of Terrorhurtz was not seen on TV, as it was disqualified from Series 7 after it arrived at the studio incomplete. In 2016, Terrorhurtz received considerable upgrades, including a weight increase to 107kg, the switch from Ni-Cad to lithium polymer batteries and the use of thicker steel and polycarbonate armour plating. Additionally, the axe sported a new titanium head, and was modified to fire at speeds of 100mph and with a tonne of force upon impact.

Series 5
Terrorhurtz was drawn up against Ming 3 in the first round of the Fifth Wars. The Ming team, like Team Hurtz, were very experienced but had a new machine. Terrorhurtz attacked Ming with its axe; Ming returned the favour. As Ming gripped with Terrorhurtz, it dangled the axe-wielding machine over the flame pit. Then came the moment of controversy. Matilda came out of her CPZ and attacked Ming 3 with her flywheel. This caused some damage and stuck the robots together. Refbot came in to free the robots, but Matilda mounted a second unfair attack. The fight was halted and the judges judged the fight up to the moment where Matilda interfered. They went in favour of Terrorhurtz, putting Team Hurtz through to the next round.

In the second round of the Heat, Terrorhurtz was drawn up against newcomers to the main competition Fluffy. For this battle, Terrorhurtz attached a ludicrous "Fluffy Launch device" to the side - a long pole with a cardboard triangle on the end. Terrorhurtz began by axing Fluffy several times. Fluffy then drove around to the side of Terrorhurtz that didn't have the anti-spinning device. One large blow from Fluffy's spinning hammer ripped off Terrorhurtz's side plate and cracked open its gas valve. Terrorhurtz was immobilised, and was counted out. Sir Killalot then carried it over to the floor flipper, which flipped it over and over. Shunt then axed Terrorhurtz's underside and pushed it into the Pit. Shunt then tried to get his axe out of Terrorhurtz, but it got stuck. Because of this Shunt ended up driving into the Pit along with Terrorhurtz. Cease was called and Terrorhurtz was eliminated from the competition.

At the end of the series. Terrorhurtz was nominated for the Best Design Award, but lost out to previous two-time winner Razer.

Series 6
Terrorhurtz returned with two small prongs at the rear for stability when the axe would fire. This also meant the axe could be made more powerful. The robot would enjoy a greater deal of success in the Sixth Wars, after a rather disappointing run in the Fifth Wars. In the first round, Terrorhurtz went up against Reptirron The Second, A-Kill and Sabretooth. Terrorhurtz began by attacking A-Kill. The constant attacks eventually knocked off A-Kill's wheel hub. Terrorhurtz then focused its attention on Sabretooth and Reptirron The Second, dragging the latter around the arena. Sabretooth hadn't moved after Terrorhurtz's attack, and was counted out. Terrorhurtz attacked A-Kill again, and Sabretooth was thrown onto Terrorhurtz's back. Terrorhurtz seemed to take offence, and attacked Sabretooth. Reptirron The Second was also counted out, so A-Kill and Terrorhurtz go through.

Terrorhurtz faced Kronic 2 in Round 2 of the Heat. Terrorhurtz began by landing several axe blows on Kronic, causing some damage. It then chased Kronic around the arena. Terrorhurtz's axe appeared to have stopped, but that wouldn't matter because Kronic had stopped moving and only started when shunted off the flame pit by Refbot. After an attack by Growler, Kronic 2 was immobilised. It was counted out and Terrorhurtz was through to the Heat Final.

In the Heat Final, Terrorhurtz faced former Grand Champion and 8th seeds Panic Attack.Terrorhurtz began by attacking the top of Panic Attack and causing some damage to the top of it. Terrorhurtz continued to attack it and shoved it into Shunt's CPZ, where the House Robot joined in the axing. By the time that Matilda came in and tore Panic Attack's top body armour off completely, the seed was already immobilised. Refbot counted out Panic Attack and Terrorhurtz progressed to the Series Semi-Finals.

In the Series Semi-Finals, Terrorhurtz was drawn up against the number 10 seeds Spawn Again. As the fight began, Spawn Again appeared to be having trouble and was moving extremely sluggishly around the arena. Terrorhurtz showed no mercy, hacking away at Spawn Again's armour over and over again, leaving huge marks in the flipper. After a lot of punishment Spawn Again stopped and was pushed into the CPZ where Dead Metal sliced its flipper. Refbot counted Spawn Again out and Mr. Psycho picked it up and danced with it around the arena. The Pit was lowered and Mr. Psycho placed Spawn Again on the pit's edge and Dead Metal pushed it in.

It then faced number 2 seeds Bigger Brother. Bigger Brother was still suffering from a previous mechanical problem. Terrorhurtz hacked away at the limping machine many times, strangely causing one of its own axe pads to fly off. Bigger Brother was trying its best to survive, but its attempts were futile; Terrorhurtz was just too strong. Bigger Brother was finally immobilised in a CPZ; Terrorhurtz progressed to the Grand Final.

The winning run wasn't going to last forever. In the first round of the Grand Final Terrorhurtz faced reigning champions Razer. Razer avoided the axe and dug its claw into Terrorhurtz's plexiglass panel. Terrorhurtz tried to fight back with the axe, but it kept missing Razer completely. Razer pushed Terrorhurtz into Shunt, who then axed Terrorhurtz. Terrorhurtz escaped and then lined up for another strike, but then went into one of its mad moments blow and Razer was able to get under it and bury its claw into it again. Razer dragged Terrorhurtz into the Pit Button and then lifted Terrorhurtz up and dropped it into the Pit.

In the Third Place Playoff, Terrorhurtz faced twice and previous third place finishers and number 3 seeds Firestorm 4. Firestorm came out and slammed into Terrorhurtz. Terrorhurtz axed Firestorm a few times and then Firestorm drove into Shunt, nearly flipping the house robot. Terrorhurtz and Shunt then started axing Firestorm, causing damage to it relentlessly. Firestorm escaped, but Terrorhurtz just stood there, axing the arena floor and jumping in the air. Something appeared to have gone badly wrong with its drive. It was stuck so Refbot counted it out. Terrorhurtz therefore finished fourth, the team's best placing yet.

Extreme 2
"This creates Terror...and Hurts!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Terrorhurtz competed in the All-Stars in Extreme 2, in the first round against Dantomkia and reigning champions Tornado. It began by attacking Tornado, who shoved it across the arena and into the disc of doom button. Dantomkia got under Terrorhurtz and tried to flip it, an attempt that proved to be futile. The oddly-shaped robot then shoved Terrorhurtz to the other side of the arena and almost got it out. It made a second attempt and came even closer. It still survived however. The other robots appeared to be ganging up on Terrorhurtz. Terrorhurtz's attacks on Tornado proved futile, like Dantomkia's flips. The three robots eventually moved away from the side wall, Dantomkia activating the pit release. Dantomkia again tried to get Terrorhurtz out of the arena. Tornado then shoved Terrorhurtz onto an angle grinder and Dantomkia again attacked it. Terrorhurtz got another attack in on Dantomkia, but Shunt then flipped Terrorhurtz, it couldn't self-right, and was pitted. "Gutted, moreso, disappointed!"

- John Reid

Terrorhurtz also competed in the Challenge Belt. In the first round, it was put up against Iron-Awe 2, Barber-Ous 2 and Vader. Terrorhurtz suffered a flick up by Iron-Awe 2 straight away, but no attack was followed up and Terrorhurtz recovered. Terrorhurtz then went in to attack Vader, but as it had cornered Vader near a CPZ, house robot Shunt was able to join Terrohurtz in axing Vader to a halt. Vader did in fact break down, but it was a while before the Refbot actually went in to count it out. Terrohurtz then joined Iron-Awe 2 in attacking Barber-Ous. Terrorhurtz then activated the pit while Refbot counted out Vader. Whilst Vader was disposed of by Matilda, Iron-Awe flipped itself over and immobilised itself in the process of attacking the immobile Barber-Ous 2. Terrorhurtz decided the outcome by pitting Barber-Ous 2, going through with Iron-Awe.

Next, Terrorhurtz faced S.M.I.D.S.Y.. Terrorhurtz began by getting under its opponent and attacking it. S.M.I.D.S.Y. then activated the pit, and attacked Terrorhurtz with its disc, and it retaliated with its axe. Terrorhurtz hammered S.M.I.D.S.Y. into submission, stopping one of its wheels. S.M.I.D.S.Y. could not move, but Terrorhurtz still continued to relentlessly batter it, expending almost all of its gas to cause more damage. Refbot then counted out the mauled S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Terrorhurtz progressed to the Final where it went up against Dantomkia, a second meeting between the robots in that series of Extreme.

Terrorhurtz began by attacking Dantonkia several times, before Dantomkia shoved it across the arena, still under constant pressure from the attacks. Dantomkia then flipped Terrorhurtz over but it quickly righted itself. Dantomkia flipped it again, but Shunt impeded it, so Terrorhurtz could self-right before Dantomkia could throw it out of the arena. The fight returned to the centre of the arena. Terrorhurtz continued to attack, and one of the axe blows immobilised Dantomkia. Terrorhurtz continued pounding, and then before Refbot could start its count, pushed Dantomkia into the pit. Terrorhurtz had won the right for the final challenge, and went through to face Tornado the Challenge Belt holder, another second meeting for Terrorhurtz. However, the fight was very quick. In just 19 seconds, Tornado had attacked Terrorhurtz, slammed it into the arena side wall, before pressing the pit release button, and then shoving Terrorhurtz swiftly in. Therefore, Tornado retained the Challenge Belt. Terrorhurtz had no more involvement in Extreme Series 2.

Series 7
Terrorhurtz was seeded third for Series 7, and in Heat B was due to fight Killerkat, Jackson Wallop and Gyrobot in its first round battle. However, when Team Hurtz arrived at the studio with an unfinished Terrorhurtz, they were barred entry to the building on a "robots must be completed" clause. "I thought if we had another day or so there we might have been able to get something running...rather different from Battlebots where almost all the robot turn up unfinished and you have three or four days to get them ready."

- Team Terrorhurtz on the Seventh Wars disqualification

As an explanation as to why the third seed was not entered, the show filmed the events as if they were happening at the same time, with Stuart McDonald announcing Terrorhurtz's name and seed, and Jonathan Pearce appearing confused by its absence from the arena. A camera crew followed Jayne Middlemiss from Terrorhurtz's empty bench to the outdoor area where Derek Foxwell was breaking the news to John Reid. Terrorhurtz was effectively disqualified from the Seventh Wars without entering the studio at all, and the first round battle went ahead without it.

2016 Series
Terrorhurtz appeared in the first episode of the series. Before its first battle, Team Hurtz invited Angela Scanlon to hit Terrorhurtz with a spanner as hard as she could. This caused no damage to the robot, demonstrating its much-improved armour. In the first round, Terrorhurtz was drawn against newcomer Nuts, a new robot from a former Grand Finalist team, Kill-E-Crank-E, and the robot that eliminated Terrorhurtz from Series 6, Razer. Despite the obvious grudge match between Razer and Terrorhurtz being available, the two robots seemed to gang up on their other opponents, with Terrorhurtz in particular targeting Nuts. Terrorhurtz's first blow missed Nuts near the flame pit, causing Terrorhurtz to jump into the air. Continued pushes on Nuts caused it to tumble over, and Terrorhurtz landed another axe blow. Nuts span in circles in defense, landing a glancing blow on Terrorhurtz, which struck Nuts's wheel. Terrorhurtz pushed Nuts over the flame pit and into the CPZ, but it was at this point that Razer and Kill-E-Crank-E fell into the pit, putting Terrorhurtz through with Nuts. In the head-to-heads stage, Terrorhurtz was first drawn against Carbide, a powerful bar spinner. Recognising the danger of the spinner, having previously lost to this weapon type against Fluffy, Terrorhurtz charged in immediately, its scoop clashing with Carbide's bar. The recoil of this attack threw Carbide over, although it was already becoming clear that Terrorhurtz's axe was broken, and would never fire in this match. Instead, Terrorhurtz had to rely on pushing Carbide around, which it did into an empty CPZ, the arena wall, beyond Sir Killalot, and into the pit release tyre. Sparks flew as Carbide's spinner continued to clash with Terrorhurtz, but Terrorhurtz was unharmed, and pushed Carbide onto the flame pit, from which it could not escape without house robot assistance. Terrorhurtz pushed Carbide into the wall again, allowing Terrorhurtz to get behind and push it onto the pit, where it laid dormant. Avoiding the bar spinner, Terrorhurtz successfully pushed Carbide down, awarding it 3 points without even requiring its weapon. Terrorhurtz was next drawn against Behemoth. Although Terrorhurtz had another good start, pushing an upturned Behemoth into a CPZ, it was clear that Terrorhurtz's axe still had not been repaired. It pushed Behemoth towards Dead Metal, and into the arena wall, although Dead Metal could not catch Behemoth to attack. After one last push on Behemoth, Terrorhurtz left itself exposed, and was flipped over. Dead Metal cut through the base of Terrorhurtz with its saw, severing its gas pipe, and without a working weapon, Terrorhurtz could not self-right, and lost the battle.

"We need to get our axe working, don't we, hahaha! I told you to test the axe!"

- John Reid

Terrorhurtz still had the opportunity to make the heat final, but only if they could defeat Nuts via knockout. Terrorhurtz's axe was finally repaired, though it started by pushing Nuts into Shunt. Nuts span around, and its chain flail became stuck in a small circular opening in Terrorhurtz's armour, above its wheels. When Terrorhurtz struck Nuts with its axe, it held its grip on Nuts's outer ring, and pulled the whole thing off, still staying attacked to Terrorhurtz, which used its axe to attack Nuts with its own outer ring. Terrorhurtz even replicated Nuts' main tactic, spinning on the spot with the chain flails still attached. Terrorhurtz continued to push and strike Nuts with its axe, pushing it to the very edge of the pit, but could not secure the victory at that moment. Terrorhurtz tripped Nuts onto its side with a slam, and pushed it into Shunt with another, but sustained an axe blow itself. Terrorhurtz's last effort was to try and destroy Nuts' minibot, but missed because it was stuck on Nuts' ring. Although Terrorhurtz was given the victory by unanimous Judges' decision, this meant the victory was only worth 2 points, leaving Terrorhurtz with 5 points overall, equal with Behemoth. Because Terrorhurtz had previously lost to Behemoth, Terrorhurtz was not put through to the heat final, eliminating it in third place within the episode.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 12
 * Losses: 6

Terrorhurtz's disqualification from The Seventh Wars is not counted as a loss.

Outside Robot Wars
Terrorhurtz still competes today in live events, achieving considerable success, winning the Roaming Robots 2004 Winter Tour and the 2009 UK Championships which enable it to become the second machine in history to reclaim the UK Championship title after Chaos 2. As of 2009, Terrorhurtz has joined its predecessor in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame, upgrading from its previous honourable mention.

Terrorhurtz has been relatively inactive since winning the UK championships in 2009, coming out occasionally for big events such as Robot Rumble 2010, the 2011 UK Championships, and the 2013 European Championships. Terrorhurtz recently returned in 2016 fighting at a Robots Live! event against Toxic 2, Behemoth and Earthquake.

During Beta's ask me anything, John revealed that Terrorhurtz had been applied to BattleBots reboot, but did not get accepted.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Terrorhurtz/Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction
 * Terrorhurtz/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction

Trivia

 * Terrorhurtz utilized a wall of polycarbonate panels to combat Razer in Series 6.
 * Killerhurtz had a wall of polycarbonate panels that was to be used if it fought Razer in the First World Championship but it was never seen.
 * Terrorhurtz is one of only three robots to win the UK title twice in Robot Wars/FRA competitions, winning in 2004 and 2009, becoming the second robot to achieve this feat.
 * No robot has won it three times. Terrorhurtz has come the closest to achieving this however, winning the championship twice, but also finishing as runner-up to Kronic in 2005 and Big Nipper in 2007.
 * Due to damage caused by Terrorhurtz, both the original Velocirippa (aka Mighty Mouse) and Ripper have been retired and replaced with Meggamouse and Ripper Evo respectively.
 * Terrorhurtz's success over the years has inspired many more axe-wielding robots to be built, such as Team Toon's Tinyhurtz, which greatly resembles the current version of Terrorhurtz.
 * Interestingly, Terrorhurtz made its debut in the video game Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction, despite the fact the game was based on Series 4 of Robot Wars, and was released before the airing of Heat L of Series 5. The reason for this is because Team Hurtz's entry in The Fourth Wars, Killerhurtz, was originally intended to be in the game, but the rights to the name and likeness of were owned by BattleBots.
 * Terrorhurtz is one of two FRA heavyweight champions to have qualified from a heat, the only other being TR2.
 * According to John, Terrorhurtz is easier to drive than Beta due to not having to deal with the weight of the hammer, despite preferring Beta's big hits and looks.

Honours
Nominations
 * Best Design Award - Robot Wars: The Fifth Wars