The Drop Zone

The Drop Zone was an arena hazard introduced in 2002. Immobilized robots would be placed on a spot roughly in the centre of the arena, near to the pit of oblivion, where heavy objects such as ovens, washing machines and ocean buoys would be dropped on them.

It was first seen in Extreme Warriors Season 2, and it was first used in the UK in Series 6. In the UK series, the first victim of the Drop Zone was Robochicken in Round 1 of Series 6, Heat B, although the first ever victim was Unibite 2.0 in Extreme Warriors Season 2, Heat C Final. The last was Hard in the first round of the Third World Championship in Series 7.

The Drop Zone was originally intended to have a button which house robots or competitors could press to activate it, but this idea was not implemented. In Series 7, the sound of a thunderclap would be played as an object was dropped. Strangely, the red square with a yellow cross was first seen in Extreme 1 and Series 5, not serving any clear purpose at the time.

Trivia

 * The Drop Zone appeared in merchandise before its UK first TV appearance, as an accessory for the Minibot Arena, and in the game Extreme Destruction.
 * In Extreme Destruction, items are dropped on mobile robots who stay under it for too long, and multiple items can be dropped in one fight.
 * Panic Attack was the only champion ever to be hit with a Drop Zone item.
 * Major Tom and Hard were the only robots to be hit twice with a Drop Zone item.
 * Hassocks Hog 2 and Zorro were both managed to escape the Drop Zone after being counted out.
 * In Round 1 of the Seventh Wars All Stars, a washing machine was randomly dropped, though no robot was beneath it.
 * The Drop Zone was used in every episode of Dutch Series 2.
 * The barrels dropped in Dutch Series 2 where the same used in the pinball trial of Series 2
 * Golem was used as a Drop Zone item for the German Robot Wars Grand Final, as the team could not fix it, so allowed this.