Cerberus

Cerberus was a vaguely reversed-wedge robot that competed in the third and fourth series of Robot Wars and both series of Extreme. It was designed to look like a dog, and was named after the three-headed dog who was guardian of the underworld in Greek Mythology. Cerberus was always clad in titanium, and was a personal favourite of Philippa Forrester because of its gleaming gold coat and shiny armour, including a chrome coated head, the shiny coat of Cerberus was removed by the time of its last Robot Wars appearance.

Its main weapon was originally a circular saw, but this had to be removed as it was made of hardened steel, which was prohibited (Pussycat had recently been disqualified for using one). Instead, Cerberus used its ramming head and wedge like tail to defeat its opponents. Later the team added was a blade-like tongue and two side blades that acted as a srimech. The srimech was removed for Extreme Series 2, but by then the robot was quite old and lost relatively easily in its only fight of the series.

Cerberus made the heat final of Series 3, but lost in the first round of Series 4. It never competed in the main competition after these attempts, failing to qualify for Series 5 after being defeated by Tip-Top, and also failed to qualify for Series 6 after a defeat at the hands of Bulldog Breed. Cerberus did feature in both series of Extreme, with varying degrees of success. It also represented Cyprus in the First World Championship and the Commonwealth Carnage of Extreme Series 2.

Misfortune
Much like Diotoir, Cerberus encountered large amounts of misfortune regarding its main series appearances. In Series 3, it was forced to remove its primary weapon, the hardened steel saw, due to the recent disqualification of Pussycat in the heats. In Series 4, having added a new steel tongue to act as a crusher with the head, however the team was informed that the new design for Cerberus was over the weight limit, and was then forced to remove the heavy head in order to meet the weight constraints. With the head gone, any potency that the new crushing weapon had was lost, and Cerberus was dispatched by reserves V-Max in the first round. In Series 5, it was merely dispatched in the qualifiers by Tip-Top, and then by Bulldog Breed the following series.

Also like Diotoir, Cerberus still managed to defeat two opponents in the Third Wars, before getting flipped over in the heat final, and then returning as a seed in the Fourth Wars, only to be immobilised in the first round by another flipper, almost immediately. Both also competed in the First World Championship with their own difficulties and restrictions, where, incidentally, they fought each other in the Quarter Finals.

Both robots were brought out of retirement for Extreme Series 2, and each lost the only battle that they took part in, fairly easily, never to compete in Robot Wars again.

Series 3
In the first round of the Third Wars, Cerberus went up against the experienced Killerhurtz. Killerhurtz started as the more aggressive machine, as the axe-wielding robot created a hole in the titanium armour of Cerberus. It then axed the head of Cerberus, but caused no damage as the tip was in mid-air at the time of impact. Suddenly, Killerhurtz drove away for a run-up but drove straight into the open pit, this put Cerberus through to the next round of the heat. In the second round, Cerberus fought Grand Finalists in the First Wars, Griffon. This proved to be another relatively simple encounter for Cerberus, as Griffon broke down immediately, meaning all that Cerberus had to do was just get a hold of it and steer the immobile Griffon into the pit. This battle took the record for the shortest ever Robot Wars battle at just 10 seconds, a record it would hold until the Seventh Wars. Cerberus went through to the heat final after this victory, here, it went up against Thing 2. This battle was another quick fight for Cerberus, however this one didn't go in favour of the newcomers - the two robots drove at each other but missed at the start. Thing 2 then pushed Cerberus, but Cerberus then steered away and nearly flipped Thing 2. Cerberus the rammed Thing 2 into the arena side wall. Thing 2 then pushed Cerberus onto the flame pit, but then drove into Matilda's CPZ. Thing 2 then got away before it could suffer damage from the house robot and drove at Cerberus again, this time Thing 2 managed to scoop Cerberus onto its wedge shape and eventually turn it over, breaking the tail at the same time. Cerberus was declared immobilised and was subsequently eliminated from the competition.

Cerberus also represented Cyprus in the First World Championship, which took place around the Series 3 period. Cerberus got through the first round by default after the American entrants Mauler was disqualified for being decidedly too dangerous for the arena. "Of course we're relieved! Did you expect we're lunatics or something?"

- Captain Theo Kaccoufa after Mauler is disqualified

In the Quarter Final round, Cerberus faced Diotoir, who was represening the Republic of Ireland. The Irish robot had a slow start but when it did get going it began to dominate the battle. After several attempted flips and a shove towards the pit, Diotoir finally managed to get in underneath Cerberus with its lifting arm, and slowly turn to force Cerberus to turn over onto its back, this eventually happened and Cerberus was declared immobile. Cerberus was then attcked by the incoming house robots, whilst Diotoir was set alight, before Sir Killalot then pushed Cerberus down the pit, eliminating Cyprus from the First World Championship.

Series 4
Cerberus was seeded number 18 for the Fourth Wars and competed in the final heat, but after being too close to the weight limit, the head had to be removed, removing any potency that its weapon had. Onslaught and Terror Bull were originally the other participants in it's first round melee, before Onslaught withdrew, and V-Max took it's place. After Cerberus was steering to stay away from any trouble at all, it made a frontal attack towards V-Max, Cerberus landed on its flipper, then V-Max flipped it onto its back, declaring it immobile already. Sergeant Bash then shoved Cerberus into the pit of oblivion, eliminating the 18th seeds from the competition in such embarrasing style. "The dog that guards the gates of hell rolls over and has his tummy tickled!"

- Craig Charles

Extreme 1
"This beast is Cerberus, and he's ready to tear the opposition to pieces!"

- Theo Kaccoufa

Cerberus competed in both series of Robot Wars Extreme. In the first series (where the team added a srimech), it competed in the Tag Team Terror tournament alongside Thermidor 2. The two had an easy victory in the first round, where they went up against S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Sumpthing. Despite Cerberus suffering from problems with its main weapon, S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Cerberus had a ponderous pushing match, S.M.I.D.S.Y. then sliced into the tail of Cerberus, but then lost control and drove into its teammate Sumpthing, S.M.I.D.S.Y. then charged out again and slammed into the angle grinder at the opposite end of the arena, as it was stuck in forwardc drive. Thermidor 2 then came out and quickly dispatched Sumpthing by flipping it over, using Cerberus as a chock. Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. were then counted out and Cerberus and Thermidor 2 went through to the second round. Unable to fix the main weapon, the team removed it for the battle where they went up against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies. However, a lot of in-fighting occured between the dog and lobster, until Thermidor 2 eventually broke down completely over the flame pit, the lobster was counted out by Refbot, leaving Cerberus alone. Cerberus managed to hang on to a judges' decision as it managed to avoid the weaponry of it's opponents for a while, but Thermidor 2's immobilisation easily put the team out.

The team removed the srimech at the end of the first Extreme series as they'd already failed to qualify for the Fifth Wars, this was also the last time Cerberus featured on the televised show until the next series of Extreme.

Extreme 2


Coming out of retirement, an old, less than shiny Cerberus returned in the second series of Extreme to compete in the Commonwealth Carnage event, once again representing Cyprus. It would battle Panic Attack, Terror Turtle and Crushtacean in the first round. Cerberus was the quickest to the centre of the arena as it charged into Panic Attack, attempting to shove it but then glancing away. It was then spinning madly in an attempt to shy Panic Attack off but they kept coming back for more. Cerberus was then targeted by Crushtacean, Cerberus tried to out steer the crab robot but were soon seized by the claws, Crushtacean, still with Cerberus in its clutches, activated the pit release button, dragged it around the arena before eventually dumping it into the pit after just 49 seconds of fighting for Cerberus. "SEND IT UP!!! SEND IT UP!!!"

- Chants from the Cerberus team when they went into the pit

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 5

Series Record

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

Trivia

 * Cerberus held the record for the shortest ever Robot Wars battle at 10 seconds in Series 3, this stood as the shortest battle until the Seventh Wars, it also forever stood as the shortest battle that didn't involve an OotA.