Terror Turtle

"It's a turtle"

- The robot's strength and weakness.

Terror Turtle was a box-sectioned robot from West Sussex that fought in Extreme 2 and Series 7, and later the 2016 series of Robot Wars.

The team often joked about the robot being a turtle, listing it as being a strength and a weakness in the robot's statistic boards. Because the captain was originally from Canada, Terror Turtle represented that country in two international events.

Design
It was designed to resemble a large turtle, covered in aluminium plate and a decorative 4mm fibreglass top, which proved to be weak against vertical crushers like Snake Bite's. In Terror Turtle's debut in the New Blood Championship, it was armed with a large 90cm 360 degree rotating iron bar with axe heads, raised 10cm off the arena floor. "Terror Turtle is like an egg armed with a sledgehammer! He's a bit weak, but if he hits someone with this rotating bar, nothing's gonna stand in his way!"

- John Frizell on the spinning bar weapon.

This was exchanged in Series 7 for a large 45cm, 9kg spinning disc. The removal of the bar weapon meant that Terror Turtle was now, invertible, but in all guises, Terror Turtle's wheels remained completely exposed. In 2016, Terror Turtle's weight was reduced from 96kg to 86kg, to make way for a clusterbot that fights alongside it, named The Hatchling. Weighing 21.5kg, The Hatchling is a static wedge made of 3mm mild steel that intends to impede the movement of other robots by wedging underneath them. Otherwise, Terror Turtle was upgraded to use modern day internals, including new speed controllers that removed the former half-second lag that the robot's controls suffered from in 2003.

Qualification
Terror Turtle was originally built to enter Series 5 of Robot Wars, and in the qualifiers, Terror Turtle won its battle, but regardless was not chosen to compete in the series due to the robot lacking power in its drive.

"I won my fight when the impact of my rotor knocked out a circuit breaker my opponent had installed to protect his drive motors. But they declined to accept TT because it was 'too feeble' in its drive [which was true]."

- John Frizell, on his Series 5 qualifier

In its Series 6 qualifier, Terror Turtle had an immediate advantage as one of its opponents was immobile to begin with, but after Sumpthing immobilised another potential qualifier, Terror Turtle's promising start was lost when an overhead rotor broke in half, and due to damage Sumpthing caused to Terror Turtle's wheels, it lost to Sumpthing under head-to-head conditions, after the two robots became locked together.

Terror Turtle's armour was heavily damaged by Fluffy when qualifying for Series 7, though it remained functional until the end of the qualifier, which was won by Gyrobot. Terror Turtle finally qualified after being given a discretionary place.

Terror Turtle's participation in the 2016 series was first indirectly revealed in a teaser trailer released on June 25th. This trailer focused on Sabretooth, but showed a short clip of Terror Turtle within the arena alongside it.

Extreme 2
"Will this turn turtle or "terra-pin" down opponents?"

- Jonathan Pearce introduces Terror Turtle

In Extreme, Terror Turtle fought in Heat A of the New Blood, where one flip from Roobarb got Terror Turtle stuck upside down. Roobarb flipped Terror Turtle back onto its wheels, but one end of the metal bar was caught over the arena wall, preventing it from becoming fully mobile again. Mute drove into the pit, but the judges ruled that Terror Turtle had been immobile for too long, and it was subsequently eliminated.

It also represented Canada in the Commonwealth Carnage, as part of the former Commonwealth. It was fighting against Crushtacean from South Africa, Panic Attack from Wales and Cerberus from Cyprus. "We're up against it, it's going to be tough. Turtles are almost gone from the wild, and they may be gone from Robot Wars shortly too!"

- John Frizell before the first round

It spun up its bar and glanced off Panic Attack, but the impact pulled the rotor out of alignment, leaving the robot weaponless. Terror Turtle spent the rest of the battle fighting Panic Attack, who used its forks to steer Terror Turtle slowly around the arena. Terror Turtle nearly went into the pit just as Cerberus did, and after this, it seemed that Terror Turtle had lost much momentum as Crushtacean and Panic Attack fought one another. Towards the end of the battle, Terror Turtle was illegally flipped by Sir Killalot (Terror Turtle was outside the CPZ) right before cease was called. In protest, JJ Frizell held up a sign that said "Save the turtle." The battle was judged up until Sir Killalot intervened. However, it still lost the judges' decision that had been in favour of Crushtacean and Panic Attack.

Series 7
In its first UK championship appearance, Terror Turtle fought 13th seeds S.M.I.D.S.Y., the experienced Atomic and newcomers Cygnus X-1. Terror Turtle had scrapped the bar and replaced it with a small spinning disc on the front for Series 7, but the robot performed no better than before. It was flipped over straight away by Atomic. However, Terror Turtle survived this because it was now invertible having scrapped the metal bar, but it stood idle near the arena wall. As Atomic then charged in for another attack, the yellow robot flipped Terror Turtle out of the arena. As a result, Terror Turtle was eliminated from the competition.

It later represented Canada in the Third World Championship qualifiers, and was drawn against Swiss competitor Snake Bite in its qualifier battle, for the right to fight in the Third World Championship. The two robots drove around each other at the start with Terror Turtle getting the first attack in, slicing through Snake Bite's rear armour and almost cutting into its hydraulic cables. Terror Turtle then drove onto Snake Bite's wedge and was repeatedly pierced by its claw weapon, before eventually being pitted by its opponent. "Crumpled ... Canadian ... catastrophe"

- Jonathan Pearce as Snake Bite heavily damages Terror Turtle's armour

2016 Series
In the first round, Terror Turtle was drawn against former runners-up Storm 2, veterans Sabretooth and full-pressure flipper Eruption. Angela Scanlon complimented the team's green theme in the pits before their battle. Team Terror Turtle made it clear that they hoped to get involved with The Hatchling, not keeping the small robot out of the way. "I think he must be the most lovely robot in the place, let's hope his looks don't get ruined during the event!"

- John Frizell

According to the plan, The Hatchling was the more involved robot, wedging under Eruption while Terror Turtle held back. Storm 2 had targeted the turtle, and pushed it across the arena into various CPZ's, bending Terror Turtle's disc teeth, while The Hatchling overturned itself by driving over Eruption. Terror Turtle had been flipped over, and was pinned in the CPZ by Eruption and Storm 2. The Hatchling was immobilised by Eruption, after being wedged onto the arena wall where its wheels could not gain a purchase. Terror Turtle attacked the immobilised Sabretooth, although most of the sparks were generated by the arena floor. Caught off guard, Terror Turtle was thrown out of the arena by Eruption, eliminating it from the melee.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 0
 * Losses: 5

Series Record

 * Series 1-4: Did not enter
 * Series 5-6: Failed to qualify
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 1
 * 2016 Series: Round 1

Outside Robot Wars
Terror Turtle also competed in the football competition in Techno Games. For Techno Games, it was renamed Terry Turtle, and competed in the 2002 series with Bugs Buggy.

Terror Turtle is still in working condition, although it cannot compete at live events due to the rule against spinning weaponry.