The Drop Zone

The Drop Zone was an arena hazard introduced in 2002. Immobilised 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 first UK TV appearance, as an accessory for the Minibot Arena, and in the both Extreme Destruction games.
 * In the PC/Xbox version of Extreme Destruction, items are dropped on mobile robots who stay on the cross for a certain length of time, and multiple items can be dropped in one fight.
 * The Featherweight Mammoth was the only non-heavyweight to have a Drop Zone item dropped on it.
 * Panic Attack was the only former 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.
 * In Series 7 Hassocks Hog 2 and Zorro both managed to escape the Drop Zone by driving away, having been dropped on the X after being counted out.
 * In Round 1 of the third All Stars tournament, a washing machine was dropped in an attempt to stop the competitors' attacks on the house robots, although it ultimately missed.
 * 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.