Kronic the Wedgehog

"I love beer"

- Written on the robot

Kronic the Wedgehog was a blue box-wedged robot with a flipper that competed in Series 4-7 of Robot Wars. Its name was a pun on the popular Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. Kronic, as it was nicknamed, appeared in four wars. It was renamed Kronic 2 for Series 5 and 6, before reverting to their original name for the seventh series. The fifth wars model was a good deal bigger than the original, and had wedge flipper rather than the box lifter of its predecessor, in addition to flammable foam spikes. The series 6 model had two flippers, the other being a top mounted side-flipper, similar to Lightning, which it retained for Series 7. Despite the weaponry, they were knocked out in the first and second rounds of the remaining three wars. Kronic was well-known for the "Kronic face", which many admitted frightening; an angry face, bearing its teeth in a glare. Its best performance was in Series 4, where it made the heat final after helping to knock out the seeded Gravedigger. Notably, in Series 6 it also managed to flip R.O.C.S. and the former champion Panic Attack over in the eliminators. Despite competing from Series 4 onwards, Kronic was never seen competing in an Extreme Series.

Kronic has become far more successful in recent years. Running in the live circuits, its flipper was modified so that it the length of the entire front wedge, and is now capable of throwing robots from the arena at height, doing so to famed faces such as Behemoth, Big Nipper and Iron Awe. It won the Winter Tour of 2005. In May 2010 it was sold to Team MAD as Team Kronic retired from building and operating heavyweight robots.

Series 4
Kronic the Wedgehog met Thermidor 2 and the number 13 seed Gravedigger. Kronic the Wedgehog drove into Thermidor 2, while Gravedigger drove into it. Kronic the Wedgehog then lifted Thermidor 2, which in turn tried to flip Kronic, but failed. Gravedigger then got under Kronic the Wedgehog, but its weapon was not working. Kronic the Wedgehog rammed Thermidor 2, and part of Thermidor 2's claw fell off. Catching Gravedigger, Kronic lifted it onto the arena wall, so that its wheels were off the ground. Thermidor 2 flipped Gravedigger onto its side, and the seeded robot was eliminated. Kronic progressed it through the second round as well, using its flipper. Darke Destroyer's lack of srimech allowed it to be immobilised easily in this manner. Kronic made it to the heat final, where it met the lobster Thermidor again. This battle had a slow start. Both robots tried to flip each other, until Thermidor 2 put its flipper through that of Kronic the Wedgehog. Thermidor 2 then snapped Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper off. The House robots attacked, and Kronic was pitted.

Series 5
Kronic 2 showed good aggression early on in its eliminator against King B Powerworks, but the flipper wasn't as powerful as in future appearances and couldn't flip King B over. King B then took control of the bout by pushing Kronic around, bending the flipper and putting holes in the shell. Kronic's foam spikes caught fire and King B's rear spinning blade did some more damage. It went to the judges, but the result was clear. Kronic 2 was eliminated.

Series 6
The new, sleeker Kronic 2 was beset with problems before the tournament even began. During the qualifiers, it was found to be overweight, so to compensate, the team had to remove the robot's bottom panels.

Kronic 2 fought against R.O.C.S., Panic Attack and Corkscrew. It was immediately targeted by R.O.C.S., who pierced its flipper. However, a glancing blow from Corkscrew seperated the pair, leaving Kronic free to activate the pit, which ultimately caused the demise of Corkscrew. After this, Kronic flipped R.O.C.S. onto its back, moving through to the next round convincingly. Here, it was attacked by Terrorhurtz repeatedly. Terrorhurtz sent Kronic to Sgt Bash's CPZ, and then Terrorhurtz pushed Kronic around to the side of the arena. Kronic attacked Growler, using its flipper, before it stopped moving and was counted out by Refbot.

Series 7
Kronic the Wedgehog had lined up in a heat against Thermidor 2, which featured a potential grudge match. However, it was placed up against The Kraken, Pinser and Cobra in the first round.

Cobra posed no challenge as it barely moved, but Pinser leaped onto the attack, piercing through Kronic's flipper. However, Pinser then attacked Cobra, but burnt out on the flame pit, effectively immobilising both robots as Cobra was still in Pinser's grip. Kronic then faced a seemingly easy battle in Mighty Mouse, and indeed began strongly, hurling Mighty Mouse across the arena effortlessly. However, Kronic suddenly seized up and Mighty Mouse rammed it into Growler's CPZ, where its flipper crumpled agaisnt the side wall and it was rendered immobile, leaving Mighty Mouse as the unlikely victors. "After the fight we found out that it was a seized motor which caused our downfall, not a broken speed controller as I originally suspected. The motor burned out because the driver and driven sprockets became misaligned, causing a lot of tension on the motor."

- David Lang

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 4

Series Record

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