Barbaric Response

"Ah, will the Barber family provide a close shave for one or two?"

- Jonathan Pearce

Barbaric Response was a competitor robot that fought in Series 6 and 7 of Robot Wars as well as the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It was entered by the Barber family from Horsham, with the family surname being the origins of the robot's name. Barbaric Response did not enjoy much success in the main series, being eliminated in the second round in Series 6 by Firestorm 4 and the first round in Series 7 after it and Kan-Opener got stuck together. However, it finished runner-up in the Tag Team Terror competition of the second series of Extreme, alongside Hydra.

Design
Barbaric Response was a small wedge shaped robot with a 10-bar titanium edged body flipper and punch ram. It was often the quickest in its heat, as it could reach 20mph, and had good pushing power, a home-made electronic interface and differential steering to improve speed and maneuverability. However, its aerial was exposed, and its aluminium armour and chassis were especially vulnerable to being significantly damaged.

Qualification
Barbaric Response failed to qualify for Series 5, fighting against Killertron 2 in its qualifier. The flipper was not working as the CO2 bottle the team had brought was out of date by nearly two years and the one lent to them by house roboteers did not fit and leaked. Instead, Barbaric Response tried ramming Killertron into the walls. This tactic worked and Killertron 2 was almost completely immobilised as it could only fire the axe, but a ram that went astray caused Barbaric Response to get half stuck on top of Killertron 2. Shunt freed Barbaric Response, Barbaric Response was still mobile so it attacked Shunt and then ran away when Shunt tried to retaliate. The pit opened and Barbaric Response tried to pit Killertron 2 but couldn't, before Shunt got revenge by pitting Barbaric Response and Killertron 2 together. Ultimately, neither robot qualified.

At the Series 6 qualifiers, Barbaric Response was drawn against Lightning, Twister and TX-108. TX-108 was forced to withdraw before the battle, and Barbaric Response won the battle, ensuring qualification to Series 6. "As the fight started we went on the attack of Twister as we considered them most dangerous of the two opponents, Lightning also seemed to have the same idea and in the initial confusion and a flip from us Twister became up ended from which they could not self right. We then took on Lightning and with a few more flips and a bit of pushing they were also over on there back. A bit more pushing and shoving against both robots to use up the time and then the fight was over, We were through and into the sixth series"

- Barbaric Response website

At the Series 7 qualifiers, Barbaric Response was drawn against its former Tag Team partner Hydra, along with an unknown spinner. It was suffering from interference, Hydra won the battle, but Barbaric Response recieved a discretionary place to qualify. "I had real trouble in getting Barbaric Response out into the arena as it appeared to have a mind of it's own, at the time I blamed the new interface board but I now believe it was plain old interference. The fight itself began well we disabled the spinner with one or two flips and then took on Hydra, we had them upside down at the side but then interference set in again leaving us a sitting duck once Hydra had righted themselves. Hydra won the fight but we were given a discretionary place so we had a few days to try and fix our problems."

- Barbaric Response website

Series 6
"We're gonna make a chicken fly!"

- Bruce Barber on his machine's flipper

Barbaric Response faced three returning machines to Robot Wars; Spirit of Scorpion, X-Terminator and Robochicken in Round 1 of Series 6. It attacked Spirit of Scorpion, but was pushed into the side wall. Escaping, it pushed Spirit of Scorpion into Dead Metal's CPZ. Not long after, Barbaric Response and Spirit of Scorpion were pinned together, with only Barbaric Response making some sluggish movements. X-Terminator then pitted Barbaric Response, but it was still through to the next round. Much to Zac Barber's dread, it was drawn against the third seed Firestorm 4. Barbaric Response activated the pit and flipped Firestorm, but did not overturn them. Barbaric tried to pin Firestorm down, but this allowed Firestorm to get underneath them and push them towards Growler. Barbaric Response dodged the House Robot, and managed to avoid being flipped by Firestorm for a short time. Firestorm eventually flipped them, only for Barbaric Response to self-right. After flipping Refbot, Firestorm 4 flipped Barbaric Response towards the pit, which they avoided, before flipping them onto the side wall, where it could not self-right. However, with no Refbot to end the fight officially, cease was called without any damage done to Barbaric Response. "Barbaric Response were too slow to respond..."

- Jonathan Pearce

Extreme 2
Barbaric Response completed in the Tag Team Terror competition, paired with Hydra. In the first round, they faced Mighty Mouse and Velocirippa, with Hydra and Velocirippa starting the battle first. After Hydra flipped, immobilised and pushed Velocirippa onto the flames, Barbaric Response chased Mighty Mouse and flipped it into Shunt, before pushing Mighty Mouse into Matilda's flywheel. This attack immobilised Mighty Mouse, before Hydra pushed it into the pit. In Round 2, Barbaric Response and Hydra faced X-Terminator and Mini Morg. Hydra and X-Terminator started the battle, with Hydra flipping X-Terminator into Dead Metal before Mini Morg lifted it. Barbaric Response then flipped Mini Morg, who rolled over, before pushing X-Terminator around. However, it was briefly caught by Dead Metal's pincers, only to escape and tag Hydra, which flipped Mini Morg twice. Mini Morg was then immobilised following an attack from Growler, and both Barbaric Response and Hydra won the subsequent judges' decision as a result. This ensured that Barbaric Response and Hydra went through to the final, where they faced Bulldog Breed and Robochicken. Hydra was flipped by Bulldog Breed early on, but Barbaric Response responded by flipping Bulldog Breed over and re-righting Hydra. However, it broke down shortly afterwards, and was pushed into a CPZ before being pecked at by Robochicken. With Hydra left unable to self-right after being flipped over by Bulldog Breed, both it and Barbaric Response were eliminated and sustained severe damage from Mr. Psycho, who used his hammer to smash the rear panel clean off Barbaric Response. "Up against Bulldog Breed, they've met the competition's finest individual machine"

- Jonathan Pearce

As a result, Barbaric Response and Hydra would finish as runners-up in the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror.

Series 7
In the Series 7 eliminator, Barbaric Response was against Annihilator champions Kan-Opener and previous Round 1 drop-outs, Big Nipper and The Grim Reaper, who had not fought since Series 5 and Series 3 respectively. Barbaric Response slid underneath Big Nipper and tossed it a short distance across the arena. Kan-Opener then grabbed hold of Barbaric Response, while The Grim Reaper tried to flip it. Barbaric Response, still being gripped by Kan-Opener, was pushed around the arena. Big Nipper attacked Barbaric Response, which was still being held by Kan-Opener, despite the attempts by Growler to separate the machines. Kan-Opener tried to push Barbaric Response into the pit in the last few seconds, but Barbaric Response resisted and cease was called. The judges made their decision and eliminated Barbaric Response, along with Kan-Opener.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 3

Outside Robot Wars
Barbaric Response continued to compete at Roaming Robots events, and performed very well for an unchanged robot, taking out robots including the improved versions of Kronic the Wedgehog and Iron-Awe, and the team also fought with a featherweight named Barbaric Bruce.