Firestorm

"We're Firestorm, and you're gonna burn"

- Graham Bone

Firestorm (spelt Fire Storm in Series 3) was a long time competitor on the British show Robot Wars. In total there were five Firestorm robots, but they were all essentially upgraded versions of the same basic machine. The rough design of the robot, which was reused for each one, was a wedge driven by two wheels in the base of the rear, minimizing ground clearance on the front. On the front surface of the robot was a flipper mechanism, a slow bar on the first robot which was superseded by a quicker panel flipper on the later four, which served as the main weapon. The original Fire Storm also featured a set of conveyor belts on the wedge that were removed for Firestorm 2, which had an inverted paint scheme. This was changed back for Extreme 1 and remained the same until Series 7. The Firestorm series of robots competed through Series 3 to 7. The team also entered with the less successful Groundhog in Series 2.

The Firestorm robot was one of the most successful in Robot Wars history, holding the record for the most battles ever won in across the main competition, reaching five consecutive semi-finals. It reached the Grand Final in Series 3, 5 and 6, finishing in third place on each occasion. It was also the only robot that was able to flip over Mr. Psycho, and broke several records - the quickest battle record it set in its first ever battle stood for several years, and its final victory against Mute allowed it to take the record of most Out of the Arena flips from Chaos 2. However, despite this huge amount of success, the team only won one official honour in its history; the Commonwealth Carnage Championship in Extreme Series 2.

Like many Robot Wars competitors the Firestorm team entered Techno Games. The team entered the football tournament with a robot called Snowstorm which was a white and blue, weaponless Firestorm. Snowstorm was teamed with Kat's Whiskers from the Kat 3 team.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Firestorm/Pullback

Series 3
The original Firestorm had a very narrow lifting arm and four conveyor belts on the body. In the first round Firestorm smashed Crash Gnasha into the wall, turning it over. It was flipped over once by Facet, before self-righting and flipping Facet on to its side, from which it couldn't self-right. In the Heat Final it flipped Diotoir over once before pushing it onto the flame pit, where it caught fire.

In the Semi-Finals it didn't have to do much against Pitbull as it was turned over by an Arena Spike. Firestorm caused a surprise by defeating the reigning champions Panic Attack in round 2 by repeatedly flipping its opponent and getting Panic Attack stuck up against the wall.

In the Grand Final Firestorm made history by being the first Robot flipped out of the arena. Firestorm and Chaos 2 circled each other before Chaos 2 flipped it over and then pushed it up against the wall, from which Chaos 2 flipped it out of the arena, causing an immediate cease. Firestorm won the play-off and third place by default due to the damage sustained by Steg-O-Saw-Us in its previous fight against Hypno-Disc.

Series 4
The 5th seeded Firestorm 2 easily dispatched of The Morgue, in the heat eliminator to qualify with Scar. Firestorm flipped The Morgue against the arena wall, where the barrel-shaped machine could not self-right. After a long and extremely uneventful fight in round two, Firestorm beat Bolt From The Blue on a close judges decision after Firestorm was unable to trouble Bold From the Blue's low ground clearance. Firestorm faced a reinstated Morgue in the heat final, attempting a couple of times to softly flip The Morgue so its shape would not help it self-right, but without success. Firestorm flipped The Morgue into Matilda, and flipped it again, however the Welsh machine self-righted both times time due to its shape. Firestorm pushed Morgue into the wall, but again did not successfully turn it over. The Morgue came onto the attack, pushing Firestorm around and getting underneath the Durham competitor. As the pit descended, Firestorm pushed Morgue across it, getting it wedged on the open pit, however Firestorm drove in. The team of the Morgue celebrated, thinking that they were victorious, however the judges awarded the win to Firestorm 2 based on the battle up until that point.

After a fast and furious semi-final battle against the unseeded Dominator 2, where Firestorm 2 flipped its opponent over several times, Firestorm was eliminated on its third judges decision of the competition.

Firestorm 2 entered the Sumo Basho tournament, but was pushed off in 4 seconds after driving up Shunt's scoop. It also entered the pinball, scoring 135 Pts, equal seventh with Hypno-Disc.

Extreme 1
Firestorm 3 took part in the Robot Wars Extreme All-Stars Championship after having reached a Grand-Final and Semi-Final in the previous 2 UK Championships. In the first round, it was drawn against Panic Attack who it had taken the crown off in Series 3. Firestorm 3 immediately turned Panic Attack over before flipping it against the arena wall where the Series 2 champions couldn't recover. Firestorm 3 then fought Wild Thing in the Quarter-Final. After a few flips on Wild Thing all over the arena and pursuing it into the house robots, Wild-Thing had found itself with its srimech open and pinned off the ground. In the Semi-Finals, Razer lifted and punctured Firestorm 3 and was axed by Shunt several times in the last 10 seconds of the fight. The fight went to a judges decision and Firestorm 3 was eliminated.

Firestorm 3 also took part in a Vengeance battle with Diotior and managed to win after flipping Diotior over once where it couldn't self-right.

Reaching the All-Stars Semi-Finals also gave Firestorm 3 a place in the 2nd World Championships representing the UK along with Chaos 2, Razer & Tornado. It did well in Round 1 flipping both the Dutch NEAT Machine and Swedish W70 over, but it couldn't get its flipper into contact with the American Drillzilla who shoved Firestorm 3 all over the arena. Both Firestorm 3 and Drillzilla were still mobile at the end, but the judges awarded the win to Drillzilla instead of Firestorm 3.

Series 5
Seeded 7th this time around, Firestorm 3 sustained major damage to its flipper from Matilda's flywheel in its very first fight. It had already disposed of Bee Capitator, flipping over the furry robot, so it moved through. The team repaired the flipper for the next round and had immobilised Sir Chromalot within five seconds of the bout. It progressed to the Heat Final where it toppled Reactor 2 out of the arena.

Firestorms opening semi-final battle against Hypno-Disc was over after just one attack from the destructive weapon. Sir Killalot then pitted Firestom, who had promised so much. It came back to win the Losers melee, outmatching Wheely Big Cheese and Panic Attack making it to the second round, although Panic Attack nearly got Firestorm out of the arena at the end. There it met Pussycat where its wedge shape and flipper allowed it to dominate the battle throwing Pussycat around the arena but ending on a victorious judges decision.

Firestorm was expected to convincingly lose its grand final fight against Razer as it had done in the All-Stars championship. Razer started strongly damaging one of Firestorm's rams, disabling the flipper. Firestorm came back to shove Razer all around the arena and across the edge of the pit three times bring the battle to one of the closest judges decisions ever. Firestorm came out on top on aggression and control but Razer edging it on damage. It wrecked its revenge in a fast and furious rematch with Hypno-Disc for third place, with its flipper still unusable from the previous fight, they had used the weight to add extra armour that enabled it to stand up to the blade of Hypno-Disc, although Firestorm did lose its wheel armour on both sides exposing its tires. After a long drive, it rammed Hypno-Disc down the pit and dove in with it. The judges called for a rematch, which Hypno-Disc couldn't comply with, having damaged the robot when it hit the pit giving third place to the Firestorm team.

Series 6
Firestorm 4 flipped over Colossus in the CPZ, leaving it unable to flip itself onto its wheels, as it was up against the side wall. Meanwhile, it also flipped over Cedric Slammer, leaving it immobile, and for good measure, threw Mega Hurts 2 over, causing its monitor to break off. In the second round against Barbaric Response, Firestorm 4 flipped the Barber machine several times, and after getting beneath Refbot and flipping it on its side, it pushed Barbaric Response into a position from which it could not escape. In the heat final against X-Terminator, Firestorm and X-Terminator circled each other, with X-Terminator getting beneath Firestorm 4 and attempting to flip it over with its scoop. After almost flipping X-Terminator into the pit, Firestorm 4 catapulted X-Terminator into the side wall, leaving it feebly attempted to self-right. Firestorm 4 then attacked and flipped Shunt onto its side. X-Terminator fell onto its back after trying to self-right.

Firestorm 4 flipped 13 Black against the side wall, and 13 Black's self-righter had broken, leaving it immobile. Moving through, Firestorm 4 fought S3, who it pushed up onto the side wall, so that the weight of the disc and wheel caused S3 to fall over the wall and out of the arena.

Firestorm put up a fight against Tornado, flipping it over so that the wedge became useless. However, flipping it back onto the front caused Firestorm 4's demise, because Tornado got beneath the wedged robot and pushed it into the open pit. However, Firestorm 4 won the playoff against Terrorhurtz; despite having a chunk of armour torn off by the deadly axe, Terrorhurtz lost drive and Firestorm 4 placed 3rd.

Extreme 2
Firestorm 4 fought in the All-Stars tournament. Its first battle was over early as Bigger Brother had flipped S3 out of the arena before it could get into its stride but it took out the frustration onto Dantomkia in the next round. Despite being similarly matched on paper Firestorm dominated the battle throwing Dantomkia over until its safety link was knocked out. The episode final passed in similar fashion, Bigger Brother put up more of a fight than Dantomkia had but still couldn't avoid being flipped and pitted sending Firestorm to the All-Stars grand final. It was matched up with Razer, a robot it had been beaten by twice before. Firestorm had a much better start in this encounter slipping straight under Razer's front (a rare feat) and pushing it into Dead Metal. Razer brought its claw down into a battery and seemed to leave Firestorm with no forward or reverse drive. It was eventually pitted despite an effort to escape.

Firestorm 4 also represented England in the Commonwealth Carnage. It started its first round promisingly throwing the Northern Ireland entry, Weld-Dor 3, out of the arena in the opening seconds and quickly following it up with Bondi-Titch, the Australian entry. Firestorm beat Panic Attack (for the fourth time in the show's history) by flipping it against the arena side wall where it couldn't self right. Firestorm finished by spectacularly flipping Mr Psycho, the only robot to do so before or since. It went on to defeat Crushtacean in the final and win the Commonwealth Carnage.

Series 7
Firestorm 5 held nothing back, flipping Bamm Bamm and one of the Black and Blue twins over. Steering Bamm Bamm onto the pit, it activated the release and Bamm Bamm descended into oblivion. Firestorm 5 then finished the bout by pitting the already immobilised Blue. In the second round, Firestorm 5 tossed Reptirron the Second across the arena and into the wall, where it was unable to self right and eventually gave up. Charging Reptirron the Second, Firestorm 5 flipped it out to reach the heat final. Against the impressive Ripper, Firestorm held nothing back, flipping Ripper around the arena until it broke down, leaving Firestorm 5 to flip it out of the arena and reach the semi-finals once more.

In this, Firestorm easily overturned the miniscule Mute, whose flipper was far too powerful to self-right, and it kept landing on its back. Firestorm lined up Mute and charged at it, flipping it out of the arena for the win. This brought Firestorm 5 up against the New Blood Champion, Storm 2. A close battle that involved a lot of ramming and pushing finally cultimated in Firestorm 5 being pitted.

Firestorm 5 re-entered the All Stars. However, none of the robots attacked each other, and Firestorm 5 charged Shunt immediately, flipping it onto its side. Throughout the battle, Firestorm and its opponents attacked Cassius Chrome, until Firestorm 5 fell into the pit. It was soon joined by Bigger Brother. This was the only time that a Panic Attack and Firestorm battle had Panic Attack go through.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 34
 * Losses: 11

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered with Groundhog
 * Series 3: Third Place
 * Series 4: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 5: Third Place
 * Series 6: Third Place
 * Series 7: Semi-Finals, Round 2