Scorpion

"They practised against an old tumble dryer to perfect the Scorpion's sting!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Scorpion (known as Spirit of Scorpion in Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars) was a competitor robot that was based on the arachnid of the same name, fighting in Series 4, 6 and 7 of Robot Wars, in addition to the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. There were two primary versions of the robot - the fibreglass shelled robot designed to resemble its namesake, and the flat-bodied, invertible robot that retained the scorpion as a mascot. Despite its powerful weaponry in the later series, its biggest claim to fame (and one of its few victories) is coming in as a runner up in the Series 4 Tag Team Terror, paired up with Firestorm 2.

Scorpion (Series 4)
Scorpion was originally built of fibreglass in the shape of a large scorpion. It featured a chainsaw nose, a pair of cutting discs beneath the scorpion's pincers, and a "sting in the tail" rear spinning disc capable of spinning up to 140mph. The front discs were electrically powered and capable of cutting through "90% of things we come up against" (according to John Bell). It had a top speed of only 7mph (just over half of its opponent Reactor's top speed of 12mph).

Its vulnerability to being flipped and slow top speed cost it against Reactor, 101 and King B3, all of whom easily outperformed it in the battles.

Scorpion (Extreme 1)
Little is known about the version of Scorpion entered into Extreme 1, as its only battle was a spectacle battle against the House Robots, and its stats were not displayed. It was more conventionally designed than its predecessor, though it retained the scorpion design and disc weapons. In place of the chainsaw and decorative head, Scorpion featured a lifting arm. This version of Scorpion was also noticeably faster than its predecessor.

Spirit of Scorpion (Series 6)
Spirit of Scorpion was an entirely new robot, swapping the scorpion design for a flat arrowhead shape capable of running inverted. It retained the "sting in its tail" - a 40cm rear mounted cutting disc, capable of spinning at 7000RPM - and featured simple ramming spikes at the front. The robot's weakness was noted as poor transmitter reception, especially when flipped.

Scorpion (Series 7)
Spirit of Scorpion returned to its original name, but lost its trademark orange paint job, option instead for a black colour scheme. The disc was powered by a Lem motor at 36v and capable of running at 5,500RPM. The top speed of the blade was 360mph but was initially 140mph.

In Series 7, Scorpion finally managed to advance through the heat. However, its run ended against Dantomkia.

Qualification
In Series 4, Mentorn allowed Scorpion into the main competition without a qualifier, as they thought it would look good in the arena.

The Scorpion model used in Extreme 1 failed to qualify for Robot Wars: The Fifth Wars.

Spirit of Scorpion qualified for Series 6, managing to defeat King B Powerworks in the qualifiers.

Scorpion managed to rip apart Killer Carrot 2 and Sir Chromalot to qualify for Series 7.

"I still have in my shed a piece of Killer Carrot that he gave us from the damage we caused him. As for Sir Chromalot, he was swept up with a broom!"

- John Bell

Series 4
Scorpion's first ever fight in the UK tournament saw it up against the 27th seed Sir Chromalot, alongside another newcomer Reactor. "A lot of loving, tender work has gone into the creation of Scorpion, and I wonder how long it'll last!"

- Jonathan Pearce just before Reactor topples Scorpion

It got into a close range pushing match with the other two robots, and Sir Chromalot speared through its armour and punctured its tyre. Reactor came at it from the rear and pushed it towards the arena wall. Sir Chromalot pressured it, and Reactor charged in and flipped it with its wedge. Unable to self-right, Scorpion was pushed onto the flame pit, where it was burnt and its tail was cut off by Sergeant Bash. Bash then torched the stump that was once the tail, setting it alight as Dead Metal sliced into the baseplate. Sir Killalot plucked it off of the ground, dropping it in the centre of the arena as cease was called. "They [the Scorpion team] would also like to thank John's wife Pip, she let them design and build Scorpion on the dining room table. She had to delay cooking cheese on toast, instead she has "Scorpion rarebit", about to be dumped into the pit by Sir Killalot!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Sir Killalot carries Scorpion around the arena, whilst Bash attacks Scorpion with his flamethrower

Scorpion also took part in the Sumo Basho tournament where it placed 9th. It survived Shunt's first blow, but was pushed off sideways after just over 9 seconds, landing neatly on top of the tyres.

Scorpion later competed in the Tag Team Terror competition alongside Firestorm 2. The two defeated Bigger Brother and Plunderbird 4 on a judges' decision, despite Scorpion being flipped over and burnt as it was in the main competition, Firestorm 2 was able to flip around Bigger Brother and Plunderbird, who eventually broke down, with only token help from Scorpion.

In the final against King B3 and 101, Scorpion was forced to fight alone after Firestorm 2 broke down after its first charge. It was pushed around the arena by both robots already going at a very sluggish and eventually left virtually immobile itself next to its fallen partner with one of its wheels only partly working, with both opponents immobilised, King B3 and 101 decided to fight each other before cease was eventually called.

Extreme 1
Scorpion's only appearance throughout the two series of Robot Wars Extreme was a minor appearance in the first series, in the House Robot Rebellion alongside Plunderbird 5 and Stinger. In the battle, Scorpion proved much more sluggish than the other two and stayed out of the action at first, until Plunderbird 5 was pitted. Shunt then axed Scorpion's top. No visual damage was caused but Scorpion was pinned by Shunt and couldn't move, Shunt then dragged Scorpion around the arena for a while, later pitting Scorpion along with the already pitted Plunderbird 5, just as Matilda entered the arena, leaving Stinger to fight the cause alone.

Series 6
"Bright, colourful, strong armour, destructive spinning disc and front rams, is invertible, but is not too responsive when flipped."

- Jonathan Pearce introduces Spirit of Scorpion

A new, invertible version of Scorpion, named Spirit of Scorpion, was entered into the Sixth Wars against previous semi finalists X-Terminator, veterans Robochicken and newcomers Barbaric Response. It was rendered immobile mid-way through the fight, with Robochicken flipped over by X-Terminator, when X-Terminator then pushed Barbaric Response into the pit. A controversial judges' decision decided that Spirit of Scorpion had been immobile for too long before Barbaric Response was pitted, and was thus eliminated.

Series 7
"Looks deadly, but others have drawn its sting in the past."

- Jonathan Pearce as Scorpion enters the arena

For this series, the team kept the design from Spirit of Scorpion, but it was repainted black and given its original name again. It competed against Team Vader's new robot IG-88, Round 1 drop-outs The Stag and newcomers Tomahawk in Round 1, it began by pushing The Stag around the arena. But with Tomahawk immobilised by IG-88, it then turned its attention to pushing the statue-esque machine around with The Stag still in pursuit. But when The Stag reversed into the pit and Tomahawk being counted out, it also attacked IG-88, who tore off Scorpion's front panel, exposing its batteries.

Scorpion survived to go through to Round 2, where it fought the 5th seeds Dantomkia. Scorpion was able to slice into Dantomkia's side in the opening attack, but from then on, Scorpion found itself being flipped constantly around the arena by Dantomkia, nearly flipping it out at one end before scooping it up and charging Scorpion in an attempt to flip it out at the other end of the arena, however they also failed to do so here. Dantomkia then infiltrated Shunt's CPZ, who then get out of the way, to allow the seeded robot to finally flip Scorpion out of the arena.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 5

Robot Wars Live Events
Although Scorpion itself has not appeared at any Robot Wars live events, its successor, Titan, fought at 2013's event in Guildford. Team Batter made their personal Robot Wars Live Event debut in June 2013 with Dantomkia mk4.

In 2016 Team Scorpion announced that a new Scorpion would be returning for live events later in the year, but due to being in planning stages would be unable to apply for the televised reboot.

Outside Robot Wars
Scorpion competed in Techno Games, under the name Ridgeback. Ridgeback entered the Tug of War competition and the Sumo. Razerback lost its first sumo and Tug of War match to Hellbound and Storm Chaser. They built Collosus for the Tug of War of Techno Games 2003 but the event was cancelled.

Scorpion continued to battle on the live circuit after Robot Wars started its 11-year hiatus. For a while, it stuck to using the same design it had in Series 7, but was mostly unable to use the disc because of safety concerns. As such, it was later rebuilt, and the old disc weapon was replaced with a new double-headed pickaxe weapon, similar to that of Terrorhurtz. This weapon came from Hammertime which became a circular rambot. It was rebuilt and combined with the Team's other Heavyweight, Fortis, in late 2012 to become Titan. The team also competed on the Featherweight circuit outside of Robot Wars with Scorpion Junior which started out as a vertical spinner but was redesigned with a horizontal spinner similar to Fluffy and renamed Scorpion Evolution.

They also built a heavyweight called BatterBot which sported Dantomkia's colour scheme before it was sold to Team Toon in 2007, around the same time in which Dantomkia was also sold. Team Toon then repainted and renamed Batterbot as And His Army, before it was rebuilt by John Findlay and renamed again as Toon Raider.

Trivia
"Scorpion still exists to this day, and it is Scorpion's fault that the arena build rules in this country were changed. She is just too powerful now."

- John Bell


 * Since Robot Wars ended, there has been a ban on heavy rotating weapons in the Heavyweight Championships for safety reasons. Scorpion proved to be the main cause for this movement.
 * The Series 4 version of Scorpion featured in the opening credits of Robot Wars Extremes 1 and 2 and also Series' 5 and 6. This means that technically, Scorpion is the competitor robot that appeared in the most Robot Wars episodes at 68 (ignoring highlights reels).
 * Scorpion was originally called Locutus, named after Captain Jean-Luc Picard's Borg personality from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The robot consisted of the same basic electronics and arsenal of the Series 4 Scorpion. Under the name Locutus, it failed to qualify for Series 3.
 * The original Scorpion was built on team member John Bell's dining table.
 * The original Scorpion's fibreglass shell was burnt on a bonfire after filming; this proved to be regrettable, as the fire service had to be called.