Fluffy

"Fluffy by name, not Fluffy by nature..."

- Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide

Fluffy was a competitor from Series 5 through 7 of Robot Wars, also competing in both series of Extreme.

It jointly won the UK vs Germany Special of Series 6 and German Robot Wars with Das Gepäck. It also won the Most Promising Newcomer Award in Series 5 after reaching the Heat Final, having taken out two very experienced machines and causing severe damage to second seeds Pussycat on the way.

However, it suffered from severe reliability problems, frequently breaking down, causing it to under-perform in most of its appearances.

Design
Fluffy was a low heptagonal-shaped robot traveling at 20mph and built to be as compact as possible to allow for a very thick chassis and armour and two rubber wheels. It was shaped very much like the Series 6 guise of Disc-O-Inferno, only smaller and, instead of a conventional flywheel, its main weapon was a 20kg horizontal double-headed spinning axe that spun at 1500-2000RPM. Fluffy proved to be extremely destructive in its battles, even managing to disarm the number two seed Pussycat, and it was also well armoured in 16mm polycarbonate with a brazed steel frame. However, it suffered from having a petrol driven weapon and a 2cm ground clearance. For Series 7, Fluffy was redesigned to be wider than before, sporting a more solid black colour scheme, and the pointed front of the robot was rounded off.

Qualification
Fluffy qualified for Series 5 after beating Kat 3 in the qualifiers. The two teams had fought at the Series 4 qualifiers with their previous entries, Charybdis and Kater Killer. Kat 3 also recieved a discretionary place, despite recieving severe damage. "One thing that nearly put an end to us before we got onto television this year was when we had to fight Fluffy in the try outs. ... they gave us a good thrashing - thanks lads. Keith had to spend all weekend getting us back into shape."

- Team KaterKiller website

When qualifying for Series 7, Fluffy inflicted major damage to the armour of Terror Turtle and another robot, slicing into Gyrobot's weapon, before breaking down. All three of Fluffy's opponents survived for the full four minutes of the qualifier, leaving Gyrobot as the winner. However, Fluffy still received a discretionary place to qualify.

Extreme 1
Fluffy's only appearance in Extreme Series 1 was in a Mayhem qualifier battle where it was put up against Arnold A. Terminegger and Wild Thing. Fluffy started by launching a couple of attacks on the side of Wild Thing. However, Wild Thing survived the onslaught and pushed Fluffy into the arena side wall, immobilising it completely. Arnold A. Terminegger hit Fluffy with its axe a few times, though no damage was caused, this was before Fluffy was counted out by the Refbot and eliminated from the Mayhem. Fluffy was then placed on the arena floor flipper, and due to Fluffy's odd shape, Fluffy bounced straight into the open pit of oblivion.

Series 5
Fluffy had a tough Heat, coming up against 3 very experienced teams in its debut appearance in the main competition.

Fluffy caused a shock in its first round by defeating the experienced number 23 seeds 101, breaking its tracks and side panels with the spinning hammer armament. Fluffy could not quite finish off 101, so the fight went to the judges, who voted Fluffy through.

Fluffy was then drawn up against Terrorhurtz in the second round of the Heat. The Fluffy team added an extra layer of polycarbonate on top of the robot to protect against the axe of their opponent. Terrorhurtz attacked Fluffy with its axe, but Fluffy escaped and tore away the side armour of Terrorhurtz, causing CO2 to leak from the machine and leaving the internals exposed. Fluffy ripped some internals from Terrorhurtz, quickly immobilising it.

In the Heat Final, Fluffy started magnificently once again, ripping the spinning disc and a caster off the second seeds, Pussycat. This seemed like an incredible win for the newcomers against the second seed, but Fluffy mysteriously broke down and was thrown by the floor flipper. Fluffy was then pushed into the pit of oblivion by Dead Metal, who promptly drove in as well. Thus, the surprise win was awarded to Pussycat, putting them through to the Semi-Finals and eliminating Fluffy from the competition.

At the end of the series, Fluffy was awarded with the Most Promising Newcomer award.

Series 6
In its first round melee, Fluffy fought against three returning teams to Robot Wars, Kan-Opener, Double Trouble and Demolition Man. Kan Opener became stuck in Demolition Man after its initial attack on them, so Fluffy tore through Kan-Opener's sides, sending up a shower of sparks and immoblising them. Demolition Man also broke down due to the damage from Kan-Opener, send Fluffy though to the next round. In Round 2, Fluffy fought 11th seeds Stinger. It scored several hits on Stinger's wheels, and Stinger appeared to lose drive on one side. Fluffy took advantage of this, and continued to strike Stinger's tyres, causing visible damage. However when the two robots collided, Stinger's wheel began working again. Fluffy's blade had stopped working, leaving it with no offensive capability. It attempted to evade Stinger, but drove into a CPZ, where Mr. Psycho hammered it. Fluffy escaped, but Stinger got into position and slammed its top, eventually immobilising it. After being counted out, Fluffy was thrown by the floor flipper, and eliminated from the Sixth Wars.

Fluffy returned for the UK vs Germany Special, which was also broadcast during German Robot Wars. In the first round, it faced the Scottish full-body spinner Corkscrew. After spinning up its weapon, Fluffy met Corkscrew in the centre of the arena, and after trading a few blows, Fluffy struck Corkscrew hard enough to send it flying backwards. Corkscrew had stopped moving and stopped spinning, meaning that Fluffy was through to the next round.

There, it met the similarly destructive 259. Fluffy's low profile allowed it to evade 259's spinning disc, and get around to the sides. It tore into 259's side skirts, ripping out its drive belts and destroying its wheels. It struck 259 once more, and the impact flipped 259 onto its side.

Through to the final, Fluffy met the German representative Das Gepäck. "Fluffy will fight them in the arena, he'll fight them on the angle grinder, he'll fight them in the pit, and Fluffy will never, never, never, surrender!"

- Jonathan Pearce- The patriot (paraphrasing Winston Churchill's famous speech).

Initially, the two robots avoided each other, trying to get into the right position to use their weapon effectively. With its first attack, Fluffy tore off one of Das Gepäck's spikes, but did little damage to the body. After a few more futile attempts, Fluffy's blade stopped working. The two spent the rest of the match ramming and pushing each other around, with neither appearing to gain any sort of edge. It went to the judges, who declared the final a draw.

Extreme 2
In Extreme Series 2, Fluffy's only appearance was in the University Challenge, where it represented University College London. Fluffy was favoured to win the whole competition, but couldn't seem to get its weapon to full potential in its first round battle against Infinity and Tiberius 3. It couldn't cause more than superficial damage to Tiberius 3's tough armour, and Tiberius 3 pierced a hole in the top of Fluffy and held it over the pit, before Fluffy fell to its demise, taking Tiberius 3 with it.

Fluffy was eliminated in the first round. The team revealed backstage that their petrol engine had stalled shortly before the match began, reducing the weapon's power, contributing to its loss.

Series 7
Fluffy was in a first round melee with the rebuilt Killer Carrot 2, Team UK Robotics Constrictor and newcomers Scarey-Go-Round in Series 7. Fluffy tore huge gashes into Scarey-Go-Round, who was surprisingly still mobile. However, soon afterwards, Fluffy burnt out its motors on one side. It was still moving but only in circles. Killer Carrot 2 and Constrictor were shoving Fluffy about until cease was called where technically all four machines survived for a Judges' decision, despite Scarey-Go-Round being immobile on the flame pit. Fluffy was eliminated along with Scarey-Go-Round.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 5
 * Losses: 5
 * Draws: 1

Trivia

 * Fluffy is one of only ten robots to debut in Extreme 1 and to fight in one of the main competitions. The others were 3 Stegs to Heaven, Axe-Awe, Comengetorix, Fighting Torque, NEAT Machine, Spawn Again, Sub-Version, The Executioner and Draven.
 * Of all the robots to be awarded Most Promising Newcomer, Fluffy was the only one who beat out a robot that made it further in the competition (S3).