User:Obi-Have/History of Combat Robotics

This is getting FAR too long for my normal sandbox, so I will place it here until its done. Matt (Talk) 14:44, August 30, 2011 (UTC)

Pictures for History of Combat Robotics Page

 * Picture of Marc Thorpe
 * Picture of Original Robot Wars Logo
 * Picture of First Combat Robot
 * Picture of First Arena
 * Picture of Ramfire 2000
 * Picture of House Robot
 * Picture of Steve Plotnicki
 * Picture of South Bay Mauler
 * Picture of The Julie-Bot
 * Picture of The Master
 * Picture of Thor
 * Picture of Blendo
 * Picture of La Machine
 * Picture of 1995 UK Open
 * Picture of Biohazard self-righting
 * Picture of WYSIWYG and Steel at Work
 * Picture of Triple Redundancy
 * Picture of Revised Arena
 * Picture of Snake
 * Picture of Wedge of Doom
 * Picture of Trey Roski
 * Picture of Stupid Fun Club

=History of Combat Robotics= "ROBOT WARS is a new sport that requires skill, power and strategy in a mix that provides intense drama and a lot of fun"

- Marc Thorpe

Prior to appearing on British television in the Spring of 1998, Robot Wars had been a thriving competition in America for a number of years previously. The concept came from the imagination of a LucasToys employee by the name of Marc Thorpe. Thorpe hosted four Robot Wars events in San Francisco annually between 1994 and 1997. Further events planned for 1998 and 1999 were called off as Thorpe's partnership with Sm:)e records turned sour. Years of legal wrangling ensued, and by the time Sm:)e had won the lawsuit, the rights to Robot Wars in America were worthless, as the roboteers had moved to the new robot combat organisation, BattleBots. The renamed Sm:)e, Profile Records, instead crossed the Atlantic, and formed a deal with Mentorn to produce a British version of Robot Wars, which was a runaway success, running for nine series from 1998 until 2004. During this time, robot combat in America had flourished, and had produced 5 televised series of Battlebots, as well as a new robotic show, Robotica, which was styled similarly to the first two series of Robot Wars. Robotica spawned three series before it was cancelled. Since the cancellations of Robot Wars, Battlebots and Robotica, the sport of Robotic Combat has experienced a significant lull, but the sport is far from dead. Today, the UK competitions are governed by the Fighting Robot Association and the US by the Robot Fighting League

Foundation
"I built a radio controlled tank and modified by putting a battery powered vacuum cleaner on it. It was fun but not very useful, so eventually I gave up on it. One day I took the vacuum off the tank and as I looked at it, the 8-year-old boy in me envisioned its potential as a dangerous toy with battery powered tools mounted on it. I had a vision of it cutting its way through a wall."

- Marc Thorpe

In 1992, Marc Thorpe, then an employee of LucasToys, was attempting to devise a remote-control vacuum cleaner, to turn the chore into play. After the project failed, he considered replacing the vacuum cleaner with power tools. This reminded him of the fighting vehicle toys that he had presented to a major toy company in the past. Thorpe then devised a competition that involved engineers building machines like the one he had imagined, and having them fight against one another. He called this competition Robot Wars.

During the remainder of 1992, and throughout 1993, Thorpe began promoting his concept. During this time, he attempted to host an event at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on a number of occasions, but failed to as money became a serious stumbling block. On New Year's Day in 1994, a breakthrough occurred, Thorpe, laden with flu, contacted Wired Magazine, who offered to do an article with a photo. At the time, the problem was that Thorpe had no prototype machine. Needing to think quickly, he borrowed a chainsaw from a local hardware store, and placed it on top of the tank he had used to design the vacuum cleaner in the years previous. The article, featuring Thorpe and his prototype tank, appeared in the March 1994 issue of Wired, and instantly Thorpe was inundated with requests for entry forms, information and rules. This, coupled with a partnership deal with Sm:)e Communications (A division of Profile Records) formed in July of that year paved the way for a live event to take place that year. Thorpe eagerly passed over any financial responsibilities, to focus on the running of the event. Prior to the event, Thorpe was inundated by the press, with reporters from as far away as England's Sunday Times reporting on the spectacle.

Robot Wars US
On August 20th 1994, the first Annual Robot Wars took place at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, in front of a sell-out crowd over 1000. The competition was attended by teams from all across America, comprising a total of 18 robots. The competition was divided into three separate events- a Face-Off straight elimination competition, two Mob-Scene battles, one for lightweights, one for all weight classes, that featured multiple robots in one big battle, with one declared the winner at the end, and an Escort competition which required a team of two, one controlling the robot, the other controlling a defenceless RC car, the goal of which was to guide the RC car past a House Robot to the end zone. Michael Sorenson and Ramfire 2000 (also known as Ramfire 100) won the inaugural heavyweight competition, with X1 (from the team that later created Tentomushi) and The Julie-Bot (from Will Wright, who would later create the popular Sim City and The Sims franchises) taking the Middleweight and Lightweight prizes. The lightweight Mob-Scene champion was Bloodletter, and South Bay Mauler from the famous Tilford clan won the 'all weight-class' melee. The winners of the Escort challenge were Ramfire 2000, Omega Ex Machina and Zomo.

"We all look back with nostalgia and amazement at that first event, it was charmed, for one thing, the arena had a mere 2 ft. high railing for protection and no one got hurt."

- Marc Thorpe

The arena was designed by Joe Matheny, and the hazards installed by Gary Platek. The first hazards were hinged square nets called 'mousetraps' that would be lowered onto passing robots. Lining the side of the arena was six pneumatic flippers, that would nudge an opponent backwards if strayed upon. Finally, there was a bowling ball pendulum that would swing back and forth across the arena. None of these hazards were particularly potent, but worked well for dramatic effect. The House Robot was an orange cylindrical robot with a cone shaped head, with an overhead scoop, that shovelled opponent out of the way. The robot was designed by hobbyist, and Thorpe's next door neighbour Dean Simone.

This competition featured a number of rules that were drastically changed later on. In the event that both robot were still mobile by the end of the 10 minute limit (itself far longer than any later competitions), both robots would advance, rather than a decision being made on which robot should progress. Also, pinning was allowed as a method of victory. A robot pinned for 30 seconds was deemed immobile and eliminated. Unlike later competitions, weapons such as nets and tape were allowed, but rules such as the ban on corrosives and explosives as weapons stand to this day. This competition featured the debut appearances of several iconic Robot Wars competitors, such as The Tilford Clan, X1, Team Minus Zero and The Master.

The competition returned in 1995, once again held in San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, offering prize money that totalled $5000, contested for by 49 robots, nearly three times the previous year. This year, the time limit had been reduced to five minutes, and a new judging system had been put in place. At the end of the allotted time, if both robots remained mobile, the audience would be called upon to make a decision, and their approval would be measured by a decibel meter. If the readings were close, the decision would be transferred to a panel of judges. Both the audience and the judges would mark on damage, aggression and control. For this year, two competitions would take place- the Face-Off knockout, and the Melee free-for-all in each weight category. Also new for this year was the 'superlight' or featherweight category.

This year's heavyweight category was won by the famous Mark Setrakian machine The Master, who defeated Thor in what is considered to be one of the greatest battles of all time. Thor dominated the early portion of the battle, stopping The Master's saw moving, before disabling half of the drive train with its fearful axe. Seemingly out of it, The Master landed a lucky shot with its spiked tail, which punctured the shell of Thor, and ultimately the hydraulic reservoir. This ground Thor to a halt, and secured a famous victory for Setrakian. The reigning champion Ramfire 2000 did not appear. The heavyweight category was also notable for two robots being withdrawn from the competition. The Mulcher was disqualified by the competition organisers on safety grounds minutes before its scheduled match with Mauler 95, and Blendo, the pioneering full-body spinner, who, after two devastating battles was granted co-champion status in return for withdrawing from the competition. Blendo first faced Namreko 2000, whom it decapitated, leaving pieces of its foe scattered around the arena. Its second round battle was scarier still- up against Scott LaValley's DooMore, Blendo sent bits of DooMore flying into the crowd. Sponsor Gary Pini could take no more, and had Blendo retire.

The middleweight and lightweight competitions were both largely uneventful, save for the appearance of La Machine in the middleweight category, who defeated reigning champion X1 to take the title, with Test Toaster 1 taking the lightweight championship. The superlightweight championship is notable for perhaps the oddest battle of all time, between Orb of Doom, a dome shaped robot that rolled, similar to Psychosprout and S.P.S. 2, which could fly. Due to both machine's lack of attacking power, and even mobility, the match was largely just both machines moving around the arena avoiding each other, but the sheer bizarreness of the fight makes it infamous. S.P.S. 2 was declared the winner and progressed to the next round, only for one of its weather balloons to break and immobilize it. The competition was eventually won by Kreigmaschienmensch (KMM), German for 'War Machine'.

"Now all that remained for Setrakian to complete his triumph at Robot Wars '95 was winning the melee- the communal, fight-to-the-death rumble between the eight still functioning heavyweights, and one middleweight. The one middleweight was called "La Machine"- and its existence worried the heck out of Marc Thorpe"

- Brad Stone The melees during 1995 were predictable on the whole, with superlight champion KMM winning the superlight melee, Kitty Puff Puff (a defeated finalist) winning the lightweight melee, and middleweight champion La Machine scooping the middleweight prize. The shock came in the heavyweight melee, where La Machine, fresh from its middleweight victory, chose to take part, and defeated all opponents to take the heavyweight trophy as well.

"In the face-off competitions, the American robots systematically defeated Derek Foxwell's three Eurobots, pushing them over the edge of an elevated floor"

- Brad Stone

During January 1996, some five months after Robot Wars '95, Robot Wars made a significant jump in its popularity worldwide by hosting international shows for the first time. A British competition was held in London's Docklands, and featured famous competitors Thor, La Machine, and The Master, as well as six British Robots built by Derek Foxwell, including Grunt and The Mouse, who went on to become stock competitors in the first UK series. In March 1995, Tom Gutteridge, of Mentorn films, invited Gary Pini and Steve Plotnicki of Profile Records to England, to discuss the possibility of a televised series of Robot Wars in the UK. Over dinner, he bought the rights to a unique Robot Wars program. With the help of one of his employees, Steve Carsey, it was arranged that technician Derek Foxwell would built six robots to compete in the competition. The competition served as a pilot for Robot Wars in the UK, and videos were distributed to television companies and potential competitors. Despite the enthusiasm of Gutteridge and the producers, it would take two more years for Robot Wars to be commissioned in the UK.

Also held during late 1995 were seven shows held all around Germany to promote the sport of Robot Wars. Due to the lack of safety protections, the two robots selected for this tour, La Machine and DooMore, would not be able to battle each other in the traditional fashion. Improvising, Marc Thorpe invested in a dozen RC cars and a crate of lettuce heads to use in demonstrations. The robots would have a small fight at the end of the performance, but would only take small jabs at each other, for safety reasons. Gage Cauchois, of the La Machine team, was less than enthusiastic about the plans at the briefing meet near the Golden Gate Bridge, and, after a night spent talking over Thorpe, was dropped from the La Machine team. Cauchois would be back the next year, with his own machine. The tour, dubbed Marlboro Robot Attack began in Frankfurt. The show began with Greg Munson and a Sm:)e employee feigning swings at the lettuces attached to the top of the R/C cars with sledgehammers, before La Machine made its entry, hunting down large white balloons. For the finale, La Machine and DooMore would circle each other, before trading small blows. Eventually, for the Berlin show, the lettuce hammering was dropped, and by Hamburg, the final show, the tour was in disarray. The roboteers, suffering from sleep deprivation, were no longer happy. An accident that left Trey Roski (of La Machine) and Scott LaValley (DooMore) stuck outside after Roski's teammate and cousin Greg Munson shut an automatically locking door on them, turned into a brawl between the two. The show was a disaster, the bored German ravers throwing their empty glass bottles onto the robots. Ultimately, the tour was not a success, and Robot Wars in Germany didn't take off until much later.

Prior to the 1996 event was the formation of the International Robot Wars Association (IRWA), the first important governmental body for robotic fighting. Robot Wars '96 was to be the biggest competition yet, featuring 83 robots and held over three days during mid-August; however unbeknownst to most, the relationship between Marc Thorpe and Profile Records was straining, and the parties took their frustrations to the courtrooms. Nevertheless, Robot Wars '96 featured many of the defining moments of early Robot Wars history. It featured the debut of famous competitors Vlad the Impaler and Biohazard, who between them would win all but one BattleBots competition. It also featured the first appearance of La Machine in the heavyweight face-off competition. These three machines would make up three of the four semi-finalists in the heavyweight competition. This competition was later released on VHS as part of a double pack, shipped with The First World Championship. The video contained highlights of the more famous battles of the competition.

It was far from a happy returning year for the defending champion The Master, who was unceremoniously defeated by newcomer Tazz, who would itself be defeated by La Machine. The second semi-final battle, between Biohazard and Vlad the Impaler (from Gage Cauchois of La Machine), was revolutionary. After a hard fought battle, Biohazard lifted Vlad the Impaler off its wheels with its actuator powered arm, and held Vlad there to secure a pinning victory. For unknown reasons, either not understanding the battle had finished or out of revenge, Vlad charged at Biohazard after time, and turned it over. In response to this, Biohazard activated a special mode on its lifting arm that allowed to push itself back onto its wheels. "Vlad the Impaler's frustrated act of revenge came to nothing as Biohazard righted itself to take the winner's bow"

- Highlight reel from the '96 competition

The final battle between La Machine and Biohazard was a close fought duel, with La Machine being lifted up on Biohazards arm within a minute, but Biohazard let La Machine down, and the match turned into a cat and mouse duel, until La Machine broke down, allowing Carlo Bertocchini to secure a victory.

With La Machine moving up to the heavyweight category, there was no incumbent champion allowing Agamemnon to waltz to the middleweight title, defeating Traxx in the final. The lightweight crown was taken by Atiller the Hun, defeating S.P.S. 3 and reigning champion Test Toaster One on the way to its title. Interestingly, in the first round of the lightweight competition, both competitors called Will Wright were drawn together. The first round match between The Eviscarator and Wonderbug ended with both robots being disqualified for lack of controlled movement. This allowed S.P.S. 3 to be given a bye to the final, thus fighting one less battle than its opponent. It was newcomer Wedge of Doom that scooped the featherweight prize, defeating Eric Dickinson's WYSIWYG, reigning champion K.M.M., Spike (of the team that would later compete in the MTV Pilot), and Red Two.

"We all lose sometimes"

- Trey Roski to Carlo Bertocchini after the melee

The melees of 1996 followed the same format to the other years- a fight between multiple robots, that continues until only one is left standing. The featherweight melee was won by Mike Winter's X2, the sequel to X1, the inaugural middleweight champion. The lightweight melee was won by featherweight robot Lorena 2, which was an odd combination of two robots, the psychotic doll from the top of the superlight 'Lorena' was attached to the lightweight 'Speed Bump' and despite being a completely spontaneous entry, came out as the winner. Middleweight champion Agamemnon unsurprisingly took the prize for its weight class. The heavyweight category featured a Biohazard vs. La Machine rematch. After being heavily damaged in the first encounter, many roboteers chipped in, lending parts, tools and time to get La Machine running again. This time, with the aid of DooMore, La Machine succeeded in buckling Biohazard's arm and then flipped it up onto its back, from which it could not self-right because of its buckled arm. La Machine was declared heavyweight melee champion.

This year's competition also featured considerable innovation, which would not be seen in the UK for up to four years. First of all, Snickers was the first walking fighting robot; however, like most of its successors, it did not prove terribly successful, losing in Round 1 to reigning champion Test Toaster One. Also innovative was the first clusterbot machine- Triple Redundancy, built by Will Wright (of The Julie-Bot, My Little Pony), and driven by his daughter Cassidy Wright and two friends. The machine was a three-part clusterbot that was armed with tape, and the three machines would work together to wrap opponents in the double-sided masking tape. Triple Redundancy wasn't successful, drawing one battle and losing two more. Robot Wars '96 also saw the first autonomous fighting robots, a special prize being awarded to Gladiator Rodney, as the winner of a small side competition for autonomous robots. Lastly, Robot Wars 1996 saw the first international competitors, specifically Eric Dickinson and WYSIWYG, who would later become a judge of the first two series of Robot Wars, and a French machine called Steel At Work. The two would duel in a grudge match, and WYSIWYG came out on top, despite being outweighed by a factor of four.

After the first round of court battles that threatened to cancel Robot Wars altogether (see below) were solved, Robot Wars returned to San Francisco in 1997, this time under the sole control of Marc Thorpe, and funded not by Profile, but by the long term friend of Thorpe's, Bob Leppo. This time, a slight increase from 1996, 91 robots competed, but the most major change was the arena itself. Gone was the bowling ball pendulum and the mousetraps. Jamie Hyneman of Blendo helped install new hazards, moving pincers and pneumatic bumpers. Rule changes for this year included adding a panel of three judges to decide battles that continue for the entire allotted time. This was implemented to encourage roboteers to build more interesting robots, in order to win more favour with the judges. Secondly, and for similar reasons, pinning was banned, a disadvantage particularly to robots such as La Machine. A final change saw the introduction of Loser's Brackets, a form of double elimination, where the first round losers would be entered into a separate competition, the winner of which would regain entry into the competition. The side competition for autonomous robots was again held, the winner this year was 'Thumper'.

This year's heavyweight competition was again won dominantly by Carlo Bertocchini's Biohazard, who took the title for the second year running. After breezing through their respective first round battles, Biohazard and Vlad the Impaler would again come head to head. This time, with its new metal skirts, Vlad couldn't get underneath Biohazard, and in turn, when Biohazard flipped Vlad over, Vlad self-righted using a pneumatic ram on the top of the machine. Nevertheless, Biohazard was granted the victory, 15 points to 10. The next enemy for Biohazard was Rhino Halon, an odd robot that used Halon gas as a weapon. Halon gas is a compound used for extinguishing fires, making it the perfect weapon to put out I/C engines, as Rhino had proven in its first battle against Scorpion; however it was no use against Biohazard, which used an electric powered system to maroon Rhino against a hazard to win. In the semi-finals, Biohazard faced one of the most experienced competitors, Commander Tilford and The Mauler. This battle was over quickly, as Biohazard slammed Mauler into the side wall, before lifting it over to secure a win. This set up a Grand Final clash between La Machine and Biohazard, the rematch of last year. This time, there was to be no gruelling battle. La Machine swerved left and got beached on a hazard, allowing Biohazard to deploy its lifting arm and flip La Machine onto its side, to secure a knockout in fifteen seconds. To compliment this victory, Biohazard was victorious in the melee competition, succeeding where it had failed the year before.

1997 saw the return of Blendo, after a one year absence. The devastating spinner weapon was no less deadly in its first battle, against Jim Smentkowski's first machine, Hercules. After throwing Hercules around the arena, the machine died, and Blendo had qualified to face Punjar. The battle against Punjar, combined with the rumour that, if they got a good shot, Blendo could throw an opponent clean out of the arena, led to Blendo again retiring from the competition, much to the distaste of the crowd. During this competition, all of the first-round losers joined a smaller, loser's melee competition to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the main competition. This competition was won by Doo-All, and became a semi-final slot after Blendo was retired. "Then Mark Setrakian shows up with a snake!"

- Marc Thorpe

Perhaps the most impressive invention of Robot Wars '97 was Snake, the replacement for The Master, built by Mark Setrakian. Snake utilised perhaps the oddest propulsion system of all- it slithered across the floor, like a snake. Using 17 linear actuators, Snake writhed along the floor. Although it looked impressive, Snake had little to offer when it came down to weapons, and so fell early in the competition.

The middleweight competition was won by Vicious 1, who gained entry to the final as the winner of the loser's bracket for the middleweight category, having lost in the first round to Pokey. Vicious 1 defeated The Alexander to take the title; however the melee title was won by Turtle Roadkiller. Ominous Brick of Havoc reached the final of the lightweight competition, after defeating Razor Back on its way to the final. Razor Back would go on to win the loser's bracket, and earn a place in the quarter-finals. At that stage, it was defeated by Mike Winter's latest creation, the clusterbot X7, who would lose to Defiant, the overall winner, in the next round. Defiant would back up its face-off title with victory in the melee competition. In the featherweight category, Wedge of Doom was again victorious, itself and Biohazard were the only two multiple champions of the original Robot Wars. Wedge of Doom defeated Red-Green to take the title for the second year running, followed by a win in the melee that established Wedge of Doom as the dominant force in the featherweight category.

Legal Battling
"If I can use a harsh metaphor, is that it's very difficult to conduct business with someone who holds a gun to your head"

- Marc Thorpe to Judge Deborah Batts in August '97

After four happy years of competition, things were about to turn sour for Marc Thorpe and Robot Wars. The animosity between Steve Plotnicki (Thorpe's partner from Profile) and Thorpe has escalated to the point where the two simply did not trust one another. After the compromises he had made to host Robot Wars 1997, Thorpe had backed himself into a corner that he would struggle to escape from. Tired of pouring money into Robot Wars with no return and no addition equity stake Profile drew up a new contract to turn the joint venture into a permanent Robot Wars LLC. A new agreement was drawn up, and Thorpe agreed, but when the time came to sign the contract, he noticed that certain aspects of the contract had been changed subtly, so he refused to sign, and requested that Profile allow him to put on Robot Wars '98 regardless. When asked, Judge Batts refused to pass an order forcing Profile to allow Thorpe to host Robot Wars '98, and Thorpe lost the resulting appeal as well. In the spring of 1998, just as Robot Wars was about to hit the television screens of the British audience for the first time, another settlement meeting was held, and Thorpe offered to buy Profile's share of the business for half a million dollars. The money came from Trey Roski, formally of La Machine, and the heir to a fortune made by his father, Ed Roski Jr. At this time, Thorpe was in deep financial trouble, living off loans and credit cards, combined with his worsening health. That March, Thorpe released an open letter to the Robot Wars community, filling them in on the ongoing lawsuit, and providing notice that Robot Wars '98 was possibly going to be cancelled.

"I feel it is both early enough and late enough in regards to RW98 that I have an obligation to inform you that my partner who has equal approval rights to mine continues to refuse all my requests for approval to go forward with RW98. Be assured that I continue with my efforts to produce RW98 and I will do everything I can to keep it on track though time is running out. Last year at this time I was much farther along in the planning. Because of the lack of progress to a final settlement, and my belief that further progress will not move fast enough for the viability of RW98, my attorney submitted a motion to show cause to the federal judge asking that the event be allowed to go forward on a similar basis as last year while the negotiations continue between myself and Profile. She has denied the motion without even considering it."

- Marc Thorpe, in an email dated 20th March 1998

At the end of his letter, Thorpe encouraged competitors to write to Judge Batts, and express their feelings on the cancellation of Robot Wars '98. Plotnicki, now Thorpe's main rival in the ongoing power struggles, regarded this message as a conspiracy to ruin Profile's reputation with the community, the damage which it caused was never repaired. In April of 1998, Carlo Bertocchini of Biohazard fame launched the Robot Wars Forum. The forum became a hub of information and a community meeting place. Within two months of the forum being launched, five thousand messages had been posted. It wasn't long before Profile got involved, and contacted the server hosts to request they recognise the trademark on the site. Bertocchini refused to compromise, and when Plotnicki turned to Thorpe, he was also rebuffed.

"I believe they will support Mr Thorpe and would not enter a Robot Wars event if he is not associated with it. The bottom line is that even if Profile manages to obtain full control of the event, they will find they have no contestants"

- Letter from Todd Mendenhall to Judge Batts

The roboteers responded in force to Thorpe's request for letters to be sent to Judge Batts. Even Adam Clark, at that time a British competitor competing under a Profile sanctioned event wrote in. An angry Steve Plotnicki responded with his own open letters to the community, accusing Thorpe of backing out on deals he had made, and acting in a way that forced Profile to bring litigation against him. He ended his letter with a thinly masked threat against anyone who would put on an alternative event.

A roboteer called Gary Cline chose to ignore this letter. Having built Spunkey Monkey and Mad Monkey for Robot Wars, he contacted Thorpe about hosting his own event, and was told that Thorpe wouldn't be able to take part in any way. After careful planning, Cline posted a message on the Robot Wars forum, inviting them to his own event, which he dubbed Robotica. Three weeks prior to the event, roboteers turned up at Cline's house and spent an entire day building an arena that they could fight in. Immediately this proved problematic for Plotnicki and Profile. Negotiations had been held for Mentorn to come to the US and film a replacement Robot Wars event, without the involvement of Thorpe, and would be aired as part of the Robot Wars game show that was now becoming a firm favourite with the British television audience. Tom Gutteridge launched this proposal on the Robot Wars forum, and the builders responded with anger.

"Who is going to sell their soul to be on the BBC? Forget that, Robot Wars is dead. Long Live Robotica"

- Derek Young, builder of Mr Smashy

Steve Plotnicki exchanged a short but forceful phone call with Gary Cline, the Profile manager trying to get Cline to admit that Thorpe was involved with the planned Robotic event. Days later a court server delivered court papers to Cline's distraught wife. Trey Roski was also served papers for the same lawsuit, charged with conspiring to undermine the Robot Wars trademark. At the same time, Carlo Bertocchini was charged with breaching the Robot Wars trademark on the internet. Cline, without the money to fight the million dollar lawsuit, cancelled Robotica '98. Nevertheless, the builders converged on San Francisco, having pre-booked flights and hotel rooms. All of the roboteers brought their robots, but they remained static.

"If anyone from Profile is reading this, I hope you realise how dangerous a set of enemies you just made. The New York mafia will look tame."

- Alex Rose, builder of Rhino Halon The positive that came out of the meeting was the formation of a union, called the Society of Robotic Combat (SORC), the purpose of which was to act as the voice of the builders. Todd Mendenhall was elected president. Plotnicki contacted Mendenhall, and asked him if SORC would be interested in buying a license off Profile to hold an event. When proposed at a meeting, this time attended by a beaten down Marc Thorpe, the motion was vehemently thrown out, with most builders promising never to compete in a Profile sponsored event. Two secret events, one held by Mike Winter and Will Wright for lightweights, and another hosted by Greg Munson and Trey Roski for heavyweights were hosted, both silent mutinies against Profile.

In May 1998, Marc Thorpe officially filed for bankruptcy. The idea was that, if he filed for bankruptcy, his contract with Profile Records would be severed, allowing him to rebuild the Robot Wars company with the funding of the wealthy Trey Roski. Thorpe's lawyers laid out a plan to the judge, that would result in the Robot Wars trademark being auctioned to the highest bidder, and Trey Roski would pay any price. In October, after months of deliberation by the judge, the roboteers assembled in Santa Rosa to watch the auction that they hoped would bring about the end of the ice age. But the judge requested more time, and a new hearing was set for the following month. When the group met again, the judge had made his decision, and refused to approve the auction plan, instead urging Thorpe to setting with Plotnicki and Profile.

In a last ditch attempt to save Robot Wars in America, Thorpe hired Frederick Fierst to spend the last two months of 1998 working to sort out a permanent deal that allowed Thorpe and Roski to go into business together, hosting Robot Wars events in America. Ultimately, Fierst, like others before him, failed to break the deadlock, and as a result, the Roski family dropped out. It was Steve Plotnicki who started paying Fierst to solve the deadlock, and Fierst drew up a contract that would allow Thorpe to continue holding the annual San Francisco event, as well as receiving money for his share of the business. In return, Thorpe had to try and smooth things over with the robot builders on behalf of Profile, to try and repair some of the damage to their reputation. Thorpe declined this contract, but rewrote it to remove his commitment to help repair the damage Profile had caused. This did not go down well with Plotnicki, who instead proposed a new deal. Thorpe be given a quarter of a million dollars, and 10% of all future money made from the company. He would then have no further involvement with Robot Wars, but Plotnicki still required that Thorpe should try to rehabilitate the business, as well as hand over vital documents that would allow the production of toys based on the competitors. Thorpe didn't have the strength to fight any more, and signed the contract, removing himself from the sport he had created.

"Steven Plotnicki, President of Profile Holdings, Inc. (fka as Profile Records) and Marc Thorpe are happy to announce that the United States Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa, California, has approved the terms of a settlement that provides for the acquisition of Marc Thorpe's interest in the Robot Wars Joint Venture. The business will be known as Robot Wars LLC. Thorpe will continue to have a financial interest in Robot Wars through ongoing royalty payments."

- Extract from a post on the Robot Wars Forum from Gary Pini

A month later, on March 5 1999, Gary Pini of Profile Records announced that the litigation proceedings were over, and Profile now held the exclusive rights to Robot Wars. Four days later, this was supplemented by Marc Thorpe posting a message encouraging builders to compete in Robot Wars '99, as part of his requirement to help rehabilitate the company.

The very next day, the mess of legal suits got even more complicated, as Trey Roski announced Battlebots, a rival competition to Robot Wars, to give the roboteers an alternative to competing in Profile-run events. The first Battlebots event was arranged for one week before the Robot Wars event. Roski teamed up with fellow La Machine teammate and cousin Greg Munson, who agreed to plan and manage the events, whilst Roski worked on the broadcasting and merchandise side. Steve Plotnicki smelled a rat, and instantly accused Thorpe of secretly arranging a rival event, working through Trey Roski. Attempting to distance himself from the event, he returned to the forums, and posted a response that would make many appearances in court over the next few years.

"However, according to Steve's attorney, and Gary Pini, and in a letter that I received today from Steve, I am not living up to my obligations within the settlement agreement. Specifically, they say that I am not doing enough to get robot builders to participate in Steve's event and to rehabilitate his reputation. So, once and for all, imagine me opening my front door, standing with hands cupped on either side of my mouth, shouting at the top of my lungs for all to hear, "STEVE PLOTNICKI IS A NICE GUY AND I WANT EVERYONE FROM BILL CLINTON TO C3PO TO COME TO RW99 BECAUSE IT WILL BE THE BEST EVENT EVER!"Hopefully, this will satisfy all concerned and I can go back rebuilding my life, unless the settlement agreement requires me to come back with a "DIE BATTLEBOTS!" post"

- Extract from Marc Thorpe's post on the Robot Wars Forum, dates 12/3/99

This only served to anger Plotnicki more, who then demanded that Thorpe call every robot builder to encourage them to come to Robot Wars '99. Thorpe resisted, as he didn't have the time to call 70 different people. Plotnicki responded by handing Thorpe a statement expressing enthusiasm for the event, written in Thorpe's name, and telling him to send it out, which Thorpe refused to do. Eventually, Thorpe caved, and released another forum post to suggest that roboteers attend Robot Wars '99 over the BattleBots event.

"The annual August Robot Wars in San Francisco is a well-established tradition. If you find that you cannot attend more than one event, I would like to encourage you to attend Robot Wars"

- Marc Thorpe, July 1999

Earlier that year, in April of 1999, Plotnicki filed the predictable lawsuit against Trey Roski, accusing him of deliberately devaluing the Robot Wars trademark. Roski argued that robot combat was a sport, and hence was not owned by anyone. After a nine day court session, the judge ruled that an injunction to stop Battlebots happening was not going to be awarded, allowing BattleBots to take place. To add insult to injury, receiving only half of the entrance forms that BattleBots recieved, Robot Wars 1999 was cancelled.

"I am writing to you directly to tell you that we are cancelling this year's Robot Wars event. Unfortunately, a number of different factors have caused us to make this decision. Rather than waiting until the last minute, I thought I should give you as much notice as possible. We're enclosing a refund of your entry fee"

- Letter from Robot Wars LLC to entrants for Robot Wars '99

It was to be the case between Marc Thorpe and Steve Plotnicki that would drag on. Still convinced that Thorpe was involved in the running of BattleBots, Plotnicki began pursuing the lawsuit against his former partner. In court, Thorpe's lawyer demanded that Thorpe be paid what he was owed under the settlement, some $650,000 dollars, and Plotnicki argued that he should be exempted from having to pay up, as Thorpe had failed to rehabilitate Profile's reputation. During the summer of 2000, Thorpe's lawyer cross-examined Plotnicki, who denied that his lawsuits against Carlo Bertocchini and Gary Cline had affected his relationship with the roboteers. Plotnicki then went on to cite posts made by Thorpe on the Robot Wars Forum, which seemed to point towards him being involved with BattleBots. When asked, both Trey Roski and Marc Thorpe denied Thorpe's involvement. During his cross-examination, Thorpe made the comment that nothing he could have done would have convinced roboteers to side with Profile.

Numerous roboteers were called up, and all testified that nothing that Thorpe could have done would have made them compete in Robot Wars '99. The judge made his final comments, criticising the actions of both parties, and left the courtroom. There was two weeks between the end of the court session and the ruling. Commenting that 'with the benefit of hindsight, a 50-50 partnership between the two had no chance of succeeding' Judge Jaroslovsky awarded Thorpe $24,000 plus his 10 percent royalty. This was supposed to be the end of three straight years of legal battles, but it wasn't. Both sides decided to appeal the ruling.

When the appeal was heard, in mid 2001, Thorpe's lawyer launched one final, all-or-nothing attack on Plotnicki, specifically accusing him of breaking a law during their previous lawsuit that in fact immunised Thorpe from further lawsuits. Plotnicki was no longer willing to fight- his ongoing lawsuit with BattleBots would earn him more money than winning against the broke Marc Thorpe. Marc Thorpe was paid $350,000 as well as 10% of all Robot Wars income. Finally, nearly four years down the line, Thorpe was free of the clutches of Profile Records.

"At its base, the dispute is about personal freedom. I am fifty-one years old. Robot Wars was my dream, but it has turned into a nightmare"

- Marc Thorpe

To celebrate, a party was held at the home of Will Wright, who had been working with Thorpe and Mike Winter for the past year on a new project, called the Stupid Fun Club. Veteran builders all turned up to celebrate, and to reminisce. Thorpe spent an evening in the company of the community he had built, and was said to be the happiest he has been in years.