Diotoir

"They've fought in every Wars with this fur-brained machine- slow at 6mph, boggle-eyed, a lifting weapon that hardly menaces, but we all adore, Diotoir!"

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 5

Diotoir (known in Irish as Díotóir) was a competitor robot from the Republic of Ireland that competed in Series 3-5 of Robot Wars, plus both series of Extreme. Its name translates as Annihilator, and it is the most successful Irish robot on Robot Wars, reaching a World Championship semi-final, two Heat Finals, the final of two side events, also winning the Tag Team Terror in Extreme alongside Pussycat. Diotoir's team won the Sportsmanship award three times out of five, twice with Diotoir itself.

Team Nemesis chose not to compete in Series 6 due to having to travel a long distance back and forth for the qualifiers and the main competition. Team Nemesis applied for Series 8 of Robot Wars with Diotoir, but ultimately received no response from the producers and therefore was not selected to compete, a potential factor was that fur was more or less banned from the series. It is unknown if the team applied for Series 9.

Very often, Sergeant Bash was put in the arena with Diotoir to increase the likelihood of Diotoir catching fire to entertain the fans. The team were occasionally joined by Craig Charles' own son Jack, but it was only explicitly mentioned on a few occasions.

Its name was chosen as part of a national radio competition on the Gerry Ryan Show on RTÉ 2fm. The show also helped raise support and sponsorship. Diotoir's full name is "Diotoir, Son of Nemesis", referencing its predecessor, which it would battle during the International League Championship.

Design
"...the one that looked like an angry lady beetle crossed with a warthog."

- Nick Whigham, writing for news.com.au

Diotoir was a heptagonal shaped robot with a low ground clearance and zero turning circle covered in red fur with black spots, and its main weapon was a hydraulic flipping arm (referred to as pneumatic by Jonathan Pearce during the First World Championship). For Series 5, it was partially known as Diotoir 2 and the lifting arm was replaced with a shovel with a painted on grin. Fairly blunt side spikes on the body were also included. In Extreme Series 2, an overhead-mounting crushing arm was included, but unfortunately, this was never seen in action. Unlike most flipping weapons, which were powered by CO2, Diotoir's weapon was powered by two large suspension springs, originally from a car and later from a truck. The idea behind the springs was so that the flipper would have an unlimited number of flips without losing power, which frequently happened with CO2 flippers. Although this was the case, the spring mechanism was prone to malfunction, and they did not provide enough power for Diotoir to self-right. "Diotoir isn't strong, isn't resilient, isn't quick, isn't deadly, I love it!"

- Jonathan Pearce in Extreme 2

Although the weaponry was not as powerful as other flippers, the fur meant that the robot frequently caught fire (it was even covered in fire-gel to increase the likelihood) and the robot was slow at 6 mph, Diotoir proved to be well controlled, having gained lots of warzone experience. From Extreme onwards, Diotoir's eyes would often fire away from the robot when its flipper activated.

Misfortune
"Poor Díotóir seems to be plagued by bad luck and bad timing. I mean he works fine everywhere but Robot Wars. A little bit like Razer, I think"

- Peter Redmond

Although Diotoir enjoyed a fair bit of success within its three year run, the team suffered from several problems, particularly within the third and fourth series. In Series 3, whilst boarding the ferry to leave Ireland, security stopped them and demanded that Diotoir be completely dismantled. "Apparently the long lifting arm looked like the barrel of a shotgun!"

- Jacky Willoughby of the Pneumatic Fanatics

Despite having only a day to reconstruct the robot in time for its heat (calculated as four months work beforehand), Diotoir was put back together in time, and above all odds, it reached the Heat Final, before being beaten by Fire Storm after being flipped over within the opening moments of the battle. "After last year's incident with customs, we decided to leave Díotóir open for inspection and we would put the finishing touches when we got there. At least that was the theory. After driving all day and all night we arrived at the studio to be told that we would be next to fight and we had ten minutes to get our robot in fighting form."

- Diotoir website

However, the next series was worse. Upon arrival for the Fourth Wars, the Diotoir team had to remove the top armour from their robot after discovering it was overweight. To make matters worse, the chain controlling its flipping arm broke, as did the only replacement they had time to install. The team had no choice but to enter Diotoir into the arena armour-less and weapon-less, which resulted in its almost instant elimination at the hands of Ming 2, who flipped it over and pushed it onto the flame pit within seconds, where Sergeant Bash was waiting to burn what was left.

In contrast, Diotoir was relatively fortunate in comparison in the Fifth Wars, there were few problems that it was forced to work around, and the robot performed better than ever. In its heat, Diotoir amazingly defeated heat favourites, the 12th seeds Tornado en route to the heat final once again, before being flipped over and immobilised in seconds by Spawn Again. However, although there was actually a Gentleman's Agreement between Team Nemesis and Team Scutterbots, Diotoir was still badly damaged and burnt by the house robots after it was counted out, as Spawn Again became immobilised, thus it was unable to simply pit Diotoir to save it from further damage.

The lack of response from the producers regarding Diotoir's application for Series 8 was unorthodox. Teams who failed to qualify for the series should receive a call to confirm this, as most teams did that year, but Team Nemesis were an unexplained exception, perhaps implying that their application went unnoticed.

Series 3
Diotoir was placed against another returning team, Sting 2, in the first round of the Third Wars. As soon as activate was sounded, the two robots drove at each other, with Diotoir trying to overturn Sting 2 with its lifting arm. However, its attack missed and Sting 2 began to attack Diotoir with its tail, ripping part of Diotoir's trademark grin. Diotoir chased Sting 2 into Sergeant Bash's CPZ and got underneath Sting 2. The lifter was unsuccessful again. Diotoir pushed Sting against the Arena side wall, attacking it with its arm like a spear. Diotoir retreated but followed this up with an attack on Sting 2 again, this time pushing the robot back towards Sergeant Bash. Diotoir then got behind Sting 2 and pushed it across the arena and into the pit, putting it through to the next round.

Diotoir went up against newcomers The Steel Avenger in the second round of the Heat. Diotoir rammed The Steel Avenger into the arena side wall, getting it stuck there. However, Sergeant Bash freed The Steel Avenger and the fight continued. However, The Steel Avenger was almost caught by Dead Metal, and was eventually caught and flipped over by Diotoir, leaving the House Robots to finish the job, also with Diotoir catching fire. "I paid my admission fee just to see this!"

- Jonathan Pearce, as Diotoir catches fire

Diotoir's good run ended in the Heat Final though, where it was up against eventual Grand Finalists Fire Storm. Almost straight away, Fire Storm flipped it over once before pushing it onto the flame pit, where it caught fire, and gave the house robots the right to attack it, before putting it on the Arena Floor Flipper, where Diotoir was flipped. Cease was called and Diotoir was eliminated from the competition.

Diotoir also fought in the First World Championship and the International League during the Third Wars, representing the Republic of Ireland. In the first round of the First World Championship, Diotoir was placed up against Depoppesaurus Rex, who was representing Belgium. Diotoir dominated the battle, it managed to lift up Depoppesaurus Rex several times, flipping it right over at one point, but the shape of the Belgian machine allowed it to roll back onto its wheels. The two then neared Sergeant Bash's CPZ, but didn't enter it, however Sergeant Bash still let out a flicker of flame. Diotoir then nearly pushed Depoppesaurus Rex into the pit, but then the Belgians lifted Diotoir up with its own lifter. This was then when Diotoir suddenly caught fire at the rear. Time then ran out and cease was called, the battle went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Diotoir putting them through to the next round. In the Quarter Finals, Diotoir was placed up against Cerberus, who was representing Cyprus, a robot which had only made this stage due to its first round opponent being disqualified. In this battle, Diotoir persisted in trying to get underneath and flip Cerberus over, but Cerberus managed to keep away from its lifter for a while. Eventually, Diotoir got underneath and flipped Cerberus up using its lifter. Cerberus then rested on Diotoir's arm. Soon, Diotoir managed to ease Cerberus over and onto its back. Cerberus was declared immobile, finished off by the House Robots and Diotoir was through to the third round.

In the Semi-Finals, Diotoir fought Behemoth, who was representing England. Behemoth dominated this battle, it flipped Diotoir over straight away with its lifting shovel, but sportingly re-righted it. This was a reoccurring incident throughout the battle- Behemoth flipped Diotoir around, at one point putting it up on its side, mostly staying towards the top-right CPZ with Sergeant Bash and one of the arena wall flamethrowers, occasionally setting fire to what was left of the fur. Thanks to Behemoth re-righting it after each flipped, it survived until eventually cease was called for the battle to go to a judges' decision- they unsurprisingly went in favour of Behemoth, eliminating Diotoir from the competition. In the International League competition, Diotoir fought in Group A, where it was placed up against Depoppesaurus Rex once again, and Terror Australis. Diotoir first went up against Depoppesaurus Rex, it used its lifter to get in underneath several times, eventually, it used its power to flip the Belgian machine over, and the shape of Depoppesaurus Rex didn't help it this time, as it stayed over. It was declared immobilised, pitted, and Diotoir won three points. In its second battle, it fought the Australian machine Terror Australis, however, Team Nemesis donated their old Nemesis machine to the Australians to fight with as their original machine broke down before the start of the competition. Diotoir was able to defeat its predecessor as well, once again it used its lifting arm to lift up and steer the Australians around, eventually pushing it into the pit, before Diotoir itself promptly caught fire. Cease was soon called, and Diotoir had won another three points, meaning the Irish robot had finished the group stages with the maximum score of six points.

Ending the group stage with six points easily meant that it had done enough to go through to the final round. England representatives Razer was Diotoir's opponent in the final. Razer almost immediately pierced the frontal armour of the almost furless and eyepatch-clad Diotoir, and dragged it slowly around the arena. Razer soon brought Diotoir over to the pit of oblivion, where it held the Irish robot over the edge for a short while, before eventually reversing away to let Diotoir drop down into the pit. Cease was called, and Razer was declared the winner of the tournament, with Diotoir in second place.

Series 4
Diotoir was seeded number 21 as it returned for the Fourth Wars, through its prowess in the International Competitions, and also by general popularity and also reaching the heat final of the main competition. However, in its first round melee, Diotoir was at a severe disadvantage as its armour weighed too much and had to be removed and its weapon had broken. It went up against the experienced Ming 2 and newcomers Bolt from the Blue. The seeded Diotoir was immediately flipped over by Ming 2, and then suffered a familiar fate after being pushed onto the Flame Pit by Bolt from the Blue. Although its wheels still turning allowed it to spin around over the flame pit, it was decided to be technically immobilised and was eliminated from the competition. "And so, with no armour, no weapon, no sleep and no hope we went to battle. We lasted about 4 seconds. We got flipped upside-down straight away and as our weapon is also our re-righting device, there was nothing we could do about it. We were then fair game for the house robots. Díotóir, once the pride of Ireland, on his back getting torched, punched and slashed like a wounded wildebeest being ravaged by vultures."

- Diotoir website

Diotoir returned in the Sumo Basho tournament, this time sporting its top armour. The extra weight didn't help it as it was shoved off the platform by Shunt after a dismal 3.95 seconds, this put it bottom of the leaderboard for the competition overall at the end, especially ironic due to Diotoir's predecessor Nemesis managing to defeat Shunt in the Sumo of the first ever Robot Wars Heat. Diotoir also entered the pinball tournament during The Fourth Wars, and came 5th (equal with Bigger Brother) overall with an impressive 180 points, despite being set on fire by Sergeant Bash once again.

However, Diotoir also participated in the Celebrity Special. By this time it was now able to have its top armour applied and use its lifting arm. Here, it was the under control of Vic Reeves, this time it had more luck than before during this series. In the first round, it faced a Semi-Finalist for that series, Wild Thing. Wild Thing dominated the early stages of the battle, by ramming the less powerful Diotoir. Then Wild Thing became stuck on the arena side wall, before being freed by the House Robots. It then came back to attack Diotoir again, who was being burned by the flamethrower of Sergeant Bash. Wild Thing was grabbed by Sir Kilalot and dropped down the pit, eliminating it, therefore putting Diotoir through to the next round. In the second round, Diotoir went up against the clusterbot Gemini, Diotoir was flipped over easily, but when the Gemini team got overconfident, they re-righted Diotoir, who was still mobile. Suddenly, one of the Gemini twins then broke down completely, which eliminated the clusterbot as a unit, and allowed Diotoir to go through to the final round of the competition.

In the final, Diotoir went up against its future Tag Team partners Pussycat and went in as the underdogs. Pussycat tried to cut through Diotoir, but the fur became trapped around its blade and it could no longer spin. Diotoir was then rammed by Pussycat and attacked by the House Robots, which slowly caused Diotoir to lose its mobility. Sir Killalot then scooped up and placed the now immobilised Diotoir onto the arena floor flipper, where it was flipped. Then Shunt pushed Diotoir down the pit of oblivion, leaving Pussycat victorious and the winner of the Celebrity Special.

Extreme 1
"We're here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and we're all out of gum!"

- Dr. Zulu, in Extreme 1

Diotoir appeared quite frequently across the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, with varying levels of success.

It first fought in the All-Stars competition, where it went up against Wheely Big Cheese in the first round. The two machines spent most of the early match trying to get underneath one another, with Diotoir managing to lift Wheely Big Cheese up a few times with its new lifting scoop. In the end, one of Wheely Big Cheese's sharp wheels shredded one of Diotoir's eyes, and straight afterwards, Wheely Big Cheese got underneath Diotoir and threw it over, breaking off both of the Irish machine's eyes in the process. Diotoir was then flipped again by Wheely Big Cheese, this time against the arena side wall, still up side down. Soon, Diotoir was counted out of the All-Stars.

Diotoir's next appearance came in a Mayhem qualifier, where the Irish machine went up against Panic Attack and Shear Khan, for the a right to fight in the second annihilator of the series. Diotoir went into the arena with a poster of Panic Attack lightly held onto its scoop, to show where Panic Attack will be ending up. Immediately before the match, Diotoir's spring-loaded scoop discharged and jammed, leaving it weaponless for the match. Diotoir stayed largely out of the way to begin with as Panic Attack took on and immobilised Shear Khan. As Shear Khan was being counted out, Panic Attack chased down and then simply lifted over Diotoir with its forks, and as Refbot then prepared to count out the Irish robot, Panic Attack hooked onto Diotoir's lifting scoop springs and dragged it away. By this time, the Panic Attack poster had been ripped off Diotoir's scoop. Panic Attack then brought Diotoir over to the pit, and easily dropped it in, eliminating Diotoir from the Mayhem and declaring Panic Attack the winner. Diotoir also fought in a vengeance battle against Firestorm 3 after Team Nemesis claimed that the Firestorm team were "a bunch of girlies", it was notable that there was some faked CCTV of Dr. Zulu walking up to Firestorm carrying a large comedy spanner, and "sabotaging" its opponent shortly before the battle. The Diotoir team put a flag on the robot that said "Firestorm are girlies". In the battle, after much dodging around, Firestorm 3 got underneath Diotoir and flipped it over. Diotoir's one attempt at self-righting only served to knock its eyes off. Firestorm then pushed Diotoir into Sergeant Bash, who proceeded to set fire to the Irish machine. By the time Diotoir was counted out, it was completely burnt (even the metal was burned). However, Diotoir had a good spell in this series in the Tag Team Terror competition, where it was originally paired up with Mega Morg. In the first round, the pair went up against the reigning Tag Team Terror champions, 101 and King B Powerworks. Despite being pushed around early on by the defending champions, both Diotoir and Mega Morg managed to pull themselves together to put in some good flips in on 101 and push King B Powerworks from the side. They also managed to pull off a surprise win in the judges' decision that resulted after both of their opponents suffered from control problems towards the end of the fight, as 101 lost the mobility in one of its tracks and King B Powerworks was spinning madly in the CPZ.

The two were then due to face Comengetorix and Spawn Again in the next round, but Mega Morg was forced to drop out, having blown all of its speed controllers. Pussycat was bought in as a substitute partner for Diotoir. The opposing team were on top to begin with. Spawn Again got several flips in on Pussycat and Diotoir, not quite flipping them over. Comengetorix however was having a few control problems and stayed out of the way for most of the fight. Eventually, Pussycat was able to use its blade to force Spawn Again to break down, right after their flipper had jammed. Spawn Again was pitted by the house robots. Comengetorix was left to fight alone for the opposite team, and was soon flipped over by Diotoir, placed conveniently close to the pit. Comengetorix then self-righted into the pit just as time ran out.

This put Diotoir and Pussycat through to go up against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies in the Final. Although, yet again, Pussycat had a lot of problems with keeping out of Suicidal Tendencies' claw, causing only minimal damage in retaliation, Diotoir was able to score a lot of points after it flipped The Steel Avenger around the Arena several times, and pinned it down. The battle eventually went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Diotoir and Pussycat, making them the new Tag Team Terror champions. "You've finally won something!"

- Craig Charles

Diotoir also participated in the Second World Championship, which was filmed during the first series of Extreme, representing the Republic of Ireland. This competition was also broadcast during Extreme Warriors: Season 1.

In the first round, Diotoir was drawn up against Razer (representing the UK), The Revolutionist (representing the USA) and Flensburger Power (representing Germany). In the battle, Diotoir immediately went after Flensburger Power, catching it side on, and then shoved it just across into the arena side wall, just shy of Sir Killalot's CPZ. After this initial attack, Flensburger Power was already immobilised, and was quickly counted out by the Refbot. Diotoir then headed for the pit release button, as Razer hoisted up and crippled The Revolutionist. Diotoir then ran into the back of Razer, but Razer was quick to respond as it turned, and clawed into Diotoir, hoisting it into the air and over the flame pit (however the fur wasn't catching fire). By the end of the battle, only Razer and Diotoir were still moving, and they went to the judges, along with the technically still mobile Revolutionist. The judges put Razer through, eliminating Diotoir.

Series 5
"Diotoir started a promising run in show 7..."

- Jonathan Pearce at the end of the series

An unseeded Diotoir returned for the Fifth Wars, and started very strongly. In its first round battle of the heat, Diotoir was drawn up against newcomers to the main competition in Dome. Diotoir effortlessly flipped the inexperienced machine over onto its back. As the Dome had no srimech, it was deemed immobilised, but the Refbot didn't move in to count Dome out. Diotoir then pressed the pit release button, before then coming back and flipping Dome again, attempting to fit the enormous machine into the pit of oblivion, but only resting on the perimeter. Eventually, the weight of the Dome robot made it fall down into the pit properly. Cease was then called, putting Diotoir through to the second round of the heat, where it made a shocking comeback after a fairly tentative start to the battle. The Irish machine was placed up against the number 12 seeds Tornado at this stage. Tornado had spent a lot of the battle shunting Diotoir around the arena, pushing it into the arena side walls and various CPZs, but it couldn't cause any damage as the fur on Diotoir was snagging the disc on Tornado, it also couldn't work up a big enough run up to injure Diotoir's electronics somehow. Then Diotoir activated the pit release button when it was given some breathing space to get away, as Tornado began to slow, almost to a halt. Suddenly, Diotoir made a run-up and launched an attack, overpowering Tornado and pushing it into the pit of oblivion, resulting in a surprising victory for Diotoir. This put Diotoir through to the Heat Final for the second time in its history. "Can you believe it?! Can you believe it?! Tornado turned into a gentle summer's breeze, Diotoir go through!!"

- Craig Charles after Tornado was pitted

Despite a great first two battles to its Fifth Wars campaign, its opponent in the Heat Final, the number 13 seeds Spawn Again was the stronger machine in this battle, hurling Diotoir onto its back on its very first flip. When Diotoir tried to self-right, its eyes flew off, and it stayed the wrong side up. Diotoir was unable to self-right and was soon counted out by Refbot, ending Diotoir's great series run. Spawn Again was about to then run up and place Diotoir down the pit, as part of a Gentleman's Agreement, but they then broke down too, so Sergeant Bash then came in and burned Diotoir. Matilda also attacked Diotoir with her flywheel. Cease was later called and Diotoir was eliminated from the competition. This marked Diotoir's final appearance in the main competition.

Extreme 2
Diotoir briefly came out of retirement and returned as the reigning Tag Team Terror Champions alongside Pussycat in the second series of Extreme. This time, Diotoir was armed with redesigned lifting shovel weapon and a crusher that was intended to act as a self-righting mechanism. The champions were placed up against Robochicken and Bulldog Breed in the first round. Unfortunately, after flipping it about for a little while, Bulldog Breed soon threw Pussycat out of the arena, putting the champions at a huge disadvantage. Bulldog Breed then proceeded to flip Diotoir. The first flip that the bulldog produced was so powerful that rather than landing on its back, Diotoir rolled back onto its wheels, although one of the eyes did fall off Diotoir. However, Bulldog Breed then flipped Diotoir again, this time onto its back and over the flame pit. The newly fitted srimech failed to work, deeming Diotoir immobilised, ending the pairs run as Tag Team Terror Champions. "...and we know what happens to the fur-brain machine from Dublin"

- Jonathan Pearce as Diotoir is placed on the flame pit

With victory seemingly in the bag for the new pairing, Robochicken then finally came out and flipped Diotoir on and off the flame pit for a brief while, before Refbot put out the fire spreading on Diotoir's fur, whilst counting out the Dublin-based machine, eliminating both Pussycat and Diotoir from the competition. Matilda then came in and attacked Diotoir after it had been counted out, knocking its lifting scoop off with her flywheel, right before cease was called. This was Diotoir's last appearance on Robot Wars.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 13
 * Losses: 11

Outside Robot Wars
Like many Robot Wars competitors, the Diotoir team entered Techno Games with a walking robot powered by a 50CC Petrol Engine called Ulysses. Like Diotoir, this robot was covered in their trademark fur and featured a Diotoir style face. It won the Internal Combustion Sprint event beating the reigning champion Tecumseh in Techno Games 2001 but lost that title to Scuttle B Squared from the 101 team the following year. Team Nemesis also entered a weapon-less version of Diotoir named Stanoscloir in the assault course event in Techno Games 2002 but lost in the 1st round to Kat's Whiskers from Team KaterKiller.

Despite not competing in the final series of Robot Wars, Diotoir was due to make a one-off appearance at a World Championship event in 2004, along with other Robot Wars competitors, however, the event was cancelled.

Team captain Peter Redmond still owns Diotoir, though it has been retired from combat for several years, Redmond says he plans to occasionally bring Diotoir out for exhibition battles in the future.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction

Trivia

 * Diotoir was the only robot from the Republic of Ireland to win a battle.
 * Diotoir was the only robot besides Razer to win the same award more than once (winning the Sportsmanship Award in Series 3 and 4).
 * Diotoir's name was misspelled in Series 3, appearing as 'Diotior' on the line-up card after its first fight. Stuart McDonald's pronunciation was also wrong before the first fight, perhaps because of this same mistake.
 * In the Series 3 International League Championship, Diotoir ended up fighting its predecessor.
 * In Extreme 1/Series 5, Diotoir was said to have a 50CC Petrol Engine. Diotoir, however, had a 36V Motor and the team's Techno Games entry Ulysses had the 50CC Petrol Engine.
 * Of the fifty robots to return from Series 4 to compete in Series 5, Diotoir is one of only ten to perform better in its Series 5 appearance. The others are Bigger Brother, Firestorm, Razer, Prizephita Mach 2, Kat 3, Reactor, Rick, Destruct-A-Bubble and Clawed Hopper.
 * In 2016, Australian news outlet "news.com.au" (owned by NewsCorp Australia) profiled the return of Robot Wars. Along with several UK champions, Diotoir (along with Max Damage and the Series 3 versions of Aggrobot) was singled out as one of Robot Wars' memorable and colourful designs.