Robot Wars Wiki:Style Guide/Robot Names

Robot articles make up the majority of content on Robot Wars Wiki, and it is not always clear when robots should share articles or be considered different robots.

In the case of teams with multiple robots, each distinct robot should be given its own article. Whether a robot is distinct from its predecessor is a matter of “identity” or “branding”. This will be revisited later on.

Naming an article
Where there is a generic name for a series of robots, that generic name should be used. The generic name becomes the identity of the robot, and all robots to fit into that generic identity should share an article.
 * The generic name is typically the name of the first iteration of the robot. It is the most distinctive and notable part of the robot’s name and is common to all versions of the robot.
 * Ming encompasses Ming 2, Ming 3 and Ming Dienasty whilst Tetanus encompasses Tetanus 2 and Tetanus Booster. This is because “Dienasty” and “Booster” are additions to the generic word that do not change its generic nature.
 * Dreadnaut encompasses Dreadnaut XP-1 and Overkill encompasses Overkill GTI because the small acronyms do not distinguish the robot as a separate brand of robot.
 * Sabretooth encompasses all five Sabretooth machines, despite being complete rebuilds each time.
 * GBH encompasses GBH 2. However, had the team opted for the original name “The Mulsanne Monster”, the robot would not be considered the same brand and therefore not share an article.
 * NEAT Machine is the most generic name for the robots “NEAT Machine”, “Neater” and “NEATer Machine”.
 * Where the generic name has never been used as a canon name for the robot, but is still the most distinctive, notable and common part of the robot series, it should be used.
 * Firestorm is the article’s name, rather than Fire Storm, as the four later Firestorm robots used it as the spelling, demonstrating that the team intended it to be the robot brand.
 * Similarly, each Plunderbird machine shared Plunderbird as the name, despite there never being a robot named Plunderbird (the first robot was named Plunderbird 1).
 * Where the generic name has never been used as a canon name for the robot, the most generic name of the series should be used.
 * Whilst “King B” and “Morg” are common to all versions of their respective machines, there have never been machines to go by that name. The Morgue and King Buxton are the most generic of the names available, and therefore become the article’s name.
 * Similarly, until such time as future “Kat”, “Storm” or “Ironside” machines appear on Robot Wars, the articles Kat 3, Storm 2 and Ironside3 remain named the only canon name given to them on the show.
 * Where a generic name can be gleaned from different spellings, the most generic spelling should be used for the article name.
 * 8645T is meant to be pronounced “Beast”, a name that the team later reverted to in Series 8. As a result, the article is named “Beast”, with 8645T as an alternate spelling for the Series 5 and 7 model.
 * In some cases, a sequentially named robot will be the name of the article where the robot has remained on the same name for all subsequent appearances and the generic name has been used once.
 * See Chaos 2, Dominator 2 and Thermidor 2.
 * Whilst originally known as “Thing 2”, Wild Thing became the robot’s sole brand in Series 4-6 and takes precedence over the singly used “Thing 2”.

Where robots should be split
Robots should be split where the team has made an active attempt to differentiate the robot as a new machine. This can be indicated in several ways.
 * Where there is no generic name for a series of robots, nor can one be gleaned from the roboteers intentions, the robots should be split.
 * Team Torque’s All Torque, Small Torque and Fighting Torque all have their own articles, rather than be shared under a generic “Torque” article, as no robot named “Torque” has ever been entered by the team.
 * Robots in different weight classes cannot share an article, even where the names are the same.
 * Typhoon 2 therefore has its own identity from Typhoon, as it was spin-off machine.
 * Adam Clark’s 259 middleweight is a different robot intended to be a companion to its heavyweight predecessor.
 * Where a team has actively taken steps to indicate through the name that a robot is intended to be a successor, rather than another member of a series. Key words include “Spawn”, “Son”, “Shadow” and “Revenge”.
 * See Shadow of Napalm, Revenge of Trouble & Strife, Bigger Brother and Spawn of Scutter.
 * Wheely Big Cheese is implied to be a “bigger” cheese than its predecessor – implying that it is not the same series of robot but a successor to the original.
 * Where a team enters multiple robots but there is no generic name to all machines, it is best to err on the side of splitting up multiple robots.
 * Spawn of Scutter shares common words with both its predecessor and successor, but the three do not share any words.
 * Similarly, Steg-O-Saw-Us, Steg 2 and 3 Stegs to Heaven are entirely different machines with no generic name appropriate to be used.
 * Where a new robot has only tenuous links to its predecessor, the team has made an effort to distinguish a new robot.
 * S3 stands for Sting 3, but this was so narrowly spread that the show assumed S3 was a newcomer robot.

Other factors
Whilst these other factors are not as determinative as the robot’s identity or branding, they may be persuasive.

Design

 * A robot’s design may indicate that it has taken up a new identity
 * S3’s design has absolutely no resemblance to Sting 2’s, indicating a brand new line of robots.
 * A robot’s design may indicate that the name is not indicated to change a robot’s identity.
 * The fact that Spirit of Scorpion reverted to the general name “Scorpion” in Series 7 means that the team intended all Scorpion machines to share the brand. The alternative would be to give Spirit of Scorpion its own article, but leave the Series 4, Extreme 1 and Series 7 Scorpions in a single article, which would not make sense.
 * Similarities in design do not trump branding.
 * Despite Mad Cow, Velocirippa and Prometheus being made into Psycho Chicken, Mighty Mouse and General Carnage respectively, the complete change in name and exterior design indicates that the robots should be considered new robots.
 * Comengetorix and Veringetorix are almost the exact same design, but difference in name means that no common generic name can be determined and the robots therefore should be split.