Nickelodeon Robot Wars/US Championship

The US Championship was a competition held during the only series of Nickelodeon Robot Wars. It featured four robots competing to become the Nickelodeon US Champion.


 * With only four robots competing, this was the smallest national heavyweight championship of any Robot Wars series, with only a third the amount of robots as the next smallest, the only German Championship, which had 12 robots.
 * This episode marked the only appearance of Phantasm.

Format
The US Championship played a lot like the Grand Final of the UK series of Robot Wars. There were two first round eliminators, followed by a playoff (called a Bonus Battle) between the two losers, and a final battle, the winner of which was crowned the US Champion.

Competing Robots

 * Ninjistu
 * Phantasm
 * Probophobia
 * Tyranabot

Tyranabot vs Ninjitsu
The two robots got off to a quick start, and made a head-on collision with one another, but Ninjitsu's spinning blade simply deflected Tyranabot away. It then tried to strike from the side, with no success. "Ninjitsu with that spinning square on the front, doesn't look like it's got a lot of power on it"

- Stefan Frank

Tyranabot continued to push Ninjitsu from the rear, but its tail was damaged by Ninjitsu's blade. Tyranabot escaped and pressed the pit release button. It then pushed Ninjitsu away over towards the steam vent, and it quickly became apparant that the Californian machine had lost all mobility. "Anything could go wrong in here, because these guys have got so much electronics inside them, the wrong kind of hit could just immobilise them"

- Stefan Frank on Ninjitsu's immobility

Refbot counted out Ninjitsu and Dead Metal placed it on the floor flipper, causing nuts and bolts to come flying off. Dead Metal finished the battle by driving Ninjitsu into the pit.

Winner: Tyranabot

Probophobia vs Phantasm
Phantasm was put at an immediate disadvantage as it had arrived in the UK overweight, forcing it to remove its axe and hammer weapons. This left it with only a set of front mounted spikes.

Probophobia had the much quicker start on Phantasm, but the two robots did not make initial contact straight away. Probophobia eventually reversed into Phantasm and managed to lift it up with its lifting forks, but could not flip it over. However, not long after that attack, Phantasm started smoking. "Something is definately going wrong in there"

- Stefan Frank spots the smoke

Phantasm stopped moving moments later, and Refbot counted it out. Dead Metal and Sir Killalot took turns in attacking Phantasm, the former cutting straight through its chassis, before it was placed on the floor flipper. Cease was called after Phantasm was flipped upside down.

Winner: Probophobia

Ninjitsu vs Phantasm
Phantasm got off to a quicker start and rammed into Ninjitsu head-on, but like Tyranabot earlier, Ninjitsu's spinning square deflected the attack. Ninjitsu countered with an attack of its own and managed to tear a small piece off of Phantasm's bodyshell. Phantasm pushed Ninjitsu away, but it managed to escape and continued to attack. "Ninjitsu is little, but he's putting up quite a fight"

- Stefan Frank

Ninjitsu attacked Phantasm head on, running into the spikes, but this caused it little problems. By now, numerous dents could be seen on Phantasm's body, and it wasn't long before it was rendered immobile. Refbot counted it out whilst Ninjitsu attacked some more, ripping another gash in Phantasm's lifeless corpse. "Refbot shows the red light, which means its the green light for the House 'Bots"

- Stefan Frank as the House Robots advance

Phantasm was once again thrown by the floor flipper, before being placed by Sir Killalot under the Drop Zone. Various pieces of sporting equipment were dropped on top of Phantasm's remains. "I wonder if they're trying to hint that she should take up another hobby. Well, don't pay any attention to them, Christina. You come back any time you want"

- Stefan Frank's last words on the battle

Winner: Ninjitsu

Tyranabot vs Probophobia
"And they're off! This is the finals! This is for everything!"

- Stefan Frank as battle commences

The two robots charged at each other straight away, but for the first few seconds, neither made contact, each attempting to get into a good position. Eventually, though, Tyranabot drove too close to the arena wall, allowing Probophobia to lift it up from behind. This resulted in Tyranabot's tail being torn off altogether. Tyranabot recovered and hit the Disc of Doom button. Tyranabot then backed into Probophobia, who lifted its forks at the wrong moment, allowing Tyranabot to drive it straight into the CPZ, where Matilda hit Probophobia with her flywheel. "Jaws wide open on Tyranabot, but it doesn't matter because he's pushing them around on the other side"

- Stefan Frank comments on Tyranabot's strength

Probophobia escaped Matilda, but then began smoking and eventually ground to a halt, unable to move. In desperation, it attempted to move using its lifting forks to turn itself over, and was able to traverse the arena floor, but it wasn't enough to save it from Refbot's count. Sir Killalot then grabbed hold of Probophobia's lifting forks, and once Matilda had opened the pit, he dropped it in, eliminating it from the competition.

US Champion: Tyranabot