Thermidor 2

Thermidor 2 was a robot that was designed to resemble a lobster. It was equipped with a CO2 powered flipper and a pair of claws for grabbing. The robot competed in Series 4 through 7. In Series 5, the claws were redesigned to be wedge-shaped and thus, would not get in the way of the flipper. Its large wheels came from a Mini Metro.

Team Lobster also competed in Series 3 with Thermador, the team's original creation. The robot had the same basic design as its successor but it had a small lobster's head where the flipper would eventually be located and it was equipped with a spike at the front and a small cutting disc in the tail, in addition to the lobster claws.

Thermidor 2 had a very high and low performance ratio, reaching the Semi-Finals of Series 4 and 7, but losing in the first round in Series 5 and 6. Interestingly, in Thermidor 2's first two series, it defeated a previous Semi-Finalist (Plunderbird and Gravedigger), but in the next two wars, it failed to get past Round 1 and was defeated by a previous Round 1 loser, in Prizephita Mach 2 and 13 Black. In addition, it is interesting to note that Thermidor 2 reached the series semi-finals whenever Philippa Forrester wasn't the pit reporter.

The lobster design was a high and fun point of the robot. Jonathan Pearce, in particular, made many jokes about lobster's being "broiled" (since lobsters don't turn red until they're cooked), and so on. Team Lobster was quite straightforward and blunt, as their introduction to their robot was much the same in all its later appearances. "We're Team Lobster. My name's David, this is Ian, this is Thermidor 2. We want to win, stay out of our way."

- David Harding's straight-to-the-point introduction

Thermidor 2 was the first robot to flip two robots out of the arena in one battle (Behemoth and Stinger), and holds the joint title with Atomic of the robot with the highest amount of OotA flips not to be thrown out of the arena itself.

Series 3
Thermador competed in Heat M of the Third Wars. It defeated Plunderstorm in Round 1, as the former semi-finalists never started moving. After trying to grab at Scutter's Revenge in Round 2, it fell before the larger robot's onslaught and was pitted. "...when matched with Scutter's Revenge, it didn't have enough power, and ended up in the pit"

- Jonathan Pearce

Series 4
Thermidor 2 made a fair impact in its first round, trading blows with Kronic the Wedgehog, but neither was able to flip the other. However, Kronic rammed Thermidor hard, and one of Thermidor's claws buckled. Meanwhile, Kronic pinned Gravedigger, and Thermidor 2 flipped Gravedigger on its side and secured its defeat. Its second round against Dreadnaught XP-1 was over quickly as it took just one flip that nearly got Dreadnaught XP-1 out of the arena, to immobilise it. It was very close in its Heat Final as the shape of the claws meant that it got in the way of the flipper a lot. Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper broke off and it broke down so Thermidor 2 progressed to the Semi-Finals.

In the Semi-Finals, although it flipped Pussycat high into the air, it sustained a lot of damage from Pussycat's blade and the wheels were damaged particularly badly, so the judges awarded the win to Pussycat.

Extreme 1
Thermidor 2 had a wide range of appearances in Extreme Series 1, with very high and low success in different competitions.

It paired with Cerberus for the Tag Team Terror. It beached Sumpthing on its own weapon, leaving it and its partner S.M.I.D.S.Y. at the mercy of the House Robots. In Round 2, the two fought against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies, but they kept attacking each other, before Thermidor 2 eventually broke down over the flame pit. It was put on the floor flipper and hurled across the arena, costing Cerberus and itself in the judges decision.

It fought in the Flipper Frenzy, but helped Chaos 2, Bigger Brother and Wheely Big Cheese attacked the House Robots, nearly flipping Sergeant Bash out of the arena. It was named the winner after the other three became incapacitated.

Thermidor 2's Mayhem was one of the highlight battles in Extreme 1, despite being rather short. It attacked Behemoth from behind, throwing it head-over-heels from the arena. It then followed this up by catching Stinger and flipping one wheel over the wall, so that its weight caused it to fall out as well. This was the first time that a robot had eliminated two opponents in one battle by flipping them out of the arena, and the only time that those circumstances had only one robot remaining inside the arena at the end of a battle.

It failed to carry across this success in the Annihilator, however. Despite a good flip on Hypno-Disc in Round 1, it was damaged by Splinter and Pussycat, before it broke down and was eliminated.

It also participated in a Vengeance battle against Napalm, due to a sexist comment made by the Team Lobster. The resulting battle was rather quick, with Thermidor 2 immobilising Napalm in the opening seconds. Thermidor 2 flipped it around the arena, causing Napalm to fall apart from the impacts. Thermidor 2 waited until Refbot counted Napalm out, and then finished the girls' robot off by throwing it out of the arena. The team apologised for their remark though.

Series 5
Thermidor 2 suffered a surprise loss to Prizephita Mach 2 in this war. The first round saw Thermidor sliding underneath and flipping Prizephita into the air, but it self-righted and then flipped the seed numerous times before it ran out of CO2 after self-righting and then broke down. Sgt. Bash seized the lobster and pitted it, the first seed from Series 5 to be eliminated in the first round.

Series 6
Thermidor 2 returned to fight Stinger, Chompalot and 13 Black. The initial clash with Chompalot saw one of the wheels damaged by a deflection attack off 13 Black. From that moment, Thermidor 2 could only drive in circles. It flipped Stinger several times, but blows from Stinger damaged the wheels of Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2 was then counted out as its mobility was minimal. When Dead Metal closed in, Thermidor 2 revealed that its flipper was still working, throwing Dead Metal off of it, but it was soon caught by Killalot. Breaking free, Thermidor 2 drove itself into the pit to avoid excessive punishment.

Extreme 2
Thermidor 2 also competed in Extreme 2 Annihilator. It was flipped over by Raging Reality, but self-righted. It flipped Kan Opener around, but did little else as Typhoon 2 was eliminated. In the second round, it got good flips on Major Tom and Raging Reality. It spent the rest of the fight fighting Revenge of Trouble & Strife, who landed strong blows on Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2 then stopped the spinning disc of Revenge of Trouble & Strife by trapping it between its flipper and claws. Both robots then attacked Dead Metal. However, Raging Reality was counted out and Thermidor 2 went through. In Round three, it continued its bout with Revenge of Trouble & Strife, coming out on top with a powerful flip. Major Tom broke down in the fourth round, and Thermidor 2 fought Kan Opener head to head in the final. It was unable to flip Kan Opener, and was slowly beaten into submission, with its flipper damaged and its wheels punctured by Kan Opener's claws. With 4 seconds to go, Kan Opener shoved the lobster down the pit.

Series 7
Thermidor 2 returned for Series 7 as the 14th seed, despite the fact that it had lost out in Round 1 of the previous two wars. There was nothing to hint these previous unsuccessful runs, however, as it faced 8645T 2, Mobot and Mighty Mouse. It immediately flipped 8645T onto its side, where it couldn't self-right, before flipping Mobot out of the arena not long afterwards. Mighty Mouse later broke down and was pushed into the pit by Thermidor, but the two had already qualified. Thermidor 2 then convincingly defeated Team Victor's newest machine, The Kraken, flipping it over and eventually pitting it, whereby it faced Mighty Mouse again. What followed was a whole match of evasion on Mighty Mouse's part with the underdog making no attempt whatsoever to attack the seeded machine. Thermidor managed to get several strong flips in before Mighty Mouse lost part of its controls. Time ran out, but the judges decision was obvious, and Thermidor 2 went through.

Sadly, the run ended very quickly in Thermidor 2's first round of the Semi-Final, where it took one blow from Typhoon 2 and was knocked out. It was counted out before being placed over, on or under all the arena hazards. It has been speculated that the damage was so severe that Thermidor 2 was unable to participate in the All-Stars tournament at the end of the series.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 15
 * Losses: 8

Series Record



 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 4: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 7: Semi-Finals, Round 1