Philipper

Philipper (sometimes spelled Philliper) was a Belgian robot that competed in Dutch Robot Wars. Its name was a combination of the names of team captain Philippe Poppe and the famous film dolphin, Flipper. The robot was described as "fish-like" by Jonathan Pearce, had a 1cm, ground clearance and was armed with two flipping weapons, one on the front and one on the back. Philipper 2 had a similar design, but the front flipper was upgraded from electric to pneumatic, whilst the rear flipper was replaced with a crushing claw, the ground clearance was lowered at was powered by two 200W wheelchair motors. Both robots had decent weapons and incredible traction, but suffered from speeds of only 10mph.

The Philipper team was very successful, finishing as runner-up in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars and being named as Belgian champion as the best placed Belgian robot in the series. They also had success in international competition, finishing as runner-up in the European Championship. The team also competed in two Robot Wars World Championships, the second with Philipper and the first with their previous robot, Depoppesaurus Rex. Though it never won its own title, Philipper defeated both Panzer Mk and Black Hole; both champions in their home country's Robot Wars and otherwise undefeated.

However, the team didn't return for The Third World Championship, leaving Hard to represent Belgium.

Dutch Series 1
Philipper had trouble getting ahold of Lizzard in its first battle; its weapon was slow and had a limited range, so every time it lifted Lizzard, Lizzard would simply slide off and escape. However, the tide turned radically when Philipper got underneath Lizzard with its rear flipper; in attempting to flip Lizzard over, Philipper's flipper tore Lizzard's bodyshell clean off. Still, Lizzard remained mobile, so the fight carried on. Philipper opened its flipper and clamped down on Lizzard's exposed electronics just before cease was called. Philipper won the resultant judges decision easily. In the second round, Philipper faced Bamm Bamm. The fight began tentatively with neither robot being able to use their weapon. Philipper finally got underneath Bamm Bamm, and lifted it up near the sidewall, suspending it over the out-of-the-arena zone. Its intent was to drop Bamm Bamm out of the arena, but Bamm Bamm was balanced perfectly, and could not be shaken off. Giving up, Philipper carried Bamm Bamm over to the pit, only to drive in itself.

Extreme 1
Philliper took part in an international fight with Alien Destructor and Chaos 2, however Philipper was swiftly overturned and couldn't right itself and was eliminated from the fight.

At the end of Extreme 1, Philliper took part in the Second World Championship representing Belgium as its team had in the previous World Championship with their previous incarnation Depoppesaurus Rex. Philipper faced Tornado from Britain, Yeborobo from South Africa and Panzer Mk 2 from America. It never did much apart from overturning the American Panzer Mk2. It was still mobile up at the end of the fight along with Tornado, but the judges decision went against Phillipper and it was put out of Round 1 again.

Dutch Series 2
The Poppe family came back to Robot Wars with Philipper 2, a redesign from the previous Philipper. Philipper 2's first battle was against Shapeshifter. Philipper did not have to do much; it simply flipped Shapeshifter onto its side to win. In its next battle, Philipper flipped Trazmaniac several times, having little to worry about since Trazmaniac's weapons weren't working. It continued flipping Trazmaniac until time ran out, and the jury's decision went in its favour. Through to the heat final, Philipper faced Twister. Twister's weaponry looked daunting, but Philipper simply flipped it over. Philipper used its claw to dig into Twister's wheel as the Refbot counted it out.

In the Grand Final, Phlipper first faced Krab Bot. Philipper flipped Krab Bot against a grinder, but before it could bring its claw down on Krab Bot's wheel, Refbot came in and helped it off. Krab Bot grabbed Philipper and dragged it into a CPZ, where Growler charged in and slammed the two apart. Philipper flipped Krab Bot twice more, but when it left its flipper open for too long, Krab Bot got its claw stuck in the gap. After Growler pulled Krab Bot free, the robots came together again, and Philipper dug its claw into Krab bot's wheel gap. The match ended with the two locked together, and Philipper won the subsequent jury's decision. Philipper next opponent was Bamm Bamm, in a grudge match from Dutch Series 1. Before the battle, Sam Poppe expressed intent to flip Bamm Bamm out of the arena, as they had failed to do in their last encounter. Philipper dominated the match, flipping Bamm Bamm repeatedtly with Bamm Bamm self-righting each time. Philipper's flipper then got stuck open, so it closed its claw around Bamm Bamm's hammer, and the two began pulling each other around the arena. Growler separated them as the clock ticked down, and the match went to a jury's decision, which was in favour of Philipper. In the final battle, Philipper met PulverizeR. Phlipper tried to flip PulverizeR, but it had little effect on the invertible robot. Still, it carried on trying to gain some purchase, at one point flipping PulverizeR into a position where only one of its wheels was on the ground, but it could not really hinder PulverizeR at all. One hit from PulverizeR's disc tor a panel off its flipper, and subsequent hits nicked at its sides. As the time ran out, Philipper took one last hit from PulverizeR that flicked it into the air. The match went to a jury's decision, who ruled against Philipper.

As the runner-up, Philipper was the best-performing Belgian robot in Dutch Robot Wars, and consequentially, the Belgian Champion. This honour granted it admittance into the European Championship in Extreme Series 2.

Extreme 2
Philipper 2 took part in the European Championship representing Belgium and in the first round, it fought the Swedish Rawbot. Both robots charged in as activate was called and Philipper 2 flipped Rawbot up a little which wasn't enough to turn it over. Philipper 2 then lifted the Swedish machine up again with both robots going round in a circle before Philipper 2 dropped Rawbot. Philipper 2 shoved Rawbot into the floor-spinner release tyre activating the arena hazard and then flipping Rawbot up again. Rawbot made a move to hit the pit release but Philipper 2 shoved Rawbot down it to go through. Round 2 saw Philipper 2 up against the German Black Hole. Philipper 2 had difficulty keeping up with the German machine and Black Hole kept landing its discs on Philipper 2. Philipper 2 was taking damage and hit the pit release then managed to flip Black Hole, but caused no problems to the German robot as it was invertible. Black Hole came back biting into Philipper 2's sides but the Belgian robot refused to give up and flipped Black Hole up a little bit before turning the tables by shoving it down the pit. Philipper 2 was then through to the European Championship final taking on the British Tornado. It was shoved by Tornado and missed its first flip on the UK champion. Philipper 2 was pursued by Tornado into the CPZ where it was attacked by Shunt but escaped only to take more punishment from Tornado. Philipper 2 found itself on the flame pit where its low ground clearance beached it until Refbot freed it. Tornado then activated the pit and tried to shove Philipper 2 into it, but Philipper 2 had good traction and kept hanging on. Tornado then tore off one of Philipper 2's rear panels before eventually shoving Philipper 2 down the pit which gave it second place in the European Championship Final.

Results

 * }


 * }

Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 2
 * UK Losses: 3
 * Dutch Wins: 6
 * Dutch Losses: 2

Series Record

 * Series 1: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 2: Runner-up

Trivia

 * The Poppe Family is the only team to have fought robots from eight different countries. The countries being: Eire (Republic of Ireland), Australia, The Netherlands, England, South Africa, America, Sweden and Germany. Ironically, its home nation of Belgium was not one of the eight.