Tough as Nails

Tough As Nails (sometimes known as Hard As Nails) was a Dutch robot which competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars. The robot was invertible with two large crushing arms at the front. It was described by the team as a "horizontal crusher". Tough As Nails won its heat in the seventh series, defeating Panic Attack along the way. It was eventually defeated in the semi-finals by Bulldog Breed. It also defeated two other Dutch robots to qualify for The Third World Championship at the end of series, in which it reached the semi-finals and was defeated by the eventual champion, Storm 2. Tough As Nails had previously entered the second series of Dutch Robot Wars, but was defeated in the first round by Scrap-2-Saur.

A favoured tactic which was used by the Tough As Nails team was to immediately activate the pit release button, grab hold of its opponents and dump them into the pit. The team attempted this tactic in every single battle in which it competed, successfully pitting Disc-O-Inferno and Robochicken in the heats (although Robochicken was already through to the next round) and Scraptosaur, Gravity and Rawbot in The Third World Championship, before finally being given a taste of its own medicine as it was pitted by Storm 2.

UK Series 7
In its first fight, Tough As Nails pressed the pit release button, and then grabbed Disc-O-Inferno and dropped it down. It then did the same to Robochicken, however Robochicken had already flipped and immobilized B.O.D, so it still qualified. In the next round, Tough As Nails faced the seeded Panic Attack. It grabbed Panic Attack, and after hitting the pit release, attempted to push it into the pit, but Panic Attack wouldn't let it. Panic Attack tried to flip Tough As Nails, but Tough As Nails's shape wasn't prone to being flipped. Tough As Nails grabbed Panic Attack again and bent its lifting device. Left without any means of attack, Panic Attack was helpless as Tough As Nails pushed it around the arena. It couldn't get Panic Attack to go into the pit, but it still won the judges' decision. In the heat final, Tough As Nails met Robochicken again. Tough as Nails was tossed repeatedly by Robochicken's flipper, but since it was invertible, it was wholly unaffected. Robochicken's gas supply begam to dwindle, so Tough As Nails opened the pit and clamped down on Robochicken. It spent the rest of the match with Robochicken in its claws, pushing it around the arena. The judges had to choose a heat winner, and they ruled in favour of Tough As Nails.

In the Semi-finals, Tough as Nails met Bulldog Breed. Tough As Nails was flipped a few times, but did manage to get its pincers around Bulldog Breed. However, it couldn't get enough traction to push Bulldog Breed, Bulldog Breed pushed Tough As Nails around instead. Tough As Nails was nearly flipped out of the arena, and the two robots continued pushing each other until time ran out. The judges ruled that Tough As Nails had lost.

Tough As Nails also competed in the Third World Championship. In its qualifier battle, it employed its usual tactic of pressing the pit release button at the beginning of the match. After soing do, it grabbed Scraptosaur and pushed it into the abyss. It was flipped once by Gravity, but it still managed to grab the Dutch flipper bot, and push it into the too. Through to the World Championships, its first match was made substantially easier when Typhoon 2 was forced to drop out of the melee, leaving only it and Rawbot. Again it went for the pit release, and again it dropped its opponent in. In the semifinal, it found Storm 2 to be a much more difficult opponent. Indeed, Storm 2's speed and traction made it nearly impossible for Tough As Nails to grab and hold Sotrm 2. Storm 2 slammed Tough As Nails against the wall until one of its tyres came off. Tough As Nails got its pincers around Storm 2, but it was Storm 2 in control, pushing and pulling Tough As Nails around the arena. When it tried to put Tough As Nails into the pit, Tough As Nails refused to loosen its grip on Storm 2, allowing it hover over the pit and stay in play just a little while longer. However, it eventually let go, and plunged into the pit, taking The Netherlands' hopes with it.

Dutch Series

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UK Series

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UK Series Record

 * Series 1-6: Did not enter
 * Series 7: Semi-Finals, Round 1