Sir Killalot

"Our master of disaster! 200 kilos of gloom and doom, the lance to chew, the hydraulic claw to cut through- the nip and tuck, and you're out of luck!"

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 5.

Sir Killalot (known as Sir K. in Nickelodeon Robot Wars and often otherwise shortened to Killalot) was one of the most famous House Robots from the UK TV show Robot Wars. He made his debut in Series 2, and has appeared in every series since, including Robot Wars Extreme, all international versions and the 2016 series. Sir Killalot was one of the largest and best-known House Robots, often appearing at the centre of most Robot Wars merchandise, advertisements and press material during both runs of the show. His main weapons were a set of hydraulic crushing jaws and a lance, each mounted on a pair of independently-operating arms either side of him.

Sir Killalot's name is a pun on Sir Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legend. The Arthurian connotations were further reflected in his original design, which was that of an alien knight.

Following the initial announcement of the 2016 series, BBC Two used Sir Killalot as part of new promotional media for the reboot, including tweets and Facebook posts. Dara Ó Briain had confirmed that Sir Killalot would return "bigger and better" for the new series, while the original version of Sir Killalot later appeared in the fourth teaser.

Design
Sir Killalot was a large blue tracked House Robot initially designed to resemble an alien knight, although his backstory in the Robot Wars Technical Manual perpetuates him to be a time-travelling autonomous fighting unit. He featured a distinctive head, chest plate and shoulder pads resembling pieces of medieval armour, as well as sets of three blinking red LEDs forming his 'eyes', a pair of hydraulically-operated arms mounted on either side of his chassis, and a rear mesh exoskeleton with top-mounted spikes protecting his otherwise-exposed internals. Both arms featured his signature weapons - a set of crushing jaws (left) and a rotating drill-like 'lance' (right) - which could raise in order to allow Sir Killalot to lift competitors as he turned them over, caused damage, threw them across the arena or carried them to hazards such as the Pit or the Flame Pit. Sir Killalot's jaws had a crushing force of 15 tonnes, and were intended to grab competitors as well as pierce, crumple or even snap parts of their weapons, chassis or axles in half. They were also capable of lifting over 100kg (220lbs) with ease, allowing him to pick competitors up with them before carrying and dropping them over arena hazards and side walls. In Series 2-3, these existed in the form of a set of crushing pincers adapted from the 'jaws of life' used to rescue people from road accidents, which were also used by Sergeant Bash in Series 3. However, these were replaced by custom-made jaws from Series 4 onwards, which were noticeably larger and opened much wider than the pincers previously used. Sir Killalot's lance, meanwhile was intended to spear and drill through competitors' armour, although this capability was not seen as often as it was not powerful enough to drill through most types of armour. However, the lance was equally as capable of lifting competitors off the arena floor as the jaws, as well as rotating and twisting them over when it was raised and destroying a robot's internals if it managed to poke through exposed gaps in its chassis. "Awesome, majestic, with a deadly claw capable of cutting through solid steel. Sir Killalot thrives on wonton destruction!"

- Jonathan Pearce introduces Sir Killalot in Series 2

For his initial appearance in Series 2, Sir Killalot took ten days to build, and was still being finished as he was being transported to the studio for filming. He had several distinctive features in this series which were subsequently altered or replaced, such as a spiked steel rod on his right arm instead of his lance, as well as a more tapered and closer-fitting rear exoskeleton and white LED 'eyes' instead of his later red ones. Both of Sir Killalot's arms also raised and lowered together instead of being operated independently, and his jaws were mounted on extra hinges on his left arm, allowing them to lift at an 135 degree angle. While the latter capability was rarely seen during the Second Wars, Sir Killalot's jaws and rod in this series were still highly effective in lifting and causing damage to competitors.

In order to increase the movement in his arms, Sir Killalot's hydraulics were improved and his shoulder pads - which he was fitted with in Series 2 - were removed for Series 3. Additionally, his rear exoskeleton was enlarged and mounted differently, the jaws permanently fixed to the end of his left arm, and the white LEDs swapped for his more famous red ones. However, the shoulder pads were refitted for Series 4 as many considered that he looked better with them.Following his early upgrades and cosmetic changes, Sir Killalot's appearance and armament remained consistent throughout the later series of the original Robot Wars.

Sir Killalot weighed considerably heavier than most of the other House Robots, at 520kg, the second heaviest by the end of the original series' run. He was regularly implied to be their 'leader' by the show's hosts and Jonathan Pearce, among others, and was even claimed to have no weaknesses on his statistics boards. Even so, he was prone to catching fire, overbalancing or having his chest plate or tracks damaged by competitors from time to time. One of Sir Killalot's most memorable methods of 'punishing' a competitor would be to pick it up with his jaws and carry it around, before spinning around on the spot and opening his jaws after a few seconds, throwing said competitor a considerable distance across the arena. This was often referred to as his 'spin trick'. Along with Matilda, Dead Metal and Shunt, a new version of Sir Killalot was built for the 2016 series, featuring a considerably enlarged and upgraded design but retaining his dark blue and grey colour scheme. His head and body now feature a grungier, predominantly 'Space Marine'-inspired influence, with a revised head and shoulder pads, more durable ARMOX armour offering improved protection to his internals and tracks, and front ramming blades beneath his signature chest plate intended to push competitors away. Sir Killalot's weight has been dramatically increased to 741kg, while his enlarged jaws open at up to 700mm wide and have a crushing force of 2.5 tonnes. Both of his arms now have a lifting capacity of up to 300kg, while his internals have also been significantly upgraded, allowing him to reach a considerably higher top speed of 10mph - double that of his previous incarnation. In the 2017 series, Sir Killalot was equipped with a new claw, and his weight was increased to 750kg, matching the weight of Mr. Psycho.

Series 2
"Catch your breath, there's one more! The biggest, baddest, butchest of them all! Ladies and gentlemen, bow down to the mechanical might of Sir Killalot"

- Craig Charles introduces Sir Killalot for the first time

Sir Killalot made his Robot Wars debut in Series 2, demonstrating the power of his jaws by snapping a metal bar held by Craig Charles during his introduction in Heat A. During the series itself, he proved effortlessly capable of lifting and carrying competitors around the arena with his arms. Notably, he lifted Piece De Resistance during its Gauntlet run before carrying it towards and holding it over the Flame Pit following its Skittles run. One of his most damaging moments came in Heat C, where he snapped the bars for Dreadnaut's lifting forks after the latter failed to move at all during its battle against Oblivion; while in Heat L, he got under and lifted Flirty Skirty's shell off with his lance, before parading the remains of it around the arena and over the Flame Pit: "Up it goes...almost up...and off! Good gads, sir! You have disrobed Flirty Skirty!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Sir Killalot removes Flirty Skirty's shell

However, Sir Killalot was not entirely infallible. He sometimes lost balance while carrying competitors around and toppled onto his front, as he did while hoisting Groundhog up during its Gauntlet run in Heat K: "And they're going nowhere, as Killalot comes in. Oh, he plucks up Groundhog so effortlessly! Turns and twists, ready for the kill - NO! They've killed Killalot! He's been dragged to the ground, it's never happened before! This is the king of the House Robots, this is unbelievable!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Sir Killalot overbalances trying to carry Groundhog in his jaws Sir Killalot's petrol-driven engine also proved flammable, as Sergeant Bash accidentally set him on fire with his flamethrower during Robo Doc's Gauntlet run in Heat I. He was also at the centre of controversy during Mortis' Pinball run in the Semi-Finals, as he accidentally reversed into the pit in the closing seconds, with six men having to lift him out afterwards according to the producers. This incident was alleged to have been done deliberately to increase Mortis' score during its run, in an attempt to make up for its poor performance and its immobilisation by an arena spike on its initial run.

Series 3
Sir Killalot, like the other house robots at the time, received improvements this series. His eyes were now red, instead of white, and his steel rod gave way to his famous lance. His shoulder pads were removed in the hope that they would give the arms more room to move. At the start of the series, Sir Killalot once again cut through a new metal bar that Craig Charles was holding. "Imagine finding him in your laundry basket!"

- Craig Charles after Sir Killalot cuts through the metal bar

Sir Killalot was once again hot under his collar. During a battle between Robopig and Napalm, Killalot carried the defeated Robopig machine over to the flame pit, but caught fire himself. Sgt Bash also accidentally set Killalot on fire again during the Pinball Warrior Tournament, during the run by Oblivion, after the competitor was immobilised.

Series 4
For Series 4, Sir Killalot returned with a larger crushing claw, although still referred to as the 'Jaws of Life' by Jonathan Pearce. As the leader, Sir Killalot was often the robot that roboteers took their grievances out on. One such instance was Roger Plant's Wheely Big Cheese. The Big Cheese had been "grilled" by Killalot over the flame pit in a previous series, and Plant and his team were out for revenge from the start. However, despite the incredible power of Wheely Big Cheese's flipper, they were unable to lift Killalot. Many a roboteer would boast that they could flip Sir Killalot, but in the show's history, no-one ever achieved this. As a result of this, Sir Killalot was the only house robot in the show's history that was never flipped. Sir Killalot once accidentally attacked a house robot. During the melee between 20th seeds Aggrobot 2, Oblivion 2 and Saw Point, he went to attack Oblivion 2, but instead pulled Matilda's left wheel off, leaving her only able to go around in circles. During Panic Attack's fight with Spawn of Scutter, Sir Killalot's hydraulic pipe leaked all over the arena, rendering it immobile and the arena floor slippery.

Extreme 1
With competitors' armour generally getting stronger, Sir Killalot's jaws never did as much damage as he had in his debut series. He did develop his spin trick, whereby he would spin a competitor on his lance, before finally letting it go, hitting anything in its way. In the one-off Featherweight battle this series, he trampled on Beef Cake after RC Warrior was finished off. Beef Cake was left as flat as a pancake in the end, but it still won the battle. Sir Killalot once again was involved with controversy. During a Wild Card Warriors battle between Stinger and Ajjay, the former strayed near Sir Killalot's CPZ. Sir Killalot plucked Stinger off the ground, paraded it around the arena and dropped it over the arena wall just after "cease" was called. The judges ignored this, as the house robot was bang out of order, and since Stinger's mace gave the axlebot numerous aggression points, the judges awarded it the win. The post-fight banter revealed that the Stinger team believed that "Killalot had something against them" as their robot was set upon by Sir Killalot in their vengeance match with Tornado. Sir Killalot also caught fire in the All-Stars Quarter Final between Tornado and Pussycat.

Series 5
Sir Killalot continued grabbing his opponents and then dropping them out of the arena. During Gemini's battle with Ruf Ruf Dougal, Gemini removed Dougal's power key, before proceeding to flip it over. Sir Killalot plucked Dougal off the ground before dropping it out of the arena.

Another notable Series 5 moment happened in the Heat I final between Bigger Brother and 3 Stegs to Heaven. At the end of the battle, with 3 Stegs immobilised and counted out, Bigger Brother started attacking Sir Killalot. This ultimately ended with 3 Stegs to Heaven, Bigger Brother and eventually Sir Killalot in the pit, however the latter managed to escape.

Series 6
Sir Killalot returned mostly unchanged for Series 6, but once again his claws had been redesigned, and would remain the same for the rest of his run. During a First Round Melee, Sir Killalot was able to cause major damage to W.A.S.P. with his lance, drilling through the robot's armour and causing major internal damage.

During the second First Round Melee of Heat H, after looking conspicuously loose earlier in the fight, Sir Killalot's breast plate fell off as he reversed into a CPZ. In the UK vs Germany special, Sir Killalot lifted up the shufflebot Ansgar's Revenge and dragged it along the floor. When it was plucked again, time ran out, meaning it couldn't go in the pit. The resulting judges' decision clearly went in favour of Das Gepäck.

Extreme 2
By now, robot armour was very strong in most cases, so the Jaws of Life could merely pluck other robots. Killalot span around with the defeated Niterider in the New Blood Championship. Even though he toppled over he was able to fall back onto his tracks. Later on in the New Blood Championship, he grabbed Cedric Slammer with his lance and barbecued it on the flame pit. His breast plate also came off in the battle between Cedric Slammer and Fatal Traction.

Series 7
Sir Killalot, like the other returning House Robots, didn't receive many noticeable improvements. He was involved in several notable moments during the series however. In the first Featherweight qualifier, which was Heat B's Special Event, he trampled on Mini Maul, annihilating it. This led certain fans to believe that the producers thought it was funny for one of the three House Robots in the arena to trample the tiny robots, which could only weigh up to 12 kg. During the semi-final of Heat D, during the battle between Gravity and 13 Black, Sir Killalot was lifted up by Gravity's flipper while chasing 13 Black into his CPZ. This is the closest Killalot has come to being flipped. He was also nearly flipped by Iron-Awe 2.1 later in the series. During the Heat I round 1 in a fight with Supernova, Storm 2, Rhino and Mayhem, Storm 2 pushed Supernova into one of Sir Killalot's tracks and it snapped. In Iron-Awe 2.1's first round battle, the red LEDs for Sir Killalot's eyes fell out. In the playoff match between Tornado and X-Terminator, a collision between Sir Killalot and Matilda saw Matilda's flywheel accidentally damage his hydraulic arm, causing hydraulic fluid to spill all over the arena.

2016 Series
Sir Killalot was first unofficially confirmed by Dara Ó Briain over Twitter, calling him 'bigger and better' and 'on steroids'. It wasn't until the 24th February when the teaser for Sir Killalot appeared. Like the other returning House Robots, Sir Killalot has been enlarged and upgraded to compete with modern competitors. In Episode 3, Sir Killalot had a few significant moments. During the TR2 and King B Remix battle, Sir Killalot grabbed hold of King B's wheel and helped burn away the motors inside the machine, immobilising it. In a later battle between Big Nipper and Dantomkia, Dantomkia kept shoving Big Nipper into the CPZ occupied by Sir Killalot who in turn attacked Big Nipper multiple times. At one point Killalot rammed Big Nipper but got his own lance stuck in the arena wall, leaving him trapped for the rest of the match.

In Episode 5, after picking Ironside3 up, Sir Killalot inadvertently dropped it back onto its wheels after it was stuck on its back.

Series 9
Sir Killalot is set to return in the upcoming ninth series. As with the other House Robots, he also appeared in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, where promotional materials saw him bursting out of a Christmas present and wearing a Santa's hat, in keeping with the Christmas theme of the specials. In Episode 1, Sir Killalot grabbed Jar by the hammer and carried it around the arena after it became immobilised during its Head-to-Head battle against The Cat. As he paraded it around the arena, one of Jar’s CO2 canisters fell out of its chassis as it was left suspended in his claw. Later on, Sir Killalot's claw was damaged by The Cat's disc after it drove into him during its battle against Interstellar MML. He pushed The Cat towards the wall, where it became immobilised. In the Grand Final, he picked The Cat up and held it over the Flame Pit following its immobilisation by Arena Cleaner, before spinning it around in his claw and throwing it into the wall. The victorious Arena Cleaner then attempted to attack Sir Killalot, which compelled him to pick Arena Cleaner up and pit the Episode 1 champion. In Episode 2, Sir Killalot first pinned Dee against the wall and carried it towards the pit after its four-second immobilisation by Kadeena Machina. In other matches won by Kadeena Machina, Sir Killalot picked Soldier Ant up and dumped it in the trench, its first out-of-the-arena attack since Extreme Series 2, and held Robo Savage over the fire at the end of the Grand Final.

Sir Killalot appeared in a teaser trailer for Series 9, uploaded on 10th February 2017. The teaser showed him and the other House Robots destroying household appliances, with Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" playing in the background.

Other
During the House Robot Rebellion of the US series, Sir Killalot entered the arena to the song Ride of the Valkyries, looking for revenge after Matilda and Shunt had been beaten. He proceeded to pick up Silver Box, but just before putting it into the pit, he overbalanced and Tricerabot came behind him and knocked him over, causing him to drop Silver Box into the pit, but Sir Killalot was then left suspended on his front next to the pit until time ran out, with the remaining three competitors trying to push him. What wasn't shown was Tricerabot actually succeeding in pitting Sir Killalot.

During an Eliminator in Heat E of Dutch Robot Wars Series 2, Sir Killalot cut the immobilised Vortex Inducer in half with his pincers.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Sir Killalot/Pullback
 * Sir Killalot/Minibot
 * Sir Killalot/RC
 * Sir Killalot/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
 * Sir Killalot/Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction
 * Sir Killalot/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
 * Sir Killalot/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA)
 * Sir Killalot/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)

Outside Robot Wars
On July 21st, 2016, Sir Killalot and the rest of the house robots appeared on BBC's The One Show, to promote the 2016 series of Robot Wars. They battled three remote controlled cars piloted by the cast of The Rebel. Sir Killalot flattened all three cars, and won the battle for the house robots.

On August 26th, 2016, YouTube sketch comedian TomSka uploaded a short video, The Robot Wars (later retitled as simply Robot Wars), to promote the 2016 series Grand Final, starring the 2016 version of Sir Killalot. During the video, Sir Killalot (referred to as "A Freakin' Giant Evil Laser Firing Robot") was seen attacking TomSka, Eddie Bowley and Elliot Gough by firing lasers at them, while the trio attempted to thwart his attacks by adopting a variety of disguises (Bowley wearing a false moustache, Gough confronting him naked, etc.). Sir Killalot backed upon seeing Gough, and crushed a wooden plank in two when Gough and Bowley confronted him wearing cardboard boxes and acting like humanoid 'robots'. He was eventually defeated after getting vaporised by a "bloomin' bird", which then turned on Gough, Bowley and TomSka.

In 2016, the BBC Make It Digital campaign and micro:bit released a Sir Killalot vs Hex micro:bit, a video in which Sir Killalot cuts a micro:bit buggy in half with his claw, which was promoted by BBC Teach in 2017.

Trivia

 * Sir Killalot is notably known as Sir K. in Nickelodeon Robot Wars, but this is not in fact the only instance he has been known by that name. He was frequently called that in the Robot Wars Magazine, and once during Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction.
 * Despite being very large, and also being dubbed The King of the House Robots, Sir Killalot was just the second heaviest house robot between Series 6 and 7, weighing only about two thirds as much as Mr. Psycho.
 * Sir Killalot is the only House Robot that has never been flipped, although he has toppled over on several occasions, due to being top-heavy. The most notable was when he fell over whilst carrying Groundhog, the only time Sir Killalot had been overturned. Many boasted they could flip Sir Killalot, possibly because he was always billed as weighing 280 kg, rather than 520 kg, with some roboteers specifically designing the flippers to be capable of lifting that exact amount. Robots like Wheely Big Cheese and Firestorm were probably capable, but during the entire run of the show, including all international versions, no one succeeded in actually flipping the King of the House Robots.
 * Notably, Roger Plant claimed that his Wheely Big Cheese machine could flip Sir Killalot, as it had tossed a Mini in testing, but didn't take the opportunity when it had the chance, in Wheely Big Cheese's debut battle.
 * Sir Killalot made an appearance in the book Riotous Robots by Dr Mike Goldsmith as part of the "The Knowledge" series. He was shown as an example of a "Puppet Robot" being used for entertainment purposes, and had an illustration and a factfile provided on him, even though the lance was claimed to be a flamethrower. In the same book, Sergeant Bash was also mentioned.
 * Sir Killalot, unofficially, is the robot that has sent robots out of the arena the most times, with 15; six more than the record held by Dantomkia.
 * According to Andrew Marchant, oil was put on Sir Killalot's tracks to make him turn easier.