Sergeant Bash

"Something that could be, in sort of 2,000 years time or something, patrolling a planet, and keeping the locals in order"

- Chris Reynolds describes the inspiration for Sergeant Bash's design

Sergeant Bash (often abbreviated to Sgt. Bash, or Bash) was one of the original four House Robots, designed to look like a military vehicle with its green army colours and flamethrower turret weapon. The original design for Sergeant Bash had steel armour with a battering ram weapon at the front of the robot and a saw at the rear. In Series 3, the steel armour was changed for fibreglass armour, and the battering ram was removed in place of a hydraulic claw similar to the claw used by Sir Killalot. Sergeant Bash was one of only two robots in Robot Wars to have a flamethrower weapon, the other being Growler; indeed, the said weapon was banned under normal circumstances. In the Sir Killalot and the House Robots edition of the Ultimate Warriors collection, it was stated that the inspiration for Sergeant Bash' design came from the idea of a futuristic army patrol vehicle.

Sergeant Bash was powered by four batteries running in parallel. His weapons required the inclusion of gas bottles to power the flamethrower, in addition to valves and numerous carbon dioxide reservoirs. The flamethrower and hydraulically driven pincers all contributed to Sergeant Bash's increased weight and he required an extremely long wheelbase to support the mass of internal engineering. He also possessed a petrol powered grinder/circular saw weapon at the rear. After Series 3, the rear saw could be seen buckled at Bash's rear, and was purely ornamental. The flamethrower was originally powered from gas tanks that were positioned in the frontal compartment, whilst the motors for the saw were positioned in the rear section just behind the flamethrower turret. With the introduction of the pincers, the gas bottles were moved back and did not allow enough room for the saw motor, resulting in that weapon being scrapped and left purely as a superficial decoration.

In March 2016, the BBC confirmed that Sgt Bash alongside Cassius Chrome, Growler, Mr Psycho and Refbot, will not return for the 2016 series. He is the only house robot out of the original four to not return.

Armament
"There's more going on inside Sergeant Bash than in any of the other house robots"

- Chris Reynolds in Series 1

Sergeant Bash's weaponry consisted of a propane-fuelled flamethrower mounted on a 360 degree turret, front-mounted hydraulic pincers that can exert eight tonnes of pressure and a rear-mounted circular saw (scrapped after Series 3). Notably, flamethrowers were normally against the rules in Robot Wars, with Bash apparently being the exception. In Series 1 and 2, the front pincers did not exist, and in their place was a vicious-looking hooked ramming and cutting spike. "...will certainly leave all opponents hot under the collar!"

- Jonathan Pearce commenting on the flamethrower

Technical Manual Profile and Origin
The following is the description of Sergeant Bash's profile and origin from the Robot Wars Technical Manual:

Sergeant Bash is a camouflaged, militaristic nightmare. His tank-like forward section is fronted by an angular, razor-sharp ram, while his rear section, with its flared wheel cowling proudly displaying his sergeant's stripes, contains the lethal flame-thrower turret. He also carries a powerful circular saw, just for good measure.

Over the years, many outrageous rumours have circulated regarding the top-secret military test sight known as Area 51 in Nevada. Most of them center around the idea that the US Government has captured several alien spacecraft which allegedly have crashed in the area, and has 'reverse engineered' them to produce its own highly sophisticated aircraft and weapons systems. While these rumours may or may not be true, the fact remains that some very powerful technology is being developed in Area 51, including the F-117A Nighthawk fighter plane and Northrop B2 Stealth Bomber.

In the late 1960s, ranchers in southwestern USA began to suffer the attentions of a mysterious predator that killed and mutilated their livestock, horses and domestic animals. These so-called 'animal mutilations' have perplexed investigators of the unexplained ever since. No perpetrators have ever been apprehended, although the mutilations numbered in the hundreds every year. In each case, certain organs were found to have been removed, and the carcasses displayed strange burn-marks. Many ranchers have reported seeing black, unmarked helicopters in the area just before and after a mutilation, leading some to speculate that the military might have been conducting some kind of ultra-secret weapons experiment on the hapless farm animals. Other people claimed to have seen a small, unusual-looking object speeding across their fields at ground level. When asked by investigators to draw what they had seen, they invariably came up with a similar-shaped object - a squat, lozenge shape with two circular features towards the rear, which may or may not have been wheels.

This only added to the mystification of researchers investigating the mutilations, especially the ufologists who had assumed that they had been carried out by sinister aliens conducting some kind of genetic engineering experiment. It was not until 1990 that someone managed to capture the mysterious mutilator on video, revealing it to be a wheeled vehicle, apparently equipped with a powerful heat weapon on its dorsal surface. Unfortunately, very few have seen this astonishing video, since the unnamed journalist that shot the sinister footage immediately received a visit from three men claiming to be military intelligence agents. These men confiscated the video tape and warned the journalist to drop his investigations into the mutilations phenomenon. The journalist subsequently left his job and joined a New-Age commune just outside San Francisco. These days he is often seen wandering the streets of the city, shouting that the end of the world will soon be upon us.

As to the nature of the bizarre vehicle in the video, it was confirmed by an anonymous physicist who had worked for some years at Area 51 that the machine had been designed and built there. It seems that a top secret contract had been issued to the military by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to build an urban pacification device, code named Sergeant Bash, for use in times of national emergency.

There have been a number of rumours regarding FEMA circulating among conspiracy theorists, the most common of which is that the agency is, in effect, a 'secret government' planning to declare martial law in the United States and turn the country into a totalitarian state. It has been suggested that one of the ways in which this may be achieved is through the use of the Sergeant Bash pacification droid, which would patrol each city, instantly eliminating all resistance.

While this can (possibly) be dismissed as one of the many paranoid - and often downright insane - scare stories floating around, it can be said with a fair degree of certainty that one or more Sergeant Bash droids have been active in the southwestern United States of several years, probably being released and monitored by military personnel in the frequently seen unmarked helicopters.

However, the question remains: how did a Sergeant Bash droid end up participating in Robot Wars? The likeliest answer would be that it's designers have decided to conduct a disinformation campaign with its intention of drawing the public's attention away from Sergeant Bash's true purpose and origin in Area 51. After all, as the saying goes, the best place to hide something is in full view...

Notable Appearances

 * Almost every time Sergeant Bash came up against a robot from Team Nemesis, his flamethrower provided fantastic entertainment because of the highly flammable fur the robots were adorned in. This was so popular and entertaining against the team's first robot Nemesis, that a special Battle was arranged in Series 2, featuring Bash against Nemesis and Ramrombit, a "sacrificial robot" driven by George Francis. Both robots were doused in flammable liquid and set alight for the entertainment of the audience.
 * Sergeant Bash's flamethrower also contributed towards Granny's Revenge catching fire of both of the battles that the latter fought in.
 * Sergeant Bash even accidentally set fellow House Robot Sir Killalot alight during Oblivion 2's pinball run in Series 3.
 * In Heat A of the New Blood Tournament, during the battle between Mute and Mr Nasty, Sergeant Bash started to attack Refbot for unknown reasons, chasing Refbot around the arena spurting fire. However the Refbot gave Sergeant Bash a yellow card and then a red card, but this didn't stop the Sergeant. He then used his flamethrower again, but Refbot countered this with his fire extinguisher, putting out Sergeant Bash's pilot light and rendering the flamethrower useless for the rest of the battle.
 * Sergeant Bash's crusher was still of good value in the later series. It crumpled Paul Bunyan's disc in a Robot Rebellion first round match against Snake Bite, crushed the innards of Spin Doctor in Series 6, and also immobilised Wowot and Thermidor 2 with his pincers. In Series 7, Sergeant Bash used his pincers to chew deeply into the armour of certain robots such as King B Powerworks and Mean Streak.
 * In Heat H of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors Season 2, Sergeant Bash was able to crush down on and completely destroy Tyranabot's entire Crushing Arm weapon with its pincers.

Worst Moments

 * In the very first heat of Series 1, when his saw made impact with Killertron, it shattered and flew off. This happened twice more throughout the first series, when he attacked Elvis and Wedgehog.
 * In Series 2, Wheelosaurus attacked Sergeant Bash as it came over a ramp in the Gauntlet, tearing off the gas canister for its flamethrower.
 * During the "Internet Insurrection" Grudge Match, Griffon used its lifting arm to flank the Sergeant and turn him onto his side almost immediately. The immobilised Bash did however play a key role in the elimination of Corporal Punishment in the battle, as he ended up pinning Corporal Punishment underneath it with his weight, rendering it unable to move.
 * In the Flipper Frenzy, Bigger Brother, Chaos 2 and Thermidor 2 ganged up on Sergeant Bash and flipped him repeatedly, eventually knocking off large chunks of armour and crushing his flamethrower. Although they attempted to flip Bash out of the arena, he was too big and heavy to make it, even with three machines involved in the attack.
 * After its loss to Chaos 2 in Series 3, The Big Cheese attacked Bash by spearing him in the wheelguards with its lifting arm and lifting him up high into the air, causing his armour to fall away. After Sir Killalot caused Big Cheese to overbalance and fall onto its side, the jolt caused Sergeant Bash to fall back down and cause his propane gas bottle to disconnect and fall out onto the floor.
 * In the Commonwealth Carnage battle between Panic Attack and Firestorm, Firestorm went after Bash after beating Panic Attack, flipping Bash and soon after flipping Mr. Psycho as well. But Bash got his revenge in the final by crumpling the back of Firestorm's shell.
 * In the Robot Rebellion in the second season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, Sergeant Bash was accidentally flipped over by fellow house robot Sir Killalot while they were attacking a beaten Paul Bunyan.

Appearances in Merchandise

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

Trivia

 * Sergeant Bash is one of only two robots in the whole of Robot Wars to feature a flamethrower, the other being fellow house robot Growler.
 * Due to Matilda being deemed less of an easy target for competitors with flippers, after having a new flywheel weapon, Sergeant Bash was flipped by competitors in the first series of Extreme more than any other house robot.
 * Sergeant Bash broke down more times than any other house robot in Robot Wars.
 * Interestingly, Sergeant Bash was the only main house robot never to participate in a House Robot Rebellion.