Thermidor 2

"A robot which when it first started competing I described as a fun, cute, comedy lobster-bot, now it holds one of the most feared flippers in the war zone!"

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 6

Thermidor 2 (referred to by the team and show as Thermidor II) was a robot that was designed to resemble a lobster, and named after the French lobster dish. It was equipped with a full CO2 gas powered flipper that could lift a ton and a pair of claws for grabbing the opposition, although they were rarely used. The robot competed in Series 4 through 7 of Robot Wars, plus entering in both series of Robot Wars Extreme.

In Series 5, the claws were redesigned to be wedge-shaped and thus, would not get in the way of the flipper. For Series 6 the speed controllers were redesigned for more control and was more strongly constructed into a compact design and for Series 7 a wheelie bar was added to the rear and the flipper's power was improved. Its large wheels came from a Mini Metro, these wheels made Thermidor 2 able to run either way up in case the flipper failed, driving at speeds up to 15mph. The aluminium armour tended to be weaker in Extreme 1 onwards and was prone to being easily flipped and had a limited CO2 supply.

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 was made from 3mm aluminium alloy and had a small lobster's head made from a cycling helmet 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.

The lobster design was a high and fun point of the robot. Jonathan Pearce, in particular, made many jokes about lobsters being "broiled" (since lobsters don't turn red until they're cooked), and so on. "We're Team Lobster. My name's Dave, this is Ian, this is Thermidor 2. We're angry, we're ready to fight, keep 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. Also, before The Fifth Wars, it was the only robot to equal Chaos 2 on OotA flips, with them both having three at the end of the first series of Extreme. A smaller weaponless version of Thermidor 2 was also built as a practice robot. It was featured alongside the Series 4 and Series 5-onwards versions of Thermidor 2 in Ultimate Real Robots Magazine.

Series 3
"Cycle helmet...start peddling boys, or else you could be on your bike!"

- Jonathan Pearce, speaking of Thermador's lobster head, made from a Cycle helmet

Thermador competed in Heat M of its first televised Robot Wars appearance. Thermador easily defeated its first opponent Plunderstorm in the first round of the heat, as the previous semi-finalists never truly started moving, Plunderstorm turned to face the arena side wall, as only one track was working, before the machine stopped completely, the judges subsequently declared it immobilised. Thermador then closed in and gently slammed Plunderstorm into the arena side wall, before quickly retreating, so that the house robots could close in themselves to do some damage to Plunderstorm. Sir Killalot hoisted up Plunderstorm with its lance, getting into the track, and carried it over to the pit of oblivion, before dumping it down. "Thermador did good"

- Philippa Forrester

As a result of this easy victory, Thermador was put through to the second round of the heat. Here, Thermador was put up against fellow newcomers Scutter's Revenge, which proved to be a much more eventful battle. During the battle, Thermador tried to slam Scutter's Revenge front-on before it fell before the larger robot's onslaught. The claws of Thermador meant that it couldn't break free easily from Scutter's Revenge's large scoop. Thermador was pushed slowly towards the pit of oblivion and eventually pitted, eliminating it from the competition. "...when matched with Scutter's Revenge, it didn't have enough power, and ended up in the pit."

- Jonathan Pearce

Series 4
In the first round of the Fourth Wars, Thermidor 2 was put up against newcomers Kronic the Wedgehog and the number 13 seeds Gravedigger. 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 the Wedgehog rammed Thermidor 2 hard, and one of Thermidor 2's claws buckled slightly. Kronic the Wedgehog then intercepted a run from the seeded Gravedigger, and flipped it onto the arena side wall, where it was unable to move. Thermidor 2 then closed in and flipped Gravedigger onto its side and secured its defeat. Both Thermidor 2 and Kronic the Wedgehog stayed out of the way from danger as the house robots finished off Gravedigger, as they were both safely through to the next round of the heat. Thermidor 2's second round battle saw it up against the 29th seeds Dreadnaut XP-1. The battle was over rather quickly as it took just one flip from Thermidor 2 - that nearly got Dreadnaut XP-1 out of the arena - to immobilise it completely. Thermidor 2 continued to flip the seeded machine until the house robots came in and finished off Dreadnaut XP-1.

Thermidor 2 then went through to the heat final, where it had to fight Kronic the Wedgehog again. This battle was very close between the two, as the shape of Thermidor 2's claws meant that it got in the way of Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper a lot. However, Thermidor 2 pierced the flipper with its claw weaponry, and Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper broke off, merely hanging by a thread. It was from here on that Kronic the Wedgehog began to lose power; it slowed until the robot stopped completely. Kronic the Wedgehog was declared immobilised, so Thermidor 2 progressed to the Series Semi-Finals.

In the Series Semi-Finals, the unseeded Thermidor 2 was put up against the number 19 seeds and future runners-up for the series Pussycat in the first round. In the battle, although Thermidor 2 began it by flipping Pussycat high into the air several times, it sustained a lot of damage from Pussycat's blade as the battle wore on and the wheels were damaged particularly badly. Thermidor 2 suffered so much damage that it was running very slowly towards the end of the battle. Thermidor 2 managed to survive to a judges' decision, but the decision went in favour of Pussycat, eliminating Thermidor 2 from the competition.

Thermidor 2 also took part in the Sumo Basho competition of the Fourth Wars, but it only lasted 5.03 seconds against Shunt, and placed 13th on the leaderboard at the end of the series. Thermidor 2 was additionally nominated for the Best Design Award at the end of the series, but lost out to Gemini.

Extreme 1
Thermidor 2 had a wide range of appearances in Extreme Series 1, with very high and low success in different competitions. "We met in the Third Wars, we've been good friends since then"

- David Harding on their Tag Team partnership with Cerberus

A new and improved Thermidor 2 paired up with Cerberus for the Tag Team Terror tournament in the first series of Extreme. In the first round against S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Sumpthing, the lobster did not come out of the corner for a while as Cerberus took on S.M.I.D.S.Y. first, after a brief tussle, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was soon found immobilised on the arena wall after already storming into its own teammate due to something going wrong with the controls. Sumpthing then came out before S.M.I.D.S.Y. was counted out, so Thermidor 2 did to, it ran up behind Sumpthing and flipped it, using Cerberus as a chock. Luckily, Sumpthing beached itself on its own weapon, leaving Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. at the mercy of the House Robots, putting Thermidor 2 and Cerberus through to the second round of the competition. In the Semi-Final round, Thermidor 2 and Cerberus fought against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies, but they kept attacking each other. It wasn't long before all four robots were out of their specified corners. For some reason, Thermidor 2 broke down over the flame pit after being repeatedly attacked by its opponents. It was counted out by Refbot, put on the arena floor flipper and hurled across the arena, hitting The Steel Avenger in the process. Although Cerberus was able to hang on to a judges decision, the decision predictably went against them, and Thermidor 2 and Cerberus were eliminated from the competition. Thermidor 2 also fought in the Flipper Frenzy, it helped its 'opponents', in Chaos 2, Bigger Brother and Wheely Big Cheese, to attack the House Robots. Thermidor 2, Bigger Brother and Chaos 2 teamed up on Sergeant Bash, flipping the House Robot over with ease and nearly flipping it out of the arena. Matilda then attacked the trio, after she immobilised Wheely Big Cheese, and Sergeant Bash's assailants fled. Bigger Brother then broke down the arena floor flipper, and Matilda flipped Chaos 2 onto its side with its flywheel. The others were counted out by Refbot as Thermidor 2 continued to try and flip Matilda, skillfully avoiding her flywheel weapon. Cease was called and Thermidor 2 was declared the winner by Craig Charles as it was the last competitor robot left standing, with Wheely Big Cheese having been immobilised by Matilda early on. Thermidor 2's Mayhem battle to qualify for the first annihilator was one of the highlight battles in Extreme Series 1, despite being rather short. It was up against Behemoth and Stinger. Thermidor 2 attacked Behemoth from the side, forcing it to roll right over, but still land on its wheels. It then attacked Behemoth from behind, throwing it head-over-heels out of the arena, before chasing down a rather nervy Stinger afterwards, with Stinger just tentatively just trying to stay off the flipper of Thermidor 2. Eventually, Thermidor 2 caught Stinger by the arena side wall and managed to flip one wheel over the arena wall, so that its weight caused it to fall out as well, making it lay just inches away from Behemoth. This was the first time that a robot had eliminated two opponents in one battle by flipping them both 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. Thermidor 2 was through to the annihilator.

It failed to carry across this success to the Annihilator, despite going in as one of the favourites to win. It went in against Splinter, X-Terminator, Pussycat, Hypno-Disc and Arnold A. Terminegger. Despite a good flip on Hypno-Disc in the first round, it was damaged by both Splinter and Pussycat, Splinter axed it and shunted it into the CPZ, immobilising the lobster. Shunt then axed it and dragged it onto the arena floor flipper, where Refbot counted it out. Cease was called before Thermidor 2 could be flipped by the arena floor flipper. Nevertheless, Thermidor 2 was eliminated from the annihilator in the first round. "Girls are soft and friendly, this is a man's game"

- David Harding's sexist comment

Thermidor 2 also participated in a Vengeance battle against Napalm in the final episode of Extreme, due to a sexist comment made by 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 soon left Napalm on the flame pit, where they waited until Refbot had finished counting Napalm out, and Thermidor 2 finished the girls' robot off by throwing it out of the arena, just before cease was called. Despite coming out as the winners, Team Lobster apologised for their sexist remark afterwards.

Series 5
"Watch out for them, this is no Santa Claws!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Thermidor 2 was seeded number 16 for the fifth wars, relatively low for a Semi-Finalist from the previous series. Despite such an impressive display in Extreme Series 1, the seeded Thermidor 2 suffered a surprise loss to Prizephita Mach 2 in this war very early on. The first round of the heat saw Thermidor 2 sliding underneath and flipping Prizephita Mach 2, but its opponent self-righted and then flipped the seed numerous times before Thermidor 2 ran out of CO2 in its flipper after self-righting so many times from Prizephita's attacks, before breaking down completely. After being counted out by Refbot, House Robot Sergeant Bash seized the lobster and pitted it, making Thermidor 2 the first seed from Series 5 to be eliminated in the first round of the main competition. "Thermidor 2 roasted in the pit!"

- Craig Charles

Thermidor 2 was once again nominated for the Best Design Award at the end of the of the series but lost out again, this time to previous two time winner Razer.

Series 6
"David has tweaked with the speed controllers, so we should get a bit more power behind it"

- Ian Harvey, on the flipper

An unseeded Thermidor 2 returned for the Sixth Wars, with the only obvious change being the removal of its decorative antennae. It fought in Heat F, and was drawn up against the 11th seeds Stinger, 13 Black and newcomers Chompalot in the first round melee. The initial clash with Chompalot saw one of the wheels damaged by a deflection attack off 13 Black. From that moment on, Thermidor 2 could only drive in circles, and was tucked away near the CPZ behind the pit. It still 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 House Robot Dead Metal closed in, Thermidor 2 revealed that its flipper was still working, throwing Dead Metal off it, but it was soon caught by the much heavier Sir Killalot. Breaking free, Thermidor 2's mobility fully returned. It escaped the grasp of the house robots, but drove itself into the pit to avoid excessive punishment, eliminating it from the competition in the first round again. Thermidor 2 was eventually followed down the pit by Chompalot. "It's lobster for tea, I'm afraid"

- Philippa Forrester

Extreme 2
Thermidor 2 exclusively competed in the Annihilator during Extreme Series 2. Thermidor 2 was against Typhoon 2, Raging Reality, Revenge of Trouble & Strife, Major Tom and Kan-Opener at first, and went in as one of the favourites to win. In the first round, it was flipped over immediately by Raging Reality, but after a few tries, it self-righted. Thermidor 2 then flipped Major Tom from the rear into Typhoon 2, but then turned away to avoid Revenge of Trouble & Strife. Kan-Opener then approached it, and Thermidor 2 flipped it up a few times, but did little else in this round as Typhoon 2 was flipped over by Raging Reality and counted out by Refbot, therefore being eliminated, allowing Thermidor 2 to go through to the next round.

In the second round, it got a good flip on Major Tom straight away, rolling it right over. It then flipped over Raging Reality, who quickly self-righted. 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 by Refbot soon afterwards and Thermidor 2 went through to the next round, not before Thermidor 2 teamed up with Major Tom to attack Sir Killalot, who was holding Raging Reality over the flame pit. In Round Three, Thermidor 2 continued its bout with Revenge of Trouble & Strife, it held it on an angle grinder before harming it with a powerful flip, however Revenge of Trouble and Strife just managed to stay on its wheels. Thermidor 2 then flipped it again, this time right over, rendering it immobile, leaving it to Kan-Opener and Major Tom to pit Revenge of Trouble & Strife. This put Thermidor 2 through to the fourth round. Here, Major Tom was constantly picked on by the other two machines. Thermidor 2 flipped it against the arena wall, with Kan-Opener then piercing it and shoving it off, before Thermidor 2 flipped it over to the other side of the arena, where it became immobilised, and then utterly destroyed by the house robots. Subsequently, Thermidor 2 fought Kan-Opener head to head in the Annihilator final. In the battle, Thermidor 2 was unable to flip Kan-Opener properly, and was slowly beaten into submission, with Kan-Opener constantly shoving it around the arena, into CPZs and creating huge holes and slices in the wheels, flipper and bodywork. Even the tyres were punctured by the claws of Kan-Opener. Thermidor 2 was still mobile at the end of the battle, but only just. With just four seconds left to the end of the bout, Kan-Opener finally shoved the limping lobster-bot down the pit of oblivion, declaring Kan-Opener the annihilator winner.

Series 7
"This year we have added a little 'kick down' piece on the back just to keep the nose down, we hope that's going to make the difference"

- David Harding

Thermidor 2 returned for Series 7, and was granted the 14th seed placing due to its status as a veteran and former semi finalist, despite going out in Round 1 in the two previous wars. Its antennae were reattached and the robot was fitted with a small anti-wheelie device at the back. There was nothing to hint at these previous unsuccessful runs during its first round battle against 8645T 2, Mobot and Mighty Mouse. In the battle, Thermidor 2 immediately flipped 8645T 2 onto its axe, which then self-righted. Thermidor 2 then drove away for another run-up and then went in for another charge on 8645T, this time flipping it onto its side, where it couldn't self-right. Thermidor 2 then intercepted Mobot and pushed them to the edge of the arena, where the lobster flipped Mobot out. Thermidor 2 then grabbed Mighty Mouse, trying to flip it out of the arena too, but failed. Thermidor 2 did manage to turn Mighty Mouse over in a CPZ, but the mouse went through with the seeded machine regardless, as 8645T had long since been counted out. "We have seen the power of the Number 14 Seeds Thermidor"

- Jonathan Pearce as 8645T 2 is counted out

Thermidor 2 then convincingly defeated Team Victor's newest machine, The Kraken in the next round. Thermidor 2 constantly flipped The Kraken around the arena, severely damaging The Kraken's pneumatic claw weapon, nearly flipping it out of the arena several times throughout the battle. Eventually, Thermidor 2 flipped it over again but didn't self-right it, instead, pushing it over to the pit, but flipping The Kraken, allowing it to break free and continue fighting. Soon afterwards, Thermidor 2 flipped The Kraken over again, again not self-righting it, this time carefully pitting its opponent and going through to the Heat Final, where the 14th seeds faced Mighty Mouse again. "The lobster rocks!"

- Craig Charles

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 2 managed to get several strong flips in before Mighty Mouse lost part of its controls. Time elapsed as Mighty Mouse was only able to drive backwards and forwards against the arena wall. Against all odds, the mouse survived to a judges' decision, but the outcome was obvious to everyone, and Thermidor 2 went through to the Series Semi-Finals for the first time since the Fourth Wars. "I think we know who's going to win it!"

- Craig Charles, at the end of the fight

Sadly, the impressive run ended very quickly in Thermidor 2's first round battle of the Series Semi-Finals, where it fought eventual champions Typhoon 2. In the battle, Thermidor 2 was the quicker machine to the middle of the arena, however, Typhoon 2 was only just quick enough to dodge away from Thermidor 2 so that the full body spinner could get up to speed. Soon afterwards, Thermidor 2 did manage to catch Typhoon 2, but the spinner was already up to speed, and just one blow the Edinburgh Air Cadets' machine was enough to knock out Thermidor 2, immobilising it completely. Thermidor 2 was counted out by the Refbot, before Sir Killalot carried it around the arena, holding it over the flame pit, placing it on the Floor Flipper and finally placing it under the Drop Zone, where a washing machine was dropped on it. Cease was eventually called, and Thermidor 2 was eliminated from the competition.

It has been speculated that as the damage caused to the machine in the Semi-Finals was so severe, it was the reason 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

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Thermidor 2/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
 * Thermidor 2/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
 * Thermidor 2/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA)

Trivia
"One of the production crew looked at our robot and pointed out that 'Thermador' is spelt 'Thermidor' (the spelling was debated at the start of the project – could we be wrong?). She assured us she was right as she was a amateur French cook (she was French, so it might have been true). To double check she went to ask the cook. On her return with confirmation from the cook we agreed to change the spelling for the show."
 * The original Thermador was one of 16 competitors from The Third Wars to appear in Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem, but was mistakenly called "Thermidor 2".
 * In Series 3, Thermador was spelled with an A yet all following wars had Thermidor 2 spelled with a I. This is because the dish is spelt with an i. The team had incorrectly spelt it with an a, but were informed by a crew member during filming that they had spelt it wrong.

- Team Lobster website


 * When the Series 4 version was tested in captain David Harding's kitchen, it made a huge dent in the radiator.
 * Thermador and Thermidor 2's first appearances put them against Semi-Finalists from the previous year in the first round, Plunderstorm and Gravedigger, both of whom it defeated. Ironically, its next two appearances put it against first round dropouts from the previous year, Prizephita Mach 2 and 13 Black, both of whom it lost to.
 * Thermidor 2 made the Series Semi-Finals in both years that Philippa Forrester was not the pit reporter. It shares this pattern with X-Terminator, and both robots fought and lost to Typhoon 2 in the latter series.
 * On both occasions that Thermidor 2 won its heat, Kronic the Wedgehog was in the same Heat.
 * Thermidor 2 is one of the only three UK Series Semi-Finalists to have made the finals in non-sequential series (doing so in 4 and 7). The other two robots to do so are Tornado and X-Terminator, who both also reached 4 and 7 (but Tornado also reached and won 6).
 * Thermidor 2 is one of 11 robots to have fought in 5 or more series of Robot Wars, having fought in Series 3 through 7. It shares this pattern with S.M.I.D.S.Y., Bulldog Breed, Team KaterKiller, Team Big Brother, Team Ming, Team Scutterbots, and X-Terminator.
 * Thermidor 2 was one of nine competitors in The Seventh Wars that competed in at least 5 series of Robot Wars but were unable to compete in the All-Stars Tournament at the end of the series for their own reasons.
 * Thermidor 2's driver, Ian Harvey, is the cousin of YouTube and Channel Awesome comedian Stuart Ashen.
 * Strangely, according to Thermidor 2's statistics board for Series 5, its weakness was labeled as "experienced competitors", something that would be a strength