Prizephita

"...a robot called Prizephita with Craig Charles on the front!"

- Philippa Forrester mistakes Mike Tyson for Craig Charles in Series 3

Prizephita was a competitor robot that competed in Series 3-5 of Robot Wars. Its main weapon was a small front flipping plate as its "front uppercut". The original Prizephita was a box-wedge shaped robot with a boxing glove on the top to act as a srimech as its "rear jab" and had a zero turning circle, but was the lightest in its heat. It also had front mounted suspension. The second incarnation, first named Prizephita Mk 2 and later Prizephita Mach 2, was a transparent bulletproof polycarbonate wedge shaped robot with a rounded top, to aid in self-righting, and also had a small rear pneumatic spike. Despite saying that it could self-right with its new flipper, Prizephita was never given the opportunity to prove it. In Series 3, it was red and yellow-orange in colour with a picture of Mike Tyson on the wedge, which Philippa Forrester thought was Craig Charles. The second Prizephita replaced Mike Tyson with an image of a Spitfire fighter plane, in Series 5, Prizephita Mach 2 was given a larger and more powerful flipper, which was used to good effect.

Prizephita's history in Robot Wars was somewhat hit-and-miss. It was eliminated in the first round of both the third and fourth series, but managed to make the heat final of the Fifth Wars after a shock-victory over the seeded Thermidor 2, before losing to higher ranked Wild Thing on a tight and controversial judges' decision.

Interestingly in the Third Wars its team members' names were shown as those from Rattus Rattus.

Series 3
In Heat N of the Third Wars, newcomers Prizephita were drawn up against the Adams family with Thing 2 in its first round battle. In the battle, Prizephita got under Thing 2 at the start and tried to flip it. Thing 2 responded by lifting Prizephita with its spike. It drove in with its wedge and managed to overturn Prizephita by driving around in circles, but Prizephita used its srimech and was back on its wheels. Thing 2 turned it over again and pushed Prizephita into Sergeant Bash's CPZ, where got its boxing glove stuck on the arena wall. As its flipper wasn't working either, Prizephita couldn't self-right. Shunt gave it a hand by righting it but even still, Prizephita had stopped moving and it was left at the mercy of the house robots. Cease was eventually called and Prizephita was eliminated from the competition.

Series 4
"...looks like a little dessert spoon"

- Jonathan Pearce commenting on Prizephita Mk 2's tiny flipper

A new and improved Prizephita machine, Prizephita Mk 2, was drawn up against the number 15 seeds Wheely Big Cheese and Series 2 competitors Wheelosaurus in the first round melee of the Fourth Wars. At the start of the battle, Prizephita Mk 2 flipped Wheelosaurus twice, as Wheely Big Cheese went straight for Sir Killalot, but Wheelosaurus was invertible. Wheely Big Cheese then intercepted and pushed Prizephita Mk 2 into the arena side wall, seizing up one of Prizephita's drives. Wheely Big Cheese then tried to flip Prizephita Mk 2, but then tried to push and flip Prizephita Mk 2 into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Shunt then came in and axed into Prizephita Mk 2, before dragging it across the arena. The pit of oblivion soon opened and all three robots ended up in it. Although Wheely Big Cheese went in first, the judges ruled that Prizephita Mk 2 was immobilised for too long, eliminating Prizephita Mk 2 from the competition.

Series 5
Prizephita had never passed the first round in Robot Wars previously, but Prizephita Mach 2 started promisingly in its first round battle of the heat, despite having an unlucky draw against the number 16 seeds Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2's tremendous success in the first series of Extreme was hardly evident in this battle at all, despite getting the first flip in on Prizephita Mach 2, the underdogs recovered well and dominated the rest of the battle. Prizephita Mach 2 was constantly able to flip Thermidor 2 over with ease, making Thermidor 2 expend gas just to self-right. Eventually, Thermidor 2 was so down on gas in the flipper, it took a long while and a long run-up for it to self-right, after this attempt, the lobster robot broke down after successfully getting back on its wheels, Thermidor 2 was counted out by the Refbot, and Prizephita Mach 2 was amazingly through to the next round of the heat. In the second round, the rising stars Prizephita Mach 2 were drawn up against newcomers The Alien. Both robots began sluggishly, but Prizephita Mach 2 was narrowly able to avoid the spinning hammer of The Alien. After only a short while into the battle, Prizephita Mach 2 found the ground clearance in its opponent, and narrowly managed to flip The Alien onto its back. The Alien was put in an awkward position, and so couldn't use its unique srimech to self-right. The Alien was soon counted out by the Refbot, and Prizephita Mach 2 was put through to the third round. In the heat final, Prizephita Mach 2 found itself in a grudge match against the number 9 seeds Wild Thing, after Thing 2 beat the original Prizephita in the Third Wars. Prizephita Mach 2 dominated the early stages of this battle, once again using the front flipper to great effect, first flipping Wild Thing onto its back, and after the previous Semi-Finalists self-righted, Prizephita Mach 2 flipped it again, stranding Wild Thing onto its side, Wild Thing fidgeted madly to get back onto its wheels, but couldn't self-right, the Refbot then moved in and was about to count out the seeded machine, but this was then when Wild Thing managed to fall back onto its wheels. Wild Thing then fought back strongly in the late stages of the battle by shoving Prizephita around the arena and into the arena side wall, also scratching away at the shell of Prizephita Mach 2. Cease was eventually called and the battle went to a judges' decision, this was the only Heat Final in the Fifth Wars to go to a judges' decision. The decision very controversially went in favour of the seeded Wild Thing, eliminating Prizephita Mach 2 from the competition, this was Prizephita's last appearance in Robot Wars.

Results

 * }


 * }


 * }

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 3

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 4: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 5: Heat Final
 * Series 6-7: Did not enter