Diotoir

"We're here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and we're all out of gum"

- Dr. Zulu, in Extreme 1

Diotoir (known in Irish as Díotóir) was a competitor robot from the Republic of Ireland that competed in Series 3-5 Robot Wars, plus both series of Extreme. Its name translates as Annihilator. It was a heptagonal shaped robot covered in red fur with black spots, and its main weapon was a hydraulic flipping arm powered by two springs, rather than the CO2 used by most flippers. For Series 5, it was partially known as Diotoir 2 and the lifting arm was replaced with a shovel with a painted on grin. Fairly blunt side spikes on the body were also included. In Extreme Series 2, an overhead-mounting crushing arm was included, but unfortunately, this was never seen in action. "Diotoir isn't strong, isn't resilient, isn't quick, isn't deadly, I love it!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Although the weaponry was not as powerful as other flippers and the fur meant that the robot frequently caught fire, Diotoir enjoyed a relatively successful run throughout the three series in which it competed, even defeating the mighty and future grand champion Tornado in a shock turn of events from Series 5. Diotoir also represented the Republic of Ireland in two World Championships, reaching the semi-finals in the first, but going out in the first round in the second. It also performed strongly in the International Championship, where it reached the final before being beaten by Razer.

Diotoir's team also won the Sportsmanship award three times out of five, twice with Diotoir itself. After its retirement from the wars after Series 5, Diotoir made a one-off appearance in Extreme Series 2 with a redesigned weapon system, reprising its Tag Team partnership with Pussycat, but they were eliminated in the first round. The team previously competed in Series 1 and 2 with Nemesis.

The team were occasionally joined by Craig Charles' own son Jack, but it was only explicitly mentioned on a few occasions.

Like many Robot Wars competitors, the Diotoir team entered Techno Games with a walking robot called Ulysses. Like Diotoir, this robot was covered in their trademark fur and featured a Diotoir style face. It won the Internal Combustion Sprint event beating the reigning champion Tecumseh.

Very often, Sergeant Bash was put in the arena with Diotoir to increase the likelihood of Diotoir catching fire to entertain the fans.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
 * Diotoir/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem

Misfortune
"Poor Díotóir seems to be plagued by bad luck and bad timing. I mean he works fine everywhere but Robot Wars. A little bit like Razer, I think"

- Peter Redmond

Although Diotoir enjoyed a fair bit of success within its three year run, the team did not have as much luck, particularly within the third and fourth series. In Series 3, whilst boarding the ferry to leave Ireland, security stopped them and demanded that Diotoir be completely dismantled. "Apparently the long lifting arm looked like the barrel of a shotgun!"

- Jacky Willoughby of the Steel Avenger team

Despite having only a day to reconstruct the robot in time for its heat, Diotoir was put back together in time, and above all odds, it reached the final before being beaten by Firestorm. "After last year's incident with customs, we decided to leave Díotóir open for inspection and we would put the finishing touches when we got there. At least that was the theory. After driving all day and all night we arrived at the studio to be told that we would be next to fight and we had ten minutes to get our robot in fighting form."

- Diotoir website

However, the next series was worse. Upon arrival for the Fourth Wars, the Diotoir team had to remove the top armour from their robot after discovering it was overweight. To make matters worse, the chain controlling its flipping arm broke twice, and they hadn't got enough time to replace it. The team had no choice but to enter Diotoir into the arena armour-less and weapon-less, which resulted in its almost instant elimination at the hands of Ming 2, who flipped it over and pushed it onto the flame pit within seconds, where Sergeant Bash was waiting to burn what was left.

However, Diotoir was relatively fortunate in comparison in the Fifth Wars, there were little problems that it was forced to work around the robot performed better than ever, it beat heat favourites, the 12th seeds Tornado to reach the heat final once again, before being flipped over and immobilised in seconds by Spawn Again, it was here when Team Nemesis decided to retire Diotoir.

However, a third Tag Team Terror was being lauched during Extreme 2, so an old and outdated Diotoir then came out of retirement for one more event in Extreme 2 in the Tag-Team Terror Tournament, fighting as reigning champions alongside Pussycat, but after Pussycat was flipped out of the arena Bulldog Breed then came in and flipped Diotoir onto the flame pit, leaving it immobilised and on fire. Matilda then came in and attacked it with her flywheel, knocking off the front scoop in the process.

Series 3
Diotoir was placed against Sting 2 in the first round of the Third Wars. As soon as the activate was sounded, the two robots drove at each other, with Diotoir trying to overturn Sting 2 with its lifting arm. However, its attack missed and Sting 2 began to attack Diotoir with its tail, ripping part of Diotoir's trademark grin. Diotoir chased Sting 2 into Sgt. Bash's CPZ and got underneath Sting 2. The lifter was unsuccessful again. Diotoir pushed Sting against the arena side wall, attacking it with its arm like a spear. Diotoir retreated but followed this up with an attack on Sting 2 again, this time pushing the robot back towards Sgt. Bash. Diotoir then got behind Sting 2 and pushed it across the arena and into the pit, putting it through to the next round. Diotoir went up against newcomers The Steel Avenger in the second round of the heat. Diotoir rammed The Steel Avenger into the arena side wall, getting it stuck there. However, Sergeant Bash freed The Steel Avenger and the fight continued. However, The Steel Avenger was almost caught by Dead Metal, and was eventually caught and flipped over by Diotoir, leaving the house robots to finish the job, also with Diotoir catching fire. Diotoir's good run ended in the heat final though, where it was up against eventual grand finalists Firestorm. Almost straight away, Firestorm flipped it over once before pushing it onto the flame pit, where it caught fire, and gave the house robots the right to attack it, before putting it on the arena floor flipper and flipped. Cease was called and Diotoir was eliminated from the competition.

Diotoir also fought in the First World Championship and the International League during the Third Wars, representing the Republic of Ireland in both. In the first round of the First World Championship, Diotoir went up against Depoppesaurus Rex, who was representing Belgium. Diotoir dominated the battle, it managed to lift up Depoppesaurus Rex several times, flipping it right over at one point, but the shape of the Belgian machine allowed it to roll back onto its wheels. The two then neared Sergeant Bash's CPZ, but didn't enter it, however Sergeant Bash still let out a flicker of flame. Diotoir then nearly pushed Depoppesaurus Rex into the pit, but then the Belgians lifted Diotoir up with its own lifter. This was then when Diotoir suddenly caught fire at the rear. Time then ran out and cease was called, the battle went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Diotoir putting them through to the next round. In the Quarter Finals, Diotoir fought Cerberus, who was representing Cyprus. Diotoir persisted in trying to get underneath and flip Cerberus over, but Cerberus managed to keep away from its lifter for a while. Eventually, Diotoir got underneath and flipped Cerberus up using its lifter, here Cerberus then rested on Diotoir's lifter. Soon, Diotoir managed to ease Cerberus over and onto its back. Cerberus was declared immobile, finished off by the house robots and Diotoir was through to the third round. In the Semi-Finals, Diotoir fought Behemoth, who was representing England. Behemoth dominated this battle, it flipped Diotoir over straight away with its lifting shovel, but sportingly self-righted it. This was a reoccuring incident throughout the battle, until eventually cease was called for the battle to go to a judges' decision, who unsurprisingly went in favour of Behemoth, eliminating Diotoir from the competition.

In the International League competition, it fought in Group A, where it was placed against Depoppesaurus Rex again and Terror Australis. Diotoir first went up against Depoppesaurus Rex, it used its lifter to get in underneath several times, eventually, it used its power to flip the Belgian machine over, and the shape of Depoppesaurus Rex didn't help it this time, as it stayed over. It was declared immobilised, pitted, and Diotoir won three points. In its second battle, it fought the Austarlian machine Terror Australis, however, Team Nemesis donated their old Nemesis machine to the Australians to fight with as their original machine broke down before the start of the competition. Diotoir was able to defeat its predecessor as well, once again it used its lifting arm to lift up and steer the Australians around, eventually pushing it into the pit, before Diotoir itself promptly caught fire. Cease was soon called, and Diotoir had won another three points, meaning the Irish robot had finished the group stages with the maximum score of six points. Ending the group stage with six points easily meant that it had done enough to go through to the final round. England representitives Razer was Diotoir's opponent in the final. Razer almost immediately pierced the frontal armour of the furless Diotoir, and dragged it slowly around the arena. Razer soon brought Diotoir over to the pit of oblivion, where it held the Irish robot over the edge for a short while, before eventually reversing away to let Diotoir drop down into the pit. Cease was called, and Razer was declared the winner of the tournament, with Diotoir in second place.

Series 4
Diotoir was seeded 21 through its prowess in the International Competitions, and also by general popularity and also reaching the heat final of the main competition. However, in its first round melee, Diotoir was at a severe disadvantage as its armour weighed too much and had to be removed and its weapon had broken. It went up against the experienced Ming 2 and newcomers Bolt from the Blue. The seeded Diotoir was immediately flipped over by Ming 2, and then suffered a familiar fate after being pushed onto the Flame Pit by Bolt from the Blue. Although its wheels still turning allowed it to spin around over the flame pit, it was decided to be immobilised and was eliminated from the competition. "And so, with no armour, no weapon, no sleep and no hope we went to battle. We lasted about 4 seconds. We got flipped upsidedown straight away and as our weapon is also our re-righting device, there was nothing we could do about it. We were then fair game for the house robots. Díotóir, once the pride of Ireland, on his back getting torched, punched and slashed like a wounded wildebeest being ravaged by vultures."

- Diotoir website

Diotoir returned in the Sumo Basho tournament, this time supporting its top armour. The extra weight didn't help it as it was shoved off the platform after a dismal 3.95 seconds, this put it bottom of the leaderboard for the competition overall at the end, especially ironic due to Diotoir's predecessor Nemesis managing to defeat Shunt in the Sumo of the first ever Robot Wars heat. Diotoir also entered the pinball tournament during The Fourth Wars, and came 5th (equal with Bigger Brother) overall, despite being set on fire by Sgt Bash once again.

However, Diotoir also participated in the Celebrity Special, under control of Vic Reeves, this time it had more luck than before during this series. In the first round, it faced a Semi-Finalist for that series, Wild Thing. Wild Thing dominated the early stages of the battle, by ramming the less powerful Diotoir. Then Wild Thing became stuck on the arena side wall, before being freed by the House Robots. It then came back to attack Diotoir again, who was being burned by the flamethrower of Sergeant Bash. Wild Thing was grabbed by Sir Kilalot and dropped down the pit, eliminating it, therefore putting Diotoir through to the next round. In the second round, Diotoir went up against the clusterbot Gemini, Diotoir was flipped over easily, but when the Gemini team got overconfident, they re-righted Diotoir, who was still mobile. Suddenly, one of the Gemini twins then broke down completely, which eliminated the clusterbot as a unit, and allowed Diotoir to go through to the final round of the competition. In the final, Diotoir went up against Pussycat and went in as the underdogs. Pussycat tried to cut through Diotoir, but the fur became trapped around its blade and it could no longer spin. Diotoir was then rammed by Pussycat and attacked by the House Robots, which slowly caused Diotoir to lose its mobility. Sir Killalot then scooped up and placed the now immobilised Diotoir onto the arena floor flipper, where it was flipped. Then Shunt pushed Diotoir down the pit of oblivion, leaving Pussycat victorious and the winner of the Celebrity Special.

Extreme 1
Diotoir appeared quite frequently across the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, without much early success.

It first fought in the All-Stars competiton, where it went up against Wheely Big Cheese in the first round. The two machines spent most of the early match trying to get underneath one another, with Diotoir managing to lift Wheely Big Cheese up a few times with its new lifting scoop. In the end, one of Wheely Big Cheese's sharp wheels shredded one of Diotoir's eyes, and straight afterwards, Wheely Big Cheese got underneath Diotoir and threw it over, breaking off both of the Irish machine's eyes in the process. Diotoir was then flipped again by Wheely Big Cheese, this time against the arena side wall, still up side down. Soon, Diotior was counted out, burned, and eliminated from the competition.

Next up for Diotoir in Extreme Series 1 came a Mayhem qualifier, where it went up against Panic Attack and Shear Khan, this was for a right to fight in the second annihilator of the series. Diotoir stayed largely out of the way to begin with as Panic Attack took on and immobilised Shear Khan. As Shear Khan was being counted out, Panic Attack chased down and then simply lifted over Diotoir, and as Refbot then prepared to count out the Irish robot, Panic Attack hooked onto Diotoir's lifting scoop springs and easily dropped it into the pit, eliminating it from the Mayhem and declaring Panic Attack the winner.

Diotoir also fought in a vengeance battle against Firestorm 3 after Team Nemesis claimed that the Firestorm team were "a bunch of girlies", it was notable that there was some faked CCTV of Dr. Zulu walking up to Firestorm carrying a large comedy spanner, and "sabotaging" its opponent shortly before the battle. The Diotoir team put a flag on their Diotoir robot that said "Firestorm are girlies". In the battle, after much dodging around, Firestorm 3 got underneath Diotoir and flipped it over. Diotoir's one attempt at self-righting only served to knock its eyes off. Firestorm then pushed Diotoir into Sgt Bash, who proceeded to set fire to the Irish machine. By the time Diotoir was counted out, it was completely burnt (even the metal was reduced to charcoal).

However, Diotoir had a good spell in this series in the Tag Team Terror competition, where it was originally paired up with Mega Morg. In the first round, the pair went up against the reigining Tag Team Terror champions, 101 and King B Powerworks. Despite being pushed around early on by the defending champions, both Diotoir and Mega Morg managed to pull themselves together to put in some good flips in on 101 and push King B Powerworks from the side. They also managed to pull off a surprise win in the judges' decision that resulted after both of their opponents suffered from control problems towards the end of the fight, as 101 lost the mobility in one of its tracks and King B Powerworks was spinning madly in the CPZ. The two were then due to face Comengetorix and Spawn Again in the next round, but Mega Morg was forced to drop out, having blown all of its speed controllers. Pussycat was bought in as a substitute partner to Diotoir. The opposing team were on top to begin with. Spawn Again got several flips in on Pussycat and Diotoir, not quite flipping them over. Comengetorix however was having a few control problems and stayed out oif the way mostly. Eventually, Pussycat was able to use its blade to force Spawn Again to break down, right after their flipper had jammed. Spawn Again was pitted by the house robots. Comengetorix was left to fight alone for the opposite team, and was soon flipped over by Diotoir, placed conviniently close to the pit. Comengetorix then self-righted into the pit just as time ran out. This put Diotoir and Pussycat through to go up against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies in the final. Although, yet again, Pussycat had a lot of problems with keeping out of Suicidal Tendencies' claw, causing only minimal damage in retalliation, Diotoir was able to score a lot of points after it flipped The Steel Avenger around the arena several times. The battle eventually went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Diotoir and Pussycat, making them the new Tag-Team Terror champions.

Series 5
"Diotoir started a promising run in show 7..."

- Jonathan Pearce

An unseeded Diotoir started the Fifth Wars very strongly. In its first round battle of the heat, Diotoir went up against the newcomers Dome. Diotoir effortlessly flipped the inexperienced machine over onto its back, before then flipping it again, attempting to fit the enormous opponent into the pit, eventually doing so. This put Diotoir through to the second round of the heat, where it made a shocking comeback after a fairly tentative start to the battle. It went up against the number 12 seeds Tornado at this stage. Tornado had spent a lot of the battle shunting Diotoir around the arena, pushing it into the arena side walls and various CPZs, but it couldn't cause any damage as the fur on Diotoir was snagging the disc on Tornado, it also couldn't work up a big enough run up to injure Diotoir's electronics somehow. Then Diotoir activated the pit release button when it was given some breathing space to get away, as Tornado began to slow. Suddenly, Diotoir made a run-up and launched an attack, overpowering Tornado and pushing it into the pit of oblivion. This put Diotoir through to the heat final for the second time in its history. "Can you believe it?! Can you believe it?! Tornado turned into a gentle summer's breeze, Diotoir go through!!"

- Craig Charles after Tornado was pitted

Despite a great first two battles to its Fifth Wars campaign, its opponent, the number 13 seeds Spawn Again was the stronger machine in the Heat Final, hurling Diotoir onto its back on its very first flip. When Diotoir tried to self-right, its eyes flew off, and it stayed the wrong side up. Diotoir was unable to self-right and was soon counted out by Refbot, ending Ditoir's great series run. Spawn Again was about to then run up and place Diotoir down the pit, but they then broke down too, so Sergeant Bash then came in and burned Diotoir. Cease was called and Diotoir was eliminated from the competition.

Extreme 2


Diotoir briefly came out of retirement and returned as reigning Tag Team Terror Champions alongside Pussycat in Extreme Series 2, this time, Diotoir was armed with redesigned lifter and a crusher that was intended to act as a self-righting mechanism. The champions were up against Robochicken and Bulldog Breed. Unfortunately, after flipping it about for a little while, Bulldog Breed soon threw Pussycat out of the arena, it then proceeded to flip Diotoir. The flip was so powerful that rather than landing on its back, Diotoir rolled back onto its wheels. However, Bulldog Breed then flipped Diotoir again, this time onto its back and over the flame pit. The srimech failed to work and Robochicken flipped Diotoir on and off the flame pit before Refbot put out the fire whilst counting out Diotoir, eliminating both Pussycat and the Irish machine. Matilda then came in and attacked Diotoir after it had been counted out, knocking its lifting scoop off with its flywheel. This was Diotoir's last appearance on Robot Wars.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 13
 * Losses: 11

Series Record

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

Trivia

 * Diotoir was the only robot besides Razer to win the same award more than once (winning the Sportsmanship Award in Series 3 and 4).