Gabriel

"With wheels the size of washing machines!"

- Robot Wars: The Official Handbook

Gabriel (referred to as Gabriel 2 in Series 10) is a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 8 and 10 of Robot Wars. It reached the Heat Final in Series 8, losing to eventual Grand Finalist Pulsar on a Judges' decision. Despite holding the reigning champion Carbide to a close Judges' decision, Gabriel 2 ultimately did not win a battle during Series 10, as it was eliminated by former Grand Finalist Aftershock.

Team Saint entered Series 9 with Cherub, while Gabriel remained an unused reserve, only competing in whiteboard matches.

Gabriel's name was derived from the angel Gabriel, sent by God as a messenger to other biblical figures. This is reflected in the robot's white colour scheme and Craig Colliass' reluctance to attack defeated robots, with Team Saint claiming that they wanted to represent one of the 'good guys instead of a bad guy’.

Gabriel (Series 8)
"I think it's fair to say that Gabriel is the biggest that we've seen on the show so far!"

- Angela Scanlon

Gabriel was the largest robot in the history of the TV series. It was a two-wheeled thwackbot armed with a variety of interchangeable blades and weapons, which it swung overhead by overturning the robot. Like most torque-reaction thwackbots, it was an axlebot. Its weapons include the team’s signature sword, a pickaxe, a battleaxe, and a sledgehammer, though only the sword and battleaxe were used in the televised show. In Series 9, Gabriel also used a new mace weapon on the end of its polearm with eight-point stars, which it used in a whiteboard match.

While Series 8 had an active weapon policy, Team Saint demonstrated that Gabriel was able to operate its drive and weapon independently of each other. As such, the robot was able to move without swinging its weapon and swing its weapon without moving, despite relying on torque reaction.

The robot was armoured in 25mm of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), with a 6.2mm steel armour plate. Gabriel's large wheels, wide body and exceptionally high ground clearance also made it very difficult for other robots to push, grab or flip it. Its thick HDPE armour makes the robot's wheels flexible and fairly resilient to spinning weapons (as seen in its fight with Ironside3), while angled sections on each wheel helped prevent Gabriel from getting stranded when it was knocked onto its side.

Gabriel was the successor to a smaller barrel-shaped thwackbot called The Saint, from which the team derived their name and the naming scheme for their robots. The Saint is armed with a narrower swinging sword, and is still active as of 2016, occasionally fighting alongside Gabriel at live events.

Gabriel 2 (Series 10)
Gabriel 2 is similar to the original Gabriel, but gained structural upgrades, including its conversion to 2in AmpFlow motors, which raised the robot's top speed from 11mph to a significantly higher range from 17.5mph to 20mph.

"We've got five weapons in total. We've got the double-hit hammer, the bent mace, the straight mace, the smaller sword, and the bigger sword."

- Toby Colliass

Gabriel 2 brought with it an array of new weapons, including the robot's previous weapons (the team's signature sword and sledgehammer) and a new, smaller sword, designed for greater accuracy. The eight-point star mace was also a key addition to Gabriel 2's armament, as various ropes are now attached to the weapon, designed to entangle spinning weapons. Toby Colliass also alluded to a 'bent mace' weapon.

Series 8
Gabriel competed in Heat 5, where it fought Crazy Coupe 88, Infernal Contraption and Beast in its first-round Group Battle. It initially attacked Crazy Coupe 88, but after it was flipped by Beast, Gabriel switched its attention towards Infernal Contraption, striking at the exposed wheels. Gabriel missed an attack on Beast while Crazy Coupe 88 was immobilised, but successfully swung onto Infernal Contraption again. Gabriel qualified for the next round with Beast when Infernal Contraption drove into the pit. "You got beaten by a robot built by the dad from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!"

- Dara Ó Briain to Crazy Coupe 88's team, describing Craig Colliass

In its first Head-to-Head battle, Gabriel faced Chompalot. The team were confident going into the battle, believing that Chompalot's jaw would not reach the body of Gabriel, and considered switching their weapon to a pickaxe, but kept the sword in the end. "We believe that Chompalot is fairly weak on the upper panels, and we're fairly confident that he can't actually get the beak high enough up to actually crush us at all, so we can get up close and personal, and really whack it good and hard!"

- Craig Colliass

When the battle started, Gabriel landed a blow with the sword, but the team's confidence that Chompalot could not grab Gabriel's body proved to be misplaced, and Chompalot grabbed hold of Gabriel's body. However, this also meant that Chompalot's wheels were off the ground, and Gabriel pushed it into Dead Metal, where it was overturned. The House Robot inflicted damage, but Team Saint did not want their opponent to sustain severe damage, and Gabriel caused major damage to Dead Metal in order to cease the punishment, which was cut from television. Gabriel struck the side of Chompalot, where armour was missing, and this immobilised Chompalot on one side. Gabriel landed further blows onto the top of Chompalot, and when the dragon was thrown by the floor flipper, Gabriel had won the battle by knockout. Despite Gabriel's best attempts, however, Chompalot suffered severe damage after its batteries ignited, forcing it to withdraw from the competition. "We and everyone felt for Debs and Simon when their robot went up in flames. It certainly wasn't what we wanted, people didn't see but Gabriel had stopped hitting Chompy and was bludgeoning Dead Metal to try and take the fight away from them. We really did do damage to DM and after that we were politely asked not to attack them the house robots in the Beast fight!"

- Craig Colliass

Gabriel's next opponent was the powerful bar spinner, Ironside3. Gabriel was equipped with its battleaxe weapon, in order to try and jam up the spinning bar. Gabriel started the battle tentatively, hoping to clash battleaxe-to-bar, but sustained damage itself. Gabriel sustained three blows to its large wheels, and was caught by Sir Killalot, which burnt it over the flame pit. When freed, Gabriel's axe pole was bent by Ironside3, and still failed to land a single hit on Team Outlaw's machine, sutaining more damage as it was pushed back into the grip of Sir Killalot, although it buried its axe into the House Robot. Reflecting away from another Ironside3 blow, Gabriel's axe became stuck in the grid of the flame pit, and could not pull itself out without assistance from Sir Killalot. "And suddenly it looks like a giant, white, dying swan!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Gabriel still lingered over the flame pit, and took another huge hit from Ironside3. Gabriel had lost pieces of rubber from its wheels, and the damage sustained throughout meant that the unanimous Judges' decision was given to Ironside3. Craig Colliass revealed after the battle that Gabriel's weapon was rendered useless, as a blow from Ironside3 broke one of Gabriel's torque limiters, preventing the robot from gaining the speed to flip itself over.

Due to Pulsar's position on six points and Ironside3's five points, Gabriel needed to defeat Beast via knockout in order to qualify for the Heat Final, which was unclear on television due to the order of the Ironside3 vs Pulsar and Beast vs Gabriel battles being switched, despite Dara Ó Briain and Jonathan Pearce stating that Gabriel required a knockout win to progress, and could not go to a Judges' decision. Gabriel reverted to its signature sword.

Beast had already entered the battle without a functional weapon, and Gabriel immediately rained blows down onto the top of it. These repeated attacks had immobilised Beast on one side, so Gabriel pressed the pit release, and launched more gentle attacks onto Beast. Team Saint sensed that they had already won the battle by knockout, and held back, Gabriel posing by holding its sword aloft.

Gabriel launched a few more attacks, but then held off once again, not wanting to inflict further damage onto Beast. Gabriel nudged Beast towards the pit, but could not push it in, so span in circles as cease was called. Although the match had lasted the full three minutes, the Judges declared that Beast was immobile during the fight, and Gabriel was awarded the full three points, awarding it a place in the Heat Final. "We felt that Beast had actually been immobilised, and it didn't seem proper for us to continue any gratuitous violence!"

- Craig Colliass

In the Heat Final, Gabriel fought the reinstated Pulsar for the first time. It struggled to land a blow on the compact drum spinner, and Pulsar struck the sword of Gabriel to throw it over. Gabriel took control of the fight after this, missing with most attacks, but landed two blows on Pulsar, one of which directly striking the wheels. However, Pulsar caused damage to the wheels of Gabriel, and threw it over again. One wedge attack turned Gabriel onto its side, which caused Gabriel to miss its chance to attack a briefly immobile Pulsar. Gabriel was spun into Sir Killalot, where it also pressed the pit release button inadvertently, also striking the House Robot. Pulsar suddenly stopped moving, at which point Gabriel hammered it repeatedly. Although Pulsar regained movement, Gabriel took advantage of the same situation straight afterwards. In the late stages of the battle, Gabriel sustained damage to its wheels from the mobile Pulsar, and part of it was thrown towards a camera. Gabriel drove over the floor flipper and was thrown backwards by it, when cease was called.

The Judges' decision was unanimously called in favour of Pulsar, but Gabriel remained in contention for a wildcard position in the Grand Final along with Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia and Storm 2. When the Judges chose Thor, Gabriel was eliminated from the competition. To entertain the crowd in an untelevised fight, Gabriel fought a whiteboard match against Behemoth, driven by Team Saint's youngest member, Toby. Although Gabriel was launched onto its side by Behemoth, and Gabriel lost power to one of its wheels during the battle, when the crowd decided the victor of the match, the resulting cheer awarded the victory to Gabriel. A clip of the battle was used in some opening sequences of the show. Gabriel was too damaged to participate in any further whiteboard matches.

Series 9
As an unused reserve, Gabriel never fought on television during the series, with Craig Colliass dedicating his time to repairing Cherub. However, the huge Gabriel was still clearly visible in the background of every episode, making many cameo appearances in the pits throughout the series. One such cameo was in      Episode 2, where it appeared next to Terrorhurtz.

Gabriel would also take to the arena to fight another whiteboard match against Behemoth, where it used its new mace weapon. It immediately brought this weapon into play on the top of Behemoth, although the bulldozer pushed back, and lightly flipped Gabriel after sustaining another blow. Gabriel continued its assault while Behemoth mostly missed with its scoop, only managing to cast Gabriel's weapon aside. Gabriel turned itself onto its side and was flipped into the arena wall. The two fought in the corner, then battled in the centre of the arena, only landing light attacks on each other. When Behemoth missed with a flip, Gabriel drove under the scoop, and pushed Behemoth back.

After this attack, Behemoth flipped itself over and was forced to self-right. Gabriel continued to fight while Behemoth struggled to exit the flame pit. Later into the battle, Behemoth used its scoop to catch the weapon of Gabriel mid-attack, and turn the robot over, almost toppling over itself. In response, Gabriel used its fairly crooked weapon to sneak under the weapon of Behemoth, and push back. Behemoth lifted Gabriel and pushed it into the Arena Tyre, causing the pit to descend, as no House Robots were present. Behemoth capitalised immediately and charged Gabriel into the pit, although Behemoth fell in at the same time.

As the two robots fell into the pit at the same time, it is unknown whether Behemoth could be considered the victor, so the battle has no official winner. After 'cease' was called, Gabriel used its large wheels to drive out of the raising pit prematurely, and it pushed Behemoth back onto its wheels.

Series 10
"A team that featured last series with Cherub, if team captain and driver, Toby, can keep up the tactical aggression he showed but with a robot with a vastly stronger weapon in Gabriel 2, they could be very effective this series."

- Dr Lucy Rogers

Gabriel 2 competed in Heat 2 of Series 10, where it had an unfortunate first-round draw against the reigning champion Carbide, as well as Big Nipper. However, Team Saint had prepared for this by equipping their mace weapon, designed to entangle spinners such as Carbide.

On activate, Gabriel 2 began moving towards Carbide, before spinning away and colliding with Big Nipper, slamming the mace down on Big Nipper's body, jamming loose bolts into the latter's wheel mechanism and disabling its drive on one side. Sparks flew off Gabriel 2's mace as it connected with Big Nipper's still-mobile disc. Gabriel 2 fled from Carbide, but suffered an attack to one of its wheels from the spinner, which tore chunks of rubber out of the affected wheel. Gabriel 2 landed a hit with its mace on Carbide's right wheel, but was spun across the arena by Carbide's weapon in reply, and into Shunt. Gabriel missed several blows with the mace near Shunt's CPZ, before sustaining more damage to the wheels from Carbide's blade. Another attack from Carbide flipped Gabriel 2's mace into the air. Gabriel 2 then absorbed a hit from Big Nipper, causing it to bounce into the Pit Release button, activating 'Rogue House Robot' in the process. Gabriel 2 rode over Big Nipper as Shunt slammed into it, axing Gabriel 2's body without causing damage. Gabriel 2 hammered Big Nipper twice more, rendering Big Nipper completely immobile. "How can Gabriel 2 take this damage?"

- Jonathan Pearce

Gabriel 2 and Carbide charged at each other, and the resulting collision caused Gabriel 2 to bounce into the air. Gabriel 2 lost more rubber on its wheels as Carbide slammed into it again. Carbide's next attack sent Gabriel 2 spinning into a CPZ. Gabriel 2 avoided Carbide for several seconds before going for a full-frontal slam on the champions, colliding with Carbide's blade and spinning the larger machine away again. "And Gabriel 2 has created damage and flips Carbide over! Look at those wheels buckling, they're like a zombie! Gabriel can keep going, they can absorb that impact! And the reigning champion is in trouble here now! Gabriel 2 have never performed anything like this! Carbide have never had to work anything like this! This is sensational stuff! This is the 91st Wonder of the World!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Gabriel 2 landed another hit on Carbide, but it didn't appear to cause any real damage. Carbide inflicted more damage to Gabriel 2 with three successive attacks on the battered wheels. Gabriel 2's mace bounced off Carbide's spinning bar, and while it began to spin in circles, part of Carbide's right tyre came off. Gabriel 2 backed away, biding its time, before crashing into Carbide. Gabriel 2's wheels buckled immensely under contact with Carbide's spinner, the impact flipping Carbide over and bouncing Gabriel 2 over onto one wheel. Gabriel 2 waited while Carbide was attacked by Shunt, but was spun over the Flame Pit, before absorbing another huge attack from its opponent. "Gabriel 2 is still going. Heavens to Betsy, Gabriel, you can take some punishment."

- Jonathan Pearce

By this point, most of the rubber on one of Gabriel 2's wheels was gone, reducing its traction dramatically, and the entanglement device had been completely torn off. Gabriel 2 drove straight into Shunt and over the Flame Pit, just missing the House Robot's axe blow and crashing into the spinning Carbide. Gabriel 2 persisted, driving into Carbide's blade again, bouncing across the arena floor next to the immobile Big Nipper. Gabriel 2 then activated the Pit Release button for a second time, this time opening the Pit. Gabriel 2 was spun onto one wheel via another slice from Carbide, and into Shunt, who axed Gabriel 2. Gabriel 2 quickly escaped, but drove straight into Carbide, which sent it flying into the air yet again and tore a chunk out of one of its wheels. The crowd began audibly cheering for Gabriel 2 as it suffered another blow from Carbide. Gabriel 2 drove away, sliding across the arena as it tried to turn around due to the lack of rubber on the tattered wheels. "It's like a cartoon character, like its little legs are moving but it's not going anywhere."

- Dara Ó Briain

Gabriel 2's loss of traction meant it had slowed down considerably. It drove over Carbide's half-destroyed tyre, bobbling along the arena, before turning and receiving another attack from Carbide, causing its opponent to recoil close to the pit. Gabriel 2 then absorbed one final blow from Carbide before 'cease' was called - Team Saint and Team Carbide congratulated each other almost immediately as the battle went to a Judges' decision. "Torn, battered, bruised, brilliant. They're still in there. Who's going to brush up the arena floor? Six, five - it's going to go to the Judges, is it? This is unbelievable! This is one of the greatest fights ever in Robot Wars history!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Although the battle was close, Carbide was declared the winner, despite Gabriel 2 immobilising Big Nipper early on. As Gabriel 2 and its team returned to the Pits, they were given a 'Guard of Honour' by the rest of the roboteers. "Not many people can actually say they go three minutes with Carbide, hitting them, and still drive out of the arena, so we're really really pleased with that."

- Craig Colliass

In the Robot Redemption round, Gabriel 2 faced Aftershock. Gabriel 2 opted for the mace and its entanglement device again, but began cautiously on activate. Gabriel 2 and Aftershock edged towards each other, before Aftershock hit the bottom of Gabriel 2's body, flinging the thwackbot away. Gabriel 2's entanglement device was partially torn off by a second attack from Aftershock, before Aftershock landed a hit on one of Gabriel 2's wheels, sending Gabriel 2 spinning across the arena floor on one wheel. Gabriel 2 bounced onto the Flame Pit, before absorbing another hit from Aftershock which threw it high into the air. "That high density polyethylene plastic is designed to take on those powerful spinners. It's working. The tyres took the punishment as it bounced down, took the shock of the landing..."

- Jonathan Pearce

Gabriel 2 suffered more minor damage to the body and wheels as Aftershock drove under it. It was unable to land any hits on Aftershock with the mace, although some of its entanglement ropes were caught up in Aftershock's spinner, seizing the latter's weapon motor and ripping some of its internal wiring out. This didn't appear to affect Aftershock's spinner too much, however, and Gabriel 2 avoided Aftershock for a while, before charging in towards the spinner. After sustaining another blow to its body, Gabriel 2 was flung into the air again by Aftershock, and was immobilised by the impact. "Gabriel 2 is in the claws of Sir Killalot. oh, Killalot! No, not the - oh no not the mace. Oh dear, oh dear, how cruel is that?"

- Jonathan Pearce

As Gabriel 2 were counted out, Sir Killalot came in and easily chopped off its mace with his claw. Weaponless and immobile, Gabriel 2 was eliminated from the competition as a result.

Gabriel 2 also represented the UK in the International Special.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 4

NOTE: Whiteboard matches are not included

Outside Robot Wars
After Series 8 ended, Gabriel fought at the 2016 FRA UK Championships in Stevenage, which took place in October 2016. Despite losing in the quarter-final stages to Toxic 2 on a Judges' decision, it won its losers' melee against Nuts and Dystopia before proceeding to win the 2016 UK Championship outright.

Gabriel was very successful at the first Extreme Robots event, held in Manchester in April 2017. Of its seven battles, it won six, including a tag team match where it was partnered with TR3. Along the way, it battered Eric again, and immobilised HIGH-5, all the while driven by Toby Colliass. Its only loss was a close Judges' decision to Big Nipper, although Gabriel avenged this loss later into the event. At the Gloucester event in 2017, Gabriel won a head-to-head battle against Donald Thump within seconds, and caused major damage to newcomers Griffalo and 2Point0. At the final event of the year in Maidstone, Gabriel used its entanglement device to defeat Tauron, but was pitted in a later fight by Iron-Awe 7, and was trapped under the floor flipper by Eruption.

In October 2017, Gabriel appeared at the Robots Live! Stevenage event to defend its FRA UK Championship title; however, it ultimately finished the championship eighth overall after being defeated in the quarter-finals by Toxic 2. At the same event, Gabriel also fought in various whiteboard matches and the Tag Team competition; the latter alongside Thor.

The team also competes with a featherweight robot using the Gabriel name. For more information on Team Saint's other live competitors, such as The Saint itself, refer to their team article.

Robot Wars Live Events
Gabriel, along with Team Saint's other heavyweights The Saint and Cherub, are regular competitors at the live events, with the team in attendance at all events. Of the three robots, Gabriel enjoys the most success currently, with a mixture of wins, although Saint had previously earned the title of Tag Team Champion in 2014.

Gabriel’s biggest success was at the Robot Wars World Championship 2015, where it placed third. It passed the first round through a Judges’ decision over Luzifer, qualifying on aggression alongside Dystopia which pitted Toon Raider to take the other place. Gabriel won its second round match on a Judges’ decision, based on aggression and damage caused to Tough as Nails after the latter had already pitted Beast. Gabriel fought a close match with Gravity in the quarter-finals, sustaining flips but also attacking with its sword. Eventually, Gravity flipped itself over, and did not have enough power to fully self-right, leading to a third win via Judges’ decision for Gabriel, as Gravity was not counted out in time. Gabriel was finally eliminated after a close match with Thor, where Gabriel received more damage and lost its fourth Judges’ decision.

Gabriel made its 2016 live Robot Wars debut at Manchester, although it was thrown out of the arena by Behemoth and Ripper in its two battles.