Barbaric Response

"Ah, will the Barber family provide a close shave for one or two?"

- Jonathan Pearce

Barbaric Response was a competitor robot in Series 6 and 7 of Robot Wars, comprising of the Barber family from Horsham, with the family surname being the origins of the robot's name. It was a small wedge shaped robot with a 10-bar titanium edged body flipper and punch ram. It could reach 20mph, often the quickest in its heat with good pushing power and had a home-made electronic interface and differencial steering to improve speed and maneuverability, but had an exposed aerial and often suffered disadvantages from that, its small size and aluminium armour and chassis. The robot never enjoyed much success in the main series, going out in the first and second rounds, but placed second in the third Tag Team Terror competition in Extreme Series 2. Barbaric Response also previously failed to qualify for Series 5.

Barbaric Response is still around today and has done very well for an unchanged robot, taking out robots like the improved versions of Kronic and Iron Awe, and the team also fight with a featherweight named Barbaric Bruce.

Series 6
"We're gonna make a chicken fly."

- Bruce Barber on his machine's flipper

Barbaric Response faced three returning machines to Robot Wars; Spirit of Scorpion, X-Terminator and Robochicken in Round 1 of Series 6. It attacked Spirit of Scorpion, but was pushed into the side wall. Escaping, it pushed Spirit of Scorpion into Dead Metal's CPZ. Not long after, Barbaric Response and Spirit of Scorpion were pinned together, with only Barbaric Response making some sluggish movements. X-Terminator then pitted Barbaric Response, but it was still through to the next round. It fought, much to Zac Barber's dread, the 3rd seeds Firestorm 4. Barbaric Response activated the pit and flipped up Firestorm, but not onto its back. Firestorm then flipped Barbaric Response, who self-righted. After flipping Refbot, Firestorm 4 flipped Barbaric Response onto the side wall, where it could not self-right. However, with no Refbot to end the fight officially, cease was called without any damage done to Barbaric Response.

"Barbaric Response were too slow to respond..."

- Jonathan Pearce

Extreme 2
Barbaric Response was involved in the Tag Team Terror, alongside Hydra, and together they faced Mighty Mouse and Velocirippa in Round 1.

"You'll rip that (the fibreglass) to shreds and see what's underneath"

- Philippa Forrester interviewing the two teams

Hydra and Velocirippa started this battle, and Hydra flipped Velocirippa twice before immobilizing it and pushing it onto the flames. Barbaric Response then chased Mighty Mouse and flipped it into Shunt, before pushing the Mouse into Matilda's flywheel tail. This immobilized Mighty Mouse, and Hydra pushed it into the pit. In Round 2, Hydra and Barbaric Response faced X-Terminator and Mini Morg. Hydra and X-Terminator started the battle, and Hydra flipped X-Terminator into Dead Metal, before Mini Morg lifted it. Barbaric Response then flipped Mini Morg, who rolled over, before pushing X-Terminator. It was Barbaric Response, however, who ended up in Dead Metal's pincers. Barbaric Response escaped and tagged Hydra, who flipped Mini Morg twice, and Mini Morg was immobilized by Growler. As one of the opponents was immobile at cease, the judges gave the win to Hydra and Barbaric Response. This meant that the two machines were through to the final, where they faced Bulldog Breed and Robochicken. Hydra was flipped by the Bulldog, but Barbaric Response flipped the wedge shaped machine over, before self-righting Hydra. However, Barbaric Response broke down, and Bulldog Breed self-righted and flipped Hydra, who didn't have enough power to self-right. Both Hydra and Barbaric Response were damaged badly by Mr. Psycho. Mr. Psycho used his hammer to smash the rear panel clean off Barbaric Response.

"Up against Bulldog Breed, they've met the competition's finest individual machine"

- Jonathan Pearce

Series 7
In the Series 7 eliminator against Annihilator champions Kan Opener and first time, Round 1 drop-outs, Big Nipper and The Grim Reaper, Barbaric Response slid underneath Big Nipper and tossed it a short distance across the arena. Kan Opener then grabbed hold of Barbaric Response, while The Grim Reaper tried to flip it. Barbaric Response, still being gripped by Kan Opener, was pushed around the arena. Big Nipper attacked Barbaric Response, which was still being held by Kan Opener, despite the attempts by Growler to separate the machines. Kan Opener tried to push Barbaric Response into the pit in the last few seconds, but Barbaric Response resisted and cease was called. The judges made their decision and eliminated Barbaric Response, along with Kan Opener.

Results

 * }

Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 3
 * Losses: 3

Series Record

 * Series 1-4: Did not enter
 * Series 5: Failed to qualify
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 1

Trivia

 * Intriguingly, Barbaric Response competed in Heat B in its main competition appearances, this being the first letter of the robot's and team's names (the Barber family).