Philipper

Philipper was a Belgian robot that competed in Dutch Robot Wars. Its name was a combination of the names of team captain Philippe Poppe and the famous film dolphin, Flipper.

The Philipper team was very successful, finishing as runner-up in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars and being named as Belgian champion as the best placed Belgian robot in the series. They also had success in international competition, finishing as runner-up in the European Championship. The team also competed in two Robot Wars World Championships, the second with Philipper and the first with their previous robot, Depoppesaurus Rex. Though it never won its own title, Philipper defeated both Panzer Mk and Black Hole; both champions in their home country's Robot Wars and otherwise undefeated. However, the team didn't return for The Third World Championship, leaving Hard to represent Belgium.

Philipper
The robot was described as "fish-like" by Jonathan Pearce, had a 1cm ground clearance and was armed with two lifting weapons, one on the front and one on the back. However, both of these weapons activated very slowly, and its self-righting mechanisms proved unreliable.

Philipper 2
Philipper 2, stylised as Philipper II, had a similar design, but the front lifter was upgraded from an electric system to pneumatic flipper, making it much quicker in activation. The rear lifter was replaced with a crushing claw, which Philipper used to attack immobilised foes. The robot's ground clearance was lowered, and internally was powered by two 200W wheelchair motors. Both robots had high traction, but suffered from speeds of only 10mph.

Dutch Series 1
Philipper had trouble getting ahold of Lizzard in its first battle; its weapon was slow and had a limited range, so every time it lifted Lizzard, Lizzard would simply slide off and escape. However, the tide turned radically when Philipper got underneath Lizzard with its rear lifter; in attempting to flip Lizzard over, Philipper tore Lizzard's bodyshell clean off. Still, Lizzard remained mobile, so the fight carried on. Philipper opened its lifter and clamped down on Lizzard's exposed electronics just before cease was called. Philipper won the resultant judges decision easily. In the second round, Philipper faced Bamm Bamm. The fight began tentatively with neither robot being able to use their weapon. Philipper finally got underneath Bamm Bamm, and lifted it up near the side wall, suspending it over the out-of-the-arena zone, but could not release it despite slamming into the wall. Giving up, Philipper carried Bamm Bamm over to the pit, only to drive in itself after Bamm Bamm fell off at the final moment.

Extreme 1
Philliper took part in an international fight against Chaos 2, allied with Alien Destructor. Perhaps due to Alien Destructor's invertibility, Chaos 2 surged straight for Philipper and tossed it through the air. Philipper responded by exposing Chaos 2's high ground clearance, and attempted to lift it, but lost grip and was thrown again. A third flip saw Philipper land on its own teammate, before the fourth flip on Philipper left it beached. Alien Destructor was unable to push it back into its wheels, nor could Philipper self-right while being constantly pushed around, and it was eventually counted out by Refbot. Although Philipper's team still had the chance to win the battle, Alien Destructor could not defeat Chaos 2, and both lost the resulting Judges' decision.

At the end of Extreme 1, Philipper took part in the Second World Championship representing Belgium, as the team had in the First World Championship with their previous incarnation Depoppesaurus Rex. This competition was also broadcast during Extreme Warriors: Season 1. Philipper faced Tornado from England, Yeborobo from South Africa, and Panzer Mk 2 from America. Although Philipper was passive for most of the fight, it made a surprise movement towards the end of the battle, overturning the American champion Panzer Mk 2, which had dominated the battle throughout, defeating it. With Yeborobo immobilised long ago, Philipper was left to fight Tornado alone, though it could not withstand the pushing force, and lost the Judges' decision.

Dutch Series 2
The Poppe family came back to Robot Wars with Philipper 2, a redesign from the previous Philipper. Philipper 2's first battle was against Shapeshifter. Philipper did not have to do much; it simply flipped Shapeshifter onto its side to win, and then retreated when the House Robots finished the job. In its next battle, Philipper flipped Trazmaniac several times, having little to worry about since Trazmaniac's weapons supposedly weren't working. In spite of this, Trazmaniac found several opportnities to bury its drill into Philipper's thin armour, causing damage. Philipper managed some late flips, and the battle was sent to the Jury, which slightly went in Philipper's favour. Through to the heat final, Philipper faced Twister. Twister's weaponry looked daunting, but Philipper simply flipped it over. Philipper used its claw to dig into Twister's wheel as the Refbot counted it out.

In the Grand Final, Philipper first faced Krab-Bot. Philipper flipped Krab-Bot against a grinder, but before it could bring its claw down on Krab-Bot's wheel, Refbot came in and helped it off. Krab-Bot grabbed Philipper and dragged it into a CPZ, where Growler charged in and slammed the two apart. Philipper flipped Krab-Bot twice more, but when it left its flipper open for too long, Krab-Bot got its claw stuck in the gap. After Growler pulled Krab-Bot free, the robots came together again, and Philipper dug its claw into Krab-Bot's wheel gap. The match ended with the two locked together, and Philipper won the subsequent jury's decision. Philipper next opponent was Bamm Bamm, in a grudge match from Dutch Series 1. Before the battle, Sam Poppe expressed intent to flip Bamm Bamm out of the arena, as they had failed to do in their last encounter. Philipper dominated the match, flipping Bamm Bamm repeatedtly with Bamm Bamm self-righting each time. Philipper's flipper then got stuck open, so it closed its claw around Bamm Bamm's hammer, and the two began pulling each other around the arena. Growler separated them as the clock ticked down, and the match went to a jury's decision, which was in favour of Philipper. In the final battle, Philipper met PulverizeR. Philipper tried to flip PulverizeR, but it had little effect on the invertible robot. Still, it carried on trying to gain some purchase, at one point flipping PulverizeR into a position where only one of its wheels was on the ground, but it could not really hinder PulverizeR at all. One hit from PulverizeR's disc tore a panel off its flipper, and subsequent hits nicked at its sides. As the time ran out, Philipper took one last hit from PulverizeR that flicked it into the air. The match went to a jury's decision, who ruled against Philipper due to the damage sustained.

As the runner-up, Philipper was the best-performing Belgian robot in Dutch Robot Wars, and consequentially, the Belgian Champion. This honour granted it admittance into the European Championship in Extreme Series 2.

Extreme 2/German Series
Philipper 2 took part in the European Championship, representing Belgium. This competition was broadcast during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2 and German Robot Wars. In the first round, it fought the Swedish Rawbot. Both robots charged in as activate was called and Philipper 2 flipped Rawbot up a little which wasn't enough to turn it over. Philipper 2 then lifted the Swedish machine up again with both robots going round in a circle before Philipper 2 dropped Rawbot. Philipper 2 shoved Rawbot into the floor-spinner release tyre activating the arena hazard and then flipping Rawbot up again. Rawbot made a move to hit the pit release but Philipper 2 shoved Rawbot down it to go through. Round 2 saw Philipper 2 fight against the German Black Hole. Philipper 2 had difficulty keeping up with the German machine and Black Hole kept landing its discs on Philipper 2. Philipper 2 was taking damage and hit the pit release then managed to flip Black Hole, but caused no problems to the German robot as it was invertible. Black Hole came back biting into Philipper 2's sides but the Belgian robot refused to give up and flipped Black Hole up a little bit before turning the tables by shoving it down the pit to cause a major upset. Philipper 2 was then through to the European Championship final, taking on the British Tornado. It was shoved by Tornado and missed its first flip on the UK champion. Philipper 2 was pursued by Tornado into the CPZ where it was attacked by Shunt but escaped only to take more punishment from Tornado. Philipper 2 found itself on the flame pit where its low ground clearance beached it until Refbot freed it. Tornado then activated the pit and tried to shove Philipper 2 into it, but Philipper 2 had good traction and kept hanging on. Tornado then tore off one of Philipper 2's rear panels before eventually shoving Philipper 2 down the pit which gave it second place in the European Championship Final.

Results

 * }


 * }

Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 2
 * UK Losses: 3
 * Dutch Wins: 6
 * Dutch Losses: 2

Trivia

 * On the factsheet for its appearances in Extreme Series 1, Philipper's name was misspelled as Philliper.
 * The Poppe Family is the only team to have fought robots from eight different countries: Eire (Republic of Ireland), Australia, The Netherlands, England, South Africa, America, Sweden and Germany. Ironically, its home nation of Belgium was not one of the eight.
 * Philipper is the only robot to have appeared in all four national versions of Robot Wars (UK, US, Dutch and German Series).
 * Philipper is one of only five robots to fight at least two past or future domestic champions in a single battle. The others to do this are 13 Black and the other three robots in its Second World Championship heat: Yeborobo, Tornado and Panzer Mk 2.
 * Philipper 2 is one of ten robots to fight two past or future domestic champions in two successive battles, fighting Black Hole and Tornado in the first and second rounds of the European Championship. The others to do this are Killertron, Tornado, Firestorm, Stinger, Razer, X-Terminator, Twisted Metal, Cassius and √3.