The Big Cheese

"And it is! This is one of the heaviest in its class...the lifting arm and spike could mean that its all "gorgonz-over" for opponents!"

- Jonathan Pearce introduces The Big Cheese

The Big Cheese (also known as Big Cheese) was the first of two cheese-based machines entered by Roger Plant and Team Big Cheese. It exclusively competed in Series 3 of Robot Wars. The interior of the machine featured guided missile and submarine components, as Roger Plant was a mini-submarine pilot, who decribed the robot as "quite fast, very maneuverable and very dangerous", however the robot only had a top speed of 5mph.

The robot was a large classic wedge shaped robot, designed to look like a piece of cheese. It was armed with a large red lifting arm that was easily capable of lifting a Mini Cooper as well as lifting its opponents high in the air and pitting them. The lifting arm was rear-hinged rather than front-hinged as such weapons tended to be at the time. A bladed tip allowed for extra damage. The Big Cheese was very powerful, capable of lifting even Sergeant Bash into the air with little apparent effort.

In the previous series, Roger Plant by himself entered with The Mule, and in Series 4 and Series 5 (and the first series of Extreme), Team Big Cheese entered with the more successful Wheely Big Cheese.

Series 3
The Big Cheese participated in Heat E of the Third Wars. In the first round of the heat, The Big Cheese was placed up against newcomers to the main competition in Shrapnel. In the battle, despite Shrapnel boasting a very high weight and a very low clearance, The Big Cheese easily got underneath it with its lifting arm after approaching its sluggish opponent. Team Big Cheese's machine used this advantage to lift up Shrapnel, high above the ground. The Big Cheese then carried it effortlessly over to the pit of oblivion and dropped it in, declaring it the winner of the battle and easily putting it through to the next round of the heat.

In the second round of the heat, The Big Cheese was placed up against another newcomer to the main competition in Anorakaphobia, this robot being a far quicker adversary than Shrapnel, forcing the more sluggish Big Cheese machine to chase after it throughout the entire battle. Anorakaphobia spent a lot of time trying to dodge away from the dreaded lifting arm of The Big Cheese, trying to create its own run-up to hit the previous heat-finalists side on with its axe weapon. Later on in the battle, in a skillful and lucky move, The Big Cheese finally got near to its opponent, trapped Anorakaphobia's active hammer between the arm and the wedge, giving it a dragging advantage. This allowed The Big Cheese to easily steer the less powerful Anorakaphobia forward towards the pit of oblivion, before pitting Anorakaphobia, putting it through to the heat final stage of the heat.

What followed was a battle that was voted the best battle of the series: future champions Chaos 2 up against The Big Cheese, with Roger Plant's machine starting stronger. This was the first and only battle that saw The Big Cheese against another veteran team. "Really for the first time, in this heat, in danger, Chaos 2"

- Jonathan Pearce after The Big Cheese's first move

At the start of the battle, The Big Cheese slid beneath Chaos 2's side, using a Roadblock-esque move, combined with its lifter, to tip the championship favourites onto its side, but it wasn't quite enough to get it all the way over, and the future champions came back down to the floor. The two machines then danced around each other before Chaos 2 then flipped The Big Cheese when the two met head on. Chaos 2 charged it over to the flame pit and flipped it against the arena wall, accidentally righting it. The Big Cheese then fought back, coming in side on and flipping Chaos 2 over, and pushing it against the arena wall. However, The Big Cheese then gave it room to self-right, and Chaos 2 did. Chaos 2 then retaliated, flipping The Big Cheese. The Big Cheese came very close to self-righting, but just couldn't tip back onto its wheels, as Chaos 2 was trying to hold it in place. The lifter slowly closed and it was then attacked by House Robots after a spin of delight from Chaos 2. However, after Sir Killalot had caused damage to its side, righted it and placed it on the arena floor flipper, The Big Cheese escaped and attacked Sergeant Bash, lifting the Sergeant off the ground, until his rear half detatched and fell to the ground. It was only when Sir Killalot joined in that The Big Cheese toppled over from the weight. Cease was eventually called and The Big Cheese was eliminated from the competition.

At the end of the series, The Big Cheese was nominated for the Best Engineered Award, however it lost to the robot that also beat it in the main competition, Chaos 2.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 2
 * Losses: 1

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered with The Mule
 * Series 3: Heat Final
 * Series 4-5: Entered with Wheely Big Cheese
 * Series 6-7: Did not enter

Appearances in Merchandise

 * The Big Cheese/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem

Outside Robot Wars
After Roger Plant stopped competing in Robot Wars, he sold all of his robots. The Big Cheese was sold over eBay for £500 to an unknown buyer.

The Big Cheese has since been sold to roboteer Joseph Prophet, who has since formed Team ThunderCheese, and has built a featherweight robot Small Cheese, a yellow wedge shaped robot with a rear spike. Small Cheese made its first appearance in the Maidstone Robot Wars event in 2013. The Big Cheese was used as a static display for the event.

Small Cheese is still used in competition, but Prophet has announced that The Big Cheese has been retired.

Trivia

 * Unbeknown to most, there was another heavyweight machine that was to be entered for Series 3 called The Big Cheese. It was made by Liverdyne Robotics, but it was not completed in time for the main competition, and the team halted production after discovering that the name had been taken.
 * The Big Cheese's heat final battle against Chaos 2 was voted Best Battle of the Series.
 * Ironically, The Big Cheese and Chaos 2, who met in the final of their heat, were the only losing heat finalists in Series 2 to reach that stage in the following war.
 * The interior of the machine featured guided missile and submarine components, as Roger Plant was a mini-submarine pilot.
 * The Big Cheese weighed more than the model of Wheely Big Cheese that immediately succeeded it.