Razer

"...overall it would have to be Razer...a beautiful and distinctive design and technically very impressive..."

- Mat Irvine on the robot that most impressed him

Razer was a robot that competed in the British television game show Robot Wars. It is statistically the greatest robot in the shows history, with forty battle victories and five championships to it's name. It was a roughly wedge-shaped robot with a powerful mechanical claw weapon, looking somewhat similar to a scorpion's tail. This weapon, described as "half bird, half reptile" by commentator Jonathan Pearce, was one of the most powerful weapons in Robot Wars history, being able to penetrate deep into robots and damage their inner mechanics.

In Series 3, two "wings" were added to the side of the crushing arm to serve as a self-righting mechanism, should Razer ever be flipped over (as well as making it able to give its infamous "salute"). The weapon was filled with holes that were drilled to keep Razer within the permitted weight boundaries. During Extreme 1, a wedge was added to the front of Razer to allow it to drive robots on to the immediate mercy of its claw (it used this to great effect against Firestorm and Tornado in particular). In addition Razer had an adjustable 'torsion bar' suspension that allows very precise positioning of the front wedge 'snout', ultimately allowing it to lower or raise the wedge. It may have been remotely adjusted, but this is unclear.

Despite all this, Razer did have one glaring and persistant weakness, in that it was heavily unreliable. In its first three wars, it lost due to various mechanical and electrical faults. These were mostly fixed by Series 5, but in its very last battle in Extreme Series 2, it broke down once more after its motors burnt out.

The robot competed in Series 2-6 of Robot Wars, winning the fifth series. It also won the first two Robot Wars World Championships. Razer was created by Simon Scott (the team captain), Ian Lewis and Vincent Blood, from Bournemouth.

Razer was subsequently retired from Robot Wars after Extreme 2 and did not take part in Series 7. However, Razer does occasionally appear at live Robotic combat events to give demonstrations by crushing various old household appliciances, and a featherweight version of the Series 5 winner and twice World Champion called Venom currently competes in the featherweight circuit. The team also entered Battlebots with both Razer and a robot called Warhead.

Tornado
Razer's most famous rivalry was with the Tornado team. The two robots first met in the All-Stars final in Extreme Series 1, in which Razer immediately grabbed hold of Tornado and tried to pierce the tyres of its opponent. Tornado briefly escaped but Razer grabbed hold once again, doing more damage and leaving it immobilised. This left Razer able to easily push Tornado into the pit. Their next encounter was in the semi-finals of The Second World Championship, which ended with a similar outcome. Once again, Razer quickly grabbed hold of Tornado and pierced through its armour. Razer then picked Tornado up and held it over the pit, eventually dropping it in.

Following these easy Razer victories, Tornado developed a special weapon for use in future battles between the two machines. It was a front-mounted spinning blade, supported by a large metal frame around the whole robot. This frame would make it very difficult for Razer to grab hold of it, which was proven in the Grand Final of Series 6. In response to this weapon, the Razer team added an extended claw to the end of its beak, but all it could do was grab the frame of Tornado, and Tornado was able to push Razer around the arena and slam it into the arena walls. Eventually Razer was able to lift Tornado and carry it over to the pit, but Tornado's frame meant that it could not be dropped into the pit. Cease was called and Tornado took Razer's crown of UK Champion.

The pair also met in Extreme Warriors, alongside Kat 3 and Wowot. Both of the other robots fell to the rivals, who met in the semi-final. In this, Tornado used its cage, which took a great deal of damage. Razer ripped outs Tornado's weapon motor in one of the attacks. The judges, however, gave the match to Tornado. Team Razer were so appalled, they confronted the judges directly. It became clear that the judges had accidently mistaken Tornado's motor for Razer's wheel. The decision stood, but one of the judges later said it was one of the worst moments of his career.

Tornado used the spinning blade and framework again in the semi-final of the European Championship in Extreme Series 2, but Razer had developed a new add-on in the shape of an upward-facing hook, which would be used to grab hold of Tornado's frame. The hook worked well, and Razer was able to lift Tornado by the frame. Razer opened the pit and tried to carry Tornado towards it, but the motors burnt out and it was unable to finish Tornado off. The judges went for Razer, but the team later decided to give the victory to Tornado as they felt that they had been immobilised.

Pussycat
Razer had previously had a shorter-lived rivalry with the Pussycat team, which started in the heat final in Series 4. Shortly after the battle started, Razer became immobilised against the arena wall and unable to move, which left it at the mercy of Pussycat's blade. Despite Razer conceding defeat, Pussycat continued to attacked its opponent with its spinning disc, causing major damage before Razer was eventually pitted by Dead Metal. The Razer team was very unhappy about the amount of damage that was caused by Pussycat after it had been immobilised and the two teams tried to settle their score in a vengeance battle in Extreme Series 1. In this battle, Razer was able to grab hold of Pussycat and lift it into the air, but Pussycat escaped and lauched an attack on Razer. This attack immobilised Razer once again, and Pussycat continued to attack Razer, not causing nearly as much damage, before it was pitted by Shunt. The Razer team accepted defeat more gracefully this time.

Series 2
The robot was hard to control in the gauntlet, but bashed its way past the ram rig and pushed Shunt into the safe zone. It scored the first goal in the football trial. In its semi-final, Razer trapped Inquisitor before crushing its flail support. But Inquisitor was still mobile and escaped, while Razer was suddenly unable to move, the first example of its infamous early unreliability. Razer would still be awarded the Best Design award.

Series 3
Razer added the self-righting wings for this wars. In its first round battle, Razer was unable to get a grip on Backstabber, so the team had to settle for trapping it on its wedge, and then pushing it into the pit for the win instead. Razer looked unstoppable against Aggrobot, but lost due to a mechanical failure: when the claw was raised to full height, it became stuck, and the rear end lifted Razer's wheels off the ground, so it couldn't move.

However, Razer would go on to win the Pinball Warrior Tournament of Series 3, and again won the Best Design Award. After Series 3, they won the International League Championship, beating Techno-Lease, and then Diotoir in the final. They also won the direct-to-video feature-length First World Championship tournament: representing England, they beat All Torque, Chaos 2 and 101 by crushing into these robots machinery whilst its battle with Behemoth in the final saw it win on a judges decision, so they were still rather successful in this series, in spite of losing in Round 2 of the main competition.

Series 4
Razer was seeded number 3 in this wars. Placing against Robochicken and Velocirippa, the three met in the center of the arena, and Razer picked up Robochicken. It carried Robochicken over to the flame pit while Velocirippa bumped into Razer. Razer left Robochicken for Dead Metal to deal with, and turned its attention to Velocirippa. It pierced with its claw and put it over the flame jet, but Velocirippa got away, and in its haste, crashed into the wall and was immobilized. Robochicken qualified with Razer. Razer dissected Milly-Ann Bug, breaking off its wheels and puncturing its domes in the second round. However, in the final, Razer ran into the arena side wall, malfunctioned and got stuck in forward drive, meaning that it couldn't get out of the way. Pussycat took advantage of this by completely decimating the back and wheels of its adversary with its destructive diamond-edged cutting disc. This onslaught continued until Dead Metal grabbed and pitted the heavily damaged Razer.

Razer also took part in the Pinball and Sumo Basho tournaments of Series 4: it did not perform particularly well in either, failing to defend its Pinball Warrior title, scoring only 95 points (abandoning the run to attack Sir Killalot) and being knocked off the Sumo podium by Shunt in less than 5 seconds. However, it did win the "Southern Annihilator" special. Razer dominated this battle, single-handedly defeating Vercingetorix, Spawn of Scutter and Behemoth. It had a brief scare in the fourth round, as it was unable to harm either Attila the Drum or Onslaught, but Attila ran into Sir Killalot, and was eliminated. After Onslaught was flipped on its side and immobilised in the final round, Razer celebrated its victory by attacking Matilda and caused such horrible damage as wrecking the chainsaw weapon, filling the back end full of holes and setting it on fire, causing it to be suspended for repairs until Series 5.

Extreme 1
Razer had a sucessful Extreme, winning 7 out of 8 battles in 3 events. It competed in the All Stars, where in the first round, it met the clusterbot Gemini. From the off, Razer was able to grab one of the twins and crush it. The second twin rescued the first by flipping Razer (and the first twin) over. The process repeated, but with the twins swapping roles. Razer again attacked the second twin, and after it was released, the robots spent the rest of the match avoiding each other. Unsurprisingly, the judges awarded victory to Razer. Razer then faced Behemoth. The two robots had fought twice before, notably in the final of the First World Championship, and also in the Souther Annihilator. They were also in the same heat in Series 2, but didn't fight each other. From the beginning, Razer crumpled Behemoth's flipper, but it fought back, pushing it into the CPZ and flipping it over. Razer was able to self right and then grabbed hold of and kept hold of Behemoth's scoop until the end of the round. Razer was then awarded the victory by the judges. In the Semi Final Razer faced Firestorm 3. Razer began stright away by grabbing Firestorm and piercing its flipper, making a hole in it. Then, they pierced Firestorm's body, lifting it up while performing its 'salute'. Razer made a third hole while pushing Firestorm into Matilda's CPZ. Cease was called with Firestrom having recieved large amounts of damage. The judges put Razer into the final, where it faced Tornado. It was the first time the robots had met. Razer got hold of Tornado almost instantly, and refused to let go of it properly in the battle at all. Razer's beak always at least 2cm inside Tornado's armour. Tornado lost drive on one side as Razer cut its chain, and then on the other side as the drive pin on the motor pinion came out. There was nothing Tornado could do, as Shunt found out when the House Robot was able to pit it.

Razer attempted to take its vengeance on Pussycat. Razer seemed the stronger as it pierced Pussycat's tough shell and holding it over the flame pit. After a slight tussle, Pussycat shook free and attacked Razer. An incidental slice from Pussycat's blade immobilised Razer instantly, and Razer was counted out and pitted.

Razer also entered the World Championship, representing the UK, the places allocated to the four semi-finalists of the All-Stars tournament. In its heat, Razer faced The Revolutionist, Diotoir and Flensburger Power. Razer's first target was The Revolutionist. It was unable to cause any damage on the first attempt, but made a massive hole on the second attempt. Diotoir had just immobilised Flensburger Power, apparantly just by pushing it around the arena, and attempted to attack Razer, only for Razer to pierce the fur and armour and hold it over the flame pit. The judges were called on again, but as The Revolutionist was virtually immobilised, it was an easy decision for them, and Razer was put through. In the second round, it faced a Grudge Match in the form of Tornado. By now all of Tornado's disc teeth were well past their best, so to give it half a chance, the team changed to the charity event weapon, the bulldozer scoop. The fight was much closer this time, and Tornado managed to push Razer about for a bit, while Razer got several nips in on the red machine. The turning point came when Tornado opened the pit and Razer's beak got stuck in Tornado's top armour. Razer held Tornado up above the pit and dropped it in. The American walkerbot Drillzilla was Razer's opponent in the final. Straight away, Razer grabbed hold of Drillzilla's shuffling mechanism, and attempted to crush it, but to no avail. Razer then tried to grab hold of Drillzilla, but could not get through the armour. Drillzilla escaped, but Razer managed to catch it and clamped hold of Drillzilla again. Cease was called and the judges decided that Razer, being the dominant robot throughout the entire fight, were the winners.

Series 5
Razer, now seeded fourth, faced newcomers Big Nipper in the first round. As the two machines charged towards each other, both sustained damage, with one of Big Nipper's pincers bending and one of Razer's self-righting wings snapping off. Razer then set to work piercing the armour of Big Nipper until the underdogs became immobilised. In the second round, the Razer team faced their wives and girlfriends who built box wedge machine Widow's Revenge. It was destroyed by Razer who broke its top panels before Matilda's flywheel caused plenty of further damage. Part of Widow's revenge had become stuck underneath the floor flipper, before Razer drove into the pit attempting to pit Widow's Revenge. "We were in big trouble after that one"

- Simon Scott, after they defeated their "other halves" Widow's Revenge had already been counted out, therefore reinstated Rick was the opponent in the heat final. Razer once again immobilised its opponent after getting its crusher weapon into good use, before going after Sir Killalot. Razer grabbed onto one of Sir Killalot's arms, but was once again pitted. Rick had already been eliminated, so Razer reached the series semi-finals for the first time. In its first battle in the series semi finals, Spawn Again had its flipper disabled by Razer before it was immobilised and pitted. For a place in the Grand Final, Razer defeated reinstated robot S3. The 'hammerhead shark' was unable to hit Razer with its vertical spinning disc as Razer repeatedly pierced the aluminium shell before pushing S3 towards Dead Metal who use its circular saw. Eventually S3 started smoking and the spinning disc that had been so impressive in the loser's melee stopped. Razer unamimously won the resulting judges decision to reach the Grand Final.

In the Grand Final Eliminator, Razer faced Firestorm 3 for the second time, but it was to prove much closer this time. Razer caused damage to the Durham machine's flipper, however Firestorm spent sizeable periods of the match grappling with Razer, twice pushing the pair across the face of the pit of oblivion. Eventually cease was called, and for the second time in Robot Wars, the judges descended to inspect for damage. This was Razer's closest ever battle, and was declared the winner. Bigger Brother had taken major damage from Hypno-Disc in the other Grand Final Eliminator, but received help from several other teams to get it ready for the final against Razer. Here Razer dominated the battle even lifting up Bigger Brother into the air with its beak, while Bigger Brother did not get a single flip on Razer. The unanimous judges decision was awarded to Razer, who after two World Championship wins was finally crowned UK Champion.



Series 6
Razer began the defence of its title against Raging Reality, Brutus Maximus and W.A.S.P. Razer almost immediately concentrated on the exposed wheels and wooden constuction of Brutus Maximus, crushing one of its bicycle wheels. Raging Reality flipped W.A.S.P. into Sir Killalot, who dragged it into the CPZ, before drilling a large hole in its side, immobilising it. The limping Brutus Maximus rammed into Razer, who was now trying to attack Raging Reality, doing a bit of damage to the silver machine's front end. Brutus Maximus was beginning to fall to pieces prior to Razer peeling off one of its side panels. A flip by Raging Reality made a wheel fall out of Brutus Maximus, which rolled straight into the pit. Sir Killalot closed in and put the petrol powered machine on the flame pit which preceded it being counted out and flipped out of the arena by Raging Reality. Razer attacked the defeated W.A.S.P. before cease was called. In the second round, Razer grabbed its opponent Cyrax straight away, but did little damage. Another attack by Razer, on the rear of the pyramid shaped robot crushed a hole in Cyrax's armour. Cyrax attempted to get its axe into play, but couldn't land more than glancing blows on the overwhelming favourite. Razer held Cyrax on the flame pit for a few seconds while scratching the side of the newcomers. Razer pushed Cyrax into Growler, who held onto Cyrax with its own jaw weaponary at the same time. Razer pierced Cyrax leaving another crevice in its armour then held it under Mr. Psycho's hammer. The new house robot hammered Cyrax twice, causing a small light to come off the top of the machine. Cyrax tried to use its axe again, before pushing Razer back and surprisingly managing to flip Razer over. Razer self-righted in the final 15 seconds and the fight went to a judges decision, which went to Razer. In the Heat Final, Razer got underneath the flipper of Raging Reality and rammed it into a wall next to Matilda's CPZ, causing Raging Reality to lose drive after attacks on the front of it. Slowly, Razer pushed Raging Reality into Matilda's flywheel, ripping a gash into its side and sending a piece of armour flying out of the arena. Razer finished the heat by placing the mangled Raging Reality onto the closed pit of oblivion and pressing the pit release button. Razer's very first attack of the Series Semi Finals against 9th seeds Wild Thing 2 tore through its side panel. Razer and Wild Thing then spent the majority of the battle spinning around in an embrace, while both machine's armament did minimal damage to the other. Razer eventually punctured one of Wild Thing's tyres. In escaping, the Adam's family machine drove straight onto the flame pit. Razer had another attack on Wild Thing, this time being able to lift it off the ground with its hydraulic crusher. Razer put its opponent out of its misery by activating the pit, holding Wild Thing 2 above it, doing its signature pirouette, before dumping the 9th seed in. Rookies Dantomkia, who had to beat Wild Thing 2 in the loser's melee was Razer's semi final second round opponent. Razer quickly grappled with Dantomkia, before it slammed Razer back into the arena wall. Razer fought back by puncturing Dantomkia a couple of times, then pushed it toward the flame pit, however Dantomkia used its flipper to free itself from the reigning champion's grip. Razer drove Dantomkia into Mr. Psycho, where a hammer blow reigned down. Bravely, just before cease was called, Dantomkia retaliated by ramming it into the other house robot, Sir Killalot. The resulting judges decision put Razer into the grand final again.

In the Grand Final Eliminator, Razer faced Terrorhurtz, who had defeated three seeded machines to qualify. In an extremely well controlled performance, Razer immediately drove around the swinging double headed axe and began crumpling the polycarbonate armoury of Terrorhurtz, while John Reid's creation cleaved thin air. Razer proceded to lift Terrorhurtz into the air, before the power of the axe made it crash back down. It took more punishment from the axe of Shunt. Razer clamped onto the side of Terrorhurtz one more time and pierced deep into its opponent before once again activating the pit and pushing Terrorhurtz in. Standing between back-to-back UK titles was Tornado, a machine Razer had defeated twice prevously. For this grand final battle however, Tornado was fitted with a large metal frame with a spinning blade at the front. Created specially for this fight, should it have occurred, the frame made it impossible for Razer to reach the inner parts of Tornado. The Razer team attached a small claw extension to their main weapon, hoping that it could help to lift Tornado. Tornado's changes appeared to be highly controversial, but were deemed legal as the team had made it clear alongside all its other weapons before the sixth wars had begun. The final started with Tornado ramming Razer several times, although rather ineffectively. Tornado's lawnmower blade had stopped spinning at one point, and Razer grabbed onto the cage several times, but kept losing its grip due to the power and agility of its opponent. Razer's claw extension looked rather flimsy, unable to grab onto Tornado. Razer then got stuck behind the arena floor disc button, and Tornado began its usual method of repeated ramming. Refbot looked as if he would count out Razer, but actually intervened and freed Razer. Tornado continued its onslaught, pushing Razer into Dead Metal and Shunt. Tornado pushed the pit release button, however it was Razer who finally managed to get a grip on Tornado's cage, to the cheers to of the crowd, raising it into the air and almost overbalancing. The fifth series champions drove Tornado straight towards the pit, but Tornado's wide frame prevented it from falling down. Razer held its adversary above the pit until cease was called. It took the judges 45 minutes to declare that Tornado was the sixth wars champion.

Extreme 2
Razer's final series saw it enter two competitions.

It also entered the European Championship, qualifying as World Champions. It faced PulverizeR, the Dutch Champions. It began by chasing the spinner into the activation button for the disc of doom. It grabbed hold of the Dutch robot by Gowler, and once PulverizeR got away, Razer grabbed it again. It carried Pulverizer to the pit release button and activated it, before letting the Dutch robot go. However, Razer quickly grabbed it again, but it escaped. Razer then chased it around the arena. However, PulverizeR then drove into the pit and Razer went through. Razer then went on to meet Tornado again in the semi finals where Tornado used the cage again. Razer had built a new hook so it could lift Tornado by the cage. Tornado started pushing Razer around the arena, but then Razer started using the new hook to lift Tornado by the cage. Razer dragged Tornado towards the pit release button where it tried to get Tornado in the pit but it couldn't fit it into the pit. During this, smoke started coming out of Razer because its motors were burning out. Razer held Tornado over the pit until time ran out.

"During our fight with Tornado we were immobile and had held on with the claw for far, far longer than the permitted one minute and should have been disqualified or counted out. We were then shockingly given a judges' decision which was never ours, and both myself and Simon immediately wanted to hand it back to Tornado. Ian, as team captain, refused and a long discussion was needed to resolve matters"

- Vincent Blood on the resulting judges decision

In the end, a two-to-one split decision by the team resulted in Razer forfeiting its place in the final to Tornado. This was Razer's last ever appearance.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 42
 * UK Losses: 5
 * US Wins: 1
 * US Losses: 1

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Heats, Arena Semi-Final
 * Series 3: Heats, Round 2
 * Series 4: Heat Final
 * Series 5: Grand Champion
 * Series 6: Runner-up
 * Series 7: Did not enter