Plunderbird

"We are the crew and we're here to tell you - we're gonna bash them, we're gonna trash them. In the wars you know we're gonna thrash them. The forecast's bad. You better get running. It's gonna be tough. There's a Plunderstorm coming!"

- Mike, Bryan and Ken's introduction in the Third Wars

Plunderbird was the name given to five separate box-wedge shaped competitors that competed in the first five series of Robot Wars - the only robot in Robot Wars to fight in all five of those wars. Plunderbird was well known for its team, who portrayed themselves with a "tough-guy" attitude, and frequently sang raps. This tough-guy attitude was later emulated by Team Scutterbots and also by Team Falcon in the American series. The robots themselves were mostly unreliable, driving into the pit in Series 2 and not getting off the mark in Series 3. They lost in the first round in three of the five wars they entered, which curiously were the odd-numbered wars, the same pattern suffered by the Ming robot series. Plunderbird 1 was a basic box-wedge shape and was powered by a custom-built 12 volt engine to drive it up to 7mph. It carried a range of interchangeable weapons built into box-like constructions called "Pods", which could be inserted into a cradle built into the front of the robot. The two shown on television were a retracting spike guided by a laser sight, and an electric circular saw on an extendible arm, which was usually concealed, but could flip out of the robot when operational. It travelled an insufficient distance in the Gauntlet after driving onto a grille and getting attacked by Shunt, but when Dreadnaut broke down, it appeared that Plunderbird 1 would qualify for the trial. However, Dreadnaut saved itself at the last minute, and Plunderbird was eliminated. However, the interchangeable weaponry gave it a nomination for the Best Design Award, which it won.

Plunderbird 2 was similar to its original counterpart, but was wider, black in colour, and with thicker armour and more sloping sides. The aerial flexed, allowing it to bend away from House Robot attacks. Its main weapon was a steel screw ram. In addition, it had heavier and more powerful tracks as well as a steel bulldozer blade, both of which were added to prevent a repeat of Plunderbird 1's misfortune. To compliment the pushing capabilities of the bulldozer blade, the top of Plunderbird 2's wedges had notches to prevent robots from driving up it- a feature that was later carried over to Plunderstorm and Plunderbird 4. "The ram at the front was very effective as when they hit someone it effectively went to 0mm ground clearance and allowed it to get under other robots."

- Oliver Steeples

Plundebird 2 was easily the most successful of the Plunderbird series, as it managed to reach the semi finals, knocking two House Robots off the ring during the King Of The Castle trial, the only robot to do so. Although defeated in the Gauntlet for the semi finals after Matilda cut off its radio control aerial, it won the Sportsmanship Award for the series.

Plunderbird 3, known as Plunderstorm, was entered in Series 3. "The boast is: this can go faster than time."

- Jonathan Pearce's ironic introduction

It was a steel wedged ramming machine that featured a series of ramming spikes and a circular saw weapon. This cost £4,000 over 500 hours and was mostly made from steel. However, due to the popularity of the team and the low success of the robot, details on Plunderstorm were neglected in favour of the team. However, Plunderstorm lost in the first round of Series 3 after it broke down on entry.

After the loss of Plunderstorm in Series 3, the team, now consisting of only Mike and Brian, shifted their attention more towards comedy and entertainment. As a result, both of their remaining robots were rather inefficient, and appeared so that the team could entertain the audience. Plunderbird 4 was seeded 26th in Series 4 and the only Plunderbird machine to be seeded for Robot Wars, the team arrived in a Chinook helicopter. Whilst retaining the basic box-wedge shape of all Plunderbirds, was painted yellow and red (assumed to be in reference to Thunderbird 4, which was also primarily yellow and red in colour) and featured a hydraulic slicing claw, referred to as a "Slicer Dicer". It was armoured in aerospace aluminium and travelled at 15mph. Much like Plunderstorm, Plunderbird 4 was neglected in favour of broadcasting the team's antics.

Plunderbird 5 was the final machine of the team. A brand new machine which was lower, wider, faster and more powerful than its predecessers, it was black and red and resembled Plunderbird 4, this was largely achieved by using a similar claw weapon to the previous robot. The weapon was now referred to as a "Plunderthocker", and the steel plate at the front of the machine acted as a lifter to trap a machine beneath the claw. Unlike all its previous incarnations, Plunderbird 5 ran on wheels but had a 2.5cm ground clearance. However, it only won one of the five battles it fought in, and was destroyed in its final appearance by S3. The team joked in Extreme 1 that it had self-righting Sidewinder guided missiles. The team had a grudge with the Sir Chromalot team, mainly because of the entertainment they both provided. The team were nominated for the Sportsmanship Award on three occasions, winning the award in Series 2.

Mike Onslow, the team captain, who was a model maker for a living, still has the Plunderbird shells that he created, except for that of Plunderbird 5, as it was destroyed, and occasionally brings them to various live events.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Plunderbird/Minibot
 * Plunderbird/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
 * Plunderbird/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)

Series 1
Plunderbird 1 had equipped the spike weapon for its Gauntlet run. It trundled out of the starting position and attempted to take the right pathway. However, Shunt bulldozed its rear ram into the side of Plunderbird 1, and pushed it across the side of the arena and up against the ramp, wedging it between it and the pyramid in front. Plunderbird 1 was unable to escape as Shunt came back forward and struck with its axe. Time expired and Plunderbird 1 had covered a distance of only 4.81m. Dreadnaut broke down and seemed like it would need to retire, but managed to recover, securing Plunderbird 1's loss.

At the end of the series, Plunderbird 1 was awarded with the Best Design Award for Series 1.

Series 2
Plunderbird 2, the successor of Plunderbird 1, was armed with just a pneumatic ramming blade this time. In its Gauntlet run, it shot past the Sentinel, before intentionally driving into the pit just beyond it, in order to avoid damage. This prompted the other teams to call Mike, Bryan and Ken "chickens", because they chose to avoid the house robots.

It was victorious in its Trial run, after it knocked Dead Metal off the podium, with Sgt. Bash quickly following suit. "Well maybe they're not all talk and no trousers"

- Jonathan Pearce as Dead Metal is knocked off the ring

Plunderbird 2 faced Enzyme in the Semi-Final, and wedged underneath it, before pushing it into Bash. The two machines were eventually separated, and the judges gave the win to Plunderbird. In the Heat Final, it faced The Mule, and wedged underneath it repeatedly, pushing it across the arena, and weathering The Mule's attacks on it. Towards the end, Plunderbird nearly pushed The Mule into the pit and into the PPZ, and although Plunderbird was unable to pit its opponent, it won on points having been in control throughout the entire fight.

However, Plunderbird only travelled 0.9m in the Semi-Final Gauntlet, as it drove through the blocks, but was pushed back to the wall by Shunt, before Matilda hammered the final nail into the coffin by slicing off the aerial with her chainsaw. There was hope in Haardvark's Gauntlet run when Matilda started dragging them back, but unfortunately for the Plunderbird team, Haardvark just scraped through after a distance of 2.4m. However, Plunderbird won the Sportsmanship Award for this Series.

Series 3
"The forecast's bad. You better keep running. It's gonna be tough. There's a Plunderstorm coming!- Next year!"

- Mike, Bryan and Ken after being eliminated from Series 3

Plunderbird 3 (Renamed as Plunderstorm for this year) had a very brief war. Shortly before the fight, the team were asked by the crew to remove their saw blade as it had a risk of shattering, to which they begrudgingly complied. The robot had only one fight against newcomers Thermador. It started off with only one track working, but after a couple of seconds, broke down completely, leaving it at the mercy of the House Robots and Team Lobster's machine, eventually finishing with Sir Killalot spearing the beaten Plunderstorm with its lance into one of the tracks, before lifting it up, carrying it around, and lowering it into the pit. "Plunderstorm? It's not even a shower!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Series 4
Plunderbird 4, seeded 26th, did little in its first round battle with Vercingetorix and Fat Boy Tin. Plunderbird and Vercingetorix ganged up on Fat Boy Tin, forcing the huge machine into Killalot's CPZ. Plunderbird 4 hung back whilst Fat Boy Tin was immobilised and thrown by the flipper, taking Vercingetorix with it. Vercingetorix self righted then took out its frustration on Plunderbird, flipping it. Despite this, Plunderbird went through to face Knightmare. This was the only fight in which Plunderbird 4's claw was working, and even then, it wasn't working to its full potential. In round 2, Knightmare slipped underneath Plunderbird, backed away before ramming it again. The two constantly bumping each other but no significant attacks could been made at all. Plunderbird got underneath Knightmare, rendering the robots stuck together for a short while. The pit suddenly opened and Refbot pushed Knightmare off of Plunderbird to let the battle continue. Plunderbird showed a little sign of aggression, pushing Knightmare, but Knightmare darted away to attack again. Finally, in one fell swoop, Knightmare toppled Plunderbird onto its side. The house robots closed in, before Sir Killalot dumped it into the pit, confirming that Plunderbird 4 was out of the wars. "Shout out loud, make lots of noise! There's damage to be done by the Plunderbird boys! Gonna stamp on you, gonna hit you hard, gonna send your robot to the breaker's yard! What's the word? Plunderbird!"

- Mike and Bryan after their elimination from Series 4

Plunderbird teamed up with Bigger Brother in the Tag Team Terror of Series 4. Against Firestorm 2 and Scorpion, the two faced a tough opposition. Plunderbird 4 joined the action as the rules disintergrated and pushed Scorpion around. Firestorm rammed Plunderbird from behind, but was sent back to the Red Zone by Refbot. Plunderbird backed away from Scorpion, as Firestorm rammed into it again. Firestorm got around to the side Plunderbird 4, pushing it all the way into the Red Zone and slamming it into the side wall. Plunderbird was freed after Matilda lifted Firestorm away from it. Plunderbird pinned Firestorm against the side wall, giving Bigger Brother a chance to flip it, but it didn't get it over. Plunderbird and Scorpion came to blows, but Plunderbird seemed immobilised after the attack. Firestorm almost flipped it over, flipping it onto its claw, before driving right under it, and being pinned momentarily. Plunderbird, still static, was gripped by Sgt Bash and forced into the side wall. Bigger Brother and Plunderbird were eliminated by a Judges' decision.

In the Play-off, Plunderbird had problems internally, and therefore only played a small part in the upcoming battle. Plunderbird watched on as X-Terminator flipped Bigger Brother, who self-righted. Bigger Brother came back and lifted up X-Terminator and slammed it into Plunderbird 4. Refbot bumped the lifeless Plunderbird 4, then left it touching the side wall. After a long time of battling on Bigger Brother and X-Terminator's part, X-Terminator bumped the corpse of Plunderbird, but then in a piece of poor driving, went straight into the pit. Despite doing little in the entire battle, Plunderbird and Bigger Brother took third place.

Extreme 1
"As you will know, we are the Plunderbird boys, this is a new robot, for a new fight, but it's got the same attitude."

- The Plunderbird team

Plunderbird 5 made a variety of appearances in Extreme Series 1.

It fought in two vengeance battles: The first was against Sir Chromalot, who they called 'a bunch of girlies' to spark a vengeance. In the proper battle, Plunderbird and Chromalot did a lot of pushing and shoving around the arena, until Plunderbird tried to grab Chromalot, but was lifted up by Sir Chromalot's flipper instead. It did manage to grab on to its opponent, and started pushing it towards the pit, nearly pushing it in, but missed, accidentally reversing over the edge of the pit, where it was pitted by Matilda. Plunderbird still wanted a rematch afterwards, though. At the end of the battle, Plunderbird sang their new theme tune, which was only really planned to be sung if they won the battle, but was used nonetheless. "This was a vengeance battle to show who were the biggest showmen in Robot Wars - Plunderbird committed suicide"

- Craig Charles

Plunderbird fought Mega Morg in another vengeance battle, this time relating to who sang better. Again this battle was mostly pushing each other around the arena, with the two robots dodging each other at the start of the battle and attempted to attack, before Plunderbird was lifted by Mega Morg's improved lifter. It then tried to grab hold of its opponent, and eventually did so. Plunderbird 5 then forced Mega Morg's lifter to jam open. Possibly because he got bored, Sergeant Bash then came in and burnt the Ninja Sheep on top of Mega Morg, Shunt then followed that up by piercing Mega Morg's top, but for a while couldn't get its axe out. When Shunt eventually broke free, Plunderbird then tried to prise open Mega Morg's front armour, until cease was called, and Plunderbird 5 won on points in a very dull battle.

"That was just pushing and shoving and calling names. I would show you some highlights...but there weren't any."

- Craig Charles

Alongside Stinger and Scorpion, Plunderbird 5 fought Shunt and Dead Metal in the first House Robot Rebellion. It rammed Dead Metal, but was caught by the House Robot and sliced in punishment. As Plunderbird escaped, the floor flipper activated, sending Plunderbird flying up into the air and landing on top of an out of control Stinger. It was then seized by Shunt and finally pitted, Plunderbird 5 was soon followed by Scorpion just as Matilda entered the arena.

Plunderbird 5 was also due to compete in the Tag Team Terror alongside Bigger Brother, they were to enter as one of the favourites for finishing third in the last competition, but was forced to withdraw after it charged down the entry gate, damaging the robot and the entry gate in the process. It was replaced, quite hastily, by Major Tom. However, this new duo didn't fare well in the competition after going out in Round 1. Plunderbird 5 was also due to compete in a mayhem battle to qualify for the second annihilators, however, it was unable to compete in this too, as it had suffered irreparable damage from its battle against S3 in the heats of Series 5, it was replaced here too, by Velocirippa, who, ironically, would sustain heavy damage from Disc-O-Inferno and be retired.

Series 5
For the third time in five wars, Plunderbird was defeated in Round 1. Plunderbird 5 was drawn against new machine S3 at this stage, where the vertical spinning disc disabled the claw weapon before S3 gradually ripped through Plunderbird's armour exposing its wheels and other innards. Plunderbird ended up with what the Ultimate Guide describes to be 'a clusterbot'. This was Plunderbird's worst moment. Sir Killalot placed the defeated machine on the arena floor flipper but not before two wheels had fallen out of it. It was tossed before S3 attacked it one final time. This was Plunderbird's last appearance. "Well, it was slightly worse than we thought it would be. I have to admit, we slightly underestimated the militant wing of the Salvation Army...we now have a clusterbot."

- Mike Onslow

US Series
Plunderbird 5 briefly competed in the first series of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, in the War of Independence special. In its first round clash, it was easily able to push back Rosie the Riveter, knocking off several of its ornaments. Rosie the Riveter retaliated by slamming it into the arena wall and side grinders. Both robots ended up severely limping by the end of the battle, with Rosie only being able to drive forwards and reverse, and Plunderbird losing its left hand drive. The judges were called upon and a close judge's decision put the American team through.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 5
 * UK Losses: 8
 * US Wins: 0
 * US Losses: 1

Series Record

 * Series 1: Heat, Gauntlet
 * Series 2: Semi-Finals, Gauntlet
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 4: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 6-7: Did not enter

Trivia

 * Plunderbird and Firestorm are the only machines to name a Model 5 machine. Other machines such as Bulldog Breed entered five versions of the machine, but Plunderbird and Firestorm were the only two to designate their machine as the fifth in the series, rather than a general name.
 * Plunderbird is one of two robots to win two different awards, along with Gemini. Plunderbird won the Best Design and the Sportsmanship Awards.