TR2

Not to be confused with Series 3 competitor, T2

TR2, standing for Toon Raider 2, is a heavyweight robot, armed with a full-pressure flipper. Although the team did not participate in the original run of Robot Wars, TR2 made its debut in the 2016 series of Robot Wars. Prior to this, TR2 has seen much success at Robot Wars Live Events, and other live robotic events, eventually earning the title of UK robotic champion in 2015.

The robot's flipper is highly powerful, capable of flipping a one tonne car, and also features a static axe on the rear working in tandem with the robot's flipper, like that of 8645T allowing TR2 to attack from either side using the flipper. This weapon also acts as the robot's self-righting mechanism. Its armour consists of 3.2mm of HARDOX wear resistant steel, with 20mm of High Density Polyethylene panels.

TR2 is the successor to Toon Raider, which has also participated in Robot Wars Live Events, though has had no involvement with the TV show. TR2 was originally built in John Findlay's workshop alongside Team Toon. Since then the team have made several upgrades and kept TR2 in a fighting state.

2016 series
TR2 competed in Episode 3, filling in as a last-minute reserve. In their first Robot Wars battle, Team Toon fought Big Nipper, Or Te and Supernova. TR2 ran into immediate problems when the battle started, as its flipper and axe could not fire in the match, essentially rendering it a weaponless wedge. Therefore, TR2 played a passive role, while Or Te was immobilised, and Supernova lost one of its flywheel teeth. Seeing this as the opportunity to strike, TR2 wedged underneath Supernova, pushing it into the arena wall and pit release, ripping away Supernova's other flywheel tooth. This left TR2 free to push Supernova around without risk of taking damage, and brought it right to the edge of the pit, also attempting to push Big Nipper down when it drew near. TR2 altered the angle of the side-stranded Supernova, which was pulled into the pit by the force of its own flywheel, allowing TR2 to qualify with Big Nipper, despite not using an active weapon. TR2 met Big Nipper for the second time in a row in the head-to-head round, which had swapped its spinning disc for crushing claws. TR2 held no fear, and exposed the side of Big Nipper to throw it towards the arena wall. Another flip brought Big Nipper into the clutches of Dead Metal, which started using its saw, while TR2 attempted to lift both robots simultaneously. The two robots skirted around the arena, until the pit was opened, where Big Nipper drove right onto the edge. TR2 pitted its opponent and earned three points. "Flipper seemed to be lacking a bit in power, but that could be because it's so cold today, but it didn't work in the first fight, so anything's an improvement. We're happy!"

- Clive Brown

TR2 then fought new opposition, fellow flipper Dantomkia, which the on-screen statistics implied was a stronger machine. However, TR2 kept its flipper low to the ground, and Dantomkia could not help but show its high ground clearance, being thrown into the arena wall. TR2's next flip slammed Dantomkia into an entry gate, although TR2 was flipped in retaliation afterwards. TR2 overturned Dantomkia once again, but when it self-righted, Dantomkia's flipper did not close. TR2 landed the KO flip, launching Dantomkia over, from which it could not self-right. TR2 celebrated by using its rear axe to attack the immobile Dantomkia, as cease was called.

On six points, TR2 had ensured its place in the Heat Final, but regardless it faced King B Remix. "King B Remix, four wheel drive, not sure how much push he's got, so, don't open the pit until we know how much push he's got"

- Tactics from Clive Brown

TR2 was easily able to expose the ground clearance of King B Remix, and flipped it towards the arena wall, then launched some smaller flips, keeping King B within the CPZ. TR2 tried to throw King B Remix out of the arena, but did not have the strength, and threw it into the wall, then into Sir Killalot. TR2 pressed the pit release button, while King B was held over the flame pit, immobilising it. TR2 performed the coup de grâce, and flipped King B Remix directly into the pit. TR2 qualified for the Heat Final with the perfect nine points, where it faced Dantomkia for the second time. TR2 started the battle in much the same way, trying to expose Dantomkia's side ground clearance, but this drove TR2 right over the floor flipper, which tossed it over, and Dantomkia flipped it towards Matilda. When Dantomkia sustained damage from Matilda, TR2 flipped their opponent, and a second flip launched it across the arena. Dantomkia suffered damage from Matilda, losing the use of its flipper, allowing TR2 to throw it into the side wall, and drive it over the floor flipper, which immobilised Dantomkia by overturning it. Although TR2 could not throw Dantomkia into the trench at the end, they had completed their undefeated run through the heat, and qualified for the Grand Final, despite a late insult from Team S.Tek. "It's a boring doorstop, look at it, how did that win?"

- Shane Swan insults TR2

Team Toon were unfazed, and continued with their catchphrase "stay confident, not cocky", as they progressed to the Grand Final.

Robot Wars Live Events
TR2 and Toon Raider have been regular competitors at Robot Wars live events, with their success improving each year. On June 19th 2010, Toon Raider first managed to truly make a name for itself by flipping Bigger Brother out of the arena. In 2015, TR2 became a Robot Wars champion, after beating the two-time champion, Eruption, in the final.

Team Toon also participate in Featherweight events with Tiny Toon, which first gained success by winning the 2010 Featherweight UK Championship.

Outside Robot Wars
Alex Brown is the youngest ever Featherweight and Heavyweight UK champion winner in live UK robot championships. TR2 makes regular appearances at shows such as Robots Live! in addition to Robot Wars.

Before TR2 was built, its predecessor Toon Raider was previously called And His Army which started off as John Bell's heavyweight Batterbot before being given to Team Toon where it was renamed and given a new paint job. The first incarnation of this machine fell in the group stages of the 2008 UK Championships after being damaged by Tiberius but for 2009 it was rebuilt again and it reached the 2009 UK Championship finals where it lost to Terrorhurtz on a judges decision. 2010 was the year when And His Army was rebuilt and renamed to Toon Raider. Toon Raider has done well in events reaching the semi-finals of the 2010 UK Championships before losing to Iron-Awe 5 and also competed in the 2010 Annihilator finishing 3rd. In 2014, the team were also given Hellbent 2 from its previous owner Robert Lewis with the hope of entering it in live events again.

Team Toon have also fought on the circuit with various featherweights which are listed below:


 * 44 Toon: A four-wheel driven double-scooped rambot designed to keep being able to ram its opponents no matter how many times it gets flipped over. This originally was built in 2005 by Team Lambsy for the Roaming Robots 2005 Winter Tour before being sold in 2007 to Team Shock, but after not much success, it was sold again to Team Toon in 2008.
 * Looney Toon: A pink wedge-shaped robot armed with a front-hinge flipper. Due to it sometimes being unreliable at events, it has frequently been nicknamed "Stagefright".
 * Stealth: A black octagonal wedge-shaped robot armed with a full-pressure flipper.
 * Tiny Toon: The team's first ever robot which was originally the featherweight version of Batterbot owned by John Bell from Team Scorpion. It was bought at the time of the Heavyweight 2007 UK Championships and had been renamed and repainted to its current form. Tiny Toon has won the 2009, 2011 & 2014 UK Annihilators, and the 2010 UK Championships.
 * Tiny Hurtz: A featherweight version of the previously successful heavyweight, Terrorhurtz. This featherweight is armed with a double-headed axe like the heavyweight counterpart. To also make the featherweight, John Reid helped by supplying the team with the blueprints of Terrorhurtz.
 * The Toonimator: A two-wheel driven featherweight armed with horizontal spinning disc.

The majority of the teams robots are painted in the same colour scheme of black and white horizontal stripes, which is the same colour of Newcastle United F.C. Alex & Wendy's supported football team. They have also fought on the live event circuit with two antweights called Ant & Dec.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 5
 * Losses: 0

Series Record

 * Series 1-7: Did not enter
 * 2016 series: Grand Finalist

Triva

 * According to the Robot Wars website, the majority of the team are descended from George Stephenson, the inventor of the railway network of Britain that still exist to this day.
 * TR2 was the first Robot in the 2016 series to qualify from its heat undefeated, without requiring a single judge's decision

Links

 * Team Toon's Facebook page
 * Team Toon's Twitter
 * TR2 on the Robot Wars website