The Morgue

"Morbid name, hopes very much alive and kicking..."

- Jonathan Pearce

The Morgue was the general name for a series of five Welsh robots that competed across three UK series of Robot Wars and two series of Robot Wars Extreme. Although taking a variety of weapons and sizes, the robots generally shared the same basic design; a yellow barrel shape, enabling it to self-right by rolling over.

The Morgue debuted in The Fourth Wars under its original name and was defeated in Round 1 against Firestorm 2. It was later reinstated after Scar withdrew and reached the Heat Final where it lost a controversial judges' decision to Firestorm 2 after the latter fell into the pit whilst pushing The Morgue in.

Following Series 4, the team vacillated between Mini Morg and Mega Morg, with two models of each robot. The original Mega Morg fought exclusively in Extreme 1 events, whilst the original Mini Morg was the team's entrant into The Fifth Wars, where despite its high seeding, it lost in Round 1 to Kat 3. An upgraded Mini Morg failed to qualify for Series 6 and fought in Extreme 2 in a Tag Team Partnership with X-Terminator, but the pair lost in the second round. Finally, returning to the name Mega Morg for The Seventh Wars, Mega Morg lost in the second round to Robochicken.

Away from the show, the team capitalise the robot's name as Mega MORG. "MORG" is an acronym for Metal Organisms.

The Morgue
"It's like a large self-righting tortoise!"

- Craig Charles

The first incarnation, known as The Morgue, competed in the Fourth Wars. It was entered by Morriston Comprehensive School and supported by Morganite Electrical Carbons Ltd. It featured a shunt-and-lifting system with forks powered by an actuator used in adjustable orthopaedic beds and protected by 3mm aluminium checker plate, which could lift 150kg. It had a rollover kevlar and fibreglass shell, and two motors from a Scania truck. The kevlar for the shell was donated by Kerton Plastics. The base was polycarbonate, and the chassis was made from mild steel chassis. ,

The robot cost 9 months to build, at a cost of £1600 , £800 of which was donated. . The robot had to be rebuilt over nine days after being damaged at an event it attended before the qualifiers. "There was substantial damage to our Robot at the Morganite Event, not by PA but our driver hit a wall! Therefore a number of changes were made to the original design ... Changes were made to the weapon, seen below, also the front end, base, chassis and motor mountings. Failsafe devices were also fitted to the system, and a new method of controlling the weapon was developed using 4 SPDT limit switches."

- The Morgue Pages of the Morriston Comprehensive School website ,

Originally an A-Level project by Year 13 student Steven Bowen, school rules stated that The Morgue was to remain stored after competing on Robot Wars.

Mega Morg (Extreme 1)
"The undertaking of the Morgue boys? To cause "grave" problems for the House Robots!"

- Jonathan Pearce

The Morgue's spare parts were largely salvaged for the newly built machine Mega Morg for the first series of Extreme. The weight increase allowed the team to improve its weapon from an electric spiked lifter to a pneumatic large spiked lifting plate, but was not very quick at only 10 mph. It featured a picture of Anne Robinson on its front, in the hope that it would be destroyed - apparently, the team disliked her attitude towards Welshmen. This was the last usage of this large chassis before dismantling, although the yellow shell would be on display in Dorian Caudy's classroom until well into 2004.

Mini Morg
"The Mini Morg has been constructed in light of the deficiencies encountered with Mega Morg's characteristic sluggishness. The same motors provide the drive but, now 200mm wheels are used to transmit the drive to the floor."

- The team's website

The team started to build a new titanium shelled robot Mini Morg for Series 5, in which the robot was seeded 19th. Although downsized significantly, this machine was 2 kilos heavier than its predecessor, presumably due to the steel chassis. It retained the picture of Anne Robinson, but had it set beneath the black lifting bar weapon. Mini Morg also had a rear axe weapon, based off Shunt's design, although Jonathan Pearce mistakenly stated it had two axes. An unforeseen lack of traction meant the machine could not push forward on wet floor, and it fell in Round 1 to Kat 3.

For Series 6, Mini Morg was improved, with a slightly modified titanium shell on a new aluminium chassis, and the black lifting bar was changed to a titanium flipping shovel. Mini Morg failed to qualify for Series 6 after losing its qualifier, but returned for Extreme 2, attempting a second try for the Tag Team Terror title, this time paired with X-Terminator. For Extreme 2, the axe on the rear of the machine was replaced with a vertical spinning disc.

Mega Morg (Series 7)
When entering Series 7, the team chose to return to the name Mega Morg. It was the smallest robot of the lineage when measured in any dimension, and featured skid-steering. Mega Morg upgraded The Morgue's drive train with the original Mega Morg's wheels, modified Mini Morg's titanium shell and utilised Mini Morg's CO2 flipper and small 10 kg, now horizontal, spinning disc, powered by a 24V motor and both also built out of titanium. It also contained custom-made actuators.

The Team
"It was during a competition in the University competing in Micro Mouse. At the competition, Panic Attack was at the display and Steven Bowen, a year 12 student doing Design and Technology expressed an interest making a robot for Series 4. Panic Attack then came to the school and Kim Davis and showed his robot, winner of Series 2 to the pupils of our school. Hence, from that moment onwards, 'the seed had been planted'. If we knew then what we know now, we would have stuck with Micro Mouse!!!"

- Dorian Caudy on the origins of The Morgue

The team captain was Dorian Caudy, who was joined by Mark Hooper in all the team's appearances. Both of them worked in the Design and Technology Department of Morriston Comprehensive School, with Dorian Caudy was the Head of Technology there. Mark Hooper drove the robots, and Dorian operated the weapons.

In Series 4 and Extreme 1, the team were joined by Huw White, who was an employee at Morganite Electrical Carbons Ltd, who sponsored the team. In Series 5, Dylan Jenkins joined the team. Dylan was an apprentice fitter and turner from Morganite Electrical Carbons Ltd.

After Series 5, the team only consisted of Caudy and Cooper.

The team's name, "The Four Horsemen", is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the four bringers of the end of the world in the New Testament of the Bible.

Qualification
The Morgue made its debut at the Robot Wars Live Event, where the Series 4 qualifiers were held. It's opponent was Venom. The Morgue drove straight at Venom, which unsucessfully tried to flip its opponent. The Morgue got its lifter under Venom, but Venom reversed before getting its flipper under The Morgue's lifter, flipping it up and breaking one of the fixing bolts and one of the spikes. Despite this, The Morgue rammed Venom, causing it to break down. The Morgue then rammed one of Venom's tires, causing it to deflate. With victory assured, it pushed its lifeless opponent towards the pit, before Shunt finished Venom off by pushing it into the pit. "The Morgue was victorious and the team screamed with delight. The crowd from Swansea cheered with delight, Wales had come to England and won. The presenter asked the questions and all was well, until Huw claimed we wanted to fight 'Sir Killalot', thankfully there was no time to take the challenge."

- The Morgue website

This performance resulted in The Morgue qualifying for Series 4.

Despite reaching the Heat Final in Series 4, the team still had to go through the qualifiers for Series 5, because not all of the seeds had been decided at that stage - only the Semi-finalists were guaranteed a place in the series. At the Cardiff leg of the Robot Wars tour, Mini Morg made its first appearance, albeit in unpainted titanium with a yellow Grim Reaper logo. It fought Kronic 2 and lost, but still qualified and was given the 19th seed.

Mini Morg attempted to qualify for The Sixth Wars, where it fought Behemoth and Supernova. Both Mini Morg and Supernova broke down during the qualifier and Behemoth pushed both robots out of the arena.

Mega Morg returned for Series 7, and qualified, but the circumstances of how it did so are currently unknown.

Series 4
"Boys never grow up, their toys just get more dangerous."

- The team motto

The Morgue made its first appearance in the Fourth Wars, it was drawn up against the number 5 seeds and previous Grand Finalists Firestorm 2 and fellow newcomers Scar. In the battle, The Morgue started sluggishly, trying but failing to push Scar. After a short while, Firestorm 2 took the opportunity to flip The Morgue. Firestorm 2 charged into The Morgue side on, got underneath it, carried it over to the arena side wall, and flipped it. The Morgue couldn't roll back onto its wheels, due to it being up against the arena side wall. The Morgue was deemed immobilised, so Sir Killalot came in, picked it up, held it over the flame pit, before the house robot eventually dropped the robot, The Morgue then rolled back onto its wheels and started moving again, but cease was then called, and the result remained. "No, you can't zombie-like rise from of the pit!"

- Jonathan Pearce as The Morgue escapes and attacks again

However, Scar had suffered irreperable technical problems meaning that The Morgue was reinstated in their place and met Ming 2 in the second round.

The Morgue wasted little time and charged side on to Ming 2 and managed to avoid being flipped. Despite Ming 2 appearing to be on top, The Morgue speared its wedge with the lifter, and Ming 2 broke down, causing a grudge that would be settled in Extreme 1.

In the Heat Final, Firestorm attempted a couple of times to softly flip The Morgue so its shape would not help it self-right, but without success. Firestorm flipped The Morgue into Matilda, and flipped it again, however the Welsh machine self-righted both times time due to its shape. Firestorm pushed Morgue into the wall, but again did not successfully turn it over. The Morgue came onto the attack, pushing Firestorm around and getting underneath the Durham competitor.

As the pit descended, Firestorm pushed Morgue across it, getting it wedged on the open pit, and Firestorm 2 reversed in. The Four Horsemen celebrated, thinking that they were victorious, however the judges awarded the win to Firestorm 2 based on the controversial view that the Morgue had gone into the pit, due to it being trapped with all its wheels over the pit. "What the judges have said, is the pit was activated and Morgue went into it first, and although it wasn't immobilised for thirty seconds, they say Firestorm was winning on points up to that point anyway. So they've given it - to Firestorm!"

- Craig Charles relates the judges decision to a crestfallen Dorian Caudy and team

Extreme 1
Mega Morg's main contribution was in the Tag Team Terror competition, partnering with Diotoir. In the first round, Mega Morg and Diotoir faced reigning champions 101 and King B Powerworks. Mega Morg started the battle by charging at 101, fighting the former champ until each tagged their teammates. Then both 101 and Mega Morg came out of their corners and started to battle, turning the battle into a four-way melee. 101 was then flipped over by Diotoir and it looked like only one of its tracks was working. King B meanwhile had lost control and was spinning wildly. The battle went to the judges, who declared that Mega Morg and Diotoir were the winners. "I'd just like to say that we are the world champions now. We've stopped the whole tournament because we've beaten you lot [King B Powerworks and 101], we are the world champions!"

- Dorian Caudy

However, the elation quickly faded for the Mega Morg team. They had only brought three speed controllers, and Mega Morg had burned out one in each of its Extreme battles. Mega Morg was forced to withdraw, and Pussycat was brought in as a substitute for the remainder of the Tag Team Terror, which they went on to win. "As far as I know, we were omitted from the trophy once Pussycat came in. But of course, neither would have won if we weren't there to help beat the World Champions"

- Mark Hooper on the team's website

The two battles in which Mega Morg burnt out its speed controllers were in the Vengeance category. Mega Morg was challenged to two Vengeance battles, firstly against Ming 3. Team Ming wanted vengeance after the Mega Morg team's victory against Ming 2 in the Fourth Wars, and inflamed the situation by calling the win a "default". The battle started quickly with both robots dodging each other, until Ming 3 managed to get its crushing arm into position and it caused some damage to Mega Morg. The two robots dodged each other some more until both robots strayed into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Sir Killalot then pushed Mega Morg into the pit release button, which ripped the button from the arena wall. Whilst Mega Morg tried to escape from Sir Killalot's grasp Dead Metal almost drove down the pit. The rest of the battle featured both robots trying to push each other until cease was called. The judges then decided that Ming 3 had won and taken vengeance. "Nice to see that Razer has been welded to the top of Ming 2!"

- Mark Hooper

Mega Morg also fought Plunderbird 5 to determine which team were the best singers, after the Mega Morg team implied they were superior singers as they were from "The land of song" (Wales). The battle that came was very slow with the two robots mostly dodging each other until Plunderbird 5 got its claw stuck in Mega Morg's lifter. Towards the end it seemed that the House Robots were getting bored and Shunt came out of his CPZ and axed Mega Morg. Refbot then gave Shunt a yellow card. Sgt Bash also deflated the Ninja Sheep on top of Mega Morg. The battle ended and the judges decided that Plunderbird 5 had won. "Well for a vengeance battle that was just shoving and pushing and calling names. I usually show you some highlights... but there weren't any."

- Craig Charles describes Mega Morg's battle against Plunderbird 5.

Mega Morg was also due to compete in the Mayhem qualifier for one of the two Annihilators. However, it was forced to withdraw due to its burnt-out speed controllers.

Series 5
Mini Morg came into the Fifth Wars as the number 19 seed, mainly due to reaching the Heat Final of the previous series. In the first round of the Heat, Mini Morg was drawn up against Kat 3, the new machine from Team KaterKiller.

"Kat 3 comes in to see if Mini Morg is 'the weakest link'!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the battle, both robots started the fight tentatively with them both dodging each other's attacks. Kat 3 missed with its axe as Mini Morg rammed it. Mini Morg then used its axe, but it didn't seem to cause much damage. Both robots proceeded to trade axe blows, but Mini Morg looked very sluggish and Kat 3 grappled it with its axe and pulled it around the arena. Mini Morg was then pushed towards Sir Killalot and was almost flipped over. It escaped, but Kat 3 aaxed and pushed it, before activating the pit release button and pushing Mini Morg into the Pit of Oblivion, eliminating the seeded machine from the competition. "Mini Morg, sent to the grave with a toe tag on!"

- Craig Charles

Extreme 2
Mini Morg returned in Extreme 2 in the Tag Team Terror Competition. This time it was partnered with X-Terminator whom they had met at Junction 7 on the M5, according to Dorian Caudy. In the team's first battle, they were drawn up against veterans to the competition Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y.. X-Terminator started the fight against S.M.I.D.S.Y. and after some dodging X-Terminator buried its axe into a wheel opening on S.M.I.D.S.Y. The two robots strayed close to Sumpthing, who tried to axe X-Terminator. Sumpthing was then tagged and chased X-Terminator around the arena, Mini Morg was then tagged, S.M.I.D.S.Y. then came back into the action and shoved Mini Morg into X-Terminator. Mini Morg then used its rear disc to cut into S.M.I.D.S.Y. which caused some sparks to fly. X-Terminator then axed S.M.I.D.S.Y. The battle descended into chaos as Shunt and Dead Metal ganged up on Sumpthing, whilst S.M.I.D.S.Y. tried to lift Mini Morg. Sumpthing then appeared to break down and was counted out one second before cease was called, which meant that X-Terminator and Mini Morg went through to the second round. In the Semi-Final round, the pair was drawn up against Hydra and Barbaric Response. Again X-Terminator started and immediately axed Hydra. However Hydra managed to get under X-Terminator's scoop and flip it onto its end. Dead Metal then grabbed X-Terminator and cut into it. Both Mini Morg and Barbaric Response were tagged, with Barbaric Response quickly flipping Mini Morg over, but Mini Morg's barrel shape meant it rolled back onto its wheels. X-Terminator then came back out and for a few seconds got its axe stuck in the arena floor. Then like all Tag Team matches four robots came into the fray with Hydra flipping and axing Mini Morg and X-Terminator miss timing its axe blow on Hydra. Hydra flipped Mini Morg again, but this time Mini Morg didn't have the momentum to roll back onto its wheels and Growler slammed into Mini Morg and dragged it to the Refbot. "Mini Morg slammed into the CPZ, and that will be its kennel"

- Jonathan Pearce as Mini Morg is dumped into Growler's CPZ

X-Terminator released the pit release button and Mini Morg was self-righted, but it looked like it had broken down. Mini Morg was counted out by the Refbot and subsequently pitted by the House Robots. As a result, Hydra and Barbaric Response had won the judges' decision for having both robots still mobile, so X-Terminator and Mini Morg were eliminated from the competition.

It was later discovered by the team when Growler rammed Mini Morg, the House Robot had managed to knock all of the receiver cables out.

Series 7
"It looks yellow... dangerous, looks like a bee."

- Dorian Caudy describes Mega Morg.

A more compact Mega Morg machine returned to the Seventh Wars, still with the flipper but this time equipped with a horizontal disc, rather than a vertical one. In the first round of the Heat, Mega Morg was drawn up against New Blood heat-finalists Edge Hog, Spin Doctor and another yellow robot from Wales in the number 8 seeds Panic Attack. In the battle, all four robots started quite quickly as Panic Attack drove into Spin Doctor almost flipped it over. Mega Morg tried to use its disc on Edge Hog, but Edge Hog was unaffected and axed a hole in the top of Mega Morg. Meanwhile, Panic Attack had lifted Spin Doctor over and Spin Doctor rolled into the pit release button. Mega Morg continued to back into Edge Hog. Edge Hog launched a number of axe attacks, but only landed a few on Mega Morg, none of which seeming to cause any damage. It looked like the two Welsh machines were teaming up on Edge Hog and as Edge Hog attack Panic Attack, Mega Morg got its flipper underneath Edge Hog and flipped it onto its back. Edge Hog managed to self-right with some help from Mega Morg. Spin Doctor was then counted out. Panic Attack then slid under Edge Hog and lifted it into the air. Then both Mega Morg and Panic Attack held Edge Hog in the air and pushed it into the pit of oblivion, putting the seeded Panic Attack and Mega Morg through to the next round of the heat. "The Welsh here are ganging up - Mega Morg from Swansea and Panic Attack from Cardiff, and Edge Hog out as a result - celebration in the Welsh camps"

- Jonathan Pearce as Edge Hog is pitted

In the second round of the heat, Mega Morg was drawn up against Robochicken, a robot with a similar amount of experience. In this battle, both robots initially dodged each other, but then Robochicken tried to flip Mega Morg, but missed. Mega Morg then pushed Robochicken into the arena wall, but then seemed to get stuck on the wall with its front end perched on top of the wall. However it managed to free itself. Both robots rammed each other and Robochicken managed to flip Mega Morg into the air, but Mega Morg landed on its wheels. Robochicken then circled around the front of Mega Morg and got its flipper under Mega Morg's flipper and Robochicken flipped Mega Morg over. Due to the fact that it was flipped at its front and not its side, Mega Morg's semi-circle shape (designed to roll the robot over back onto its wheels) couldn't be used to self-right. Robochicken then ground into the shell of Mega Morg with its saw, then activated the pit release as Mega Morg was counted out and put on the drop zone where a washing machine fell on it. Sergeant Bash then pushed Mega Morg into the destroyed washing machine, which then fell down the pit. Cease was called with the defeated Mega Morg on the edge of the pit.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 7

Outside Robot Wars
Like many other competitors, The Morgue also competed in Techno Games as Torti. For the Techno Games Sumo event of 2003, a new set of motors bought for the next Morg incarnation was added to The Morgue's drive train, as were the wider surface area small wheels from Mega Morg. In the Sumo, it won a bronze medal, and the drive was recycled for the Seventh wars. It beat Manannan in round 1. For the Techno Games football of the same year, this new incarnation of The Morgue and the weaponless Extreme 2 Mini Morg both got tortoise paint jobs and polystyrene heads based off the above Craig Charles quote. The Morgue was renamed Torti after Francesco Totti and Mini Morg was renamed Slowman after David Seaman. The football team was called 'One Foot in the Goal', as a reference to the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave and its opening credits, which featured giant tortoises.

Dorian Caudy (along with a couple of his students) entered a entry in the 2001 Shot Put competition called Vesuvius which claimed the Bronze Medal.

The team also entered the penalty kick of 2002 and 2003 with their Neil Jenkins caricatured machine Cybertenic. It tied with Big Brother's Ian Watts' Jake the Peg in 2002 and then lost to Jake the Peg in 2003. It earned them two bronze medals over two consecutive years.

Nowadays, the series of Morgue competitors are retired now from competition. The Series 7 version of Mega Morg and the shell of the Series 4 version made a one-off appearance on static display at the Robots Live! event at Swansea 2012.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Mega Morg/Minibot

Trivia
"It's a bit of farm-yard battle, isn't it? Sheep against the chickens!"
 * Team captain Dorian Caudy used to manage the Welsh women's rugby team.
 * Following the end of Robot Wars, Dorian Caudy emigrated to New Zealand. Sadly, he died on 12 June 2016 from complications arising of a brain haemorrhage.
 * Alongside Diotoir, The Steel Avenger and X-Terminator, The Morgue was one of only four machines to fight in two Tag Team Terrors with different partners. Intriguingly, it teamed up with Diotoir in the Extreme 1 competition and the X-Terminator in the Extreme 2 competition.
 * Mini/Mega Morg lost both Tag Team Terrors by breaking down. Coincidentally, X-Terminator lost its earlier Tag Team Terror, also because its partner (Inverterbrat) broke down.
 * The Morgue series had the same Wins/Losses ratio in the UK Series as the Ming series, with whom they were rivals.

- Mark Hooper, looking at the surrounding rubber chickens and inflatable sheep before the fight with Robochicken in Series 7


 * From Extreme 1 onwards the team would have a flock of blow-up sheep which they called "Ninja Sheep", these would be the teams mascot and one would usually go into the arena with the robot, but they always got dislodged from the robot, punctured or melted.
 * The original Mini Morg was mistakenly referred to by its Extreme 1 predecessor's name in the original Robot Wars Magazine.
 * Out of all the competitors that fought in the Vengeance battles held throughout Robot Wars Extreme, Mega Morg was one of the only two competitors that fought in two of those battles. The other robot was Plunderbird 5. Both of those robots fought each other in a Vengeance battle, contributing to that score.