Pussycat

"This is no mere moggy."

- Jonathan Pearce in Series 5

Pussycat was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 3-5 and 7 of Robot Wars as well as both series of Robot Wars Extreme. It was one of the most successful robots never to win the UK Championship, finishing second in The Fourth Wars and winning several side events throughout its appearances.

Pussycat was entered by the Cold Fusion Team and was the successor to their previous robot, Bodyhammer. Due to several factors, including the untimely death of driver David Gribble, Pussycat had more team members and captains than any other robot.

Pussycat debuted in The Third Wars and reached the heat final after a shock victory over Cassius 2. It was disqualified by the judges in the heat final against Scutter's Revenge after its illegal hardened blade shattered. Pussycat returned in Series 4 and was once again considered the underdog of its heat, but managed to defeat Razer and reached the semi-finals, where it was also responsible for ending the runs of Dominator 2 and Hypno-Disc. It lost the Grand Final to Chaos 2 and placed second. Pussycat also fought in The Fifth Wars and placed in the top eight, defeating Panic Attack but losing to Firestorm 3. It made a brief return in The Seventh Wars, but fell in the second round to newcomers M2.

Pussycat was one of the most successful robots in side competitions. It won the Celebrity Special in Series 4, and won the first of two Annihilators in Extreme 1 by defeating Arnold A. Terminegger in the final. It also won the Tag Team Terror in Extreme 1, paired with Diotoir, replacing Mega Morg after the first round. It fought in the All-Stars tournament of Series 7, as one of the few robots with six years experience, and won the tournament by defeating Dantomkia in the final. Pussycat also won the Sportsmanship Award in The Fifth Wars.

The robot was given its name due to its ability to always land on its feet and as an attempt to differentiate the robot from other "doom and gloom" names. , though also with a nod to the Russ Meyer cult film "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!".

Design
Pussycat was an unusual "pyramid" shaped robot with four wheels at the bottom generating 14 mph from two Bosch 750W dc motors, allowing it to accelerate with the speed of a small motorcycle. It had an abrasive diamond blade in Series 3 at the top of the body, later reverting to a four-toothed (two in Extreme Series 1 and eight in Series 7) 3500 rpm blade, which was powered by a Bosch 750W dc motor running at 24bhp, and was capable of demolishing a garage. It had castors on the top and bottom of the robot to prevent the weapon from hitting the arena floor that were near the top of the body, although for some of its fights in Series 4 the castors were half way down the sloped part of its body. Pussycat could drive any way up: often it would enter the arena upright, then flip down horizontally to bring the blade into action. This was intended to be an asset in running the Gauntlet, as Bodyhammer had fallen at that stage in the previous war; Pussycat could not get stuck. This design characteristic had its drawbacks in later wars as it left the wheels exposed and a very high ground clearance of 10 cm. "The basic idea for Pussycat's came from Robin Herrick (our team captain). He was tired of the old conical shapes and definitely didn't want a wedge or a flipper, the robot had to run in any attitude. We talked a tossed around lot's of ideas. Robin came up with a few sketches, we talked an awful lot more and very soon Robin came up with some pretty good mechanical drawings. With my engineering facilities we soon produced the basic rolling chassis of an extremely over weight Pussycat."

- Alan Gribble on the design of Pussycat

There were three Pussycat chassis; one for Series 3, with plastic, aluminium and polycarbonate armour built over two months at £1,000. This version was the largest of the three models in size, and originally had secondary wheels, but these were removed from the final model when the team discovered that The Gauntlet would not be a part of the series. The second one, for Series 4, was more compact, with more aluminium and polycarbonate armour, and was hand painted by captain Alan Gribble. The third model, used from Extreme 1 and beyond, was made with the same materials and interchangeable blades, but was much heavier, with the aluminium and polycarbonate side plates thickening from 6mm to 13mm. The Series 3 and 4 chassis were retired, alongside the second Bodyhammer, to Alan Gribble's garden workshop, stripped of motors and wheels. In Extreme 2, Pussycat's armour was strengthened, and gained thicker wheels, as well as a darker colour-scheme, and new pawprint graphics. Pussycat was upgraded to feature two cutting discs instead of just one in Series 7, positioned parallel to each other. The robot now mostly used a silver design, coated in stainless steel, an improvement on the previous 4mm polycarbonate plating.

Series 3
Pussycat's first appearance was in Heat M of the Third Wars, after the Cold Fusion Team retired Bodyhammer. In this series, Pussycat was equipped with an abrasive diamond saw, rather than the cutting blade of later series. Pussycat started a very promising run by being drawn against Hammerhead in the first round. Pussycat began on all four wheels, before driving down onto two wheels towards Hammerhead, grazing its opponent's wheel with its blade. Pussycat pressured Hammerhead towards the arena wall, sending sparks flying when its blade scratched over Hammerhead's body. Pussycat avoided an attack from Hammerhead's axe and gnawed into the exposed wheels again. "Sparks begin to fly! There, in the Pussycat controls, they're purring. And again, the cat, here, using not talons and claws, but the circular saw."

- Jonathan Pearce

Pussycat dodged a second attack from Hammerhead, whose weapon became caught in the arena floor, leaving it unable to move. Pussycat capitalised by rolling over to face Hammerhead, then drove into it, causing some more minor damage with the saw, before circling Hammerhead and pushing it from the side. Locked side on, Pussycat edged Hammerhead closer to the pit, eventually trapping it on the edge. Pussycat reversed into Hammerhead, struggling with its final attempt to push its opponent into the pit, but after a few seconds it knocked Hammerhead down and out. "It's Pussycat doing all the pushing, all the attacking. Ooh, meow, meow, you could be in pain, Hammerhead, if you go into that pit! And into the pit goes the shark!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In a surprise draw for a former Grand Finalist team, Pussycat was put against the previous year's runner-up, Cassius 2. Cassius 2 started quickly and smashed into Pussycat, knocking it over, while also slamming itself into the side wall. Pussycat attempted to move round the back of Cassius 2, nearly driving over the Flame Pit in the process. Pussycat scratched into the back of Cassius 2, bouncing itself up onto four wheels and down again. Pussycat was pushed away as Cassius 2 reversed into it. Pussycat couldn't cause any damage with the saw, and span away from Cassius 2, but then charged towards it, deflecting off and rolling onto its side against the arena wall. "Great shunting and bashing and barging going on. Pussycat trying to right itself..."

- Jonathan Pearce

Pussycat struggled to self-right, but still showed clear mobility on its side. Cassius 2 then used its long spike, thrusting Pussycat away and righting it. Lining Pussycat up with the pit, Cassius reversed strongly, but Pussycat drove out of the way and Cassius fell into the pit itself.

This huge shock put Pussycat through to the heat final against Scutter's Revenge. Because the original saw had not been very effective, the team replaced it with a hardened steel blade. On activate, Pussycat drove up Scutter's Revenge's scoop and was shoved into the side wall, forcing it onto its side. It was pushed back onto its wheels by a second attack from Scutter's Revenge, before turning away from Scutter's Revenge. "Pussycat turning away to bring the blade in - is that the same...is that the same blade? Well, they've put another diamond blade on there, a diamond saw blade. It certainly looks darker than the one we had before."

- Jonathan Pearce

Pussycat drove over the side of Scutter's Revenge, rolling it over, and was pushed near Sergeant Bash's CPZ. Escaping quickly, Pussycat spun away from Scutter's Revenge and hit the arena wall, shattering its blade in the process. "Oh, and it was a different blade! it's shattered! It's a completely different blade.... and not only could they be in trouble from Scutter's Revenge, but they could be in trouble here with the judges, Pussycat!"

- Jonathan Pearce

The now weaponless Pussycat was shoved again by Scutter's Revenge. Pussycat was then trapped between the arena wall and Scutter's Revenge's scoop, but escaped and reversed into the side of Scutter's Revenge. Driving forwards and back into its opponent again, Pussycat's attacks appeared to slow down Scutter's Revenge. As Pussycat continued to push into the back of Scutter's Revenge, its opponent began to emit smoke and was immobilised. "A slam from Pussycat; it's not a well behaved cat, I can tell you though..."

- Jonathan Pearce

Pussycat reversed into the motionless Scutter's Revenge, sending itself rolling over again, before backing away to let the House Robots attack Scutter's Revenge. Pussycat was declared the winner of the battle, and a cut interview between Cold Fusion Team and Craig Charles addressed them as such, and Cold Fusion Team returned to the pits victorious.

"The timeline was that we were in London filming the early rounds and the diamond-edged saw was not having much effect; we went back to Gloucester for a few days and selected a toothed saw that was in Alan's workshop (Alan was away on business and I am sure he would have stopped us using it, being a through-hardened blade designed to work at low rpm); we returned to Robot Wars and told the tech team that we had a different blade, then the battle took place where it broke. The surprise about the change in blade in the commentary is of course scripted afterwards for narrative effect. If Alan had been at home I would have got him to cut teeth on his wire spark erosion machine. As it was it would have been better to have cut teeth in the diamond blade with an angle grinder rather than selecting the off-the-shelf saw blade."

- Robin Herrick

However, a few minutes later, the Judges intervened, as Pussycat had violated the rule stating that 'hardened blades that may shatter are prohibited'. Pussycat was disqualified, and Scutter's Revenge was put through to the Semi-Finals instead.

"Gutted!! That is the only way to describe it. I think the decision was harsh. Nobody was hurt, we gained no advantage from using the blade and in the end we beat Scutter's Revenge without a weapon at all. Ya Boo Sucks!"

- Alan Gribble in answer to the disqualification from Series 3

At the end of the series, Pussycat was nominated for the Most Original Entry Award but lost out to Hypno-Disc.

Series 4
As the nineteenth seed, Pussycat returned for the Fourth Wars, competing in Heat B. In its first round battle, it fought Reptirron and Milly-Ann Bug. Pussycat smashed into Reptirron twice, and managed to sever Reptirron's fuel line to its circular saw. Fuel was leaking out of Reptirron and it was set on fire by Sergeant Bash. Pussycat then attacked Milly-Ann Bug, and ripped off one of its wheel covers, while Refbot proceeded to extinguish the burning Reptirron. 'Cease' was called, and Pussycat went through to the next round along with Milly-Ann Bug. In the second round, Pussycat faced newcomers Robochicken. After weathering some attacks from the flipper of Robochicken, Pussycat cut one of Robochicken's eyes off, and ripped off some of its armour. Pussycat rammed Robochicken into the arena side wall and attacked it from behind, while Sir Killalot then came in and attacked the front of the chicken. Robochicken was then handed over to the house robots, who then finished it off. This put Pussycat through to the Heat Final, where it then met the third seed and reigning World and International Champions, Razer. When the battle started, the two robots hit each other head on and Pussycat escaped Razer's grip. One of Razer's components then got damaged, leaving it stuck in forward drive and making it charge forward into the arena side wall, where it became wedged. Pussycat then attacked the vulnerable rear of Razer, ripping its rear half apart. Pussycat also managed to slice up the wheel bearings of Razer as well, leaving it completely immobilised. Unhappy with the extra damage inflicted to Razer, Ian Lewis promptly turned his back on the battle, leaving his control booth in disgust. Shunt then came in and attacked Razer, axing its crusher, before Dead Metal grabbed, dragged and pitted it. Cease was called and Pussycat was through to the Series Semi-Finals. "Gentlemen's agreement? No. Milly-Ann Bug was wrecked by Razer, the team captain said it was the excuse he needed to build a new robot. That's what Robot Wars is about - EVOLUTION. Your robot gets knocked out, disqualified, wrecked, whatever, and you rebuild it better, or start again from scratch. Razer's not perfect. It got itself stuck under the arena fence through bad driving, bad design, I don't know - that's for the Razer team to figure out. When we then cut off Razer's tail and damaged its controller it was fair play for us to have a go."

- Team Cold Fusion website In the first round of its Semi-Final Pussycat fought the unseeded Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2 began the stronger robot, flipping Pussycat a few times and throwing it across the arena while avoiding its blade. However, Pussycat survived each flip, before beginning to slice through the top armour, wheels and claws of Thermidor 2, inflicting considerable damage as a result. Pussycat then chased Thermidor 2 at the end of the battle and attacked its rear, causing more damage. 'Cease' was soon called, and the battle went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Pussycat, putting it through to the next round. In the second round, Pussycat faced another unseeded machine in Dominator 2. It immediately attacked and damaged Dominator 2's wheels, only for Dominator 2 to begin chasing Pussycat around the arena before the latter inflicted more damage to its wheels. Dominator 2 then landed a few axe blows and pushed Pussycat into Matilda's CPZ, however Pussycat escaped quickly. Pussycat then rammed into Dominator 2's side, forcing its titanium bodyshell to detach from its baseplate, and continued attacking Dominator 2 until the end. Again, the battle went to a judges' decision, with the judges again voting in favour of Pussycat, putting the Cold Fusion Team through to the Grand Final for the second time. In its Grand Final eliminator, Pussycat faced Series 3 runner-up, and the second seed, Hypno-Disc. It immediately drove round the side of Hypno-Disc and struck one of its rear wheels, denting its wheelguard and causing the wheel to lock up. This gave Hypno-Disc severe control problems, and allowed Pussycat to push it into Shunt's CPZ where the House Robot attacked Hypno-Disc. Although Pussycat's blade became bent after making contact with Hypno-Disc's disc, Hypno-Disc was severely damaged after Shunt axed the disc, causing it to stop spinning and immobilising it completely on one side. Hypno-Disc was eventually picked up and dumped into the Pit by Sir Killalot, while Pussycat advanced to the final. In the Grand Final, Pussycat faced the first seed, and reigning champion, Chaos 2. Pussycat drove into Chaos 2's side almost immediately, but failed to gain an impact as both robots circled round each other. This was until Chaos 2 threw Pussycat across the arena in a rapid succession of flips, with Pussycat re-righting itself both times before being slammed into the wall and being tossed onto a flame jet. Chaos 2 briefly caught the Floor Flipper, before Pussycat slammed into its back panel, sending a shard of polycarbonate flying towards the ceiling. Pussycat continued to be rammed by Chaos 2, but was able to bend its flipper and leave more scratches and cuts on its armour, resulting in Chaos 2 suffering noticeably poorer manoeuverability across the arena floor as the battle went on. However, its blade also stopped working - having again been bent into its own armour - and it struggled to right itself after running up Chaos 2's flipper again and toppling onto its side. Chaos 2 waited until Pussycat was able to get back upright, before slamming into the wall and attempting to flip Pussycat out of the arena, but failing. As the battle drew to a close, Pussycat was pushed into Shunt by Chaos 2, and dodged an axe blow just as 'cease' was called, with both robots spinning jubilantly shortly after. After a close and evenly-matched fight, the judges declared Chaos 2 the winner and Series 4 Grand Champion, with Pussycat ultimately finishing as the runner-up.

At the end of the series, Pussycat was nominated for the Best Design Award and the Most Original Entry Award, but both awards were won by Gemini. The team entered the Celebrity Special with Eastenders actor Adam Woodyatt. In the first round, Pussycat faced the relative newcomers to the wars, Iron-Awe, who was being controlled by fellow Eastenders actress Natalie Cassidy. Pussycat had problems in this battle as its blade did not spin throughout the entire first round battle. It drove towards Iron-Awe, who tried to hit Cold Fusion Team's machine with its axe, but missed twice. Pussycat attacked Iron-Awe's front and was hit by the axe, but sustained no damage. After avoiding more axe blows, Pussycat rammed Iron-Awe into the Arena Wall, knocking off Natalie Cassidy's number plate in the process. Iron-Awe sat motionless as Dead Metal tried to slice into it with its saw, before Iron-Awe started moving again. Iron-Awe drove into Matilda whose tusks lifted it up, before Pussycat charged into Iron-Awe's underbelly causing it to tip over onto its side. The Grimm family's machine tried to self-right, but its axe pushed against Pussycat causing Iron-Awe to move over the Flame Pit. Sir Killalot then cut Iron-Awe's axe head off, before picking it up and dropping it in the pit. Cease was called and Pussycat went through to the next round. Natalie Cassidy decided to join the Pussycat team for the rest of the tournament. In the second round, Pussycat faced Sir Chromalot, the latter being driven by Shane Lynch. Pussycat's blade was working this time and it attacked Sir Chromalot, ripping its drills off. Pussycat kept using its blade to cause scratches and dents in Sir Chromalot's shell until it became immobilised over the flame pit. Sir Chromalot was then flipped over by Sir Killalot, who started cutting into its self-righting arms along with Sergeant Bash. Sir Chromalot was thrown by the Floor Flipper and dumped into the Pit. Pussycat advanced to the Final, where it faced Vic Reeves and Diotoir (their future Tag Team Terror partner). Pussycat's first onslaught on Diotoir caused fur to wrap around its blade and immobilise it. Pussycat tried to use an Arena flame to burn the fur off, but its blade still wouldn't spin. Pussycat still managed to push Diotoir around, who was beginning to lose mobility. Diotoir was then attacked by the House Robots, thrown by the Floor Flipper and pushed into the Pit, leaving Pussycat to be crowned Champion of the Celebrity Special. Pussycat also competed in the Sumo Basho side tournament held during the series. The team had added spikes to keep the robot upright, but on its first charge, it ran up Shunt's scoop and fell onto its side. The spikes prevented Pussycat from getting back on its wheels and Shunt quickly pushed it off the ring.

Extreme 1
Pussycat competed in six separate events during Extreme Series 1, more than any other robot. Like several other robots, such as Behemoth, X-Terminator and Napalm, two different models were used - Pussycat 2, a slightly slimmer model with a two toothed blade (Mayhem, All-Stars and Tag Team Terror), and Pussycat's Series 5 model (in the Vengeance, Annihilator and Challenge Belt).

Its first appearance was in a Mayhem qualifier with S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Sumpthing, the latter being a robot Cold Fusion Team had always wanted to fight, for the right to fight in the first annihilator of the series. Pussycat was able to cause significant damage to both opposing robots, damaging Sumpthing's weapon chain with its first attack. Pussycat was also able to push Sumpthing around the arena a little before reverting to attacking S.M.I.D.S.Y. again. Pussycat's blade caused considerable damage to S.M.I.D.S.Y.'s shell, making it turn incredibly flaky. The blade of Pussycat also made S.M.I.D.S.Y. lose drive down one side, making it spin in circles for the remainder of the battle. Sumpthing and Pussycat then attacked house robot Sergeant Bash before attacking each other again, the two clashed with neither creating a pushing advantage. Pussycat then made S.M.I.D.S.Y. drive towards the pit, and it then used its blade to finally nudge it in not long before cease was called for a judges' decision for Pussycat and Sumpthing. The judges went in favour of Pussycat, putting it through to the annihilator. Pussycat's next appearance was in a Vengeance battle against Razer, who had criticised the Pussycat team for their lack of restraint in their Series 4 battle, when Pussycat had continually attacked Razer after it had broken down. The battle started with Razer chasing down, grabbing and easily piercing Pussycat and carrying it over the flame pit. Pussycat, however, fell off and attacked Razer's side twice, the second of which took out a wheel, rendering Razer immobile. Pussycat activated the pit and continued to attack Razer, just like in Series 4, although it caused less damage this time, Refbot then counted out Razer, soon before Shunt finally pitted the beaten Razer.

In the Annihilator that Pussycat had qualified for earlier, it found itself up against two robots it had beaten in the Fourth Wars - Thermidor 2 and Hypno-Disc, as well as Arnold A. Terminegger, Splinter and X-Terminator. It largely stayed out of the action for the first round, as it got a few blade attacks into Hypno-Disc before they were thrust aside by Thermidor 2 and X-Terminator. It then remained stationary for the remainder of the round as Thermidor 2 became immobilised and were being counted out by Refbot. Pussycat went through to the second round, however in here at this stage, it was mostly bullied by Splinter, which scooped it up and barged it around the arena, making use of the CPZ's. When Splinter focused its efforts on Hypno-Disc, Pussycat focused its attention mostly on X-Terminator, slicing it from the rear several times. Eventually, with all five machines closing in on each other, a crucial blow from Pussycat's blade forced X-Terminator into submission. X-Terminator was counted out not long before time ran out. This put Pussycat through to the third round, it was here where Pussycat started to show more activity, it bumped into both Hypno-Disc and Splinter a few times, but Hypno-Disc then quickly became immobilised. Pussycat then took the opportunity to push it into the open pit as it wasn't being counted out. Pussycat pushed Hypno-Disc into the pit, but Splinter then pushed Pussycat in after it, despite this, Pussycat went through to the next round.

In the fourth round, Pussycat was bullied by both Splinter and Arnold A. Terminegger, but came through, getting behind Splinter and cutting into the armour, causing major damage to Splinter's shell before Pussycat cut Splinter's aerial off with its blade weapon, although the bolt that held the blade on had started to unscrew. Arnold A. Terminegger then pushed Pussycat onto its side, and its blade eventually came off completely. Luckily, Pussycat had already qualified for the final, as Splinter was then counted out by Refbot and flipped by the arena floor flipper. Pussycat went through to the Final along with Arnold A. Terminegger. A long, drawn out battle was to follow, with neither robot really able to cause much damage to the other. However, as the fight drew on, Pussycat was able to get a few slices in with its blade, and Arnold A. Terminegger seemed to lose mobility to an extent. The battle went to the judges' decision, and Pussycat was given the victory on damage, declaring it the winner of the annihilator.

Being runner-up in the last UK series, Pussycat competed in the All-Stars tournament and found itself against the 3rd place finishers Stinger in the first round. The battle started evenly, with both robots trading blows. Eventually, Pussycat struck Stinger's tyre, ripping out some protective foam. Pussycat continued to land attacks on Stinger's tyres, tearing out more foam, but was unable to immobilise Stinger. Nevertheless, it won the judges' decision, and went through to meet Tornado. At the start of the battle, Tornado pushed Pussycat into the arena side wall, ripping bits of polycarbonate off. Pussycat was then pushed onto the side grinders, which managed to rip a wheel off. This left Pussycat at a severe disadvantage for the rest of the competition and it was pushed all around the arena and into the CPZs before being pushed onto its side, where it was unable to get back up due to a tyre being dislodged. Unable to move, Pussycat was pushed onto the flame pit. It managed the consolation of forcing Sir Killalot to be set alight, but still lost. The next appearance of Pussycat 2 was in an event it had not intended to enter - the Tag Team Terror tournament. Diotoir and Mega Morg were due to face Comengetorix and Spawn Again in the second round, but Mega Morg broke down irreparably before the fight started, so Pussycat was bought in as a substitute partner. It started off against Spawn Again and ran into trouble after being pushed into Matilda's CPZ. Additionally, its disc was not spinning. It managed to come back strongly, attacking both Comengetorix and Spawn Again when the match started to involve all four robots, before Spawn Again broke down completely. Team Scutterbots' machine was counted out and was then pitted. After a short while, Diotoir later flipped Comengetorix over, right by the pit, Comengetorix self-righted onto the pit just after time ran out. Pussycat's team automatically won due to Spawn Again's immobilisation.

This put Pussycat and Diotoir through to the Final, where it went up against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies. This ended up as two one-on-one battles, with Pussycat fighting Suicidal Tendencies and Diotoir fighting The Steel Avenger all the way through. Although Suicidal Tendencies was able to crush lightly into Pussycat's armour several times, with only a few blade attacks from Pussycat in retaliation, the judges felt that throughout the whole battle, Diotoir and Pussycat had been the more dominant, this was largely due to Diotoir's aggression over The Steel Avenger, the judges awarded Diotoir and Pussycat victory on a very close judges' decision, declaring Pussycat and Diotoir the new Tag Team Terror champions.

Pussycat made one last appearance in the first series of Extreme, to take on Tornado again, this time for the Challenge Belt. Although it stayed largely in one piece this time, it was still pushed around the arena and into Matilda's CPZ. It eventually lost drive close to the pit, which allowed Tornado to push it in, meaning that Pussycat's challenge had failed, and Tornado retained the Challenge Belt.

Pussycat had also been due to compete in the Wild Card Warriors event, where it would have faced newcomer Draven. However, it was unable to compete and was replaced with King B Powerworks. "We were supposed to face Pussycat but they were banned due to having used a shattering blade."

- Draven's Facebook page on their Wild Card Warriors match

Series 5
Pussycat returned for the Fifth Wars, this time as the number 2 seeds. Fighting in the final heat, Pussycat used its destructive capabilities to wear newcomers The Executioner down in the first round, it had a bad start as the Wild Card Warriors managed to grip onto the pyramid shaped robot and hold it in place for a while. However, Pussycat then came back on the offensive, slicing off the weapon tip of the claw of The Executioner, and pushing it into the pit of oblivion.

This put Pussycat through to the next round of the heat. Pussycat then went up against the walkerbot Clawed Hopper in the second round. Pussycat caused major damage to the underdog, burying its blade in the side spinning drums and breaking them off with relative ease. The glory of being the first main competition walker to pass the first round wore off as Clawed Hopper fell to pieces at the time of cease. However, against all odds, Clawed Hopper had survived to a judges' decision, but the decision was almost obvious, and it did go in favour of Pussycat, meaning that Pussycat went through to the next round. In the Heat Final, it was a major scare for the 2nd seed, as its opponent, newcomers to the main competition Fluffy, ripped off Pussycat's blade and castor within seconds, leaving the Series 4 runners-up with impaired mobility and no weapon. Pussycat was on the ropes and close enough to taste defeat. However, its opponent suddenly broke down. Fluffy was counted out by Refbot and Pussycat narrowly qualified to go through to the Series Semi-Finals for a second time.

Pussycat was placed up against the number 6 seeds Panic Attack in the first round of the Series Semi-Finals with much less difficulty, with the Welsh former champs unable to return any damage. Pussycat slashed at its fork mechanism, before crumpling one of its side skirts to a great extent. The battle eventually went to a judges' decision, and the decision went in favour of the more prosperous seed, meaning that Pussycat had made it through to the next round.

Pussycat then went up against the reinstated number 7 seeds Firestorm 3 in the second round. Firestorm 3 was continually able to get underneath Pussycat's enormous ground clearance and threw it around the arena for the majority of the fight. Pussycat started to come back in the dying seconds of the fight and cause minimal damage to Firestorm 3, but it was too little, too late. The battle went to a judges' decision, which went in favour of Firestorm 3, eliminating the number 2 seeds Pussycat from the competition.

This was the final series David Gribble drove the robot before his untimely death.

Extreme 2
This was the first appearance of Pussycat since the death of David Gribble, and therefore the first appearance of Stuart Barnwell. Pussycat and Diotoir both entered Extreme Series 2 after missing Series 6, they entered together in the Tag-Team Terror competition, returning as reigning Tag-Team Terror champions, but they didn't put up much of a defence of their Tag Team Title. They were up against Bulldog Breed and Robochicken in the first round.

Pussycat went out against Bulldog Breed and was flipped around the arena into the air a couple of times. Pussycat tried to charge into Bulldog Breed head on to slice the flipper, however no damage was caused to the Bulldog Breed. This was all before Bulldog Breed flipped Pussycat out of the arena. Bulldog Breed then quickly disposed of Diotoir, flipping it over a few times before leaving it to burn on the flame pit, who was then counted out by Refbot and then struck by Matilda. The reigning Tag Team Terror champions were subsequently eliminated from the competition. Afterwards, it was revealed that the reason why Pussycat's saw didn't crumple up Bulldog Breed's flipper was because Alan Gribble put Pussycat's blade on upside down prior to the match. "I'm gonna give it my damn best!"

- Ann Gribble, prior to the Iron Maidens

Pussycat redeemed itself in the Iron Maidens competition, with Ann Gribble at the controls. It played a minor role in the first round battle against Chompalot and Spin Doctor. Pussycat started by hooking Chompalot with its blade and dragging it around the arena, before Chompalot got away to continue attacking Spin Doctor. Pussycat then stayed out of the way for a little while until Spin Doctor scuttled away into the centre of the arena. Pussycat then sliced into Spin Doctor side on with its blade. Pussycat was then attacked by Chompalot, who nudged Pussycat onto its side, Chompalot then gripped hold of Pussycat and dragged it around the arena for a few moments. Breaking free, Pussycat darted around the arena, before slamming the limping Spin Doctor repeatedly, up against the arena side wall. With Spin Doctor soon counted out by Refbot, Pussycat went through to the second round, along with Chompalot. At this stage, Pussycat went up against the experienced Kat 3 machine. It was a tentative and slow battle between the two fairly nervous drivers, with Kat 3 failing to cause major damage with its axe blows, and Pussycat flailing around more than attacking. Pussycat lost control early on and forced into the CPZ by Sir Killalot, but it got away and managed to buckle the front wedge of Kat 3 and dislodge parts of the armour, before ripping side panels clean off. With Kat 3's armour hanging off in pieces and relatively little damage done to Pussycat, the battle was sent to the Judges. The battle was so close that a split decision was called, but on the basis of damage, Pussycat progressed to the final.

Pussycat proceeded to fight Chompalot again in the Final. Despite Chompalot skewering its lower beak on the arena floor flipper, it was on top for most of the battle, biting around Pussycat's neck and dragging it around the arena. Pussycat was resistant to Chompalot's pushing, even pushing it back when both of its tyres were grounded, but eventually Pussycat was caught with half of its drive in the air. Chompalot slammed Pussycat into the pit release and dumped it into the pit, making Chompalot the winner of the Iron Maidens competition. "Well she had practice, whereas I didn't, if I'd had practice I would be the best driver in all of Robot Wars!"

- Excuses from Ann Gribble after her loss to Chompalot

Series 7
Pussycat returned to the main competition for the first time after the tragic death of David Gribble. Pussycat was seeded ninth for the main competition, despite not entering in the previous series. It was placed against wooden entry Brutus Maximus, Dutch competitor Twister, and New Blood Heat Finalists Roobarb. "Pussycat has been with Robot Wars since the very first first day, has to be my favourite here..."

- Jonathan Pearce at the start of the first round battle

In the battle, the seeded Pussycat machine shot on the offensive, doing severe damage to both Twister and Brutus Maximus, the twin circular blades of Pussycat chewed easily into Brutus Maximus' wooden armour. Pussycat then attacked Twister by constantly hitting it head-on, on each occasion, the Twister machine would bounce off abruptly upon impact. By the end of the battle, Roobarb had immobilised the battered Brutus Maximus and both Pussycat and Roobarb picked on Twister, who'd had its blade immobilised by Pussycat. Brutus Maximus was counted out in the closing seconds of the battle. Roobarb, Twister and Pussycat all survived to a judges' decision, and the judges put Pussycat through to the next round of the heat, along with Roobarb.

Pussycat was then placed up against promising newcomers M2 in the second round of the heat. In this battle, M2's tough outer shell prevented Pussycat's weaponry from doing any internal damage to M2, only scratching the body, this cost them severely on the judges' decision. M2 threw Pussycat around the arena several times, almost getting Pussycat out of the arena on a few occasions. Pussycat's blade inflicted only superficial damage when it got the chance. Pussycat survived to the end of the battle, meaning that the battle went to a judges' decision, however the decision went in favour of M2, meaning that Pussycat was eliminated from the competition.

Pussycat returned to fight in the All-Stars tournament at the end of the Seventh Wars, as Cold Fusion Team had previously fought in at least 5 series of Robot Wars. In the first round, Pussycat was placed up against Behemoth, Dantomkia and King B Powerworks. The team equipped Pussycat with the double blade weapon, hoping to tear off the decidedly weak armour of King B Powerworks. Although Pussycat snapped the right drive chain of King B Powerworks, making the Series 2 Semi-Finalist only be able to spin around in circles, little was seen of the Series 4 runner-up in the battle, as Dantomkia tossed Behemoth out of the arena almost immediately, before stealing King B Powerworks away from Pussycat. King B Powerworks resisted, until Pussycat landed blows on both robots with its twin blades. Dantomkia shrugged off the blow, but King B Powerworks' resistance slackened and Dantomkia tossed King B Powerworks out of the arena as well. Pussycat therefore went through with Dantomkia to the second round.

Another battle against Kat 3 followed for Pussycat in the second round, but the design of both robots made it difficult for either robot to damage each other; both weapons were uni-directional and, when side-by-side, neither weapon could make contact. However, Pussycat carved long slashes in Kat 3's armour, before cease was eventually called and the battle went to a judges' decision. The damage caused to Kat 3 narrowly put the decision in favour of Pussycat, putting the pyramid shaped machine through to the Final, here it fought Dantomkia again.

Dantomkia was thought of as the favourite to win, and Pussycat was considered lucky to reach this stage by Jonathan Pearce. Dantomkia flipped Pussycat around the arena on numerous occasions until suddenly Pussycat came back on the offensive and landed one particular blow on Dantomkia caused the favourite for the title to become immobilised, and Pussycat - after fending off some vicious attacks from house robots Mr.Psycho and Cassius Chrome - pitted Dantomkia to claim the title of All-Stars Champion, the only robot ever to win the competition besides Razer.

US Season 1
Pussycat entered the War of Independence of the first season of Extreme Warriors. By the time it got to fight, it was the only UK representative left. Its first fight was against $6 Million Mouse and, after hitting each other several times, Pussycat bent the rotor blade of $6 Million Mouse. Another attack rendered the American robot immobile and Refbot counted it out. Despite $6 Million Mouse starting up again after being counted out, the House Robots attacked and pitted it. This sent Pussycat through to face Rosie the Riveter. At the beginning, Rosie the Riveter pushed Pussycat all around the arena and seemed to show high resilience to the weapon of the British machine. However, after dominating the fight, Rosie slowly began to lose power. Pussycat hit Rosie a few times with its blade, damaging its frame and knocking several ornaments off. By now, Rosie was only able to move slowly forwards and backwards, and Pussycat hit the pit release. Finally, it shoved the now immobile Rosie into the pit, but not without going in itself. In the Final against General Chompsalot, Pussycat was pushed into the CPZ, but both robots were attacked by Shunt. After struggling to get out, Pussycat escaped and attacked General Chompsalot's mouth. Eventually, it damaged both of Chompsalot's eyes. General Chompsalot tried to push it onto the flame pit, but then drove too close to the CPZ, where Matilda tore some of its teeth out. "Looks like he's been demoted from General to Buck Private....buck teeth, but no more teeth in this case"

- Stefan Frank on the state of General Chompsalot's jaws

Pussycat pushed General Chompsalot onto the flame pit, but it escaped and held on for the judges decision. Based on damage, Pussycat was declared the War of Independence champion.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * UK Wins: 31
 * UK Losses: 8
 * US Wins: 3
 * US Losses: 0

Outside Robot Wars
Like many Robot Wars competitors, the team entered Techno Games 2003. Stuart Barnwell and Alan Gribble entered a weapon-less Pussycat in the football in Team Pink as "Pink Pants" along with a weaponless pink fur clad RaMyA (Razer My Arse), aka TX-108, but lost to Typhoon Rover and Typhoon 870 in the first round. It also lost to Incy Wincy in the Assault Course.

The Series 7 version of Pussycat has since been upgraded further and has competed in several robotic fighting competitions across the country. Sadly, like the team's other robots (Katnip and Kitty), Pussycat has retired from full-on competitive combat, but still appears in certain live events around the UK fighting in demonstration battles and fun events, it also acts as a display for events. Pussycat was temporarily in the possession of John Findlay of Team Roaming Robots, before recently being returned to Alan Gribble. With Alan Gribble's death, it is unknown who owns the second Bodyhammer shell, the Series 3 and 4 Pussycat shells and the Series 5 version of Pussycat. The original Bodyhammer shell was kept by Robin Herrick until a few years ago when it made its final journey to a rubbish dump in the far north of Scotland. Some of the original Bodyhammer parts, including a wheel and motors, still survive.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Pussycat/Pullback
 * Pussycat/Minibot
 * Pussycat/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
 * Pussycat/Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
 * Pussycat/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA)
 * Pussycat/Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
 * Pussycat/Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction

Trivia
"The Erazer!"

- On the side of Extreme 1 Pussycat, next to a crossed out picture of Razer


 * Pussycat is one of eight robots to win more than twenty battles on UK Robot Wars. With 31, it has the fourth-most UK wins, and the third-most overall when including its US wins. The others to achieve this feat are Razer, Firestorm, Tornado, Panic Attack, Chaos 2, Behemoth and Hypno-Disc.
 * Pussycat is the only one to have fought all seven of the other robots in the category, albeit Pussycat never directly engaged with Behemoth in combat.
 * Pussycat is the only robot to defeat Razer by knockout, doing so in both of their battles.
 * Pussycat has won all three of the major side competitions in the UK Series: an Annihilator, a Tag Team Terror and an All-Stars Tournament.
 * It is the only robot to win the All-Stars Tournament aside from Razer.
 * Pussycat had eight combat losses. In line with the famous adage "cat has nine lives", Pussycat was on its ninth and final life at the end of its Robot Wars career. This trivia is shared by Kat 3.
 * Pussycat was renowned for its reliability, and is in fact the most successful robot never to have lost via mechanical failure, having won 34 battles.
 * The original Pussycat cat picture was sketched by Robin Herrick's wife Sara but Robin drew in larger teeth to make it more menacing. The graphics were tweaked by Alan Gribble as the robot changed over the years.

Honours
Nominations
 * Best Design Award - Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars
 * Most Original Entry - Robot Wars: The Third Wars
 * Most Original Entry - Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars