Firestorm

"We're Firestorm, and you're gonna burn"

- Graham Bone

Firestorm (spelt Fire Storm in Series 3) was a long time competitor on the British television game show Robot Wars, featuring in Series 3-7, plus both series of Robot Wars Extreme. In total there were five Firestorm robots built, but they were all essentially upgraded versions of the same basic machine. The rough design of the robot, which was reused for each one, was a wedge driven by two go-kart wheels in the base of the rear, minimizing ground clearance on the front, making it highly manoeuvrable and powerful and driving it at up to 12mph. The 2-wheel drive did, however, create traction problems when pushing, especially against robots such as Storm 2 and Tornado. On the front surface of the robot was a front-hinged flipper mechanism which doubled as a self-righting mechanism. However, in 5 wars and 2 Extreme series Firestorm only needed to self right three times. Also on the front was a slow bar on the first robot which was succeeded by a quicker panel flipper on the later four, which served as the main weapon, powered by a CO2 fire extinguisher with larger rams and capable of lifting 25 stone. The original Firestorm also featured a hardened aluminium shell, a retracting spear weapon (similar to that of Cassius 2), a set of conveyor belts on the wedge and three separate motors; one from a lawnmower and one from a cordless drill all running at 36V. Another unique aspect was the active differentials to drive Firestorm as it had one 36V motor for forwards and backwards and a 24V motor to steer it left or right whereas most robots only had all four directions on one motor. Added in Extreme 2 was a steel strip to reduce damage taken and ground clearance at the front which was made to be removable in Series 7 along with a rebuilt body-shell and a slightly faster flipper.

Both the rear spike and conveyor belts were removed for Firestorm 2, which had an inverted paint scheme, a 3mm aluminium shell and had to swap for smaller batteries as it was overweight to begin with and replace the metal casters with plastic ones. This was updated over 3 months but reverted back to the original for Extreme 1 with a new aluminium chassis and 5mm aluminium shell but the transmitter was sometimes unreliable. The paint job remained the same until Series 7 but Firestorm 4 was completely rebuilt over 4 weeks. The Firestorm series of robots competed through Series 3 to 7. The team also entered with the less successful Groundhog in Series 2.

The Firestorm robot was one of the most successful in Robot Wars history, holding the record for the most battles ever won in the main competition, reaching five consecutive semi-finals. It reached the Grand Final in Series 3, 5 and 6, finishing in third place on each occasion. Consequently, Firestorm was never seeded lower than 7th (except for the Third Wars which had no seedings). It was also the only robot that was able to flip over Mr. Psycho, and broke several records - the shortness of its very first battle stood as one of the quickest for several years, and its final victory against Mute allowed it to take the record of most Out of the Arena flips from Chaos 2. However, despite this huge amount of success, the team only won one official honour in its history; the Commonwealth Carnage Championship in Extreme Series 2.

Whilst lacking in destructive weaponry, Firestorm's success was largely due to the driving skill and tactics its driver, Graham Bone, regarded as one of the best drivers in the UK competition. Firestorm's trademark tactic was to drive an opponent up against the arena wall, and flip it against the side-barrier so that it couldn't self-right. This tactic served Firestorm well throughout its entire Robot Wars appearance, Facet falling foul to this tactic in the second round of Series 3, the last being Mute in Series 7, and many others in between, including the Grand Champions of series 2, Panic Attack. Graham Bone expanded this tactic in the later series, using the reverse wedge at the back of the robot to allow Firestorm to lever its front up onto the arena wall, and use its flipper to topple an opponent over the wall and out of the arena. This was done by a castor at the front so the robot could 'rear up' and 'shove' is opponent out of the arena.

Like many Robot Wars competitors the Firestorm team entered Techno Games. The team entered the football tournament with a robot called Snowstorm, a white and blue, weapon-less Firestorm. Snowstorm was teamed with Kat's Whiskers from Team KaterKiller

Appearances in Merchandise

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

Panic Attack
Firestorm's most notable grudge was with Panic Attack. During the first semi-final of Series 3, the two robots met for the first time, and Firestorm dominated, repeatedly pushing Panic Attack against the arena sidewall, and so winning the resulting judge's decision.

There was no vengeance gained when the two met again during the All-Star championship during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1. Panic Attack exposed its sides to Firestorm, who pushed it up against the sidewall again, but this time Panic Attack couldn't get down and was eliminated.

During the loser's melee of Series 5, the two once again battled, although this was a far quieter affair, as Panic Attack broke down early on, and when it came back to life, the pair managed only bumps and scrapes against each other.

In the second series of Extreme, the two met again in the Commonwealth Carnage. The battle was dominated by Firestorm, who once again pinned Panic Attack onto the side wall after shoving Panic Attack around the arena, putting the grudge at 4-0.

The last conflict between the two was during the Series 7 All-Stars competition. All of the robots in this battle took the House Robots on instead of each other, and amidst the chaos, Firestorm drove into the pit, so the fact that Panic Attack technically defeated Firestorm is not an accurate description.

Razer
Firestorm fought Razer on three occasions. The first, during the All-Star championship of Extreme 1, Razer soundly beat Firestorm, lifting it up into the air, and crushing Firestorm all over. Despite this, Firestorm lasted to a judge's decision, but it was little more than a formality.

The second meeting between the two was a far closer affair. During the Grand Final of Series 5, Razer and Firestorm battled hard, Razer easily controlled the first portion of the battle, Firestorm the later part. In what is considered to be one of the closest judge's decisions ever, Razer was voted through.

During the second All-Star championship, as in the first, Razer dominated the meeting between the two, once again riddling Firestorm with holes, and finally pitting it, to win the final meeting between the two.

Bigger Brother
Bigger Brother met Firestorm four times over the course of Robot Wars. The first was in the preliminary round of the first Tag Team competition. During this match, both of their teammates were ineffective, and most of the hard fighting was done by Firestorm and Bigger Brother. After defeating the other member of each others team, the two spent the battle overturning the other's team mate, and then righting their own, before returning to fight again. When the two did meet, Firestorm was the more potent, and ultimately qualified along with its team mate Scorpion.

The two were drawn in combat together during the All-Stars competition, but the weaker link during this battle was S3, who was flipped out very quickly by Bigger Brother, although the two did scrap towards the end of the fight. The match was replayed during the heat final, where Bigger Brother was soundly beaten, despite overturning Firestorm at one point, before the gas failed, and Firestorm easily pitted Bigger Brother.

The final meeting between Bigger Brother and Firestorm was during the All-Stars competition in Series 7. After teaming up to attack Shunt, the pair then turned on Cassius Chrome and then the Refbot. At various points during the battle, during which the flipper and drop zone fired to try and stop the rampaging robots, both Bigger Brother and Firestorm drove into the pit, eliminating both of them.

Diotoir
"Firestorm are girlies"

- On Diotoir's flag during the vengeance match

This grudge was actually a staged one for an Extreme 1 Vengeance battle. Diotoir's Cairon Byrne had made a remark about the Firestorm team's vanity in Robot Wars Magazine and so a bet was staged that if Firestorm won, Diotoir would have to print an apology in the magazine, although it was cancelled before an apology could be printed. Prior to the fight, several cinematics were filmed including a faked film of Dr Zulu sabotaging Fiestorm. During the battle, Diotoir was flipped over by Firestorm and left to burn, quite an easy victory for Firestorm.

This was not, however, the only meeting between the two. During the heat final of Heat O of the Third Wars, Diotoir and Firestorm fought each other, Firestorm easily coming out on top as it would do during the vengeance battle. There was no impression of hard feeling between the teams, so it is likely the grudge was wholly faked.

Series 3
The original Firestorm had a very narrow lifting arm and four conveyor belts on the body; it also had a pneumatic spike weapon at the back. In the first round of The Third Wars, Fire Storm went up against newcomers Crasha Gnasha. Immediately, Fire Storm sprinted forward and smashed Crasha Gnasha into the wall, the force of the impact throwing the shark-like machine onto its back and rupturing its CO2 tank. This rendered Crasha Gnasha immobilised as it was unable to self-right. Fire Storm drove away to safety before the House Robots came in to finish Crasha Gnasha off. In the second round of the heat, Fire Storm went up against previous semi-finalists Facet. Fire Storm was flipped over once by Facet, before self-righting slowly to come back on the attack. Fire Storm then lured the heftier Facet over to the arena wall, and got in underneath to flip Facet on to its side up against the arena wall, this put Facet into a position from which it couldn't self-right, it was declared immobile, lifted by Sir Killalot and pitted. Cease was called and Fire Storm was put through to the Heat Final, where Fire Storm met crowd favourites Diotoir. Fire Storm drew Diotoir over to the flame pit, before flipping the Irish machine over once before pushing it fully onto the flame pit, where it caught fire and then was attacked by house robot Dead Metal. A smouldering Diotoir was brought over to the arena floor flipper, flipped, and Fire Storm qualified for the Series Semi-Finals.

In the Series Semi-Finals, Fire Storm went up against fellow newcomers Pitbull in the first round. Pitbull grabbed hold of Fire Storm with its jaw, and dragged Fire Storm around the arena, but Fire Storm wriggled free when Pitbull drove it over the arena spike, which flipped Pitbull up and over. Pitbull couldn't self-right, and Fire Storm was through to the second round. There, Fire Storm was pitted against the reigning champions Panic Attack. Fire Storm was able to get underneath its opponent with ease, and did so several times, without being able to flip it over. But then Panic Attack was caught by an arena spike, and Fire Storm took the advantage, turning Panic Attack onto its side against the arena wall. Panic Attack eventually managed to self right, but Fire Storm continued to shove it around until the fight ended for a judges' decision; who ruled in favour of Fire Storm, putting them through to the Grand Final.

In the first round of the Grand Final, Fire Storm made history by becoming the first Robot to be flipped out of the arena, when it went up against Chaos 2. Chaos 2 tried to get an immediate flip in but missed. The two circled each other for a few moments before Fire Storm lay static in the middle of the arena, giving Chaos 2 the opportunity to turn Fire Storm over and promptly threw it over the arena wall. Fire Storm becoming the first of many robots to be later flipped out of the arena. Fire Storm was due to fight Steg-O-Saw-Us in the play-off battle for third place, but won the fight by default due to the damage received by Steg-O-Saw-Us during its battle with Hypno-Disc being irreparable within the time given.

Series 4
Firestorm 2, now seeded 5th after its impressive run in series 3, looked equally impressive in its first-round melee when it went up against two newcomers, The Morgue and Scar. Firestorm 2 powerfully rammed The Morgue into the arena wall with its new flipper design, flipping it over in the process so that the yellow barrel-shaped robot could not self-right. Firestorm went on to attack Scar, although both robots had already qualified for the second round of the heat, also immobilising Scar against the arena wall. Firestorm 2's second round battle, with newcomers Bolt from the Blue, was largely uneventful, with neither robot was able to gain the upper hand. Firestorm 2 was the more aggressive, ramming its wedge-shaped opponent several times, but could not get underneath Bolt From the Blue's low ground clearance. After Bolt From the Blue almost flipped Firestorm 2 over, its flipper seemed to stop working, allowing Firestorm 2 to ram the slower robot several times again. The battle ended in a judges' decision, where the judges went in favour of the seeded Firestorm 2, putting them through to the third round. Firestorm faced a reinstated The Morgue in its heat final battle, attempting a couple of times to softly flip The Morgue so its barrel-shape would not help it self-right, but without success. Firestorm 2 then rolled The Morgue onto Matilda, and flipped it again, however the Welsh machine rolled back onto its wheels both times. Firestorm 2 attempted to repeat its tactic in the first round, pushing The Morgue against the wall but failing to flip it. The Morgue came onto the attack, pushing Firestorm 2 around and getting underneath the Durham competitor. As the pit descended, Firestorm pushed The Morgue over towards the pit, with The Morgue reversing over the edge and getting wedged over the pit, then Firestorm spinning around and accidentally reversing into the pit as well. The team of the Morgue celebrated, thinking that they were victorious, however the judges intervened and awarded the win to Firestorm 2 based on the battle up until that point, and the fact that The Morgue had been immobilised over the pit just before Firestorm 2 went in. This put Firestorm 2 through to the Series Semi-Finals.

Firestorm 2's Semi Final Round 1 battle was a fast and furious battle against the unseeded, but so far impressive Dominator 2. Firestorm immediately came on the attack, driving straight under Dominator 2, flipping it and shoving it around the arena. Dominator 2 managed to self-right, however, by repeatedly flailing its axe whilst spinning around on its side. Firestorm repeated the manoeuvre, before Dominator 2 landed a strong axe blow on Firestorm's flipper, embedding the tip in and allowing Dominator 2 to push the seeded robot back, despite Firestorm using its flipper to try and free itself. Dominator released Firestorm, but managed to trap the Durham competitor with its axe when Firestorm drove up its front wedge. Firestorm then came back on the offensive again, flipping Dominator 2 over once more and shoving it against the arena wall, almost flipping it out, before time ran out and cease was called. The judges' decision was one of the closest ever, being a controversial, 2 - 1 split decision that favoured Dominator 2 by only one point.

Firestorm 2 also entered the Series 4 Tag Team Terror, pairing up with Scorpion. In the first round, it was drawn against Bigger Brother and Plunderbird 4. As Firestorm watched Bigger Brother and Scorpion battle, it wasn't long before the red machine was toppled; therefore, Firestorm did its duty of righting it. Firestorm retreated as now Plunderbird attacked Scorpion, but then it shot out of the Red Zone and rammed it from behind. Firestorm was warned by Refbot to get back to its zone, which it did, but it soon after darted into the Blue Zone and almost toppled its team-mate. It then bulldozed Plunderbird into the Red Zone, attempting to flip but was lifted by Matilda. "What on Earth is going on here, Refbot? Control these robots!"

- Jonathan Pearce comments on the madness in the arena.

Plunderbird attempted to crush into Firestorm 2, but the Slicer Dicer wasn't working. Firestorm attacked Bigger Brother, almost flipping it, but couldn't quite manage it and was again attacked by Matilda. It reversed away from the Red Zone, slamming into Bigger Brother on the way for good measure. It again got underneath Scorpion, slamming it into the seemingly immobile Plunderbird 4. Firestorm released Scorpion from the wedge of Plunderbird, only to be assaulted by Bigger Brother. Firestorm flipped Plunderbird onto its claw, but it dropped down shortly afterwards. It slipped underneath it, but was pinned underneath Plunderbird momentarily, freeing itself to right Scorpion again. Bigger Brother shunted it into Matilda CPZ, where it was flipped against a side wall. It propelled itself away, then righted itself. Firestorm Then attacked Bigger Brother, who had flipped Scorpion, but Firestorm failed to flip the bronze robot. Fiestorm was pushed against a side wall, while Scorpion was set alight by Sgt Bash. Bigger Brother pushed Firestorm 2 into a CPZ, but it was soon to escape. It was then forced into the Blue Zone, and was pressurized for the remainder of the battle. The judges gave the win to Firestorm and Scorpion, who proceeded into the Final against 101 and King B3. Unfortunately, it wasn't working properly for the battle, therefore putting up a poor performance. After Scorpion took punishment from both of its opponents, Firestorm moved sluggishly out of the Red Zone, only to pushed by King B3 back into it. King B3 then mistakenly drove up onto Firestorm's wedge, but not far enough for the flipper to be able to topple it."Scorpion may have gone blind, and they've shown a blind eye to rules and regulations!"

- Jonathan Pearce as madness breaks out yet again. Firestorm didn't move after this and Scorpion's drive had broken on one side, meaning that King B3 and 101 were the champions of the Tag Team Terror.

Firestorm 2 entered the Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars/Sumo Basho tournament, but was pushed off in 4 seconds after driving up Shunt's scoop. It also entered the pinball, scoring 135 Pts, equal seventh with Hypno-Disc.

Extreme 1
Firestorm 3 took part in the Robot Wars Extreme All-Stars Championship after having reached a Grand-Final and Semi-Final in the previous 2 UK Championships. In the first round, it was drawn against Panic Attack who it had taken the crown off in Series 3. Firestorm 3 immediately turned Panic Attack over before flipping it against the arena wall where the Series 2 champions couldn't recover. Firestorm 3 then fought Wild Thing in the Quarter-Final. After a few flips on Wild Thing all over the arena and pursuing it into the house robots, Wild-Thing had found itself with its srimech open and pinned off the ground. In the Semi-Finals, Razer lifted and punctured Firestorm 3 and was axed by Shunt several times in the last 10 seconds of the fight. The fight went to a judges decision and Firestorm 3 was eliminated.

Firestorm 3 also took part in a Vengeance battle with Diotoir after Team Nemesis made fun of the fact that the Firestorm team spend much time doing their hair. Before the battle even began, Dr Zulu was caught on the security cameras "vandalising" Firestorm 3; however, it's believed that this was all just a big set-up joke for the cameras. Within the first 10 seconds of the battle, it was all over as Firestorm only needed a few flips to send Diotoir rolling onto the flame pit where it couldn't self-right, Diotoir caught fire and was counted out by Refbot.

Reaching the All-Stars Semi-Finals also gave Firestorm 3 a place in the 2nd World Championships representing the UK along with Chaos 2, Razer & Tornado. It did well in Round 1 flipping both the Dutch NEAT Machine and Swedish Whirlpool 70 over, but it couldn't get its flipper into contact with the American Drillzilla who shoved Firestorm 3 all over the arena. Both Firestorm 3 and Drillzilla were still mobile at the end, but the judges awarded the win to Drillzilla instead of Firestorm 3 as it was more aggressive.

Series 5
Firestorm 3 was seeded number 7 for the Fifth Wars. Firestorm 3 sustained major damage to its flipper from house robot Matilda's flywheel in its very first fight of the main competition against newcomers Bee-Capitator. However, Firestorm 3 had already disposed of Bee Capitator; it carried the underdog around the arena before eventually flipping over the furry robot. Bee-Capitator was unable to self-right as it was without a self-righting mechanism, it was counted out by Refbot, so the seeded Firestorm 3 moved through to the next round of the heat. The team repaired the damaged flipper for the second round battle, where it fought the experienced Sir Chromalot. Firestorm 3 swiftly flipped Sir Chromalot over within five seconds of the bout. Due to the "Class Act" robot being unable to self-right, it was declared immobilised and was eventually counted out by Refbot, putting Firestorm 3 through to the next round. Firestorm 3 progressed to the Heat Final where it fought previous heat semi-finalists Reactor 2. During the battle, after some tense driving, the seeded Firestorm 3 pushed Reactor 2 over to the arena side wall, before flipping it up onto the arena wall. Reactor 2 stayed there for a moment, but the unique body-shape of Reactor 2 forced it to slowly topple over the arena wall and out of the arena on its side, declaring it out of play. This put the Firestorm machine through to the Series Semi-Finals for the 3rd time in succession.

Firestorm 3's opening semi-final battle against the 3rd seeds Hypno-Disc was over after just one attack from the destructive weapon, Firestorm 3 ran forward but the immobilised body kept rolling over to the angle grinder on the other side of the arena. Firestorm 3 was counted out by Refbot and Sir Killalot then pitted Firestom 3 after its disappointing performance. However, Firestorm 3 came back strongly to win the Losers' melee up against the 6th seeds Panic Attack and the 10th seeds Wheely Big Cheese. Firestorm 3 outmatched the favoured Wheely Big Cheese after Panic Attack was pinned against the arena side wall, unable to move for a while. Firestorm 3 was able to get in underneath and ram Wheely Big Cheese until they slowly ground to a halt. Firestorm 3 then took on Panic Attack and began a pushing battle between the two of them. Firestorm 3 got a few flips on the Series 2 champion, although Panic Attack nearly got Firestorm 3 out of the arena near the end of the bout before the battle went to a judges' decision between the remaining two machines. The judges went in favour of Firestorm 3, sending them back into the competition. Firestorm 3 then went up against the 2nd seeds Pussycat in the second round of the Series Semi-Finals, where its wedge shape and flipper allowed it to dominate the battle, throwing Pussycat around the arena constantly, with little resistance from the previous runners-up. The battle resulted in a judges' decision, where the judges went in favour of the reinstated Firestorm 3, putting the 7th seeds through to the Grand Final for a second time.

Firestorm was very much the underdog in its second Grand Final appearance, fighting the frighteningly destructive number 4 seeds Razer in the grand final eliminator round. Razer certainly started the battle on top, as Firestorm 3 drove at it but was unable to drive underneath Razer's front wedge. Razer then proceeded to attack the vulnerable armour around Firestorm's flipper, crumpling, but not piercing it. Firestorm 3 tried to use its flipper to free itself, however in doing so it exposed its interior, allowing Razer to crush one of the hydraulic rams powering Firestorm's flipper, leaving it wedged open for a while. Firestorm 3 eventually escaped, and kept trying to drive under Razer; however, it ended up driving onto Razer's scoop twice, allowing the crushing arm to cause some more minor damage. However, on one of its attacks, Razer accidentally pushed Firestorm's flipper closed, and that was the turning point of the battle. With its flipper now closed, Firestorm was able to drive underneath Razer's side, and shove it against an angle grinder. The Razer team had a huge scare, as Razer became pinned against the arena wall, but was able to drive free after being nudged by the Refbot and Sergeant Bash. Then, in a display of amazing tactics, Firestorm 3 then deliberately drove onto Razer's front scoop, allowing the beak to come down, and proceeded to almost shove Razer into the pit, and then into Sergeant Bash's CPZ. Both robots escaped to the middle of the arena, but Firestorm 3 repeated the tactic almost exactly the same, nearly pitting Razer and shoving it into Sgt. Bash once again. Firestorm nearly pitted Razer for the third time, before Razer came back on the attack - however, either Firestorm's armour was too thick, or Razer's beak had lost power, as Razer was only able to cause minor damage to Firestorm's front. As the final seconds ticked down, Firestorm pushed Razer against the arena wall and into Shunt, who axed the silver machine just before time ran out for a judges' decision. For only the second time in Robot Wars history, the judges entered the arena to inspect the damage done to both robots. This was considered to be Razer's closest victory ever, with the judges awarding Razer the win based on the damage caused to Firestorm's flipper early on in the fight. Firestorm 3 got its revenge in a fast and furious rematch with the 3rd seeds Hypno-Disc for third place. With its flipper still out of commission from the previous fight, the team had used the extra weight to add additional armour that enabled it to stand up to the blade of Hypno-Disc, although Firestorm 3 did lose its wheel armour on both sides exposing its tires. After pushing Hypno-Disc around the arena, it rammed the spinner down the pit, but drove in with it. The judges called for a rematch, however the Hypno-Disc team couldn't comply, as the impact with the bottom of the pit had badly damaged its mobility. Firestorm 3 finished third again in its second grand final appearance.

Series 6
Firestorm 4 returned as the 3rd seed after its Series 5 performance. Its first battle was against veterans Mega Hurts 2 and newcomers Cedric Slammer and Colossus. It flipped over Colossus in the CPZ, leaving it unable to flip itself onto its wheels, as it was up against the side wall. Meanwhile, it also flipped over Cedric Slammer, leaving it immobile, and for good measure, threw Mega Hurts 2 over, causing its monitor to break off. It then proceeded to drive in the pit after pitting the latter. In the second round against another newcomer Barbaric Response, Firestorm 4 flipped the Barber machine several times, and after getting beneath Refbot and flipping it on its side, it pushed Barbaric Response into a position from which it could not escape. In the heat final against former semi-finalist X-Terminator, Firestorm and X-Terminator circled each other, with X-Terminator getting beneath Firestorm 4 and attempting to flip it over with its scoop. After almost flipping X-Terminator into the pit, Firestorm 4 catapulted X-Terminator into the side wall, leaving it feebly attempting to self-right. Firestorm 4 then attacked and flipped Shunt onto its side. X-Terminator fell onto its back after trying to self-right.

In the Series Semi-Finals, Firestorm 4 was up against 13 Black in the first round, and immediately Firestorm flipped 13 Black against the side wall, and 13 Black's self-righter had broken, leaving it immobile and Firestorm going through. In Round 2, Firestorm 4 fought the 7th seed S3, who it pushed up onto the side wall, so that the weight of the disc and wheel caused S3 to fall over the wall and out of the arena. This meant that Firestorm had made it to its third Grand Final.

In the grand final, Firestorm 4 put up a fight against 12th seeds Tornado, flipping it over so that the wedge became useless. However, flipping it back onto the front caused Firestorm 4's demise, because Tornado got beneath the wedged robot and pushed it into the open pit. However, Firestorm 4 won the play-off against the unseeded Terrorhurtz; despite having a chunk of armour torn off by the deadly axe and losing forward and reverse drive, Terrorhurtz lost drive and Firestorm 4 placed in its predicted position of 3rd yet again.

Extreme 2
Firestorm 4 fought in the All-Stars tournament. Its first battle was over early as Bigger Brother had flipped S3 out of the arena before it could get into its stride but it took out the frustration onto Dantomkia in the next round. Despite being similarly matched on paper Firestorm dominated the battle throwing Dantomkia over until its safety link was knocked out. The episode final passed in similar fashion, Bigger Brother put up more of a fight than Dantomkia had but still couldn't avoid being flipped and pitted sending Firestorm to the All-Stars grand final. It was matched up with Razer, a robot it had been beaten by twice before. Firestorm had a much better start in this encounter slipping straight under Razer's front (a rare feat) and pushing it into Dead Metal. Razer brought its claw down into a battery and seemed to leave Firestorm with no forward or reverse drive. It was eventually pitted despite an effort to escape.

Firestorm 4 also represented England in the Commonwealth Carnage. It started its first round promisingly throwing the Northern Ireland entry, Weld-Dor 3, out of the arena in the opening seconds and quickly following it up with Bondi-Titch, the Australian entry. Firestorm beat Panic Attack (for the fourth time in the show's history) by again flipping it against the arena side wall where it couldn't self right. Firestorm finished by spectacularly flipping Sergeant Bash and Mr. Psycho, the only robot to do so before or since. It faced Crushtacean in the final, and started by trying to flip it over. Firestorm then forced Crushtacean into an Angle Grinder, and flipped it into Dead Metal. Firestorm then flipped Crushtacean on its side to win, before chasing Dead Metal. Firestorm was unable to flip the house robot over and was crumpled by Sgt. Bash, but had finally won a trophy.

Series 7
Now the second seed, with high expectations placed upon it, Firestorm 5 was very impressive in its first round melee, dominating the fight. Firestorm quickly threw Dutch Grand-Finalists Bamm Bamm over, before shoving and flipping the Black and Blue twins around the arena. Placing Bamm Bamm over the closed pit, Firestorm pressed the release button and sent the Dutch robot to its doom, swiftly followed by the immobilised Blue twin. In the second round, Firestorm 5 tossed Reptirron the Second across the arena and into the wall, where it was unable to self right and attacked by Shunt. Charging Reptirron the Second, Firestorm 5 flipped it over the arena wall. In its heat final, Firestorm almost immediately immobilised the impressive Ripper, throwing onto its back where the giant low-pressure flipper flopped open and failed to self-right. Firestorm sportingly righted Ripper, only to drive it around the arena, again flipping it over, this time onto the arena wall. Once again, Ripper's flipper jammed open and appeared to be stuck. This time, the Roaming Robots competitor was out of luck, as Firestorm drove in underneath it and toppled it out of the arena.

Through to the semi finals for the 5th consecutive time, Firestorm was drawn against the unpredictable newcomers, Mute. Although similarly matched in shape and weaponry, Mute was no match for Firestorm 5, being driven under and flipped over straight away. Firestorm then managed to drive Mute over to the arena side-wall, despite Mute's highly entertaining, if ineffective, attempts to self-right, before positioning Mute against the arena wall so that it couldn't activate its incredibly powerful flipper without throwing itself out of the arena. If Mute had, though, the result would have been the same - Firestorm quickly dispatched it over the arena wall to progress to the next round. Fighting the impressive New-Blood Champions, Storm 2, Firestorm started the fight promisingly, managing to slide underneath the rambot's low ground clearance several times, although failing to flip it. Storm 2 however came back on the attack, bending their front blade so it couldn't get under the zero ground clearance and shoving Firestorm around the arena, before pushing the second seeds into the open pit, ending Firestorm's highly impressive run in Series 7.

Firestorm 5 re-entered the All Stars against Kat 3 for the first time, Bigger Brother for the second time and Panic Attack for the fifth time. However, none of the robots attacked each other, and Firestorm 5 charged Shunt immediately, flipping it onto its side. Throughout the battle, Firestorm and its opponents attacked Cassius Chrome, until Firestorm 5 accidentally drove into the pit. It was soon joined by Bigger Brother. This was the only time that a Panic Attack and Firestorm battle had Panic Attack go through.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 34
 * Losses: 11

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered with Groundhog
 * Series 3: Third Place
 * Series 4: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 5: Third Place
 * Series 6: Third Place
 * Series 7: Semi-Finals, Round 2

Trivia

 * Firestorm stands as the only robot with a front hinged flipper to successfully flip another robot out of the arena.
 * Firestorm 4 was the second robot to flip two robots out of the Arena in one battle.
 * Firestorm has lost to the eventual champion of a series of UK Robot Wars three times, more than any other robot. On each occasion, it happened during the Grand Final Eliminator stage.
 * Along with Hypno-Disc, Firestorm has reached the joint most Grand Finals of any other robot, at three.
 * Firestorm was the only robot to compete in all three All-Star tournaments.
 * Firestorm and Plunderbird 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.
 * Firestorm 4 became the third robot in history, after Killertron in Series 2 and Chaos 2 in Series 4, to finish in its position predicted by seeding (third).
 * Additionally, Firestorm 4 was the first occasion where the third place finisher in the previous war was seeded third.
 * In five UK championships and two Extreme series, Firestorm has only needed to use its flipper as a srimech three times, in Heat O of Series 3 against Facet, in the Tag Team Terror Round 1 in Series 4 against Bigger Brother and Plunderbird, and in Heat A of the Extreme 2 All-Stars, against Dantomkia.
 * Out of all of the Series 4 Semi-Finalists, only Firestorm and Steg 2 have never fought in an annihilator or Mayhem qualifier.
 * At 5, Firestorm has reached the most semi-finals of all robots. It was also the only one of the robots to enter at least five wars and never to fail to reach a semi-final.
 * Ironically, Firestorm was the first robot to be Thrown Out of the Arena, but went on to beat Chaos 2's record of OotAs in Series 7.