Thermidor 2

Thermidor 2 was a robot that was designed to resemble a lobster. It was equipped with a CO2 powered flipper and a pair of claws for grabbing the opposition, although they were rarely used. The robot competed in Series 4 through 7 of Robot Wars, plus entering in both series of Extreme. In Series 5, the claws were redesigned to be wedge-shaped and thus, would not get in the way of the flipper. Its large wheels came from a Mini Metro, these wheels made Thermidor 2 able to run either way up in case the flipper failed.

Team Lobster also competed in Series 3 with Thermador, the team's original creation. The robot had the same basic design as its successor but it had a small lobster's head where the flipper would eventually be located and it was equipped with a spike at the front and a small cutting disc in the tail, in addition to the lobster claws.

Thermidor 2 had a very high and low performance ratio, reaching the Semi-Finals of Series 4 and 7, but losing in the first round in Series 5 and 6. Interestingly, in Thermidor 2's first two series, it defeated a previous Semi-Finalist (Plunderstorm and Gravedigger), but in the next two wars, it failed to get past Round 1 and was defeated by a previous Round 1 loser, in Prizephita Mach 2 and 13 Black. In addition, it is interesting to note that Thermidor 2 reached the series semi-finals whenever Philippa Forrester wasn't the pit reporter. Another interesting point is that whenever Thermidor 2 reached a semi-finals, it was defeated in the first round by an eventual Grand Finalist.

The lobster design was a high and fun point of the robot. Jonathan Pearce, in particular, made many jokes about lobster's being "broiled" (since lobsters don't turn red until they're cooked), and so on. Team Lobster was quite straightforward and blunt, as their introduction to their robot was much the same in all its later appearances. "We're Team Lobster. My name's Dave, this is Ian, this is Thermidor 2. We're angry, we're ready to fight, keep out of our way."

- David Harding's straight-to-the-point introduction

Thermidor 2 was the first robot to flip two robots out of the arena in one battle (Behemoth and Stinger), and holds the joint title with Atomic of the robot with the highest amount of OotA flips not to be thrown out of the arena itself. Also, before The Seventh Wars, it was the only robot to equal Chaos 2 on OotA flips, with them both having three at the end of the first series of Extreme.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Thermidor 2/Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem

Series 3
Thermador competed in Heat M of its first televised Robot Wars appearance. Thermador easily defeated its first opponent Plunderstorm in the first round of the heat, as the previous semi-finalists never truly started moving, Plunderstorm turned to face the arena wall, as only one track was working, before the machine stopped completely, declaring it immobilised. Thermador then closed in and slammed Plunderstorm into the arena wall before retreating so that the house robots could close in themselves. Sir Killalot hoisted up Plunderstorm with its lance, and pitted Plunderstorm. Thermador went through to the second round of the heat to fight fellow newcomers Scutter's Revenge next. During the battle, Thermador tried to slam Scutter's Revenge before it fell before the larger robot's onslaught, it was pushed slowly towards the pit and eventually pitted, eliminating it from the competition. "...when matched with Scutter's Revenge, it didn't have enough power, and ended up in the pit"

- Jonathan Pearce

Series 4
In the first round of the Fourth Wars, Thermidor 2 went up against newcomers Kronic the Wedgehog and the 13th seeds Gravedigger. Thermidor 2 made a fair impact in its first round, trading blows with Kronic the Wedgehog, but neither was able to flip the other. However, Kronic the Wedgehog rammed Thermidor 2 hard, and one of Thermidor 2's claws buckled slightly. Meanwhile, Kronic the Wedgehog intercepted a run from the seeded Gravedigger, and flipped it onto the arena wall, where it was unable to move. Thermidor 2 then closed in and flipped Gravedigger onto its side and secured its defeat. Both Thermidor 2 and Kronic the Wedgehog stayed out of the way from danger as the house robots finished off Gravedigger, as they were both safely through to the next round of the heat. Thermidor 2's second round battle saw it up against the 29th seeds Dreadnaught XP-1. The battle was over rather quickly as it took just one flip from Thermidor 2 that nearly got Dreadnaught XP-1 out of the arena, to immobilise it completely. Thermidor 2 continued to flip the seeded machine until the house robots came in and finished off Dreadnaught XP-1. Thermidor 2 then went through to the heat final, where it had to fight Kronic the Wedgehog again. This battle was very close between the two, as the shape of Thermidor 2's claws meant that it got in the way of Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper a lot. However, Thermidor 2 pierced the flipper with its claw weaponry, and Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper broke off, merely hanging by a thread. It was from here on that Kronic the Wedgehog began to lose power, it slowed until the robot broke down completely. Kronic the Wedgehog was declared immobilised, so Thermidor 2 progressed to the Series Semi-Finals.

In the Series Semi-Finals, the unseeded Thermidor 2 was put up against the 19th seeds Pussycat in the first round. Although Thermidor 2 began the fight by flipping Pussycat high into the air a few times, it sustained a lot of damage from Pussycat's blade and the wheels were damaged particularly badly. Thermidor 2 suffered so much damage that it was running very slowly towards the end of the fight. It managed to survive to a judges' decision, unfortunatley the judges put Pussycat through to the next round of the Semi-Finals, eliminating Thermidor 2 from the competition.

Extreme 1
Thermidor 2 had a wide range of appearances in Extreme Series 1, with very high and low success in different competitions.

Thermidor 2 paired with Cerberus for the Tag Team Terror tournament. In the first round against S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Sumpthing, the lobster did not come out of the corner for a while as Cerberus took on S.M.I.D.S.Y. first, after a brief tussle, S.M.I.D.S.Y. was soon found immobilised on the arena wall after already storming into its own teammate due to something going wrong with the controls. Sumpthing then came out before S.M.I.D.S.Y. was counted out, so Thermidor 2 did to, it ran up behind Sumpthing and flipped it, using Cerberus as a chock. Luckily, Sumpthing beached itself on its own weapon, leaving Sumpthing and S.M.I.D.S.Y. at the mercy of the House Robots, putting Thermidor 2 and Cerberus through to the second round of the competition. In the Semi-Final round, Thermidor 2 and Cerberus fought against The Steel Avenger and Suicidal Tendencies, but they kept attacking each other, it wasn't long before all four robots were out of their specified corners, but all of a sudden, a few bashes from their opponents and Thermidor 2 broke down over the flame pit. It was counted out by Refbot, put on the arena floor flipper and hurled across the arena, hitting The Steel Avenger in the process. Thermidor 2 was pitted, and Cerberus held on for a judges' decision, but the pair still lost, and were eliminated from the competition.

Thermidor 2 also fought in the Flipper Frenzy, it helped its 'opponents' helped Chaos 2, Bigger Brother and Wheely Big Cheese to attack the House Robots, as Matilda immobilised Wheely Big Cheese, the other three flipped Sergeant Bash over with ease, and nearly flipping it out of the arena. Matilda then came to the rescue and made the robots flee. Bigger Brother then suddenly became immobilised on the arena floor flipper, and then Matilda sliced Chaos 2 onto its side. The others were counted out by Refbot as Thermidor 2 continued to try and flip Matilda, skillfully avoiding her flywheel weapon. Cease was called and Thermidor 2 was declared the winner by Craig Charles as it was the last competitor robot left standing.

Thermidor 2's Mayhem battle to qualify for the first annihilator was one of the highlight battles in Extreme Series 1, despite being rather short. It was up against Behemoth and Stinger. Thermidor 2 attacked Behemoth from the side, forcing it to roll right over, but still land on its wheels. It then attacked Behemoth from behind, throwing it head-over-heels out of the arena. It then chased down a rather nervy Stinger afterwards, with Stinger just tentitively just trying to stay off the flipper of Thermidor 2. Eventually, Thermidor 2 caught Stinger by the arena side wall and managed to flip one wheel over the arena wall, so that its weight caused it to fall out as well, making it lay just inches away from Behemoth. This was the first time that a robot had eliminated two opponents in one battle by flipping them out of the arena, and the only time that those circumstances had only one robot remaining inside the arena at the end of a battle, nonetheless, Thermidor 2 was through to the annihilator.

It failed to carry across this success in the annihilator, despite going in as one of the favourites to win. It originally went in against Splinter, X-Terminator, Pussycat, Hypno-Disc and Arnold A. Terminegger. Despite a good flip on Hypno-Disc in the first round, it was damaged by both Splinter and Pussycat, Splinter axed it and shunted it into the CPZ. House robot Shunt then axed it and dragged it onto the arena floor flipper. Refbot counted it out and cease was called before Thermidor 2 could be flipped by the arena floor flipper. Nevertheless, Thermidor 2 was eliminated from the annihilator.

It also participated in a Vengeance battle against Napalm in the final episode of Extreme Series 1, due to a sexist comment made by Team Lobster. The resulting battle was rather quick, with Thermidor 2 immobilising Napalm in the opening seconds. Thermidor 2 flipped it around the arena, causing Napalm to fall apart from the impacts. Thermidor 2 left Napalm on the flame pit, where they waited until Refbot had finished counting Napalm out, and Thermidor 2 then finished the girls' robot off by throwing it out of the arena, just before cease was called. Despite coming out as the winners, the team apologised for their sexist remark afterwards.

Series 5
Thermidor 2 was seeded 16th for the fifth wars, relatively low for a Semi-Finalist from the previous series, but despite such an impressive display in Extreme Series 1, it suffered a surprise loss to Prizephita Mach 2 in this war very early on. The first round of the heat saw Thermidor 2 sliding underneath and flipping Prizephita Mach 2 into the air, but its opponent self-righted and then flipped the seed numerous times before Thermidor 2 ran out of CO2 in its flipper after self-righting so many times from the Prizephita attacks. Thermidor 2 then broke down completely. After being counted out by Refbot, house robot Sergeant Bash seized the lobster and pitted it, this made Thermidor 2 the first seed from Series 5 to be eliminated in the first round of the main competition.

Series 6
An unseeded Thermidor 2 returned for Series 6 to fight 11th seeds Stinger, Chompalot and 13 Black in the first round of the heat. The initial clash with Chompalot saw one of the wheels damaged by a deflection attack off 13 Black. From that moment on, Thermidor 2 could only drive in circles, and was tucked away near the CPZ behind the pit. It still flipped Stinger several times, but blows from Stinger damaged the wheels of Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2 was then counted out as its mobility was minimal. When house robot Dead Metal closed in, Thermidor 2 revealed that its flipper was still working, throwing Dead Metal off of it, but it was soon caught by the much heavier Sir Killalot. Breaking free, Thermidor 2's mobility fully returned all of a sudden. It then escaped the grasp of the house robots but then drove itself into the pit to avoid excessive punishment, eliminating it from the competition in the first round again. Thermidor 2 was eventually followed down the pit by a later immobilised Chompalot.

Extreme 2
Thermidor 2 competed only in the Annihilator during Extreme Series 2. Thermidor 2 was against Typhoon 2, Raging Reality, Revenge of Trouble & Strife, Major Tom and Kan Opener at first, and going in as one of the favourites to win. In the first round, it was flipped over immediately by Raging Reality, but after a few tries, it self-righted. Thermidor 2 then flipped Major Tom from the rear into Typhoon 2, but then turned away to avoid Revenge of Trouble & Strife. Kan Opener then approached it, and Thermidor 2 flipped it up a few times, but did little else in this round as Typhoon 2 was flipped over by Raging Reality and counted out by Refbot, therefore being eliminated, therefore allowing Thermidor 2 to go through to the next round. In the second round, it got a good flip on Major Tom straight away, rolling it right over. It then flipped over Raging Reality, who quickly self-righted. It spent the rest of the fight fighting Revenge of Trouble & Strife, who landed strong blows on Thermidor 2. Thermidor 2 then stopped the spinning disc of Revenge of Trouble & Strife by trapping it between its flipper and claws. Both robots then attacked Dead Metal. However, Raging Reality was counted out by Refbot soon afterwards and Thermidor 2 went through to the next round, not before Thermidor 2 teamed up with Major Tom to attack Sir Killalot, who was holding Raging Reality over the flame pit. In Round Three, Thermidor 2 continued its bout with Revenge of Trouble & Strife, it held it on an angle grinder before harming it with a powerful flip, however Revenge of Trouble and Strife just managed to stay on its wheels. Thermidor 2 then flipped it again, this time right over, rendereing it immobile, leaving it to Kan Opener and Major Tom to pit Revenge of Trouble & Strife. This put Thermidor 2 through to the fourth round. Here, Major Tom was constantly picked on by the other two machines. Thermidor 2 flipped it against the arena wall, with Kan Opener then piercing it and shoving it off, before Thermidor 2 flipped it over to the other side of the arena, where it became immobilised, and then utterly destroyed by the house robots. So Thermidor 2 fought Kan Opener head to head in the annihilator final. It was unable to flip Kan Opener properly, and was slowly beaten into submission, with Kan Opener constantly shoving it around the arena, into CPZs and creating huge holes and slices in the wheels, flipper and bodywork, even the tyres were punctured by the claws of Kan Opener. Thermidor 2 was still moving at the end of the fight, but only just. With 4 seconds to go, Kan Opener finally shoved the lobster down the pit, declaring Kan Opner the annihilator winner.

Series 7
Thermidor 2 returned for Series 7 as the 14th seed, despite the fact that it had lost and went out in Round 1 of the previous two wars. There was nothing to hint these previous unsuccessful runs however, as it faced 8645T 2, Mobot and Mighty Mouse in the first round. It immediately flipped 8645T 2, which then self-righted, it then drove away for another run-up and then went in for another charge on 8645T, this time Thermidor 2 had flipped it onto its side, where it couldn't self-right. Thermidor 2 then intercepted Mobot and pushed them to the edge of the arena where the lobster flipped Mobot out of the arena. Thermidor 2 then grabbed Mighty Mouse trying to flip it out of the arena too, but failed, however it did turn Mighty Mouse over, however they survived to go through as 8645T was meanwhile being counted out. "We really have seen the power of the No.14 Seeds Thermidor"

- Jonathan Pearce as 8645T 2 is counted out

Mighty Mouse later broke down and was pushed into the pit by Thermidor 2, but the two had already qualified for the second round of the heat. Thermidor 2 then convincingly defeated Team Victor's newest machine, The Kraken in the next round. Thermidor 2 constantly flipped The Kraken around the arena, severely damaging The Kraken's claw weapon, nearly flipping it out of the arena several times throughout the battle. Eventually, Thermidor 2 flipped it over again but didn't self-right it, instead, pushing it over to the pit, but flipping The Kraken, allowing it to break free and continue fighting. Soon afterwards, Thermidor 2 flipped The Kraken over again, again not self-righting it, this time carefully pitting it's opponent and going through to the Heat Final, where the 14th seeds faced Mighty Mouse again. What followed was a whole match of evasion on Mighty Mouse's part with the underdog making no attempt whatsoever to attack the seeded machine. Thermidor 2 managed to get several strong flips in before Mighty Mouse lost part of its controls. Time ran out whilst Mighty Mouse was only going backwards and forwards against the arena wall, but the judges' decision was obvious to everyone, and Thermidor 2 went through to the Series Semi-Finals for the first time since the Fourth Wars.

Sadly, the impressive run ended very quickly in Thermidor 2's first round battle of the Series Semi-Finals, where it fought the eventual champions Typhoon 2. Thermidor 2 was the quicker machine to the middle of the arena, but just one blow the Edinburgh Air Cadet's machine was enough to knock out Thermidor 2, immobilising it completely. It was counted out by Refbot before being placed over, on or under all of the arena hazards by house robot Sir Killalot, without being pitted, before cease was called.

It has been speculated that as the damage was so severe, Thermidor 2 was unable to participate in the All-Stars Tournament at the end of the series.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 15
 * Losses: 8

Series Record



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

Trivia

 * The original Thermador was one of 16 competitors from The Third Wars to appear in Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem, but was mistakenly called "Thermidor 2".
 * Thermidor 2 made the Series Semi-Finals in both years that Philippa Forrester was not the pit reporter. It shares this pattern with X-Terminator, and both robots fought and lost to Typhoon 2 in the latter series..
 * Thermidor 2 was one of nine competitors in The Seventh Wars that competed in at least 5 series of Robot Wars but were excluded from the All-Stars Tournament at the end of the series for their own reasons.