Kronic the Wedgehog

"I love Beer"

- The slogan written on the rear of the robot

Kronic the Wedgehog was a blue box-wedged robot with a flipper (and rear spike in its début) that competed in Series 4-7 of Robot Wars. Its name was a pun on the popular Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. Kronic, as it was nicknamed, appeared in four wars.

The original version was built in a greenhouse, hence the flowerpots covering the spikes on top, powered by Sinclair C5 motors driving it up to 10mph and made from polycarbonate. It was renamed Kronic 2 for Series 5 and 6, before reverting to their original name for the seventh series. The fifth wars model was a good deal bigger than the original, and had a wedge flipper rather than the box lifter of its predecessor, in addition to flammable foam spikes and aluminium and steel armour, the aluminium from a chocolate bar wrapper to protect the receiver. The Series 6 model had two flippers, the other being a top mounted side-flipper, similar to Lightning, which it retained for Series 7 but slightly faster and more offensive, this also acted as a srimech. It also had a stronger shell and, despite the weaponry, they were knocked out in the first and second rounds of the remaining three wars. The Series 7 version, however had no wheel guards and a mesh bottom.

Despite Kronic first appearing in Series 4, the original version of the robot (simply named Kronic) was built for Series 3, armed with a retracting spear. However, it wasn't very well built and failed to qualify. Kronic was well-known for the "Kronic face", which many admitted frightening; an angry face, baring its teeth in a glare. Its best performance was in Series 4, where it made the heat final after helping to knock out the seeded Gravedigger. Notably, in Series 6 it also managed to flip R.O.C.S. and the former champion Panic Attack over in the eliminators.

Series 4
"It's not Sonic, but Kronic is not moronic, so beware!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Newcomers Kronic the Wedgehog met Thermidor 2 and the number 13 seeds Gravedigger in the first round of the Fourth Wars. Kronic the Wedgehog drove into Thermidor 2, while Gravedigger drove into Kronic the Wedgehog. Kronic the Wedgehog then lifted up Thermidor 2, which in turn tried to flip Kronic, but failed. Gravedigger then got under Kronic the Wedgehog, but its front-hinged flipping weapon was not working at all. Kronic the Wedgehog then rammed Thermidor 2, and part of Thermidor 2's claw fell off. Catching Gravedigger, Kronic lifted it onto the arena side wall, so that its wheels were off the ground, therefore it was unable to get away. Thermidor 2 then came in and flipped Gravedigger onto its side, and the seeded robot was declared immobilised and was eliminated. Kronic progressed through to the second round along with Thermidor 2. At this stage, Kronic the Wedgehog went up against previous heat finalists, Darke Destroyer 2. The Darke Destroyer's lack of a srimech allowed it to be immobilised easily in this manner, as Kronic the Wedgehog flipped it over with ease not long into the battle. Kronic the Wedgehog therefore had made it to the heat final, where it met the lobster robot Thermidor 2 once again. This battle had a much slower start than when they first met. Both robots tried to flip each other one at a time, until Thermidor 2 put its flipper through that of Kronic the Wedgehog. Thermidor 2 then snapped Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper right off. Not long afterwards, Kronic the Wedgehog lost drive in one of its wheels and was quickly declared immobilised. The House robots came in and attacked the immobilised machine, before placing Kronic the Wedgehog down into the pit of oblivion, eliminating the newcomers from the competition after such a promising début appearance.

Series 5
In the Fifth Wars, Kronic 2 was surprisingly unseeded for the main competition, despite reaching the heat final of the Fourth Wars. Kronic 2 went up against the greatly experienced King B Powerworks in its first round eliminator battle. Kronic 2 showed good aggression early on in this battle, but the flipper wasn't as powerful as in future appearances, and Kronic 2 couldn't flip King B Powerworks fully over in its attempts. King B Powerworks then took control of the bout by pushing the more sluggish Kronic 2 machine around the arena, bending the flipper and putting holes in the outer shell. Kronic 2's foam spikes caught fire as the two went over the flame pit, and King B Powerworks's rear spinning blade did even more damage to the outer shell. Cease was soon called and the battle went to a judges decision, but the result was almost obvious, and it did indeed go in favour of King B Powerworks. Kronic 2 was subsequently eliminated from the competition.

Series 6
The new, sleeker Kronic 2 was beset with problems before the tournament even began. During the qualifiers, it was found to be overweight, so to compensate, the team had to remove the robot's bottom panels.

Kronic 2 was placed up against the redesigned R.O.C.S., the 8th seeds Panic Attack and recent heat-finalist Corkscrew in its first round battle of the heat. In this battle, Kronic 2 was immediately targeted by R.O.C.S., who pierced into its flipper. However, a glancing blow from Corkscrew separated the pair, also ripping up a wheel guard of Kronic 2 and also making its srimech break. However, this did leave Kronic 2 free to activate the pit release button, which ultimately caused the demise of Corkscrew. After this, Kronic 2 flipped R.O.C.S. onto its back, rendering the claw-wielding robot immobilised as it was leaking hydraulic fluid. Kronic 2 then flipped over the srimech-less Panic Attack, however both of them moved through as R.O.C.S. was soon counted out by Refbot. This put Kronic 2 through to the next round of the heat.

In the second round, Kronic 2 went up against the much more experienced Terrorhurtz machine. Kronic 2 was axed by the future grand finalist repeatedly. Terrorhurtz eventually sent the more sluggish Kronic 2 machine to Sergeant Bash's CPZ, however it managed to escape before it took any major damage from the house robot. But as Kronic 2 began to get away, Terrorhurtz then pushed Kronic 2 around to the side of the arena, onto the flame pit. Growler then closed in as Kronic 2 was merely limping, but Kronic 2 attacked the house robots, using its flipper to lift up Growler, before it stopped moving completely and was counted out by Refbot. It was flipped by the arena floor flipper and eliminated from the competition.

Series 7
Kronic the Wedgehog was lined up in a heat against the number 14 seeds Thermidor 2, which featured a potential grudge match for the Series 4 heat final battle that they both shared. However, it was placed up against Team Victor's The Kraken, and two newcomers: Pinser and Cobra, in the first round melee. Cobra posed no challenge as it barely moved, Kronic the Wedgehog flipped it right over in the opening moments, before flipping it back the right way up. However, Pinser then leaped onto the attack, piercing through Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper. Fortunately for Kronic though, Pinser then attacked the limping Cobra machine, but burnt out as it went over a flame jet, effectively immobilising both robots as Cobra was still caught in Pinser's grip. Both robots were counted out by Refbot, and Kronic the Wedgehog went through to the next round of the heat along with The Kraken. Kronic the Wedgehog then faced a seemingly easy battle in Robot Wars veterans Mighty Mouse, in the second round. Kronic the Wedgehog indeed began strongly, hurling Mighty Mouse across the arena with the flipper effortlessly, almost flipping Mighty Mouse out of the arena on one occasion. However, Kronic the Wedgehog suddenly seized up just outside house robot Growler's CPZ and Mighty Mouse then took the opportunity to ram it fully into the CPZ, where Kronic the Wedgehog's flipper crumpled against the arena side wall by Growler. Mighty Mouse continued to ram Kronic the Wedgehog, ramming it into submission, rendering the Series 4 heat finalist completely immobilised, leaving it to be counted out by the Refbot, therefore leaving Mighty Mouse as the unlikely victors, and eliminating Kronic the Wedgehog from the competition. "After the fight we found out that it was a seized motor which caused our downfall, not a broken speed controller as I originally suspected. The motor burned out because the driver and driven sprockets became misaligned, causing a lot of tension on the motor."

- David Lang

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 4
 * Losses: 4

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Failed to qualify as Kronic
 * Series 4: Heat Final
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 1
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Heat, Round 2

Robot Wars Live Events
The latest version of Kronic made its first appearance at the new Robot Wars live events in Barnsley in February 2013. It also fought at the Robot Wars live event at Widnes 2013 where it got to the semi-final of the competition and was beaten by Maelstrom.

Outside Robot Wars
Kronic has become far more successful in recent years. Competing in the live circuits, and being renamed Kronic 3, its flipper was modified to be the length of the entire front wedge, and is now capable of throwing robots from the arena at height, doing so to famed faces such as Behemoth, Big Nipper and Iron-Awe. It won the Roaming Robots Winter Tour of 2005. In May 2010, the robot was sold to Team MAD as Team Kronic retired from building and operating heavyweight robots. Since then, Kronic became the 2010 & 2011 Annihilator champion which enabled it to become the second machine in history to reclaim the UK Annihilator title after Kan-Opener. In 2011, it achieved Honourable Mention status in the Combat Robot Hall of Fame.

Trivia

 * Despite competing in both series surrounding them, Team Kronic didn't feature in either series of Robot Wars Extreme.
 * Like Wedgehog, Kronic the Wedgehog's name was based on Hedgehog (although Kronic's name was based on the Sonic the Hedgehog games). Coincidentally, both the former and the latter are currently owned by Team BlazerBotics.
 * Although the two robots were originally from separate teams, they are mistakenly credited as being from the same team in Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide.
 * In March 2012, Kronic broke Gravity's Robot Wars record for the quickest battle in all FRA competitions by beating Iron-Awe 6 via OotA in 4 seconds.
 * Kronic the Wedgehog was placed in the same heat as Thermidor 2 in the two series in which Thermidor 2 reached the Semi-Finals.