Thrown Out of the Arena



In Robot Wars history, there have been many instances of a robot being Thrown Out of the Arena (shortened to OotA). This involved a competitor robot defeating an opponent by means of flipping or otherwise causing it to fall over the Robot Wars Arena walls, where it could no longer take part in the battle. The first instance of this was in the Grand Final Eliminator of Series 3, where Chaos 2 threw Firestorm out of the arena. Since then there have been 59 other instances of robots being thrown from the arena and 30 of them happened in Series 7. House Robots also picked up on this movement and Sir Killalot, Mr Psycho and Matilda began to conclude a robot's defeat by throwing it from the arena, as did the Arena Floor Flipper on two occasions against featherweights. The current holder of the most OotAs is Dantomkia, having defeated nine robots in this way.

Flipping a robot out of the arena is the quickest way to immobilise an opponent, as it can be done in very short order without delays such as charging a spinning weapon or waiting for the pit to descend. From the 30 Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars, 12 were concluded by a robot being thrown out of the arena.

Leaderboard

 * 1) Dantomkia (9) - Dantomkia broke the original record set by Chaos 2, defeating 9 robots in this way. It very often defeated very strong contenders by throwing them out, such as Hypno-Disc, Panic Attack, Behemoth and Chaos 2 itself.
 * 2) Firestorm (7) - Firestorm had the ability to raise its front end whilst firing its flipper. This innovative system allowed it to simply shove other robots out of the arena. It managed to flip out seven robots. It is also the only front-hinged flipper robot to defeat a robot in this manner, although Mute did come close. Also the first robot to be flipped out of the arena.
 * 3) Chaos 2 (6) - The very first robot to achieve the feat, Chaos 2 defeated 6 opponents in this manner, also setting the original record for most consecutive OotA flips, doing so to The Steel Avenger and S.M.I.D.S.Y. in Series 5. However, its very last OotA flip was followed by Dantomkia's first, who then took the record.
 * 4) Thermidor 2 (4) - Thermidor 2 was the first robot to flip two robots out of the arena in one battle. Also the joint best performing robot in this category to have not been flipped out of the arena itself
 * 5) Atomic (4) - Atomic holds the record for the most consecutive OotA flips, as it sent a robot out of the arena in every single one of its four victories of Series 7. Also the joint best performing robot in this category to have not been flipped out of the arena itself.
 * 6) Bigger Brother (3) - Bigger Brother's much improved flipper of Series 5 saw it throw out its first two opponents, and only failing to defeat two others due to their design.
 * 7) Gravity (3) - Gravity's flipper was so powerful that it threw Hydra into the air, causing it to land on the arena wall. It also dispatched the OotA champion Dantomkia in this way in less than six seconds.
 * 8) Tsunami (3) - This German robot had enourmous power, defeating all three of its opponents in this way before losing in a similar fashion to X-Terminator
 * 9) Raging Knightmare/Raging Reality (3) - Raging Reality/Knightmare flipped out three robots, including the heat favourite Spawn Again in Series 7.
 * 10) M2 (2) - M2 was the first robot to throw two robots out of the arena in a single battle in the main competition.
 * 11) Spawn Again (2) - When it was working, Spawn Again's flipper could easily dispatch robots over the arena wall, and from a fair distance back.
 * 12) Wheely Big Cheese (2) - Wheely Big Cheese's second OotA is the most famous flip in Robot Wars, defeating Axe Awe in this manner from the centre of the arena. Wheely Big Cheese only required one flip each to defeat its two OotA'd opponents
 * 13) Behemoth (2) - The first non-flipper to achieve this, lifting and pushing out two opponents rather than flipping them
 * 14) X-Terminator (2) - The first heavyweight robot not to use a flipping or lifting weapon to pull off an OotA by using a flywheel in the UK Series. Also managed to dispatch the seemingly unstoppable Tsunami in this way.
 * 15) Cyclone (2) - Cyclone, an American competitor, was the only competitor to throw out another in an international series, and the first heavyweight to use a flywheel for its OotA.
 * 16) Gemini (1) - The second robot to achieve an OotA, by double-teaming The Creature and flipping it out.
 * 17) St Agro (1) - Unusual design for flipper, but proved powerful nonetheless, disposing of The Scrapper.
 * 18) Iron Awe 2.1 (1) - Also holding the record for having been thrown out the most times, Iron Awe's only flip was against Heat Favourites Bigger Brother, who had been dominating the battle.
 * 19) General Carnage (1) - The only robot to not make at least a heat final and yet achieve an OotA
 * 20) Bulldog Breed (1) - Bulldog Breed's only OotA came at the beginning of a destructive run in the Tag Team Terror, flipping out reigning champs Pussycat in the process, a feat that not even Dantomkia and Chaos 2 could achieve.
 * 21) Storm 2 (1) - An immensely powerful charge that sent The Steel Avenger flying over the wall. The only OotA without a moving weapon
 * 22) Judge Shred 3 (1) - Judge Shred's only OotA was against Corkscrew Two, who it dispatched with a powerful flip. Marked a dramatic improvement in Judge Shred.
 * 23) Combat Ant (1) - In the Extreme 1 Antweight competition, Combat Ant's disc hit Pants, sending it flying out of the Antweight Arena. The only non-heavyweight to flip another robot out, and the first OotA with a spinning weapon.

The Most Consecutive OotA's record
Note: Wheely Big Cheese, Bigger Brother, Raging Reality, M2, Dantomkia and Gravity all matched this before it was broken, but for convenience, the honour remains with the original holders.
 * Chaos 2 & Thermidor 2 (2 robots) - The first record of consecutive Out of the Arena flips is when Thermidor 2 flipped both Behemoth and Stinger out of the arena. However, Chaos 2 truly set the consecutive record when it flipped The Steel Avenger and S.M.I.D.S.Y. out in consecutive battles. Because of Series 5 taking place at the same time as Extreme 1, it is difficult to determine which occurred first. In addition, the two machines set the record in different ways - two robots in a single battle, or two robots in successive battles. As a result, both machines have been recognised as the original record holders.
 * Tsunami (3 robots) - In Series 7, Tsunami flipped both Major Tom 3 and Diabolus in its first round battle and went through with the seeded X-Terminator. In Round 2, it easily finished off and flipped out Constrictor, this set a new record already before it was then thrown out of the arena itself by X-Terminator's flywheel in the heat final.
 * Atomic (4 robots) - In its third Robot Wars appearance, Atomic's flipper power certainly improved by a long way. In its first round battle, within a matter of seconds, Atomic flipped Terror Turtle out of the arena, and followed that up by almost flipping out both the seeded S.M.I.D.S.Y. and Cygnus X-1 in the same battle. In round 2, Atomic flipped out the promising newcomers Hellbent, and then finally flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. out in the heat final. This meant Atomic had now matched Tsunami's record. In the semi-finals, Atomic managed to also flip out M2, giving Atomic the new record for OotA flips. However, the run ended when Atomic tried to come out too quickly on Typhoon 2 and were knocked out. Atomic's record finally stood as the most consecutive OotA flips once Robot Wars ended.

Series 3
There has been much discrepancy over whether throwing a robot out of the arena to achieve victory was George Francis' objective against Firestorm - despite his look of glee and bewilderment, he appeared to have been trying to do the same to Crocodilatron and The Big Cheese. Regardless, Francis and Chaos 2's defeat of Firestorm was a moment of Robot Wars history.

Series 4
With the technique now affectionately referred to as its "party trick", Chaos 2 succeeded in throwing Indefatigable out of the arena, but it also attempted to throw out Medusa 2000 and Atomic, neither of whom it was able. It did also manage to defeat Tornado decisively in this manner later on in the Series. Gemini, rival of Chaos 2, also achieved an Out of the Arena flip using Rear-hinged Flipping Arms, by double-teaming The Creature.

Extreme Series 1
The weight increase held the potential to either increase or decrease the frequency of Out of the Arena flips, and it seemed to be on the rise. However, Chaos 2 was unable to throw any robots out here, despite trying several times against Wheely Big Cheese, Tornado and Sergeant Bash.

Behemoth made a name of itself by performing the first Out of the Arena without a flipper, heaving The Spider over the wall with its scoop - and antweight champion Combat Ant tossed Pants out of the mini-arena with its bludgeoner. The most impressive robot of Extreme 1 when it came to throwing others out, however, was Thermidor 2. The lobster dispatched of Behemoth and Stinger in a single battle, before toppling Napalm to match Chaos 2's record.

Series 5
thumb|300px|right|The most legendary OOTA in Robot Wars history. At the peak of Robot Wars, the faze took off, and as expected, Chaos 2 led the way, hurling two veteran competitors out in two successive battles. General Carnage 2 surprised many as it tossed out Guzunderbot, permanently securing itself as a robot that "could have been great". Powerhouses Spawn Again and Bigger Brother joined in, throwing out three robots between them.

However, there were two far more important events of Series 5 when it came to Out of the Arena flips. Firestorm, the first robot to suffer this fate, inflicted the same fate on Reactor 2, who had previously defeated the second robot to achieve the feat. Firestorm's design made it difficult to achieve, but it still managed to hurl Reactor 2 over the wall.

Wheely Big Cheese's performance remains etched on every fan's mind. In two flips, Wheely Big Cheese hurled Wolverine and Axe Awe out of the arena, the latter flying such huge distances that it left most speechless.

Series 6
Several notable events occurred in Series 6. Raging Reality forged a name for itself by easily dispatching two of its opponents, whilst Chaos 2 proved it was still feisty enough to throw Iron Awe 2 out of the arena. Firestorm made its second flip by tossing the awkwardly shaped S3 halfway over the wall and allowing Gravity to do the rest. Surprisingly, many of the flipping giants were unsuccessful this time, with Spawn Again, Bigger Brother and Thermidor 2 all unable to throw robots out.

The biggest events of Series 6, however, involved the debut of Dantomkia. Immediately after Chaos 2's destructive first round match, the only other survivor, Mighty Mouse, was seized and thrown out by Dantomkia. Dantomkia headed into the final against Chaos 2, and came out not only on top, but threw Chaos 2 out of the arena.

Extreme Series 2
Extreme 2 was relatively subdued, as Thermidor 2, Raging Reality, Spawn Again and Chaos 2 all failed to make significant impact with their flippers. Bigger Brother returned to the spotlight by hurling out S3, and Bulldog Breed made a very impressive Tag Team run by flipping out Pussycat, something that Chaos 2, Firestorm and Dantomkia hadn't done or would eventually fail to do in their respective bouts with Pussycat.

Dantomkia continued to climb to the top, defeating Iron Awe 2 and Hypno-Disc, the second Robot Wars giant to be thrown out. Firestorm kept close behind, turning international robots out of the arena on the way to a Commonwealth Championship.

Series 7
By Series 7, 30 competitor robots had been thrown out of the arena by other competitor robots in the UK Series. In Series 7, another thirty robots were defeated in the same manner, the same amount in one year as had been thrown out in the six years prior. In fact, only Heat E, Heat K, Heat M and the Grand Final did not contain at least one robot being thrown out of the arena, although Bulldog Breed, Robochicken and Storm 2 did come close in the latter three, and Heat E's Leveler 2 boasted the ability.

Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars/Heat F was particularly notable, as between Tsunami and X-Terminator, Heat F contained most Out of the Arena flips in a single episode, with five robots being defeated in this manner.

Numerous other significant flips took place:
 * M2 threw two robots out, the first time a newcomer threw a robot out in its debut match, and the first time two robots were thrown out in the same match in the UK Championship.
 * Dantomkia broke the Shortest Battle Record by hurling IG-88 out of the arena in eight seconds.
 * Gravity became the first international robot to flip another out, and also managed to break the arena wall doing so.
 * Tsunami broke Thermidor 2/Chaos 2's record of consecutive Out of the Arena flips, which Atomic tied one heat later, and broke in the Semi-Finals.
 * X-Terminator became the first UK heavyweight to spin another out
 * Storm 2 threw The Steel Avenger out of the Arena using nothing but brute force.
 * Several Vengeances were settled by Out of the Arena flip.
 * Gravity broke the Shortest Battle Record by hurling record holder Dantomkia from the arena.
 * Firestorm flipped its seventh robot out of the arena, breaking Chaos 2's long-standing record.
 * Dantomkia broke Firestorm's record, throwing Panic Attack out in the final UK OotA.

House Robot OotAs
When the faze began to catch on, House Robots began to drop defeated robots out of the arena, or send them flying out.