Conquering Clown

Conquering Clown
Participation Information
US Season	1-2
Other Names	Conquering Clown 2 (Season 2)
Team Information
Team	Silvis Robotics
Team Members	Mike Flanagan David Manary Ricky Partlow (Season 2)
From	Silvis, Illonois
Robot Statistics
Weight	198lbs
Dimensions	38" x 92" x 36"
Power	2 x 24V wheelchair motors
Weapons	Spinning blade
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Conquering Clown (also sometimes referred to as Killer Clown) was an American competitor robot that fought in both seasons of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. In Season 1, it was forced to withdraw from the US Championship due to technical problems, but reached the third round of the Annihilator before becoming immobilized and being pushed onto the Flame Pit by Drillzilla. As Conquering Clown 2, it reached the Grand Final of the Season 2 US Championship, losing to Destructive Criticism on a judges' decision.

Despite its solid performance in Season 2, Conquering Clown was known for its comical appearance, and was often described as a 'comedy entrant' by Stefan Frank. The Silvis Robotics team emphasized this by wearing rainbow tie-dye shirts and afro wigs throughout their appearances, and carrying a clown horn with them that could always be heard whenever they were onscreen. The team often clashed with Extreme Warriors host Mick Foley, due to the ex-pro wrestler's professed phobia of clowns.

"I'd gotta be honest here, I don't like clowns, they scare me, I don't feel safe when you guys are around..."

— Mick Foley interviews Silvis Robotics in Season 2

Versions of Conquering Clown

Conquering Clown

The original Conquering Clown from Season 1

Conquering Clown was a low wedged box-shaped robot with two outside wheels and a tall body section with the head and arms of a clown. The robot was painted blue, yellow and red to resemble a clown suit, and also had hammers on each of its arms as well as a pair of rear-mounted circular saws as its main weapons. Conquering Clown's 'head' bobbled around as the robot moved, and was topped with a rainbow afro wig that was flammable and often caught fire during its appearances in both seasons of Extreme Warriors.

Conquering Clown 2

Conquering Clown 2 in the pits

Conquering Clown 2 featured a redesigned chassis with enclosed wheelguards and a new top body with narrower arms and the ability to change the angle that it was positioned, although it kept the clown's head and rainbow afro. Its hammers and saws were also discarded, with a red lawnmower blade being added to the front wedge. The blade itself was made from solid steel and could reportedly spin at up to 10,000rpm, which would make it the fastest spinning weapon in Robot Wars if true. The team jokingly stated that Conquering Clown 2's 'secret weapon' was a little plastic butterfly attached to the body, which they claimed would 'bug' fellow competitors when they faced it in the arena.

Conquering Clown 2 with the 'Iron Mask' used from its Heat Final onward

From its Season 2 Heat Final onward, the clown head was replaced with an 'Iron Mask', as the team did not have a spare head with them to replace the head that was destroyed by Sgt. Bash during its battle against Black Widow.

Despite its decidedly comical appearance and flammable head, as well as its fragile weapon and body, Conquering Clown 2 was notable for its manoeuvrability, durability and pushing power, which directly contributed towards its run to the Grand Final.

Robot History

Season 1

Mike Flanagan: "This clown ain't happy, he's got hammers and he's got saws! And we're out here to win!"

Rebecca Grant: "All right, watch out for that Killer Clown!"

— Interview with Rebecca Grant for the US Championship

Conquering Clown was initially scheduled to enter the US Championship, where it wad due to fight in Heat 3 against Mad Cow, Close Enough, Rippa Raptor, Manta, and Rosie The Riveter. However, last-minute technical difficulties forced it to forfeit its place to Tiger Cat.

"Well then, a last-minute upset. The Conquering Clown decided they had a bad hair day, and have been replaced by Tiger Cat."

— Stefan Frank announces Conquering Clown's withdrawal

However, it did take part in the Annihilator, fighting alongside Skullmania, Red Virus, Drillzilla, Rippa Raptor and Unibite.

"They're no laughing matter!"

— Rebecca Grant on Conquering Clown

Red Virus and Drillzilla choose their targets

Conquering Clown is pushed by Drillzilla

At the start of the first round, Conquering clown drove at Unibite, which charged at its front, whist Drillzilla got behind Conquering Clown. The two robots pinned Conquering Clown, before Drillzilla pushed Conquering Clown past Unibite and up the arena, before Conquering Clown turned away. Drillzilla reversed for another attack, and drove into Conquering Clown as it tried to drive past. Conquering Clown tried to tunr away, but it was blocked by Rippa Raptor, which was being pushed by Red Virus. This allowed Drillzilla to get behind Conquering Clown and push it against Rippa Raptor, getting underneath Conquering Clown. Drillzilla tried to force Conquering Clown onto a flame jet, but pushed it into Red Virus as it did so, causing Conquering Clown to get off Drillzilla. However, before it could get away, Drillzilla drove at its front and pushed it back, into Skullmania. Skullmania reversed and Drillzilla continued pushing Conquering Clown up the arena. Conquering Clown tried to turn away, but Drillzilla kept pushing. Soon, the other robots got close to Conquering Clown as they fought, but despite a push from Red Virus, Conquering Clown could not get away. Drillzilla pushed it into Unibite, then down the arena close to the pit release button. Rippa Raptor attacked it there, before Drillzilla pushed it away. Conquering Clown turned around and got under Rippa Raptor, pushing it into Red Virus. Drillzilla got behind Conquering Clown and pushed it away from Rippa Raptor, onto a flame pit. However, the clown did not catch light, and Conquering Clown quickly got away. Conquering Clown got to the other side of the arena, but soon found itself trapped between Rippa Raptor and Drillzilla, befored Drillzilla pushed it against Unibite. Conquering Clown got away as Unibite turned its attention to Rippa Raptor, and it drove into Red Virus, which pushed it back with its lifter before turning away, so Conquering Clown drove into Drillzilla, which had been pushing Red Virus. Meanwhile, Skullmania was counted out by Refbot, having had its tires severed from its axles by Unibite.

The five competitors in Round 2

Conquering Clown asserts itself over Rippa Raptor

In the second round, Conquering Clown proved more aggressive than before, wedging underneath Red Virus and pushing it around the arena. Conquering Clown the met Unibite's disc head-on, and the force was enough to knock its wig off. Unibite then struck Conquering Clown at the rear, but became immobilised after Drillzilla slammed Unibite into Conquering Clown, allowing the clown to progress further. In celebration, Conquering Clown shoved Rippa Raptor into the arena wall.

Drillzilla pushes Conquering Clown onto the Flame Pit

In the third round, Conquering Clown was again targeted by Drillzilla, who pushed it all around the arena. Surprisingly though, Conquering Clown was able push back on Drillzilla and shove it into the wall a couple of times. This success was short-lived though, Drillzilla came back on the attack and pushed Conquering Clown into Shunt's CPZ. After enough pushing, Conquering Clown stopped moving, so it was pushed onto the flame pit, where the flames burned its wig and melted off its face. Only after it was counted out, and its head was completely burned up, did Refbot finally extinguish the blaze.

Season 2

"It started out as a car starter, and now it's a robot stopper!"

— Silvis Robotics explains Conquering Clown 2's spinning blade to Carol Grow

A redesigned Conquering Clown 2 returned for Season 2, competing exclusively in the US Championship. It fought in Heat C, and faced Brute and Sir Force A Lot in its first round battle.

Conquering Clown 2 pushes Sir Force A Lot into a CPZ

Conquering Clown 2 started tentatively, but its spinning blade immediately tore part of Sir Force A Lot's side panel off after the latter attempted to push it. Even so, both Sir Force A Lot and Brute retaliated by bashing Conquering Clown 2 with their spinners, with Sir Force A Lot shoving, ramming and inflicting more blows on Conquering Clown 2, which eventually bent its blade out of shape. With its weapon damaged, Conquering Clown 2 then attempted to ram Sir Force A Lot and Brute in rapid succession, before driving into Refbot and pushing Sir Force A Lot into the CPZ, leaving it vulnerable to a few axe blows from Shunt. Sir Force-A-Lot escaped, but Conquering Clown 2 drove it back into the CPZ as time ran out, and went through to the second round on a judges' decision along with Brute.

"Well, you know what, as long as you don't go up in smoke, I think you'll be just fine!"

— Carol Grow's ironic prediction just before Conquering Clown 2's battle with Black Widow

There, Conquering Clown 2 faced Black Widow for a place in the Heat Final.

Sgt. Bash heats up the Clown

Both robots began by spinning and dodging each other around the middle of the arena, before Black Widow slammed into Conquering Clown 2's blade, sending sparks flying and causing the two machines to become stuck to each other. Conquering Clown 2 pushed Black Widow around before both robots separated with assistance from Sir Killalot, only to get underneath Black Widow again and push it into the wall and an empty CPZ. There, Sgt. Bash intervened by setting Conquering Clown 2's head alight, causing it to melt away as Black Widow pushed it around the arena.

"The Conquering Clown has been conquered, but not by who you thought! Black Widow was just an innocent bystander, as Bash came in there and torched him."

— Stefan Frank after Conquering Clown 2's head is torched

Conquering Clown 2 pushes Black Widow into the wall

Conquering Clown 2 responded by ramming Black Widow into the Disc of Doom button and the wall in rapid succession. It was then slammed side-on by Sgt. Bash, before Sir Killalot grabbed and lifted it by the lawnmower blade. Conquering Clown 2 sped away once Sir Killalot let go of it, losing more of its body in the process, before following, getting under and pushing Black Widow around the arena, even rolling it back upright at one point. The two robots continued to ram each other until 'cease' was called, and the battle went to a judges' decision, which went unanimously in favor of Conquering Clown 2.

In the Heat Final, Conquering Clown 2 faced Unibite 2.0, fitted with its 'Iron Mask' after the team did not have a spare head to replace the one burnt by Sgt. Bash.

Conqeuring Clown 2 slams into Unibite 2.0

It dodged Unibite 2.0's disk in the opening seconds before getting hit from the side, although not without getting under Unibite 2.0 and briefly pushing it around. Conquering Clown 2 glanced off Unibite 2.0's disk before attacking it with its blade, causing sparks to fly as it turned round and Unibite 2.0 hit its right-hand wheel. This appeared to immobilize Conquering Clown 2 on one side, with the wheelguard buckled and causing the right-hand wheel to lock up. Both robots continued to bump and hit each other with their spinning weapons until Unibite 2.0 suddenly lost mobility completely, and was counted out by Refbot before being thrown by the Floor Flipper and being placed on the Drop Zone. This allowed Conquering Clown 2 to emerge as the surprise winner of Heat C, and secure its place in the Grand Final.

"In fact, these first two battles have been very militaristic except... I have no idea what army the Clown belongs to."

— Stefan Frank summarizes the first rounds of the Grand Final as Conquering Clown 2 and Destructive Criticism fight each other

In the Grand Final, Conquering Clown faced Destructive Criticism in the first round.

The two horizontal spinners collide

Conquering Clown 2 burns once again

Both robots began tentatively, before ramming and exchanging blows with their spinning weapons. In doing so, Conquering Clown 2 knocked off Destructive Criticism's emblem, and briefly got underneath it a few times while Destructive Criticism hit its wheelguards and left a sizeable gash in its back panel. Conquering Clown 2 eventually lost its mask and one of its pompoms as it was battered by Destructive Criticism's disk, and its head caught fire again as it spun in circles over the Flame Pit. It was rammed by Destructive Criticism once more before Sir Killalot caught and steered it into the CPZ, then over a CO₂ jet just as 'cease' was called. The judges were called to make a decision, which went against Conquering Clown 2, eliminating it from the US Championship.

Results

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 5
• Losses: 2

NOTE: Conquering Clown's withdrawal from the US Championship in Season 1 is not included in the tally

Series Record

The Conquering Clown Team in the pits

US Series	Conquering Clown Series Record
Season 1	Withdrew Annihilator, Fourth Place
Season 2	Grand Final, Round 1
Nickelodeon	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

Garry Gizzmo

The original Conquering Clown also competed in BattleBots under the name Garry Gizzmo. It had a different figure on top of the robot and entered solely in BattleBots Season 3.0, beating Velocity 1 then losing to the clusterbot Pack Raptors.

Scooter The Clown at BattleBeach 1

After both Battlebots and Robot Wars ended Conquering Clown was briefly renamed and slightly modified as Scooter The Clown for BattleBeach 1 in 2003 where it had some success winning 3 fights and losing two. Later in the year it would go back to the name Conquering Clown for Mechwars 6 but with no success after getting damaged beyond repair by Tornado Mer. A new Conquering Clown was built to compete in both the RFL Triangle Series Nationals and Mechwars 7 with a completely new redesigned Conquering Clown complete with a heavier more powerful weapon, it had mixed success finishing with a 4-3 career record.

Conquering Clown in mid-2003

Anorexic Clown

After this Conquering Clown was lightened drastically to become the Middleweight known as Anorexic Clown which competed from 2004-2005 with varying success ending with a 5-6 career record and coming in joint 5th place at Rocket City Robot Assault.

Trivia

• Conquering Clown's team would constantly honk their horns during interviews, and were often given grief by Mick Foley, who claimed to hate clowns.

"'Conquering Clown' was another 'fragilebot', with a team that wandered thru [sic] the pits in full clown regalia honking bicycle horns. I suspect that they were just trying to get into the spirit, but they didn't make any friends amongst the underslept Roboteers."

— Mark Joerger of Run Away on Conquering Clown.

See Also

• Garry Gizzmo (BattleBots)