- "You will get in trouble, if you mess with the bubble!"
- — On a fan's banner
Destruct-A-Bubble was a heavyweight robot, which competed in Series 4 and 5 of Robot Wars, where it was one of the largest robots to appear in these series.
Destruct-A-Bubble was originally named Millennium Doom, but the team changed its name at the last moment. The cause for the name change is unknown.
Design
Series 4 appearance
It is a ball-shaped robot made of carbon fibre and kevlar with a flat bottom which competed in Robot Wars. In Series 4, it had a two foot long pneumatic lance weapon (nicknamed "the mother-in-law's tongue") and was painted yellow with red hair and a cartoon style face complete with titanium eyebrows and occasionally a "hairnet" to snag spinning weapons. Some parts came from a tractor, the robot had a steel chassis and it was bottom heavy which made it difficult to flip over. It was redesigned for Series 5 with an overhead spike weapon powered by an old industrial floor strummer motor, and new shock activated electronic eyes.
Qualification
In its qualifier for Series 4, Destruct-A-Bubble fought Team EyeEye's walker Miss Struts. During the battle, one of Miss Struts' legs became stuck over the pit, and then the rest of the robot followed, awarding the victory to Destruct-A-Bubble. It then qualified directly for the Fourth Wars, and also qualified for the Fifth Wars in the following year.
Destruct-A-Bubble as it entered the Sixth Wars qualifier
Destruct-A-Bubble (with a different design) at the Sixth Wars qualifiers
Destruct-A-Bubble also attempted to qualify for Series 6. At the qualifiers, it appeared with two different designs, for reasons unknown. At the qualifiers, Destruct-A-Bubble fought Dantomkia, Maximus, and Iron-Awe 2. At the start of the battle, Maximus attacked Destruct-A-Bubble, cutting off a part of its swinging arm, whilst Dantomkia flipped over Iron-Awe. Dantomkia came in and flipped over Maximus, and attacked Destruct-A-Bubble. The two continued battling until the end of the battle, with both surviving to the end. Dantomkia was judged to be the winner, Iron-Awe was given a discretionary place to qualify, but Destruct-A-Bubble failed to qualify and the robot was subsequently retired.
Robot History
Series 4
Offical image of Destruct-A-Bubble from the Fourth Wars
- "Here we have something that doesn't really look like a robot."
- — Julia Reed
Killerhurtz axes the top of Destruct-a-Bubble
Destruct-A-Bubble's first round battle saw it go up against the number 16 seeds Killerhurtz and Eric. During the battle, Destruct-A-Bubble was initially unable to get up to speed to launch an attack on either of its opponents, who attacked each other. Eric later attacked Destruct-A-Bubble, trying to flip it, but the Bubble was able to shift away. Killerhurtz then intercepted a Destruct-A-Bubble attack on Eric and slammed into into the arena wall a few times, without firing the axe. Destruct-A-Bubble then got away as Killerhurtz and Eric returned to attack each other again. As Killerhurtz then axed Eric, Destruct-A-Bubble tried to deploy its tongue weapon on Eric, before Eric was released. Killerhurtz then attacked Destruct-A-Bubble again, breaking through the bubble with its axe. Killerhurtz was then able to get one more axe blow in on Destruct-A-Bubble before cease was called for a judges' decision. Destruct-A-Bubble was eliminated, mainly due to a lack of aggression.
- "A little bit of plastic surgery will do for Destruct-A-Bubble. A bit like the mother-in-law actually."
- — Jonathan Pearce
Destruct-A-Bubble also fought in the Sumo Basho competition of the Fourth Wars, it survived for 11.91 seconds in the ring against Shunt before driving straight off, placing it seventh on the leaderboard overall out of sixteen.
Series 5
- "Destruct-A-Bubble's back, as ridiculous as ever"
- — Philippa Forrester
Destruct-A-Bubble and Axe-C-Dent lock weapons
In the first round, Destruct-A-Bubble was drawn up against newcomers Axe-C-Dent. From the off, the two robots collided, with Destruct-A-Bubble's weaponry trying to clamp down on Axe-C-Dent, but instead getting trapped with the latter's spinning hammer weapon. The two then separated, with Destruct-A-Bubble then bumping into the Refbot, before attacking Axe-C-Dent again. Destruct-A-Bubble then reversed away and slammed into the arena wall, but then it became apparent that Axe-C-Dent had been immobilised. Axe-C-Dent was subsequently counted out, and Destruct-A-Bubble was through to Round 2.
- Craig Charles: "How far do you think you can go in this competition? There's a lot of big boys."
- Peter Richards: "We'll go all the way."
- — Post-battle interview
This glory did not last long, however. Destruct-A-Bubble was then due to fight the 21st seeds Suicidal Tendencies, but after the latter broke down and retired, Destruct-A-Bubble found itself pitted against the reinstated Rick.
Destruct-A-Bubble punctured and pitted
In the battle, Destruct-A-Bubble was flicked up by Rick's flipper a few times before soon afterwards coming to a halt. Shunt came out and axed it, before Rick came in and flipped it right over. Shunt came out again, axing Destruct-A-Bubble and righting it in the process, but it didn't matter, as Destruct-A-Bubble had stopped moving. As the Refbot began counting out Destruct-A-Bubble, Rick came in again to flip it down into the pit before the count was up, eliminating the bubble from the competition. After the fight, the team discovered that the cause of their breakdown was a sweet wrapper lodged in the removable link.
- "Your bubble's burst."
- — Craig Charles to the defeated Destruct-A-Bubble team
Results
| DESTRUCT-A-BUBBLE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 4 | ||
| The Fourth Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat I, Eliminator | vs. Eric, Killerhurtz (16) | Eliminated |
| Sumo Basho 7th | ||
| Sumo | 11.91 seconds | 7th |
| Series 5 | ||
| The Fifth Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 2 | ||
| Heat K, Eliminator | vs. Axe-C-Dent | Won |
| Heat K, Semi-Final | vs. Rick | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 2
Series Record
| Series | Destruct-A-Bubble Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| The Fifth Wars | Heat, Round 2 |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Trivia
- Destruct-A-Bubble was one of six robots to be a figurine for the Robot Wars Board Game.
- In Series 4, the team intended to equip Destruct-A-Bubble with a "hairnet" specifically to snag spinning weapons. However, entanglement devices were prohibited from the show, so it was not used.
- On the leaderboard for the Series 4 Sumo Basho, Destruct-A-Bubble's name was misspelt Distruct-A-Bubble, a mistake that was frequently made in the original Robot Wars Magazine as well as other publications.
- Destruct-A-Bubble was erroneously referred to as Destructor in the first issue of the Titan Robot Wars Magazine, during a section on the Series 6 qualifiers.
- Of the fifty robots to return from Series 4 to compete in Series 5, Destruct-A-Bubble was one of only ten to perform better in its Series 5 appearance. The others were Razer, Bigger Brother, Firestorm, Diotoir, Prizephita Mach 2, Kat 3, Reactor, Rick, and Clawed Hopper.
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