 All battle/event/episode write-ups must be written in the past tense.
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- "Undisputed World champion of two years before losing its crown to an even meaner killer machine."
- — Jonathan Pearce's brief overview on La Machine
La Machine was a wedged robot that competed in the latter three Robot Wars US tournaments. Commonly hailed as the pioneer of the wedge, it appeared in the 1995 UK Open Competition fighting alongside fellow American competitors The Master and Thor in various battles. The latter were broadcast, through a series of montages, as part of the British Robot Wars, included in Heat D of Series 1, and the VHS release of Robot Wars: The First Great War.
La Machine began its career as a wedge shaped Middleweight in 1995 which began champion of Middleweight division, its performance so impressive and becoming a crowd favourite allowed it to battle in the Heavyweight Final Melee, beating all of its Heavyweight counterparts during the rumble. La Machine was upgraded during the 1995 European Winter Tours to a Heavyweight which took part in the 1995 UK Open which served as pilot to the eventual Robot Wars UK Series and in 1996 becoming Runners-Up in the main competition before winning the Heavyweight melees. In 1997, La Machine returned with an upgraded machine and repeated its Runners-Up positioning but losing the heavyweight melee.
La Machine was created by Greg Munson and Trey Roski who would, after the US Robot Wars tours ended, go on to develop rival Robot Combat Show, BattleBots.
Design[]
In 1995, La Machine was a simple silver wedge-shaped middleweight robot made entirely of steel, despite its weight and size, La Machine was powerful enough to bulldoze even heavyweights as seen in its Heavyweight Melee Final outing.
The insides of La Machine
La Machine's late 1995 and 1996 design was inspired by the visual of a jetskier going over a ramp and getting flung into the air, only with the roles reversed - the ramp would charge at the target to create the same effect. For its time, La Machine was exceptionally fast. It easily scooped up other robots and rammed them against the wall, the impact usually flipping them over and ending their chances - few robots had a contingency for being turned over. La Machine's weight in its initial appearance in 1995 made it a middleweight but was effective against most heavyweights, particularly when it competed in that year's heavyweight melee final by popular demand.
The pneumatic ram mechanism on the 1997 machine
In 1997, La Machine revived an upgraded wedge, a rounded top and the addition of a pneumatic "ram" weapon located at the top of the robot.
Etymology[]
According to Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, Greg Munson named La Machine after a guitar he made himself out of scrap materials.[2]
Robot History[]
1995 US Championship[]
La Machine rams Boy Howdy
In the Middleweight Face-Off, in the first round La Machine faced Boy Howdy. The battle lasted a mere ten seconds as Boy Howdy failed to move in time as La Machine charged from one end of the arena towards Boy Howdy and slammed it against the side wall. La Machine backed away, however, Boy Howdy was now mobile and attempted to attack, instead sliding up the sloped wedge before attempting to sit and spin against La Machine. La Machine quickly rammed the side of Boy Howdy and toppled it onto its side where Boy Howdy could not self right.
La Machine strands Dawn Patrol on its side
In the second round, La Machine faced Al Kindle's Dawn Patrol. Immediately, La Machine charged across the arena and bashed directly into Dawn Patrol, throwing it upwards before turning and slamming Dawn Patrol against a side wall where Dawn Patrol was side-stranded [3].
In the Middleweight final, La Machine faced the reigning champion The X-1. The X-1 initially swerved to the right, causing La Machine to overshoot into the Arena Wall. After that, however, The X-1 was scooped up and pushed into the arena paddleboards. It then attempted to pirouette towards La Machine, but consistently failed. Following that, it chased La Machine to the right-hand side of the arena, where it drove onto its opponent's wedge and was barged into the Arena Mousetraps. Here, it became momentarily stuck, before being removed by a subsequent offensive from La Machine. The X-1 tried to stage its own offensive on La Machine from there, attempting to flip it twice and trying to use its back spike, but both failed, with The X-1 then being dragged towards the top Arena Mousetrap before it spun in place. From there, it became victim to several more attacks, although it did manage to spin off of La Machine's wedge when being pushed around. After the first offensive failed as a result of being interrupted, a second attempt was made, which also failed as The X-1 rammed into the Arena Mousetraps. There, it escaped to the bottom-right corner of the arena before being pushed into the Wrecking Ball by La Machine. Following a handful of further pushes, La Machine was able to get beneath The X-1 once more, pushing them across the arena again. By this stage of the battle, The X-1 began to struggle with drive issues, being rendered unable to move at a similar pace, an issue exploited by La Machine as it pinned The X-1 against the Arena Walls before retreating. The X-1 eventually managed to prise itself off of the Arena Walls, although only through moving underneath the Arena Mousetraps, which slammed into its top. It then lurched sluggishly forwards but still attempted to attack, mistiming an attack with its lifter. Further attacks continued from La Machine, but following a brief deluge, The X-1 was able to reclaim some mobility, spiralling around at a hastened pace before inching forwards into the right-hand corner of the arena, finally stopping after a brief moment. La Machine pushed it first into the Arena Mousetraps and then towards the right hand of the arena, where it remained, its top visibly buckled, as La Machine was declared the champion of the Middleweight Face-Off.
La Machine wasn't finished yet as it fought in the Middleweight Melee against The X-1, Boy Howdy and Dawn Patrol as well as facing StingRayBot, Satoru Special 2 and Have a Nice Day. Before the match began, Have a Nice Day started its weapon up and began smoking internally, practically rendering it immobilised from the start. La Machine charged from one end of the arena to the other, missing all opponents in its attempts to attack the already smoking Have a Nice Day, and slamming into the arena side wall as Boy Howdy bashed the backend of it. The X-1 charged across the arena, smashing into Dawn Patrol who was caught by the arena mouse trap as La Machine and Boy Howdy both came in and committed a pincer movement on Dawn Patrol. However, La Machine shunted both robots, toppling Boy Howdy over on its side before slamming Dawn Patrol further, slamming it towards Satoru Special 2 and StingRayBot, the latter immobilised from the start. The X-1 began to lift the immobilised StingRayBot while Satoru Special 2 slowly sped away from the clash, La Machine began to attack Dawn Patrol again, getting under and shunting it. As this happened, the arena mousetrap managed to flip Boy Howdy back onto its wheels, allowing it back into the fight while La Machine began slamming into Satoru Special 2, turning around and crashing it into Dawn Patrol and Boy Howdy, toppling the wooden robot over, eliminating Satoru Special 2 from the melee. Boy Howdy started shoving Dawn Patrol across the arena, who was drifting by seemingly losing all mobility, Boy Howdy continued to assault Dawn Patrol, slamming into it and pressuring it into the arena side wall behind the Cambot and near the toppled Satoru Special 2, however, La Machine barged in and slammed into the two robots, causing Dawn Patrol to become temporarily immobilised. La Machine chose its next target in the already immobilised Have a Nice Day, scooping it up and shunting it into an arena mouse trap and Dawn Patrol slowly approached only for The X-1 and La Machine to bot into it, pushing it into the arena mousetrap. The two continued to pressure Dawn Patrol, with Boy Howdy joining the mix, which caused La Machine to become distracted and start attacking the red robot instead, while The X-1 began to lift Dawn Patrol upwards and attempted to topple it over, with the arena mousetrap slamming down on both robots. Meanwhile, Boy Howdy chased La Machine who was more interested in attacking the immobile StingRayBot, pushing it aside and shunting it across the arena and leaving it by the flipped Satoru Special 2 before clashing with Boy Howdy again. The two robots chased one another, spinning around the top half of the arena, Boy Howdy sat and span to keep La Machine away, but the silver wedge was able to slip under and thrust Boy Howdy into the arena side wall, and then into the corner. Once disposed of, La Machine went after the current stuck together Dawn Patrol and The X-1, spinning on the spot and observing the two stuck machines, going to the arena corner, warming up a charge towards the two slamming both robots. La Machine backed off and crashed into the two robots, before scooping up Have a Nice Day and bashing it to the side wall, before attacking Boy Howdy, which had managed to slowly drift across the arena. La Machine finally, finished off Boy Howdy by toppling it sideways against the arena mousetrap side, where it was wedged as The X-1 started moving with Dawn Patrol left into the air with its lifter, showing off the defeated robot. As The X-1 was the only other robot mobile, La Machine began to assault it, slamming several time, which allowed Dawn Patrol to finally be freed, and The X-1 to move about without much problem, however, it was sluggish, allowing La Machine to bash it around where Cambot had driven, slamming it into Cambot, killing off the final opponent, where La Machine celebrated the win by spinning on the spot.
Due to its impressive performance, and from an audience vote offered at the event due to being a fan favourite [4], La Machine, a middleweight, was allowed into the heavyweight melee final, this was highlighted in the American Robot Wars 1996 VHS alongside footage of this melee where it faced Thor, The Master, Merrimac and Spirit of Frank.
La Machine rams Thor across the arena
Thor becomes trapped on the arena flipper after an attack from La Machine
The battle began with The Master driving into Spirit of Frank and began thwacking its tail before Spirit of Frank drove away and is bulldozed by La Machine who also rammed into The Master briefly. Despite its lack of movements at the start of the match, Merrimac began to move about and attempted to pin La Machine against the side wall as Thor came in from the side of the two and hammered on top of La Machine which managed to slip away from the attacking heavyweights. Thor continued to flail its axe at Merrimac as The Master came in from behind and slammed its tail onto Thor before La Machine came back in and slammed into Thor's side. As the other competitors fought, Spirit of Frank had managed to drive onto a closed arena mousetrap and trapped itself, eliminating itself from the competition. Thor and The Master continued to exchange blows with each other when La Machine rammed the backend of Thor and pushed it across the arena and into a still Merrimac. The Master eventually backed into an arena flipper and managed to accidentally trap itself on top of the floor flipper where it became wedged. Meanwhile, La Machine continued to ram and push Thor, this time from the side, across the arena which caused Thor to smoke internally as it axed away aimlessly, as La Machine shunted Thor across the arena, Merrimac began to chase after them. La Machine shoved Thor onto an arena flipper and managed to hook its back wheel over the flipper, trapping Thor as Thor attempted to get off of the floor flipper using the power of its axe to slowly nudge itself off, however, La Machine rammed it multiple ties, damaging the bottom side panel, freeing the smoking Thor. La Machine briefly slammed into Merrimac as Thor slowly drifted towards the arena centre, smoking and struggling to make much movement. Eventually, the battle came to an end as the only middleweight of the melee, La Machine, was awarded the victory [5].
1995 UK Open Competition[]
- "The UK robots were severely punished by their American cousins"
- — Craig Charles
La Machine throws Grunt into the air
La Machine slams Grunt out of the arena
La Machine was one of three US Robot Wars competitors, along with Thor and The Master, to be invited to compete in the 1995 UK Open Competition. It fought in numerous battles alongside its fellow American compatriots, as well as future Stock Robots Grunt and Eubank the Mouse, with considerable success. La Machine was even capable in ramming Grunt out of the arena during one battle.
- "British triumphs were few and far between, this is America's La Machine, celebrating another victory over the Brits"
- — Craig Charles
La Machine and The Master teamed up in a football competition, where they easily beat Eubank the Mouse and Grunt before turning on each other with La Machine ramming The Master about and even toppling the goalposts.
1996 US Championship[]
Many of La Machine's fights from the 1996 championship were shown during the First Wars Heat D, and were also heavily featured in the American Robot Wars 1996 VHS.
South Bay Mauler is bulldozed by La Machine
- "The South Bay Mauler was also over powered by La Machine"
- — Paul Vallis
La Machine's first match was against South Bay Mauler. As the match began, South Bay Mauler spun up to speed but was quickly bashed into by La Machine. La Machine then backed away and charged in a second time - propping South Bay Mauler up at an angle. South Bay Mauler was continually pressured by La Machine's ramming attacks and was then slammed against the arena wall. South Bay Mauler showed little movement as the fight progressed, and La Machine progressed on through.
- "In round two Tazz was almost reduced to scrap metal by La Machine"
- — Paul Vallis
Tazz ends up being scalped after a slam from La Machine
In the second round, La Machine faced Tazz. Tazz initially dodged away from La Machine, which then quickly turned and slipped underneath Tazz. Then, La Machine rammed Tazz into a side wall before backing away. The two robots lingered about, driving in circles away from each other before La Machine came in and slammed Tazz against the "mousetraps" where the top armour from Tazz flew off. Tazz slowly moved away only for La Machine to come back again for a final attack, toppling Tazz onto its back, where it was unable to self right.
- "DooMore has met La Machine in battle many times, especially on the '96 Robot Wars European Tour. But up to now he's never won... and today is no exception."
- — Paul Vallis
DooMore is trapped by the mousetrap
La Machine met frequent rivals DooMore in the third round. Here, La Machine quickly rammed DooMore which disabled its weapon. La Machine circled around DooMore and shunted it against one of the "mousetraps" almost toppling it over. DooMore attempted to drive away but La Machine was the quicker and drove itself underneath DooMore - toppling it onto its side where it became trapped on one of the "mousetraps". This left DooMore immobile, resulting in La Machine progressing on through.
- "The Face off Heavyweight Final was expected to be a walkover for La Machine in many people's view"
- — Paul Vallis
La Machine is lifted by BioHazard
La Machine loses all mobility
In the 1996 Championship final, La Machine fought BioHazard. Both robots circled each other with La Machine attempting to get underneath BioHazard, however, BioHazard's hidden skirts prevented this. La Machine backs away and accidentally drove into a "mousetrap". La Machine attempted to attack BioHazard a second time but was immediately lifted from the front. La Machine then dropped back down and attempted to drive away from BioHazard - only to be reversed into. Soon, it became a game of cat and mouse as both robots darted across the arena attempting to get underneath one another. BioHazard managed to get a lift on La Machine but La Machine once again escaped - only for its battery casing to break suddenly and become stuck on the resulting debris. Here, La Machine became immobile which allowed BioHazard to lift La Machine and celebrate its victory.
La Machine gets underneath Vlad the Impaler
La Machine throws DooMore out of the arena
La Machine then appeared in two melees, one of which was heavily featured in Heat D of the First Wars. The first melee involved The Master, Vlad the Impaler, BioHazard and DooMore. In the battle, La Machine rammed Vlad the Impaler into the side wall, getting underneath it before BioHazard intercepted and lifted Vlad the Impaler - failing to topple it. Soon after, La Machine bulldozed The Master. This caused the entire saw blade arm to fall off and dart across the arena. La Machine then proceeded to get revenge on BioHazard by toppling it over and slamming it into the arena corner. La Machine followed this by shunting Biohazard across the arena - which left Biohazard immobile. Vlad the Impaler then ended up being flipped over after backing into La Machine's wedge. La Machine continued its domination by ramming DooMore forcefully out of the arena. La Machine then bulldozed the weaponless The Master around to seal its Rumble victory.
- "The ultimate winner here, La Machine, dumping that one (DooMore) over the edge."
- — Jonathan Pearce on La Machine's victory in the rumble
The Master lifts La Machine while Punjar pushes
In the Heavyweight melee final, La Machine fought South Bay Mauler, The Master, DooMore, Tazz, Punjar, Nemesis, Killbborg, Red Scorpion, Merrimac, Namreko 3000, Gutrip and Marvin. At the start of the fight, La Machine was attacked by Merrimac. Soon after, Punjar and The Master teamed up by getting its blade underneath La Machine while Punjar pushed La Machine against an arena flipper. La Machine drove off of the flipper and attacked DooMore - getting underneath it. Not much is known about the full rumble but it is known that La Machine along side Punjar and Gut Rip were some of the few still mobile at the end. La Machine won the rumble through a crowd cheer.
Results[]
| LA MACHINE - RESULTS | ||
| 1995 US Championship | ||
| Middleweight Face-Off Champion | ||
| Round 1 | vs. Boy Howdy | Won |
| Round 2 | vs. Dawn Patrol | Won |
| Final | vs. The X-1 | Won |
| Middleweight Melee Champion | ||
| Middleweight Melee | vs. The X-1, Boy Howdy, Dawn Patrol, Have a Nice Day, StingRayBot, Satoru Special 2 | Won |
| Heavyweight Melee Champion | ||
| Heavyweight Melee Final | vs. The Master, Thor, Merrimac, Spirit of Frank | Won |
| 1996 US Championship | ||
| Heavyweight Face-Off Runner-up | ||
| Round 1 | vs. No opponent | Bye |
| NOTE: La Machine received an automatic bye into the second round. | ||
| Round 2 | vs. South Bay Mauler | Won |
| NOTE: Listed as a "Round 1" battle in American Robot Wars 1996. | ||
| Quarter-Final | vs. Tazz | Won |
| NOTE: Listed as a "Round 2" battle in American Robot Wars 1996. | ||
| Semi-Final | vs. DooMore | Won |
| Final | vs. BioHazard | Lost |
| Heavyweight Melee Champion | ||
| Melee | vs. BioHazard, The Master, DooMore, Vlad the Impaler | Won |
| Melee Final | vs. The Master, South Bay Mauler, Punjar, DooMore, Tazz, Nemesis, Killbborg, Red Scorpion, Merrimac, Namreko 3000, Gutrip, Marvin | Won |
| 1997 US Championship | ||
| Heavyweight Face-Off Runner-up | ||
| Round 1 | vs. Ankle Biter | Won |
| Winner's Bracket, Round 2 | vs. Kill-O-Amp | Won |
| Winner's Bracket, Quarter-Final | vs. Tazbot | Won |
| Semi-Final | vs. DooAll | Won |
| Final | vs. BioHazard | Lost |
| Heavyweight Melee Finalist | ||
| Melee | vs. Badger, Gut Rip, TallyWhacker, Mauler | Qualified |
| Melee Final | vs. BioHazard, DooAll, Hercules | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 15
- Losses: 3
NOTE: La Machine's first-round bye in the 1996 Heavyweight Face-Off is omitted from the Wins tally.
Series Record[]
| Events | La Machine Event Record |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Did not enter |
| 1995 | Middleweight Champion (Face-Off & Melee) Heavyweight Melee Champion |
| 1996 | Heavyweight Runner-up (Face-Off) Heavyweight Melee Champion |
| 1997 | Heavyweight Runner-up (Face-Off) Heavyweight Melee, Final |
Outside Robot Wars[]
La Machine participated in the Robot Wars European Tour in May 1996 which ran for two weeks across Germany. It took part in many different activities during the tour, including battling an array of remote control cars, popping a set of balloons and battling DooMore in an exhibition fight.
After 1995, Gage Cauchois split from the team to build his own robots, Vlad the Impaler, its successor Vlad the Impaler II and the Super Heavyweight version Vladiator. While Trey Roski and Greg Munson went on to found and run the US competition BattleBots, which went on to become a television show on Comedy Central, and later ABC and Discovery. Trey and Greg also built Ginsu. Consequentially, La Machine's only BattleBots appearance on television was an exhibition match against Jay Leno's Chinkilla, Team Coolrobots' Dreadnought and Ginsu in Season 3.0.
La Machine's shell in February 2023
La Machine's shell next to Nightmare at BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon.
La Machine had previously appeared at the BattleBots Long Beach event in 1999, where it entered the arena with no armour and was used as the "camerabot" seen in many of the fights.
Greg Munson still owns the shell of the middleweight version of La Machine.[6] A photo of the shell was posted to Reddit in early February 2023[7], with Munson bringing its shell to the live show BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon. That same month, another photo was taken by David Rush of Team Malice.
For the same event, a rebuilt version of Greg Munson and Trey Roski's own Ginsu was produced with help from BattleBots competitor Hal Rucker.
Trivia[]
- La Machine was featured heavily during the BattleBots 2018 season as the last competitor listed of the 56 robots, leading to speculation and rumour surrounding its return. However, the tongue-in-cheek image was used only to replace the actual 56th competitor, Raven, which never participated in a battle.
- La Machine even appeared in the official BattleBots colouring book in place of Raven.
- According to the first Robot Wars Club newsletter, La Machine was said to have fought 33 battles by 1998 with a 31-2 winning streak. Its tally included its fights in the US competitions, the 1995 UK Open (though only one was listed compared to the multiple events it was documented to have actually participated in) and the 1996 European Tour.[1]
- La Machine's pioneering wedge design and successes in the 1995-1997 US Robot Wars competitions ensured its induction as an inaugural member of The Combat Robot Hall of Fame in 2003.[8]
Honours[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 'Winning Warriors From The U.S.A', Robot Wars Club Newsletter, Issue 1 (1998), p.7
- ↑ Brad Stone (2003), Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports, p.64
- ↑ Dawn Patrol vs La Machine
- ↑ Private correspondence between Greg Munson and Diotoir the son of nemesis
- ↑ 1995 Robot Wars Part 2
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Greg Munson in November 2021
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/10s0602/it_still_exists/
- ↑ The Combat Robot Hall of Fame ®, Team Run Amok website
External Links[]
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