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"Named after the team's horse. Power comes from two wheelchair motors, but top speeds of just 4mph...not impressive. The weapon's an agricultural lawnmower blade, giving the fly plenty of buzzzzz!"
— Jonathan Pearce introduces Little Fly

Little Fly was a competitor robot that fought exclusively in Series 4 of Robot Wars. In its only appearance, it reached the Heat Final, losing to MouseTrap there on a close Judges' decision.

Design[]

Littlefly mag

Little Fly in the Robot Wars Magazine

Little Fly was a grey box-shaped robot with aluminium armour and an orange lawnmower blade as its weapon. The blade spun at 1000rpm and was capable of inflicting considerable amounts of damage during its appearances in spite of its fragile appearance. However, the blade tended to jar if it struck metal, and was susceptible to bending after heavy impacts. Little Fly also featured two lights - one to indicate that the weapon was armed and ready, the other a novelty spotlight, for creating "confusion". However, it had a relatively low top speed of 4mph and a high 50mm ground clearance.

Etymology[]

The robot's name originated from the team's horse, which was also called Little Fly.

Qualification[]

Blacklittlefly and bug s4qual

Little Fly fighting Millennium Bug at the Series 4 qualifiers

At the touring Series 4 qualifiers, Little Fly was painted black, and was equipped with a yellow blade. It fought Millennium Bug at the qualifiers, and cut one of its legs off. Both robots survived for the full duration of the fight, and as a result, both machines were selected to compete in the Fourth Wars.

Robot History[]

Series 4[]

Little Fly competed in Heat K, fighting Sump Thing and the 28th seed Weld-Dor 2 in its first-round eliminator.

Little fly weldor battle

Little Fly and Weld-Dor 2 clash

It sluggishly drove towards Sump Thing as the battle began, only to be bumped by Weld-Dor 2 and grazing the latter's front end with its blade. Another hit allowed Little Fly to cut through the side of Weld-Dor 2's wedge, after which the two robots drove alongside each other and separated, and Sump Thing attacked Little Fly with its axe a couple of times. Little Fly and Weld-Dor 2 then drove head-on into each other again, before the three robots bumped into each other, with Little Fly’s blade getting caught in Weld-Dor 2's left-hand panel in the process.

"Good even contest, this. Again, that blade seems to be stuck by Little Fly. Once it hits metal, it seems to jar, jag, and then, err, have a redundant spell."
— Jonathan Pearce observes Little Fly's blade as it gets stuck in Weld-Dor 2's armour
Little Fly vs Sump Thing vs Weld-Dor 2

Little Fly sees off Weld-Dor 2

Stuck in Weld-Dor 2, Little Fly pushed the latter back over the flame jet, momentarily causing Weld-Dor 2's internals to catch fire, while Sump Thing again axed Little Fly as it struggled to break free. Once both it and Weld-Dor 2 broke free, Little Fly struggled to move away, with both Weld-Dor 2 and Sump Thing bumping into it and attacking before Little Fly again cut into Weld-Dor 2. Eventually, it was pushed near the Flame Pit by Weld-Dor 2 and attacked by Sergeant Bash, after which it drove sluggishly across the arena as its two opponents attacked each other.

"Little Fly... little bit too slow for me."
— Jonathan Pearce as Little Fly's slow speed becomes apparent

However, Weld-Dor 2 eventually became immobilised, ostensibly following repeated attacks from Sump Thing, with Little Fly hitting Weld-Dor 2 once again before the House Robots attacked the Northern Irish robot. Both Little Fly and Sump Thing progressed to the second round as a result, with Phelim Lundy of the Weld-Dor team revealing afterwards that the damage caused by Little Fly's blade actually caused one of Weld-Dor 2's wires to be moved, resulting in its immobilisation.

"To be fair now to the wee – that wee small Little Fly, he was doin' us a lot of damage with his, err... wee spinning disc thing on there. I think he's done a majority of the damage there. He did remove one of my cables off our batteries, and that's what actually immobilised us..."
— Phelim Lundy's revelation following the eliminator

In the second round, Little Fly faced fellow series newcomer Tiberius.

Little fly tiberius battle

Tiberius tries to grab hold of Little Fly

Immediately, its slow speed allowed Tiberius to push it from the side across the arena, although Little Fly responded by scuffing Tiberius' wedge and left-hand panel with its blade. The two robots circled round each other close to Sergeant Bash's CPZ, before Tiberius bumped and pushed Little Fly a few more times, eventually pushing it into Sergeant Bash. Then, Sergeant Bash briefly pinched Little Fly before it escaped, with Tiberius again pushing and driving Little Fly around the arena and back into the House Robot. Little Fly hesitated over the closed Pit, and was bumped and pushed again by Tiberius before the latter rammed it into the wall.

"You see, I don't think that blade, when it's up against, err, a welded steel chassis or polypropylene armour can cause much damage, Little Fly's weaponry."
— Jonathan Pearce observes Little Fly's lack of damage as Tiberius rams it into the wall

However, Tiberius' attack resulted in it getting stuck against the wall, with Refbot and the other House Robots having to free both robots from the wall. In the process, it became apparent that Tiberius was only mobile on one side and in forward drive, with Little Fly emerging victorious as Tiberius was attacked by Sir Killalot, who then put it on the pit before Matilda and Shunt pitted it.

In the Heat Final, Little Fly faced MouseTrap for a place in the series Semi-Finals.

Mouse trap little fly

Little Fly attempts to slash the weaponry of MouseTrap

It immediately drove up MouseTrap's wedge, sparks flying as MouseTrap's trap weapon slammed onto the blade. Little Fly drove away and struck MouseTrap's side, sending a shard of metal flying and catching on the latter's trap mechanism. The two robots briefly drove away from each other, with Little Fly approaching Mousetrap and attempting to line up another attack as the latter sat idle close to the flame jet.

"Come into my parlour, said the mousetrap to the fly. Little Fly, not buying that."
— Jonathan Pearce as Little Fly attempts to attack MouseTrap
Mousetrap vs Little Fly

Little Fly is hit and pushed against the wall by MouseTrap

Little Fly again hit MouseTrap's side as both robots came together again, almost getting swiped by MouseTrap's weapon in doing so. MouseTrap momentarily stopped moving near the flame jet, allowing Little Fly to attack it again and get its blade caught on MouseTrap's weapon mechanism once more. Little Fly was then whacked and pushed around by MouseTrap in return, before again slashing into MouseTrap's side and being pushed into the wall after its blade caught the spring for MouseTrap's weapon.

LittleFlyHitsMousetrap

Little Fly mounts another attack

Refbot separated the two robots after they became stuck together, with Little Fly again unable to damage MouseTrap's spring and being pushed back by MouseTrap. Both robots were separated by Refbot again as they lingered over the closed Pit, before Little Fly was once more pushed across the arena by MouseTrap, this time into Matilda's CPZ. Little Fly escaped, but was lifted and pushed back into the CPZ by Matilda, and struggled to get its weapon spinning up to speed again as the battle ended and went to a Judges' decision. With both robots close on points, Little Fly lost the decision to MouseTrap, with Richard Woodward noticeably upset about Little Fly's defeat.

Craig Charles: "I bet you're gutted, aren’t you?"
Richard Woodward: "Yep."
Craig Charles: "It was – I would not – I would've given it as a draw. Go and blame the Judges, okay? It was so close... It was just... forgive the pun, but you were a gnat's breath away, weren't you?"
Craig Charles speaks to Richard Woodward and team in the post-battle interview

Nevertheless, Little Fly was eliminated from the Fourth Wars, although not without inflicting considerable damage to MouseTrap, which affected the latter's performance in the Semi-Finals.

Results[]

LITTLE FLY - RESULTS
Series 4
The Fourth Wars - UK Championship
Heat Final
Heat K, Eliminator vs. Sump Thing, Weld-Dor 2 (28) Qualified
Heat K, Semi-Final vs. Tiberius Won
Heat K, Final vs. MouseTrap Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 2
  • Losses: 1

Series Record[]

Series Little Fly Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Heat Final
The Fifth Wars Did not enter
The Sixth Wars Did not enter
The Seventh Wars Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Little Fly is the only Series 4 Heat Finalist to appear only in the Fourth Wars.
  • Little Fly is also the only robot (and team) in Heat K of Series 4 not to appear in any other episode or series.

Navigation[]

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