Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1/Wild Card Warriors

Wild Card Warriors
Structure Information
Number of Competing Robots	12
Format	Knockout
History
UK Series	Extreme 1
Episode(s)	2, 4-5, 11, 13

"Wild Card Warriors gives those couch-potato competitors brave enough (or stupid enough) - who have an untried robot at home - the chance to put up or shut up. Newcomers who have never fought in the arena before will be invited to take on some of the top All-Star veterans in head-to-head contests. Those novice robots and teams lucky - or unlucky - enough to be given a Wild Card will get their chance to see what it's really like to do battle in the arena. Will they have the metal to match the mouth and give the veterans a hard time - or will they become metal mincemeat?"

— Robot Wars Extreme: The Official Guide

Wild Card Warriors was a side competition held during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1. It consisted of a series of one-on-one battles between new robots which had not fought in the main competition before, and a selection of experienced veterans from previous series. The newcomers would fight to prove their capabilities against their seasoned opponents, and to win themselves a place in the 'Robot Wars family.' However, of the six newcomers to take part, only one won a Wild Card Warrior battle, although its victory was not televised.

The idea of the Wild Card Warriors competition may have influenced the similarly-themed Extreme 2 New Blood Championship.

Competing Robots

Veterans

	Stinger
	Weight	83kg
	Dimensions	0.71m x 0.61m x 0.38m
	Power	2 x 24v Electric Motors
	Weapons	Bludgeoning Spike
	Strengths	Heavy Duty Weapon
	Weaknesses	Exposed Tyres
From: Branston, Lincoln
Team Members: Kevin Scott, Karl Skinner & Tim Mann

	Behemoth
	Weight	95kg
	Dimensions	1.1m x 0.62m x 0.57m
	Power	24v Motor
	Weapons	Pneumatic Scoop
	Strengths	Self-righting Mechanism
	Weaknesses	Low Impact Weaponry
From: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Team Members: Anthony Pritchard, Michael Pritchard & Kane Aston

	King B Powerworks
	Weight	88kg
	Dimensions	1m x 0.77m x 0.25m
	Power	36v DC Motor
	Weapons	Front Disc and Rear Lifter
	Strengths	Extremely Powerful
	Weaknesses	Exposed Tyres
From: Havant, Hampshire
Team Members: Simon Harrison & Grant Hornsby

	Dominator 2
	Weight	96kg
	Dimensions	0.65m x 0.65m x 1.35m
	Power	2 x 750w Electric Motors
	Weapons	Pneumatic Axe
	Strengths	Power & Speed
	Weaknesses	Accuracy of Axe
From: Huntingdon
Team Members: Peter Halloway, Chris Hall & Elliott Smart

	Panic Attack
	Weight	98kg
	Dimensions	1m x 0.7m x 0.16m
	Power	24v Motor
	Weapons	Lifting Forks
	Strengths	Impenetrable Armour
	Weaknesses	Reliability of Weapon
From: Thornhill, Cwmbran, Gwent
Team Members: Kim Davies, Michael Davies & Christian Bridge

Newcomers

	Ajjay
	Weight	100kg
	Dimensions	1.1m x 1.1m x 0.25m
	Power	12v Motors
	Weapons	4 x Flailing Arms
	Strengths	High Speed Robot
	Weaknesses	First Time Competitor
From: Tilehurst, Reading
Team Members: John Shepherd & Liam Ryan

	The Spider
	Weight	100kg
	Dimensions	0.60m x 1.33m x 0.90m
	Power	750w Electric Motor
	Weapons	4 x Rotating Spikes
	Strengths	Invertible
	Weaknesses	No Armour
From: Mold, Flintshire
Team Members: John Udale, Robert Udale & Carol Udale

	Draven
	Weight	100kg
	Dimensions	1.15m x 0.73m x 0.55m
	Power	2 x Electric Motors
	Weapons	Hydraulic Jaw
	Strengths	Heavily Armoured
	Weaknesses	Reliability
From: Cranbrook, Kent
Team Members: Martin Gutkowski, Joe Gibson & Richard Johnstone

	The Executioner
	Weight	100kg
	Dimensions	1.32m x 0.88m x 0.51m
	Power	2 x 750w Electric Motors
	Weapons	Hydraulic Crushing Blade
	Strengths	Powerful Weapon
	Weaknesses	Exposed Tyres
From: Stanground
Team Members: Mark Nenadic, Ian Sanford & David Sanford

	Axe-Awe
	Weight	97kg
	Dimensions	1.12m x 0.86m x 0.57m
	Power	24v Electric Motors
	Weapons	Axe & Flipper
	Strengths	Experienced Engineers
	Weaknesses	Slow & Sluggish
From: Langport, Somerset
Team Members: Gilbert Grimm, Robert Grimm & Adrian Moore

Untelevised

	Hypno-Disc
	Weight	100kg
	Dimensions	0.9m x 0.55m x 0.25m
	Power	24-36v DC Motors
	Weapons	Large Rotating Disc
	Strengths	Destructive Weapon
	Weaknesses	Vulnerable Wheels
From: Middleton Cheney, Banbury, Oxfordshire
Team Members: Dave Rose, Derek Rose & Ken Rose

	TX-108
	Statistics not displayed
	From: Burntwood, Staffordshire
	Team Members: Craig Danby

Matches

Stinger vs Ajjay

Sir Killalot picks up Ajjay

The fight began with both robots largely dodging each other. Ajjay made the first attack, ramming into Stinger whilst avoiding its bludgeoning spike, but its spinning weapon didn't appear to be working. Stinger missed several hits with its spike, and Ajjay continued to ram it, eventually hitting it into the pit release button. Stinger drove away, and Ajjay attempted to ram it again, but made no meaningful attacks, whilst Stinger merely continued to slam its mace on the arena floor.

"But is there control? Is there any aim to this?"

— Jonathan Pearce noting both robots lacking in good control

The constant dodging continued, with Ajjay seemingly unable to control itself properly. This became evident when, under no pressure, it drove straight into Sir Killalot's CPZ, who picked it up in his claws.

Stinger attacks Ajjay

"Ajjay! Ajjay! Ajjay!? OK? KO? I think so..."

— Jonathan Pearce

Killalot eventually dropped Ajjay, who then drove onto the flame pit. Ajjay then drove at Stinger, who at last started landing meaningful attacks with its spike. The two robots then continued to drive at each other.

"The underdogs have come here, though, with plenty of pluck, determination and courage, and we'll give them credit for that"

— Jonathan Pearce praises Ajjay

A few more less meaningful attacks occurred to both robots, and suddenly Stinger reversed towards Sir Killalot, who grabbed hold of it by its axle. He then proceeded to carry it towards the arena wall; cease was called, but Killalot dropped Stinger out anyway. The judges were called to make a decision.

"They've done all the work, but it looks as if it could get tossed out of the arena here! But Killalot's got to beat the clock! The clock is ticking down, can Stinger survive? Can Stinger stay in? I think they've just stayed in! Out of the arena they go. But I think it was after time, in which case, Killalot was bang out of order!"

— Jonathan Pearce as Killalot throws Stinger out of the arena.

"Now, this is not a unanimous decision. They've decided, two-to-one, that the winners are Stinger!"

— Craig Charles announces the decision

Winner: Stinger

Behemoth vs The Spider

Behemoth turns The Spider over

"There's always new ones, they always stand to their own fair chance, but they're not too sure what it's like out in the real world of the battles and, well, we're quite familiar ourselves, so we'll show them what it's like"

— Michael Pritchard

Behemoth lifts The Spider out

The battle begun with both robots dodging around each other. After three of these, they both drove front on at each other, and Behemoth flipped The Spider over, driving it straight into the arena wall. Upon contact, Spider's spinning blades made matters worse for itself by pulling it up the wall. Behemoth charged at the stuck Spider, knocking it onto its side. It then made another charge and lifted it over the arena wall altogether. This was the first time a non-flipper weapon had thrown another robot out of the arena.

"Out of the web, out of the picture, out of the plan!"

— Jonathan Pearce after the quick battle

Winner: Behemoth

King B Powerworks vs Draven

King B hooks Draven

"I've been talking to Martin [Gutkowski] who's the team captain, and I've always laughed at his robot, saying "Oh, it's so complicated, you've taken two years to get that going, you'll never get it going, it's going to fall over as soon as you get in there"...and he HAS got it going and now it's frightening"

— Simon Harrison, captain of King B Powerworks, on Draven's back-story

King B Powerworks got off to the faster start, but the first few moments of the battle had the two simply driving around one another. Eventually, Draven managed to catch King B within its jaw, but wasn't able to close it in time and instead pushed it around the arena. King B when attempted to use its saw on Draven, but it did not appear to be working. Draven took the advantage and pushed King B into the CPZ, but the more experienced machine escaped. With its saw out of action, King B attempted to use its lifting spikes to ram Draven's side, but no damage was caused. Draven eventually managed to catch King B Powerworks again, but the jaw was too slow to catch its faster adversary.

King B pushes Draven towards the pit

"Draven had a chance there to close the beak on King B and they failed to do so. If it goes to the judges, they will have taken notice of that"

— Jonathan Pearce

King B then attempted to use its saw on Draven again, which seemed to flicker back to life momentarily before stopping again. With this failing, it attempted to use its spikes again and this time it was able to get underneath Draven and hook itself between its wheels. Draven attempted to escape by raising its lifting mechanism, but this only caused part of its armour to break off. Unable to escape, King B took the immediate advantage and, in a decidedly Panic Attack-equse move, activated the pit and pushed Draven straight in.

"And once again, it's the more experienced robot, King B Powerworks, that wins it"

— Jonathan Pearce

Winner: King B Powerworks

Dominator 2 vs The Executioner

The Executioner executes itself

"Go home, guys. You're gonna get trashed"

— Mark Nenadic, of The Executioner

As soon as the battle began, The Executioner drove away from Dominator 2 and attempted to press the pit release button, but missed. It attempted a second time, with the same result. A third attempt finally managed to open the pit as Dominator tried to push underneath it. It missed an axe blow and The Executioner drove away, but as Dominator gave chase, the newcomer suddenly turned around and drove straight into the descending pit.

"Well it took them long enough to activate the pit release, and as soon as they did they went straight down!"

— Jonathan Pearce on The Executioner's appaling driving

At about 16–18 seconds, it proved to be the quickest battle in either series of Robot Wars Extreme.

Winner: Dominator 2

Panic Attack vs Axe-Awe

"You've got one shot and make it a good one, because it's the only one you're gonna have"

— Kim Davis' message to Axe-Awe

Axe-Awe self-rights

Despite both robots low speed of 8 mph, the battle started quickly. Axe-Awe spun around, revealing its rear to Panic Attack, but the former champion did not capitalise. The two eventually charged at each other front on, but clashed slightly to the side, resulting in Axe-Awe missing an attack with the axe. Axe-Awe then tried to use its flipper, but missed and Panic Attack reversed away. Axe-Awe tried another attack with its flipper, and managed to lift up one of Panic Attack's skirts. Panic Attack came back strongly by lifting up Axe-Awe from the side, meaning it was unable to use its axe properly. Panic Attack then rolled Axe-Awe over, but the Wild Card quickly righted itself using its axe. It spun again, exposing its back to Panic Attack, and this time the veteran took advantage, ramming it into the side wall and lifting it up onto its top, keeping Axe-Awe's wheels off its body using its lifting forks.

"This is all rather inevitable, isn't it?"

— Jonathan Pearce, realising what Panic Attack has in mind

Panic Attack traps Axe-Awe...

...and drops it in the pit

Axe-Awe was powerless to do anything as Panic Attack pulled off its signature move, carrying its opponent towards the pit release, then dropping it into the pit. After the battle had finished, it was briefly shown that Panic Attack had tried to attack Shunt again.

"Axe-Awe in awe of an ex-UK champion!"

— Craig Charles after the battle

Winner: Panic Attack

Hypno-Disc vs TX-108

"No Wild Card challenger has yet beaten one of our experienced machines, don't forget"

— Jonathan Pearce, prior to Axe-Awe's challenge of Panic Attack

Upon 'Activate' being called, Hypno-Disc was unable to move away from its starting position and was pushed into the wall by TX-108. The fight was immediately stopped and TX-108 declared the winner, with delays at filming preventing a possible rematch from happening. This marked the only occasion where a newcomer would emerge victorious in a Wild Card Warriors battle, but ultimately this battle would end up being untelevised. To this day, no images or footage of this battle have been found.

Winner: TX-108

Differences between versions

In the original BBC Choice airings of Extreme 1, Draven was referred to in its battle by its original name Anthrax. However, this was changed for future broadcasts following a series of anthrax attacks occuring in the United States in between the battle's initial airings on BBC Choice and BBC Two. Along with the robot's renaming, the battle itself was further edited to reflect this change. Key alterations included re-recorded arena introductions and commentary from Stuart McDonald and Jonathan Pearce respectively, along with the removal of much of Craig Charles' announcements and a portion of Julia Reed's pre-battle interview with the team. Though Anarchic Engineering received a VHS tape of the BBC Choice version from John Reid, no images or recordings of the fight as originally broadcast are publicly available at present.

Trivia

• Dominator 2's victory over The Executioner is ranked within the Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars. It is the quickest battle from both series of Extreme.
• TX-108 was the only newcomer to win a battle, defeating Hypno-Disc via the veteran suffering mobility issues. However, the fight was never televised due to the producers being unsatisfied with its brevity and lack of action.
• Of the six newcomers, only Axe-Awe, Draven and The Executioner would appear in the UK Series following their Wild Card Warriors battles, with TX-108 failing to qualify and Ajjay and The Spider presumably failing as well. However, neither The Spider and Axe-Awe were true newcomers; their teams had fought in previous UK Championships with different machines, Team Tarantula with Robocow and Team Iron-Awe with Iron-Awe respectively.
  • If teams are considered, Craig and Chris Danby would also enter the UK Series later on, albeit with the unrelated robots Foxic and Apex.
• This event marked Behemoth's first out of the arena flip, and the first occasion of a robot throwing another out of the arena without a flipping weapon.
  • It also marked the first occasion of a House Robot throwing a competitor out of the arena, with Sir Killalot dropping Stinger over the wall at the end of its battle against Aijay. However, as cease had already been called by that stage, Stinger still won the resulting Judges' decision.
• Pussycat was originally intended to fight Draven but, after it could not compete due to weapon restrictions, King B Powerworks was chosen to fight in its place.

"We were to have been fighting Pussycat, but due to a problem with the arena, large spinning discs were banned for the day. We fought King B Powerworks instead."

— Archived Draven website

• In the Italian dub of Extreme 1, this side competition was known as Il Diploma, translating quite simply to "The Diploma". It can therefore be inferred that winning a fight against an experienced competitor equates to completing a course of study within Robot Wars.
• All but one of the Wild Card Warriors battles were filmed at Elstree Studios, confirmed by the arena markings being identical to those of the concurrently-filmed Series 5 and veterans such as Behemoth and Dominator 2 competing in their newest incarnations for the main series. The sole exception was the untelevised Hypno-Disc vs TX-108 fight, which was confirmed by Craig Danby to have taken place at Earls Court along with much of the earlier Extreme 1 competitions.