Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2/All-Stars/Heat A

	Firestorm 4
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	0.36 x 1.10 x 0.83m
Power	Electric motors
Weapons	Pneumatic flipper
Strengths	Excellent manoeuvrability
Weaknesses	2 Wheel drive
	From: Langley Moor, Durham
	Team Members: Graham Bone & Hazel Heslop

	Dantomkia
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	0.36 x 1.20 x 0.80m
Power	2 x 750W motors
Weapons	Powerful flipper
Strengths	Very agile
Weaknesses	Nervous driver
	From: Chertsey, Surrey
	Team Members: Michael Lambert, Daniel Lambert & Stephen Gadsby

	Bigger Brother
Weight	96kg
Dimensions	0.50 x 0.73 x 0.93m
Power	2 x 750W electric motors
Weapons	Spiked CO2 gas ram flipper
Strengths	Indestructible
Weaknesses	None!
	From: Brighton, East Sussex
	Team Members: Joe Watts, Ian Watts & Ellie Watts

"This is Robot Wars, this is the All-Star chamionship, where the 12 most feared, most ferocious, most fierce robots in the whole of Britain go into battle against each other! No new boys, no messing and no mercy!"

— Craig Charles at the start of the Heat

Heat A of the All-Stars Championship of Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2 was the first heat of the second All-Stars Championship, which took place during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2. The first heat would determine the first of the two robots to go through to the All-Stars Grand-Final, which would be broadcast at the end of the second heat. The episode featuring Heat A was originally broadcast on January 13, 2003 on BBC Choice and repeated on May 9, 2003 on BBC Two.

Competing Robots[]


	S3
	Weight	98kg
	Dimensions	0.75 x 0.95 x 1.25m
	Power	2 x 750W electric motors
	Weapons	Steel disc
	Strengths	Destructive weaponry
	Weaknesses	Aluminium armour
From: Donisthorpe, Leicestershire
Team Members: Dave Barker, Pete Allsop & Ian Pritchard


	Terrorhurtz
	Weight	99kg
	Dimensions	0.50 x 1.25 x 1.05m
	Power	2 x 1000W electric motors
	Weapons	Double headed axe
	Strengths	Strong armour
	Weaknesses	Unpredictable spasms
From: Oxford, Oxfordshire
Team Members: John Reid, Nicholas Lynch & James Lynch


	Tornado
	Weight	99kg
	Dimensions	0.25 x 0.85 x 0.75m
	Power	2 x 750W electric motors
	Weapons	Interchangeable
	Strengths	Interchangeable weaponry
	Weaknesses	Unreliable drive train
From: Sawtry, Cambridgeshire
Team Members: Andrew Marchant, David Gamble & Bryan Moss

Round 1[]

Terrorhurtz vs Dantomkia vs Tornado[]

Terrorhurtz is pressured by Dantomkia and Tornado

Dantomkia barely fails to flip Terrorhurtz out of the arena

From the start it was apparent that Tornado, equipped for this fight with its scoop, and Dantomkia were ganging up on Terrorhurtz. Tornado shoved Terrorhurtz into the Disc of Doom button, and Dantomkia tried and failed to flip it over. Dantomkia then shoved Terrorhurtz to the other end of the arena flipping it after a delay, but failing to get it out of the arena. Without much effort, Terrorhurtz got itself off the arena wall, but landed on Dantomkia's flipper, and was thrown once again, this time balancing precariously on the arena wall, but eventually bounced down again. Terrorhurtz momentarily fought back landing some ineffective axe blows to Tornado, but Tornado fought back, and pushed Terrohurtz back. Meanwhile, Dantomkia then pressed the pit release button, returning to try and flip Terrorhurtz again.

"Dantomkia and Tornado have ganged up on John Reid's machine, it would seem!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Dantomkia pushes the overturned Terrorhurtz into the pit

The axe mechanism on Terrorhurtz appeared to have stopped being effective after this, only capable of very slow, weak axe blows. The combined effort of Dantomkia and Tornado pushed Terrorhurtz into Shunt, who axed through the top of the machine. Sergeant Bash sunk his jaw into Tornado to punish it for straying into the CPZ, but Shunt then flipped Terrorhurtz over, and pushed it into the centre of the arena. With its damaged axe mechanism, Terrorhurtz was unable to self right, and was effortlessly pitted by Dantomkia. Meanwhile, Sergeant Bash continued to attack Tornado, and crumpled the side, but this made no bearing on the outcome.

Qualifiers: Dantomkia & Tornado

Firestorm 4 vs Bigger Brother vs S3[]

Having lost to both of these robots before, S3 included an anti-flipper plate onto their disc housing, in the hope that flippers would fail to get underneath S3 and be driven onto the disc; however this proved ineffective, perhaps even making it easier for flippers to get underneath it. The battle began with Bigger Brother flipping over S3 from behind, but being pushed away by Firestorm. S3 then got stuck on its side, leaving Bigger Brother enough time to push it to the side of the arena and flip it out.

Firestorm then charged at Bigger Brother and overturned it, but it self-righted, only to be thrown over again. Despite the fighting between the two robots, both qualified for the second round.

"Over in a trice, which was nice!"

— Jonathan Pearce, on S3

Qualifiers: Firestorm 4 & Bigger Brother

Round 2[]

Dantomkia vs Firestorm 4[]

Firestorm 4 demonstrates its lower ground clearance

Firestorm pressures Dantomkia in the CPZ

Both sides commented on how evenly matched the two machines were, but this proved wrong as Firestorm began easily the stronger, nearly throwing Dantomkia over in seconds, before pushing it towards Sgt. Bash. Dantomkia was then overturned, but self-righted instantly, before being flipped again, once again righted. The third flip proved more troublesome, and Dantomkia was punished for its hesitancy by Sgt. Bash, who tried to grip the arm with his jaws, but failed to do so.

Eventually Dantomkia self-righted, and escaped, meanwhile Firestorm turned on Sgt. Bash temporarily, before returning to Dantomkia, who it overturned yet again, but once again Dantomkia self-righted, and came in on the attack, overturning Firestorm, who also self-righted effortlessly. Firestorm retaliated, flipping Dantomkia over twice, and pushing it into Shunt's CPZ, the House Robot attacking the top of Dantomkia.

Firestorm shoved Dantomkia up against the arena wall, and it self righted, however this was the last move of the machine, as it broke down after this, and it was attacked by Shunt, who Firestorm then tried to flip. Refbot came in and counted out Dantomkia. Firestorm then came in and dumped Dantomkia in the pit. It turned out in the end that Dantomkia's batteries had failed.

"Flipping brilliant!"

— Craig Charles, post battle

Winner: Firestorm 4

Tornado vs Bigger Brother[]

"The other thing I say to the UK Champions is, what happens if Tornado is flipped? What use is that scoop then?"

— Jonathan Pearce foreshadows

Tornado pushes Bigger Brother into the wall

Tornado, again using its charity scoop, was immediately under pressure from Bigger Brother, who a number of times tried, but failed to flip Tornado. During one attack, Bigger Brother strayed too close to Sir Killalot, who pushed Bigger Brother into the angle grinders, but Bigger Brother escaped, only to be slammed back again by Tornado, who was suddenly had the upper hand. Tornado eventually let Bigger Brother go, but was immediately left to rue their error as Bigger Brother flipped Tornado over, leaving the scoop useless and a perfect gap for a flipper to exploit. Tornado, sensing their weakness, ran for the pit release.

The inverted Tornado pushes against Bigger Brother

"It's inverted, it's absolutely no good against a flipper right now!"

— Jonathan Pearce, having criticised Tornado's scoop

Bigger Brother pushes Tornado into the pit

Tornado then tried pushing Bigger Brother, but failed to make any ground. Bigger Brother again flicked Tornado into the air, but did not re-right it. Tornado continued pushing, but Bigger Brother was equal to it, and in fact pushed back. Tornado retreated, and very nearly drove into the pit, but reversed just in time; however in its haste to attack, it got itself caught trapped between Bigger Brother's descending flipper and its shell, lifting all of Tornado's wheels off the ground, and allowing Bigger Brother to push Tornado towards the pit and in.

"Tornado's extra-special scooper wasn't so super!"

— Jonathan Pearce

Winner: Bigger Brother

Final[]

Firestorm 4 vs Bigger Brother[]

Firestorm 4 immediately got stuck under the disc of doom, freed itself but got stuck again, however this proved a good thing as Bigger Brother ran up on the disc, which is slightly above floor level, and onto the wedge of Firestorm, being thrown onto its back in the process, but Bigger Brother easily self-righted. After riding on Firestorm's wedge, Bigger Brother bounced down and went on the attack, flicking Firestorm into the air, but not flipping it over.

The two robots spent a lot of time pushing one another, before Firestorm flipped Bigger Brother onto its back by the arena wall, but once again Bigger Brother recovered. Bigger Brother missed an opportunity, as Firestorm was wedged under the angle grinders, leaving the sides a sitting duck, but Firestorm spun away before Bigger Brother could take advantage. Firestorm once again went on the offensive, this time pushing Bigger Brother across the arena and slammed it into the opposite wall. Sergeant Bash attempted to crush the side of Bigger Brother, as the two robots had strayed into a CPZ, but failed to and Firestorm carried Bigger Brother away on its wedge.

Craig Charles: "What went wrong?"

Joe Watts: "Something went silly with the gas"

— Post battle

Bigger Brother crashes out of the All-Stars

Firestorm then pressed the pit release button, and Firestorm shoved Bigger Brother against the corner of the arena, just failing to overturn it before the arrival of Sergeant Bash and Shunt, who axed the top of Bigger Brother. The two robots escaped, and met again in the centre of the arena. Bigger Brother this time went on the attack, as Firestorm's flipper appeared to have wedged open. Firestorm retaliated, and flipped over Bigger Brother, who had run out of CO₂, and Firestorm pushed it into the pit.

Craig Charles: "Who do you think your robot is susceptible to?"

Graham Bone: "We've lost to Razer a couple of times"

— Graham Bone, not knowing that Razer would be waiting for him in the final

Heat Winner: Firestorm 4

"They're the best of the best, the real hard-cores, the real All-Stars, of Robot Wars!"

— Craig Charles' sign-off

Trivia[]

The battle between S3, Bigger Brother and Firestorm 4 contains several interesting facts.
- It is ranked equal 12th in the Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars, placing both S3 vs Bigger Brother encounters on the list.
- It was a grudge match between Bigger Brother and S3 from Series 5. Ironically, Bigger Brother succeeded in doing what it failed to do then.
- S3 was thrown out of the arena, making it the 25th occurrence. Interestingly, the 24th occurrence was also against S3 but by Firestorm.
- It was the last appearance of S3.
Had Tornado won against Bigger Brother, it would have had two potential grudge matches against Firestorm and Razer. It also became the second reigning UK champion to fall to Bigger Brother, after Chaos 2 in Series 5.
Both the Big Brother and Firestorm team said that they had never fought before despite fighting each other in the Tag Team Terror of Series 4.