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The Tag Team Terror (also occasionally shortened to just Tag Team) was a side event held separately to the main competition across several series of both UK and US versions of Robot Wars.

Rules[]

"The way that Tag Team works is like this: only one robot from each pair can be fighting at any one time. If they want their partner to take over, they must retreat to their coloured areas: blue for the blue team, red for the red team. Is it me, or is it all very, very simple?"
Craig Charles explains the setup for the UK Series 4 iteration

As its name suggested, the Tag Team Terror featured a number of robot "teams" fighting in a series of two-on-two battles. The rules across all versions were as follows:

  • One robot from each team would begin in the centre of the arena, with their partners waiting in designated areas around the perimeter. For the Series 4 competition, the perimeter areas were represented by two coloured borders aligning each side of the arena, one red, the other blue. In every competition thereafter, each team was assigned a vacant CPZ.
  • The robots could change places by "tagging" each other's partner. This was done by a robot driving into their perimeter/corner areas and allowing its waiting partner to join the battle.
  • If one robot from either team was deemed immobile, the other could immediately move out to support it.
  • If one robot became immobile, the other robot from the affected team could continue to fight. The exact rules on this changed throughout the series.
    • In all the competitions prior to Extreme 2, a team would need to knock out both members of the opposing team to secure a win. If they were not able to do so, then the Judges would decide the winners as normal. Invariably, they always chose the team with two active members.
    • For Extreme Series 2, the rule was changed so that, if a fight ended with one team had two members and the other team only had one active, the latter team would automatically be eliminated. If both teams lost a member, however, the Judge would decide as normal.
  • The House Robots were permitted to attack, as usual, if a competitor entered one of the CPZs they occupied. According to Craig Charles' introduction for the Series 4 iteration, they were also permitted to attack any robots which broke tagging rules and if more than two entered the fight at once. The latter condition was seemingly reversed for the Extreme Warriors Season 1 and Nickelodeon International Tag Team iterations, wherein House Robots were either penalised by Refbot or their more severe interventions overruled in Judges' decisions.
"The rules?! Aren't there any, Refbot, really? Let's be honest, this is Tag Team Terror! We don't want rules - we want mechanical... mayhem... maniacal mashing out there..."
Jonathan Pearce, during the Tag Team Terror Semi-Final in Extreme 1, Episode 11

However, due to the show's nature, these rules were often disregarded by competitors in favour of all-out combat. As a result, fights would often turn into regular three or four-way melees, sometimes with teammates turning on each other (such as King B3 and 101 in Series 4).

Regular Pairings[]

Some teams that competed together in a Tag Team Terror stayed together for future competitions, although no pairing remained the same for more than two series. This is a list of all the pairings that entered together on more than one occasion:

Note: The robots were due to compete together for the second time in Extreme 1, but Plunderbird 5 was forced to withdraw with technical difficulties, so it was replaced by Major Tom. Bigger Brother would also team up with Kat 3 in the Nickelodeon event.
Note: Diotoir was originally paired with Mega Morg for Extreme 1, but it broke down after the first round and Pussycat was brought in as a replacement.
Note: The Joker that competed in Season 1 was actually the loanerbot Humdrum, which was renamed by the team because the original Joker was lost during shipping to the UK.

X-Terminator, Mini/Mega Morg, The Steel Avenger, General Chompsalot and Run Away also fought in multiple Tag Team Tournaments, but with different teammates in each. Bigger Brother participated in three Tag Team Tournaments, the most of any individual robot, but with a different partner each time.

UK Series[]

The Fourth Wars[]

Main article: Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars/Tag Team Terror

Extreme Series 1[]

Main article: Robot Wars Extreme: Series 1/Tag Team Terror

Extreme Series 2[]

Main article: Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2/Tag Team Terror

Other[]

A Tag Team competition was first planned as a side event for The Third Wars, but was cancelled following a behind-the-scenes accident. Unlike most subsequent events, it was not exclusive to competitors which had been accepted into the main series. According to archived forums and team websites, confirmed pairings included Mortis & Killerhurtz,[1] Daisy Chopper & Typhoon,[1] Mazakari & ROCS 2,[2] as well as Razer & Panic Attack.[1] Several pairings proposed by their respective teams included More Panda Monium & The Steel Avenger,[1] Milly-Ann Bug & Agent Orange[3] or Hefty (Geoff Warren approached both teams)[1], Spikasaurus & Schumey Too,[4] Sonic & Undertaker,[1] Sting 2 & Limpet MK2,[1] as well as Armour-Geddon & Rolling Thunder.[1]

Alex Mordue of Fire Storm, Pete Collier of More Panda Monium, Ian Inglis of Miss Struts, Adam Clark of Corporal Punishment and David Mountjoy of the KEGS School team (builders of T.R.A.C.I.E. and S.H.A.R.O.N.) were also actively involved in discussions surrounding the event, though there is no further evidence to suggest which other teams they intended to be paired with.[1] There was also initial confusion over whether teams were supposed to consist of two or three robots, with Arthur Chilcott of Mortis announcing Razer were set to join forces with Killerhurtz and Mortis before later retracting this as a misunderstanding. This may explain the Milly-Ann Bug team's reservations over choosing between Hefty and Agent Orange, if the option was there to pick both.[1]

Robot Wars: World Series, filmed as part of Series 10, featured a format which combined Tag Team and head-to-head battles. Two Tag Team battles were held as the first round of each episode, with the UK and Rest of the World teams battling each other to score points for their respective sides, similarly to the Head to Head rounds of Series 8-9.

US Series[]

Season 1[]

Main article: Extreme Warriors: Season 1/Tag Team Terror

Season 2[]

Main article: Extreme Warriors: Season 2/Tag Team Terror

Nickelodeon[]

Main article: Nickelodeon Robot Wars/International Tag Team

Trivia[]

  • In the UK competitions, the defending champion was beaten in the first round of the following competition by the team that would eventually become champions themselves.
  • In the Fourth Wars Tag Team Terror competition, Since the red and blue coloured zones also appeared in the Arena during the Sumo Basho tournament, it is likely this competition was filmed around the same time.

References[]

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