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Mega Hurts 2
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"We were both working for the Ford Motor Co in Dagenham at the time of the Second Wars and decided after watching the show that we could build a better bot than the ones we see, so we did. Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for!"
— Darren Hayden-Ball

Team Scutterbots (later Team Spawn Again), were a team from Essex who fought in Series 3-7 of Robot Wars, both series of Robot Wars Extreme and the first season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. Captained by Darren Hayden-Ball for the majority of the team's run, Team Scutterbots reached the Semi-Finals in four out of the five main UK series they competed in, with the sole exception of Series 7 - their final televised appearance. The team sometimes referred to themselves as The Essex Boys and were referred to simply as Team Spawn in promotional programmes.

Team Scutterbots comprised several Ford Motor Company employees, captained by Graham Warner, with his colleagues Darren Hayden-Ball, and Oluremi Idris. Idris did not return for Series 4 and was replaced by Luke Jackman. After Graham Warner left the team, Team Scutterbots consisted of just Jackman and Hayden-Ball from Series 5 - which remained the case until the end of the original series. Idris and Warner left the team due to them not living in close proximity to Hayden-Ball and Jackman after the Ford Motor Co plant in Dagenham closed down, thus making the team members redundant[1].

"They closed the Dagenham plant down so we was made redundant. Luke and me live near each other whereas Remi and Graham didn't so that's why it ended with me and Luke"
— Darren Hayden-Ball in 2020

The Team[]

Darren Hayden-Ball[]

"We're gonna knock 'em out, basically."
— Darren Hayden-Ball before the Southern Annihilator
Darren Hayden-Ball Series 5

Darren Hayden-Ball in a typical Team Scutterbots look for the Fifth Wars

Darren Hayden-Ball (known as Darren Ball until Series 6), was the captain of the Essex-based team in every one of the team's campaigns bar their debut series in the Third Wars. Hayden-Ball was the team's main speaker when introducing the robot - even when Graham Warner was the team's captain in Series 3.

Philippa Forrester: "List the repair job."
Darren Hayden-Ball: "Oh god. The chassis has been cut - re-welded, new bits put in it, there's been reinforces put in, electrical problems, gearbox has been rebuilt, bearings have been replaced, batteries have been replaced - and that's the only things I can think of at the moment!"
— Darren Hayden-Ball takes a lengthy repair job in his stride
Team Scutterbots S6

Official photo of the team in Series 6

Darren Hayden-Ball

Darren Hayden-Ball during Team Scutterbots' final campaign

As part of Team Scutterbots' attitude and image, Hayden-Ball often joined Graham Warner in making short, to-the-point comments about the opposition. When the team became a two-man job, despite Luke Jackman often offering both positives and negatives about the robot, Hayden-Ball often solely acted with joking-resignation. Despite the stress of maintaining a machine being evident at times, Hayden-Ball always made positive comments about his time on the show - stating in multiple post-battle interviews with Craig Charles about how Robot Wars was always 'a laugh' to be involved with.

Luke Jackman[]

"Throw 'em out the arena - ten seconds maximum!"
— Luke Jackman with one of his boisterous calls before Spawn Again's fight against R.O.C.S. in Series 7
Luke Jackman

Luke Jackman during Series 7

Luke Jackman was the only of the Team Scutterbots' members to first appear after Series 3. Despite this late start, Jackman ended up being a mainstay afterwards, and once he and Ball became a two-man team, Jackman took a bigger speaking role on the team. Jackman's comments were particularly notable for being one extreme or another. During the early stages of a competition, and when the seeded Spawn Again was the favourite to win a fight, Jackman often confidently predicted his machine to win an upcoming fight in ruthless fashion.

Craig Charles: "Do you think you can take Bigger Brother and Hypno-Disc?"
Luke Jackman: "We can take a good battering, yeah!"
— Luke Jackman with a comically negative response after news of the Losers' melee lineup
Luke Jackman Craig Charles

Craig Charles holds the distraught Luke Jackman

Luke Jackman - Spawn!

Luke Jackman makes use of his shiny scalp

However, when Spawn Again was seen as the underdog - especially against a destructive machine - Jackman visibly aired his fear of the battle ahead with both body language and speech. In these instances, Jackman often acted emotionally and with no confidence - memorably saying "I want my Mum!" when Spawn Again was defeated by Razer in the first round of the Semi-Finals in Series 5, as well as holding his head in his hands when Spawn Again beached itself over the Pit against the same machine in the Extreme 2 All-Stars championship.

Amusingly, Jackman had "Spawn!" written and underlined on the back of his head in felt tip in Spawn Again's Series 5 Heat. Other post-battle interview antics include a moment after Spawn Again defeated R.O.C.S. in the second round of Series 7 - when Craig Charles rubbed his hands over Jackman's head.

Jackman was on the wrong side of an error on Spawn of Scutter's statistics board in Series 4 - where only his first name was present.

Graham Warner[]

"It's about time we sorted out who was the best - and, y'know, that's it."
— Graham Warner's line during Heat A of Series 4
Graham Warner

Graham Warner during his final outing with the team

Graham Warner was one of the three original members of the team, and the captain of Team Scutterbots during Series 3. Often trash-talking the opposition with witty remarks and one-liners, Warner was also present for Series 4 and Extreme 1, before his role on the team came to an end, due to him living further away from Hayden-Ball and Jackman. However, Warner was still credited as a team member on Spawn Again's statistics board during Series 5, and was mentioned by Jonathan Pearce at the start of their semi-final fight against Terrorhurtz in Series 6.

Warner notably appeared during the opening minutes of Series 4, as part of buildup to the seedings montage that followed.

Oluremi Idris[]

Philippa Forrester: "What day is it, Scutter's Revenge team?"
Oluremi Idris: "Judgement day!"
— Oluremi Idris' joke continues, as Scutter's Revenge prepares for the Heat Final against Pussycat
Oluremi Idris

Oluremi Idris in Series 3 - his only series

Oluremi "Remi" Idris was the third member of the team during their debut series. By trade he was an electrical engineer. Idris was a significant member of the team during the lead-up to Series 3, and was responsible for lodging the application. He emphasised his role as a minority roboteer (Robot Wars had few minorities and fewer in prominent roles) as well as the nod to Craig Charles' Red Dwarf in the naming of the robot, which appealed to the producers and led to Scutter's Revenge qualifying despite being over the weight limit at the audition.

Despite only appearing in one campaign, Idris was memorable for a running joke between he and Philippa Forrester throughout the series. In the interviews before and after fights, Idris consistently mentioned that it was "judgement day" for Scutter's Revenge opponent. Idris came up with the "judgement day" joke because Zeus was the first round opponent.

"I coined judgement Day, basically, from the idea that Zeus is a god and there is the thought that God is going to judge the world. Also from the background that Scutter was an errand robot in Red dwarf. Hence its judgement day for Zeus and Scutter has come to take his revenge for been taken advantage of."
— Oluremi Idris, July 2020[2]

After Scutter's Revenge's run was ended by 101, Forrester once asked when judgement day would be, with the team amusingly stating it was postponed until next year.

Idris left the team at the same time he departed the company they worked at, having heard that the company was likely to close. He moved further away and was too far from Hayden-Ball and his replacement, Luke Jackman.

Branding[]

During their first series, Team Scutterbots wore basic, white T-shirts which featured the Robot Wars logo on the top left, as well as wearing black trousers.

Team Scutterbots Series 3 1

Team Scutterbots in Series 3

Team Scutterbots t-shirt

The "Resistance is Futile" T-shirt in Series 4

After their debut series, Team Scutterbots came back in Series 4 with a visual overhaul in an attempt to outdo Team Plunderbird's hard-man reputation. Most notably, the team sported specially branded T-shirts, which featured the "Spawn" logo at the top, a number of skulls in the midriff, and a "Resistance is Futile" slogan at the bottom. Blacked-out glasses, and reversed baseball caps completed the team's appearance.

With the addition of dog-tags, sunhats, and jewellery, Team Scutterbots added to their look during Extreme 1 and Series 5, before switching to more basic T-shirts, and - in Darren-Hayden Ball's case - a sleeveless, black jacket in Series 6. These tops featured the name of the machine in gold colouring, with a black base for the shirt itself.

Rivalry with Plunderbird and Image[]

"Everyone knows: the last thing you do every day, is you put the cat out - and that's exactly what we're gonna do."
— Graham Warner before the Heat Final against Pussycat
SRteam

Team Scutterbots in Series 3 with Scutter's Revenge

Despite not immediately slipping into their bad-boy image which followed in subsequent wars, Team Scutterbots still showed off their typically-Essex personalities with witty one liners and typical hard-man remarks - with examples of this after the second round fight against Thermador, and before the Heat Final vs. Pussycat. They also appeared in the same Heat as Plunderstorm, and despite not facing each other because Thermador defeated Plunderstorm, it still helped inspire many of Team Scutterbots' future appearances on the show.

Graham Warner: "It looks better than the other robots, it kicks butt better than the other robots, and we're better looking than the Plunderbirds."
Luke Jackman: "And... we're 'ard!"
— Team Scutterbots
Team Scutterbots Series 4

Team Scutterbots in Series 4

In Series 4, Team Scutterbots developed their image significantly - both visually, and with their dialogue. The team's desire to outdo the Plunderbird team also made evident, with the team stating that it needed to be sorted once and for all which team was the hardest. Once again, the potential of this fight was dashed by the International Wreck Crew, as Plunderbird 4 was defeated in the second round by Knightmare before it could fight Spawn of Scutter.

Darren Ball: "We're the Spawn Again team. As you can see, the Essex boys have got a new robot this year. We've the same power, but a big, bad flipper this year. Anyone who wants to go up against us this year better be prepared to go into orbit."
Graham Warner: "And our motto this year, is: surrender or fly."
— Team Scutterbots' introduction during Extreme 1
Team Scutterbots Extreme

Julia Reed interviews Team Scutterbots in Extreme 1

The next two incarnations, Spawn Again and Plunderbird 5, both entered the War of Independence during the first season of Extreme Warriors, but both were beaten in the first round by their opponents.

The chance for the two teams to fight each other finally came around when they were drawn up against each other in the Tag Team Terror during Extreme Series 1, with Comengetorix and Bigger Brother, partnering the two, respectively. Despite Bigger Brother's pedigree, Team Scutterbots reiterated their interest was only dealing with Plunderbird 5, with Graham Warner stating that Plunderbird 5 would have to learn how to fly due to Spawn Again's weapon. However, this never came to fruition because Plunderbird 5 was forced to pull out of the battle after the robot accelerated into the arena doors before the fight.

Team Scutterbots Series 5

Team Scutterbots during Series 5

Despite their bad-boy personas, Team Scutterbots made a gentleman's agreement with Team Nemesis before their Heat Final fight against Diotoir - where the winner of the fight would Pit the defeated machine, so that it would avoid further damage at the hands of the House Robots. This didn't go according to plan, however, as Spawn Again failed to carry out the pitting after flipping Diotoir over - which allowed Sgt. Bash to carry out his traditional torching of the Irish machine. This Heat was also the only time where Team Scutterbots and the International Wreck Crew were not in the same Heat. After S3 beat Plunderbird 5, it was retired, leaving the rivalry between the two as one of the biggest unresolved grudges in Robot Wars.

Craig Charles: "What were you thinking?"
Darren Hayden-Ball: "It was tactical!"
— Darren Hayden-Ball tries to find humour after Spawn Again flips itself down the Pit against Razer in Extreme 2
Team Scutterbots Series 7

Team Scutterbots in Series 7

In Series 6, Extreme 2, and 7, Team Scutterbots largely dropped their bad-boy personalities, instead often opting for absolute negativity or extreme confidence before and after fights - with the latter part especially relevant when the machine faced large repair jobs. When Spawn Again's ram exploded in its last ever fight against Raging Knightmare, Hayden-Ball and Jackman remained humble and even seemed to find humour in the situation.

"Pop goes the weasel init though! And that went pop!"
— Luke Jackman jokes about Spawn Again's pneumatics exploding

Robots[]

Name Weight Class Series
Scutter's Revenge Heavyweight Series 3
Spawn of Scutter Heavyweight Series 4
Spawn Again Heavyweight Series 5-7, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 17
  • Losses: 11

Series Record[]

UK Series[]

Main Series Team Scutterbots Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Semi-Final, Round 1 with Scutter's Revenge
The Fourth Wars Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn of Scutter
The Fifth Wars Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn Again
The Sixth Wars Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn Again
The Seventh Wars Heat Final with Spawn Again
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Entered with Spawn Again
Series 2 Entered with Spawn Again

US Series[]

US Series Team Scutterbots Series Record
Season 1 War of Independence, Round 1 with Spawn Again
Season 2 Did not enter
Nickelodeon Did not enter

Trivia[]

  • Despite reaching four Semi-Finals, the team never managed to win a battle in any of their Semi-Final appearances, going out in the first round of the semis on each occasion, the record for the most Semi-Finals reached without winning a battle in any of them.
  • The battles between Spawn of Scutter and Knightmare and Spawn Again and Raging Knightmare respectively meant that Scutterbots/Knightmare became the second of three rivalries (after Team 101/King Buxton and followed by Pulsar/Ironside3) where both teams reached a Semi-Final or Grand Final by defeating the other.
  • On three of four occasions, Team Scutterbots met or exceeded their projected finishes on their seedings (placing in the Top 16 on a 10th seeding in Series 4, a top 12 on a 13th seeding in Series 5, and a Top 12 on a 10th seeding in Series 6). Only in The Seventh Wars did Spawn Again fail to meet expectations.
  • The team often salvaged components from each of their robots and reused them for their successors. As Darren Hayden-Ball put it, each one was "born out of the previous version"[3].
  • According to the Extreme 2 programme, Luke Jackman was an expert in karate.

References[]

  1. Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Darren Hayden-Ball
  2. Private correspondence between Toon Ganondorf and Oluremi Idris, July 2020
  3. Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Darren Hayden-Ball

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