Team Shock

Team Shock
Participation Information
UK Series	8-10
Robot Wars Live Circuit	2013-2016
Team Information
Team Members	Will Thomas Ian Thomas
Home Town	Gravesend, Kent

"I need to get in that arena and I need to rip stuff apart, and I can't really explain why!"

— Will Thomas

Team Shock are a team from Reading who competed in Series 8, 9 and 10 of Robot Wars. They are notable for reaching the Grand Final in each of the first two series of the reboot with two separate machines, Shockwave and Aftershock.

The Team

Angela Scanlon: "You're a teacher, you'd expect them to be upholding citizens."

Will Thomas: "In the classroom, yeah! In the arena, it's all go-for-it, I'm a complete monster in there!"

— Will Thomas compares daily life to Robot Wars

Ian (left) and Will Thomas (right) with Shockwave

The team consists of a father-and-son team, captained by Will Thomas, a Design Technology Teacher who also designed and drove each of their robots. His father Ian, a marketer, worked as the mechanic and the robot builder. Away from the TV show, Team Shock occasionally includes Lynn Thomas, mother to Will and wife to Ian, and Emma Thomas, wife to Will Thomas.

Team Shock in Series 8

Team Shock first debuted in Series 8 of Robot Wars with their entry Shockwave, an invertible, four-wheel drive robot armed with a 360-degree rotating lifter with scoop attachments. Shockwave performed well, reaching the Grand Final in its only appearance before taking massive damage from Carbide and being eliminated at the Group Battle stage. Team Shock then returned to Series 9 with a new robot, Aftershock, a vertical spinner which qualified out of its heat without losing a single battle, finishing fourth overall. Aftershock also returned for Series 10, but was eliminated in its heat after losing its Semi-Final and Third Place Playoff.

Although Team Shock only got involved in the main competition for the first time in 2016, they had already become widely known in the roboteering community for their live event heavyweights Manta and Maelstrom. Both attained major success during the televised show's 12-year hiatus, with the latter being derived from Series 7 Semi-Finalist St. Agro. Though neither would be selected to compete in the rebooted Robot Wars, Manta made a cameo appearance in Heat B of Series 8, being seen on Team Shock's workbench in their VT.

Will Thomas' injury

In Series 8, Will Thomas became injured on-set after dropping Shockwave onto his finger. He required medical attention in a local A&E, leaving Ian Thomas to repair the robot alone. Will returned to the studio two hours later, and reprised his role as driver.

Dara Ó Briain: "Can you drive with two fingers immobilised?"

Will Thomas: "Yeah, the thumbs are OK, that's the main bit!"

— Will Thomas summarises the extent of his injury

Battle of the Stars

Will Thomas with Soldier Ant

Will Thomas was specifically chosen to be a mentor in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars. He appeared in Episode 2, mentoring archaeologist, historian, author and presenter Neil Oliver, and his two sons. Thomas helped the celebrity compete with a robot of his sons' design, Soldier Ant, and repaired the robot when necessary. At the end of the episode, Will Thomas invited Archie and Teddy Oliver to join Team Shock, although they would not return to Robot Wars following the special.

Collingwood Carnage

Will Thomas with Collingwood Carnage and Track-tion

As a teacher at Collingwood College, Will Thomas ran a 'Robot Wars Club' at the school, and encouraged his students to design a robot to participate in Series 10 of the show. His students formed the Collingwood Carnage team, also known as Team Track-tion, and built their robot Track-tion with assistance from Will Thomas. Included in Collingwood Carnage were 13-year old Dan and Anna, and 12-year old Marcus and Ben, and Will Thomas accompanied them at filming. Track-tion progressed further into the competition than Aftershock itself, qualifying for the 10 Robot Rumble by resisting the spinner of Apex, and then progressing over the late withdrawal Vulture.

Robots

Name	Image	Weight Class	Series
Shockwave		Heavyweight	Series 8
Maelstrom		Heavyweight	Series 8 (Not Selected)
Manta		Heavyweight	Series 8 (Not Selected)
Aftershock		Heavyweight	Series 9 Series 10

Soldier Ant (Battle of the Stars)

Track-tion (Series 10)

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 11
• Losses: 8

• NOTE 1: Soldier Ant's wins and losses in Battle of the Stars are not included.
• NOTE 2: Track-tion, entered by Collingwood Carnage, is considered to be a separate team.

Series Record

Series	Team Shock Series Record
Series 1-7	Did not enter
Series 8	Grand Final, Round 1 with Shockwave Not selected with Manta and Maelstrom
Series 9	Fourth Place with Aftershock Battle of the Stars, Third Place with Soldier Ant
Series 10	Heat, Fourth Place with Aftershock Heat, Third Place with Track-tion (Collingwood Carnage)

NOTE: Will Thomas also competed in Battle of the Stars as mentor for Episode 2 third-place finisher Soldier Ant.

Outside Robot Wars

The active Team Shock heavyweights along with Heatwave in 2019

Team Shock have competed in live events hosted by Roaming Robots and Robots Live! since 2007, including the former's Robot Wars-branded events between 2013 and 2016. The team first of all started competing with featherweights. Near late 2008, they purchased Robot Wars competitor St. Agro, later rebuilding and renaming it to Maelstrom. Under Team Shock's wing, Maelstrom achieved considerable success in live events, reaching the final of the 2009 UK Championship - losing to Terrorhurtz - and finishing runner-up in the 2012 UK Championship to Big Nipper following a complete rebuild.

Saw Point as Disc-Struction

Alongside Alex Sainsbury of Team Blitz, Will Thomas bought Series 7 competitor Sawpoint 2 on eBay for £50 and rebuilt the machine under a new name, Disc-Struction. For more information, see Saw Point (Extreme 2).

In 2013, the team built Manta, which remains an active and highly-competitive machine in heavyweight live events. It finished runner-up in the 2013, 2016 & 2018 UK Championships, finished runner-up to Toxic 2 in the European Championship, finished 3rd in the 2014 UK Championship and won the 2017 UK Championship outright. For more information, see Manta (UK).

Roobarb under Team Shock in June 2020

In April 2016, the team also purchased White Knight (formerly Iron-Awe 3) from Team Wind-Power before rebranding it to Earthquake. It briefly competed on the live circuit in this form, painted orange, before promptly being retired. Team Shock would also apply for the second season of ABC's BattleBots with Aftershock in the same year, but were ultimately rejected. In 2018, Team Shock debuted a new version of Earthquake at Robots Live! Burgess Hill, which was now armed with a front-hinged flipper. The team sold the chassis on eBay in June 2020, in the form of a table. Later that month, the team acquired the heavyweight Roobarb and intended to restore it to fighting condition again, though these plans soon proved to be unviable.

Tectonic before being painted

Tectonic in May 2022

As a replacement for the second Earthquake, Team Shock built another heavyweight with a low-pressure, rear-hinged flipper named Tectonic, borrowing many of its components from Roobarb including the flipper system. Completed in late 2021, Tectonic made its combat debut at the Robots Live! Crawley event that October, competing alongside an updated Manta. Despite encountering issues with its pneumatics system, it would achieve its first victory against Behemoth and throw multiple opponents out of the arena throughout the course of the event. Tectonic also competed at the Makers Central event in Birmingham in May 2022. Though suffering a number of technical faults on its first day of competition, it found more success on the second day, including a win over Reaper. Team Shock's presence at Makers Central was boosted by a stronger performance from Tectonic's featherweight counterpart Heatwave, which succeeded in throwing every opponent out of the arena in two of its three featherweight rumble victories.

In September 2023, Team Shock debuted a rethemed version of ACE called Poseidon at Extreme Robots Colchester, having acquired the machine from Team ACE. It took part in a few "Fight Club" and main show battles throughout the weekend, which highlighted drive issues for Team Shock to rectify ahead of future appearances.

Also in 2021, the team applied for that year's season of BattleBots with an unknown new machine, but withdrew from the applications process due to time and funding concerns.

S3 under Team Shock's ownership

Sting 2 under Team Shock's ownership

In December 2021, Will Thomas acquired Sting 2 and S3 after he had spoken to the 1 Law Associates, having them be delivered from the Enginuity museum where the two robots were previously on display. Will has stated that he will be using Sting 2 and S3 for teaching aids.

In addition to their heavyweights, Team Shock have competed with various lighter weight category robots over the years, these are listed below.

Shockwave, as it was when the team purchased it and it was called Joker

Maelstrom, after it was renamed and rebuilt from St. Agro

Manta when it was first built in 2013

Earthquake, the team's fourth heavyweight

Earthquake in 2018

Aftershock (featherweight)

Aftershock 2 (featherweight)

Earthquake

Hammerhead

Inertia XL

Shockwave (featherweight)

Stingray

Whirlpool

Inertia B1

Heatwave in 2017

Airwave in April 2020

The new Inertia XL in 2021

Heatwave in May 2022

Tsunami XL (featherweight) in 2022

Shockwave Junior (beetleweight) in 2022

Tsukikage (beetleweight), AKA Shockwave Junior, in 2024

Slingshot in 2024

Polaris at MechMania Grantham, July 2024

• 4 Baa 4: Built by Team Lambsy originally, the team bought it from them in 2007. However, Team Shock were unsuccessful with it, so it was sold again to Team Toon.
• Aftershock (I): Not to be confused with the team's heavyweight Aftershock, this was previously an upgraded version of Cutlet, before being purchased by Team Shock in 2007. During the times it has been rebuilt it has performed well in events, winning the Roaming Robots 2008 Winter Tour and finishing runner-up to Beauty 2 in the 2009 UK Championships. It remains active as of 2023, competing at the Bristol Bot Builders BEVS event in September alongside Polaris.
• Avalanche (I): A silver wedge-shaped low pressure flipper. Name later reused for a beetleweight eggbeater debuting in November 2021.
• Earthquake: Not to be confused with the team's heavyweight Earthquake, a black wedge-shaped robot armed with a blue flipping arm.
• Hammerhead: A small two-wheel driven featherweight armed with an electric hammer.
• Heatwave: A silver wedge-shaped robot armed with a full pressure rear hinged flipper. Winner of the 2009 Winter Tour and 2016 Guildford featherweight trophy. Remains an active competitor with live appearances in 2022 from the Mk4 and Mk5 versions.
• Inertia XL: A two-wheeled driven featherweight armed with a vertical spinning disc. Achieved 3rd place in the 2011 UK Featherweight Championships, but was recently sold. However it was later rebuilt in June 2021 and remains active as part of Team Shock's featherweight line-up.
• Shockwave (I): Not to be confused with the team's heavyweight Shockwave, this is a clear polycarbonate-armoured wedge-shaped robot armed with a low-pressure flipper which the team claimed could flip a featherweight out of a heavyweight arena. This robot was since sold to Glasgow-based roboteer, Tony Smith, and later to Matthew Pearman, with the chassis residing with Team Immersion with the intent of loaning it to new roboteers in need of a testing bed.
• Stingray: A navy-blue, 2-wheel drive, HARDOX wedge-shaped robot with a static chain-flail tail. Sold to Team Immersion, with its armour later being used to construct Amnesia.
• Swordfish: A 2 wheel driven axlebot made from HDPE.
• Tidal Wave 2: A black wedge-shaped featherweight armed with a flipper, this robot was built for one of Will Thomas's exam projects at school in 2007.
• Whirlpool: A flat invertible four-wheel driven robot designed to push, with no active weapon.
• Inertia B1: A beetleweight version of the team's well-known featherweight, which was upgraded in 2017.
• Inertia B2: A second beetleweight with a vertical flywheel, featuring a design greatly resembling that of Aftershock.
• Momentum: A featherweight vertical spinner, replacing Inertia XL, having originally started life as a horizontal spinner. Sold to a Dutch team.
• Airwave: A 6kg flipper built at a cost of under £50. Planned to compete in events as a cluster of alongside another 6kg half. Utilises a car tyre compressor and small buffer tank as part of its pneumatic system.
• Soundwave (featherweight): A more compact version of Heatwave, a two-wheel driven flipper designed to compete in full combat featherweight events, with Heatwave itself being reserved for sportsman battles. Incorporates interchangeable HDPE armour configurations to fight against different types of spinners. Soundwave finished fourth at Labman FightFest in 2022, including an unexpected victory against two HUGE-inspired spinners - Captain Jack Spinnah and Straddle. It returned in 2023 with an interchangeable vertical spinner weapon, albeit with less success. By 2025, Soundwave's chassis was acquired by Team SC and converted into a new incarnation of their front-hinged flipper, Casper.
• Soundwave (beetleweight): One of the UK's earliest beetleweight robots, a two wheel-drive horizontal disc spinner. There were two different versions of Soundwave, the earlier, smaller aluminium one and the later, larger steel version which was sold to Matt Smith from Team Riptide, competing under the name Zodiac. Zodiac would be sold to Ethan Wall of Team Kings Heath Colliders Robotics in 2019 and the earlier version of Soundwave would also be purchased by Ethan in 2022 who planned on competing with it again.
• Inferno and Avalanche (II): Two identical beetleweight eggbeaters with two-wheel drive and red (Inferno) or white (Avalanche) chassis.
• Tsunami: Not to be confused with the Series 7 heavyweight, a pneumatic flipper for the beetleweight category.
• Tsunami XL: A featherweight version of Tsunami featuring a mostly HDPE-based construction. Later sold to JP McKinley, and again to Isaac Sharp who renamed the robot Tussarmy.
• Inertia B4: A newer two-wheel drive vertical spinner with an asymmetrical weapon.
• Shockwave Junior: A four-wheel drive beetleweight with an interchangeable electric motor-driven weapon setup that can accommodate lifting forks, a lifting wedge or an overhead clamp, as well as either hinged forks or a 10mm UHMW anti-horizontal bumper at the front. Used by Will Thomas to test design ideas for a future heavyweight before being sold to Lincoln-based roboteer Alex Valentine in 2022, competing under the new name of Tsukikage from Subterranean Showdown 2023 onward.
• Incision: A two-wheel drive beetleweight armed with lifting forks or an overhead cutting saw, similar in design to SawBlaze.
• Slingshot: Featherweight rear-hinged flipper suited for full combat events; one of two acquired in 2023 from Australian roboteer Glen Rose. Competed at Labman FightFest 2023 alongside Soundwave and Inertia XL, participating in Tag Team and whiteboard battles. The "Mk2" version - featuring a new chassis and flipper arm built by Team Shock - debuted at Robots Live! Crawley on 9-10 September 2023.
• Polaris: Second of the ex-Glen Rose rear-hinged flippers, reserved for battles not involving spinners. MechMania competitor in 2024 and 2025 alongside Slingshot Mk2 (see below).
• Velocity: An invertible antweight undercutter with a plastic construction, inspired by Valkyrie and Neon. Designed alongside Inertia 14 to challenge antweights built by Will Thomas' students, fighting in a specially-constructed full combat arena.
• Inertia 14: A plastic antweight incarnation of Inertia, sporting a two-wheel drive vertical spinner design and a white and blue colour scheme.
• Inversion A beetleweight rear hinge lifter that has competed in several tournaments and did very well in most of them.

The Tragic Roundabout, as completed by ShockBots

Team Shock also have a wide history in commission projects, in various weight classes. In February 2017, Team Shock opened their online Shockbots business, building weaponless featherweights under commission for a limited time. The only known sale before orders were closed was The Tragic Roundabout, a sit-and-spin design which repurposed some of the HDPE bucket used by Shockwave.

Will Thomas working on Aftershock Mk.1 between fights at RoboNerd 2021

In September 2021, Will Thomas brought two of his featherweights to RoboNerd in Wolverhampton: the original Aftershock and Airwave. The two robots would finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in Bristol Bot Builders' BEVs event. Two months later, Thomas debuted the eggbeater spinners Inferno and Avalanche at the Bristol Bot Builders Beetleweight Championships, each winning the main championship and competing in the Gladiator battle respectively.

2022 marked a busy year for Team Shock on the UK live circuit, beginning with appearances at the February BBB Beetle Brawl with Inferno, Inertia B4 and Tsunami. Two months after their appearance at Makers Central, the featherweight Soundwave finished fourth overall at Labman FightFest while facing several powerful spinners including Tom Brewster's Straddle and Ellis Ware's Neon.

During this time, the team returned to Extreme Robots with Manta and upgraded versions of both Tectonic and Aftershock - the latter making its first combat appearance since 2019. Together, they formed part of 'Team Quake', captained by Will Thomas himself, and scored multiple victories between themselves at the opening event in Portsmouth. Team Shock's heavyweights endured a more mixed run at the subsequent Guildford leg. While Manta reached the show final against Eruption and Tectonic enjoyed improved reliability throughout, Aftershock sustained heavy damage to its weapon pulley and bulkhead from Zadkiel, forcing it to retire from the event early.

Team Shock also participated in the July 2022 Robots Live! Stoke-on-Trent event with Tectonic and the Mk4 and Mk5 versions of Heatwave. Tectonic would go on to achieve a breakthrough competition victory in the main heavyweight event, collecting individual battle wins over Vulcan, Gabriel and Eruption along the way. This was followed by further appearances by the team's machines at Extreme Robots Colchester and Robots Live! Crawley in September, by which time Aftershock had been fully repaired.

A cosmetically-reworked Manta - competing under the Urza team name - also appeared in Battle Of The Mechs, a November 2022 promotional crossover event organised by Extreme Robots and the card game Magic: The Gathering. For more information, see Manta (UK).

2023

Aftershock at Extreme Robots Brentwood, May 2023

Manta at Extreme Robots Brentwood, May 2023

Tectonic at Extreme Robots Brentwood, May 2023

Team Shock heavyweights at Extreme Robots Brentwood, May 2023 (left-to-right: Tectonic, Aftershock and Manta)

In 2023, Team Shock began converting the Series 9 Aftershock to feature an electric-powered axe, later dubbing the machine Afterchop. Aftershock, Manta and Tectonic would compete with them at the opening Extreme Robots event of the year in Brentwood, all forming part of the Team Quake roster once again. Team Quake would go on to win every show of the entire weekend, with Tectonic amassing a 6-0 match record while beating Iron-Awe 8 and Eruption in the show finals. Manta, meanwhile, defeated the brand-new Ripper VII on its way to a 3-1 record, while Aftershock scored a repeat win against Team Legion and Sabretooth during its 1-1 run.

At Extreme Robots Guildford (17-18 June), Aftershock took part in the inaugural Heavyweight Spinner Championship battle against Zadkiel, but suffered a highly damaging loss leading to its official retirement. Team Shock continued to find success with both Manta and Tectonic, however, the latter defeating Eruption, Iron-Awe 8 and Meggamouse in a 'survival' melee to claim the main Heavyweight Championship belt. On the following leg in Newcastle (22-23 July), Tectonic would successfully defend its belt three times across the weekend - twice against TR4, and once against Iron-Awe 6. It would also secure outright victory in the Sunday show, throwing Eruption into the Fire Pit hazard within the first fifteen seconds of the final bout.

Upon the resumption of the Extreme Robots tour on 16-17 September, Tectonic once again maintained its dominant form in Championship matches. However, it initially lost the Heavyweight belt to Meggamouse after flipping itself and getting stranded on its back with the flipper stuck open. Shortly after being counted out, it was voluntarily re-righted by Meggamouse, which Tectonic proceeded to throw into the Fire Pit once the battle was resumed by the event organisers. Tectonic quickly avenged its loss by defeating Meggamouse in the second Saturday show and retaking the Heavyweight Championship belt, then successfully defending the belt against Beast on the Sunday. It also qualified for both of the Saturday show finals against Eruption - the first under a controversial Judges' decision over Iron-Awe 6 - but could not defeat Michael Oates' machine on either occasion.

At Robots Live! Grantham on 14-15 October, Team Shock were represented by Tectonic and Poseidon in the heavyweight category, and Heatwave Mk5 and Slingshot in the featherweight melees. The former two even battled each other at the semi-final stage of the main heavyweight competition, with Tectonic prevailing en route to taking the overall event win over TR4.

On top of its Robots Live! triumph, Tectonic again defended its Extreme Robots belt against Beast at Maidstone on 21 October, before winning the first show of the day. However, a costly over-flip resulted in it losing the belt to Implosion later the same day, despite dominating against Michael Oates' axe bot, and it would not qualify for the remaining show finals of the weekend. Elsewhere, Manta picked up two victories - a head-to-head against Iron-Awe 6 and another Tag Team alongside Thor - and Poseidon prevailed in a separate one-on-one battle against Weird mAlice.

Team Shock's appearance at the end-of-season Cheltenham event (11-12 November) brought about more successes for each of their three machines. Both Manta and Poseidon scored further Tag Team victories, partnered with Troublemaker, with Poseidon also winning a head-to-head win over Robot Wars veteran King Buxton 20 and a melee involving Eruption, TR4 and Thunderbolt. During the latter, Poseidon notably threw Eruption into the Fire Pit, eliminating the Series 10 champion from the battle as it tried to self-right. Meanwhile, Tectonic was selected to compete in the overall Show 2 final, but could not prevent Eruption from winning and securing the 2023 Extreme Robots Team Championship for Team Inferno. Tectonic redeemed itself by winning additional head-to-heads against Ignition and Implosion on the Sunday, the latter forming the penultimate fight of the season.

2024

Ahead of the 2024 Extreme Robots tour, Will Thomas was once again announced as the captain of Team Quake, with Tectonic, Poseidon and Manta all competing as part of Team Shock's own heavyweight fleet. The tour-opening Doncaster event (20-21 April 2024) saw Tectonic initially being given the Heavyweight Championship Belt in the first show, which it relinquished to Iron-Awe 6 following a knockout loss. All three machines would still pick up various victories throughout the weekend, however, and qualify for all three show finals upon winning their respective Gladiator battles. Tectonic and Manta would lose their finals to Eruption by a judges' decision (Shows 1 and 3), while Poseidon would be immobilised by Gabriel within the opening seconds (Show 2).

Poseidon in the pits at Robots Live! Grantham, July 2024

Guildford (15-16 June) saw Team Shock collect multiple wins once again between Tectonic, Poseidon and Manta. Alongside two Tag Team victories (both in partnership with TR4), Poseidon also qualified for the Show 2 final upon defeating Ripper 6 and Iron-Awe 6 in the Gladiator battle, only to lose by knockout against Ignition.

Upon their return to Extreme Robots at Colchester (14-15 September), Team Shock continued earning multiple battle wins. Highlights included victory in the Show 1 final with Tectonic, and Poseidon receiving the championship belt from defendant Implosion under highly unusual circumstances. During a moment where neither competitor appeared able to move out of their circumferences - with Implosion stuck to the side wall - house robot Major Damage collected and dumped Michael Oates' still-mobile machine out of the arena. Poseidon, which appeared completely immobile, immediately started moving again and inherited the belt, which it successfully defended from Iron-Awe 6 in the very next show. However, it would end up relinquishing the belt to fellow Team Eruption heavyweight Ignition.

Poseidon, Tectonic and Manta all continued to share wins at Maidstone (19-20 October), with Manta taking and defending the championship belt from Ignition and Gabriel respectively. Tectonic also succeeded in winning the last 'Gladiator' show of the weekend, running a revised four-way format with Iron-Awe 6, Gabriel and Eruption as opponents. In doing so, it allowed Team Quake to claim overall victory in Show 3.

Poseidon and Manta at Extreme Robots Gloucester, November 2024

For the end-of-year event in Gloucester (9-10 November), Manta, Poseidon and Tectonic received first, fifth and ninth seeds for the main Extreme Robots European Heavyweight Championships. Tectonic would receive a one-off external change, adopting a black and yellow paint scheme and 'flame' logos imitating the appearance of Eruption. Will Thomas applied this change as part of a humorous pact with Alex Brown, who also gave TR4 a similar makeover going into this event.

Ironically, Tectonic and TR4 lost their first-round melee against Team Eruption's own Ignition, though Tectonic still qualified for and won the six-way Losers Melee. Poseidon and Manta, meanwhile, won their opening rounds outright; the former progressing to the Semi-Finals upon defeating Beast on a judges' decision. Manta would be forced to eliminate its Team Shock counterparts in its next two fights - against Tectonic and Poseidon respectively - in order to face Implosion in the overall final. Despite landing multiple flips on the Team Eruption axe robot, Manta would settle for second place upon losing the subsequent judges' decision. Tectonic collected a further win for Team Shock on the 10th, in an exhibition melee against Hunterbird 1, ThunderChild and Beast.

Variable in its lifter configuration

Variable with its hammersaw at FightFest 2024

For FightFest 2024, Will Thomas would build a new featherweight Variable, armed with numerous interchangeable weapons, most prominently its twin lifting forks, but also fighting with a hammersaw, an axe with defensive plough, and a vertical spinner. It first debuted at RoboNerd Lite in the Bristol Bot Builders competition to test drive the new machine one week before FightFest, accompanied in the latter by Slingshot. At FightFest, Variable used its axe and wide wedge against horizontal spinners and otherwise applied its hammersaw. It only managed to progress to the second round in the main FRA Featherweight Championship, suffering damage from Spin Cycle in Round 1, winning its redemption fight over The Wider One with its hammersaw, before losing to Slice of LiFe in its Round 2 match and Barghest in its final redemption bout. However, Will Thomas would enjoy greater success in the Tag-Team competitions, with Slingshot emerging as the Non-Spinner category co-champion alongside Drivetrain.

2025

Team Shock's 2025 live season began with appearances at Robots Live! Maidenhead on 29-30 March. Six of their robots - including the newly-rebuilt Maelstrom - took part in the corresponding MechMania - Duel of the Crates special (see below), with Maelstrom, Tectonic and Manta also fighting in separate whiteboard matches. After being absent from Extreme Robots Doncaster (26-27 April), Team Shock joined their 2025 tour on the Guildford leg (7-8 June).

Featherweight Polaris continued to see extensive use in featherweight events, including BBB Big Bot Bash on 16 August and Robots Live! Crawley on 6-7 September. In those instances, it was often accompanied by robots built by students from Collingwood College, including pneumatic flipper FUBAR and electric hammer/axe Maverick. Slingshot also attended Robots Live! Crawley along with Polaris and Team Shock's heavyweights, but did not compete.

During the season, the original ex-Team ACE Poseidon was retired, and a brand-new build completed by Team Shock. Poseidon 2, featuring a more powerful flipper, debuted at Robots Live! Crawley. Alongside Tectonic, the unpainted machine fought in heavyweight melees, at one point throwing Audacious out of the arena during a match also featuring Apocalypse and Oblivion. Along with a significantly more powerful flipper, Poseidon 2's debut run highlighted teething issues including a slow retraction time. Tectonic, meanwhile, fought Storm 2 and Brutus in two separate group battles; the first saw it throw the Robot Wars World Champion into the pit, then the Belgian Robots Live! debutant out of the arena to claim victory.

MechMania

2024

Poseidon's VT clip in MechMania Episode 1 (Grantham, 2024)

Tectonic's VT clip in MechMania Episode 1 (Grantham, 2024)

On 18 and 19 June 2024, Team Shock were confirmed as competitors for the inaugural MechMania tour. Tectonic and Manta were initially announced as their heavyweight entries for the tour, run in conjunction with Robots Live!, later to be followed by featherweights Polaris and Slingshot on 9 July. Prior to the first event in Grantham (13-14 July), Will Thomas opted to bring Poseidon instead of Manta, with Poseidon assuming the latter's place in the MechMania roster. Thomas also mentored the Collingwood College team with their separate heavyweight entry Oblivion (see Track-tion and The Steel Avenger for more information).

Poseidon throws Meggamouse against the wall, MechMania Grantham, July 2024

Both heavyweights immediately found success in their scheduled competition fights at Grantham. Tectonic first dominated its head-to-head against Iron-Awe 5, by consistently out-wedging, flipping and controlling the Grimm family's machine. A crucial flip forced Iron-Awe 5 into self-righting onto and over the edge of the pit, giving Tectonic its first win by knockout. Meanwhile, Poseidon fought a more even and hard-fought duel against Meggamouse, with both competitors exchanging multiple flips throughout. A similar outcome was achieved when Meggamouse overflipped and rolled into the pit, compelling Poseidon to block and flick it in further into the hazard. While Meggamouse eventually escaped after being counted out, Poseidon was still deemed the knockout victor. Tectonic and Poseidon would also feature in multiple whiteboard battles held separately across the weekend. During the 14 July show, the former participated in a six-way melee featuring Apollo - only to be thrown out of the arena by the Robot Wars Series 8 champion - as well as the eleven-robot rumble held to conclude the weekend.

In the featherweight class, Polaris and Slingshot appeared independently across all five of the Grantham rumbles featured in the opening episode. Polaris notably threw out one half of Life Sucks seconds into its first televised melee, won by Malachite, before winning its second after launching more powerful flips on opponents including Haywire, Aftermarth III, Casper and Brio.

Tectonic duels with Gabriel 2, MechMania Crawley, September 2024

Slingshot flips Agamemnon, MechMania Crawley, September 2024

Polaris (right) throws Pallas out of the arena at MechMania Crawley, September 2024

Tectonic then took on Gabriel 2 during the Crawley shows (7-8 September), managing to snag its awkwardly-shaped opponent against the side of the arena and winning by knockout. Slingshot also collected a win and a second-place finish in its featherweight rumbles across the same weekend, though Polaris could only manage a single third place finish on this occasion. With a lower number of registered heavyweights available for competition fights, a bye and five points were awarded to Poseidon, which also fought Gabriel 2, Tánshè, Six and Rabid M8 in one of the event's whiteboard melees. Meanwhile, Manta competed in additional whiteboards and made occasional cameos in the televised Episode 2.

For the third and last Heat in Stoke-on-Trent (26-27 October), Will Thomas prioritised Tectonic as his main heavyweight challenger. Tectonic would again be his only competition representative in that category, battling Six in its head-to-head bout. A tense and evenly-fought match saw both machines turn and throw each other across the arena multiple times, with unsuccessful attempts at throwing each other out. Despite being flung into the Thunder Drum hazard at one point, Tectonic won upon flipping and pushing a gas-depleted Six into the opened Pit. Tectonic finished the Heats joint-first with Jasper, both robots achieving the maximum 15 points and a 3-0 record; it would be chosen over Poseidon to represent Team Shock in the heavyweight finals. Featherweights Polaris and Slingshot again saw action across all six featherweight melees from the weekend, the former collecting a second-place finish and also being chosen to compete in the category finals.

Ahead of the Grand Final in Llandudno, Wales (23-24 November), Tectonic and Polaris each received new blue paint schemes. Tectonic sported a gold side panel and chevrons on the flipper arm, while Polaris featured large contrasting white panels in addition to a new set of front forks. Ranked second in the overall heavyweight standings, Tectonic won its initial melee over Toxic 2 and Iron-Awe 5 once more; the latter becoming immobilised due to a drive failure. However, its run would be cut short in the Quarter-Finals, where TR4 threw it out of the arena within the opening moments. In the featherweight category, Polaris finished third in its Semi-Final qualifier, but was absent from the overall Final as Team Shock left before it could take part.

2025

Team Shock returned for the 2025 MechMania - Duel of the Crates special, filmed as part of Robots Live! Maidenhead on 29-30 March. The team once again entered Tectonic into the heavyweight category, joined by the rebuilt Manta and Maelstrom, alongside Polaris, Slingshot and a new build of Variable in the featherweight competition.

Tectonic in its chevron paint scheme, MechMania - Duel of the Crates (2025)

In Episode 1, Tectonic flipped the Battle Crate into its zone early into a head-to-head duel against Jasper, before continuously flipping the 2024 third-place finisher around. The Battle Crate remained in Tectonic's zone throughout as it foiled Jasper's attempts to extract it, allowing Tectonic to win a TengTools 127 piece tool set for Will Thomas. This would be Team Shock's second heavyweight win in this episode, with Manta also quickly dispatching Reaper upon throwing it out of the arena. Team Shock completed an undefeated heavyweight run when Maelstrom also won its Crate and a £100 cash prize against Gabriel 2.

The second build of Variable (right) battles Malachite in MechMania - Duel of the Crates (2025)

The featherweight Duel of the Crates saw all three of Team Shock's entries appear in one qualifier each from Episode 1; Slingshot in the first qualifier, Polaris in the second and Variable - fitted with a double-headed axe - in the third. Of the trio, Polaris again enjoyed the greatest success, securing a top 3 finish and a place in Episode 2's Grand Final. Though Polaris lost the Final on a Judges' decision, Will Thomas championed his students at Collingwood College upon their victory with Maverick.

Robot Wars Live Events

Between 2013 and 2016, Team Shock were regular competitors on the Robot Wars-branded Live Events tour run by Roaming Robots. Among their machines to compete included the original pre-Series 8 Shockwave - relegated primarily to "retro" battles - as well as Maelstrom and Manta, both competing in the main competitions with varying degrees of success.

In the 2013 leg, Maelstrom won the inaugural event at Barnsley, which was followed by a finals place at Portsmouth and a runner-up finish at Widnes. The team also began competing with Earthquake shortly after.

Meanwhile, Manta made a strong debut at the 2013 Guildford event, finishing runner-up to Thor, before proceeding to win that year's Robot Wars Winter Tour. It also reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Robot Wars World Championships held at Colchester, losing to eventual winner Toxic 2 and ultimately finishing fourth overall.

Manta was also one of the two main mascots of the Robot Wars 2013-2016 tour during its run, alongside Team Roaming Robots' own machine Ripper. This formed a regular feature of the live shows themselves, where one half of the audience would cheer for it under "Team Manta"; the other for Ripper and "Team Ripper". "Team Manta"-branded caps were offered as prizes to audience members representing this side, which could alternatively be bought from merchandise stalls.

Trivia

• With their heavyweight, Manta, winning the 2017 FRA UK Championship, Team Shock are one of four FRA Champions to have won a heat and reached a Robot Wars Grand Final. The others are Terrorhurtz, TR2 and Eruption.
  • Like Terrorhurtz, Team Shock reached their pair of Robot Wars Grand Finals before becoming an FRA UK Champion.
• The team lost to both the champion and runner-up in all three series of the reboot.

External Links

• Team Shock Official Website
• Team Shock - Official Facebook Page
• Shockwave & Aftershock - Robot Wars - Home (Facebook)