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

Shockwave Junior (beetleweight) in 2022

Tsukikage (beetleweight), AKA Shockwave Junior

• 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. In 2023, an interchangeable vertical spinner weapon was added for its appearance at Labman FightFest.
• 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 plans 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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).

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 2023), 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 2023, 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 champion 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.

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)