- "From the Twn Trwn team from the last wars, 10 people built it, mechanically operated forklift, the wheels from a go-kart. The Creature from the pit ... well from Rhyl, and "Rhyl-ly" gruesome. Really gruesome, really."
- — Jonathan Pearce
The Creature (from the Black Lagoon) was a competitor in Series 4 of Robot Wars. Much like its predecessor Twn Trwn, The Creature was notable for its elaborate exterior decorations. Whilst it progressed to Round 2, it was easily defeated by Gemini and became the third robot to be thrown out of the arena. The team contained three generations - Davis Harmsworth, his son Mark and Mark's daughter Elanor.
The robot was named and designed after the eponymous monster from the horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Design
The Creature with half of the artwork removed
With its elaborate artwork removed, the robot was a dome-shaped robot with two go-kart wheels on either side. Its primary weapon was an aluminium forklift tusks, somewhat similar to those used by Matilda, powered by an electronic ram. Internally, The Creature was powered by two 24V electric wheelchair motors.
The Creature from the magazine
- "...and that, believe it or not, is a wheelchair! All of the main parts are made from one wheelchair, taken apart, mangled and thrown back together, with lots of blood and gore involved!"
- — Julia Reed on The Creature
The Creature represented Rhyl High School in North Wales, and The Creature took three and a half months to build, with ten people were involved in the process. The exterior artwork was made from polystyrene, clay, and fibreglass. The elaborate design took less than three hours to sculpt. The robot cost £300 to make.
Robot History
Series 4
- Julia Reed: "How grotesque is that?! This is The Creature, which is giving me nightmares! What about you?"
- Elanor Harmsworth: "It didn't give me nightmares, because I hide from it!"
- Julia Reed: "Smart lady!"
- — Pre-battle interview
In its first-round battle, The Creature was drawn against two returning Heat Finalists from Series 3, Inverterbrat and the 24th seed Berserk 2.
Inverterbrat becomes pinned off the ground by its own flipper, which malfunctioned when trying to flip The Creature
The Creature is lifted by Berzerk 2
Inverterbrat launched the first attack and flipped The Creature up, but a second attempt caused Inverterbrat to land on its own lifter and pinned its wheels off the ground. The Creature was able to avoid further pressure from Inverterbrat, but Berserk 2's lifter made further unsuccessful attempts to topple it. With Inverterbrat no longer mobile, The Creature made it through to Round 2.
This fight was against 8th seeds Gemini, and the clusterbot split up and flipped The Creature. This then caused its paper mache shell to fall off, but the robot bounced back onto its wheels.
- "The Creature goes naked! Sheds its skin!"
- — Jonathan Pearce, as The Creatures skin falls off when flipped
The Creature is flipped by Gemini
The Creature is flipped out of the arena
Both halves of Gemini flipped The Creature against the arena wall, and each both put its flipper beneath The Creature's wheel, flipping simultaneously and throwing The Creature out of the arena.
- "Little Elanor from St Bridgets school, loves her Harry Potter books, would love a fantastic, magical ending to this, but I don't think it's going to happen! David Harnsworth, her grandad loves singing opera, well it's never all over until the fat lady sings, and the fat Creature is singing now!"
- — Jonathan Pearce, as The Creature goes out
At the end of the series, The Creature was nominated for the Best Design Award, but lost out to Gemini, the robot that defeated it in combat.
Results
| THE CREATURE - RESULTS | ||
| Series 4 | ||
| The Fourth Wars - UK Championship Heat Semi-Final | ||
| Heat F, Eliminator | vs. Berserk 2 (24), Inverterbrat | Qualified |
| Heat F, Semi-Final | vs. Gemini (8) | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Series | The Creature Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Entered with Twn Trwn |
| The Fourth Wars | Heat, Round 2 |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Trivia
The feature from Robot Wars Magazine on the building of The Creature
- The building of The Creature was shown in a two-page spread in Issue 14 of the original Robot Wars Magazine.
- The original concept for The Creature was a dragon with a fantasy warrior on top, but due to time and money constraints, the team decided against this idea.
- The Creature is one of three robots to lose both a battle and an award to the same robot in the same series. The other two are Bigger Brother losing Best Design to Razer in The Fifth Wars, and The Big Cheese losing Best Engineered to Chaos 2 in The Third Wars.
- Of those three, The Creature was the only one to be from a team not to reach the semi-finals of a domestic championship.
Honours
Nominations
- Best Design Award - Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars