Warrior was a British robot which fought in King of Bots II as one of the international entries introduced later into the competition, joining Emma Dumont's team. Its design was based upon other axe-wielding robots that team captain Jason Marston has entered into televised competitions with great success, such as Thor and AU Thumper. It was unsuccessful in its first battle, with a loss against The Hounds causing Emma Dumont's team to lose the round.
Design
Warrior with Jason Marston
Warrior was a natural advancement of the design Jason Marston had refined over his experience as a roboteer, competing with Thor. Using a similar red color-scheme mixed with gold, and a powerful overhead weapon system which also provided an effective self-righting mechanism, Warrior boasted a high top speed and a set of interchangeable wedges, including the "world's longest" wedgelet[1] for battling drum spinners. The robot's axe could use either bladed or spiked heads.
Robot History
King of Bots II (Season 2)
Warrior debuted in King of Bots II several episodes into the series, appearing in Episode 7 as an international representative from the United Kingdom. As a 'challenger', Jason Marston was able to pitch Warrior to the six celebrity captains at this late stage of the competition, and this impressed Emma Dumont, prompting her to select Warrior for her team, much to the delight of Jason Marston who was already hoping to join this particular team.
Warrior first fought in Episode 8, where it was the sixth and final robot to represent Emma Dumont (alongside Tu Ziya and Tao Shen) in the six-on-six 'Attrition Battle'. Warrior needed to defeat The Hounds to keep the team's hopes alive.
The Hounds crash into Warrior
Warrior brings its axe into The Hounds
Warrior's fatal crash
Equipped with its spiked axe, Warrior sped out of the gates and rammed into the yellow Hound, although it missed its axe swing, allowing the blue Hound to crash into Warrior's front wedge, throwing sparks and loosening the armor. Warrior quickly retaliated and hit the top of the blue Hound with its axe. Warrior then delivered another axe blow to the Blue Hound, with the yellow Hound passing underneath Warrior around the same time. Warrior then pushed the yellow Hound into the Grinder, casting it into the air - however, Warrior's removable link fell out of the machine during this attack. Warrior landed inverted and was unable to self-right, leaving it to be counted out.
- "I'm a little disappointed with the first performance of Warrior. We got turned upside-down, and the removable link which turns the robot on and off... came out. It should've gone better."
- — Jason Marston
Warrior's loss resulted in Emma Dumont and her allies losing the Attrition War. This put Warrior's place in the competition in jeopardy, althoguh its fate was left unclear after Emma Dumont suddenly resigned as the team manager and left the series.
Results
| WARRIOR - RESULTS | ||
| King of Bots II (Season 2) | ||
| Main Championship Part of Ye Hong Li's team | ||
| Attrition War | vs. The Hounds | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record
| Series | Warrior Series Record |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | Did not enter |
| Season 1.5 | Did not enter |
| Season 2 | Part of team, no wins |
Outside King of Bots
Warrior was built by Jason Marston, who has competed with an axe-wielding robot named Thor since 2002. This section will briefly detail its televised appearances, but for more information on its Robot Wars campaigns and live event appearances, see the Thor article of the Robot Wars Wiki.
Thor debuted in Series 6 of Robot Wars, wielding a traditional hammer and horizontal pincers. In its first-round melee, it qualified alongside Anarchy in a Judges' decision over Judge Shred 2½ and Revolution 2, but lost to the eventual champion Tornado in the second round. Thor then competed in the New Blood Championship during Series 2 of Robot Wars Extreme, a competition for newcomers and Series 6 debutants, and won its heat by defeating Night Raider, Chip and Edge Hog in three consecutive fights. In the Grand Final, Thor lost to Storm II, but won the third place play-off against Cedric Slammer. Thor used a more wedge-like design in Series 7, and escaped its opening melee alongside Gravity over Hodaf the Bad and Hydra, but lost its Heat semi-final to Lightning.
Thor underwent a significant rebuild in 2005, changing its hammer for a more conventional axe, and was rebuilt again in 2006, and after a three-year break, Thor experienced a lot of success on the British live circuit, including a second-place finish at the 2015 Robot Wars World Championship. The updated Thor returned to televised Robot Wars in 2016, twelve years since the previous series. Thor went into its Series 8 heat as the favourite to win, and qualified alongside Shockwave in its Group Battle against Tough as Nails and DisConstructor. Thor then went on an undefeated run in the second round, with three back-to-back wins against M.R. Speed Squared, Shockwave and Foxic, but suffered a shock defeat in its Heat Final, losing to Shockwave in the third encounter between the two. Nevertheless, Thor was awarded the sole wildcard position in the Grand Final, and advanced over Pulsar in its Group Battle there. Thor was ultimately relegated to fourth place in the Series 8 after losing three battles back-to-back against Carbide, TR2 and Apollo.
Thor was updated again for Series 9, using a flatter design more resistant to spinners, and qualified through its Group Battle at the expense of Tauron and Chimera2, but lost its next battle in a shock turnaround from newcomer Concussion. Thor still qualified for the Heat Final after defeating M.R. Speed Squared and Heavy Metal, but lost to Concussion once again and did not reach the Grand Final. This version of Thor returned for Series 10, and won its Group Battle over Coyote and Expulsion outright, then reached the Heat Final after a second win against Coyote, but was stopped by the successor to Pulsar, Magnetar. Thor participated in the 10 Robot Rumble for a place in the Grand Final, but drove into the pit while pushing Big Nipper. Thor did, however, represent the United Kingdom in Robot Wars: World Series, where it was initially victorious in its Tag Team battle against Terror Turtle and Cathadh, but was forfeited its points due to its teammate Concussion immobilizing Cathadh illegally. Thor would still collect two points for its victorious team by defeating Tough as Nails in its final Robot Wars appearance. Thor would also be rebuilt after this televised appearance, making appearances on the British live circuit ever since.
AU Thumper at Clash Bots
In the Chinese TV show Clash Bots, Jason Marston collaborated with Tim Rackley to build AU Thumper, a golden robot armed with a steep wedge and an electrically powered axe with square blade, capitalising on Marston's speciality. In its first battle, it fought Spicy Newt, an invertible drum spinner from America, and consistently resisted the spinning weapon to control the pace of the battle. In the second round, it fought the Chinese vertical spinner Toxic Fangs, and lost its hammer head after a direct blow from the spinner, but overturned Toxic Fangs with a direct ram, and battered the underside of its opponent with the headless axe for the remainder of the match. AU Thumper comfortably won the Judges' decision, and also earned the confidence of presenter Angelababy, who chose AU Thumper to represent her in a three-way battle aside from the main competition. There, AU Thumper fought the Indian Eggbeater and the Chinese Brain Storm, where a strong blow from Eggbeater threw AU Thumper over, and it lost the ability to self-right. AU Thumper lost, billowing smoke, while Brain Storm won the battle. AU Thumper also collaborated with Egg Beast alongside Atomic Bomb to destroy a structure while avoiding House Robot-like machines, Crocodile and Dominator. Although the axe of AU Thumper did not work, Eggbeater lost the use of its weapon, and Atomic Bomb also broke down, AU Thumper still destroyed the structure and earned a victory. AU Thumper then fought Fire Kylin in the main competition, and repeatedly axed it for the opening minute of the battle, but suddenly lost its axe from the fatigue of its repeated strikes. Regardless, AU Thumper had done enough to win the Judges' decision, and AU Thumper defeated a fellow electric axe, Battle Ax, on another Judges' decision after overturning it twice and stranding it on the Grinder. On a team with the Brazilian Dark Wolf, AU Thumper challenged Sparta and Smasher, driven by John Findlay and Peter Redmond. After Dark Wolf immobilised Sparta, AU Thumper buried its axe into the wheel housing of Smasher and did not let go, dragging it around the arena. This allowed the vertical spinner of Dark Wolf to strike the back of Smasher and set its lithium polymer batteries ablaze, awarding a knockout win to AU Thumper and Dark Wolf. It also fought in a three-on-three battle with the objective of destroying the opposing team's tower, and after buffeting Dark Wolf over, AU Thumper successfully disabled the tower, winning the battle. AU Thumper fought Dark Wolf again in a three-way melee which also contained Soul Reaper, and was initially thrown over by the Brazilian vertical spinner of Dark Wolf, but won the battle after Dark Wolf was flipped over by the arena saws, awarding AU Thumper more points in the Judges' decision than Soul Reaper, advancing AU Thumper to the top four. Prior to the Top 4, AU Thumper was required to face Soul Reaper again to see if the latter could claim the final place in the Top 4, but AU Thumper comfortably won the battle by knockout. Under the same circumstances, both robots fought again, and AU Thumper won even more quickly, pinning Soul Reaper on the arena hazards. In the semi-final, AU Thumper fought Toxic Fangs and landed various hits that were edited out of the televised broadcast, but it was ultimately immobilised and eliminated by the vertical spinners. However, AU Thumper was able to claim third place in Clash Bots after defeating Spicy Newt once again in the third place playoff, pinning the weaponless machine on the arena grinder. In addition to third place in the tournament, Jason Marston was presented with the Best Driver Award.
Trivia
- Warrior is the second robot from a team who achieved a podium finish in the Chinese TV show Clash Bots to compete in King of Bots II, after Po Feng.
References
External Links
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