- "All we intend to do is mash our opponents, slash and grind, with these lovely cutters. Weighs about 12 and a half stone, so beware!"
- — Josh Ainslie in the team's introduction
Blade was a Y-shaped robot that exclusively participated in Series 3 of Robot Wars. While the weapon did not cause much damage outside its first battle, Blade's decent pushing power and speed saw it through to the Semi-Finals, where it lost to Beast of Bodmin.
Blade's successor robot, Blade's Big Bruva, was intended to compete in the Fourth Wars and was seeded. However, it dropped out along with fellow Series 3 Semi-Finalists Trident at the last minute, and both Centurion and Suicidal Tendencies were given the final seeds instead.
Design[]
- "A rotary blade gives this fearsome machine its name, with added "slashers". It also contains shatterproof material, can get up to 10mph, car parts used in the building -it's a grizzly lawnmower!"
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Blade
Blade was equipped with a rotating 42cm lawnmower blade at the front. The lawnmower blade was allegedly 'borrowed' from team member Josh Ainslie's mother's lawnmower whilst she was on holiday, and without her knowledge.
Blade cost precisely £146.52 to build. Constructed mostly from car parts, the machine was also reinforced with thick steel and shatterproof polycarbonate and could reach 10mph. Rare for a Series 3 competitor, Blade withstood an axe blow from Shunt when it was attacked during its heat final fight with Aggrobot.
Robot History[]
Series 3[]
- "This is a very interesting robot - was made on kebabs, coffee, lawnmowers and windscreen wipers."
- — Philippa Forrester introducing Blade
Blade competed in Heat C of the Third Wars, where in the first round, it faced fellow newcomer Spike.
Blade was the faster of the two, immediately ripping part of Spike's decoration from the front. Blade continued to ram Spike, although eventually Spike started pushing back, until Sgt. Bash broke them up. Blade then pushed Spike into Bash, who attacked the underside of Spike with its pincers, dislodging another piece of bodywork. Blade and Spike then spun around each other, then again colliding at stalemate with a push. Eventually, Matilda came in to break them up, but the deadlock was only broken a few seconds from the end.
In one final push, Blade heaved Spike across the arena, and pushed it into the pit, but this KO came after 'cease' had already been called, and the battle advanced to a Judges' decision with the pitting disregarded. Nevertheless, Blade won the Judges' decision unanimously.
- "They've decided that even though there was some skulduggery from Blade after time elapsed, they are the unanimous winners!"
- — Craig Charles announcing the winner
Blade fought Agent Orange, the successor to Spin Doctor in the second round.
- "Straight in, bit of slashing and ripping, that's it really. We feel pretty confident ... ish!"
- — Josh Ainslie on his tactics and confidence
The two started the battle by dodging each other, then pushing against one another, Agent Orange doing the early pushing. Blade was then flipped by the arena spike and Agent Orange pushed it into Matilda's CPZ, who rushed out to attack Blade and inadvertently righted it. Blade then pushed Agent Orange back into Matilda, who failed to overturn the robot. Blade once again pushed back, as Agent Orange ground to a halt, then moving very slowly.
Cease was called at the end of five minutes, and the close battle was sent to a Judges' decision. By virtue of a split decision, Blade narrowly advanced to the Heat Final.
In the Heat Final, Blade was placed up against fellow newcomer Aggrobot, who had defeated heat favourite Razer in the previous fight.
- "We just want to get it over and done with, as the lawnmower blade on there, my mum comes back from holiday tomorrow, and she wants it back!"
- — Josh Ainslie
In this battle, the two robots met in the centre of the arena, and Blade pushed Aggrobot all around the arena, even withstanding an axe blow from Shunt.
- "Oh, and in comes Shunt there, with the great axe going down to create damage. Let's see if did cause any - no! That's very rare."
- — Jonathan Pearce as Blade resists Shunt's attack
Aggrobot got itself wedged on the arena side wall, but was freed, and then broke down in the centre of the arena. Blade then rammed Aggrobot onto the flame pit, and left the immobile machine to the House Robots.
- "And Blade here, is the surprise of this heat, and turning up the heat now on Aggrobot!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Killalot lifted Aggrobot up, and Dead Metal attacked its tongue. Sir Killalot then put Aggrobot onto the arena flipper and it was thrown over. With this victory, Blade had qualified for the series semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Blade was drawn against Beast of Bodmin, successor to the former champion Roadblock.
- "Cutting a sway through the earlier heats, Blade. But, has its edge now been blunted by battle I wonder?"
- — Jonathan Pearce in the Semi-Finals
From the start, Beast of Bodmin was the stronger robot, getting underneath Blade multiple times, but failing to flip it, until finally it succeeded in turning Blade onto its side, and then reversing into it to put it onto its back. Blade was then attacked by the House Robots, Dead Metal in particular throwing up a lot of sparks with its circular saw. Damage was caused especially to the lawnmower blade, leaving Josh Ainslie unable to return it to the lawnmower that he 'borrowed' it from.
Results[]
BLADE - RESULTS | ||
Series 3 | ||
The Third Wars - UK Championship Semi-Finals, Round 1 | ||
Heat C, Round 1 | vs. Spike | Won |
Heat C, Round 2 | vs. Agent Orange | Won |
Heat C, Final | vs. Aggrobot | Won |
Semi-Final 2, Round 1 | vs. Beast of Bodmin | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 3
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
Series | Blade Series Record |
---|---|
The First Wars | Did not enter |
The Second Wars | Did not enter |
The Third Wars | Semi-Finals, Round 1 |
The Fourth Wars | Withdrew with Blade's Big Bruva |
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 |
Outside Robot Wars[]
Shortly after its audition and before its appearance on Robot Wars, Blade was originally painted red and competed at a local live event in June 1999. The event consisted of gauntlet runs, a tug of war competition and head-to-head battles. Blade won its first battle against an unidentified opponent, damaging it with its cutter before facing Rolling Thunder 2 in its second fight, which ended quickly after Rolling Thunder 2 knocked Blade out of bounds instantly to win.[1]
References[]
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