 All battle/event/episode write-ups must be written in the past tense.
|
The Pullbacks also known as Pullback, Friction & Ripcord toys were small plastic replicas of competitor robots and house robots which ran from Series 3 to 6 and Extreme 2. These toy models are smaller than the Pitstop Kits and Remote Controlled Toys and larger than the minibots.
Overview[]
These toys had moving weapons and, in most cases, a pullback motor, meaning they would move forward on their own once pulled back along the ground. When first released, the pullback, friction and ripcord toys were usually priced at £10 apiece and always came with small accessories, usually tied into the Trial rounds seen in Series 1, 2, 3 and 4. For example, obstacles from the Pinball arena and football tournament (but not the sumo ring) were included.
Some of the toys are quite fragile, and common damage includes Sgt. Bash's flamethrower breaking apart for moving up and down, Sir Killalot's hydraulic cutters and Razer's beak refusing to stay open, Razer's self-righting wings, Chaos 2's side rivets, Firestorm's aerials and Refbot's fire extinguisher being lost, Pussycat's blade being overwound when the warning tells against forcing to do so, Chaos 2's flipper button, Panic Attack's red light lever, Firestorm's pattern and flipper button and Wheely Big Cheese's flipper button having paint worn away, X-Terminator 2's axe being bent and having paint worn away, Wheely Big Cheese's flipper losing its hinges and Chaos 2's flipper refusing to retract. The weapons were activated in many different ways, such as pressing a button to activate a flipper, or by simply running a robot's front wheels along the ground to utilise a spinning disc. The Firestorm and Wheely Big Cheese pullbacks were notorious for having two small front wheels which were not present in real life, thus decreasing the effectiveness the weapons had.
The toys as presented from the official advert
Two robots did not have pullback motors: Stinger, activated using a ripcord, and Sir Killalot, which used a friction motor.
The first wave of House Robot pullbacks (and the single competitor released in this wave, Hypno-Disc) came with interchangeable parts, such as Hypno-Disc's spiked and flat rear armour and Matilda's chainsaw and flywheel. Parts which were not on the actual robots were sometimes also included, such as an optional hammer with Sir Killalot to replace the lance, and a rear drill for Sergeant Bash. Later waves of the pullback toys included interchangeable parts less often, though some exceptions include the self-righting hoop which came with X-Terminator 2 as part of the Gauntlet set, as well as Tornado's curved scoop as an interchangeable weapon.
Competitor Robots[]
How the pullbacks were created
| Pullback | Image | Accessories |
|---|---|---|
| Chaos 2 | 
|
Road cones and balls |
| Dantomkia | 
|
Spiked blocks and spiked mine block |
| Firestorm | 
|
Dual flamethrowers |
| Hypno-Disc | 
|
Grey breeze block wall |
| Panic Attack | 
|
Football and Goal |
| Pussycat | 
|
Power hammer |
| Razer | 
|
Ramp and Yellow Barrels |
| Stinger | 
|
Tricks ramp and launcher |
| Tornado | 
|
Floor spinner and Feeding scoop |
| Wheely Big Cheese | 
|
Small tower of girders |
| X-Terminator 2 | 
|
None - packaged with the Gauntlet |
House Robots[]
The pullback house robots with their accessories
| Pullback | Image | Accessories |
|---|---|---|
| Dead Metal | 
|
Silver barrels |
| Growler | 
|
Girders and 5 point balls |
| Matilda | 
|
Car door swing gate |
| Mr. Psycho | 
|
Black breeze block wall and orange barrels |
| Refbot | 
|
Battleboard |
| Sergeant Bash | 
|
Tyre targets and points stickers |
| Shunt | 
|
Multiball release |
| Sir Killalot | 
|
Seesaw and sphere |
Two-Packs[]
| Pullbacks | Image | Accessories |
|---|---|---|
| Razer and Stinger | 
|
Ramp, cones, balls and battleboard |
| Sir Killalot and Hypno-Disc | 
|
Barrels, multiball release, seesaw and sphere |
| Shunt and Panic Attack | 
|
Seesaw, barrels and breeze block wall |
| Sir Killalot and Chaos 2 | 
|
Ramp, cones, balls and yellow barrels |
| Dead Metal and Shunt | 
|
Seesaw, breeze block wall, car door swing gate and balls |
| Refbot and Stinger | 
|
Battleboard, tricks ramp, cones, balls and yellow barrels |
| Pussycat and Refbot | 
|
Power hammer, yellow barrels, football and goal |
| Razer and Sir Killalot | 
|
Multiball release, ramp, cones, balls and yellow barrels |
| Chaos 2 and Razer | 
|
The First World Championship VHS tape and two replica trophies - Toys "R" Us exclusive |
Trivia[]
- A toy arena for the Pullbacks was considered, but ultimately the idea was rejected because it would have been too big to make[1].
- Issue 15 of the original Robot Wars Magazine gave instructions on how to build an arena for the Pullbacks using cardboard boxes.[2].
- According to Anthony Pritchard, a Behemoth pullback toy was planned for release during the original series' run. Although Team Make Robotics were informed about the planned toy, no prototypes of it were made before Robot Wars entered its hiatus.[3]
- According to Gary Cairns, Typhoon 2 was measured in the pits in preparation for a pullback toy release. However, Robot Wars entered its hiatus before the toy could even be produced.[4]
References[]
[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||