Team Toon

Team Toon
Team Toon with TR2
Participation Information
UK Series	8
Team Information
Team Members	Alex Brown Clive Brown Wendy Brown
Home Town	Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

"The team believe their biggest strength lies within their driving skills, which they’ve practiced incessantly at amateur robot fighting events over the years."

— The Robot Wars website on Team Toon

Team Toon is a team from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, which competed in Series 8 of Robot Wars, achieving third place in their only Robot Wars campaign with their robot TR2.

The Team

Team Toon approach the arena

Alex Brown in the pits in Series 9

The team consist of the Brown family; captain Alex Brown, and his parents Wendy and Clive. At the time of Series 8, driver Alex Brown was 15 years of age, while Clive Brown was the team's builder and welder. They did not enter any of the original series, being formed during the show's hiatus. Team Toon reached the Grand Final of Series 8 with TR2, finishing third overall in their Robot Wars debut. Despite this success, TR2 was only selected as a reserve compete in Series 9. It did however, make cameo appearances and participated in two whiteboard battles against Behemoth, one of which was broadcast as part of Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars.

On 19th April 2017, Alex Brown announced on Team Toon's Reddit AMA that they did not apply for Series 10, due to him taking exams on the same date that filming is due to take place. However, Brown confirmed that Team Toon would have attempted to apply for a hypothetical Series 11 had it gone forward.

The name of the team and the majority of its robots is also a reference to the "Toon Army", a name given to supporters of Newcastle United F.C., which includes team members Alex and Wendy. The majority of the team's robots are painted in the same colour scheme of black and white vertical stripes and number stickers to represent the Newcastle United spirit.

Robots

Name	Weight Class	Series
TR2	Heavyweight	Series 8 Series 9 (whiteboard battles)

TR2 (Series 8)

TR2 (Battle of the Stars)

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 8
• Losses: 1

NOTE: Whiteboard battles are not included in the tally.

Series Record

Series	Team Toon Series Record
Series 1-7	Did not enter
Series 8	Grand Final, Third Place with TR2
Series 9	Whiteboard battles only with TR2, unused reserve
Series 10	Did not enter

Outside Robot Wars

The original Toon Raider

TR2's predecessor, Toon Raider, (previously called And His Army) began life as John Bell's heavyweight Batterbot before being sold to Team Toon, who repainted it and gave it its new name. And His Army fell in the group stages of the 2008 UK Championships after being damaged by Tiberius, but was updated for the 2009 Championship and reached the final that year, where it lost to Terrorhurtz on a judges' decision. In 2010, And His Army was rebuilt by John Findlay, this time being renamed Toon Raider, adding a flipper weapon. It performed well, reaching the semi-finals of the 2010 UK Championships before losing to Iron-Awe 5, also finishing third in the 2010 Annihilator and won the 2012 Tag Team Championships when teamed with Eruption.

The first version of And His Army in 2008

And His Army as it looked in 2009 before being rebuilt and renamed Toon Raider

Hellbent 2 in 2014

44 Toon

Looney Toon

Stealth

Tiny Toon

Tiny Hurtz

The Toonimator

TR2 was originally built in early 2013 under commission by John Findlay at the Roaming Robots workshop in conjunction with Team Toon. In addition to Robot Wars, TR2 also made regular appearances in other live robot combat shows such as Robots Live!, with its most notable achievement being its overall victory at the 2015 FRA UK Heavyweight Championship at Stevenage. Following its third-place finish in Series 8, it went on to claim the same position in the 2016 FRA UK Championship, again held at Robots Live! Stevenage.

After TR2 was not selected for Series 9, Alex Brown announced that an improved version of the robot, TR3, was being developed from the version seen in the Battle of the Stars specials. This featured a rehousing of TR2's internal workings, fabricated by their sponsor for said series, Responsive Engineering. This version featured a single piece folded 4mm HARDOX 450 flipper to deflect horizontal spinners such as Carbide and PP3D. TR3 made its live events debut in April 2017 at the Robots Live! event in Burgess Hill, and would compete at the inaugural Extreme Robots event in Manchester later the same month. It was retired in April 2020 to make way for a successor, TR4. For more information on TR3 and TR4, see here.

Team Toon have bought numerous machines over the years such as Kan-Opener and Hellbent 2 in 2014 with the hope of entering them in live events again, although neither have yet been restored.

Team Toon have also fought on the live events circuit with various featherweights:

• 44 Toon: A four-wheel drive, double-scooped rambot. The robot was originally built in 2005 by Team Lambsy for the Roaming Robots 2005 Winter Tour, before being sold in 2007 to Team Shock. After an unsuccessful run, it was sold again to Team Toon in 2008.
• Looney Toon: A pink pneumatic front-hinged flipper robot built by John Lear, originally Beauty 1. Due to its reliability issues at live events, it has frequently been nicknamed "Stagefright".
• Stealth: A black octagonal wedge-shaped robot armed with a full-pressure flipper, built with aid from John Findlay.
• Tiny Toon: The team's first ever robot, originally a featherweight version of Batterbot built by John Bell. It was bought at the time of the Heavyweight 2007 UK Championships and had been renamed and repainted to its current form. Tiny Toon has enjoyed considerable success in live featherweight events, winning the 2009, 2011 & 2014 UK Annihilators, and the 2010 UK Championship.
• Tiny Hurtz: A featherweight version of Terrorhurtz built by Tom Armitage, armed with a double-headed axe based on that of its heavyweight counterpart, and built using blueprints of Terrorhurtz supplied by John Reid.
• The Toonimator: A two-wheel drive featherweight armed with a horizontal spinning disc built by John Bell.

Team Toon have also fought on the live event circuit with two antweights, Ant & Dec.

Theseus

Alex Brown built his first solo machine in 2018, a two-wheel drive featherweight vertical spinner named Theseus for an A-Level project. It took over six weeks to design in SolidWorks and one month of practical building. It occasionally competed in Extreme Robots featherweight rumbles until the class was dropped for the 2023 season, and won the student division undefeated at Labman FightFest in July 2022 - its first competitive outing.

TR4

TR4

On 17 January 2023, Team Toon confirmed that a successor to TR2 and TR3 would be built to compete on the Extreme Robots tour. CAD renders of the heavyweight machine - named TR4 - revealed that it would feature a redesigned chassis and flipper arm, while sharing the same black, white and red house colours as the team's other robots. TR4 itself made its official debut at Extreme Robots Brentwood on 27-28 May, demonstrating significantly improved weapon power, but also suffering multiple issues including a blown ESC. In spite of the latter, it went on to win both of its scheduled Tag Team matches of the weekend, partnered with Iron-Awe 5 and Ripper respectively.

At Guildford (17-18 June), TR4 again fought in Tag Team battles alongside Iron-Awe 5, the duo winning two of their three scheduled bouts. However, its next outing at Newcastle (22-23 July) was less successful, with three losses including a Heavyweight Championship Belt challenge against Tectonic. At Colchester (16-17 September), TR4 fought as part of Team Divinity for the first time. Initially paired with Uriel for a Tag Team match, it was immobilised early on, leaving Uriel to be continuously attacked by the Team Inferno pairing of Eruption and Beast. TR4 also had its top-left armour covers hacked apart by the axe of Thor during a second team battle, also incurring major damage to one of its LiPo batteries. Despite this, it would recover with two victories in the Sunday show against Meggamouse and Implosion. TR4 again sustained armour damage in the latter, but won by knockout after flipping and trapping Michael Oates' axe bot inside the floor flipper mechanism. These wins were crucial for Team Divinity to finish joint-first in the points at the end of the show, helping Gabriel to win outright in the final against Iron-Awe 5.

Team Toon returned to Robots Live! at their Grantham event on 14-15 October 2023, marking TR4's first appearance away from Extreme Robots. TR4 itself would finish the weekend runner-up in the main heavyweight competition, again to Tectonic. The following month, TR4 was again present at Extreme Robots for the end-of-season Cheltenham event (11-12 November), but lost its Heavyweight Championship challenge against Implosion on the first day. A burnt out weapon motor forced it to drop out of a planned Tag Team battle with Gabriel, resulting in it being substituted by Ripper 6. TR4's last battle of the season was a melee against Eruption, Poseidon and Thunderbolt; a depleted CO₂ supply prevented TR4 from self-righting after getting flipped over by Poseidon during the second minute.

Charity Auctions

Team Toon organised a charity auction in 2016, to raise money for Cancer Research UK, as a tribute to Krissy Knee, Alan Gribble, and Steve Merrill.

Across four waves, the auction sold various parts from a large number of Series 8 and former TV competitors via eBay, raising over £3,907.66 in the process.

The first two waves consisted entirely of parts from Series 8 competitors, the second wave included parts from older competitors such as 13 Black and Onslaught as well as more 2016 items, and the fourth wave consisted of two major items donated by Robot Wars itself.

All items from Wave 1 (2017)

All items from Wave 2 (2017)

All items from Wave 4 (2017)

All items from Wave 5 (2017)

On 18 April 2017, Team Toon announced on Facebook that they would run another charity auction in the summer. They confirmed on 1st June that the auction would raise money for Ty Caraid Africa, in support of their '300 club' project to provide funding for the education of Ugandan children. The second auction began on Tuesday 25 July, and ended on Sunday 10 September, with 50 items being spread across five waves of 10. These items consisted of parts and merchandise from seasoned Robot Wars, BattleBots and live events competitors, as well two items from the Robot Wars production crew. As with the previous auction, all items were sold via eBay.

On 17 August 2017, Team Toon began offering a limited edition signed photo of all the items for the second charity auction, as part of a prize draw for one of 4 cue cards signed by Dara Ó Briain, Angela Scanlon and the Judges. The cue cards were similar to the cards offered as part of the second wave.

The second auction raised a total of £6,944.32 for Ty Cariad Africa, over £3,000 more than the total for the previous auction.

First Auction (2016, Cancer Research UK)

Robot	Image	Item(s)	Winning Bid	Notes
Various competitors and staff		Signed cue card	£310	Cue card used on the show, signed by most competitors, as well as Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon.
13 Black		Roulette flywheel	£108	Used from Series 5 right until 13 Black's elimination in Series 6. Partially coloured by Philippa Forrester.
Apollo		Wheel and merchandise	£216	Merchandise includes a t-shirt, keyrings, and a poster.
Beast		Wheel	£92	Damaged during Beast's battle with Ironside3.
Behemoth		2x Panels	£77	Featured in Heat A of Series 8, used on the back of the robot for roll-over design.
Big Nipper		Titanium panel	£40	Used in the live events where the panel was broken off.
Carbide		Yellow wheel	£199	Signed by the team and used from Carbide's Heat Final onwards.
Chimera		Broken wheel hub	£102	Housed Chimera's large tyre before being broken by M.R. Speed Squared.
Chompalot		Side panel	£59	Used throughout the Iron Maidens competition.
Eruption		Top panel	£54.50	Used during live events.
Foxic		Side panel, lifter joint	£41	Lifter joint connected to the scoop used in Foxic's three head-to-head battles. Side panel from live events also included.
Gabriel		Axe head, drive plates, motor mounts	£56	Axe head was used in Gabriel's battle with Ironside3.
Gabriel		Craig Colliass' costume	£50	Worn throughout the series, compared to "the dad from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" by Dara Ó Briain.
Gabriel		Top panel	£45	Damaged by Pulsar and signed by both teams.
GlitterBomb		T-shirt, mascot keyring, signed card	£36	No piece of the robot included.
King B Remix		Chassis side	£42	Damaged by Sir Killalot during King B Remix's battle with TR2.
Matilda		Horn	£269.06	Provided by Robot Wars, the horn was used in all of Matilda's Series 8 appearances, and is framed and signed by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon.
Nuts		Antweight Nuts, fur offcuts, minibot weapon	£310	A fully functional antweight Nuts, including transmitter, used in Team Nuts' Series 8 application videos. The fur offcuts are taken from each team member's costume and signed. The weapon was attached to the minibot pierced by Razer.
Onslaught		Lifting scoop	£100	The entire lifting scoop used across Series 2-4.
Overdozer		Safety link	£26	One of the only remaining pieces of the robot.
Pulsar		Wheel	£55	Damaged by Ironside3.
Sabretooth		Team Legion shirt	£30	No piece of the robot included, but Gabriel Stroud would later give the buyer a 'Sabretooth mission badge' as an added reward.
Shockwave		Mounted wheel hub, signed banner	£145	Wheel hub was damaged by Thor in their first head-to-head battle.
Storm 2		Wheel	£158	Used during The Third World Championship.
Supernova		Flywheel tooth	£77	Used during The Third World Championship final against Storm 2. Also contains three Robot Wars water bottles, signed by the team members.
Terrorhurtz		2x Axe heads	£317	Used during live events.
Terrorhurtz		Axe head on shaft	£410	Shaft is snapped in half but remains attached to the axe head.
Thor		Axe head, shirt	£245	Axe head was used in live events.
Tough as Nails		Gear	£41	Used within the robot in its Series 8 appearance.
TR2		HDPE panel, official roboteer water bottle, pits entry wristbands, foam finger	£116.60	Panel was ripped off by Carbide. Water bottle is the white variant. All extras were given to Team Toon by producers at filming.

Second Auction (2017, Ty Caraid Africa)

Robot	Image	Item(s)	Winning Bid	Notes
Aftershock		Side panel + Gym bag	£150	Panel was made during filming of the Series 9 Grand Final to replace the one torn off by Carbide. Also features damage sustained during Aftershock's Head-to-Heads against Ironside3 and Eruption.
Apocalypse		Top panel	£31	Damaged by Gabriel at a live event, signed by Ed Wallace.
Apollo		3x signed panels + merchandise	£72	Panels were used during Apollo's Series 8 run, and feature damage inflicted by Carbide in that series' Grand Final. Merchandise includes a poster, a keyring, a fridge magnet and sheets of Apollo and Robots Live! stickers.
Behemoth		Wheel	£46	Signed by the team.
Beta		Bulkhead	£225.07	Signed by the team. Bulkhead features damage inflicted by Nightmare and Tombstone during Beta's BattleBots Season 2 run.
Beta		Hammer	£1,175	Signed, used by Beta during its BattleBots Season 2 run and its appearance as Basher in the Series 8 pilot episode.
Big Nipper		Panel, 3x wheels + 2 front forks	£104	Signed by the team.
Bombshell		Top panel, signed photo + sticker	£72	Panel was used on all of Bombshell's battles in BattleBots Season 2; photo signed by all members of the Chaos Corps team.
Carbide		Chassis part	£104	Signed by Team Carbide; was used throughout Carbide's Series 9 run.
Cherub		Candle holder	£43	Custom candle holder made by Craig Colliass out of various parts damaged by PP3D during Cherub’s Series 9 battles.
Cobalt		Wheel + armour	£62	Signed by Team Carbide. Both the wheel and armour were damaged by Bombshell during BattleBots Season 2.
Cobra		Front wedge	£35	As used during Cobra's Series 9 group battle.
Concussion		Panel	£140	Signed by the team.
Coyote		Signed outrigger + poster	£27	Outrigger is used to counterbalance Coyote's crushing jaws when used to lift opponents; component was used in all of the robot's Series 9 battles and features damage inflicted by Carbide.
Crackers 'n' Smash		Front wedge	£33	Wedge comes from Smash, and was damaged by Carbide during Series 9.
Dantomkia		Series 6 body shell	£1,005	Entire chassis with flipper arm and all armour intact, including puncture mark from Razer.
Dystopia		Motor	£22	Signed by Gareth Anstee.
Eric		Faceplate	£33	Signed by the current owners of the old and new Eric, Team E.R.I.C. - faceplate is from the original Eric, which competed in Series 3-4.
Eruption		Side pod, wing + rear fin	£150	Side pod was destroyed during Eruption's Head-to-Head against PP3D in Series 8. Both the wing and fin were used in Series 9 and the Extreme Robots Manchester event in 2017.
Ginsu		Saw blade	£96	Signed; used during the robot's battle against Mechadon at the BattleBots Las Vegas 1999 event. Also includes a signed, printed poster of Greg Munson and Trey Roski with Ginsu.
GlitterBomb		8-part collection (merchandise)	£26	Includes: a signed picture of April; a signed Series 8 water bottle; part of GlitterBomb Mk 2's axe mechanism (1-inch titanium, signed); GlitterBomb badge and keyring; Wheely Big Cheese magnet and keyring; and a 'Robot Necklace'.
Heavy Metal		Rotating arm and T-shirt	£49	Signed by the team. Rotating arm was used during all three of Heavy Metal's Head-to-Head battles in Series 9.
HIGH-5		Back panel	£39.49	Signed by the team. Panel was damaged by Supernova in Series 9.
Iron-Awe 2.1		Front panel	£207	Signed by the team. Features damage inflicted by Typhoon 2 during Iron-Awe 2.1's Series 7 run.
Iron-Awe 5		2x wheels, sprockets + Mechatrons Trophy	£56	Trophy was made by Ciarán Byrne, aka Dr. Zulu, and won by Iron-Awe 5 at a Mechatrons live event in Dublin.
Ironside3		Self-righter box	£32	Original component used in Series 8.
King Buxton		Signed motor, chain + spike	£37	Motor was used in King B3's run in Series 4, and burnt out during its battle against Atomic. The chain was used in King B Remix's run during Series 8.
Manta		Wheel	£35	Signed by Team Shock. Wheel was broken during a battle with Eruption at the Robots Live! Grantham event in 2017.
Meggamouse		Charles the Cheese Wedge, broken wheel and ear.	£51	Wheel is from Charles the Cheese Wedge; ear is from Meggamouse itself. Signed by Team Tilly.
Meggamouse		Side panel	£51	Damaged by Carbide, signed by Trevor Wright and Shane Lale.
Minotaur		Signed T-shirt	£42	Shirt signed by Daniel Freitas and Marco Antonio Meggiolaro of Team Riobotz.
Point Blank		Piston and targets	£36	Piston operated the robot's spike, targets were used in practice for the robot's weapon tests and are signed by the builder.
Pulsar		2x Sweatshirts	£41	Sweatshirts worn by Ellis and Peter Ware during Pulsar's run in Series 8.
Push to Exit		Front scoop	£31	Signed by the team. Scoop was visible during the Series 9 opening sequence.
Robot Wars		Signed House Roboteer T-shirt + Boxed Pussycat Toy	£92	Shirt and pullback toy formerly owned by Alan Gribble, and donated by Ann Gribble. T-shirt is signed and illustrated by all of the House Robot drivers, and was originally gifted to Alan for working as part of the original series' technical crew.
Robot Wars		Signed Cue Card, Foam Finger + Series 3 (Series 10) Crew Hoodie	£101.99	Items donated by Lucy Rogers. Cue card signed by both presenters and the Judges; foam finger signed by the Judges.
Sabretooth		Mission Badge	£134	Dubbed the "mission badge" by Gabriel Stroud, large metal badge is painted black, is the fifth of 10 to be produced, and includes the first names of Team Legion's members.
S.M.I.D.S.Y.		Top panel + disc	£102	Parts donated by ACE Robotics.
Stinger: The Killer Bee		Wheel, antenna, photos + trading cards	£124	Collection includes a large signed photo of Stinger's BattleBots Season 1 battle against Nightmare, as well as six smaller photos, nine trading cards and five stickers.
Supernova		Top lid	£57.77	Used in all of Supernova's Series 9 fights; signed by the team and features damage inflicted by Ironside3. Also comes with a sheet of stickers.
Tauron		Link cover, speed controller and stickers	£55	Signed by the team; cover was used during Tauron's Series 9 Group Battle.
Team Mouse		Collection of 4 T-shirts	£48	Four T-shirts worn by Trevor Wright during televised and live events (Shunt, Tag Team, Techno Games and Team Barbie).
Team Storm		Signed European Championship poster	£106	Signed by all competitors from the 2013 Robots Live! European Championships, including the teams entering TR2, Terrorhurtz, Behemoth and Eruption.
Team Toon		Signed photo of auction items	N/A	Features all 50 items from the second auction; signed by Alex Brown. Limited edition of 100 copies, all sold for £3.00 each and include entry into the auction's prize draw. 63 photos sold, with a combined total of £189 raised.
Terrorhurtz		Axe shaft	£410	Signed by the team.
TMHWK		Side panel	£33	Signed by the team.
Tombstone		Bar tips	£470	Tips were used in Tombstone's BattleBots Season 2 battle against Black Ice.
Tornado		Side panel + side bar	£245	Panel was used during Tornado's appearances in Series 4 and Extreme 1, and features damage from Stinger which was rectified using a heat gun.
TR2		2x HDPE side panels, spike + rear axe	£72	Spike was used in the Dara vs Angela whiteboard battle broadcast as part of Battle of the Stars; 'Bum-Axe' was made for Series 9, but never used. All components signed by the team.
TR2		Team jacket	£74	Signed by nearly 40 teams from the show and live events.
Wyrm		Side panel	£66	Signed by the team. Panel is 1 metre long and features damage from Shunt, inflicted during Wyrm's Series 9 run.

Trivia

• The majority of the team are direct descendants of George Stephenson, a civil engineer responsible for building the first passenger-carrying railways in Britain.
• Driver Alex Brown is the youngest ever roboteer to win UK Featherweight and Heavyweight championships on the live events circuit.

External Links

• Robot Wars - TR2 Facebook page