The Grand Final of the New Blood Championship was a series of battles to determine the champion of the New Blood Championship, held during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2. It was fought between the four winners of the New Blood Heats; Mute, Thor, Storm 2 and Cedric Slammer. As was normal with a Grand Final, there were two eliminators, a play-off and a final battle to decide the placings. The episode featuring the Grand Final was originally broadcast on BBC Choice on January 24, 2003 and repeated on BBC Two on August 22, 2003.
Competing Robots
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| Cedric Slammer (winner of Heat D) | ||
| Weight | 100kg | |
| Dimensions | 0.56 x 0.85 x 0.70m | |
| Power | 2 x 1200W electric motors | |
| Weapons | Spinning blade | |
| Strengths | Self righting mechanism | |
| Weaknesses | Weak construction | |
| From: Preston, Lancashire | ||
| Team Members: Jason Alty, James Cragg & Michael Zenosak | ||
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|---|---|---|
| Mute (winner of Heat A) | ||
| Weight | 96kg | |
| Dimensions | 0.28 x 1.00 x 0.70m | |
| Power | Electric motor | |
| Weapons | Front and rear flippers | |
| Strengths | Strong & reliable | |
| Weaknesses | Poor flipper design | |
| From: Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire | ||
| Team Members: Adam Emmett, Daniel Emmett & Peter Emmett | ||
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|---|---|---|
| Storm 2 (winner of Heat C) | ||
| Weight | 96kg | |
| Dimensions | 0.16 x 0.79 x 0.72m | |
| Power | 2 x Electric motors | |
| Weapons | Rammer | |
| Strengths | Runs both ways up | |
| Weaknesses | Untested in battle | |
| From: Martlesham, Suffolk | ||
| Team Members: Ed Hoppitt, Tim Bence & Andrew Rayner | ||
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|---|---|---|
| Thor (winner of Heat B) | ||
| Weight | 100kg | |
| Dimensions | 0.59 x 1.95 x 1.16m | |
| Power | 2 x Electric motors | |
| Weapons | Hammer | |
| Strengths | Explosive weapon | |
| Weaknesses | Thin armour | |
| From: Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire | ||
| Team Members: Jason Marston & Lee Cornish | ||
Eliminators
Thor vs Storm 2
Storm 2 slams Thor against the side wall
Storm 2 immediately dodged Thor's hammer blow, before spinning around Thor a number of times, chasing it into Mr. Psycho, who attacked with its hammer. After more dodging, Storm 2 found an opening, and slammed Thor against the side wall, knocking into the pit release as it did. Storm 2 then hung Thor over the pit, but Thor deftly drove away. The slam appeared to cause terrible damage to the internals of Thor, and CO2 gas could be heard venting from the ruptured tank.
Storm 2 nearly pits Thor
- "There's loads of oil down on the arena surface, and we drove through a puddle of it, and after that we had white oil being blown off the tyres"
- — Ed Hoppitt explains the lack of traction at the end
Storm 2 continued to attack, and hung Thor over the pit again, but again escaped. Storm 2 threw Thor against the arena side wall again, before letting it go, and returning to attack again. Thor retaliated well, and even began to grapple with the power of Storm 2 towards the end. The match ended with the tyres of Storm 2 smoking, but nevertheless the judges voted in favour of Storm 2.
Winner: Storm 2
Cedric Slammer vs Mute
Cedric Slammer cuts into Mute
The killer flip from Mute
Mute immediately charged at Cedric Slammer, and deflected off the spinning disc. Cedric Slammer attacked the side of Mute, but only threw up sparks against the powerful shell. Some clever driving from the Mute team allowed them to get Cedric Slammer onto the wedged front, but the front-hinged flipper only flicked Cedric Slammer away, and didn't flip it over.
Refbot counts both robots out
- "The Refbot's going to have a look here, closely. Ooh, both robots I think! Are they both immobile? He's counting them down you know! Cedric Slammer only twitching, it's not moving cleanly, I think they've both been counted out! What, at the same time, or has he only counted one out there?"
- — Confusion as Refbot counts down
Mr Psycho carries Cedric Slammer
After this flip, both robots ground to a halt, and Refbot came in to check on the pair of robots. Both temporarily flickered back into life, before halting again, so Refbot counted both robots out, and the House Robots attacked. Mr. Psycho picked up Cedric Slammer, and paraded it around the arena. Cease was called, and the judges voted to judge the battle up to the point that both robots were immobile. Based on this, Mute was judged to be the winner, on a split decision, and to the disdain of some of the crowd.
Winner: Mute
Playoff
Thor vs Cedric Slammer
The hammer of Thor hits the target.
The battle began with the two robots colliding, and Cedric Slammer pushing Thor back, into the arena wall. The two robots spun around each other, until eventually they collided again, this time Thor landing a hammer blow. Thor then rammed the sluggish Cedric Slammer, who backed into the CPZ and was rammed by Growler.
Growler pits Cedric Slammer
This knocked Cedric Slammer out entirely, and Cedric Slammer was counted out by Refbot. Growler then nudged the pit release tyre, and then grabbed Cedric Slammer, pushing it into the pit. With this, Thor won third place.
- "Cedric Slammer, slammed into the pit! The victors, the hammer of the mighty Thor!"
- — Craig Charles
Third Place: Thor
Final
Mute vs Storm 2
Mute wedges under Storm 2
Storm 2 began the battle by dodging Mute, before shoving it into the arena wall into the side. Mute got underneath the side of Storm 2, but the design of the front-hinged flipper prevented it from being able to use that advantage to flip Storm 2 over. Instead, Storm spun away, and pushed against Mute again, but Mute spun around, and managed to wedge underneath Storm again. As per the first time, Mute couldn't overturn Storm 2, but flicked it into the air nevertheless.
Storm 2 pushes Mute around the arena
Storm 2, once again lightly smoking, pushed back against Mute, but could not shove Mute as it had shoved opponents in the past. The two robots pushed against each other again. Still smoking, Storm 2 ran away to line up another charge, and this time managed to push Mute towards Dead Metal, but the House Robot was not fast enough to attack before Mute escaped. Regardless, Storm 2's pushing persisted for a large section of the match.
- "This is the old rumble in the jungle tactics, where Ali drew George Foreman on in the World Heavyweight and then caught him with a sucker punch, and Mute have done that to Storm 2!"
- — Boxing analogies from Jonathan Pearce
Storm 2 runs inverted as the seconds tick down.
After this, some poor driving from Storm 2 allowed Mute to get underneath again, but it failed to capitalise on a number of these opportunities, until Storm 2 drove high onto the wedge of Mute, allowing the full power of the flipper to fire, flicking Storm 2, but not throwing it over. In the final seconds, Mute managed to throw Storm 2 against the arena wall, and it fell upside-down. With its wedge now useless, Storm 2 spent the end of the battle escaping from Dead Metal, and cease was called.
The judges were called upon for the third time in the episode, and they ruled that Storm 2 had won the New Blood final by a margin of one point.
New Blood Champion: Storm 2
- "All our New Blood robots, have risen to the cause, but Storm 2 are the champions, on Robot Wars!"
- — Craig Charles sign off
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