Storm 2

From Robot Wars Wiki

Storm 2
Storm 2
Participation Information
UK Series	7, Extreme 2
Team Information
Team	Team Storm
Team Members	Ed Hoppitt Tim Bence Meral Kolac (Series 7) Andrew Rayner (Extreme 2)
Robot Statistics
Weight	100kg
Dimensions	0.67m x 0.78m x 0.68m
Power	2 x electric motors
Weapons	Lifting arm
Robot statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show

Storm 2 (commonly known as Storm II) was a robot that competed in the British television game show Robot Wars.

It was a small invertible box-shaped robot with a wedge on the front. The robot was originally built with no weapons but the team was asked to add an active weapon in order to take part in the seventh series, so the team came up with a built-in lifting arm, very similar to the American robot Biohazard. However, it was not the weapon but the immense speed and power of the robot that did the most damage to its opponents, managing to throw The Steel Avenger Out of the Arena in its Series 7 heat final. The robot competed in the seventh series of Robot Wars, winning The Third World Championship at the end of the series, having won the 16th seed into the competition by being victorious in the New Blood Championship of Extreme 2.

Storm 2 was created by Ed Hoppitt, previous member of Team Thermonuclear Warfare. He was joined by Tim Bence and Andrew Rayner. Hoppitt and Bence would alternate driving during the wars. Not long after the filming of New Blood, Andrew Rayner got married, moved house and began a family, so his place on the team was filled by Bence's fiance, Meral Kolac.

Storm 2 is famous because it is the most prominent robot never to lose a battle through KO, only losing one battle on a judges' decision.

Like many other robots, Storm 2 also competed in Techno Games as Ickle Toaster in the Football and Sumo events.

The original Storm was never seen in Robot Wars, but competed in various robot combat events across the UK and the Dutch Robot Games.

Contents 1 Controversy 2 Robot History 2.1 Extreme 2 2.2 Series 7 3 Results 3.1 Wins/Losses 4 Series Record 5 Honours

[edit] Controversy

Main article: Storm 2/Controversy

[edit] Robot History

[edit] Extreme 2

Storm 2 made an alliance with Revolution 2, and proved its power straight away in the first round of the New Blood Championship against Direct Action, pushing it near Mr. Psycho. Storm 2 took a blow from Mr Psycho, but managed to avoid serious action. A blow from the large blades of Revolution 2 did not cause much visible damage. Storm 2 drove into a CPZ but charged out, skidding into the arena side wall. The sheer force of Storm's attacks immobilized Direct Action on one side, leaving it spinning around in circles, and it was easily dispatched of in the pit.

The following two fights were equally straightforward. In the second round, Storm 2 was completely unaffected by Chopper's weak spinning blade, and all Storm 2 had to do was drive under it with the wedge and slam it against the wall, flipping Chopper over, and it was not capable of self righting. In the heat final against ICU, the two charged at each other, but this impact tore the aerial from ICU, leaving Strom 2 to nudge ICU onto the floor flipper to be counted out.

In the grand final eliminator against Thor, both started by circling and dodging each other. Thor brought its hammer down, missing. Storm 2 bumped Thor into Mr. Psycho. Storm 2 got underneath Thor and hit the pit release tyre. The rear end of Thor hovered over the pit when Storm 2 tried to get it down, but it escaped. The attacks of Storm 2 took its toll on the opponent as Thor's CO2 powered hammer stopped working. Storm 2 guided Thor towards the pit once again, but Thor got away again. One of Storm 2's wheels started smoking shortly before cease was called, but Storm 2 won the judges decision anyway allowing it to contest the New Blood Championship grand final with Mute. The competitors spent the opening stages buffeting each other's attacks until Mute drove Storm 2 against the arena wall, unable to flip it. Storm almost pushed Mute into Dead Metal, but Mute got away, leaving Storm 2 needing to drive out of the CPZ itself. Storm 2 looked relatively slow compared to its earlier rounds and again drove into Dead Metal, almost getting flipped by Mute while reversing out of Dead Metal's clutches. Mute got underneath Storm 2 again and flipped it across the arena onto the wall with its weaponary. Cease was called, and the judges went for Storm 2, giving the team automatic entry to the seventh wars.

[edit] Series 7

Placed in the universally named Heat of Doom, high expectations were of Storm 2, as it was the seeded machine in that heat. However, changes since the addition of the weapon were still new, and the newest model of Storm 2 had not been fully tested. Storm 2 faced Rhino, Mayhem and Supernova in its first round battle. It began by slamming Rhino acrosss the arena but then being flipped by the other machine. Once again, Storm 2 slammed Rhino into an arena wall, before pushing it into Matilda's CPZ. The house robot aent part of the arena wall flying away with her flywheel. Rhino escaped and lifted Storm 2 again. Storm 2 then shoved Supernova into Sir Killalot, snapping the house robot's treads. It also showved the Sri Lankan robot across the arena into a CPZ, immobilising it. Supernova was counted out, putting through Storm 2 and Rhino.

Storm 2 pushed Trax around a lot in Round 2 showing immense power and strength, soundly defeating another opponent.

In the Heat Final, The Steel Avenger attempted to hit it with its axe but got the axe stuck in the arena floor. Storm 2 pushed it across the arena into the wall. It hit it so hard that The Steel Avenger bounced out of the arena, the first time a robot had been throw out of the arena without the use of weapons.

In the Semi-Final it pushed and flipped The Grim Reaper around repeatedly and won on a unanimous decision. In Round 2 it managed to prevent Firestorm 5 getting under it by bending the front blade upwards. Exploiting Firestorm 5's weakness; its low pushing power, Storm 2 entered a pushing match, easily winning and pushing Firestorm 5 into the pit. The New Blood Champion was through to the Grand Final.

Storm 2 faced the defending champions Tornado in the final. The two box-shaped pushed each other around with Storm 2 having the edge due to the increased power and speed, so it won on a judges decision. It fought bravely against Typhoon 2, the armour was strong enough to withstand Typhoon's attacks, and it attempted to flip Typhoon on several ocassions, basically the first time it used the lifting arm. Eventually Typhoon 2 destroyed the arena wall so the the bout was stopped. When it was restarted Storm 2 continued pushing Typhoon 2 around until they both got caught on the Pit panel. Storm 2 appeared to slow down after this, and when it slammed Typhoon into the Arena Wall again a large piece of armour from the front wedge flew off, moments before the battle ended. The judges said that Storm 2 won on Control and Aggression, and Typhoon 2 won on Style and Damage, so because Damage carries the most weight Typhoon 2 was declared the new Champion. Many argue that Storm 2 would have won had the panel not fallen off.

Storm 2 then had the chance to make amends for this series 7 loss, in the Third World Championship. Ansgar 3 of Germany and grand finalists Tornado were the opponents in the first round. Ansgar's progess was very quickly stymied, as the two English rammers put the German walker on the flame pit, where it was immobilized. Once Ansgar got off the flame pit, Storm 2 and Tornado teamed up to dump Ansgar 3 in the pit of oblivion. Tornado used its wedge shape to get in underneath Storm 2 and ram it against the side wall, but once again, the extra power and speed gave Storm 2 the edge over Tornado, slamming it into a CPZ. A well controlled drive from Tornado put Storm 2 in the clutches of Dead Metal, although it escaped with just a few bruises. Storm 2 fought back though, using its lifting arm to flip over Tornado. This was deemed enough by the judges to put Team Storm through.

Series semi finallist Tough As Nails met Storm 2 in the world championship semi final, and Tough As Nails immediately got a grip on Storm 2. Tough As Nails' usual tactics did not work however, as Storm 2 ferociously charged Tough As Nails into the arena wall, allowing the Dutch entry to be hammered by Mr. Psycho. It was becoming evident that Tough As Nails was being outclassed, and another ram by Storm 2 caused a tyre to fall off the Dutch robot. Tough As Nails who was still fully mobile went for the pit release button, but inevitably it was Tough As Nails that fell down, despite holding onto Storm 2 with its pincers. Storm 2 added insult to injury by nudging the tyre debris into the pit.

Storm 2 faced its Heat I opponents Supernova, representing Sri Lanka in the final. The pair started tentatively, dodging the other machine's potential attacks. Supernova got a glancing blow on Strom 2, sending the Sri Lankan machine spinning. Storm 2 pushed Supernova into the arena wall, where Supernova's disc made it spin on contact with the wall. Miraculously, they bumped into each other and Supernova flipped itself over onto the wall, where its disc dug deep into the arena floor. Storm 2 however, came under attack from Shunt, who lifted it onto the arena wall. The Refbot freed Supernova and Shunt freed Storm 2, so they could continue fighting. The two rammed each other around before cease was called. The judges awarded the world championship to Storm 2.

[edit] Results

STORM 2 - RESULTS
Extreme Series 2
New Blood Championship Champion
Heat C, Round 1	vs. Revolution 2, Direct Action	Qualified
Heat C, Round 2	vs. Chopper	Won
Heat C, Final	vs. ICU	Won
Grand Final, Eliminator	vs. Thor	Won
Grand Final	vs. Mute	Won
Series 7
The Seventh Wars - UK Championship 16th Seed, Runner-Up
Heat I, Round 1	vs. Mayhem, Rhino, Supernova	Qualified
Heat I, Round 2	vs. Trax	Won
Heat I, Final	vs. The Steel Avenger	Won
Semi-Final 2, Round 1	vs. The Grim Reaper	Won
Semi-Final 2, Round 2	vs. Firestorm 5 (2)	Won
Grand Final, Eliminator	vs. Tornado (1)	Won
Grand Final	vs. Typhoon 2	Lost
The Third World Championship Representing UK, Champion
Heat	vs. Ansgar 3 (GER), Tornado (UK)	Won
Semi-Final	vs. Tough As Nails (NED)	Won
Final	vs. Supernova (SRI)	Won

[edit] Wins/Losses

• Wins: 14
• Losses: 1

[edit] Series Record

• Series 1-6: Did not enter
• Series 7: Runner-up

[edit] Honours

Preceded by: None New Blood Champion Extreme Series 2 Succeeded by: None Preceded by: Razer World Champion Series 7 Succeeded by: None Preceded by: Razer UK Series Runner-Up Series 7 Succeeded by: None

Non-Official Honour

Honourable Mention in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame