TX-108 was a robot that failed to qualify for Series 5, 6 and 7 of Robot Wars, built by Team Terrafonics, nowadays known as Team Danby. TX-108 also took part in a Wild Card Warrior battle in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme, where it fought Hypno-Disc and won due to Hypno-Disc breaking down twenty seconds into the fight. TX-108 was the only newcomer to win a Wild Card Warrior battle, but the battle was not aired on television.
Design
TX-108's insides. Note how the crusher ram is mounted.
TX-108 was a grey wedge-shaped robot with a vertical hydraulic crushing arm as its weapon. The robot was designed and built so that unlike crushers like Razer and Ming 3, it didn't need an additional self-righting mechanism in order to right itself. It also had a claw pulled down to crush, like the original Tiberius' weapon, instead being pushed like Razer, Ming 3 and newer versions of Tiberius. It was also faster and had tougher armour.
- "We built TX to selfright without wings, we crushed differently, we were faster and better armoured"
- — Craig Danby on the Official Robot Wars Fantasy Group
During the 12-year hiatus of Robot Wars, TX-108 was upgraded to have a crusher that pushed down instead of being pulled down, and with its claw piston set on the base of instead of at a angle like TX-108's. The robot was renamed TX-109, and would later be renamed and rebuilt into Apex.
Qualification
TX-108 in the Pits during Series 7
In the Series 5 qualifiers, TX-108 faced future semi-finalist S3. It started well, managing to push S3 around as the machine was suffering from control problems, although S3 did manage to turn and hit TX-108 with its disc multiple times. The match went to the judges with both machines having suffered damage, and S3 was declared the winner.
TX-108 came back to try to qualify for Series 6. Initially, it was drawn up against Barbaric Response, Lightning and Twister, but withdrew from that qualifier after its controller for the crusher malfunctioned [1]. However, the team were able to fix this, and TX-108 was given a second chance to qualify, fighting Reptirron The Second. After one crucial blow from Reptirron's weapon, TX-108 broke down and failed to enter the show again.
TX-108 then entered the qualifiers for Series 7, and was drawn against 8645T 2 and Mighty Mouse, who coincidentally fought each other in the main series. It lost after its aerial came loose, and again failed to qualify, with TX-108 ultimately never appearing on the televised show.
Results
| TX-108 - RESULTS | ||
| Extreme Series 1 | ||
| Other Battles Wild Card Warriors | ||
| Wild Card Warriors | vs. Hypno-Disc | Won (unaired) |
Series Record
| Main Series | TX-108 Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Featherweight Championship with Deadline |
| The Third Wars | Super Heavyweight Championship with Toxin (event cancelled) |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify with Vindicare |
| The Fifth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Seventh Wars | Failed to qualify Featherweight Championship with Gi-Ant-O Unused reserve, Tanto |
| Series 8 | Heat, Round 2 with Foxic Not selected with Apex |
| Series 9 | Entered with Apex (Team Terrafonics) Entered with Foxic (Team Danby) Entered Battle of the Stars with The Cat |
| Series 10 | Wild Card Warriors (unaired) Entered with Anto |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Gi-Ant-O |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
NOTE: Tanto also entered the 2016 pilot episode, under new ownership of Team Nebula
Robot Wars Live Events
TX-109, prior to its name change to Apex.
Although TX-108 regularly competed at Roaming Robots events, it was Apex that first competed in a Robot Wars live event, fighting in Newport, TX-109, and later Apex, have yet to enjoy great success at the live events. In 2016 while the new series was being filmed, Apex was rearmed with a large spinning blade in 2016. Apex also fought in the Portsmouth Live events with the spinning blade. Unfortunately Apex broke down during its fight because they had wasted energy before hand.
Outside Robot Wars
TX-108 competed in Techno Games, as RaMyA, (Razer My Arse), without its weapon and clad in pink fur working with Pink Pants (a weaponless pink fur clad Pussycat) in the football competition as Team Pink, losing to Team Typhoon, as RaMyA broke down during the competition. It also competed in the Sumo event, where it managed to beat Rhino when the Army drove their robot off the sumo ring.[2].
At the 2006 UK Championships, TX-108 fought Storm 2, but as it entered the arena with uncharged batteries, it did not have the power to pit its opponent despite having a clear opportunite. TX-108 was pitted by Storm 2, fought Toxic to a Judges' decision, and eventually lost to Leveller 2 by being flipped over.