Team Scutterbots (later Team Spawn Again), were a team from Essex who fought in Series 3-7 of Robot Wars, both series of Robot Wars Extreme and the first season of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. The team sometimes referred to themselves as The Essex Boys.
The Team
- "We were both working for the Ford Motor Co in Dagenham at the time of the Second Wars and decided after watching the show that we could build a better bot than the ones we see, so we did. Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for!"
- — Darren Hayden-Ball
Team Scutterbots in Series 3 with Scutter's Revenge
Team Scutterbots comprised of several Ford Motor Company employees, captained by Darren Hayden-Ball with his colleagues Graham Warner and Oluremi Idris. Idris did not return for Series 4 and was replaced by Luke Jackman. Jackman and Hayden-Ball remained on the team until the end of the original series.
The team's robots were:
- Scutter's Revenge, which was armed with a front bulldozer scoop and entered Series 3.
- Spawn of Scutter, an invertible, box-shaped robot with a flipping/piercing spike, which fought in Series 4.
- Spawn Again, which competed in Series 5-7, both series of Extreme, and the War of Independence in Extreme Warriors Season 1, armed with a large CO2-powered flipper.
Despite being plagued by technical problems, Team Scutterbots reached the Semi-Finals in four out of the five main UK series they competed in, with the sole exception of Series 7, their final televised appearance.
Rivalry with Plunderbird
- "It kicks butt better than the other robots. And we're better than the Plunderbirds"
- — Graham Warner introduces Spawn of Scutter in Heat L of Series 4
Team Scutterbots had a "rivalry" with the International Wreck Crew, imitating their "tough guy" attitude, black clothes and sunglasses, whilst expressing a desire to fight them. However, they never got the chance despite appearing together in many episodes, leaving this as the biggest unresolved grudge in Robot Wars.
In their debut appearance, Team Scutterbots fought in the same heat as Plunderstorm, but did not meet after Plunderstorm was beaten in the first round by Thermador, Scutters' Revenge's second-round opponent. In Series 4, the teams again appeared in the same heat as seeded entries, although Plunderbird 4 was defeated in the second round by Knightmare before it could fight Spawn of Scutter.
The next two incarnations, Spawn Again and Plunderbird 5, both entered the War of Independence during the first season of Extreme Warriors, but both were beaten in the first round by their opponents.
The chance for the two teams to fight each other finally came around when they were drawn up against each other in the Tag Team Terror during Extreme Series 1, with Comengetorix and Bigger Brother, respectively.
- "I think Plunderbird needs to learn how to fly!"
- — Graham Warner
However, before the battle, Plunderbird crashed into the entry gate and had to withdraw, being replaced by Major Tom. No further interaction between the two teams occurred after this, mostly because the International Wreck Crew retired after Series 5.
Robots
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Scutter's Revenge | Heavyweight | Series 3 |
| Spawn of Scutter | Heavyweight | Series 4 |
| Spawn Again | Heavyweight | Series 5-7, Extreme 1-2, US Season 1 |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 17
- Losses: 11
Series Record
| Main Series | Team Scutterbots Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Semi-Final, Round 1 with Scutter's Revenge |
| The Fourth Wars | Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn of Scutter |
| The Fifth Wars | Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn Again |
| The Sixth Wars | Semi-Final, Round 1 with Spawn Again |
| The Seventh Wars | Heat Final with Spawn Again |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Entered with Spawn Again |
| Series 2 | Entered with Spawn Again |
Trivia
- Team Scutterbots is one of seven teams to reach the Semi-Finals with two different robots, and the only team to achieve the feat with three different robots.
- Despite reaching four Semi-Finals, the team never managed to win a battle in any of their Semi-Final appearances, going out in the first round of the semis on each occasion, the record for the most Semi-Finals reached without winning a battle in any of them.
- The battles between Spawn of Scutter and Knightmare and Spawn Again and Raging Knightmare respectively meant that Scutterbots/Knightmare became the second of three rivalries (after Team 101/King Buxton and followed by Pulsar/Ironside3) where both teams reached a Semi-Final or Grand Final by defeating the other.
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