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"A shell-ebration of turtle teamwork"
Robot Wars: The Official Handbook

Terror Turtle was a heavyweight robot which fought in various series of Robot Wars, debuting in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme before competing in the main competition of Series 7 and 8, and making its final appearance in Robot Wars: World Series, filmed as part of Series 10.

Terror Turtle debuted in the New Blood Championship, but was eliminated in the first round by Roobarb and Mute. It was then thrown out of the arena during both of its UK championship appearances in Series 7 and 8, by Atomic and Eruption respectively. Terror Turtle also represented Canada in the Commonwealth Carnage during Extreme 2, The Third World Championship during Series 7, and Robot Wars: World Series during Series 10. Despite this, Terror Turtle failed to win any of its seven battles, leaving it with the lowest win-to-loss ratio of any Robot Wars competitor.

Design[]

"It's a turtle"
— The robot's strength and weakness in Series 7
Terror Turtle EX2

Terror Turtle in the Commonwealth Carnage, with the bar weapon

Terror Turtle was designed to resemble a large turtle, covered in 2mm aluminium plate, 4mm steel box, and a decorative 4mm fibreglass top which proved to be weak against overhead weapons. In the second series of Extreme, Terror Turtle was armed with a large 90cm rotating iron bar with axe heads and 360 degrees of attack, raised 10cm off the arena floor. This weapon boasted reasonable power, but had a slow spin-up time, and the frame of the weapon could be bent in battle. The large weapon offered a high range of attack, but also left the robot with no way of running inverted.

"Terror Turtle is like an egg armed with a sledgehammer! He's a bit weak, but if he hits someone with this rotating bar, nothing's gonna stand in his way!"
— John Frizell on the spinning bar weapon
Terror turtle s7 arena

Terror Turtle in Series 7

This weapon was exchanged in Series 7 for a large 45cm, 9kg spinning disc. The removal of the bar weapon and lowering of the fibreglass top armour meant that Terror Turtle was now invertible, and the new spinning disc was more damaging and quicker to spin up, at the cost of lower reach. Terror Turtle's large tyres were exposed in all of its appearances, and provided a weakness for the robot's design.

"Terror Turtle runs with thinner armour compared to its competitors but has a cluster bot, 'The Hatchling'. The main robot runs a 9kg 3,000rpm spinner while The Hatchling is designed to ram other robots but doesn't have an active weapon."
Robot Wars: Build Your Own Robot on Terror Turtle in Series 8
Terror Turtle S8

Terror Turtle and The Hatchling in Series 8

In Series 8, Terror Turtle's weight was reduced from 96kg to 86kg, to make way for a clusterbot that fought alongside it, named The Hatchling. Weighing 21.5kg, The Hatchling was a static wedge made of 3mm mild steel, driven by industrial electric drills for a top speed of 20mph, which intended to impede the movement of other robots by wedging underneath them. Otherwise, Terror Turtle was upgraded to use modern day internals, new speed controllers that removed the former half-second lag which hampered the robot's controls in 2003, and its spinning disc was now rated at 3000rpm, powered by a 25.9V lithium polymer battery.

Terrorturtle worldseries pits

Terror Turtle in the pits during the World Series

During Robot Wars: World Series, Terror Turtle used a new horizontal bar spinner in place of the spinning disc, identical to the spinners used by The Kegs. Terror Turtle's speed was also reportedly increased from 5mph to 11mph. The Hatchling did not appear with Terror Turtle in this appearance, with no team members available to drive it, although The Hatchling was still addressed by Jonathan Pearce as being available. This version of Terror Turtle was quoted at weighing 108kg, although it is unknown whether this weight factored in The Hatchling.

Qualification[]

Terror Turtle was originally built to enter Series 5 of Robot Wars, and in the qualifiers, Terror Turtle won its battle, but regardless was not chosen to compete in the series due to the robot lacking power in its drive.

"I won my fight when the impact of my rotor knocked out a circuit breaker my opponent had installed to protect his drive motors. But they declined to accept TT because it was 'too feeble' in its drive [which was true]."
— John Frizell, on his Series 5 qualifier

In its Series 6 qualifier, Terror Turtle had an immediate advantage as one of its opponents was immobile to begin with, but after Sumpthing immobilised another potential qualifier, Terror Turtle's promising start was lost when its overhead rotor broke in half. The two robots eventually became stuck together and due to the damage Sumpthing caused to Terror Turtle's wheels, it lost to Sumpthing under head-to-head conditions. Terror Turtle was not awarded a place in Series 6, but it instead appeared in the newcomers-only New Blood Championship in Extreme 2.

Series 7 Qualifier

Terror Turtle fighting in its Series 7 qualifier battle

Terror Turtle Damage

Damage done to Terror Turtle at the Series 7 qualifiers

In its qualifier battle for Series 7, Terror Turtle faced three robots with spinning weapons, two of which were Fluffy and Gyrobot. Terror Turtle's armour was heavily damaged by Fluffy in battle, though it remained functional until the end of the qualifier, despite being rammed into the arena wall by Gyrobot. The battle was ultimately won by Gyrobot, as Fluffy had broken down, but Terror Turtle finally qualified for the main competition after being given a discretionary place.

Terror Turtle qualified for Series 8 by open application, and its participation in Series 8 was first indirectly revealed in a teaser trailer released on June 25th, 2016. This trailer focused on Sabretooth, but showed a short clip of Terror Turtle within the arena alongside it.

For Series 9, Terror Turtle applied in the same way as the last series, but this time was not selected to compete[1]. Team Terror Turtle entered Series 10 using The Kegs, but still brought Terror Turtle to filming, and later competed in Robot Wars: World Series using it.

The Team[]

Main article: Team Terror Turtle
Team terror turtle 2016

Team Terror Turtle in Series 8

Terror Turtle was built by John Frizell, a keen environmentalist and former Greenpeace director. John Frizell was responsible for the repairs of the machine, particularly in the classic series, and was also the lead driver of the machine. In Extreme 2 and Series 7, he was joined by his sons JJ and Zacky Frizell, while in Series 8, he was joined by three new teammates. These included jewellers Jonathan Swan and JME Anderson, who were responsible for maintaining minibot The Hatchling, as well as Charles Hoile, an engineering student recommended to Frizell by Ian Watts.

Terror Turtle flags

Terror Turtle with John Frizell in the World Series

In Robot Wars: World Series, John Frizell was Terror Turtle's only team member, despite Jonathan Swan and JME Anderson competing as part of Team Terror Turtle with The Kegs earlier in the series.

Because John Frizell was originally native to Vancouver, Canada, Terror Turtle represented that country in three international events. Otherwise, Terror Turtle was introduced by Frizell's residence in the UK, in Lewes, East Sussex. In keeping with its Canadian heritage, in the Commonwealth Carnage and its World Championship qualifier in Series 7, Terror Turtle had red maple leaves painted onto its armour.

Robot History[]

Extreme 2[]

"Will this turn turtle or "terra-pin" down opponents?"
Jonathan Pearce introduces Terror Turtle

In its first battle, Terror Turtle fought in Heat A of the New Blood Championship, against two flippers, Mute and Roobarb.

NewBloodARound1.1

Terror Turtle is flipped over by Roobarb

RoobarbRightsTerrorTurtle

Terror Turtle is hooked onto the arena wall

Terror Turtle started the battle near a flame jet, and immediately attempted to accelerate its spinning bar, but both Roobarb and Mute charged into it to immediately silence the spinning weapon, although not without Terror Turtle chipping Roobarb's armour. Both opponents missed their first flips on Terror Turtle, but Mute remained in place next to Terror Turtle's bar, preventing it from attacking until Roobarb threw Terror Turtle over completely, also activating the Disc of Doom in the process. With no method of self-righting or running inverted, Terror Turtle was left idle whilst Mute started to attack Roobarb instead. Terror Turtle played no further role for the next period of the battle, until Roobarb was chased back towards Terror Turtle, which was burning over a flame jet. Despite Terror Turtle already being defeated, Roobarb flicked it back over again, although Terror Turtle's bar spinner caught on the arena wall, and prevented it from reaching the arena floor. Although it was now right-side up, Terror Turtle still could not escape from the wall, despite shifting back and forth on one of its wheels. This forced Sir Killalot to leave his CPZ and attempt to free Terror Turtle, while Mute and Roobarb fought elsewhere. Sir Killalot struggled to remove Terror Turtle from the wall, and during this time, Mute suddenly swerved into the pit, bringing an immediate end to the battle.

Philippa Forrester: "Now I think they were actually terrified of you, and that's why they went for you."
John Frizell: "I think that's right, I think they knew that once the axe got up to speed, it was bite quite some big pieces out of them, and they were determined to get us before it did!"
Philippa Forrester: "I was so shocked that you were the first ones out, because you were still mobile really, you were just hooked over the edge!"
John Frizell: "Well yes, and in fact, one of them had gone and flipped us back on our feet so we could actually go, yes, we were a bit surprised. We hoped the judges might notice that we were going back and forth, we even made a point of running back and forth to see if they'd notice us!"
— John Frizell on his perceived mobility
Matilda horn

The Matilda horn presented to JJ Frizell

Although Terror Turtle was never counted out, and was seemingly in the process of being freed, Terror Turtle was declared to have been officially immobilised during the battle, and it was eliminated from the New Blood Championship in the first round, while Mute and Roobarb advanced. As a consolation prize, Philippa Forrester gifted a horn from Matilda to JJ Frizell, to go alongside a small piece of metal that Terror Turtle had removed from Roobarb in the battle.

Terror Turtle also represented Canada in the Commonwealth Carnage, as part of the former Commonwealth. It fought against Crushtacean from South Africa, Panic Attack from Wales and Cerberus from Cyprus in its first-round melee.

"We're up against it, it's going to be tough. Turtles are almost gone from the wild, and they may be gone from Robot Wars shortly too!"
— John Frizell before the first round
Panic Attack vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is almost pitted

At the start of the battle, Terror Turtle found empty space in the top-left corner of the arena and spun up its bar up to full speed. Upon its first contact, Terror Turtle struck the side of Panic Attack, but the impact pulled Terror Turtle's weapon rotor out of alignment, leaving the robot without an active weapon for the remainder of the battle. Panic Attack backed into Terror Turtle, which slowly travelled to the centre of the arena, although the more experienced Panic Attack caught Terror Turtle by its bent weaponry, and held it up near the pit which had just been opened by Crushtacean. Terror Turtle hung over the side of the pit, but Panic Attack was not able to finish Terror Turtle off.

Panic, turtle and crab

Terror Turtle comes under attack from Crushtacean

Whilst Terror Turtle narrowly escaped an immediate exit, Cerberus was pushed into the pit by Crushtacean, leaving only three robots. Terror Turtle drove away from the pit, with Panic Attack in close pursuit, and drove into Crushtacean, but posed no real threat in doing so. Terror Turtle was pushed into an empty CPZ by Panic Attack, which prompted Shunt to close in and axe the exposed tyres of Terror Turtle. Once again, Terror Turtle made its getaway, with its decorative lid now leaning forwards loosely, but Crushtacean grabbed Terror Turtle by the beams surrounding its tyre, which also allowed Panic Attack to lift both Terror Turtle and Crushtacean in tandem, eventually putting them back down. Crushtacean was reluctant to let go of Terror Turtle, and the allied force of Panic Attack and Crushtacean moved Terror Turtle towards the pit, but they could not fir Terror Turtle into the pit which was already occupied by Cerberus. Panic Attack, with its forks raised high, pushed Terror Turtle side-on into the CPZ, where Sir Killalot gripped the rear structure of Terror Turtle's wheel housing.

"Terror Turtle, well, they came to laugh, but it is mock turtle out there now."
— Jonathan Pearce
CommonwealthCarnageRound1.2

Terror Turtle lies on its back

Sir Killalot dragged Terror Turtle back into the arena, and lifted it up slightly using his claw. This prompted JJ Frizell to hold up a sign reading "Save the Turtle", and Crushtacean attempted to help by slamming into the back of Sir Killalot. While the House Robot attempted to tighten its grip on Terror Turtle, Sir Killalot accidentally overturned Terror Turtle, leaving it inverted in the centre of the arena. Terror Turtle, like in its previous battle, was left unable to run inverted beyond mild twitching on one of its tyres which briefly touched the arena floor. Terror Turtle was now essentially immobile while Panic Attack focused its efforts on Shunt, and Sir Killalot seemingly came to a standstill, having not moved since it was slammed by Crushtacean.

"Save the turtle, that might come off, because for me, Sir Killalot has turned Terror Turtle illegally! The judges are going to have to decide on this one!"
— Jonathan Pearce

The battle was called to a premature end, with the Judges deeming that Terror Turtle had been unfairly immobilised by Sir Killalot, which overturned Terror Turtle outside of a CPZ. The battle was therefore judged up until the point of Terror Turtle's immobilisation, but nevertheless, Panic Attack and Crushtacean were still the victorious machines. As a result, Terror Turtle closed its campaigns in the second series of Extreme with two consecutive losses.

Philippa Forrester: "JJ, how do you think the Terror Turtle performed? I know you lost, but..."
JJ Frizell: "It was OK, we did do quite a lot of damage to Panic Attack."
Philippa Forrester: "I think you did as well, I think it was fantastic."
— Philippa Forrester praises the effort of Terror Turtle

Series 7[]

"Some turtles are endangered species, this one is!"
— Jonathan Pearce

In its first UK championship appearance, Terror Turtle fought in Heat G of the Seventh Wars and went up against the thirteenth seed S.M.I.D.S.Y., the experienced Atomic and newcomer Cygnus X-1.

"He has a spinning disc, which will hopefully induce terror in his enemies, or else terror in us if it doesn't work!"
— John Frizell to Jayne Middlemiss
Cygnus X-1 vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is briefly stranded by Cygnus X-1

Atomic vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is thrown out of the arena by Atomic

Terror Turtle was hesitant to leave its starting area while powering up its spinning disc, and immediately Atomic drove behind it to throw it over, landing on top of Cygnus X-1 next to the arena wall. Terror Turtle reversed away, but swung into Atomic's scoop, and a combined attack from Cygnus X-1 and S.M.I.D.S.Y. briefly wedged Terror Turtle off the floor, and Cygnus X-1 stranded Terror Turtle on its side momentarily using its flipper. After this, Atomic threw Cygnus X-1 over to immobilise it, so Terror Turtle attempted to cut into Atomic and the baseplate of Cygnus X-1 during this time, but caused no visible damage. This also left Terror Turtle too close to the arena wall, and S.M.I.D.S.Y. backed it into the wall completely before Atomic scooped Terror Turtle up and threw it over the arena wall. Sitting outside the arena, Terror Turtle was instantly eliminated from the main competition of the Seventh Wars.

"The turtle's gone out! We expected a great display, it was super - turtle soup-er!"
— Jonathan Pearce

Terror Turtle later represented Canada in the Third World Championship qualifiers, and was drawn against Swiss competitor Snake Bite in its qualifier battle, for the right to fight in the Third World Championship.

"The top is fibreglass, so we were hoping not to come up against an axe or a crusher."
— John Frizell
Terror Turtle damages Snake Bite

Terror Turtle hits the rear of Snake Bite

Snakebiteterrorturtlewc3

Terror Turtle's lid is crumpled by Snake Bite

Both robots started tentatively, with Terror Turtle swerving around in its attempts to drive towards Snake Bite, only bumping into it briefly before also driving in front of Shunt, narrowly avoiding an axe blow. Both robots returned to the centre of the arena, and still could not complete a notable attack on each other, until Terror Turtle suddenly swung its spinning disc into the rear of Snake Bite and cut straight through its armour and almost severing the hydraulic lines at the back of the Swiss machine. However, John Frizell then made a driving error as he reversed Terror Turtle directly onto the wedge of Snake Bite, and the crusher immediately pierced the fibreglass lid of Terror Turtle, holding it in place while John Frizell desperately spun his tyres at thin air in his attempt to escape. Snake Bite withdrew its crusher, only to pierce a different section of Terror Turtle's fibreglass lid, and did the same again, visibly flattening Terror Turtle's top while creating more holes.

"Crumpled ... Canadian ... catastrophe!"
Jonathan Pearce as Snake Bite pierces Terror Turtle's armour
Snake Bite Terror Turtle 2

The immobile Terror Turtle is driven across the arena by Snake Bite

Snake Bite Terror Turtle pitting

Terror Turtle is pitted by Snake Bite

Terror Turtle could only sit and receive more punishment until one final crush from Snake Bite completely immobilised Terror Turtle. With Terror Turtle's tyres no longer turning, Snake Bite finally moved from its position, still clutching Terror Turtle, and carried it over to the pit release button, with the push into the tyre also silencing Terror Turtle's spinning disc. Snake Bite then turned Terror Turtle around, pushed it forwards and released its grip right in front of the pit, finally using its wedge to push Terror Turtle into the pit. As a result, Terror Turtle did not qualify for the Third World Championship.

"We tried to cut their hydraulic lines, we got one good hit on the back, but we missed the hydraulic lines by about this much, but a miss is as good as a mile!"
— John Frizell after the battle

Series 8[]

"I think he must be the most lovely robot in the place, let's hope his looks don't get ruined during the event!"
— John Frizell to Angela Scanlon

Twelve years later, Terror Turtle returned for the rebooted Series 8, where it competed in Heat D. In its Group Battle, it was drawn against former runner-up and Third World Champion Storm 2, double FRA UK Champion Eruption, and fellow Classic Series returnee Sabretooth. Prior to the match, Angela Scanlon complimented the robot's design and Team Terror Turtle's matching green uniforms upon interviewing them in The Pits. Meanwhile, JME Anderson made it clear that he hoped to get involved with The Hatchling, not keeping the minibot out of the way.

"Captain John Frizell was head of Greenpeace for six years in the 80's, and his love for animals and robots has inspired him to build a robotic Terror Turtle made from almost 100% recycled materials, including old car tyres, a wheelchair, and reclaimed plywood - with a fire pit? Are you sure?"
— Jonathan Pearce
Storm2 vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is moved by Storm 2

Eruption vs The Hatchling

The Hatchling rides over Eruption

In line with Anderson's plan, The Hatchling was immediately more involved than Terror Turtle, wedging straight under the back of Eruption whilst the main machine hung back to power up its spinning disc. Storm 2 was comfortably able to push The Hatchling away, before driving under Terror Turtle itself to push it around inside a CPZ. Terror Turtle retreated to the centre of the arena, where Storm 2 drove straight under it and slowly pushed it into an empty corner. The Hatchling caught up to try and help, but Storm 2 turned Terror Turtle around and pushed it across the entire length of the arena, and into the wall beyond the flame pit. At this stage, Eruption had managed to immobilise Sabretooth, with The Hatchling also charging across Eruption's wedge to overturn itself.

"We were worried about not getting through the melee so attacking Storm 2 seemed to be a risk not worth taking at this stage, so we turned to Terror Turtle instead. We got a couple of flips on them (which didn't make the edit!) and finally managed to throw them out of the arena! Also respect to the Terror Turtle team, they were great sports and we are looking forward to seeing them again!"
— Eruption - Robot Wars Facebook page[2]
Eruption vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is trapped in a CPZ by Eruption

Eruption flips terror turtle oota

Terror Turtle is thrown out of the arena by Eruption

With Sabretooth beaten, Eruption and Storm 2 collaborated to defeat Terror Turtle, deeming it the easier target. In an attack edited out of the televised broadcast, Eruption overturned the main body of Terror Turtle, reportedly one of several untelevised flips from Eruption on Terror Turtle[3]. An inverted Terror Turtle fled to the corner of the arena where Eruption briefly trapped it, and Storm 2 followed this up with a ram. The Hatchling sped back into play, but flung itself over the wedge of Storm 2 and landed almost on top of Terror Turtle. Eruption then targeted The Hatchling and pinned it onto the arena wall, where The Hatchling remained for the rest of the fight. Eruption then pushed Terror Turtle into the beaten Sabretooth, with Storm 2 joining in to house all four robots together. Terror Turtle tried to escape, with its disc barely turning, but Eruption broadsided Terror Turtle and threw it out of the arena, making Terror Turtle the first robot to be thrown out of the arena by a competitor in the reboot of Robot Wars. With Terror Turtle suddenly defeated, it was eliminated in the first round once again.

"We're up against astonishingly, incredibly sophisticated robots, I had no idea of the machines that were near us, but we did pretty well!"
— Jonathan Swan

Series 10[]

"I used to work for Greenpeace, so as an active environmentalist, I try to bring those principles to the building of the robot, so it's built mostly out of recycled material, and a bit of scrap as well. Terror Turtle is bringing something special to the Rest of the World team, it's the best-looking robot in the bunch!"
— John Frizell

Terror Turtle represented Canada as part of the Rest of the World team during the second episode of Robot Wars: World Series. In the Tag Team round, Terror Turtle was partnered with a fellow North American entry and loanerbot, Cathadh of the United States of America. The team faced two previous Grand Finalists, Concussion and Thor.

"John, I want you to go in first with Terror Turtle. We're going to tag about every 30 or 40 seconds, I want to make sure everybody drives two times. And the most important thing is, play fair, but do what you have to do to win."
— Michael Mauldin to John Frizell
Concussion vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is immobilised by Concussion

Thor Cathadh Terror Turtle Shunt

Terror Turtle burns over the flame pit

As per the tactics of Team Toad, Terror Turtle started the battle first, against Concussion. However, Terror Turtle charged straight into the drum of Concussion while it was still accelerating its bar spinner, and was thrown onto its back by this first impact. Terror Turtle had been immobilised within three seconds, and John Frizell admitted defeat, forcing Cathadh to fight the rest of the battle on its behalf. After Thor disabled the spinner of Cathadh, Concussion drove out of the CPZ to attack Cathadh from behind, immobilising it in an illegal manner. Thor placed Terror Turtle onto the flame pit, where Shunt flipped it over and away from the hazard, but punctured the fibreglass shell while both robots were counted out, and 'cease' was called.

Dara Ó Briain: "Is this an official objection? Is this some controversy?"
Michael Mauldin: "Actually no, I'm seriously, yes! I was double-teamed. In a Tag Team match, you are not allowed to have two opponents attack at the same time!"
— Michael Mauldin raises an official objection on behalf of Terror Turtle and Cathadh
Shunt vs Terror Turtle

The immobile Terror Turtle is axed by Shunt

In spite of Terror Turtle and Cathadh both being immobile, the Rest of the World team believed that Concussion's attack on Cathadh was unfair, and Michael Mauldin raised an objection to Dara Ó Briain. After a brief debate, Michael Oates of Team UK was consulted, and he agreed to award three points to the Rest of the World team.

Dara Ó Briain: "Are you willing to hand over the points because of this disgraceful behaviour?"
Michael Oates: "Yeah, I think, let's even up the score, and let's go into the head-to-heads with a clean slate."
— Michael Oates of Team UK favours the case of Terror Turtle and Cathadh

In its head-to-head battle, Terror Turtle fought Big Nipper of Team UK. At this stage, Team Rest of the World had fallen behind in points, and Michael Mauldin advised John Frizell to 'take a bite out of Big Nipper' using its spinner, and recover the team's efforts. John Frizell was highly complimentary of Big Nipper ahead of the fight.

"The Big Nipper team are just superb engineers and mechanics, they're toolmakers, they have access to good equipment, and more importantly, they have the skills to use it, and the imagination to use it in ways that others haven't thought of. It's an honour to fight them, really."
— John Frizell
Big Nipper vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle maintains its balance against Big Nipper

Matilda vs Terror Turtle

Terror Turtle is turned over by Matilda's flywheel

Terror Turtle attempted to spin up its weapon again, but Big Nipper fit its claws around gaps in Terror Turtle's fibreglass shell, and attempted to crush and lift it. Terror Turtle's weight kept it on the ground, causing Big Nipper to lose balance, but after it regained footing, Terror Turtle was pushed over the arena spikes, towards Matilda. The House Robot struck the side of Big Nipper directly, but this also caused Terror Turtle to be cast aside in recoil, and Terror Turtle lost mobility as Big Nipper was brought out from inside it. Although Big Nipper had caught fire, and Terror Turtle's weapon still operated, it could not escape from Matilda's flywheel, sustaining damage directly to the tyre, while also being flipped onto its side. Although Terror Turtle was freed by the House Robot, it had to be counted out, losing the battle to a still-functional Big Nipper by KO.

Professor Sethu Vijayakumar: "I was thinking that when Big Nipper caught fire, that it would stop working, and at that point, if Terror Turtle moved a bit, it would've won!"
Professor Noel Sharkey: "It would've won, that's right. But it didn't move a quarter of an inch, it was dead. That's twice it's died on us!"
— The Judges on Terror Turtle's mobility

Three points were awarded to Team UK, who ultimately went on to win all of their subsequent battles, and the tournament. John Frizell decided that, in the face of more modern opponents, Terror Turtle was to be retired, over fourteen years after its first appearance.

"This has been Terror Turtle's final fight. The kind of robots he's fighting with now are much more powerful, and much tougher. ...So Terror Turtle, have a good retirement!"
— John Frizell

Results[]

TERROR TURTLE - RESULTS
Extreme Series 2
New Blood Championship
Round 1
Heat A, Round 1 vs. Mute, Roobarb Eliminated
Commonwealth Carnage
Representing Canada
Round 1 vs. Cerberus (CYP), Crushtacean (RSA), Panic Attack (WAL) Eliminated
Series 7
The Seventh Wars - UK Championship
Heat, Round 1
Heat G, Round 1 vs. Atomic, Cygnus X-1, S.M.I.D.S.Y. (13) Eliminated
The Third World Championship
Representing Canada, Eliminated in Qualifier
Qualifier vs. Snake Bite (SUI) Lost
Series 8
Series 8 - UK Championship
Round 1
Heat D, Group Battle vs. Eruption, Sabretooth, Storm 2 Eliminated
Series 10
World Series, representing Canada
Partnered with Cathadh in Tag Team battle
Episode 2, Tag Team vs. Concussion & Thor Lost via KO (0 points)
NOTE: Team UK later conceded their points due to a rule-breakage during the battle, gaining Terror Turtle 3 points
Episode 2, Head-to-Head vs. Big Nipper Lost via KO (0 points)

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 7

NOTE: One of Terror Turtle's losses was forfeited by the initial winners due to a rule breakage, awarding it the points normally given to a victory.

Series Record[]

Main Series Terror Turtle Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Did not enter
The Fifth Wars Failed to qualify
The Sixth Wars Failed to qualify
The Seventh Wars Heat, Round 1
Middleweight Championship with Steel Sandwich
Series 8 Heat, Round 1
Series 9 Not selected
Series 10 World Series
Entered with The Kegs
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Did not enter
Series 2 Entered
Middleweight Championship with Steel Sandwich

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

Terror turtle jpg

Terror Turtle as Terry Turtle at Techno Games

Terror Turtle also competed in the football competition in Techno Games. For Techno Games, it was renamed Terry Turtle, and competed in the 2002 series with Bugs Buggy.

Terror Turtle remained in working condition between 2004 and 2016, although it could not compete at live events due to the rule against spinning weaponry. For more information on the team's excursions aside from Terror Turtle, see here.

Terror Turtle Hobbyweight

The Hobbyweight version of Terror Turtle built for RoboGames 2007

Terror Turtle Hobbyweight pits

The Hobbyweight Terror Turtle in the pits at Robogames 2007

A hobbyweight version of Terror Turtle was built by Team Terror Turtle for RoboGames 2007 under the same name, made of wood with a small lifting plate at the front. Unfortunately, it performed poorly at the event going 0-2 after facing experienced and successful hobbyweight veterans Scratch and Mr. Shadow, lasting the full three minutes in both matches.

Trivia[]

  • If the post-match forfeit after Terror Turtle's immobilisation to Concussion and Thor during the World Series is still considered a loss, Terror Turtle holds the lowest win-to-loss ratio in Robot Wars, with seven televised combat losses to zero wins.
  • The team often joked about the robot being a turtle, listing it as being a strength and a weakness in the robot's statistic boards.
  • Terror Turtle was the only New Blood Championship competitor to compete in another event during the second series of Extreme.
  • Terror Turtle fought in the same match as three of the four New Blood finalists at some point in its career.
  • In both of Terror Turtle's main series appearances, it was thrown out of the arena.
  • Terror Turtle was one of eight robots whose silhouette was used as a placeholder when demonstrating the Series 9 episode format. During this demonstration, it qualified alongside Eruption and PP3D by defeating Robo Savage (despite it not being possible for three robots to qualify from a four-way melee). It then qualified for the Heat Final against Eruption with eight points - defeating both PP3D and Kan-Opener via knockout and tying with Eruption in the Head-to-Heads.
  • Terror Turtle is one of three robots to have been thrown out of the arena in both the Classic and Revival Series. The other two are Behemoth and King Buxton.
    • Terror Turtle was the only one of the three not to reach at least a Heat Final.

References[]

External Links[]

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