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The Spider was a competitor robot which fought exclusively in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. Although it was built by Team Tarantula, who had previously built Robocow for The Third Wars, it was considered a newcomer when it competed in the Wild Card Warriors and Mayhem competitions. The Spider lost both of these respective battles to Behemoth and Napalm 2, the latter along with Gemini.

Design[]

The Spider Mayhem

The Spider, with Diotoir fur equipped

The Spider was an invertible, reverse wedge-shaped robot with a steel frame and a black, white and red colour scheme. Its main weapon was a pair of vertically-rotating spikes powered by a TRANS advanced starter motor, with four spokes on each side. In keeping with the robot's theme, an illustration of a red spider featured on the rear panel along with a cuddly spider mascot attached to the aerial.

Much like its predecessor Robocow, The Spider was found to be too close to the weight limit. As a result, Team Tarantula were forced to remove some of its armour, leaving its chassis and internals - including the weapon system - very exposed. This proved to be costly in its Mayhem, as its motors burnt out upon driving over the Flame Pit.

The Team[]

Team Tarantula

Team Tarantula with The Spider

The Spider was built by Team Tarantula from Mold in Flintshire. Team captain John Udale was the lead builder of The Spider, and he was accompanied by his son Robert. His wife Carol Udale completed the team, with Carol being responsible for painting the machine. Team Tarantula had previously competed in Series 3 with Robocow, also attempting to enter Series 4 with Son of Robocow.

Qualification[]

Initially built to enter The Fifth Wars, The Spider attempted to qualify for the series by attending the 2001 Live Event tour. Appearing at the inaugural Glasgow leg, it is known to have fought at least one head-to-head qualifier against Corkscrew, which was required to fight without an active full-body spinner.[1]

"We drove straight it the weapon and bent it, fight over we thought, but he had other plans and gave us a good old kick round the arena. Spider won but I think it would have went to us on damage."
— John Heatlie on the Corkscrew website (edited)[1]

A head-on collision resulted in The Spider's rotating spikes becoming bent. However, Team Tarantula's machine responded by attacking Corkscrew multiple times, eventually emerging as the winner. Even with this, The Spider would fail to qualify for the series, but still attended filming in conjunction with its Extreme 1 events.[1]

Robot History[]

Extreme Series 1[]

"It's [the weapon] seriously wicked, we've trialed it and it's trashed what we've trialed it on. It's also trashed itself, which is a bit unfortunate"
— John Udale on The Spider's weapon

The Spider's first appearance in Robot Wars Extreme saw it get placed up against former Semi-Finalist Behemoth in a Wild Card Warriors battle. Prior to the fight, technical supervisor Derek Foxwell praised The Spider and displayed cautious optimism to Julia Reed that it could win the battle.

Behemoth vs The Spider

The Spider is turned over

BehemothSpider

Behemoth flips The Spider out of the arena

In the battle itself, Behemoth dodged away from The Spider and the two began circling each other. After a few passes, Behemoth met The Spider head-on in the centre of the arena, slotting between its blades and flipping it over. At the same time, The Spider was forced towards the arena wall, where one of its blades, now spinning downwards, got hooked. Unable to reverse the blade, The Spider was pulled up the arena wall, stranding it.

"It's caught in a web of its own making really, there, The Spider!"
— Jonathan Pearce as The Spider gets itself stuck.

As Sir Killalot came in to investigate, Behemoth rammed into The Spider again, lifting it up on top of the arena wall. The Spider fell off the wall, but landed on its side, where it could not escape. After adjusting its position, Behemoth concluded the fight by using its scoop to lift The Spider out of the arena, meaning that The Spider had failed its challenge.

"Has one of the spidery-type legs let it down? I don't know whether it's balanced anymore, The Spider, I don't think it's going ANYWHERE! Incy Wincy Spidey, comes to a grisly end!"
Jonathan Pearce as Behemoth hoists The Spider over the wall

The Spider then later appeared in a Mayhem qualifier battle, where it was placed up against two experienced machines, former semi finalist Napalm 2 and clusterbot Gemini, for a right to fight in the second Annihilator of the series. Its fight against Behemoth was referenced, but the team remained optimistic that they could win.

Julia Reed: "Do you have a strategy for this?"
John Udale: "Probably get flipped a lot by Gemini and try to go for Napalm, because I think Napalm's a bit weaker than us, I hope"
— Tactics before the battle
The Spider vs Gemini

The Spider attacks one of the Gemini twins

The Spider burms

The Spider burns on the flame pit

As the fight began, The Spider stuck true to its gameplan and attacked Napalm 2 from behind, buffeting it with its blades and pushing it around. The attack caused a small piece of metal to break off, but both robots remained functional as The Spider was flanked by Gemini. The Spider turned, but ran into the arena wall, which caused its blades to stop working. The Spider then drove into a front-on collision with Napalm 2 and one of the Gemini twins. The Gemini machine tried to flip its opponents, but missed and got itself caught up in The Spider's blades, getting stranded on its back. The Spider backed away and turned its attention to Napalm 2 again, pushing it from the side next to the flame pit and into the arena wall, but at this point it was clear that the chain controlling its weapon had come loose. It backed away from Napalm 2, only to drive over the flame pit, which caused it to immediately break down.

"What on earth is The Spider doing there? The web's gonna catch fire! The Spider's gonna catch fire! Oh no!"
— Jonathan Pearce as The Spider drives over the flame pit

Napalm 2 and Gemini then left The Spider to fight each other, whilst The Spider's frame continued to burn. It was eventually pushed off the flame pit off-screen and counted out by Refbot, eliminating it from the Mayhem. After Gemini was subsequently immobilised and counted out by Refbot, Shunt pushed The Spider, which was badly burnt and still partially on fire, towards the floor flipper.

"Look at that, through the air. Burnt to a crisp early on. All control gone. Looks dangerous, wasn't."
— Jonathan Pearce as The Spider is flipped

The Spider was flung across the arena by the Floor Flipper, the impact extinguishing the last flame on its body. Shunt pushed it aside and landed an axe blow on the bottom of its wedge, but without causing any damage, before moving away to pit the victorious Napalm 2 and one of the Gemini twins. This proved to be The Spider's last televised appearance, and the final time Team Tarantula would appear on Robot Wars.

Results[]

THE SPIDER - RESULTS
Extreme 1
Mayhem & Annihilator
Mayhem
Mayhem Qualifier vs. Gemini, Napalm 2 Lost
Other Battles
Wild Card Warriors
Wild Card Warriors vs. Behemoth Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 2

Series Record[]

Main Series The Spider Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Entered with Robocow
The Fourth Wars Failed to qualify with Son of Robocow
The Fifth Wars Failed to qualify
The Sixth Wars Did not enter
The Seventh Wars Did not enter
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Entered
Series 2 Did not enter

Trivia[]

  • All three of the teams The Spider fought - Team Make Robotics, Dartford Girls Grammar and Team Mace - were Semi-Finalists in Series 2, the latter with Mace.
  • The Spider was the only robot to compete in the Wild Card Warriors as a newcomer and subsequently in another event during Extreme Series 1.
  • The Spider's statboard (and Jonathan Pearce before its Mayhem) stated it had 'no armour', when in actuality it only had to remove some of its armour from the front.

Navigation[]

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