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"Was a reserve for a previous series. Now steps into the spotlight, the floodlight, ooh, err, the moonlight, for Wolverine."
— Jonathan Pearce

Wolverine was a robot that competed in Series 5 of Robot Wars. Despite starting strongly in its first round battle, it was flipped out of the arena by Wheely Big Cheese, and did not return for another series.

Jon and Simon Reason were also part of the Toecutter team in Series 3, and joined the Lancaster Bombers for the filming of the Fifth Wars after Toecutter 2 failed to qualify at the concordant time.

Design[]

Wolverine

Wolverine in the arena

Wolverine was a small wedged box-shaped robot painted red, blue and black, and armed with a silver lifting plough as well as a blue self-righting arm on the back. The plough was capable of lifting railway sleepers, and combined with its speed, agility and strong pushing power, was effective in the early stages of its battle against Wheely Big Cheese. The robot also boasted durable armour, and had upgraded motors and drive-trains for Series 5 to enable it to push opponents around more easily. However, it had a high ground clearance which proved to be its downfall later on in that battle.

The Team[]

"Wolverine came into being after watching series2, and thinking I could build one of those. It was a while before I came up with an idea which I had scribbled on a bit of paper. From that I started to look for bits which may be useful in building the robot. Any parts that I was having trouble finding I looked on the web for. Surfed around other peoples web site's to look for who they used as suppliers and did a bit of probing some companies for myself. When I had the motors, wheels, sprockets and bearings I made cardboard copies of them and played around with spacing and positions to try and get a small but workable shape as close as possible to what I had draw."
— The Wolverine website on entering Robot Wars
Philippa Forrester and Wolverine

The Wolverine team in Series 5

Wolverine was entered by the Lancaster Bombers, a team from Swanley in Kent, founded by Gareth Dean. Originally, the team consisted of Gareth and Phil Lambert. The two of them worked together at Guy's Hospital, Gareth as an electrician, Phil as a lift engineer[1]. However, Phil Lambert was unable to attend filming for the Fifth Wars, so Gareth was joined by Jon Reason of Toecutter. Simon Reason was also listed on the team's statistics board, but did not appear with the team in Series 5.

Qualification[]

Wolverineftq

The version of Wolverine that was a reserve in Series 3

Wolverine was first built in time for Series 3. At the auditions, the team were forced to drive the robot without the weapon working.

"they did want some type of stopper fitted, to slow/stop the gas bottle valve from shooting out of the side of the robot if the neck bottle neck got damaged. I can't really see why for the regulator is screwed to it and tied in with nylon straps and there is 6mm aluminum side panels to get through, but he's asked for it so I'll have to do something. ... We were told that no gas system was to be pressurized in the paper work we were sent so we left the master gas bottle at home and the robot bottle empty. Which gives us a problem when running the robot as we need to lift the plough to get over uneven ground and ramps"
— The Wolverine website on the Series 3 Auditions

Wolverine did the driving test, but had steering problems and could not drive over the see-saw.

"The block wall didn't stand a chance and over it went, scoring the goal was proving hard due to the natural of the robot's design steering isn't easy, one of the other teams is using a gyro could be something to look into? Even though we had manually lifted the plough for the test trying to get up the ramp was going to be impossible so apart for a little run around that was about it. Oh did I say that we tried to take out the area wall when the bot shot backwards at full speed? Remember that the controls work in reverse when the bots coming towards you."
— The Wolverine website on the Series 3 Auditions

As a result, Wolverine was not selected for the main competiton, but was chosen as a reserve robot, and was due to compete in the Robotic Soccer, and a Reserves battle if they went unused. However, it would ultimately not appear at all. First, the team were asked to drop out of the Robotic Soccer so another team could take their place.

"after we'd been on site for a while it became clear that the filming was behind schedule, and sure enough by the end of the day we had been asked to drop out from the footy match to allow another team a chance. We didn't mind seeing as we still had another game to play."
— The Wolverine website on the Robotic Soccer tournament

With filming falling behind schedule due to a behind-the-scenes accident, the reserves battle was cancelled due to a lack of time, so Wolverine did not get a chance to compete[2].

Wolverine series4

The proposed Series 4 entry that withdrew from the qualifiers

Wolverine underwent upgrades before Series 4, and was initially scheduled to attend the Robot Mayhem live event on 30 July 2000 in its bid to qualify. On the night before its scheduled appearance, however, an interface card inside the robot blew, immobilising it on one side during a test. A lack of spare interfaces prevented Wolverine from being able to attend, thus ending its qualification attempt.

"Powered the bot back up gave it a bit of welly to get it up the drive as it is on a slope, and the batteries went flat. 15min later and the next set were in and we were ready for another try. Powered the bot back up again gave it some stick and it just went round in circles. A quick change of the interface connections confirmed that the right hand interface wasn't working. At this point things were starting to fly around the garage! Out with the paper work. I was getting an input signal to the interface because the led's were still indicating direction and speed. The interface's regulator was still giving out 5v and the last check to be made which ended this year's attempt at Robot Wars. Pin 12 of the Dallas resistor chip which is the largest of the chips is the output signal to the 4qd drives this output should be between 0 and 5v depending on speed, and I have 0v. The battle was over, I had no spare."
— The Wolverine website on withdrawing from the Series 4 qualifiers[3]

In time for Series 5, Wolverine was finally successful in earning a televised place.

"This will be the last year Wolverine will be fighting. Plans are a foot to build a new machine with a major weapon rather than the defensive one to date. ... May have the new bot built in time for the next series, then again may need to take what's left of wolverine instead."
— The Wolverine website on entering Series 5[4]

Robot History[]

Series 5[]

In its first round battle of the Fifth Wars, Wolverine was placed up against the number 10 seed Wheely Big Cheese.

"The good news is, you've made it! You've made it to Robot Wars, you're through to fight in the battle- and the bad news is you're up against Wheely Big Cheese for your first ever Robot Wars battle!"
— Philippa Forrester alluding to the team's previous reserve status before the battle
Wolverine vs Wheely Big Cheese

Wolverine flips Wheely Big Cheese up

WBCWolverine

Wolverine is tossed out of the arena

Wolverine immediately attempted to arc around to Wheely Big Cheese's wheels, but missed with an attempted flip on the right-hand one. Wolverine then spun around and darted towards Wheely Big Cheese, but was only able to prop Wheely Big Cheese's front on top of it instead of getting a clean connection with its weapon. Wolverine continued to probe away at its opponent though, and sent Wheely Big Cheese's front up twice in a matter of moments with its front plough. After the second of the two lifts, Wolverine drove off towards the arena side wall, where it was soon met by Wheely Big Cheese. As the two machines jostled, Wolverine flicked Wheely Big Cheese again, before beginning to reverse it into an angle grinder. However, during this drive, Wheely Big Cheese swerved away, while Wolverine bumped into the arena wall. This gave Wheely Big Cheese the chance to drive straight at Wolverine, and with it right next to the arena wall, Wheely Big Cheese was able to cartwheel Wolverine over the arena wall with its subsequent flip. With Wolverine out of the arena, it was left eliminated from the competition at the first hurdle.

"Oh dear, Gareth Dean and Jon Reason - there's no reasoning with an attack like that by Wheely Big Cheese!"
— Jonathan Pearce

Results[]

WOLVERINE - RESULTS
Series 5
The Fifth Wars - UK Championship
Heat, Round 1
Heat H, Round 1 vs. Wheely Big Cheese (10) Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 0
  • Losses: 1

Series Record[]

Series Wolverine Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Unused reserve
The Fourth Wars Withdrew from qualifiers
The Fifth Wars Heat, Round 1
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

NOTE: Simon and Jon Reason competed in Series 3 with Toecutter, which also failed to qualify for Series 4 and 5

Gallery[]

Outside Robot Wars[]

Wolverine live

Wolverine at a live event in 2001

Wolverine yellow

Wolverine with a yellow paint job

Despite not enjoying great success in Robot Wars, Wolverine fought numerous battles in live competitions, even managing to defeat Tornado several times. Most notably, it won the UK bracket at the Dutch Robot Games in 2001, beating Napalm 2 in the first round, M2 in the semi-final, and won the three-way final over Tornado and Tiberius 2[5]. Wolverine also competed at Robots@War 3 in 2001, where it fought 8645T.

27

Spitfire, Lancaster Bombers' collaboration with Team Dantomkia for BattleBots Season 5.0

Spitfire

Spitfire in 2013

The Lancaster Bombers and Team Dantomkia worked together to create Spitfire, which competed in Season 5.0 of BattleBots. Whilst very similar in overall appearance and weaponry to Dantomkia, Spitfire was built differently in order to better withstand impacts from spinners, and was lighter at only 80kg. It won a televised battle against the experienced Vlad the Impaler 2, later being knocked out by Surgeon General.

Wolf

Wolverine as Wolf at Techno Games

Wolverine also competed in Robot Wars' sister show Techno Games in 2002, under the name Wolf. In the Assault Course, it won the race against AAT in the first round, and also qualified over Kat's Whiskers in the second round. To earn a place in the final, Wolf eliminated Big Bro, before it finally finished second to Bugs Buggy. Wolf also competed in the Football on a team with Mighty Mouse, but lost in the first round to Team Snow Cat, consisting of Snowstorm and Kat's Whiskers.

Trivia[]

  • Although Wolverine did not get a chance to compete in Series 3, it would make cameo appearances in the background during multiple episodes from this series.
  • Wolverine is one of two unused reserves to have been acknowledged as such on the show, the other being Fluffy.
  • Wolverine was the only robot in Heat H of the Fifth Wars that never fought in any other series.
  • Both Jonathan Pearce and Craig Charles referred to wolverine as a dog, despite wolverines being related to weasals.

References[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

Navigation[]

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