Terror Turtle

Overview

Terror Turtle was a box-sectioned robot from West Sussex that fought in Extreme 2 and Series 7-8 and 10 of Robot Wars.

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. Because the captain was originally from Canada, Terror Turtle represented that country in two international events.

Robot History

Techno Games 2002

Football

It worked with Bugs Buggy in the Football competition, it lost in round 1 to Team BB though.

Robot Wars: Extreme 2

In Extreme, Terror Turtle fought in Heat A of the New Blood, where one flip from Roobarb got Terror Turtle stuck upside down. Roobarb flipped Terror Turtle back onto its wheels, but one end of the metal bar was caught over the arena wall, preventing it from becoming fully mobile again. Mute drove into the pit, but the judges ruled that Terror Turtle had been immobile for too long, and it was subsequently eliminated.

It also represented Canada in the Commonwealth Carnage, as part of the former Commonwealth. It was fighting against Crushtacean from South Africa, Panic Attack from Wales and Cerberus from Cyprus. It spun up its bar and glanced off Panic Attack, but the impact pulled the rotor out of alignment, leaving the robot weaponless. Terror Turtle spent the rest of the battle fighting Panic Attack, who used its forks to steer Terror Turtle slowly around the arena. Terror Turtle nearly went into the pit just as Cerberus did, and after this, it seemed that Terror Turtle had lost much momentum as Crushtacean and Panic Attack fought one another. Towards the end of the battle, Terror Turtle was illegally flipped by Sir Killalot (Terror Turtle was outside the CPZ) right before cease was called. In protest, JJ Frizell held up a sign that said "Save the turtle." The battle was judged up until Sir Killalot intervened. However, it still lost the judges' decision that had been in favour of Crushtacean and Panic Attack.

UK Robot Wars Series 7

In its first UK championship appearance, Terror Turtle fought 13th seeds S.M.I.D.S.Y., the experienced Atomic and newcomers Cygnus X-1. Terror Turtle had scrapped the bar and replaced it with a small spinning disc on the front for Series 7, but the robot performed no better than before. It was flipped over straight away by Atomic. However, Terror Turtle survived this because it was now invertible having scrapped the metal bar, but it stood idle near the arena wall. As Atomic then charged in for another attack, the yellow robot flipped Terror Turtle out of the arena. As a result, Terror Turtle was eliminated from the competition.

It 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 two robots drove around each other at the start with Terror Turtle getting the first attack in, slicing through Snake Bite's rear armour and almost cutting into its hydraulic cables. Terror Turtle then drove onto Snake Bite's wedge and was repeatedly pierced by its claw weapon, before eventually being pitted by its opponent.

UK Robot Wars Series 8

In the first round, Terror Turtle was drawn against former runners-up Storm 2, veterans Sabretooth and full-pressure flipper Eruption. Angela Scanlon complimented the team's green theme in the pits before their battle. Team Terror Turtle made it clear that they hoped to get involved with The Hatchling, not keeping the small robot out of the way. According to the plan, The Hatchling was the more involved robot, wedging under Eruption while Terror Turtle held back. Storm 2 had targeted the turtle, and pushed it across the arena into various CPZ's, bending Terror Turtle's disc teeth, while The Hatchling overturned itself by driving over Eruption. Terror Turtle had been flipped over, and was pinned in the CPZ by Eruption and Storm 2. The Hatchling was immobilised by Eruption, after being wedged onto the arena wall where its wheels could not gain a purchase. Terror Turtle attacked the immobilised Sabretooth, although most of the sparks were generated by the arena floor. Caught off guard, Terror Turtle was thrown out of the arena by Eruption, eliminating it from the melee.

UK Robot Wars Series 10

World Series

"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

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

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

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

Series	Event	Round	Opponent(s)	Result
Techno Games 2002	Football (with Bugs Buggy)	Round 1	Big Bro & British Bulldog	Lost
Robot Wars: Extreme 2	New Blood - Heat A	Eliminator	Mute Roobarb	Eliminated
	Commonwealth Carnage (representing Canada)	Eliminator	Cerberus (Cyprus) Crushtacean (South Africa) Panic Attack (Wales)	Eliminated
UK Robot Wars Series 7	Heat G	Eliminator	(13) S.M.I.D.S.Y. Atomic Cygnus X-1	Eliminated
	3rd World Championship (representing Canada)	Qualifier	Snake Bite (Switzerland)	Lost
UK Robot Wars Series 8	Episode 4	Group Battle	Eruption Sabretooth Storm 2	Eliminated
UK Robot Wars Series 9	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not Selected
UK Robot Wars Series 10	5th World Championship (representing Canada)	Tag Team (with Cathadh (US))	Thor (UK) & Concussion (UK)	Won (by default)
		Head-to-Head	Big Nipper (UK)	Lost

• Wins: 1
• Losses: 7

See Also

• Terror Turtle (Robot Wars)
• Terry Turtle (Techno Games)