Razer (Robot)

Razer is a contestant on the TV show Robot Wars. Despite suffering chronic mechanical problems in its first three years, it was the champion of the fifth UK series of Robot Wars and won the first two Robot Wars World Championships. They also got their own personalized Pullback, Minibot and DVD. The team also competed in BattleBots with Razer, and competed in BattleBots with Warhead as well.

Razer is not to be confused with Raizer Blade, another robot that appeared in Series 3 and Series 4.

The Robot

Razer was a roughly wedge-shaped robot with a powerful mechanical claw weapon, looking somewhat similar to a scorpion's tail. This weapon, described as "part bird, part reptile, the rest machine" by commentator Jonathan Pearce was one of the most powerful weapons in Robot Wars history, being able to penetrate deep into robots and damage their inner mechanics. In Series 3, two "wings" were added to the side of the crushing arm to serve as a srimech (self-righting mechanism), should Razer ever be flipped over (as well as making it able to give its infamous "salute"). The weapon was filled with holes drilled to keep Razer within the allowed weight boundaries.

Razer was well known before Series 5 for being unreliable, breaking down in Series 2, 3 and 4.

Razer was created by Simon Scott (the team captain), Ian Lewis and Vincent Blood, from Bournemouth.

eries 2

The robot was hard to control in the gauntlet, but bashed its way past the ram rig and pushed Shunt into the safe zone. It scored the first goal in the football trial. In its semi-final, Razer trapped Inquisitor before crushing its flail support. But Inquisitor was still mobile and escaped, while Razer was suddenly unable to move, the first example of its infamous early unreliability. According to Simon Scott, he had given plans to the Inquisitor team to back into Razer with its flail, which he said made the robot break down.

Razer won the Best Design Award for Series 2.

eries 3

Round 1 vs. Backstabber

Razer was unable to get a grip on Backstabber, so the team had to settle for pitting it instead.

Round 2 vs. Aggrobot

Despite causing damage to Aggrobot, Razer lost due to a mechanical failure: when the claw was raised to full height, it became stuck, and the rear end lifted Razer's wheels off the ground, so it couldn't move.

However, Razer would go on to win the Pinball Warrior Tournament of Series 3, and again won the Best Design Award. After series 3, they won the International League Championship, beating Techno-Lease (representing Holland) and then Diotoir (representing Ireland) in the final. They also won the direct-to-video feature-length First World Championship tournament: representing England, they beat All Torque (knockout) (representing Scotland), Chaos 2 (knockout), 101 (judges) and Behemoth (judges) (the latter three also represented England).

eries 4

Round 1 vs. Robochicken vs. Velocirippa

The three met in the center of the arena, and Razer picked up Robochicken. He carried Robochicken over to the flame pit while Velicorippa bumped Razer. Razer left Robochicken for Dead Metal to deal with, and turned its attention to Velocirippa. It pierced with its claw, but Velocirippa got away, and in its haste, crashed into the wall and was immobilized. Surprisingly, Robochicken qualified with Razer.

Round 2 vs. Milly Ann Bug

Razer drove in immediately and crushed Milly Ann Bug's rear section, then crumpled the front, tried to break the two domes apart, then methodically chopped off all of the opponent's wheels.

Round 3 vs. Pussycat

In the first few seconds of the fight, Razer ran into the arena side wall, malfunctioned and got stuck in forward drive, meaning that it couldn't manoeuver away. Pussycat took advantage of this by completely decimating the back and wheels of its adversary with destructive cutting blades. This continued until Dead Metal pitted the seriously damaged Razer.

Although Simon Scott and Vincent Blood were gracious in defeat, team captain and main designer/creator Ian Lewis, who had left the controller's box whilst his machine was destroyed, accused the Pussycat team of breaking a 'Gentlemen's Agreement' in which he claimed that both teams agreed not to seriously damage the others machines. However, Lewis's accusations were dismissed by Robot Wars producer Derek Foxwell, who stated that such an agreement between two such destructive machines would have been virtually impossible to carry out.

Razer also took part in the Pinball and Sumo Basho tournaments of Series 4: it did not perform particularly well in either, scoring 95 points in the Pinball (abandoning the run to attack Sir Killalot) and being knocked off the Sumo podium by Shunt in less than 5 seconds.

However, it did win the "Southern Annihilator" special, a six robot battle with Atilla The Drum (Defeated by driving into Sir Killalot's CPZ and immobilising itself), Behemoth (Defeated by Razer's damage to its back), Onslaught (Defeated by being flipped onto its side), Spawn Of Scutter (Defeated by being immobilised by Razer's claw) and Vercingetorix (Defeated by Razer's actions upon it right from the start). After Onslaught was flipped on its side and immobilised in the final round, Razer celebrated its victory by attacking house robot Matilda and causing major damage, causing it to be suspended for repairs.

Robot Wars Extreme

Razer took part in the All-Stars tournament of Robot Wars Extreme, and won, beating Gemini, Behemoth, Firestorm III and Tornado. Its only other battle in Extreme was a grudge match with Pussycat for the loss in Series 4 - Pussycat won again, immobilising Razer itself with its spinning blade.

The Second World Championship was also filmed as part of Robot Wars Extreme. Representing England again, Razer began its title defence in a melee with Diotoir (Ireland), Flenzburgerpower (Germany) and The Revolutionist (USA) - it qualified when it immobilised The Revolutionist and Flenzburgerpower broke down. Razer then beat Tornado again in the next round, and beat DrillZilla (USA) in the final on a judges decision, retaining its title as World Champion.

The team also competed in an antweight melee with "Razzler", a modified Razer toy - Razzler was pitted during the melee.

eries 5

Round 1 vs. Big Nipper

Razer slammed straight into Big Nipper, and one of Razer's self-righting wings fell off! Razer then repeatedly punctured the shell of Big Nipper, who was immobilised on the flame pit.

Round 2 vs. Widow's Revenge

Widow's Revenge was built by the Razer team's wives/girlfriends. The "Widow's" team had forgotten to fit a wire guard - when Razer attacked, the wire touched the shell and shorted out the robot's electronics. Widow's Revenge ended up getting mashed by Razer and smashed by Matilda and, when pushed on to and flipped by the floor flipper, wedged it open with part of its armour! Then they neared it towards the pit. However, Widow's Revenge was too big to go in the pit, so Razer fell in underneath! The result, however, remained unchanged and Razer progressed.

Round 3 vs. Rick

Razer successfully immobilised Rick with the claw. After Rick was counted out by Refbot, Razer attempted to attack Sir Killalot, with Razer ending up in the pit. This victory allowed Razer to reach the Semi-Finals for the first time.

Round 4 vs. Spawn Again

Razer damaged and then pitted Spawn Again.

Round 5 vs. S3

Razer sliced into S3's weapon controls, stopping its spinning disc. This allowed Razer to dominate the fight, which went to the judges, and sent Razer through to the finals.

Round 6 vs. Firestorm 3

Razer quickly got Firestorm in its grip, and bent the pneumatic rams of Firestorm's flipper. Firestorm's only option was to shove, but it did so effectively, almost pitting Razer twice. The fight ended in a very close judges' decision, in Razer's favour.

Final vs. Bigger Brother

Bigger Brother was heavily damaged by Hypno-Disc in the previous round, but thanks to the efforts of other builders, it was fixed in time for the final. Razer got it in an early grip, and Bigger Brother took damage from which it never recovered. The final say went to the judges, whose decision went in favour of Razer, making them the Series 5 Champions.

On top of their unprecedented success, Razer also took home the Best Design award for the third time.

eries 6

Round 1 vs. Brutus Maximus vs. Raging Reality vs. WASP

Razer buried its jaw into Brutus' wooden top, puncturing them again and again. Razer then dug his claw into Raging Reality. WASP, on the other hand, wasn't getting their spike into good use. Raging Reality pushed WASP into Sir Killalot who finally put his spinning lance into good use, drilling a large hole along the side of WASP. WASP was no more. Razer punctured Brutus again and this time, one of Brutus' (bicycle) wheels went flying off right into the Pit! Raging Reality eventually flipped the dead Brutus Maximus out of the arena. Cease was called. Razer and Raging Reality move on to the next round.

Round 2 vs. Cyrax

Razer dug their jaw into the large pyramid bot, pushing them into Mr. Psycho. Mr. Psycho decided that its first victim was going to be Cyrax. WHAM! Down came the hammer taking off a blinking light. Cyrax then flipped Razer and kept them on their sides, trying to keep them from self-righting, but Razer eventually did. Cease was called. Razer won.

Round 3 vs. Raging Reality

Razer grabbed hold of the Knight of the Realm and introduced them to the Matriarch of Mayhem who at this point had her flywheel facing Raging Reality. Razer pushed RR into Matilda's disc, ripping off an entire side panel! RR broke down and was pitted. The UK champs are through to the Series Semi-Finals!

Round 4 vs. Wild Thing 2

No surprise here. Razer simply dug his spike right into Wild Thing. Wild Thing escaped and the two robots drove side by side. Wild Thing's disc wasn't working effectively as Razer buried his claw into Wild Thing again. Wild Thing escaped once more, but then Razer grabbed hold of them again and buried his claw right into Wild Thing's wheel. Both robots started spinning madly in place. Sgt. Bash set Razer alight as Wild Thing escaped, but they were losing control of their robot. Razer grabbed hold of Wild Thing one last time. They pushed them into the Pit Button and lowered them into the Pit. Razer moves on!

Round 5 vs. Dantomkia

Razer simply dug his claw into Dantomkia, but the newcomers fought back, pushing Razer into the arena wall. Razer then continued burying his claw into Dantomkia and pushing them into Mr. Psycho. The hammer glanced off of Dantomkia. Dantomkia then pushed Razer into Sir Killalot as time ran out. The judges decided that Razer would be moving on to the Grand Final with Firestorm.

Round 6 vs. Terrorhurtz

Terrorhurtz had a very powerful axe, but Razer showed no mercy. They avoided the axe and dug their claw into Terrorhurtz's polycarbonate panel. Terrorhurtz tried to fight back with the axe, but they were just missing Razer. Razer pushed Terrorhurtz into Shunt, who then axed Terrorhurtz. Terrorhurtz escaped and then lined up for another strike, but then they got a spasm from an ineffective axe blow and Razer got under it and buried his claw into Terrorhurtz again. Razer dragged Terrorhurtz into the Pit Button and then lifted Terrorhurtz up and lowered them into the Pit. Razer goes through and is one step closer to retaining the title!

=Final vs. Tornado=

After losing to Razer in Extreme, Tornado had been preparing for the day they should meet Razer again. Before the fight, they unveiled a massive frame equipped with a lawnmower blade. The size of this frame was designed to keep away Razer's claw so it could not reach the inner parts of Tornado like it did in Extreme.

Razer's attempts to grapple Tornado were in vain. Tornado just kept slamming the robot into the arena wall and into the House Robots. However, near the end of the fight, Tornado began to lose power, and Razer made a final bid for victory, managed to lift Tornado up and pushed them towards the pit. However, the massive frame kept Tornado from fitting into the pit, and the clock simply ran out.

After a 45 minute wait, the judges finally ruled in favor of Tornado, who subsequently became the new UK Champion.

Robot Wars Extreme II

All Stars - Vs. Chaos 2 & 13 Black

Chaos 2 was absolutely obliterated in this fight. Panels were crippled, a lot of paint had come off, and it was immobilised as a result of a number of merciless attacks from Razer and 13 Black. To top it off, Mr. Psycho picked up Chaos 2 and paraded the fallen champion around the arena before sending them on a one-way trip to their final destination-the pit.

All Stars - Vs. Spawn Again

Spawn Again took a lot of puncturing, so it decided to commit suicide down the pit!

All Stars - Vs. 13 Black

13 Black kept on spinning, so Razer couldn't get a hold of it. 13 Black eventually hit the wall, so Razer managed to grab it, and quickly disposed of it down the pit.

All Stars - Vs. Firestorm 4

Firestorm 4 immediately got underneath Razer, and pushed it towards Dead Metal. Razer took quite a bit of damage, but once it escaped, Razer grabbed Firestorm 4 and Firestorm was easily immobilised in the air.

Razer became All-Stars champion for the second time running.

European Championship - Vs. Pulveriser

Razer kept on puncturing Pulveriser, and Pulveriser drove into the pit by mistake.

=European Championship - Vs. Tornado=

The Razer team had adapted a special hook weapon to be attached to the claw should this fight ever come about. The weapon had been designed to allow them to lift up Tornado by their anti-crusher frame in much the same manner they could lift robots impaled on their claw weapon.

When the fight came, Razer used this new weapon well, dragging Tornado over to the pit. Unfortunately, Razer's motors then burnt out. A judges' decision awarded the fight to Razer for being in control of the match, but the Razer team were unhappy and promptly gave the match to Tornado.

Razer was subsequently retired and did not take part in Series 7. However, Razer does occasionally appear at live Robotic combat events to give demonstrations by crushing various old household appliciances.

External links

* [http://www.razer.co.uk/ Official website]

Videos

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvVN-He7_g Raging Reality vs. Razer vs. W.A.S.P vs. Brutus Maximus]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxPIhaN56ts Razer vs. Bigger Brother]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxmGe1wQPjI Onslaught vs. Razer]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhwhnypxw Razer vs. Gemini]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OucE0NNGwns Pussycat vs. Razer (Vengeance)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIcdjCP419c 13 Black vs. Razer]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4cHWS2758 Razer severely damages Matilda (House Robot)]

incumbent series
Preceded by:
None (first champion)
UK Robot Wars World Champion (Championship 1, 2)
Succeeded by:
Storm 2

incumbent series
Preceded by:
Chaos 2
UK Robot Wars Reigning Champion (Series 5)
Succeeded by:
Tornado