Media Essays: The Career of King Buxton

Been a while since I've done one of these essays, hasn't it?

Ah well, the Robot Wars career essays are back again and I'm here to talk about an old favourite for many. While it may not have the best track record in Robot Wars history, it still has its fans and many people are often happy just to see it again. It's also a machine that's still going to this day. This machine is known simply...as King Buxton

The machine has gone through different names over time, including "King B3", "King B Remix" and my personal favourite of the bunch, "King B Powerworks". First appearing in Series 2 under "King Buxton", the King B series has enjoyed...moderate success over the years. It reached the semi-finals on its first try but then in later seasons, it was never able to replicate that success. Due to reliability issues and superior armed opponents, King B really struggled to make a name for itself and aside from winning a Tag Team Terror tournament at the end of Series 4, it wasn't able to win anything else major. And yet the King B series is still beloved by fans and one can't help but just feel happy to see it whenever it shows up. It also helps that alongside Behemoth, Panic Attack, Razer and Thermidor II, it's one of the longest appearing competitors to appear in the series, appearing in Series 2 all the way to Series 8 in the reboot era. Just saying, we all remember the long runners because they're always coming back for more.

So while we're here, let's recap the career of this fan-favourite machine and talk about how King Buxton started off big and fell down as time went on...

King Buxton Starts Off Big

As mentioned before, King Buxton's long career in Robot Wars with the machine sporting the familiar invertible box shape with lifting forks that pretty much all versions of the robot would use. It was armoured in 3mm aluminium and equipped with titanium lifting spikes at the front while sporting two static spikes at the read. The spikes were made from, of all things, bike handlebars and had titanium sharpened points at the ends. It was powered by nine 6 volt cell batteries with 3 in parallel and 3 in series to give 18 volts worth of power in total. The team had 2 sets and would swap them around after each round.

With its 750W 24 volt motors and four wheel drive, King Buxton could reach a top speed of 18mph, which was pretty fast by Series 2 standards. Not a lot of robots back then were speedy after all. It was also able to push really well too, even able to push through the bricks on the Gauntlet trial and keep up with other pushers like All Torque, Roadblock and 101. To minimise the risk of interference, the machine's radio was kept at the back so it'd be as far away from the motors as possible.

Now you might be curious, why did the team call the robot "King Buxton"? Where did it come from? Interestingly...from The Magic Roundabout of all things.

Yep, the name came from this guy right here, the main antagonist of Dougal and the Blue Cat, the movie based on The Magic Roundabout series from the 60s and 70s. Team members Simon Harrison and Grant Hornsby actually found the series pretty creepy when they were kids and were discussing the show prior to application. The team's official Facebook page explains how the name came about like so:

"Grant (the trouble maker) phoned up the Beeb/Mentorn and declared that after seeing the first couple of episodes of that dodgy new series 'Robot Wars' that his mate / work colleague Simon had a Robot to enter for Series 2. He put me on the phone and I stutteringly replied to their first question "well whats it called then?" I blurted out "King Buxton" all of a sudden (and have regretted it ever since!)"

— King B Facebook page on the etymology of King Buxton

Who knew a show that crept you out as a child would give you a good name for your robot? I wouldn't have regretted it if I were in their shoes, King Buxton's a great name for a fighting machine!

On July the 19th 1998, King Buxton attended the auditions for Series 2, but it wasn't quite finished yet as you can see here. It lacked the armour plates and the motors for the lifter. Not that it really mattered as it ran well in the obstacle course by pushing barrels aside and got a metal ball into the goal during its practice run. You can actually see video diary footage of King Buxton's build and audition in the ninth episode of Robot Wars Revealed...provided you have a Mech+ account that is.

Series 2 was a strong first impression for the new machine. It managed to qualify through the Gauntlet, just barely for they'd had control issues during the bout, and they were just able to qualify through the Joust trial against Matilda. This brought them to the Heat Semi Finals where they fought against RoboDoc and won on a Judge's Decision. Apparently, the match was edited to look like King Buxton dominated, but team member Phil Brett confirmed that in actually it was much closer than what it seemed. This battle would also be the beginning of King Buxton and Team 101's infamous rivalry which we'll talk more about later...

King Buxton would then battle All Torque in the Heat Final and win after pushing them into the pit, making them Semi-Finalists one their first try. Kinda like Behemoth now I think about it. Imagine if those two ever battled...

Come the Semi Finals, King Buxton had a smashing time there, this time actually clearing the Gauntlet and finishing first at the top of the leader board. They then won the Pinball Trial, which put them up against the then reigning Champions, Roadblock. They put up a good fight, but Roadblock ultimately triumphed in the end when Roadblock sawed their wheels and smoke began to pour out of King Buxton. Simon Harrison would reveal in an episode of Robot Wars Revealed that the fight with RoboDoc had caused problems with the machine's motors and they'd overheat if a battle lasted longer than two minutes. Unfortunate, isn't it?

As is, reaching the Semi Finals on the first try is a good way to begin your career on Robot Wars. King Buxton showed it had potential. Could it reach it? Let's find out as we enter Series 3...

101 Gets Revenge

King Buxton would return for Series 3, appearing in Heat J.

This incarnation of the machine had several updates to it, namely that its electronics were upgraded to try and fix the problems they had last season where they caught fire. The chassis was cut and re-worked to allow replaceable axles and they added a rotary cutter at the rear for extra damage potential. The spikes were upgraded to serve as more effective lifters, now able to lift 80kgs. It was able to move at 14mph and the machine took 8 months to build in total. Due to the aluminium being prone to fire damage, the team installed air-cooled motors by way of ducted flow fans for Series 3.

In order to qualify, King Buxton had to participate in an obstacle course. Yet again, they did the audition without their bodywork and ran the course. They did qualify...but then one of the concrete blocks fell onto the electronics, causing an electrical fire. Whoops. XD Simon Harrison explains thusly:

"We ran the obstacle course and were then asked to try to knock down a pile of concrete blocks. We obliterated the blocks! ( big gasp from the small audience) But one of the heavy blocks got thrown up and came down hard in the electronics ( as the body was not fitted) and caused a large short circuit / electrical fire. We qualified but it gave me an extra 2 weeks of work to repair the fire damage and meant that it was again difficult to be ready in time for the filming."

— Simon Harrison in 2018

These guys can't catch a break, can they?

King Buxton's run in Series 3 was a mixed bag. It had a close first round against newcomer Eric in where it lost a tip to one of its lifting forks and actually ended up on the edge of the pit, so it seemed it was going out. But then Eric fell in themselves by accident when they tried to push King Buxton into the pit. It had a much more dominant performance against Wel-Dor where they pushed them around easily and Wel-Dor was soon immobilized. The Heat Final saw them against 101, the successor to Robo-Doc whom King Buxton beat in Series 2. Unlike last time, King Buxton wasn't able to win. Both machines pushed each other around a lot, but then King Buxton began smoking as the fight went on and was noticeably getting weaker and weaker as a result. In the end, it went to the judges and 101 were the Semi-Finalists this time while King Buxton crashed out in the heats. This would noticeably be the last time King Buxton would ever reach a Heat Final too for in every series they appeared in going forwards, they never reached another Heat Final. And we say Behemoth's luck is bad...

On a humorous note, apparently Simon Harrison broke the controller to his machine by accident during the fight. Whoops. He revealed in an after credits scene:

"First ten seconds, I was so excited, I broke the control stick of the steering! I had to turn it upside-down, jam it in, and then swiggle it about, so I got something out of it!"

— Simon Harrison after the battle

Maybe you should be a little more careful in future Simon. XD

King Buxton didn't appear in any side events for Series 3, meaning this Heat Final loss to 101 was the end of their Series 3 run. But they were soon back for the next series...

A Seeded Machine Goes Out Very Quickly

Come Series 4, King Buxton returned as a brand new machine, seeded 17th in the competition, renamed "King B3" and would sport the trademark blue colour scheme and orange lifting forks combination that we know and love.

With this machine, it was armoured in clear Perspex on the top with redesigned electronics and was longer and wider than the previous machine. It was armed with an electric lifting mechanism at the front tipped with spikes and sported a 9 inch cutting disc at the rear that was powered by a petrol engine and could spin at 3000rpm. It took 11 months to build in total. Unlike the previous series, King B3 was automatically entered into the series due to it being seeded, which no doubt came as a relief to the team as now they didn't have to be hastily getting the machine ready in time like before. Oh and the show said the machine cost £4,000 to build, when in actuality it cost £1,500 to build. Who knows why the show lied like that.

Interestingly, King B3 would actually make a cameo appearance in an episode of the British sitcom series Spaced alongside other machines appearing at the time such as Cerberus, Invertabrat and Plunderbird 4. I wonder how many Robot Wars fans were surprised to see this if they ever saw the episode.

King B3 appeared in Heat A of the series and was pitted against Atilla the Drum and Medusa 2000 in its first round melee. It was easily the dominant fighter in the melee, spiking its opponents and charging into them from all over. It won the Judge's Decision alongside Medusa 2000 and was up against newcomers Atomic in the second round. Despite Atomic's flipper breaking, King B3 ultimately crashed out when the machine caught fire and was rendered immobile as a result. The team had actually installed fan ducts to cool the motors, but they clearly did no good as it still caught fire in the end. As a result, King B3 had the dishonour of being the first seeded machine in Series 4 to fail to reach a Heat Final. Let's be realistic though, it wouldn't have gotten much further even if it did beat Atomic. Chaos 2 was in the same heat as King B3 and King B3 is a very flippable machine. If the two seeds had fought, Chaos 2 would've launched it out of the arena with ease, I guarantee it.

But this wasn't the end for King B3 by any means. Nope, they returned in the Tag Team Terror Tournament, one of many special events they held after Series 4 had concluded. And King B3 was paired up with...101 of all machines. OK...interesting choice given they're rivals and all. As is, they were able to put aside their rivalry and were clearly the best team in the tournament as everybody else had one good robot and a really crap partner that was either useless or didn't work properly. These two were both great machines and they both worked, so it's easy to see how they won. They beat X-Terminator and Invertabrat in Round 1 and then in the final, they beat Firestorm 2 and Scorpion, and then they turned on each other and began fighting amongst themselves in celebration of their victory. It's pretty funny to watch, let me tell you. XD

King B3 also competed in the Pinball Tournament where they scored 235 points overall, finishing third behind Spawn of Scutter and Gemini respectively. Overall, not a bad end to Series 4 being third place winners in Pinabll and Tag Team Champions. But they wouldn't get much more achievements after Series 4 as Extreme and beyond came up...

An Extreme-ly Poor Run And Extreme-ly short Series 5 Campaign

The team returned for Series 5 and Extreme with a new machine they called King B Powerworks. Why did they call it that? It's in reference to the 36 volt motors they installed in the machine, which was the highest voltage the show would allow. It weighed 88 kgs and had a new spinning disc that could spin at 8000rpm.

When it came to its appearances in Extreme, it had a very poor run with only one win to its name. It competed in the Tag Team Terror Tournament where they and 101 lost to Diotoir and Mega Morg after King B Powerworks went berserk at the end, they had a vengeance match with 101 which they lost after they went berserk again and they lost the Mayhem on a Judge's Decision to Steel Avenger after one of their wheels was broken off. However, in the Mayhem, they had the incredible honour of being one of the few robots to ever knock Tornado out. Yes, THIS machine of all things immobilized Tornado! They rammed into their side with their lifting forks and that just...killed Tornado somehow. Very few machines have ever successfully immobilized Tornado, so it's pretty impressive how King B Powerworks managed it! They still lost the Mayhem as I said earlier, but I say we give credit where credit is due.

The only time it ever won a fight was when they fought Draven in the Wild Card Warriors specials by pulling off a Panic Attack style pitting on them. It was honestly pretty neat to see them do it and show that Panic Attack isn't the only one who can pit a machine with their lifting forks like so. While it was their only win in Extreme, it was one of their best and most convincing wins in the show, so at least it's one we'll always remember.

King B Powerworks returned for Series 5 in Heat F where they battled Kronic 2 in Round 1. Now on paper, this should've been Kronic 2's win, but in reality King B Powerworks surprisingly dominated the fight and really gave Kronic 2 a tough time. This earned them a win on a Judge's Decision, and is one again one of the machine's most convincing wins in the show. It really shows that King B has potential to do really well, it's just unfortunate that it has mechanical problems or an unlucky draw. And unlucky they were in Round 2 when they were up against Dominator 2. They had no chance as Dominator 2 repeatedly axed them and they were defeated on a Judge's Decision. Funny enough, Dominator 2 beat 101 in Series 4, so when it comes to the two rivals they both coincidentally share a loss with the axe bot. Weird, innit?

As is, King B Powerworks's Series 5 run was brief and they didn't return for Series 6 when they suffered a multitude of problems during the attempted qualification matches. In one match against Tip-Top, their petrol engine stalled and in another qualifier match against Spirit of Scorpion, their drive system failed and so they weren't able to qualify.

Interestingly, when they attempted to qualify for Series 6, King B Powerworks had some optional attachments developed for it that could be used at the back instead of the spinning disc, one being the curved scoop you can see in this picture. Personally, I think putting it at the front would've made more sense, but I'm no roboteer so what do I know? They also had a convex rear bodywork that we'd see used on King B Remix in Series 8, but more on that later. These attachments weren't brought to Series 7. Speaking of which...

Another Swift Exit Ends King B's Classic Era Run

King B Powerworks returned for Series 7 in Heat C and had minimal changes aside from a weight increase to 97kgs and more angled sides.

For its Series 7 run, it was in a melee with Hassocks Hog 2, Rick and the 5th seeds Dantomkia. The melee was pretty much Dantomkia just dominating and King B pretty much proving they were second best as Hassocks Hog 2 was flipped over and couldn't self-right since the machine just stopped working entirely and Rick was more or less just being bullied throughout by Dantomkia. Dantomkia and King B won on a split decision by the Judge's and King B Powerworks went up against IG-88 in Round 2.

It didn't end well.

As a result, King B Powerworks was once again out in Round 2 of the heats. They would appear one last time in the Series 7 All-Stars Tournament where they were in the second round melee against Behemoth, Dantomkia and Pussycat.

It also didn't end well. Pussycat damaged them badly and Dantomkia flipped them out with ease, thus bringing a very underwhelming end to King B's classic era run. Was this the end for them? Not in the slightest, for they did return for the reboot era...

King B's One-Time Comeback

After 12 years, Robot Wars was rebooted in 2016 and King B returned for Episode 3 of the first series of the reboot with a new machine called King B Remix. The machine was built with greater internal strength but replaced the rear cutting disc with a bumper plate. Not that it mattered much since their cutting disc never did anything. The armour was 16mm polycarbonate on top with Maganese Steel on the front and rear and 16mm Ultra High Molecular Weight Polymer (Or UHMWPE for shut) also on the rear. It was powered by 40 volt Lithium Iron Phosephate battery, so that'll be why they dropped the "Powerworks" part of their name since they don't have those batteries anymore, and could reach speeds of 14mph. The spikes on the lifting forks could also rotate, more or less acting like small drills. Oh, and the name "King B Remix" is meant to be a musical reference. Y'know, like how you do remixes of a song and such? So did King B Remix have any better luck than its predecessors? No...

King B remix, rather coincidentally, was in the first round melee with Dantomkia (again) and two other machines, Overdozer and Glitterbomb. This match was dominated by the veterans as King B immobilized Overdozer and Dantomkia dealt with Glitterbomb due to their axe not working. This earned the two machines a spot in the Round Robin matches where King B rather sadly didn't win any of its matches. It was defeated by Dantomkia when they flipped them against the wall and they couldn't move and then Matilda flipped them out, making them the first machine in the reboot era to get flipped out of the arena. Then they lost to Big Nipper after Big Nipper's deadly spinner knocked their link out and then they lost to TR2 after they were immobilized.

The way the match ended was pretty amusing though with TR2 just flipping their lifeless corpse into the pit. Seriously, that's just cruel, yet funny at the same time. XD

And...that was the end of King B Remix's run on the show. They never appeared again in the reboot and the reboot got cancelled before they could return, so their comeback was sadly very brief and unsuccessful.

Mech Mania

But this wasn't the end of King B's career. On the contrary, the machine is still very much active and competing even in this day and age. It just goes to show doesn't it that you can't keep an old bot down.

The team have been competing in multiple live events over the years, most notable the 2024 Mech Mania series that can be viewed on the Mech+ streaming service. King B, now back to its old name of King Buxton, appeared at live events in Grantham, one of which I actually attended and got to see the machine score a surprising win over YOTON. Seriously, it were a damn good fight and a surprisingly dominant performance from King Buxton too! And since I was there, I got the pleasure of seeing this legend in person, which really was a pleasant surprise as I didn't expect to see them there. They would win enough fights to earn them entry into the final show in Wales where they lost on a very close Judge's Decision to TR4 and Six. A pity really as I thought they earned that win myself, but I digress. King Buxton's performance in the Mech Mania tournament is proof that they've still got a lot of fight in them and that you shouldn't underestimate this machine. King Buxton is a legend for a reason and I'm sure they'll keep showing us that in the future. I wonder if they'll appear again if we get another series of Mech Mania...

Conclusion

And that's the story of King Buxton. It may not be the most successful machine in the show's history, yet it somehow managed to become a beloved competitor regardless. It's like with Panic Attack, Firestorm and Behemoth, it's just nice to see them appear every time they do and it just doesn't feel like Robot Wars without them. The fact they're still competing, and actually able to give a good fight too is pretty admirable, thus showing that sometimes all you need is a simple old design that just works and a lot of skill to be a good competitor. King Buxton may not have much to its name, but it's still a king in our eyes...

And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to tell me your thoughts down below. What's your favourite King Buxton battle? What's your favourite King Buxton moment? Do tell me.

Next week I'll be talking about Mickey Mouse's most infamous short, Runaway Brain. See you then media fans!

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