Media Essays: The Career of Robochicken
Anyone suddenly craving chicken right now? Then you might want to see this essay.
For this new entry in "The Career of" series, I'm covering a robot that, much like Diotoir, is more iconic and famous for being a funny joke machine than being a serious contender and for actually having a solid combat record. This is a machine that everyone in the Robot Wars fandom remembers, even if it never wins much. Sometimes in Robot Wars, a goofy looking machine or a silly idea can leave just as much of an impression on people as a machine that wins titles or scores destructive knockouts. This machine is no exception, and we all know it...as Robochicken.
I SAID ROBOCHICKEN, NOT ROBOT CHICKEN!!!
That's better!
Originating from Devon, Robochicken is among the most notable joke machines in the show's history. Everybody remembers this machine for just what a hilarious concept it is. I mean a chicken bot in Robot Wars? Who wouldn't laugh at that? XD Even the team's official website played up its joke factor by giving us some pretty amusing cartoon drawings of their robot:
You better believe I got a laugh out of these when visiting their website back in the day. XD
And yet despite its decidedly silly concept, Robochicken is still an interesting machine to talk about. So did this chicken prove it can fly the coop? Which battles did it cluck its way to the top and which battles left it roasted and ready for plucking? Follow me on this egg-citing adventure as we fly into the career of Robochicken!
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No, I'm not going to spend the entire essay doing chicken puns, don't worry! XD
Robochicken Falls "Fowl" In Its Debut
Sorry, last chicken pun, I promise!
Robochicken made its debut in Heat B of Series 4, and as you can see, the chicken motif is immediately obvious from the start. Yet amazingly enough, the team did try to enter Robot Wars with a completely different machine in Series 3 called Doomsday.
Yeah, hard to believe this was built by the same team who made Robochicken eh? It looks to me like a boring Panic Attack wannabe with its boxy design and front forks. Who wants to bet it wouldn't even have been a good machine in the arena like Panic Attack was? The machine was not selected to compete due to lacking visual appeal (which I can agree with) and so the team, after a few beers, decided to go with something more visually appealing. Thus, that's how we got Robochicken. Needless to say, that machine went on to be remembered for its joke nature and unique design whereas Doomsday would've been forgotten about. But Doomsday didn't go entirely to waste at least for a lot of its parts were reused for Robochicken. So I guess Doomsday technically DID appear in the show after all...
So for the first incarnation of Robochicken, it was a two-wheeled, reverse wedge-shaped robot with a small axe at the front, nicknamed the "poultry-powered pecker" and a rear-mounted flipper nicknamed the "fowl flipping device". Yeah, they really got into the chicken theme here. XD Both weapons were pnuematically powered. As for the chicken head on the axe, the crest was a rubber glove and the eyes were made from ballcocks. The machine had two electric wheelchair motors, a Vantec speed controller, 24v DC battery power and it had a top speed of 8mph. Its shell and chassis were made from steel box section, sheet steel and aluminium. It had an adjustable ground clearance between 1mm and 10mm.
In order to appear in the series, Robochicken fought a machine called The Necromancer in the Series 4 qualifiers. Their opponent's lifter had broken, so it could only push Robochicken around the arena before suffering radio control issues and driving into the arena barriers, which bent its front end. The match went to an audience vote, and they went in favour of Robochicken. However, the judges declared the battle as a draw. So...what was the point of asking for the audience's vote then? Why ask and then go all Monty Python's Black Knight and say "All right...we'll call it a draw!" Not that it mattered anyway since Robochicken was still the one who qualified.
The chicken bot first appeared in Heat B of Series 4 where they battled against Velocirippa and...Razer in a Round 1 melee. Come on producers, that was just mean! Why put Robochicken up against RAZER of all machines in the first round?! They said they wanted a more visually appealing robot to appear in the series, so the team obliged, and this is how they're repaid? And I guess Razer must've been craving a chicken dinner in this battle, because for some weird reason, they spent most of the melee just bullying Robochicken and chewing them up and even picking them up off the floor because their crusher got embedded that deeply into it. Like seriously Razer? Was Robochicken that much of a threat to you? What were you picking on them so much for? =P Robochicken only must managed to scrape a win after Razer bit into Velocirippa and that somehow killed it instantly whereas Robochicken got chewed up several times and still kept going. Hardy machine, isn't it? Still, maybe its next battle will be any easier?
...damn!
Then again, what else did we expect to happen in a battle between a chicken and a cat? XD Still, talk about a sorry sight! Pussycat in Series 4 was just something else, let me tell you...
So yeah, Robochicken's debut series wasn't exactly a glamorous first impression. Chewed up by Razer and only barely winning because its other opponent died and then getting ripped to pieces by Pussycat. Did the producers really want to see this thing get destroyed or something? I have no idea...
They did get something nice though since their unique looking robot earned the team a Most Original Entry nomination (which it lost to Gemini) and it also got a Best Newcomer nomination (which it lost to Tornado), so at least they got acknowledged for their efforts in making this thing.
Robochicken's Next Stage Of Evolution Doesn't Pay Off...
The chicken made its return in Series 5, albeit renamed Robochicken-Evo, which I think is rather fun as it's a unique sequel name for a robot instead of just a typical number at the end of its original name. This machine weighed at 99kgs, had a barrel-shaped body and a narrower flipping arm at the rear that could lift 100kgs. It was built from spring steel box section, stainless steel and hard faced aluminium. It had the same voltage as the previous one, but now had 2 customised 4QD controllers and the wheelchair motors were replaced with 2 Bosch 750w motors. Its top speed was increased to 15mph and it still had the same adjustable ground clearance as before. It also sported a new yellow, black, silver and red colour scheme and had a pair of fans printed on the flat body panels beside the axe. I...don't know why they did that, they just did. Was it supposed to emphasize the "robo" part of Robochicken some more and make it look more of a machine?
The team managed to earn a spot in the series after defeating Evolution in a qualifier match. Team member Jason Snow would describe it as the most memorable battle he ever fought in. I wonder what happened in that fight to make it so memorable...
Sadly, the evolved version of Robochicken didn't do any better than last time, falling to newcomers Crushtacean in Round 1 of Heat H. It was a pretty darn close battle though with Robochicken-Evo getting some good flips on the crab bot, but Crushtacean's claws did more damage and it proved the more aggressive machine. Robochicken-Evo also got bullied by the House Robots a bit wit Sir Killalot crushing one of its eyes with his claws. Still, It was 2-1 in Crushtacean's favour when it came to the Judge's Decision and Robochicken-Evo went out at the first hurdle. If they had won, then they only would've lost to Behemoth anyway, so it wouldn't have gotten that much further...
Another Early Exit, But A Surprising Tournament Win As Well
Robochicken came back again for Series 6, this time going back to its original name. This version of the robot had a more angular reverse wedge designer more akin to its Series 4 guise and the chicken head was updated with bloodshot eyes. To make it look crazier, I guess? Also it had missiles painted on the sides. I...I don't get this team sometimes. They just seem to do whatever just for a laugh, and I kinda love it. XD The missiles weren't present on the robot when it appeared in Extreme II though.
The machine would earn a place in Series 6 by defeating Tip-Top in a qualifier battle after Tip-Top broke down very quickly.
Unfortunately, Robochicken's Series 6 run was as brief as its Series 5 run for it once again fell in Round 1 to X-Terminator and Barbaraic Response. It's pretty bizarre how it lost too since it ended up on top of X-Terminator and they used their axe to push it over. How many robots can say they lost because an axe-bot flipped them over? That's just crazy! This battle did give Robochicken the rather dubious honour of being the first ever victim of the Drop Zone in where a washing machine was dropped on top of it. Insert joke about Robochicken being all "washed up" here. So yeah, Series 6 was no better for it, unfortunately.
BUT...it wasn't all bad news for Robochicken. On the contrary, Extreme II gave it one heck of a bone in the Tag Team Terror Tournament in where it was paired up with Bulldog Breed and the two managed to win the whole thing, even defeating the reigning Champions Pussycat and Diotoir! On the other hand, it feels a bit generous saying Bulldog Breed and Robochicken won the tournament since a more accurate summary of the whole thing is "Bulldog Breed dominated its battles while Robochicken just existed". It did at least help immobilize Steel Avenger in their Round 2 battle, but otherwise Bulldog Breed deserves all the credit for their Tag Team Terror win. I like to imagine this is what the two machines said about the whole thing afterwards:
Robochicken: "Yay! We won the tournament! Aren't we the best?"
Bulldog Breed: "We? WE won the tournament?! I think you'll find, ol' chap, that I won us the whole thing single-handedly!"
Robochicken: "Knickers to that, this is a Tag Team Terror Tournament, and we were a pair, so that means we both won!"
Bulldog Breed: "That may be true my feathery friend, but we both know that I did all the work. You were just in those battles trying to prove you had a point in them. So technically, I'm the overall winner here and the trophy should be mine alone, my good fellow. Even the crew believes it, so there!"
Robochicken: "CLUCK YOU BULLDOG!!!!"
Still, this does mean Robochicken somehow succeeded where robots like Hypno-Disc and Dominator 2 failed and actually has a major trophy to its name. How sad is it when some amazing machines like them never win any major trophies, yet this silly joke robot did? This show was just crazy sometimes, I swear. XD
Robochicken's Best Series, Yet Still Falls Short...
Robochicken would show up for the final time in Series 7, and with easily their best machine yet. The robot sported a more conventional wedge shape and they abandoned the axe mechanism entirely, instead putting aa chicken head and neck on top of the flipper so it could "peck" opponents when the flipper was raised, very much akin to 8645T's weapon/axe combo. So with no axe, the team added in a vertical spinning disc as their secondary weapon instead, nicknamed the "Rooster Rotavator". Not sure why they bothered since the disc did sod all in their battles.
Since the head would make it impossible for the machine to self-right, Robochicken's head was designed to be easily removable if the team needed it. This would come in handy when dealing with flippers as without the head, it would actually be able to self-right.
Series 7 proved to be Robochicken's best heat ever and proof they could be a serious contender that was no joke. Despite being pitted in Round 1 by Tough As Nails, it still qualified since Disc-O-Inferno and B.O.D. had been eliminated first and in Round 2, Robochicken defeated long time veterans Mega Morg, which was the first time they'd ever made it to a Heat Final. They fought Tough As Nails again and got off to a good start, even nearly managing to get Tough As Nails out of the arena. But as the battle went on and fatigue set in, Tough As Nails made a comeback and pushed Robochicken around while also doing damage with their claws. This cost them against the judges when it went to them to decide on the winner and Tough As Nails went on to the semi-finals. Alec Dick summed it up as follows:
"It was very close. We noticed as we powered up that we had a bit of a gas leak, so we thought "We better get out there quickly, throw them over as much as possible, try and get them out of the arena" - it nearly happened."
— Alec Dick to Craig Charles after the battle
I wonder if the battle would've gone differently if that gas leak hadn't happened? And if they had won their heat, they would've gone up against Bulldog Breed, which would've been funny since they were once Tag Team Terror contestants. Bulldog Breed would've won, I imagine. Still, at least the machine got its moment of glory and was able to end the show on a high note...
Oh right, that happened.
Yeah, after Series 7 concluded, Robochicken appeared in the Annihilator alongside Ripper, Raging Knight, Kan-Opener, Flippa and Ewe 2. Since five of the six robots had flippers, the team took the head off so the machine could actually self-right. In theory, it's a great idea...but in practice, it didn't work as the machine broke down just as the battle started and so Ripper flipped them over and because the machine was already dead, nothing worked and it was counted out, thus eliminating it in the first round of the Annihilator. Naff breakdowns are just the worst, I swear. I would've loved to have seen this Robochicken in action without the head and see how effective its self-righting was. I bet if it was working, it could've gotten decently far.
And that's the end of Robochicken's story. The team were going to rebuild the machine ready for Series 8, but then the classic series got prematurely cancelled and thus the team never made a new robot. Parts of Robochicken were scattered amongst the three team members and some disappeared completely after Jason Snow moved house. Jason himself even still owns his Tag Team Terror championship trophy to this day, which is really awesome. Sadly, this does mean Robochicken's time on Robot Wars was truly over. They never appeared in the reboot and the machine no longer exists. I doubt we'll ever see it again unless the team somehow get back together and make a new bot...
Conclusion
And that was the career of Robochicken! What can I say that hasn't been said already? It was just such a fun contestant to have on the show. I mean, it's a chicken themed robot! How can you not have fun with this? The team were great sports and were clearly just there for a laugh, but they also showed they can be serious competitors if they wanted to be and so Robochicken was more than just a joke bot. Their time on the show was much appreciated and very much enjoyed, and it's easy to see why they're a fan favourite machine. It's a pity it never won many battles and its only major win can barely be attributed to it since Bulldog Breed did all the work, but its battles were entertaining and it left a memorable impression on Robot Wars fans alike just for the sheer novelty of being a chicken themed machine. Robots like this is what made this show so entertaining for fans like me...
And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. What's your favourite Robochicken battle? What's the most memorable Robochicken moment for you? Do tell me.
To see more Robot Wars essays, see the master post here: Robot Wars: Masterpost
Next week, I'm counting down my Top 10 Favourite Transformers figures from the Age of the Primes toyline. See you then media fans!
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