Sabretooth (originally referred to by the show as Sabre Tooth) was a competitor in Series 5-6, and later Series 8-10 of Robot Wars. Despite boasting impressive weapons, it failed to progress beyond the first round in Series 5-8, either through poor reliability, severe damage from other opponents, or a faulty self-righting mechanism.
Although the robot was never successful, Sabretooth proved to be a recurring figure, qualifying for five different series, sporting the same name and aesthetics, including Series 7, from which Sabretooth withdrew. The second teaser trailer for Series 8 centred around Sabretooth and its team, before cutting to footage from its Group Battle with Storm 2, Eruption and Terror Turtle.
Gabriel Stroud appeared as a mentor in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, helping Olympic medalists Jonathan and Alastair Brownlee to build a robot of their own design in Jar, which finished bottom in the Head-to-Heads in Episode 1.
The original robot was dome-shaped, as a result of wielding a rollcage in favour of a srimech. The robot's weapon was a wide set of shredding blades that spun at 2400 RPM. Although the blades were fairly effective, the front chain was notably exposed. The robot itself was also somewhat slow, and its weapon proved unreliable in its only televised battle.
In Series 6, a new Sabretooth armed with a large spinning disc weapon was built. However, its axle for the 13 inch cutting disc weapon broke during the qualifiers, so the team was forced to remove it. The damage came as a result of bending the chassis of a flipper-wielding opponent in its qualifier battle. The old axle was wielded back together, but it would no longer hold up the power of the disc, so the team instead equipped a large tyre for extra speed and mobility, and an improved drive engine, giving Sabretooth 12-horsepower push and allowing it to reach reported incredible speeds of 70 MPH (which would have made it the fastest robot in Robot Wars if these reports are true), in contrast to its former top speed of 12mph. The robot weighed 100kg, and was powered by 2 x 750w electric motors. The added speed given by the tyre didn't help against the weaponry of Terrorhurtz, and because of its thin aluminium armour and the petrol powering the weapon was on board, Sabretooth was eliminated in the first round.
An all-new Sabretooth was built for Series 7, featuring a horizontal flywheel, capable of spinning at an incredible speed of 9000RPM, powered by a 125cc engine. In its qualifier battle, it teamed up with Disc-O-Inferno and took out Hannibal with a single blow whilst its ally defeated Hassocks Hog 2. Both spinners survived despite Disc-O-Inferno accidentally damaging Sabretooth when flipped by Hassocks Hog. Sabretooth lost the judges' decision to Disc-O-Inferno, but received a discretionary place. However, the team was asked to tone down the power on their disc, and were unable to comply in time for the show, so they were forced to withdraw.
Team Sabretooth, now known as Team Legion after their featherweight of the same name, returned in 2016 to compete with a brand-new version of Sabretooth. The robot has three weapons, including an overhead claw at the front, which also doubles as the robot's srimech. The claw has a steep flipper underneath it, and a 22kg aluminium spinning drum at the back, spinning at 4500RPM, which emits an ominous scream at top speed.
Robot History[]
UK Robot Wars Series 5[]
In the heats of Series 5, Sabretooth fought fellow newcomer Evolution in Round 1. At the start of the battle, Sabretooth moved forward and used its spinning blades to inflict cosmetic damage to Evolution, but in return, received a blow from Evolution's turret weapon. Evolution then rammed Sabre Tooth and stopped its weapon completely. Suddenly, both robots lost a lot of their momentum. The House Robots, Sergeant Bash and Sir Killalot, both closed in to attack Evolution, fiercely penetrating the armour and snapping the turret weapon, while Sabretooth was curiously left alone. Both House Robots received yellow cards from Refbot. Sabretooth came back to life and rammed Evolution, and then time ran out. Due to its more active role in the battle, Evolution had won the Judges' decision and proceeded through to Round 2, and Sabretooth was therefore eliminated.
UK Robot Wars Series 6[]
Sabretooth's spinning disc broke long before the first battle, meaning the team had to replace it with a motorcycle tyre, which supposedly increased Sabretooth's top speed to 70mph. As a result, Sabretooth's spinning disc was never referenced on the show.
Sabretooth faced three other veterans in the first round battle: A-Kill, Terrorhurtz and Reptirron The Second. Sabretooth played very little part in its battle, as it ran into Sergeant Bash immediately and then slammed backwards into Terrorhurtz, who landed several powerful axe blows on it. Already immobilised, Sabretooth was shoved into the side wall afterwards, with several pieces of armour buckled and broken. Sabretooth was counted out by Refbot and thrown by the floor flipper. It was eliminated along with later victim, Reptirron the Second.
UK Robot Wars Series 8[]
Sabretooth's participation in the 2016 series was first officially revealed through the second teaser trailer, which shows Team Legion admiring their robot to the theme of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, before showing clips of Sabretooth in its first round battle.
In the first round, Sabretooth met Storm 2, Terror Turtle, and Eruption. However, the robot faced immediate difficulty, as its claw weapon was broken in the process of repairs. Compromising for the lack of a srimech, Sabretooth's tactics were to spin the rear drum up to full power, and make itself unapproachable to flippers, pushing its opponents aside. It bravely targeted Eruption to try and dispose of the flipper first, and landed a glancing blow, but was tossed when Eruption snuck underneath the drum, luckily landing back on its wheels. Sabretooth was not discouraged, and buffeted Eruption, but when it was flipped once more, it landed on its back. With Sabretooth unable to self-right due to its broken claw, it was rendered immobile, and was left alone until cease was called.
Sabretooth was nearly required to fight a second battle in the episode, when Team Eruption were struggling to repair their robot in time for its match against Apollo. Had Eruption dropped out, Sabretooth would have filled its place, but ultimately Eruption made it to the arena.
UK Robot Wars Series 9[]
Sabretooth will compete in Episode 1, going against former Grand Finalists Aftershock, as well as Crank-E and TMHWK. Angela Scanlon immediately spoke to Team Legion about their lack of a televised win. Sabretooth was intentionally evasive at the start of the battle, allowing Aftershock to immobilise Crank-E, only challenging TMHWK when Team Dutch Robot Girls approached it. Sabretooth quickly won this battle, immobilising TMHWK with a side-on charge, ripping shards of its HDPE side panel away, eventually tearing it off completely. Wedged under TMHWK, Sabretooth drove it across the arena and into Shunt. Sabretooth sent one of TMHWK's front wedges flying, and the beaten machine was turned over by the arena spikes. Both defeated robots were counted out, but Sabretooth drew too close to Shunt, and the House Robot beached it on the arena wall. As a result, Team Legion were unaware they they had earned their first victory in Robot Wars.
The jubilant Team Legion qualified for the second round, where their first opponent was Terrorhurtz, in a rematch from Series 6. Sabretooth raised its ground-scraping wedge for this battle, as it was limiting the robot's control in the previous fight. When activate sounded, Terrorhurtz charged Sabretooth, which was slow in spinning up its drum, although it scattered sparks once it started spinning, sustaining axe blows in the process. After this, Terrorhurtz drove into the arena wall, a mistake which Sabretooth capitalised on, throwing Terrorhurtz's axe rest panel aside, flipping the robot up, and burying the spinning drum into Terrorhurtz's weaker back end. Both robots met again in the centre of the arena, and Sabretooth threw Terrorhurtz skyward, then remained underneath the falling Terrorhurtz to damage its underside. However at this point, smoke poured out of Sabretooth, and the drum also stopped working after losing a huge chunk. Sabretooth needed to use tactical driving to sneak around the back of a limping Terrorhurtz, which had also lost drive to one side. Sabretooth could not push Terrorhurtz effectively, and drove in front of it to receive an axe blow. Team Legion then realised Terrorhurtz's immobility, and pressed the pit release button in the hopes that Rogue House Robot would be activated. Their wish was granted, and after an attack from the rogue Shunt, and a follow-up hit from Sabretooth, Terrorhurtz was rendered immobile, and Team Legion earned 3 points for a knockout victory.
The team could not remain cheerful for too long, as they then discovered the significant damage that their drum had sustained. Robert Pickford was required to bend steel rings out of metal off-cuts to wrap around the drum, supporting the chunk that had come loose in the last battle. Sabretooth's drum was fixed in time for its second encounter with Aftershock. Sabretooth made a driving error in the face of Aftershock, exposing its wheel and losing shreds of armour, before a second error saw Sabretooth drive over the floor flipper, where it was turned over. The normally invertible robot could not move due to the damage sustained to its body-shape. Aftershock used its spinner to right Sabretooth, but caused further damage, and ripped away its top armour. Sabretooth was now in great peril, and pressed the pit release, causing the pit to descend. This gave Aftershock a chance to inflict the killer blow on Sabretooth, turning it over and showering sparks. Although Sabretooth was immobile, Team Shock did not realise this, and landed another barrage of hits, barreling Sabretooth through the air. Sabretooth had lost the battle with a huge amount of repairs now needing to be made. Broken components included Sabretooth's motors and speed controllers, and its drum was still in need of repairs before the battle had even begun. Team Shock would later apologise for the extensive damage they caused.
After hours of hard work, Sabretooth entered the test arena to see whether or not the robot would be functional for a battle with the reinstated Jellyfish. Although the team accidentally wired their drum to spin in the wrong direction, Sabretooth was fit to enter the arena. Although Sabretooth got its weapon up to speed, it could not damage Jellyfish, as the weapon was spinning in the wrong direction. Jellyfish hugged Sabretooth on two occasions, and Team Legion could only drive their robot over the top of Jellyfish. Sabretooth was idle in the centre of the arena, and it was gripped by the clamp of Jellyfish. Eventually breaking free, Sabretooth's drum hit the surface of Jellyfish, and became stuck on its back pole. Sir Killalot separated the two robots, but both were stuck on the surface of the slightly lowered pit, and could not escape until 'cease' was called. The battle was sent to an adjudication, and Dara Ó Briain revealed that this was in fact a split decision. However, despite one Judge voting in favour of Sabretooth, the battle was ultimately won by Jellyfish. This left Sabretooth with a total of three points at the end of Round 2, tied with Terrorhurtz. Because Sabretooth defeated Terrorhurtz in their head-to-head battle, Team Legion qualified for the Heat Final.
Sabretooth attempted to hit Aftershock before the vertical spinner got up to speed, but this attack was not fast enough, and Sabretooth was punted towards Sir Killalot. The House Robot held Sabretooth over the flame pit, and Aftershock attacked it while it was in the air. Sabretooth's one functional wheel could not gain purchase on the arena floor, and after being thrown by Sir Killalot, Sabretooth stopped completely. Will Thomas did not power down Aftershock's weapon, but held off to see if Sabretooth was immobile. Sabretooth showed signs of life, but Gabriel Stroud seemingly wished to play dead to avoid further punishment. After another hit, Sabretooth was finished, and it was counted out. An emotional episode had come to a close for Team Legion, and the sixteen-year wait resulted in a Heat Final finish. Sabretooth currently remains in contention for a wildcard position in the Grand Final.
UK Robot Wars Series 10[]
Sabretooth returned in Heat 1, where it would face the newcomer Donald Thump, and veteran Behemoth. Before the battle, Team Legion revealed to Angela Scanlon that they had brought a second complete version of Sabretooth, which was hiding under the table, although in the interest of fairness, the team were required to disassemble their second Sabretooth. Behemoth quickly challenged Sabretooth at the beginning of the fight, but Sabretooth responded by rolling Behemoth over using its spinning drum. Donald Thump put its weapon directly against Sabretooth's, although the drum of Sabretooth removed an eye from Donald Thump at the expense of the drum's momentum. Sabretooth fled to try and spin up its weapon, bumping Behemoth, but turned straight into Donald Thump, which ripped the side armour of Sabretooth up. It retaliated by slamming into the face of Donald Thump, loosening it, and grazed the scoop of Behemoth before being flicked away, while Donald Thump became immobile. Sabretooth chased Behemoth across the arena, and hit the bucket weapon head-on, rebounding away into the Arena Tyre, which activated the pit, and Sabretooth barely missed driving over it. With great momentum, Sabretooth crashed into the front of Behemoth, knocking out its opponent's safety link and immobilising it. However, despite this KO, the steep shape of Behemoth caused Sabretooth to be overturned by the same attack, and due to the earlier damage from Donald Thump, an otherwise mobile Sabretooth could no longer place its wheels on the arena floor. In an effort to show mobility, Sabretooth spun its weapon and wheels, but the battle was sent to a Judges' decision to decide a winner between Sabretooth and Behemoth. The Judges declared that Behemoth had won the battle based on its overall performance, and Sabretooth would be knocked into the Redemption Robot Knockouts. Gabriel Stroud was displeased with the result, stating that he felt 'a little bit robbed', believing that he deserved the win for the Group Battle.
In the Redemption Robot Knockouts, Sabretooth fought newcomer Apocalypse. Gabriel Stroud reluctantly handed the controller to Rob Pickford for him to drive Sabretooth in the head-to-head battle. The exhaust pipes were removed from the back of Sabretooth. Sabretooth made a driving error in the opening stages, presenting its back end to Apocalypse, and Team Asgard fired their weapon repeatedly, hitting Sabretooth in sequence, and also loosening its front wedge, causing Sabretooth to attack its own armour panel as it was pushed back. Gabriel Stroud strongly encouraged his teammate to start landing hits. Sabretooth was edged towards Shunt by Apocalypse, where it struggled to escape, until it eventually drove towards the Arena Tyre to activate Fog of War. While Team Legion were blinded by the fog, Sabretooth drove over the floor flipper, and was tossed across the arena. Sabretooth was still receiving blows from Apocalypse, but finally landed a side-on attack. Apocalypse struggled to leave its own circumference, but Sabretooth had also lost power to its drum, which it had hardly used throughout the battle, and a revived Apocalypse landed further blows on Sabretooth. Spurred on by his team captain, Rob Pickford slotted Sabretooth underneath a grabbing arm of Apocalypse, and used its improved drive system to smash Apocalypse into the arena wall, immobilising it in a come-from-behind victory. Pickford was aware of this victory, and challenged Shunt momentarily, although Gabriel Stroud continued to order the driver to attack Apocalypse until smoke started pouring out of the beaten robot. 'Cease' was called and Sabretooth had progressed to the next round, ensured of at least two more battles. Dara Ó Briain called Gabriel Stroud 'lucky' for winning.
In its next battle, Sabretooth fought former champion Apollo. Team MAD considered Sabretooth to be their biggest threat within the heat, but Team Legion were similarly cautious. Curiously, Sabretooth still lacked its rear exhaust pipes. Sabretooth got its drum up to speed, and damaged the wedge of Apollo, but was flipped in response, and edged into Sir Killalot's CPZ. While the drum was struggling to gain momentum, Sabretooth fled from the pursuant Apollo, tricking the chasing robot into flipping itself over, but Sabretooth could not capitalise, and drove dangerously close to the arena wall, where it was flicked up. Sabretooth continued to flee, unable to assert itself. Sabretooth caused some sparks by attacking Apollo's wedge, but caused little damage, and its drum ceased again, so Sabretooth used the Arena Tyre to activate Rogue House Robot. Sabretooth was already close to Dead Metal, so it was gripped and held against the arena wall, and very nearly sustained a direct attack to the wheel from Dead Metal's saw. When freed, Sabretooth continued its tactic of running away to try and gain speed on the spinning drum. Sabretooth drove directly over the top of Apollo, but was launched into an empty CPZ by the flipper. Sabretooth's efforts to flee only saw it flipped into Dead Metal, and after an attack to the side of Apollo which caused no damage, Sabretooth drove too close to the arena wall, and Apollo flipped it out of the arena. After Sabretooth's second loss in the heat, it would have to compete in a third place playoff for survival. Team Legion were consoled by a group hug with Team MAD.
n order to qualify for the 10 Robot Rumble, Sabretooth would need to defeat Team Big Brother's four-part clusterbot The Swarm, which had applied an anti-spinner wedge to its invertible robot Skye, and also deployed their anti-spinner unit. Gabriel Stroud was particularly enthusiastic about the idea of qualifying for the 10 Robot Rumble, and threatened to defeat The Swarm at all costs. Sabretooth slowly spun its drum up to speed, and sustained a blow from the bar spinner of Blenda, but threw the invertible Skye across the arena. A strong follow-up attack sent Blenda skidding across the arena, and a third blow flipped Blenda onto the flame pit. This once again silenced the drum of Sabretooth, tearing a hole in the front of Sabretooth. It was lifted by Rubber Duck, but knocked Blenda away using its greater weight against the active bar spinner. Sabretooth drove over the arena spikes, but when trying to attack Sabretooth, the spikes rocketed into the air and were strewn across the arena floor. Sabretooth continued its assault and barged Blenda into other units of The Swarm, and then drove it over the floor flipper, where both Blenda and Sabretooth were turned over. Sabretooth continued to bump into The Swarm's robots without the use of its drum, even using the broken arena spikes as a form of attack, and eventually charged the anti-spinner version of Skye into the angled arena wall, where Skye became stuck. Sabretooth would need to defeat a further two units from The Swarm to earn a win by KO, but it instead drove into Shunt, and was lifted into the same position as Skye, and struck with the axe. Despite Sabretooth's questionable driving, both Rubber Duck and Blenda had lost mobility, meaning that Sabretooth had immobilised enough robots to win the battle outright, as it slammed the active Skye into the arena wall. Not enough time remained on the clock for The Swarm to officially be deemed immobile, so the battle was sent to a Judges' decision. Regardless, Sabretooth easily won the decision on the basis of its opponent being immobile, and earned its place in the 10 Robot Rumble.
In the 10 Robot Rumble, Sabretooth faced Apollo, Big Nipper, Concussion, Eruption, Expulsion, Iron-Awe 6, Terrorhurtz, Thor and Track-tion all at once, with room for only one victorious robot. Sabretooth played an explosive role in the rumble. Though it remained out of the action early on, it charged up to the cluster of Apollo, Big Nipper and Concussion. First, it snagged a hit on Apollo as it was being lifted by Big Nipper, overturning the former champion by throwing it high into the air. As Apollo was thrown upwards, Sabretooth clipped Concussion's drum and disabled it for the rest of the battle. To top off its dominance in the group, it pressured and pummeled Big Nipper into the side wall. At this stage, Expulsion, Track-tion, Iron-Awe 6 and Concussion had fallen. Sabretooth made another attack on Apollo, but the former champion was prepared and hurled Sabretooth into the side wall. The next attack was more successful, as Sabretooth tore off the top of Apollo's flipper and exposed the innards. After a few more battering blows on Apollo, Sabretooth switched its attention to Eruption and began grinding at the face of the flipper, throwing sparks. Sabretooth attacked Terrorhurtz, clipping the edges while not being fazed by its opponent's entanglement devices, though it did not find the success of its Series 9 attacks. Sabretooth was becoming a fierce presence in the battle, without having taken any serious attacks, but in the height of its prowess skidded near the Pit and fell in, leaving only four robots in the rumble, which was eventually won by Eruption.
World Series[]
Sabretooth also represented the United Kingdom in Robot Wars: World Series, and entered the arena brandishing the Union Flag on its back end. In the Tag Team round, it partnered with Terrorhurtz to battle loanerbot entries the Portuguese Rabid M8, and the Irish Diotoir. As Diotoir was to battle for the Rest of the World first, Dave Young advised that the combined Team Legion and Team Hurtz should allow Terrorhurtz to start the battle, and the team obliged, while Sabretooth waited in an empty CPZ. This decision proved worthwhile, as Terrorhurtz was able to disconnect Diotoir's removable link with a single axe blow, and after Terrorhurtz inflicted further damage, it tagged Sabretooth, allowing it to attack Rabid M8. This encounter was similarly short, as Sabretooth collided with the side of Rabid M8's weapon using its drum spinner, also directly hitting its exposed tyre in sequence, and immediately immobilised the Portuguese robot by removing its own link. While both international robots were being counted out, Sabretooth pushed Rabid M8 backwards until it was officially eliminated. As a result, the British side earned three points for their team in prompt fashion.
In Sabretooth's head-to-head battle, it fought the Belgian representative Cobra, which had been equipped with a defensive lifter and entanglement devices in order to nullify Sabretooth's drum - Sabretooth was unmodified, barring the addition of decorative fur from Diotoir. Sabretooth attempted to spin up its weapon, but was slowed by the wedge of Cobra. Sabretooth quickly used the Arena Tyre as a tactic, which activated Fog of War, allowing Sabretooth to drive around the arena, but was deflected when it struck the wedge of Cobra. Sabretooth was forced to flee, while Cobra activated Rogue House Robot. This caused Sir Killalot to chase Sabretooth, and Cobra rammed into the vulnerable machine to overturn it. Sabretooth again exposed its back end to Cobra, which slammed it up, and then drove it into the corner of the arena to throw it from the ground. Slammed into another corner, Sabretooth did not flee, and instead proceeded to 'gyro-dance' using the forces of its drum to balance on its side, and eventually caused Sabretooth to self-right. Sabretooth then returned to its attack, and hit the wedge of Cobra, but was again barged back into the wall. In one attack, Sabretooth was flung into the air, but damaged Cobra's tyre by landing on it with the spinning drum. Sabretooth was briefly stuck on top of Cobra after another slam. Skidding into Sir Killalot, Sabretooth also drove into the wall, but was righted by Cobra in another charge against the wall. Sabretooth started to assert itself more, and finally struck the back end of Cobra after it had driven into Dead Metal, but Sabretooth was again turned over by Cobra's speed. Sabretooth attempted to self-right by gyro-dancing, but was caught by Sir Killalot, only succeeding at self-righting when Cobra collided with its drum. Within the final seconds, Sabretooth was held against the wall once more, and delivered to Sir Killalot before 'cease' was called. The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, which was unanimously awarded to Cobra. Although Sabretooth was responsible for the first loss of the UK team, the British representatives ultimately won the tournament, and Gabriel Stroud was very pleased with the battle.
Results[]
Series | Event | Round | Opponent(s) | Results |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK Robot Wars Series 5 | Heat G | Eliminator | Evolution | Lost |
UK Robot Wars Series 6 | Heat I | Eliminator | A-Kill
Reptirron The Second Terrorhurtz |
Eliminated |
UK Robot Wars Series 7 | Qualifier | Disc-O-Inferno
Hannibal Hassocks Hog 2 |
Lost | |
UK Robot Wars Series 8 | Episode 4 | Group
Battle |
Eruption
Storm 2 Terror Turtle |
Eliminated |
UK Robot Wars Series 9 | Episode 1 | Group
Battle |
Crank-E Aftershock TMHWK |
Qualified |
Head to Heads |
Terrorhurtz |
Won by KO (3 Points) | ||
Aftershock | Lost by KO | |||
Jellyfish | Lost by
Judge's Decision | |||
Heat Final | Aftershock | Lost | ||
UK Robot Wars Series 10 | Episode 1 | Group
Battle |
Donald Thump
Behemoth |
Lost |
Redemption
Battle |
Apocalypse | Won | ||
Semi-Final | Apollo | Lost | ||
3rd Place | The Swarm | Won | ||
Grand
Final |
Wild Card
Rumble |
Apollo
Big Nipper Concussion Eruption Expulsion Terrorhurtz Thor Track-Tion Iron-Awe 6 |
Eliminated | |
4'th World Championship (Team UK) | Tag Team (with Terrorhurtz) |
Rabid M8 Diotior |
Won | |
Head to Heads | Cobra | Lost |
- Wins: 5
- Losses: 10 (+1 from qualifiers)
[]
|
|
|
|
|