Maelstrom with its unique flipper propped open
Maelstrom is a wedge-shaped invertable robot that competes in the Roaming Robots events today. It was rebuilt by Team Shock in 2008 from its original incarnation, previous Robot Wars semi-finalists St Agro. Maelstrom's weapon is a unique 'double-sided' flipper, capable of working just as effectively both-ways up, removing the need to use gas self-righting. Maelstrom has done very well since Team Shock bought it having won the best promising Newcomer Award in 2008, finishing runner-up in the 2009 & 2012 UK Heavyweight Championships and 4th in the 2010 UK Heavyweight Championships.
Team Shock applied for the 2016 series of Robot Wars with Maelstrom, alongside Manta and Shockwave. Like Manta but unlike Shockwave, Maesltrom was rejected.
2008 Winter Tour
Maelstrom's first big competition was the 2008 Winter Tour, it lost its first qualifier match at Portsmouth to Kan-Opener after being pitted and lost its next match against Hydra at Nottingham where it lost on aggression meaning it didn't make the finals at Maidstone.
At the finals in Maidstone, there was the 2008 Awards ceremony. Maelstrom was voted as the "Best Promising Newcomer" due to its performance in battles it put up since it debuted.
2009 UK Championships
Maelstrom took part in its first UK Championships in 2009. It lost its first qualifier match at Roaming Robots Barnsley to Tiberius 4 after getting shoved down the pit and lost its next fight to Barbaric Response at Roaming Robots Brentwood. It did win its qualifier at Guildford against SMIDSY where it managed to flip it out the arena and it couldn't get back in the arena via the flippout zone (an area bordering the main arena, from which a robot flipped out could be driven back into the fight) due to its height. It lost its next battle at Portsmouth to Iron-Awe 6 and fought a well hard fight at Maidstone against Meggamouse and Weird mAlice where it got flipped about but fortunately they both ran out of gas and Maelstrom flipped them to win.
In the finals at Roaming Robots Wigan, it won its first round battle as Tilly Evo and St Hammer ended up in the pit and immobilised Barbaric Response in the corner in the semi-final to go through to the final. Here it met the 2004 UK Champion Terrorhurtz who pounded Maelstrom all over but Maelstrom withstood Terrorhurtz's attacks, but it was all over when Maelstrom broke down and was immobilised finishing 2nd in the whole competition. At the end of the event, the team also got voted "Team of the Year" in the 2009 Awards.
2010 UK Championships
Maelstrom came back for the 2010 UK Championships as the top seed due to Terrorhurtz being unable to sign up to the tournament. It beat Tanto in its first qualifier match at Roaming Robots Barnsley after it had difficulty with one of its wheels and defeated White Knight in its next qualifier at Whitwick. Next it defeated Iron-Awe 6 at Nottingham, and earned a place in the semi-finals at Portsmouth. They were drawn against Beast in their fight, but due to one of the teams having other commitments on the day, the fight was delayed to Maidstone. The winner was decided by the judges, and the victory was awarded to Maelstrom. In their first quarter-final at Maidstone, Ripper Evo threw themselves out of the arena and Maelstrom advanced another step towards the 2010 title. Unfortunately, Maelstrom's flipper had problems in their next battle against Iron Awe 5 and was eventually pitted. In the Playoff, they met Iron Awe 6 and were stranded on their side very soon as the flipper still wasn't working properly, finishing 4th in the competition.
Maelstrom was also the holder of the Team Bud challenge trophy hosted by Team Bud for a while. It defeated Beast at Whitwick after it drove down the pit and managed to throw Tilly Evo out of the arena at Nottingham, before losing the trophy to Ripper Evo at Burgess Hill.
2011 UK Championships
Maelstrom was seeded 4th in 2011, and was drawn against Behemoth, Weird mAlice & Pressure in it's heat. Despite Behemoth being constantly aggressive towards them, Maelstrom was able to flip them again and again, as well as immobilizing Weird mAlice and flipping Pressure over, earning a win by Judges Decision. In Round 2, Maelstrom was drawn against Ripper, Tilly Evo & Envy. All three robots were piled into the corner by Ripper and Envy was flipped out of the arena, as was Tilly Evo. Maelstrom then lost it's wheel after further pressure from Ripper and followed Envy out of the arena. Fortunately, as it was one of the two last robots left in the melee, Maelstrom qualified for the Quarter Finals. Once again they fought Ripper, and although they started on top, Ripper eventually gained a hold of them and tossed them out of the arena, with Maelstrom once again finishing in the top 10.