Warhead is a scorpion-like robot from the UK that competed in BattleBots built by the same team that built Razer. Warhead only competed in Season 5.0, despite original attempts to get it ready for both Seasons 3.0 and 4.0. Like its teammate Razer it was a very impressive machine. Its main weapon was a large angled toothed spinning dome powered by an internal combustion engine which was placed on a pivot, meaning it could adjust its position if it needed to. It also had 2 wings for stabilization and self-righting as well as a rear tail that served no real purpose and was supposedly just for looks. Warhead reached the quarter finals of its only season and was a crowd favorite because of both its looks and its destructive ability.
Team Razer returned to BattleBots for the 2015 reboot on ABC with an upgraded Warhead, ditching the internal combustion engine for an electric motor and replacing the frame and internals. However, Warhead did not do as well there as its previous appearances- losing a shock domination against Bite Force and then against Stinger:The Killer Bee after receiving a Wild Card. It had a massive revamp in ABC Season 2, with its signature spinning toothed dome being now interchangeable with a large, Tyrannosaur-like head with a flamethrower and sharp rows of teeth that can pierce through armor, making it a menacing robot. It also has two mini flamethrowers for its wings.
A featherweight version of Warhead called Predator was created by Team RoboChallenge to go alongside their featherweight Razer named Venom. Predator competes sporadically on the UK scene.
Robot History
Season 5.0
Warhead's first fight was against JC Slammer. After tossing itself about with its spinning dome, it landed a huge blow on the side of JC Slammer, causing sparks to fly. It eventually hit JC Slammer again, tearing off the front of its wedge, but the impact caused Warhead to land on its side. It used its wings to self right and continued to attack JC Slammer. However, after another huge impact, Warhead went flying across the BattleBox on its side, landing on its wheels. This impact seemed to stop the spinning dome, allowing JC Slammer to push Warhead with what remained of its wedge. Despite this late effort, Warhead went through on a 29-16 judge's decision. This win put Warhead to the final preliminary round, where it faced Super Collider. Warhead won by KO and advanced to the TV rounds, where it faced Darkstar-2J.
Both robots charged at each other at the start of the fight, not causing any visible damage, but Warhead's second attack tore Darkstar-2J's side armor clean off, tossing Warhead over. Warhead self righted, sending the polycarbonate cover of the killsaws next to it flying, before continuing to destroy the armor of Darkstar-2J, throwing it across the BattleBox. After one final attack, Darkstar-2J was immobilized and Warhead performed a victory spin. Darkstar-2J was now being counted out and Warhead won by a quick KO at 59 seconds.
Warhead's next fight in the round of 32 was against the powerful and experienced Nightmare. At the green light, both bots inched out of their squares towards the center of the BattleBox. Warhead carefully avoided Nightmares deadly disk while allowing it's own dome to reach it's full speed. After some maneuvering, gyroscopic forces caused Warhead to spin uncontrollably. Nightmare, seeing the chance to strike inched towards Warhead, but driver Jim Smentowski had accidentally left the slow drive switch on. By the time Nightmare reached Warhead, it had regained control of itself and oriented its dome towards Nightmares blade. The result was a powerful collision, with one of Nightmares teeth driving deep onto Warheads dome. In ordinary circumstances, this would be the result Jim would want, however the force of Warhead's spinning dome sheared Nightmares tooth right off of the disk, causing it to fly across the BattleBox and bounce off one of the lexan walls. A portion of Nightmares disk was also warped, which cleaved through the drive belt as the weapon continued to spin. Nightmares disk slowly came to a stop as Warhead once again spun out of control due to gyroscopic forces, crashing into the spike strip. Ian Lewis regained control of Warhead after which he quickly drove around the side of the now weaponless Nightmare and impacted Nightmares left wheel with the full force of the spinning dome, resulting in the wheel (still attached to it's motor) being ripped off and flung across the BattleBox. At this point Nightmare was immobile, resulting in a KO at 38 seconds. Warhead performed it's famous victory spin the once again and moved on to the round of 16.
Warhead then moved on to meet the powerful flipper of The Matador in the round of 16. After driving past The Matador multiple times, Warhead managed to make contact with its spinning dome in the area around Matador's wheel guard. The hit did neglible damage to The Matador, but the collision caused an internal component of Warhead to fly out from underneath its dome, causing the internal combustion engine to stop running and the dome to slowly spin down on freewheel. The Matador then charged at Warhead and attempted to flip it, but driver Reason Bradley couldn't see that far across the BattleBox and mistimed a flip that threw itself over. Consequently, The Matador was unable to self-right, likely due to the shock load the flipper's rams took. Warhead pushed it into the pulverizer and the screws where it was counted out, as Warhead performed its victory spin once more. Warhead won by KO at 1:13 and advanced to the heavyweight quarterfinals, where it faced OverKill.
It failed to land a hit on OverKill to begin with, while OverKill was able to hit Warhead's spinning dome with its blade and push Warhead around using its wedge. This continued for the rest of the match, with OverKill pushing Warhead into the spike strip and onto the killsaws. Eventually, Warhead's spinning dome stopped working. The fight went to the judges, who ruled 34-11 in favor of OverKill, eliminating Warhead from the tournament.
Warhead couldn't compete in the heavyweight royal rumble because the rest of the rumbles were canceled due to an accident with Nightmare during the heavyweight consolation rumble.
ABC Season 1
Warhead in ABC Season 1
Warhead's first match in the BattleBots reboot was against Bite Force. Warhead got its dome up to speed but could not get a good hit on Bite Force's steel wedge, which was able to push Warhead around the BattleBox. Bite Force was able to push Warhead onto the arena screws, which carried it into the air, and into the pulverizers, where it took a glancing blow. It then caught the corner of the BattleBox, and its dome stopped spinning. From there, Bite Force got underneath it with its lifting arm and lifted it up and over. Bite Force had shockingly dominated the match and Bite Force was given the win on a unanimous 3-0 judge's decision.
Despite this surprising defeat, Warhead was given the Wild Card and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Stinger. After starting with the wings down, the first hit flipped Warhead over and Stinger pushed Warhead upside down to the screws, briefly re-righting it before being pushed into the pulverizers. Stinger then flipped Warhead again and forced it into the wall, but Warhead managed to right itself with its dome and was able to cause some minor damage to Stinger's rear-right tyre and the sides of its flipping panel with the dome before time ran out. Stinger won on a unanimous 3-0 judge's decision and Warhead was eliminated from the tournament.
However, due to its unique appearance and its status as a crowd favorite, it was able to win the Best Design Award at the end of the series.
ABC Season 2
Warhead armed with a crushing "jaw"
Warhead's first match in Season 2 was against The Obwalden Overlord and it used the new T-Rex jaws. The fight started off great for Warhead motors as Obwalden Overlord was rather sluggish around the box with one arm dragging uselessly on the BattleBox floor. Warhead made full use of this and grabbed The Obwalden Overlord's working arm, blasting it with the flamethrower. After several more grabs on The Obwalden Overlord, Warhead caused its opponent to start melting and set the upper part of Obwalden Overlord on fire. Warhead continued to attack its crippled opponent and even toppled it over before Obwalden Overlord was counted out. Afterwards, fire extinguishers had to be used to snuff out the fire off of The Obwalden Overlord. Warhead won by KO at 2:59 and advanced to the round of 32 with its No.23 seeding, where it faced the No.10 seed Complete Control.
Warhead slammed into Complete Control once and knocked it out almost immediately. Warhead won the fight after a K.O.
Results
| Series | Event | Round | Opponent(s) | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comedy Central
BattleBots Season 5.0 |
Heavyweight
Division |
Round
of 256 |
JC Slammer | Won |
| Round
of 128 |
Super Collider | Won | ||
| Round
of 64 |
Darkstar-2J | Won | ||
| Round
of 32 |
Nightmare | Won | ||
| Round
of 16 |
The Matador | Won | ||
| Quarter
Final |
Overkill | Lost | ||
| ABC BattleBots
Season 1.0 |
N/A | Qualifier | Bite Force | Lost |
| Round
of 16 |
Stinger | Lost | ||
| ABC BattleBots
Season 2.0 |
N/A | Qualifier | The Obwalden Overlord | Won |
| Round
of 32 |
Complete Control | Won |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 7
- Losses: 3