Plunderbird Robot Series
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The Plunderbird Robot Series were a series of robots in the British television show Robot Wars. They competed from Series 1 (1997) to Series 5 (2001).
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[edit] Plunderbird 1
Plunderbird 1 was their first robot that competed in Series 1. It had interchangeable weaponry between a disc and a ramming spike. However, it got stuck on the grille in the Gauntlet so was out, but received the best design award anyway.
[edit] Plunderbird 2
Plunderbird 2 was the same shape as Plunderbird 1, but had a pneumatic ram embedded in the wedge for flipping other robots over. They completed the gauntlet and the trial before beating Enzyme and The Mule in the Heat Semi and Heat Final, both on judge's decisions. They would have done well in the series semis, but Matilda lopped off their aerial in the Series Gauntlet. This is the best they have ever performed.
[edit] Plunderstorm (Plunderbird 3)
Plunderstorm, the third robot in the series, was just a wedge. They had a saw blade on the front, but this had to be removed as it breached rules. Their first fight with Thermidor was over within 10 seconds after they stopped moving (appeared to stall right at the beginning).
[edit] Plunderbird 4
Plunderbird 4 had a crusher which they called a Slicer Dicer. They were the #26 seed. In Round 1 against Fat Boy Tin and Vercingetorix they did not do a lot because Fat Boy Tin was flipped by Vercingetorix pretty much straight away. A malfunctioning drive put them at a disadvatage to Knightmare in Round 2 when they became locked in combat. Plunderbird 4 was eventually flipped by Knightmare and lost.
They also competed in the Tag Team Terror contest, with Bigger Brother as their team-mate. They broke down in Round 1, whilst Bigger Brother was beaten by Firestorm on a judges' decision. They could not get the machine moving again, but it was still wheeled out into the arena for the 3rd-4th place play-off against X-Terminator and Invertabrat, which they 'won' after Invertabrat broke down and X-Terminator drove into the pit, leaving Bigger Brother as the only one standing.
[edit] Plunderbird 5
Plunderbird 5 had a "Plunderthocker" piercing claw run on 750-watt linear actutator. In Extreme they were supposed to be in the Tag Team Contest with Bigger Brother but, as usual, they broke down at the last minute (and busted one of the arena entrance doors). They only had two fights. One against Sir Chromalot which they lost (by driving into the pit), and the other against Mega Morg which they won on a judges' decision.
In Series 5 they did not break down for the first time in three years. Instead, the robot was destroyed by S3 in round 1. The Plunderbird Team subsequently retired.
