Griffin

* Griffin Mk.II
* Griffin

**Griffin** (Chinese: **狮鹫**, romanized as **Shī jiù**) was a heavyweight robot from the United Kingdom which competed in the first season of *King of Bots*. Built and entered by Team Tomco, it survived its first-round battle to a Judges’ decision on its combat debut, which it lost to Juzi after sustaining damage to its hydraulics system. Griffin also competed in a nine-robot Rumble at the end of Season 1, which it also lost after getting turned onto its side by Dark Knight and being left unable to self-right.

A completely rebuilt version of Griffin, **Griffin Mk II**, also competed in the one-off 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*. Its slam on Unlimited Numbers in a preliminary group battle prompted Zhang Yishan to add this incarnation to the Blue team. However, Griffin Mk II was later dropped by Yishan after becoming immobilized in a Freestyle Combat round against Blue, Bonfire and Ninja.

The robot and Team Tomco were both accompanied by a ‘griffin’ mascot (portrayed by team member Harry Lloyd), who entertained the *King of Bots* audience before Griffin's first Season 1 battle. Harry Lloyd instead entered *This is Fighting Robots* with his own machine, Lieutenant Bam.

## Versions of Griffin

### Griffin (King of Bots)

The original Griffin was a tall, two-wheel drive robot modeled on the mythical winged creature of the same name. Its weapon was a large hydraulic crushing beak, painted gold, which was capable of producing up to ten tonnes of pressure at the tip. The robot also featured a pair of large silver wings on either side, used for self-righting, as well as a pair of hinged front forks enabling it to get underneath and push opponents around. In addition to its potent weaponry, Griffin was also able to spin on the spot at high speed, with the intention of hitting nearby opponents with the wings. However, its lack of armour left its weapon mechanism vulnerable to damage from side-on attacks, as demonstrated in its only battle, and the robot was generally top-heavy.

### Griffin Mk II (This is Fighting Robots)

A completely new version of Griffin, **Griffin Mk II**, was built for *This is Fighting Robots*, sporting a predominantly gold, dark brown and gray color scheme. This incarnation was larger and adopted a four-wheel drive system to resolve control issues found in the original robot.

A new hydraulically-powered weapon system was implemented, which could be adapted to use a variety of interchangeable crusher and lifter configurations in tandem with a pair of static serrated forks. Among the attachments available included a crushing jaw - used in its preliminary fight - and an angled wedge. These could allow Griffin Mk II to simultaneously clamp, lift and hold other robots in the air. Griffin Mk II's weapon mechanism also incorporated a pair of claw-shaped bars at the rear, which would raise and lower in tandem with the lifter/crusher for an as-yet unspecified purpose.

## Robot History

### King of Bots (Season 1)

"*I knew [Juzi] were a massive bar spinner, so I thought if I could get in quickly, I could just stop them spinning.*"
— Tom Lloyd explains his tactics against Juzi

Griffin appeared in Episode 3, where it fought Chinese bar spinner Juzi in the first round. In the opening seconds, it turned away from its opponent and drove behind the flame jets, before reversing, turning and attempting to position itself for an attack on Juzi. In doing so, Griffin inadvertently exposed its side to Juzi, resulting in the latter’s spinner damaging the hydraulic mechanism for its crusher and disabling the weapon. The two competitors immediately separated, with Griffin pursuing and luring Juzi across the arena; eventually, it waited beside the far corner, before slamming head-on into Juzi. Griffin followed this up with a second head-on charge, but struggled for traction as it kept spinning over various arena hazards, seemingly unable to drive in a straight line. It stopped beside the floor rods, allowing Juzi to drive into its front and tear one of its forks off its hinges.

As before, Griffin pursued Juzi once the latter’s weapon stopped spinning, repeatedly bumping it in the process, but without being able to grab hold of it as a result of its beak being disabled. Eventually, it started spinning on the spot between the circular saws and flame jets, and continued to do so for the remainder of the battle as it tried to grab Juzi again. Time ran out, with the battle going to a Judges’ decision as a result of both robots remaining mobile. The decision went against Griffin, eliminating it from the competition; nevertheless, both teams congratulated, shook hands and hugged each other immediately after Ling Zhou announced the decision.

"*The thing was wheel spinning and sliding all over the place! The shock of one of the first blows sheared the bolts mounting the weapon motor to the pump killing the weapon! We did get one chance to bite down but it was dead! Going 4wd for the upgrades to sort the control issues.*"
— Tom Lloyd on Reddit

In addition to the main competition, Griffin also fought in the nine-robot Rumble, shown during the final episode of Season 1. There, it competed alongside Blue, Crossfire, Dark Knight, Ink Thorns, Nuclear Bomb, Steel Dragon, The Grubs and Violent Dragon. Immediately, Griffin twitched, turning towards Ink Thorns and the spikes – moments later, it attempted to grab Blue from the rear, before proceeding to spin round close to Crossfire and push the wildly-spinning Scottish machine across the arena. As it did so, Griffin was attacked from the side by Steel Dragon, albeit without sustaining damage, and eventually ended up near the arena spikes. Seconds later, it drove away from Crossfire and charged at Dark Knight; in doing so, Griffin was turned onto its side by the black and gold robot’s wedge, and was left unable to self-right using its wings. As a result, it was eliminated from the Rumble, which was won by Nuclear Bomb; however, in an ironic twist of fate, Dark Knight would also lose the battle after getting thrown onto one of Griffin’s wings by a floor flipper.

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

Griffin Mk II was not initially selected by the celebrity team managers in *This is Fighting Robots*, and so was required to fight in a preliminary group battle to impress them. There, it fought fellow Team Tomco entry Lieutenant Bam, as well as fellow *King of Bots* returnee Unlimited Numbers and Indian competitor Yesaji. Highlights of the battle were shown as part of Episode 2 - in the opening seconds, Griffin Mk II initially drove towards Yesaji, but avoided the action as Yesaji got underneath and sandwiched Unlimited Numbers against Lieutenant Bam. Later on, it clamped and pushed Unlimited Numbers into one of the spinning mace mounts, the impact briefly throwing both robots off the arena floor. This attack impressed Zhang Yishan, who promptly selected Griffin Mk II to become part of the Blue team. Griffin Mk II continued to push, drag and lift Unlimited Numbers as the battle progressed, having secured its place in the main competition in the process.

Representing the Blue team, Griffin Mk II fought the American Blue, and fellow British entries Bonfire and Ninja, in the first round of the Freestyle Combat stage. Upon the fight starting, it immediately challenged Blue, avoiding attacks from Bots FC's Mecanum-wheeled axe bot, also taking a light blow from Ninja. Griffin Mk II then pushed Bonfire into the arena saws sideways, then gripped its weapon, but this brought Griffin Mk II's wheels from the floor, allowing it to be dragged by Bonfire, and Ninja landed an overhead hit on Griffin Mk II, following this up with a lighter blow. Edited out of the main broadcast, Griffin Mk II was slammed into the wall by Bonfire. Griffin Mk II then concentrated on battling Ninja, but abandoned this duel to slam into the back of Bonfire, which had been immobilized by Blue.

Once Blue drove away, Griffin Mk II came in to hold it in place, collaborating with Ninja to push it into the corner of the arena. However, Griffin Mk II drove under a hammer on the wall, which struck the top of Griffin Mk II's weapon assembly and caused it to flex inwards. Although Griffin Mk II quickly maneuvered away, an internal fire developed which disabled its drive on the left-hand side. Griffin Mk II's movements were severely hampered from that point on; though still able to drive on its remaining wheels until the end of the melee, it was declared to have been knocked out onscreen the moment it became partially immobilized.

At the conclusion of the first round, Griffin Mk II was one of two robots to be eliminated from Zhang Yishan's team, along with Australian entry Fango, as a result of them finishing third in the Freestyle points standings. As a result, its participation in *This is Fighting Robots* came to an early end.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 3

*NOTE: Griffin Mk II's group battle in This is Fighting Robots is not considered to be a win or a loss.*

## Outside King of Bots

In the same year that they entered *King of Bots*, Team Tomco competed in Series 10 of the UK TV show *Robot Wars* with **Bucky the Robot**, a tall, two-wheel driven robot inspired by chattering teeth. Armed with a pneumatic clamping jaw, Bucky the Robot was eliminated in the first round after losing its Group Battle to Rapid and Robot Redemption battle to Vulture respectively. Like Griffin, Bucky the Robot also had its own mascot, depicting a large tooth, which interacted with other roboteers and *Robot Wars* personalities throughout the robot's appearances.

Tom Lloyd also competed in the web-series *Bugglebots* with a beetleweight drum spinner, **Flick**. In its first battle, Flick was able to tear apart the armour of Snippers McGee, and throw it into the pit. Advancing into the second round, Flick was outfitted with extra armour which had been designed to resist undercutting spinners, and faced the undercutter of Rev 2. However, Flick's extra defence was shattered instantly, and its drum immediately came loose from the robot. The battle was eventually halted to avoid Flick's loose lithium polymer battery from being struck, and Flick was eliminated.

* Jasper
* Jasper at *BattleBots* in 2019
* Team Tomco at *BattleBots* in 2019
* Tom Lloyd at *BattleBots* in 2019
1/4
Team Tomco later competed in the 2019 season of *BattleBots* with the hammer-wielding **Jasper**. In its first battle, it fought Tantrum and Uppercut in a three-way melee, but Jasper lost the fight to Tantrum and the battle was not televised. Instead, Jasper's first televised battle was a head-to-head against HUGE, where Jasper removed its hammer head in an attempt to use the weapon as a lifter, but Jasper was promptly immobilised in battle.

## Trivia

* In *King of Bots* Season 1, Griffin was present in Jet Li's intro for the first episode, joined by another heavyweight built by Team Tomco. Named **Lionbot**, the latter featured a similar overhead jaw weapon to Bucky the Robot, but with a more solid wedge-shaped design themed around the head of a lion.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/robotwars/comments/7s7jti/king\_of\_bots\_episode\_3\_official/dt2we6z/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/BuckyTheRobot/status/1001091384449880066

## External Links

* Griffin on the official *King of Bots* website (Chinese, archived)
* BuckytheRobot Twitter