Flaming Wheel

*Not to be confused with Season 1 competitor Blazing Hot Wheels which was also referred to as **Hot Wheel***

**风火轮** (**Fēng huǒ lún**, translated as **Flaming Wheel**, **Hot Wheel** or **Hot Wheels**) was a Chinese competitor robot which fought in Season 2 of *King of Bots*. Built by Wang Yu of Team Think Tank, it was the direct successor to Yu’s earlier heavyweights Chinese Aegis and Anchor and Shield.

Flaming Wheel was selected by Huang Jian Xiang to compete in the second episode of the season. There, Flaming Wheel earned a short, but dominant knockout victory over TUZI, causing critical damage to the latter’s wheelhubs in the process. As a result, it succeeded in joining Huang Jian Xiang’s team for later stages of the competition, although it collected its first loss under this captaincy, to the Indian robot Yesaji. Flaming Wheel was then the first robot to represent its team in the Attrition War, defeating Johnny and the Dinosaur before losing to Earth Shovel directly afterwards. Flaming Wheel's final battle saw it lose to Rhino, and as a result, it became the only robot to be cut from Huang Jian Xiang's team ahead of the final tournament.

## Design

In common with other robots from Team Think Tank, Flaming Wheel was equipped with a full-body spinner.The shell featured top and bottom sections with curved tips, each holding large orange teeth which could cause severe damage to opponents at full speed. Flaming Wheel was painted dark orange, white and black, with flame motifs on the top of the shell. Although the robot was powerful, its main weakness was its inability to self-right.

Flaming Wheel had interchangeable shells, with its primary shell being an upright cylinder shape with two large blades surrounding the entire height of the robot's outer rim, while its alternative shell slanted upwards and boasted two lower blades at ground level, like the shell of Megabyte.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Flaming Wheel first appeared in Episode 2 of *King of Bots II*, where it was chosen by Huang Jian Xiang to fight in one of the episode’s head-to-head battles. There, it was drawn against the axlebot TUZI.

The battle began tentatively for both robots, with Flaming Wheel spending several moments weaving near the grinders as it got its shell up to speed. Eventually, it met TUZI at the bottom corner of the arena, hitting one of its opponent’s wheelhubs and sending it flying into a grinder. The attack caused sufficient damage to effectively split TUZI apart; meanwhile, Flaming Wheel ricocheted into a grinder and back across the arena floor. Flaming Wheel proceeded to approach the wall spikes as its shell stopped rotating, at which point it charged at and rammed TUZI towards the blue corner.

From this point onward, Flaming Wheel did not attack TUZI any further as its opponent continued to limp on its damaged wheelhubs. It spun up its shell again just as the referee began counting TUZI out, and retreated to the blue corner once TUZI became fully immobilized. Flaming Wheel bumped into the wall spikes and darted to the center of the arena following TUZI’s count-out, having earned itself its first victory and the final place on Huang Jian Xiang’s team.

Flaming Wheel then became the first of Huang Jian Xiang's robots to fight in the next round, taking on Yesaji of Tu Ziya's team. If Huang Jian Xiang's team lost to Tu Ziya overall across the next three fights, either Flaming Wheel or Thunder would face elimination.

Both robots got their spinning weapons up to speed in the opening seconds, marking the first time in the season that Yesaji's spinner had worked. The two robots collided in the sixth seconds and were sent violently recoiling away in a shower of sparks, with Flamin Wheel throwing into the arena wall. Although Flaming Wheel came off better in the first interaction, this was not the case in the second hit, where Yesaji knocked it across the arena, and into the Grinder.

This hit stopped the momentum of Flaming Wheel's rim spinner, while Yesaji lost the use of its weapon altogether, but Yesaji nevertheless bumped Flaming Wheel into the Grinder which turned it over. Although Flaming Wheel was still spinning at top speed while inverted, it could not turn itself back over, and Yesaji circled around the arena until Flaming Wheel was counted out. As a result, Flaming Wheel lost the battle and could not earn a point for Huang Jian Xiang, although the remaining robots on the same team were ultimately able to win the round for Huang Jian Xiang over Tu Ziya, ensuring Flaming Wheel's survival in the competition.

Flaming Wheel's next appearance was in the Attrition War, as part of Episode 8. Flaming Wheel was the first of up to six robots which would represent the combined alliance of Huang Jian Xiang, Zhu Zheng Ting, and Di Yang. As the first to enter the arena, Flaming Wheel fought against Johnny and the Dinosaur of Tu Ziya's team.

Both robots initially hung back to power up their spinning weapons while being cautious of their opponents, spending the first 20 seconds of the two-minute match without contact. It was eventually Flaming Wheel who landed the first blow, swiping at the side of Johnny and the Dinosaur to knock it into the Grinder and bend up its front stabilizing wedge. With another light contact, Flaming Wheel disabled the bar spinner of Johnny and the Dinosaur, leaving it without any method of offence. Flaming Wheel landed another glazing blow, while Johnny and the Dinosaur tripped over its own broken wedge, driving over it slowly. Flaming Wheel targeted this loose part of Johnny and the Dinosaur, landing multiple glancing blows while attempting to rip it away, until the first minute of the battle had passed.

Flaming Wheel continued to hit the wheels of Johnny and the Dinosaur, causing minimal damage but nevertheless racking up points. Danger briefly struck when the floor flipper tossed Flaming Wheel into the air, also hitting Johnny and the Dinosaur in the process, but Flaming Wheel landed back on its wheels and continued to fight. Johnny and the Dinosaur attempted to mount whatever offence it could, driving over the top of Flaming Wheel, but Flaming Wheel simply exerted more damage on its opponent, finally ripping away the loose wedge. Flaming Wheel continued to churn away at the damaged wheels of Johnny and the Dinosaur, until the final ten seconds of the match, where Flaming Wheel retreated and allowed the battle to reach a Judges' decision. The Judges wasted no time in voting immediately in favor of Flaming Wheel.

Having won the battle against Johnny and the Dinosaur, Wang Yu was asked whether he would be happy to remain in the arena and fight Earth Shovel without carrying out any repairs beforehand. Wang Yu agreed, and Flaming Wheel fought Earth Shovel only minutes after its first victory.

Earth Shovel was quick off the mark, ramming into the spinning shell of Flaming Wheel, although it was knocked aside with its flipper firing automatically. Flaming Wheel hung back to reach maximum spinning speeds, allowing Earth Shovel to charge in, but Earth Shovel again seemingly came off worse, with its front corner being clipped. However, the next blow worked in favour of Earth Shovel, with a charge from Flaming Wheel onto its opponent's wedge knocking it high into the air, where it landed with an almighty crash.

Flaming Wheel was visibly shaken, and backed straight into a Grinder to inflict recoil damage onto itself, which Earth Shovel followed up by ramming it head-on. Earth Shovel guided Flaming Wheel into the corner, where it ripped away an arena spike and hit the hammer hazard, before a head-on drive caused Flaming Wheel to leapfrog over the top of Earth Shovel and land on the other side. Although this initially seemed favorable for Flaming Wheel, an awkward contact with the floor caused one of its collars to pop loose from the top of the robot, which spelled significant danger for the machine.

Flaming Wheel's shell was visibly loose, and the robot took evasive measures until Earth Shovel caught up with a head-on slam, and caused Flaming Wheel's shell to fly off the robot entirely, hitting the arena walls and pinballing across the warzone. With Flaming Shell left with no armor or weaponry, it drove over the wedge of Earth Shovel and used it as a ramp to turn itself over. Pinned on its spinner shaft, Flaming Wheel could not run inverted, and it was counted out, losing the battle by knockout.

Although Flaming Wheel had lost to Earth Shovel, it had already succeeded in giving its team the initial advantage, and the allied team of Huang Jian Xiang, Zhu Zheng Ting, and Di Yang won the Attrition War overall, allowing Flaming Wheel to advance to the next round, where it fought Rhino.

The battle proved to be extremely quick, as Flaming Wheel spun up to a reasonable speed, while Rhino was not spinning its own blade at all, focusing on chasing Flaming Wheel down. Upon contact near the arena wall, Flaming Wheel struck the hardened wedge of Rhino and deflected high into the air, unbalancing while airborne, and landed on one of its weapon teeth. This rough landing caused Flaming Wheel to gyrate over, and onto its back. Rhino was keenly aware that its win by KO had been secured by its hit landed in the first five seconds of the match, and it backed off while the referee counted Flaming Wheel out.

As a result of this loss, Huang Jian Xiang was forced to cut a robot from his team for the first time. In the interest of fairness, he cut Flaming Wheel as a result of its most recent defeat, and Flaming Wheel proved to be his only cut ahead of qualifying for the final tournament.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 3

## Series Record

*NOTE: Wang Guozhe and Wang Yu also competed in the 2019 Opening Battle with the featherweight version of Anchor and Shield.*

## Trivia

* Although the Season 1 competitor Blazing Hot Wheels was at one point known under the name **火焰轮** (Flame Wheel) in Chinese, and the Season 2 entry Flaming Wheel is known as **风火轮** (Hot Wheel or Hot Wheels), both names can essentially be translated to the same name.