Warrior

*For the unrelated robot of the same name from This is Fighting Robots, see Warrior (This is Fighting Robots)*

**Warrior** (Chinese: **战神**, romanized as **Zanshén**, translating to **Mars**) was a British robot which fought in *King of Bots II* as one of the international entries introduced later into the competition, joining Emma Dumont's team. Its design was based upon other axe-wielding robots that team captain Jason Marston has entered into televised competitions with great success, such as Thor and AU Thumper. It was unsuccessful in its first battle, with a loss against The Hounds causing Emma Dumont's team to lose the round. Warrior also lost to Dragon King due to its axe not receiving transmission, but nevertheless advanced to the final tournament. There, Warrior opened up the Final Attrition War in a two-minute bout with Deep-Sea Shark, but narrowly lost a close Judges' decision which ultimately set up the opposing team's series victory.

## Design

Warrior was a natural advancement of the design Jason Marston had refined over his experience as a roboteer, competing with Thor. Using a similar red color-scheme mixed with gold, and a powerful overhead weapon system which also provided an effective self-righting mechanism, Warrior boasted a high top speed and a set of interchangeable wedges, including the "world's longest" wedgelet for battling drum spinners. The robot's axe could use either bladed or spiked heads. However, Warrior's removable link (a safety feature used by all British machines) proved to be particularly vulnerable in battle, and the robot also suffered gremlins with its axe and drive system in other battles.

### Etymology

Similar to the naming convention applied to Thor, Warrior's translated Chinese name (**Mars**) likely alludes to the Roman god of war of the same name.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Warrior debuted in *King of Bots II* several episodes into the series, appearing in Episode 7 as an international representative from the United Kingdom. As a 'challenger', Jason Marston was able to pitch Warrior to the six celebrity captains at this late stage of the competition, and this impressed Emma Dumont, prompting her to select Warrior for her team, much to the delight of Jason Marston who was already hoping to join this particular team.

Warrior first fought in Episode 8, where it was the sixth and final robot to represent Emma Dumont (alongside Tu Ziya and Tao Shen) in the six-on-six 'Attrition Battle'. Warrior needed to defeat The Hounds to keep the team's hopes alive.

Equipped with its spiked axe, Warrior sped out of the gates and rammed into the yellow Hound, although it missed its axe swing, allowing the blue Hound to crash into Warrior's front wedge, throwing sparks and loosening the armor. Warrior quickly retaliated and hit the top of the blue Hound with its axe. Warrior then delivered another axe blow to the Blue Hound, with the yellow Hound passing underneath Warrior around the same time. Warrior then pushed the yellow Hound into the Grinder, casting it into the air - however, Warrior's removable link fell out of the machine during this attack. Warrior landed inverted and was unable to self-right, leaving it to be counted out.

"*I'm a little disappointed with the first performance of Warrior. We got turned upside-down, and the removable link which turns the robot on and off... came out. It should've gone better.*"
— Jason Marston

Warrior's loss resulted in Emma Dumont and her allies losing the Attrition War. This put Warrior's place in the competition in jeopardy, although after Emma Dumont suddenly resigned as the team manager and left the series, Yi Hong Le (driver of Drift) became the new manager, and eliminated Storm Cut instead. Warrior advanced to its next head-to-head, against Dragon King.

"*Warrior against Dragon King, should be, a really easy win for Warrior.*"
— Jason Marston

Both robots drifted around the arena in the opening stages, trying to find an opening, until eventually it was Warrior that drove into one of Dragon King's tread pods with a slam. Dragon King drove away, but only a few moments into the battle, one of its tread pods seized, leaving it with only half of its drive capabilities in the early stages of the bout. Warrior then backed Dragon King into the wall, but was similarly hindered in that its weapon could not fire, and Dragon King brought down one of its saws to grind away at Warrior's front wedge, with the head of Dragon King also initiating a grip on Warrior which it would not release for a long while. Dragon King drove Warrior back, cutting into its front wedgelets gradually, while sustaining no attacks in response, giving Dragon King no reason to release its prey, especially as Jerome Miles had realised that Dragon King's broken drive pod had started working again.

Warrior was finally able to mount a response, and drove Dragon King into the Grinder, causing it to tilt its drive pods in an effort to regain composure, and also briefly disabled half of Dragon King's drive again. Warrior continued to attack, ramming Dragon King into the corner of the arena, overturning it completely. Dragon King's saws also connected with the arena wall during this attack, throwing sparks. Warrior persisted whilst Dragon King was inverted, and pinned it back into the same corner. Dragon King could not escape due to its broken drive pod, but similarly Warrior could not capitalize without its axe, and instead just pressed Dragon King back into the wall lightly, while Dragon King contorted its pods to try and slip away. After turning itself over, Dragon King managed to slot its jaw under Warrior's wedge, and regained the use of its drive pod so that it could grab Warrior and drive it across the arena.

Initially, Dragon King could gain little purchase on Warrior, and was driven back into the arena Grinder by the British machine, but did throw some sparks off Warrior. It seemed that Warrior boasted more pushing power, and it pushed Dragon King across the arena from within its own grip, visibly causing Dragon King's saws to wobble from the force of the slam. Although Dragon King rode its saws along the surface of Warrior, it was Warrior that simply pushed Dragon King back into the Grinder. Dragon King had forcibly released here, but did catch up to directly catch the side of Warrior with its cutting blades, and swung it over the arena saws. Warrior lined up a charge on Dragon King, but completely missed, and slammed into the Grinder. Warrior had collided with such force that it was overturned, and without the use of its axe, it could not self-right. Because of this, Warrior lost to Dragon King by knockout.

"*The battle with Dragon King didn't go according to plan. The main reason that I lost was the main transmitter that's used to control the robot... broke, so the axe just didn't work when we got into the battle. Very disappointed, I really wanted to do much better than I did.*"
— Jason Marston

Nevertheless, Warrior advanced to the Final Attrition War for the chance to earn a joint *King of Bots* victory for its team. Warrior was the first robot to represent Ye Hong Li in the competition, and fought against Deep-Sea Shark of Huang Jian Xiang's team. Warrior entered the arena with its anti-drum wedge, as preparation for Xiake, which would be Warrior's next opponent if it won this fight.

Warrior initially moved towards Deep-Sea Shark, but backed away after seeing that the Chinese spinner had already reached top speeds. As Deep-Sea Shark moved forwards, Warrior lined up its attack and swung its axe, but barely missed the back end of Deep-Sea Shark, throwing only a few sparks from what may have been a glancing blow. This swing seemed to have a noticeable impact on Warrior, as it was now leaning to one side on further approaches, suggesting difficulties with its right-hand side of drive. Deep-Sea Shark knocked it aside, and took advantage of Warrior's limited mobility by hitting the back end of the British machine, and Warrior simply drifted into a Grinder.

"*Let him come to you. Don't turn your back.*"
— Grant Cooper to Jason Marston

Warrior turned its lengthy wedge into Deep-Sea Shark, and then fed it directly under the spinning blade, allowing Warrior to take a shot with its axe, and scraped the front of Deep-Sea Shark with a second attack, but still largely failed to hit critical areas of its opponent. Deep-Sea Shark was aware of Warrior's hindered mobility, and fled across the arena to force an approach from Warrior while also charging up its own spinning blade. Warrior was able to coast in the direction of Deep-Sea Shark, but the latter delivered a hit straight to Warrior's front end, at the cost of all spinning momentum it had built up.

"*Keep it slow and steady, keep your front pointed at him.*"
— Grant Cooper to Jason Marston

After reaching a reasonable spinning speed, Deep-Sea Shark once again hit Warrior's large wedgelet, but again sacrificed its momentum and was forced to run away and spin back up to speed once more, although Warrior was largely unable to stop it due to its hindered drive. Deep-Sea Shark's next attack was a frontal hit on Warrior, which also baited an axe swing out of Warrior that missed its mark. After landing a light side-on hit, Deep-Sea Shark then carried out the most crucial attack of the match, throwing Warrior onto its back with a notable spinner hit. Warrior self-righted using its axe, but Deep-Sea Shark barged it back, and Warrior missed another axe blow, knocking it under an arena hammer where Warrior's exposed back end was momentarily vulnerable. However, Warrior finally landed its first direct blow of the match, and followed this up by moving Deep-Sea Shark into the corner to land a number of blows, with pieces flying through the air as a result. Deep-Sea Shark made its escape, and spent the final ten seconds passively, only landing a light slam at the very end.

The two-minute battle proved to be very close, and the Judges were required to determine who had earned the upper hand in the Attrition War. The Judges voted in favour of Deep-Sea Shark, resulting in a third consecutive loss for Warrior, and an initial deficit for Ye Hong Li's team. Ultimately, Huang Jian Xiang's team went on to win the Attrition War, and Warrior finished second with the rest of its team.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 3

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Ye Hong Li's team, joint runners-up**(0-3 record)

## Outside King of Bots

Warrior was built by Jason Marston, who has competed with an axe-wielding robot named **Thor** since 2002. This section will briefly detail its televised appearances, but for more information on its *Robot Wars* campaigns and live event appearances, see the Thor article of the Robot Wars Wiki.

* Thor in *Robot Wars* Series 6
* Thor in *Robot Wars Extreme* 2
* Thor in *Robot Wars* Series 7
1/3
Thor debuted in Series 6 of *Robot Wars*, wielding a traditional hammer and horizontal pincers. In its first-round melee, it qualified alongside Anarchy in a Judges' decision over Judge Shred 2½ and Revolution 2, but lost to the eventual champion Tornado in the second round. Thor then competed in the New Blood Championship during Series 2 of *Robot Wars Extreme*, a competition for newcomers and Series 6 debutants, and won its heat by defeating Night Raider, Chip and Edge Hog in three consecutive fights. In the Grand Final, Thor lost to Storm II, but won the third place play-off against Cedric Slammer. Thor used a more wedge-like design in Series 7, and escaped its opening melee alongside Gravity over Hodaf the Bad and Hydra, but lost its Heat semi-final to Lightning.

* Thor in 2005
* Thor in 2006
* Thor in 2012
* Thor in *Robot Wars* Series 8
1/4
Thor underwent a significant rebuild in 2005, changing its hammer for a more conventional axe, and was rebuilt again in 2006, and after a three-year break, Thor experienced a lot of success on the British live circuit, including a second-place finish at the 2015 Robot Wars World Championship. The updated Thor returned to televised *Robot Wars* in 2016, twelve years since the previous series. Thor went into its Series 8 heat as the favourite to win, and qualified alongside Shockwave in its Group Battle against Tough as Nails and DisConstructor. Thor then went on an undefeated run in the second round, with three back-to-back wins against M.R. Speed Squared, Shockwave and Foxic, but suffered a shock defeat in its Heat Final, losing to Shockwave in the third encounter between the two. Nevertheless, Thor was awarded the sole wildcard position in the Grand Final, and advanced over Pulsar in its Group Battle there. Thor was ultimately relegated to fourth place in the Series 8 after losing three battles back-to-back against Carbide, TR2 and Apollo.

* Thor in *Robot Wars* Series 9
* Thor S10.jpgThor in *Robot Wars* Series 10
* Thor in *Robot Wars: World Series*
* Thor in July 2019
1/4
Thor was updated again for Series 9, using a flatter design more resistant to spinners, and qualified through its Group Battle at the expense of Tauron and Chimera2, but lost its next battle in a shock turnaround from newcomer Concussion. Thor still qualified for the Heat Final after defeating M.R. Speed Squared and Heavy Metal, but lost to Concussion once again and did not reach the Grand Final. This version of Thor returned for Series 10, and won its Group Battle over Coyote and Expulsion outright, then reached the Heat Final after a second win against Coyote, but was stopped by the successor to Pulsar, Magnetar. Thor participated in the 10 Robot Rumble for a place in the Grand Final, but drove into the pit while pushing Big Nipper. Thor did, however, represent the United Kingdom in *Robot Wars: World Series*, where it was initially victorious in its Tag Team battle against Terror Turtle and Cathadh, but was forfeited its points due to its teammate Concussion immobilizing Cathadh illegally. Thor would still collect two points for its victorious team by defeating Tough as Nails in its final *Robot Wars* appearance. Thor would also be rebuilt after this televised appearance, making appearances on the British live circuit ever since.

In the Chinese TV show *Clash Bots*, Jason Marston collaborated with Tim Rackley to build **AU Thumper**, a golden robot armed with a steep wedge and an electrically powered axe with square blade, capitalising on Marston's speciality. In its first battle, it fought Spicy Newt, an invertible drum spinner from America, and consistently resisted the spinning weapon to control the pace of the battle. In the second round, it fought the Chinese vertical spinner Toxic Fangs, and lost its hammer head after a direct blow from the spinner, but overturned Toxic Fangs with a direct ram, and battered the underside of its opponent with the headless axe for the remainder of the match. AU Thumper comfortably won the Judges' decision, and also earned the confidence of presenter Angelababy, who chose AU Thumper to represent her in a three-way battle aside from the main competition. There, AU Thumper fought the Indian **Eggbeater** and the Chinese **Brain Storm**, where a strong blow from Eggbeater threw AU Thumper over, and it lost the ability to self-right. AU Thumper lost, billowing smoke, while Brain Storm won the battle. AU Thumper also collaborated with Egg Beast alongside **Atomic Bomb** to destroy a structure while avoiding House Robot-like machines, Crocodile and Dominator. Although the axe of AU Thumper did not work, Eggbeater lost the use of its weapon, and Atomic Bomb also broke down, AU Thumper still destroyed the structure and earned a victory. AU Thumper then fought **Fire Kylin** in the main competition, and repeatedly axed it for the opening minute of the battle, but suddenly lost its axe from the fatigue of its repeated strikes. Regardless, AU Thumper had done enough to win the Judges' decision, and AU Thumper defeated a fellow electric axe, **Battle Ax**, on another Judges' decision after overturning it twice and stranding it on the Grinder. On a team with the Brazilian **Dark Wolf**, AU Thumper challenged Sparta and Smasher, driven by John Findlay and Peter Redmond. After Dark Wolf immobilised Sparta, AU Thumper buried its axe into the wheel housing of Smasher and did not let go, dragging it around the arena. This allowed the vertical spinner of Dark Wolf to strike the back of Smasher and set its lithium polymer batteries ablaze, awarding a knockout win to AU Thumper and Dark Wolf. It also fought in a three-on-three battle with the objective of destroying the opposing team's tower, and after buffeting Dark Wolf over, AU Thumper successfully disabled the tower, winning the battle. AU Thumper fought Dark Wolf again in a three-way melee which also contained **Soul Reaper**, and was initially thrown over by the Brazilian vertical spinner of Dark Wolf, but won the battle after Dark Wolf was flipped over by the arena saws, awarding AU Thumper more points in the Judges' decision than Soul Reaper, advancing AU Thumper to the top four. Prior to the Top 4, AU Thumper was required to face Soul Reaper again to see if the latter could claim the final place in the Top 4, but AU Thumper comfortably won the battle by knockout. Under the same circumstances, both robots fought again, and AU Thumper won even more quickly, pinning Soul Reaper on the arena hazards. In the semi-final, AU Thumper fought Toxic Fangs and landed various hits that were edited out of the televised broadcast, but it was ultimately immobilised and eliminated by the vertical spinners. However, AU Thumper was able to claim third place in *Clash Bots* after defeating Spicy Newt once again in the third place playoff, pinning the weaponless machine on the arena grinder. In addition to third place in the tournament, Jason Marston was presented with the Best Driver Award.

## Trivia

* Warrior is the second robot from a team who achieved a podium finish in the Chinese TV show *Clash Bots* to compete in *King of Bots II*, after Po Feng.
* Of the runners-up in *King of Bots II*, Warrior was the only machine on Ye Hong Li's team to not collect a single victory during the tournament. Warrior was also one of two robots to compete in the Final Attrition War without winning a battle in the competition, alongside Shrederator Tiger Claw.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Thorrobotwars/status/1129617314058346496