Wrecker

**Wrecker** was a North American heavyweight robot which competed in the 2018 series *This is Fighting Robots*.

Built by Team Nightmare - famous for their *BattleBots* competitor Nightmare - it debuted in Episode 7 as one of the 'Challenger' robots fighting to take the place of an existing competitor. However, Wrecker lost its only competition battle to Ninja on a Judges' decision, and was also immobilized during the Eight-robot Rumble won by Polar Opposite, after being selected by Wu Chun as the latter's co-representative.

## Design

Wrecker was a repurposed version of Team Nightmare's four-wheel drive lifter Breaker Box, itself a competitor at *RoboGames* and later *BattleBots* events. As such, it adopted an invertible box-shaped design and a 360-degree lifting mechanism, fitted with a variety of interchangeable weapons including a large spiked scoop.

As Team Nightmare adopted a steampunk theme for their entry into *This is Fighting Robots*, Wrecker was similarly decorated to reflect this. Rivet, rust and gearwheel detailing was added over a dark brown, red and black paint scheme, the latter giving the impression that its main drive system was externally-powered. The top panel was also decorated to resemble a large grille intake with bright silver inserts. However, this appearance was only seen in turntable footage used for Wrecker's introduction along with battle and statistic board graphics. In battle, the robot adopted a black and red paint scheme with smaller gear patterns on the side panels; by the time of the eight-robot Rumble, the center panel was replaced by one doubling as an LED light display.

Though not intended to cause high levels of damage, Wrecker was heavily armored and accompanied by a wedge-shaped flame-throwing minibot named **Hacker**, itself equipped with an on-board camera.

## Robot History

### This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)

As a 'challenger', Wrecker impressed all four team managers, who wanted to add Wrecker to their teams. Jim Smentowski chose to join Sa Beining's team out of the four, and fought fellow member of the Yellow team Ninja in order to take its place. For this battle, it used its traditional curved scoop.

Both robots came together, and Wrecker boasted the lower ground clearance, but lost grip on Ninja. Similarly, when Ninja slammed straight into the front of Wrecker, it was buffeted into the air, while Wrecker's minibot threw flames. Wrecker was being edged towards the arena corner, and Ninja still could not breach its scoop, and Wrecker threw it backwards, but not over. Wrecker held its ground in the center of the arena, and flipped itself over, but this allowed Ninja to drive straight under it, toppling the American machine. Ninja then sought out the back end of Wrecker, causing the American machine to flip itself over, and fire its scoop as though it were an axe, on the wedge of Ninja. Despite this, Ninja continued to push Wrecker back, towards the Grinder, and then landed the first blow of its weapon, straight onto the top surface of Wrecker. Afterwards, Ninja wedged under the back of Wrecker and landed a second overhead blow.

"*As soon as we started to hit them on top, we noticed that he just keeps going, keep going, keep moving away*"
— Paul Streeter of Ninja's team, on Wrecker's driving

Ninja again wedged under the back of Wrecker, although its tyre caught the scoop of Wrecker, and Ninja was momentarily lifted. Wrecker's minibot was now incapable of throwing fire, and could not leave its location in the center of the arena. Ninja drove the disadvantaged Wrecker towards the Grinder, and landed another hit. In the final ten seconds, Ninja used its wedge to stay under Wrecker, hitting it once again, impressing Zheng Shuang. Time expired on the match, and Ninja was declared to be the winner. As a result, Wrecker was not added to Sa Beining's team, and left after only one battle.

"*I think I lost the fight because my driving was terrible. Ninja had control during the whole fight, and I did not. I knew that I had not lived up to my expectations during that fight.*"
— Jim Smentowski

Wrecker then got another chance to enter the competition though, as it was selected for the Eight-robot Rumble as a representative of Wu Chun's Red team. There, it fought Anchor and Shield, Golden Hoops, Lieutenant Bam, Megabyte, fellow Red team representative Polar Opposite, Spear and Shield, Spectre, and Two BBQ. The fight started with Wrecker pushing its own mini-bot around for a bit before making a charge towards Spectre. However, Wrecker failed to get underneath it and was subsequently pushed around for a few seconds. This turned out to be Wrecker's only major contribution to the rumble, as it was subsequently unable to land any other meaningful attacks after this. Eventually, it was targeted by Two BBQ, whose blade sent it flying into the air and making it to land on top of Megabyte, who also sent Wrecker reeling away. The force of the two hits was enough to immobilize and eliminate Wrecker via knockout, costing Team Nightmare's machine its second chance to win a battle.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 2

## Outside King of Bots

Wrecker competed regularly at live events in America under the name **Breaker Box**. It entered events such as *ComBots Cup V* and *RoboGames 2011*, with great success.

Before competing on *This is Fighting Robots*, Team Nightmare had competed in all seven seasons of *BattleBots*, only missing the eighth series due to filming clashes with *This is Fighting Robots*. In Season 1.0, Nightmare received a bye before losing its only head-to-head battle against Mauler. In Season 2.0, Nightmare received automatic entry to the Round of 32, then defeated Surgeon General and Mortis in two straight battles before losing to the eventual champion BioHazard inside the top eight. Receiving another pass to the Round of 32 in Season 3.0, Nightmare shattered Slam Job into pieces and progressed on a Judges' decision, before losing to the eventual champion Son of Whyachi in the Round of 16. In Season 4.0, Nightmare defeated Junkyard Offspring and BattleRat to reach the Top 8, where it once again lost to BioHazard. However in Season 5.0, Nightmare lost its only head-to-head battle to Warhead, and although Nightmare competed in a rumble, it damaged the ceiling of the arena and also lost the battle. In ABC's first season of *BattleBots*, Nightmare lost its competition battle to Warrior Clan, but won a rumble against Witch Doctor and Overhaul. Nightmare was more successful in ABC's second season, where despite an initial loss to Stinger, it received a wildcard into the next round and defeated Icewave to reach the Round of 16. There, Nightmare dominated the battle against Beta, but was flipped over in the dying seconds of the match, and was eliminated here. Nightmare was also present at the filming of the 2019 season as a static display, in working condition, and received official photos for the season.

Breaker Box made its *BattleBots* debut in the show's 2019 season, following on from its appearance as Wrecker on *This is Fighting Robots*. In its first battle, Breaker Box fought Falcon, and won the fight on a split judges' decision, despite losing mobility at the end of the battle. However it lost mobility much more quickly in its second fight against Uppercut and lost by knockout, also succumbing to Bloodsport in a destructive loss. Breaker Box put on a more impressive performance in its final fight with HyperShock, even turning down a win by KO to free its opponent that was trapped in the floor, but a final breakdown caused Breaker Box to lose by KO in the final five seconds, closing its Fight Night campaign at 1-3.

## External Links

* Team Nightmare Combat Robots Facebook page