The Hounds

**The Hounds** (Chinese: **沙尘裂变**, romanized as **Shā chén lièbiàn**, directly translated to **Dust Fission**) was a British multibot which competed in *King of Bots II*. It was a joint effort between Ellis Ware and Andy Hibberd, employees of RPD International who had separately competed in Season 1.5 with their own robots, Sandstorm and Formula, respectively. It joined Zhu Zheng Ting's team in Episode 7, and represented him well, defeating Yesaji and Warrior in consecutive knockouts to win the Attrition War on his behalf. However, these would prove to be the only battles The Hounds participated in, as it would not be drawn to fight again until Zhu Zheng Ting's entire team was eliminated at once, in fourth place.

## Design

* Official shot of The Hounds
* The yellow "Hound"
* Ellis Ware with The Hounds
* The Hounds on their table
* Front view of The Hounds
* The Hounds backstage
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The Hounds is a multibot consisting of two near-identical invertible robots driven by four wheels each, and armed with drum spinners. One of part of the robot is painted in yellow while the other half is painted blue. These large wheels were intended to not only give the robots high speed and grip in combination with their powerful brushless drive system, but also provide The Hounds with strong side armor, taking up the entire width of each robot's sides.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

The Hounds debuted in Episode 7 as a 'challenger', joining the competition at this late stage. Ellis Ware pitched the design of his machines to six celebrity captains, with five of them able to spare a space for The Hounds on their rosters. All five available celebrities offered to recruit The Hounds, leaving Ellis Ware with a free choice of which team to join. He elected to join Zhu Zheng Ting's team for the remainder of the competition, as its strong roster of robots (including Black Rabbit, Snake, Switch, Tánshè and Two BBQ) made this the smartest choice in Ellis Ware's view.

The Hounds would first represent Zhu Zheng Ting, alongside temporary allies Huang Jian Xiang and Di Yang, in the 'Attrition War', where The Hounds was the fourth robot to enter the arena on behalf of the three celebrity captains. Already at an advantage overall, The Hounds fought against Yesaji, which lacked the use of its vertical spinner after taking damage in its previous victory only minutes prior.

"*The Indian team is already damaged from its previous round, so I'm going into this with The Hounds pretty confident.*"
— Ellis Ware

As a result of its previous fight, Yesaji was competing without the use of its spinner, and also appeared to struggle moving in the opening stages, which allowed The Hounds to power up their drums. Yesaji attempted to push both multibots, scraping across their drums, but managed to push the yellow Hound into the wall twice. Yesaji then attempted to trap the yellow Hound in the corner, but hit the wall itself, and the blue Hound closed in to hit the wedge of Yesaji, throwing itself over in the process. Yesaji edged the yellow Hound back, maintaining a steady lead, while the blue Hound self-righted using its gyroscopic forces.

The yellow Hound was then fed to the Grinder by Yesaji, and the blue Hound followed this up with friendly fire on its teammate, also throwing itself over once again. This allowed Yesaji to drive the yellow Hound into the corner, but the blue Hound caught it by surprise, and hit it straight from behind. Yesaji was thrown directly onto its front, atop the yellow Hound. While the trapped half of The Hounds remained in place, the blue Hound celebrated a come-from-behind victory whilst Yesaji was counted out.

"*We knew that we could just beat it cleanly, not cause too much damage. We love those guys, and if the weapon was working, it could have gone a very different way.*"
— Ellis Ware

With The Hounds victorious, Ellis Ware offered to keep his robots in the arena for another fight without carrying out any repairs inbetween matches. Despite its battery life potentially being compromised, The Hounds went directly into a battle with Warrior, to potentially win the Attrition War outright for its team.

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 while The Hounds gyro-danced in celebration. The Hounds therefore secured the overall victory in the Attrition War for Zhu Zheng Ting, Huang Jian Xiang and Di Yang, and escaped the event with two wins and no losses.

Despite this strong performance, this ended up being the only event The Hounds competed in. After Zhu Zheng Ting's team picked up five consecutive losses in the following rounds, he was unable to continue and as a result, all of his remaining robots, including The Hounds, were automatically eliminated.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 0

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Zhu Zheng Ting's team**(2-0 record)

## Outside King of Bots

Ellis Ware and Andy Hibberd both have an extensive history in robotic combat outside of *King of Bots*. For more information on Ellis Ware's excursions, see Sandstorm, or Team Ranglebots on the Robot Wars Wiki. For more information on Andy Hibberd's excursions, see Formula.

## Trivia

* The Hounds was the only equally weighted multibot to compete in Season 2.