Thunder Child

* S2
* S1

**Thunder Child** was a robot from the United States that competed in the UK vs the Rest of the World special, as well as several whiteboard matches in the first series of Bugglebots.

The robot was not originally going to participate in the first series. Team Doom needed a third team member and asked Nate Franklin, who would bring his robot for whiteboard matches, to come along.

Thunder Child almost ended up replacing Captain Doom, when the rest of the team lost their luggage after arriving in the UK.

In the second series of Bugglebots, Thunder Child was accepted into the main competition as one of two robots representing the United States.

## Design

Thunder Child is based on the now-defunct 'Trilobite' robot kit, modified with a range of different defensive configurations and adapted to meet UK safety requirements.

The robot features a fast and powerful 4WD setup, utilising foam tyres to minimise the effect of damage to the wheels. It can be configured with a shallow wedge or two sets of long forks to suit different opponents.

## Robot History

### Bugglebots Season 1 UK vs the World

#### Thunder Child vs Drizzle

The fight immediately started with Thunder Child charging into Drizzle, causing the vertical spinner to faceplant. Thunder Child spent the rest of the fight trying to get Drizzle into the pit, before eventually pitting it.

### Bugglebots Season 1 Whiteboards

#### Thunder Child vs Maximum Ogredrive vs Nightingale

(This fight was originally intendined to be a 1v1 between two bots with overhead saws, team captain Nate Franklin asked to join in, and Thunder Child was allowed to enter the saw melee)

The fight began with both sawbots ganging up on Thunder Child, who was scooped up by both bots on each side and suffered cosmetic damage from its opponents' saws. Thunder Child escaped and began to push around Maximum Ogredrive, while Nightingale was temporarily stuck on the closed pit. Maximum Ogredrive began to attack Nightingale, as Thunder Child started slamming into them. Eventually Nightingale was pushed next to the pit by Maximum Ogredrive, immediately followed up by Thunder Child pushing both of them into the pit at once, resulting in a double KO.

#### Boss Battle: vs Crabsolutely Clawful

At the beginning, Crabsolutely Clawful lost its top and Sir Lance-a-frog was knocked out by a hit by Drizzle. Thunder Child was grabbed by Crabsolutely Clawful several times but managed to escape. Crabsolutely Clawful dispatched Snippers McGee, Zero Gravitas and Drizzle to the pit, leaving only Thunder Child and Anxt left. Thunder Child slammed into Crabsolutely Clawful several times, even managing to push it at certain points. As Crabsolutely Clawful pushed Anxt into the pit, Thunder Child rammed the large featherweight from behind but couldn't get it into the pit. Thunder Child was eventually pushed into the pit as well but was the last beetleweight to survive.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 6
* Losses: 2

*Note: Whiteboard matches are not counted in the win/loss ratio*

## Outside Bugglebots

Thunder Child has competed and placed in various beetleweight events across the state of Pennsylvania in the United States since early 2013. Bugglebots was its first event outside of Pennsylvania.

## Trivia

* Thunder Child was named after the fictional ironclad warship from H.G. Wells' book *The War of the Worlds*.
* First competing in 2013, Thunder Child is the oldest bot to have ever competed in Bugglebots.