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1992
-Marc Thorpe, a 1971 graduate of UC Davis, fools around in his
kitchen attempting to build a radio controlled vaccuum cleaner.
With unexpectedly violent results, he decides that remote-controlled
mayhem is a good thing. He starts to plan a robotic combat event.
|
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1994-Marc
Thorpe creates Robot Wars®,
a competition where, in front of a live audience, home-built
robots will face off against each other within an arena,
which also has it's own surprises. With a month to go to
the event, needing additional funding, he forms a partnership
for financial support with Sm:)e Communications- a record
label out of New York. The first annual Robot Wars® comes
together, with a handful of robotic competitors and about
1000 people attend to witness this first event in San Francisco,
at the Fort Mason Center. * |
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1995-The
second annual Robot Wars® is even bigger and better. New and
better Robots arrive, the event is more organized and attendance
is at full capacity. The event is also held in San Francisco at
the Fort Mason Center. |
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1996-The
third annual Robot Wars®, same location, is huge. 75 Robots
attend this event. Things are going great, or so they seem. The
partnership between Marc Thorpe and the greedy record company
from New York (now Profile Records, owned by Steve Plotnicki)
starts to experience problems. Most of this is behind the scenes,
so nobody really pays much attention. The disagreements between
the partners move quickly into the courtrooms. |
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For
a complete description of the early days of Robot Wars, visit
MarcThorpe.com
|
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1997-The
fourth annual Robot Wars® is nearly cancelled due to the disagreements
between the parnters over ownership rights. With only moments
left, an agreement is finally made and the event takes place at
San Francisco's Fort Mason Center. 74 robots put on a fantastic
show over the weekend. By now, the media, the builders, the fans,
sponsors... are all hungry for more. Everyone seems to be caught
up in the frenzy of Robot Wars! |
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Mid
1997-Without
consent or input from Marc Thorpe, Profile teams up with Mentorn
Broadcasting to produce, film and broadcast a Robot Wars®
TV event overseas in the U.K., using Marc's original ideas and
designs for robotic combat. This series of 6 episodes airs over
6 weeks on BBC2 and is a great success in the U.K. |
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February
1998-While
everyone else is gearing up for Robot Wars 98, Profile Records
issues a court order preventing Marc Thorpe from holding any more
Robot Wars® events. |
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March
1998-Marc
Thorpe releases a letter to the robot
competitors explaining why it's taking so long to get answers
to everyone who want to get into the '98 event. In general, it
outlines how Profile will not allow an event to proceed. |
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May
1998-Carlo
Bertocchini (creator of the robot Biohazard) creates the Robot
Wars® Forum, an online central discussion area for Robot
competitors and enthusiasts. It draws the contestants together
as a group in a centrallized online discussion forum. |
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June
1998-Things
really start to get nasty. Profile attempts to shut
down the Robot Wars® Forum. The legal issues become
a big issue on the Forum. With only a couple months left, competitors
are now convinced that there will simply be no Robot Wars®
1998. However, a previous competitor, Gary Cline, comes forward
to say that he is willing to put on an event if Robot Wars®
does not happen, his event would be an invite-only party, just
for the competitors, no crowd or anyting, just a chance to get
together to show off the robots that everyone has been working
on, and to do what they were designed to do- battle. He titles
the event "Robotica". On June 26th, Gary announces the location
of Robotica to be the Cow Palace in San Francisco, on the same
weekend that the presumably-cancelled Robot Wars® was supposed
to be- August 14-16.
Through
e-mails and disussions on the Robot Wars® Forum, the Society
of Robotic Combat (SORC)
forms as a unified group of robotic competitors. |
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July
1998-Out
of the blue, Mentorn UK (producers of the UK Robot Wars TV show)
announce that they will hold
Robot Wars® in San Francisco the same weekend that Gary Cline's
Robotica was planned. The response to this announcement is less
than stellar in the robot builder community. Soon after, Mentorn
decides to cancel this plan
for a Robot Wars in San Francisco, due to the already very popular
support for Robotica. Meanwhile, filming begins on Mentorn's second
series of Robot Wars UK TV show. |
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August
1998-Robotica
invitations are filled to capacity. A day later, and quite unexpectendly,
Gary Cline is forced to cancel the Robotica event after being
served a court order against
him by Robot Wars' Profile Records. With only about a week before
the scheduled event, the competitors are up-in-arms about this
unbelievable turn of events, anger is focused primarily towards
Profile and Steve Plotnicki for holding things back. |
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August
14, 1998-With
no event to go to, the builders end up using the weekend as a
simple get-together in San Francisco to discuss the whole mess.
A few builders bring their robots just to show off. This meeting
is organized by SORC. Marc Thorpe attends and addresses the group
with an update on the status: Things are not going very well for
Robot Wars vs Thorpe. |
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September
1998 thru January 1999-Legal
battles continue. Profile refuses to budge from their position,
much to the anger of the competitors. No end is in sight. No Robot
Wars® event can happen while the case is tied up in court.
The lawyers are continuing to try to hammer things out.
The
future of Robot Wars® as a whole is in danger. |
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March
5, 1999-
The announcement finally comes on the Robot
Wars® Forum of the end of the court case (Profile vs Thorpe)
regarding the sale of the Robot Wars® Trademark. Profile has
won the rights to Robot Wars. Gary Pini's letter
mentions that Marc Thorpe will still be involved in Robot Wars
in some ways, but does not elaborate. |
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March
9, 1999-
Marc Thorpe releases a statement
on the Robot Wars Forum saying he is supportive of Robot Wars®
'99. |
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March
10, 1999-
Battlebots is announced,
founded by Trey Roski and Greg Munson (former Robot Wars builders
of famous robot LaMachine)! BattleBots is welcomed with open arms
by the robot community, finally a light at the end of the dark
tunnel!! |
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March
12, 1999-
Apparenly on Profile's leash, Marc Thorpe releases yet another
statement on the Robot Wars®
Forum announcing his support of Robot Wars®. |
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March
18, 1999-
Carlo Bertocinni steps down from his position as moderator of
the Robot Wars®
Forum. Dan Danknick and Tony Buchignani step up to fill the
position in negotion with Robot Wars®. |
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April
7, 1999-
The Robot Wars
website comes back online after many months of inactivity, featuring
some streaming video from previous events, and it's own forum
section. Announcements are made that registration is open for
a '99 Robot Wars event. |
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Mid-April,
1999-
The lawsuit against Carlo Bertocchini (concerning the Robot Wars
Forum) is dropped by Profile, Carlo is left with thousands of
dollars in legal fees. A handful of fellow robot builders help
by chipping in some money to help him out. |
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April
27, 1999-
Robot Wars® LLC (aka Profile Records and Steve Plotnicki and
Gary Pini) announce that they
are suing Battlebots for attempting to cause "enormous economic
harm" to Robot Wars® due to the fact that the 1999 planned
event dates conflicted (which they did not: BB
| RW). Battlebots
owner Trey Roski responds
|
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June
13, 1999-
A new robot combat event has emerged from out of Canada! Robot
Rumbles joins the list. (update late
2000-nothing has developed with this event and it is assumed to
be dead) |
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June
14, 1999-
The decision is in! In the case
of Robot Wars vs. BattleBots, the courts have decided that Robot
Wars has NO rights to stop BattleBots from happening on its scheduled
date and time. |
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July
2, 1999-
Marc Thorpe posts a message
on the Robot Wars Forum stating his support for the 1999 Robot
Wars event. |
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July
23, 1999-
Robot Wars '99 is cancelled. The few who registered for the event
have gotten their fees refunded with a letter
informing of the cancellation. The RW Site stops getting updates
and several areas are shut down. The Robot Wars Forum is closed
down to any new postings. A sad day for Robot Wars, but still
looking very good for BattleBots
|
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August
14-15 1999-
BattleBots comes through with it's first event- a HUGE show in
Long Beach, CA. Overall a great event and fantastic turnout to
usher in this new stage of the sport. A great turnout shows the
dedication of the builders. BattleBots is here to stay. |
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August
26, 1999-
Jim Smentowski (owner of this website) announces that earlier
in August 1999, he had been served a summons
through Profile Holdings, Inc. to appear under oath discussing
the content of this website, in regard to how it relates to the
bankruptcy case of Marc Thorpe. Jim is forced to endure a painful
all-day deposition with Profile's attorneys and is left handling
his own legal fees.
|
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November
17, 1999-
The second BattleBots, this time in Las Vegas Nevada, is a huge
success. Only two weight classes this time- Heavyweights and the
new SuperHeavyweight class clash at the All American Sports Park
for the one day event, which was taped for viewing on Pay-Per-View
on January 29, 2000. |
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January
29, 2000-
The Pay-Per-View of the BattleBots event from November '99 airs
to a tremendously excited television audience. The show is very
well produced and is a big success, generating a huge response
on the internet with new interest and support for the sport.
|
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May
6-7, 2000-
BotBash 2000, a similar robotic
combat event with smaller size robots, is held in Mesa, Arizona,
with support from BattleBots,
including the use of 1/4 of BattleBots' huge arena as well as
BattleBots staff. |
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May
15, 2000-
BattleBots announces plans
to air the next event in June on television thorough the Comedy
Central network at the end of 2000. |
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June
9-11, 2000-
BattleBots holds it's
third event to sellout crowds in four sessions over the weekend
at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center (back to where it all started!).
All four weight classes are represented in this single elimination
event. The show is taped for airing on the Comedy Central network
later in the 2000 calendar year. |
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July
6, 2000-
Robot Wars, now apparently abandoning the U.S. market to BattleBots'
overwhelming success in the states, announces they will be holding
an event in London in two short weeks, inviting American competitors
to attend, all expenses paid. Read
the announcement. |
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July
22, 2000-
Robot Wars U.K. tapes a small show with 7 U.S. robots, flown over
just for the occasion from the U.S., for future airing on MTV.
Some U.K. robots are brought in to join the show. |
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July
25, 2000-
BattleBots announces that the dates for airing the San Francisco
2000 BattleBots event on the Comedy
Central network will commence on Wednesday August 23, running
for 13 weeks, with repeats twice every Saturday. |
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August
9, 2000-
A judge
decision in the Profile (Robot Wars) vs. Marc Thorpe case
is made. |
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August
13, 2000-
BattleBots announces their next
event, also to be taped for a TV series on Comedy Central, is
to be held some time in November 2000 in Las Vegas. |
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August
23, 2000-
BattleBots - the T.V. series begins airing on Comedy
Central. |
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September
25 , 2000-
BattleBots announces
the dates for the November 2000 event - Nov 16-19, 2000 at the
All American Sports Park in Las Vegas, Nevada. |
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October
23 , 2000-
BattleBots releases a list of robots entered into the November
event- 147 bots in four weight classes! |
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October
25 , 2000-
BattleBots appears
on the Tonight Show! Christian Carlberg and Lisa Winter bring
their bots to show to Jay Leno. Jay says he's going to build a
bot too. |
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November
3 , 2000-
BattleBots appears
on the Tonight Show again! Jay reveals that he has his own superheavyweight
robot- Chin-Killa |
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November
8 , 2000-
BBC
Multimedia, the company that brought you "Play With The
Teletubbies" announces the Robot
Wars: Metal Mayhem video game for the Nintendo Game Boy Color.
|
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November
9 , 2000-
BattleBots appears
on the Tonight Show yet again! Mauler 2000 faces Chin-Killa in
a 1/4 scale BattleBox. |
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November
16-19 , 2000-
BattleBots holds yet another successful event, this time all four
weight classes and over 130 robots compete in Las Vegas for the
taping of the second series of Comedy Central's BattleBots. |
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November
21 , 2000-
Jay Leno airs his fight from
Vegas of Chin-Killa vs. Ginsu on the Tonight Show. |
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December
12 , 2000-
Season 2.0 of BattleBots begins to air on Comedy Central. |
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January
3, 2001-
Robot Wars has sent out a letter
to robot builders, attempting to recruit robots for a new show
to be taped in March 2001 |
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January
26, 2001-
Season 1.0 of BattleBots begins to air in Canada on the Comedy
Network. |
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February
13, 2001-
BattleBots releases an all-new huge web
site, and announces their next event on May 24-28 in San
Francisco, also announces BattleBots Toys, BattleBots in New
Zealand, BattleBots on Nash Bridges TV Show, a huge tips section,
and much more. |
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March
19, 2001-
BattleBots begins to air on BBC2 in the U.K. |
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April
2 , 2001-
BattleBots closes registration for the May 2001 event, a record-shattering
650+ robots have registered! |
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April
4 , 2001-
TLC begins to air the Robotica
series 1. |
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May
22-28 , 2001-
The taping of BattleBots season 3.0 is a huge success at Treasure
Island, San Francisco. More robots, more excitement, and more
damage than ever before! |
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June
20 , 2001-
Robot Wars tapes an event in London with several U.S. contestants,
to be aired later on TNN. |
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July,
2001-
BattleBots toys start to show up for sale in stores across the
U.S. |
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July
10 , 2001-
BattleBots season 3.0 begins to air on Comedy Central. |
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August
20 , 2001-
The new 'Robot Wars Extreme Warriors' series premiers on TNN |
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October
5-7 , 2001-
BotBash holds
yet another successful event in Phoenix, AZ |
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Mid
November , 2001-
Robotica
holds another event in Los Angeles, taping the show to be produced
into Season 2 and 3 of TLC's Robotica, premiering December 12. |
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November
4-11 , 2001-
The sixth BattleBots
event takes place on Treasure Island, San Francisco. The event
is taped to be produced into Comedy Centra's BattleBots season
4.0. Over 400 robots show up to battle it out. |
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December
13 , 2001-
TLC begins to air the Robotica
series 2. |
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January
8 , 2002-
BattleBots begins to air Season 4.0 on Comedy Central. |
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Mid-January
, 2002-
Robot Wars tapes another Robot Wars Extreme show in the UK, many
U.S. Bots are in attendance. |
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February
2, 2002-
Robot combat hits the big timel! A commercial with combat robots
airs during the Super Bowl. |
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February
6 , 2002-
Marc Thorpe announces that he
is finally free of the Robot Wars litigation that has tied him
up for so many years! |
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March
28-30, 2002-
BattleBots
IQ holds it's first youth tournament in Orlando, Florida.
47 teams attend with their student-built and designed bots! |
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May
22-27, 2002-
BattleBots
holds it's seventh event on Treasure Island, San Francisco. Nearly
500 robots are in attendance for this tournament, which will become
Season 5.0 for Comedy Central's BattleBots. |
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August
20, 2002-
Comedy Central begins to air it's new season of BattleBots Phase
5.0 in 1/2 hour episodes. |
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August
24, 2002-
The innagural Steel
Conflict robot combat event is held in Southern California,
a big success! |
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September
10, 2002-
BattleBots announces that the
planned event in November 2002 has been postponed. Comedy Central
has decided not to renew taping for Season 6.0. BattleBots explains
that they are aggressively looking at new possibilites. |
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September
13-15, 2002-
BotBash holds
another annual tournament in Tempe, Arizona. |
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September
18, 2002-
The Robot
MarketPlace opens for business. |
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October
18, 2002-
RobotCombat.com begins it's first live internet BotCast
at the innagural Lazy Toad Robot Club tournament. |
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November
9-10 , 2002-
RoboJoust
holds yet another successful Robot Street Fight in Las Vegas.
Over 70 robots in attendance. |
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November
18, 2002-
The Robot
Fighting League forms, in effort to standardize across all
the smaller local robot tournaments taking place around the country. |
