Gijinka Matilda

Anyone ever heard of a little TV show called Robot Wars?
As a kid, I LOVED IT!! I never wanted to miss an episode, it was just so fantastic

The basic idea of the show was a pair of homemade fighting robots entering an arena and trashing the hell out of one another for agout 10-15 minutes; whoever was still able to compete or scored the most points via the judges' decision was declared the winner (you could win by dumping your foe in the Pit, incapacitating them or be flipping them over the arena barrier completely; the judges gave points for combat style, robot control, damage given and aggressiveness in combat)

Added to these bouts were the House Robots, a small group of the deadliest fighting machines ever produced by the BBC's Visual Effects Department, who would smash the hell out of the combatants whenever they got the chance; Shunt, Dead Metal, Sgt. Bash, Matilda and the most famous of the bunch, Sir Killalot

My favourite of the House Robots was (of course) Matilda, the dinosaur-shaped robotess with nasty weapons and a nastier attitude; she had two front tusks to lift her foes into the air and a rear-mounted chainsaw tail to slice and dice, but after a nasty run-in with World Champion Razer, the chain saw was replaced by a 27kg vertical flywheel which could shred her unfotunate victims to pieces, send them soaring into the air and (if they were near the side wall) even out of the arena entirely!


Anyway, what better way for me to relive one of my many childhood shows than to gijinka-fy the Matriarch of Mayhem herself? (Yes, her wheels ARE on her shoulders, they're part of the outfit)

I always thought that, with her being the first House Robot to be built and by hanging about with a bunch of hard lads, Matti would almost be imagined as a dominatrix of sorts and would definately know how to keep her boys in line
I stuck with the chainsaw for this design as a flywheel sticking out of a woman's back would just look awkward, plus I've been a fan of the show since the beginning and the chainsaw-tailed Matti always gives me a sense of nostalgia

Apparently, she's meant to be purple, but I think onyx and grey suits her better, while the orange is a reference to her engine cover here-[link]


Matilda and Robot Wars (C) BBC
Art belongs to me