Pardon My French

Pardon My French
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship V (Withdrew) World Championship VI World Championship VII (Not selected)
Team Information
Team	Team OuiOui
Team Members	Philippe Voyer (Captain) Sean Lamothe Gus Collier (WC VI) Dave Weston (WC VI) Vincent Voyer (WC V) Luke Faulkingham (WC V) Ty Little (WC VII) Chris Haataja (WC VII)
From	Riviere-du-Loup, Canada
Associated Robots	Nelly The Ellybot, Banshee (Gus Collier) Cannibal (Luke Faulkingham) Deep Six, JackPot, Warthog (Chris Haataja) Doomba (Philippe Voyer)
Robot Statistics
Weight	250lbs
Weapons	Drum spinner
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Pardon My French is a heavyweight robot from Team OuiOui which competed in BattleBots World Championship VI.

It is a four-wheel drive, trapezoid-shaped robot armed with a hefty 73lb, three-toothed spinning drum spinning at 4000rpm and measuring approximately 13" in diameter, heavily inspired by the design of REDRUM. The main robot is partnered with a minibot called ZUT!, designed and built by team member Sean Lamothe. It features a lifting arm powered by a bag that expands with air, and can allegedly lift in excess of 250lbs. Though Pardon My French is unable to run inverted and does not feature a dedicated self-righting mechanism, the team believe this can be achieved using their primary weapon.

"Our goal is to deal with self righting the way Deathroll usually does for example. Keep the high kinetic energy weapon spun up and gyro ping pong around until we get back on our wheels."

— Team OuiOui reply to a YouTube comment from their December 2019 application video

Pardon My French's 2020 season Supporter reveal.

The name "Pardon My French" is an expression used to apologize for profanity, but is also a nod to Philippe Voyer's heritage, as he hails from Québec, a French-speaking province of Canada. Ironically, the minibot's name ZUT! translates to "heck" or "damn".

Pardon My French under construction.

Pardon My French was originally designed ahead of World Championship V, and was accepted for the original field prior to its postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the team consisting of Phillipe Voyer, brother Vincent Voyer, Sean Lamothe and Luke Faulkingham. The team started a fundraiser page which was shared by BattleBots themselves, however, Team OuiOui opted to withdraw from the season ahead of the new filming dates.

In July 2021, Team OuiOui confirmed on their Facebook page that Pardon My French had been accepted ahead of World Championship VI of BattleBots. Due to delays in the US State Department processing NIE Visas for team members flying in from the United Kingdom, Gus Collier and Dave Weston were unable to travel to Las Vegas ahead of filming, meaning only Phillipe Voyer and Sean Lamothe were present for World Championship VI. For unknown reasons, Vincent Voyer and Luke Faulkingham were not listed as team members for the 2021 season. Its competitive debut came in an untelevised loss to Claw Viper, where it was overturned and immobilized almost immediately. It then sunk to 0-2 after a second loss to Leanne Cushing and Valkyrie. In both of its matches, it suffered from reliability issues, and its weapon was not able to dish out much damage.

Pardon My French with self-righting arms.

The team confirmed their application for World Championship VII on February 18, 2022, boasting a brand new build of Pardon My French. The robot remained largely similar in appearance to its 2021 look, but now boasted "50%" more power, a quicker spin-up time and twin self-righting arms similar to those of JackPot. Team OuiOui picked up Ty Little, who competes with insectweight robots as part of Team Splode, and hoped to compete with the remainder of the team who were previously unable to travel. They were also joined by Chris Haataja, formerly of JackPot and Deep Six. Pardon My French was, however, not selected to compete in the 2022 season and captain Philippe Voyer would instead join up with Team Hot Mess and Doomba for the competition.

A rear view of ZUT!.

A rear view of ZUT!.

Team member Chris Haataja later built Warthog for BattleBots Proving Ground.

Robot History

World Championship VI
Pardon My French vs. Claw Viper Pardon My French is picked up and suplexed by Claw Viper. Pardon My French is grappled by Claw Viper near the screws. Pardon My French is left to be chewed up by the arena hazard. Claw Viper turns its attention to ZUT!. Pardon My French's BattleBots debut came against the returning and highly upgraded Claw Viper. For this fight, Pardon My French went with the single hinged fork setup, rather than its typical dual fork setup. The fight began with Claw Viper attempting to box rush the rookie team, but missing and sliding into the screws momentarily. It recovered and barged into the front of Pardon My French, whose large drum spinner had not yet reached maximum speed. They turned to try and spin up, but drove into a killsaw slot and Claw Viper capitalized, slowing their drum and getting a hold of Pardon My French before successfully performing a suplex. Pardon My French was now upside-down, but its drum was no longer able to spin. Claw Viper shunted it across the box in an impressive show of speed, then picked up Pardon My French again before dropping it. ZUT! was seemingly immobile near the pulverizer, and Claw Viper flipped it over when trying to bring its opponent out of the corner. Evidently also immobile, the main bot was rammed again by Claw Viper, this time into the side screws and causing a drive chain to loosen on the right side. The screws continued to chew at the underside of Pardon My French before a count began, with Claw Viper picking up and slamming ZUT! into the arena barrier in the meantime. Claw Viper ultimately won by KO, consigning Pardon My French to a debut loss by KO.
Pardon My French vs. Valkyrie Valkyrie and Pardon My French go weapon to weapon. Pardon My French returned late in the Fight Night season and faced Leanne Cushing's Valkyrie, fitted with its plow for this battle. However, it struggled to spin up to speed in the opening seconds and took a big hit which sent both robots flying across the BattleBox. This impact killed the drum spinner of Pardon My French. Valkyrie then turned its attention to the wheels, and tore out a drive belt as the Canadian representative lay dormant in the corner. ZUT! was still mobile, but had lost a wheel and was smoking toward the end of the fight. Pardon My French was counted out, and fell to a 0-2 record for the season.
Pardon My French vs. Cobalt (Exhibition) Cobalt tears a panel from Pardon My French. Pardon My French is thrown onto the Upper Deck. Having been absent from BattleBots: Champions, Pardon My French returned for one final exhibition battle shown as part of Vengeance in Vegas. This came against the powerful vertical spinner of Cobalt. From the start of the fight, Pardon My French's drum failed to spin up while Cobalt's disk got up to speed. Cobalt almost tipped its opponent over with its steep wedge shape, but instead chased Pardon My French and delivered a hit to its static drum. Pardon My French evaded a charge from Cobalt as its drum attempted to spin up, but Cobalt attacked from the side and threw Team OuiOui's bot upside-down, tearing off pieces of its armor in the process as a chain dangled loose from its chassis. Cobalt positioned Pardon My French before sending it flying onto the Upper Deck. Philippe Voyer's robot attempted to escape, but became stuck on the edge of the hazard with only one side of drive working. Pardon My French was counted out and Cobalt took the win by knockout.

Results

Competitive Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 2

Exhibition Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Total Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 3

Competition	Wins	Losses
World Championship VI	None	Claw Viper (Untelevised Undercard Match) Valkyrie (Undercard Match) Cobalt (Exhibition Match)

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"From Québec, Canada, he will fleur-de-leave your body in a ditch. It's PARDON MY FRENCH!"

Trivia

• According to the team, Pardon My French's drum was initially going to weigh 76lbs, but this had to shed 3lbs to keep the robot under 250lbs.
• The color scheme and decals on the sides of Pardon My French pay homage to former NHL and World Hockey Association team Quebec Nordiques.
• Pardon My French became the first team to be sponsored by a cryptocurrency, Dogira.
  • Between the months of January and February 2022, within which Pardon My French's first fight was shown, Dogira crashed by half.
• Team OuiOui's new team member Ty Little has previously built several homages to BattleBots competitors, notably NanoShock and Shred Devil.