Mr. Psycho

"Six-foot-two, eyes of blue, Mr. Psycho's after you!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Mr. Psycho was a House Robot who made his debut in the sixth series and was designed by Robin Englebright. Mr. Psycho was by far the heaviest of the House Robots, weighing in at 750kg, and the largest robot ever to appear in Robot Wars history. He was based on Bill Sykes, a character from the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, and his original working name during the design process was Psychsy. Mr. Psycho was also introduced with Growler, a robot which was a take on Bill Sykes' dog, Bullseye.

His design was very similar to that of Sir Killalot, featuring caterpillar tracks and a powerful claw weapon. The design differed from Sir Killalot in that Mr. Psycho had a swinging hammer weapon instead of the lance that Sir Killalot wielded; the head of the hammer alone weighed 30kg and had a hydraulic accumulator and was powered by a 9 ton shoulder and elbow ram. His claw was powered by two 9 ton hydraulic rams running at 3000 psi (21 MPa). He ran on caterpillar tracks of the same type used for Sir Killalot which were powered by two Briggs and Stratton 5hp electric motors run at 48 volts, which were controlled by two 300 ampere speed controllers. The chassis was constructed from thick walled steel box section and the head was fabricated in fibreglass.

At 750kg, Mr. Psycho was the heaviest robot in the history of Robot Wars. Despite this, he was not invulnerable to being flipped, having been flipped by Firestorm 4 in Extreme Series 2 and toppling over while carrying Junkyard Queen in the German Series.

Armament
Mr. Psycho was armed with a 30kg (66lb) heavy pneumatic hammer that travelled at 60 mph (97 km/h) and a hydraulic claw capable of exerting pressures of up to 9 tons. Some of Mr. Psycho's early design sketches featured two hydraulic claws and no hammer, but this was rejected.

Series 6
Mr. Psycho made his combat début during Razer's Round 2 battle. After pushing the unusually shaped Cyrax into his CPZ, Mr. Psycho used his hammer to smash the outer lens cap on the blue robot's blinking light.

Although Mr. Psycho's hammer did not appear to cause external damage, it wreaked havoc with internals. In the meantime, Mr. Psycho used his hammer to smash Mega Hurts 2's plastic monitor, after being axed by X-Terminator.

Extreme 2
Mr. Psycho's hammer seemed to cause more damage this series, as during the Tag Team Terror final, he hammered Barbaric Response, knocking off a top panel and causing damage to the structure.

In the All-Stars tournament, Mr. Psycho featured in the battle between Chaos 2, Razer and 13 Black. Chaos 2 was immobilised after a large hit from 13 Black. After Chaos 2 was counted out, it was plucked from the ground by Mr. Psycho, who paraded it around the arena before dropping the former champion into the pit. "That just gives you some sense of Mr. Psycho's size out there. He is immense! It's [Chaos 2] just a mere bauble, a toy, in the grip of Psycho!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Mr. Psycho carries Chaos 2 to the pit

During the Commonwealth Carnage semi-final, Firestorm was able to flip Mr. Psycho over when he reversed away from the pit, becoming one of only two robots to do so. Before this, Firestorm flipped over Sergeant Bash, and with Panic Attack already immobilised, Refbot was the only robot still mobile at the end of the battle bar Firestorm. "Can they do it? Look at Mr. Psycho, that is a huge weight! Mr. Psycho saved by the cease ... NO! Timber! That's a first! Who on Earth is gonna to raise Mr. Psycho up onto his feet? It'll take an army!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Firestorm 4 flips Mr. Psycho over

Series 7
Mr. Psycho achieved his only Out of the Arena this series after dropping Hassocks Hog 2 out of the arena in Heat C. He originally dropped Hassocks Hog on the Drop Zone, but it was unintentionally knocked away by the competitors before an item could drop. Similarly, later in the series, Mr. Psycho placed Zorro on the Drop Zone after it had been counted out, but Zorro landed on its wheels and drove away. Psycho eventually caught it, and dropped it into the pit.

A hilarious moment happened during Heat N. During an eliminator in the Heat, a strike from Mr. Psycho's hammer on Topbot made his own head fall off. "Mr. Psycho has lost... what little brains he had."

- Jonathan Pearce Mr. Psycho went berserk for a while, hammering The Executioner into submission with his hammer, before dropping it into the pit shortly before cease was called.

Along with Growler, Cassius Chrome and Refbot, Mr. Psycho appeared in the Series 7 House Robot Rebellion. After Growler and Cassius Chrome were put out of action, Psycho took revenge on Gravity, immobilising it by battering its top with his hammer. Behemoth then tried to use Gravity as a shield against Psycho, but to no avail. Behemoth's axe snapped off while trying to attack Psycho, but evidently did some damage, as Psycho broke down shortly after. Behemoth however could not lift Mr. Psycho.



Other
Mr. Psycho also appeared in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars as well as German Robot Wars. The most memorable moment occurred in the Grand Final of the German Wars, when Mr. Psycho picked up Junkyard Queen during its battle against Not Perfect. Mr. Psycho paraded Junkyard Queen around the arena until he took a corner too quickly and toppled over.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Mr. Psycho/Pullback

Trivia

 * Robin Englebright, the man who designed Mr. Psycho, entered his own competitor robot, and also designed Growler and Cassius Chrome
 * For a French member of the Robot Wars crew's birthday, Francois, during a break in filming, Mr. Psycho was driven into the arena wearing a beret, a blue-and-white striped shirt, a moustache and a cloth on his claw, on which was the birthday cake.