Panic Attack

Panic Attack was a robot that competed in the British television show Robot Wars. It was a short, box-shaped robot painted yellow with a large black spider on the top of the machine. Its main weapons were lifting spikes located on the front of the robot, capable of overturning its opponents. However, these weapons were not used extensively until Series 3. A top-mounted self-righting mechanism was added to Panic Attack in Series 3, although this proved to be unreliable, and was eventually removed. Added in Series 4 were a set of side "skirts" to prevent all but the lowest of robots from getting underneath it. The robot competed in Series 2-7 of Robot Wars, winning the second series and making the finals in three other wars. It also won the "Sumo Basho" competition in Series 4, meaning that it was the only machine to defeat Shunt in this event twice. Panic Attack was one of the longest appearing robots, appearing in six wars and two extremes.

Team Members
The team captain of the robot was Kim Davies, who was originally joined by Kevin Pritchard and Lee Wicombe. In Series 3, Pritchard left the team to create a similar robot named Evil Weevil and Davies was joined by his son Michael and Simon Rosen. Christian Bridge won a competition in Robot Wars Magazine to join the team for Series 4. In Series 7, Davies got a job as a technical assistant on the show and left, so the team was entirely changed. Pritchard returned and took over the controls with teammates Paul Wier and then-webmaster of the official Panic Attack website, Jamie McGarry.

Series 2
Panic Attack was the first robot to compete in Heat F. In the Gauntlet, it took the centre route and, after a nervy start, made it onto the ramp. However, as it got halfway up, Sir Killalot followed and held the ramp down. Unable to turn back, Panic Attack made a flying leap off the ramp, right onto Dead Metal. After several attacks by Shunt, Panic Attack had achieved 10.8 metres, which was enough to put it in third place and into the next round. (The time-out of The Parthian Shot would have put it through anyway). In the Sumo Trial, it took its revenge against Shunt after he fell off the platform after 13 seconds, putting it through to the Arena stage. In the Arena Semi-Final, Panic Attack managed to get underneath Whirling Dervish and flip it over, before disabling Sergeant Bash. In the Arena Final against Disruptor, it managed to easily push its opponent into the pit, its body being too low for Disruptor's saw to reach. This easily saw it through to the Semi-Finals. In the Semi-Finals, Panic Attack finished in equal last place in the Gauntlet with Mace, getting stuck after just 6.9 metres. Both robots then contested the Gauntlet again at the same time, but Mace was pitted by the Sentinal so Panic Attack progressed to the next round. Panic Attack then finished first in the Pinball Trial with an impressive score of 320 points. In the Arena, Panic Attack pushed Mortis into the PPZ, and with the help of Matilda, pushed its opponent into the pit of oblivion and qualified for the Grand Final.

In the first round of the Grand Final, Panic Attack pushed Killertron into the PPZ, where it was flipped over by the lance of Sir Killalot. With its opponent at the mercy of Sir Killalot, Panic Attack spent the rest of the battle attacking the house robots and managed to push Sgt. Bash into the pit, going in itself in the process. However, Killertron had long since been immobilised and Panic Attack went through. The final battle was against Cassius, and it was Rex Garrod's machine that started the stronger, driving underneath Panic Attack, sending it into the air and back onto its wheels. Cassius then attempted to attack Panic Attack before reversing and turning around, which allowed Panic Attack a run at the back of its opponent and it took this opportunity by pushing Cassius into the pit of oblivion, thus claiming the title of Second Wars Grand Champion.

Series 3
Panic Attack returned for Series 3 completely rebuilt since Series 2, with a stronger forklift and new self-righting mechanism. It won its first round battle by driving around, lifting up, then completely overturning Axios before overturning Matilda. It repeated this tactic successfully against Toe-Cutter in Round 2 and tried to take on Sgt Bash. In the heat final, Panic Attack had problems getting a hold of the much faster and more agressive X-Terminator, but eventually slammed it into the arena wall. This ruptured X-Terminator's gas canisters, disabling its axe and self-righting mechanism. Eventually, Panic Attack managed to flip X-Terminator over to progress to the semi-finals.

In the first round of the semi-finals, Panic Attack came up against Thing 2. Thing 2 started well, pushing Panic Attack into a CPZ and then into an arena wall, but Panic came back, reversing into Thing 2 and causing it to be turned over by an arena spike. The spike rose up again, this time lifting Panic Attack into Thing 2 and turning it over onto its back, unable to self-right. In the next round, Panic Attack came up against Firestorm. Both robots spent the early stages of the battle attempting to get underneath each other, but neither were able to flip the other over. This was until Panic Attack was lifted up by an arena spike, giving Firestorm the chance to get underneath and pin its opponent against the arena wall. Panic Attack righted itself but lost out on a judges' decision and was eliminated from the competition.

After the main competition was over, Panic Attack represented Wales in The First World Championship. In its first round match against 101, Panic Attack was able to get underneath its opponent and lift the robot into the air with its lifting spikes, turning it upside-down in the process. Panic Attack then picked up 101 again and, while attempting to carry 101 to the pit, it accidentally reversed in itself.

Series 4
Panic Attack returned for Series 4 as the fourth seed, in recognition for winning Series 2. In the first round, it efficiently teamed up with S.M.I.D.S.Y. against Overkill GTI, lifting them up and pushing them around the arena, winning on a judges decision. In Round 2, it got hold of Saw Point very quickly and tried to lift it out of the arena, but got it stuck against the grinders. In the end, it turned Saw Point over to Sir Killalot, who dumped it in the pit. Panic Attack met up with S.M.I.D.S.Y. again in the heat final and had a lot of trouble catching their faster opponent until it got its forklift's wedged in its rival's wheel guard, allowing it to dump the Cyperspace machine down the pit.

In the Semi-Finals, Panic Attack was drawn up against Spawn of Scutter. After lifting it up several times, it drove the Essex machine into the arena wall, stranding it there. This led to a battle against Stinger. Panic Attack's tough armour deflected the numerous blows Stinger administered, as it pushed the axlebot around the arena and into several CPZs. The judges had to make a decision and gave the match to Stinger on a split, and extremely controversial, call.

Panic Attack also competed in the Sumo Basho side-competition. It was the only robot that successfully managed to push Shunt from the platform. After 21.5 seconds, both robots fell from the platform. As Shunt hit the ground first, Panic Attack was ruled the winner. As the only robot to actually defeat Shunt, Panic Attack won the tournament.

Panic Attack later competed in the War Of Independence special. In its first round match against Rammstein, it used its forklifts to overturn the American machine several times, although this had little effect as its opponent was invertible. However, Rammstein quickly lost power (its batteries were designed to last for the three-minute matches held in the USA, rather than the five-minute ones held in the UK), which allowed Panic Attack to lift it up and pit it. This led to a rematch from Series 2 against Mortis. Although Panic Attack managed to flip Mortis onto its side and push it into Sir Killalot, the judges gave the split decision to Mortis due to the numerous axe blows it landed.

Series 5
Panic Attack entered Series 5 with an improved self-righting mechanism. However, it ran into problems with its first opponent, Barber-Ous. The spinning drum managed to disable the lifting forks and mangle a bit of the top armour. However, this run ended when Panic Attack pushed it into Sgt Bash, which disabled one of Barber-Ous' wheels. Panic Attack was then able to push it down the pit. After that, Panic Attack was able to have a fairly easy road to the semi-finals, picking up and eventually pitting Tiberius 2, then repeating this with Kat 3, although the latter did get stuck on its lifting forks.

In the semi-final against Pussycat, Panic Attack started the stronger, pushing the pyramid shaped robot into the CPZ. However, problems with the aerial hindered Panic Attack's movement severely, making it stop and start frequently. Pussycat was able to take advantage of this, damaging the skirts and lifting forks, eventually winning a judges decision. This put Panic Attack into the loser's melee alongside Firestorm 3 and Wheely Big Cheese. However, the first attack by Wheely Big Cheese left it unable to move properly again. Firestorm eventually knocked it back into contention and spent most of the match pushing it around. A late lift-up of Firestorm in the last 10 seconds wasn't enough to save Panic Attack and it lost the judge's decision again.

Series 6
Panic Attack came to Series 6 as the 8th seed and with a completely new design. However, it was not as easy to control as the previous version, nor was it very fast or powerful. In its first battle against R.O.C.S., Corkscrew and Kronic 2, it had its skirt torn off by Corkscrew's spinning body. After Corkscrew drove itself into the pit, Kronic 2 flipped R.O.C.S. over, giving Panic Attack a break to the next round. There, it faced A-Kill, who was unable to damage Panic Attack with any of its weapons. After a long and relatively boring fight (as described afterwards), Panic Attack managed to pit A-Kill. This lead to a match-up with Terrorhurtz. There, the former champion received numerous blows from the double-headed axe of Terrorhurtz, which damaged the top armour and began to pry it loose. When it was pushed into the CPZ, Matilda managed to break the panel clean off. Rendered immobile, Panic Attack was counted out of the Sixth Wars, before being pushed onto the drop zone, where a washing machine fell.

Series 7
Once again, Panic Attack were seeded 8th for the 7th Wars. This time, the original version of the machine was reused, albeit without the srimech. In its first battle, it managed to quickly overturn Spin Doctor, then teamed up with the fellow Welsh robot Mega Morg to pit Edge Hog. In its next fight against Tough As Nails, however, Panic Attack's forklifts were broken off mid-way through the match, which allowed the Dutch machine to dominate the battle, which it eventually won on a judges decision.

Panic Attack later made a comeback in the All-Stars special. Its first round battle was against Kat 3, Firestorm 5 and Bigger Brother. However, all four machines ignored each other and proceeded to attack the House Robots instead. Unable to flip Cassius Chrome over, despite several attempts at trying, Panic Attack qualified alongside Kat 3 (although only because Firestorm and Bigger Brother both drove down the pit). It was defeated in the next round against Dantomkia, who threw it over, then out of the arena.

Robot Wars Extreme
Panic Attack competed several times in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. Because of its status as former champion, it featured in the All-Stars competition, where its first fight was against Firestorm 3, the robot that ended its reign in Series 3. Within the first few seconds, however, Firestorm got under Panic Attack, flipped it over, then pushed it against the arena wall so that it couldn't self-right. Beating Diotoir and Shear Khan in the Mayhem, Panic Attack also qualified for the annihilator. It made it to the fourth round, but had suffered irreparible damage during the course from Disc-O-Inferno and had to drop out. Panic Attack also competed in a Vengeance against X-Terminator, a Wild Card Warrior battle against Axe Awe and the International Inferno alongside Manta, Maximill and Flensburger Power, all of which it won.

Panic Attack also appeared briefly in the second Extreme series, in the Commonwealth Carnage, representing Wales. Making it through the first round alongside Crushtacean after grappling with Terror Turtle, it ran into Firestorm yet again, once again losing after getting flipped onto its side.

Results

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Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Grand Champion
 * Series 3: Semi-Finals, Round 2
 * Series 4: Semi-Finals, Round 2
 * Series 5: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 6: Heat Final
 * Series 7: Heats, Round 2