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"Will the pneumatic flipper give house robots their worst nightmare? Tossing and turning in its sleep? You bet! It can self-right, you see! And team member Lee Summer{sic} loves his judo. This could have a real kick!"
— Jonathan Pearce introduces Knightmare

Knightmare was the eponymous first entry from Team Knightmare, which competed in Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars. An updated version also appeared in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme under the name Spirit of Knightmare, with revised weaponry and a different paint scheme. In each of its incarnations, the robot enjoyed mild success, reaching the Heat Final in Series 4 as Knightmare, and finishing runner-up in the second Extreme 1 Annihilator under the Spirit of Knightmare name.

Versions of Knightmare[]

Both versions of Knightmare shared the same fundamental design - a long, wedge-shaped robot with a small, pneumatic front-hinged flippers covering the entire width of the robot. Despite its small size, Knightmare's flipper proved to be effective at turning opponents over, as well as acting as a shield to protect the robot's internals. However, the weapon's limited range and reach meant that it often struggled against larger robots. Knightmare was also invertible, with both robots featuring a logo on the chassis that read "Who needs a srimech?", with a cartoon-style face that Jonathan Pearce deemed "comical".

Knightmare[]

Knightmare arena

Knightmare

The original Knightmare featured a bodyshell that was made from old M1 motorway roadsigns between Junctions 19 and 23 of the M1 and parts from a bed, and the robot could travel at 10mph. Metal brackets along each side prevented Knightmare from getting side-stranded. It featured a dark blue colour-scheme with black borders along its flipper, with its name, a lightning bolt and a skull painted on its top, as well as another lightning bolt on its sides, a castle on its left side and the head of a knight on its right side and back. A castor was also present on top to aid with its invertability. Despite its wedge design, Knightmare's front was not flush to the ground and as a result often struggled getting underneath other robots. Knightmare took twelve weeks for the team to build.

Spirit of Knightmare[]

"An amazing array of lethal weapons and the ability to run upside down makes Spirit of Knightmare a real threat in the arena. Totally rebuilt with only the motors and electronics surviving from Knightmare, the twin "blender" saws are awesome in operation. The flipper can lift 80kg, but will that be enough now that the robot weights are all closer to 100kg?"
Robot Wars Extreme: The Official Guide
Spirit of Knightmare

Spirit of Knightmare in the arena

Spirit of Knightmare was a complete rebuild of the original Knightmare, but retained nearly the exact measurements to its predecessor. It was now painted black with a golden tip to its wedge, with its name now written on its flipper and side. Only the castle decoration on its side and the knight on the back was retained from Knightmare, with the knight's head being reused for the top armour. A new drawing of a knight riding a horse replaced the lightining bolts on its sides. In addition to its flipper, Spirit of Knightmare also sported two circular "blending discs" on its side, replacing the metal brackets, and four ramming spikes at the back which also doubled as pneumatic axes. Compared to Knightmare, extra supporting wheels were present on the top and bottom of Spirit of Knightmare towards the back end. The flipper was stated as being able to lift 80kg, but in practise was able to flip over the 100kg Steel Avenger twice in one battle. Spirit of Knightmare was slower than its original model at 8.5mph.

Etymology[]

Knightmare's name is play-on the word 'nightmare' with a "K" added as the first letter to also refer to a knight, and possibly the classic Children's ITV gameshow of the same name. The robot's knight theme is aluded to in its design with drawings of a knight and a castle being visible on its paintjob. The name often led to Craig Charles and Jonathan Pearce making rather humourus jokes, such as Pearce saying that Knightmare's front flipper would have the House Robots 'turning in their sleep' in its Series 4 introduction and Charles remarking that Spirit of Knightmare had 'had an awful dream' after its defeat in the Extreme 1 Annihilator.

The Team[]

Main article: Team Knightmare
Team knightmare

The team in Extreme

Team Knightmare was made up of friends based in Coalville, Leicestershire. The roster was comprised Nigel Paget, Malcolm Summers and Lee Summers. Lee Summers was the driver while Nigel Paget was the weapons operator. Although the team entered The Fourth Wars as newcomers, they would become highly experienced over the course of Robot Wars, later competing with Raging Reality and The Seventh Wars semi-finalist, Raging Knightmare.

Qualification[]

Knightmare initially attempted to enter Series 4 through taking part in the Robot Mayhem event serving as the official qualifiers. Here, it fought Inverterbrat; after an entertaining battle between the two machines, both were selected to compete.

"Both teams tried every trick in the book to win. The crowd liked them so much they both qualified!"
Robot Wars Magazine on the qualifier battle
Series 5 Qualifiers

Spirit of Knightmare (left) faces Chompalot at the Series 5 qualifiers

Spirit of Knightmare fought Chompalot at the Birmingham leg of the 2001 Live Event tour, serving as the official Series 5 qualifiers. Chompalot had only been finished the night before, and was having control problems and had one wheel not working. Spirit of Knightmare also had problems due to their ground clearance being set too low. Spirit of Knightmare won the battle after Chompalot broke down, but was not selected to compete in Series 5. However, it was chosen to compete in Extreme 1.

"During the Series 5 qualifying event, Chompie seemed sluggish and difficult to turn, Spirit of Knightmare also had difficulties, having set their ground clearance so low, that they could barely move, so consequently Chompie couldn’t get his lower jaws under them. After failing to get a hold of them I opted to ram them, taking runs across the arena to build up speed. Unfortunately the impact loosened some of the control cables to the motor controllers and then, fatally another one of the motors magnets became detached, jamming the motor. Spirit of Knightmare eventually managed to nudge the inert Chompie towards and then into the pit."
— Cookie Monsters, Chompalot's team, on the Series 5 Qualifiers

Robot History[]

Series 4[]

Julia Reed: "Is it called Knightmare because this is part of a bed, isn't it?"
Malcolm Summers: "Well, it was a nightmare to build as well."
— Julia Reed noting how robots can be made from anything

Knightmare made its debut in The Fourth Wars and was drawn up against the 10th seed Spawn of Scutter and Banshee, both new robots from returning teams.

"This is our first wars and we did quite well in the qualifier, so who knows what's going to happen?"
— Niget Paget in the team introduction
Knightmare vs Banshee

Knightmare fails to breach the ground clearance of Banshee

Knightmare held back briefly at the start of the fight whilst Spawn of Scutter rammed into Banshee, before turning quickly and ramming into Banshee as well. It backed away briefly as Spawn of Scutter continued to push Banshee around and then charged in as if to attack the seeded robot, only to turn away at the last moment. After another pause, it rammed into Banshee, but was unable to get under Banshee's ground clearance. However, its presence allowed Spawn of Scutter to push Banshee into Knightmare, who in turn had Banshee blocked against its side, which allowed the seeded machine to get underneath and flip Banshee across the arena using its spike, once Knightmare drove clear. Knightmare immediately turned and rammed into Spawn of Scutter as Banshee fell onto its side, before the two robots met head-on. Neither was able to get under the other, but Knightmare was able to force Spawn of Scutter back towards the flame pit.

"Knightmare, a tentative nudge."
— Jonathan Pearce as Knightmare pushes Spawn of Scutter towards the flame pit
Knightmare vs Spawn of Scutter

Knightmare shepherds Spawn of Scutter into a CPZ

Spawn of Scutter was subsequently able to push Knightmare back and the newcomer backed away. By this point, the House Robots moved in to attack the defeated Banshee, but Knightmare continued its duel with Spawn of Scutter. It eventually managed to get underneath Spawn of Scutter from the side, and while it fired its flipper prematurely, it was able to force the seeded machine into the arena corner and suspend it off the floor with its wedge.

"Spawn of Scutter trying to stay away from Knightmare and just about doing so!"
— Jonathan Pearce

Knightmare eventually turned away and Spawn of Scutter dropped back to the arena floor. Knightmare retreated, but turned back towards Spawn of Scutter, causing the two to collide head-on. Again, neither robot was able to get underneath the other, but Knightmare continued the attack, ramming Spawn of Scutter from behind. By this point, Banshee was thrown by the Floor Flipper and "Cease" was called, with Knightmare progressing through alongside Spawn of Scutter.

In the next round, Knightmare faced off against the 26th seed and former semi-finalist, Plunderbird 4.

Julia Reed: "Now the Plunderbird team weigh about as much as your flipper can flip. Is that the main tactic?"
Nigel Paget: "Well yes, yes, that and a fair bit of ramming and just hopefully a bit of damage. I'll let you know in five minutes."
— Before the battle.

Despite going into the battle as the underdog, Knightmare seemed to have an advantage as the fight began, as Plunderbird 4 seemed unable to drive forward and simply spun around on the spot. Knightmare was able to get under Plunderbird 4's side, but turned too far to the right before firing its flipper and Plunderbird 4 backed away. Knightmare was quickly able to get to the side of Plunderbird 4 again, but fired its flipper before getting underneath, missing an attack. It pushed Plunderbird 4 towards the Floor Flipper, before backing away and pushing its opponent backwards towards the centre of the arena. Knightmare dodged around Plunderbird 4 before attempting a front-on attack, but on two attempts, Plunderbird 4's front wedge proved to be lower and Knightmare could not get underneath. Knightmare backed away for a third attempt, but drove straight up Plunderbird 4's front wedge and got itself beached. However, Plunderbird 4 could not push it back and Knightmare was in the wrong position for it to use its slicer-dicer, so Refbot was forced to separate the two robots as the Pit of Oblivion descended.

Knightmare Plunderbird 4

Knightmare about to topple Plunderbird 4

Following this, Knightmare attempted to get around the side of Plunderbird 4, who still seemed incapable of free movement. It was able to force Plunderbird 4 back towards the Floor Flipper, before backing away for another charge. Knightmare was able to get under Plunderbird 4 from the side and fired its flipper, tipping Plunderbird 4 onto its side.

"And a tactical war waged by Knightmare and they did well here"
— Jonathan Pearce, praising Knightmare's performance

As Plunderbird 4 had no self-righting mechanism, the House Robots moved in as Knightmare spun in celebration. After being attacked by all four present House Robots, Plunderbird 4 was dropped into the pit by Sir Killalot, securing Knightmare's place in the heat final.

"It's nice to be the underdog and win."
— Niget Paget

Here, Knightmare faced Spawn of Scutter for the second time in the heat.

Julia Reed: "So you'll be the ones having a nightmare according to {Team Scutterbots}"
Malcolm Summers: "In their dreams!"
Julia Reed: "Fighting talk! So you don't need any last minute prayers, then?"
Malcolm Summers: "No. They do! Tell them to get down on their hands and knees, and pray!"
— Confidence before the heat final
Knightmare spawn battle

Knightmare is pushed back by Spawn of Scutter

The fight began quickly as both robots collided head-on, with Knightmare getting underneath Spawn of Scutter, although the former semi-finalist was able to reverse off. However, after this first attack, Knightmare stopped moving and, after Spawn of Scutter adjusted its position, it was rammed into Shunt's CPZ and knocked aside by Spawn of Scutter's spike. Although Shunt briefly distracted himself with Spawn of Scutter, axing it, Knightmare's immobility soon became apparent and Shunt landed an axe blow on its top armour, causing a dent.

"And I think that powerful drive has immobilised Knightmare! Look, there's no drive in those wheels, there's nothing going on!"
— Jonathan Pearce, noting Knightmare's immobility

Shunt pushed Knightmare back out of the CPZ, close to the flame pit, but Spawn of Scutter pushed it back towards the CPZ. Knightmare was axed by Shunt again and pushed onto the Floor Flipper, which threw it upside down, revealing its "Who Needs A Srimech?" logo. Shunt landed another axe blow on Knightmare and Matilda flipped it onto its side before Sir Killalot knocked it back over again. Knightmare was subsequently dragged across the arena by Sir Killalot and Dead Metal towards the flame pit, where it was shown that its flipper had been buckled. The House Robots continued to attack, with Shunt landing another axe blow and Matilda lifting it before Sir Killalot picked up Knightmare, spun it around and dropped in the Pit with some assistance from Shunt. As a result, Knightmare was eliminated at the Heat Final stage.

Craig Charles: "Who needs a srimech? It looks like you do."
Nigel Paget: "We need an electrician."
— After the battle

Extreme 1[]

"We've got a flipper on the front, mincers on the side and piercers at the back. Our middle name is damage."
— Nigel Paget in the team introduction

Spirit of Knightmare participated in a Mayhem qualifier battle against the experienced Judge Shred 2½ and former heat-finalist Bulldog Breed 3 for a right to fight in the second Annihilator of the series.

SoKramsJS2

Spirit of Knightmare rams Judge Shred 2½

All three robots began tentatively, but Spirit of Knightmare closed in on Judge Shred 2½, but missed an attack. It held back briefly whilst Bulldog Breed 3 and Judge Shred 2½ nudged each other, before driving under Judge Shred 2½. However, it failed to flip Judge Shred 2½ after turning away too quickly and allowing Judge Shred 2½ to fall off its wedge before it could use its flipper.

"Spirit of Knightmare trying to get that flipper to work. It's a full-width pneumatic flipper, the full 70cm width of the machine, but it doesn't seem too mobile, Spirit of Knightmare."
— Jonathan Pearce

Instead, Spirit of Knightmare rammed into Judge Shred 2½ backwards with its rear spikes, although this caused little damage to its opponents and caused Spirit of Knightmare to stop moving. After a brief pause, it came back to lift and wedged itself under Bulldog Breed 3, pushing it towards the arena wall. Bulldog Breed 3 moved away to try and attack Judge Shred 2½, so Spirit of Knightmare wedged underneath Bulldog Breed 3 again, pinning it against the angle grinder, but it was not underneath far enough and its attempt to flip Bulldog Breed 3 simply pushed its opponent off its wedge. As Bulldog Breed 3 retreated across the far end of the arena to target Judge Shred 2½, Spirit of Knightmare gave chase and rammed into the back of Bulldog Breed 3 with its spikes, only to stop moving again on impact.

SoK counted out

Spirit of Knightmare is counted out

"Spirit of Knightmare, are they immobilised? Are they still?"
— Jonathan Pearce notes Spirit of Knightmare's immobility

This time, Spirit of Knightmare did not start moving again, prompting Refbot to come in and count it out as Dead Metal and Shunt began to investigate. Once Spirit of Knightmare had been counted out, Shunt landed two axe blows on its top armour, hitting the image of the knight, just as Bulldog Breed 3 flipped Judge Shred 2½ onto its back. Dead Metal then pushed Spirit of Knightmare onto the floor flipper, missing a saw attack in the process. Spirit of Knightmare was thrown across the arena and landed on its back near the flame pit, revealing its revised "Who Needs A Srimech?" logo again. The flip managed to bring Spirit of Knightmare back to life and it drove away from the flame pit.

"There's the little logo, "Who Needs A Srimech?"...well, you don't if you're wedge-shaped and you can bounce, but unfortunately when you do that in defeat, it's too late!"
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare's logo is exposed
SoK underside

Spirit of Knightmare's underside is revealed by the floor flipper

However, it was too late for Spirit of Knightmare to rejoin the battle and it was largely ignored as the House Robots closed in to attack Judge Shred 2½. Spirit of Knightmare was later overturned again off-screen and stopped moving once again, ultimately losing the Mayhem to Bulldog Breed 3.

"The wedge-shaped Spirit of Knightmare was always too strong for Judge Shred, but not for Bulldog Breed. They actually won the Mayhem but then conked out, so the Spirit lives on"
— Jonathan Pearce reveals Spirit of Knightmare's reinstatement

However, Bulldog Breed 3 was forced to withdraw from the annihilator after suffering terminal damage from Hypno-Disc in The Fifth Wars, which was filmed between the Mayhem and Annihilator. Despite being the first of its opponents to be immobilised, Spirit of Knightmare was reinstated in Bulldog Breed 3's place - Jonathan Pearce's commentary implying that it was deemed to have performed better overall than Judge Shred 2½ prior to its immobilisation. In the Annihilator, Spirit of Knightmare faced Series 2 champion Panic Attack, former semi-finalist Napalm 2, former heat-finalist The Steel Avenger, fellow Series 4 debutant Disc-O-Inferno and fellow reinstatement Fighting Torque.

Julia Reed: "You looking forward to this?"
Malcolm Summers: "Very much so. Any robot, any time, any place, anywhere, that's us!"
Julia Reed: "Come on!"
Lee Summers: "Yeah, we're Knightmare by name and nightmare by nature"
— Confidence before the annihilator
SoK vs Napalm 2

Spirit of Knightmare wedges under Napalm

In the first round, Spirit of Knightmare immediately targeted Napalm 2 - which had entered the arena with compromised mobility - and wedged underneath it, before lifting Napalm 2 up with its flipper and pushing it into the angle grinder. Disc-O-Inferno struck Spirit of Knightmare's left side, turning it around, but Napalm 2 remained wedged on top. Spirit of Knightmare continued to drive Napalm 2 around, pushing it towards Panic Attack and The Steel Avenger, as well as allowing Disc-O-Inferno to cause damage to Napalm 2's right side. Spirit of Knightmare briefly left Napalm 2 suspended on top of Panic Attack, but soon came back to target the Series 2 semi-finalist, ramming it front on, but failing to get underneath and missing a flip. Spirit of Knightmare continued the attack and was able to get underneath Napalm 2 by ramming it into Fighting Torque. It then fired its flipper, hooking underneath Napalm 2 and dragging it back towards Sir Killalot's CPZ, although not without taking an axe blow from The Steel Avenger in the process. It then drove away as Sir Killalot picked up Napalm 2 before dropping it to the floor, but quickly reversed back, where its flipper briefly stuck open. After a side-slam from Disc-O-Inferno, Spirit of Knightmare was able to close its flipper.

"Spirit of Knightmare, has the flipper stuck open? No, they come down! Saw movement there from the prongs at the back as well"
— Jonathan Pearce

Spirit of Knightmare held back for a moment whilst Panic Attack, The Steel Avenger and Fighting Torque attacked each other, but rushed in to wedge briefly underneath Disc-O-Inferno. It then targeted Fighting Torque, getting underneath and lifting it up with its flipper.

"Spirit of Knightmare in underneath as well! Looking impressive early on, Spirit of Knightmare, here."
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare attacks Fighting Torque

After backing away from Fighting Torque, Spirit of Knightmare briefly wedged underneath The Steel Avenger and then spun in the centre of the arena before trying to reverse into Disc-O-Inferno, only to take a blow from the side. Spirit of Knightmare retaliated, pushing Disc-O-Inferno from behind, but missing an attack with one of its axes. Following this, Spirit of Knightmare held back again for a while, before ramming into Fighting Torque, nudging it towards the flame pit. It then reversed into the Scottish machine, before charging across the arena to attack The Steel Avenger, eventually hitting it front on, but neither robot was able to land an attack. By this point, Disc-O-Inferno had immobilised Fighting Torque and Napalm 2 had broken down near the arena wall, causing Spirit of Knightmare to hold back again. However, after Disc-O-Inferno was briefly lifted up by Panic Attack, Spirit of Knightmare wedged underneath it and pushed it into Matilda's flywheel, which immediately rendered Disc-O-Inferno immobile.

"And Spirit of Knightmare shoving away at Disc-O-Inferno which seemed invincible coming into this annihilator for me! But the blade has stopped spinning, it looks like! That's the way to do it, in underneath, take it onto Matilda and the great flywheel, spun Disc-O-Inferno into the air. Good driving of Spirit of Knightmare."
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare attacks Disc-O-Inferno

Spirit of Knightmare then pushed against Disc-O-Inferno before being lifted briefly from the side by Panic Attack, but it was able to escape. The fight ended with Spirit of Knightmare being one of only three robots still mobile, alongside Panic Attack and The Steel Avenger, and it progressed through as Fighting Torque was counted out.

Through to the second round, Team Knightmare found that their robot had taken damage, most notably to its spinners, which had been damaged after an attack by Disc-O-Inferno bent the weapon shaft. Unable to fix it, the team entered Spirit of Knightmare into the rest of the Annihilator with its spinners disabled. However, it would ultimately progress through to the third round by default, as Napalm 2 withdrew due to being unable to drive properly and having suffered severe damage itself.

In the third round, Spirit of Knightmare begun the fight quickly, targeting The Steel Avenger and getting underneath it in a front-on charge before flipping The Steel Avenger onto its side.

"In goes Spirit of Knightmare. Now I'm surprised they're doing so well and all of a sudden, The Steel Avenger is on its side!"
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare makes the first attack

Spirit of Knightmare left The Steel Avenger alone as Panic Attack launched a push and lift on the overturned machine. Once The Steel Avenger righted itself, Spirit of Knightmare held back briefly, its flipper held open, until Disc-O-Inferno landed a small attack on its side. It then rammed The Steel Avenger, which had been overturned again off-screen by Panic Attack, knocking it back onto its wheels. Spirit of Knightmare then attacked Panic Attack from behind whilst it was attacking Disc-O-Inferno, wedging underneath it and pushing it towards the arena wall, but intervention from The Steel Avenger and Refbot caused Panic Attack to slip off Spirit of Knightmare's wedge. Panic Attack retaliated by attacking Spirit of Knightmare from behind itself, but it could not use its forklift and Spirit of Knightmare escaped unharmed. It then targeted The Steel Avenger once again and pushed it past the Flame Pit towards the bottom-right CPZ, but The Steel Avenger was able to escape. Following this, Spirit of Knightmare stayed out of the action briefly with only tentative nudges on The Steel Avenger, before missing an attack with its axes on Panic Attack. It then reversed into The Steel Avenger just as the Pit of Oblivion descended and landed an axe blow. Panic Attack then reversed into Spirit of Knightmare and tried to push it into the pit, but Spirit of Knightmare dodged to the side just in time, almost causing Panic Attack to fall into the pit itself.

"Oh, goodness me! Both Panic Attack and the Spirit of Knightmare came so close there!"
— Jonathan Pearce
SoK vs The Steel Avenger

Spirit of Knightmare flips The Steel Avenger

Spirit of Knightmare retaliated by pushing Panic Attack from the side and driving it towards the bottom-right CPZ, but Panic Attack was able to get away and push Spirit of Knightmare in itself, although the CPZ was devoid of a House Robot. Panic Attack then attacked Spirit of Knightmare head-on, pushing it into the arena wall and getting underneath, but Spirit of Knightmare survived unscathed as Panic Attack's lifting forks had been terminally damaged by The Steel Avenger earlier in the fight. As Panic Attack left to attack The Steel Avenger in the arena centre, Spirit of Knightmare gave chase, but was unable to get under Panic Attack again. Instead, it wedged underneath The Steel Avenger as it landed an axe blow on Panic Attack, pushed it away and flipped it onto its side. At the same moment, Disc-O-Inferno struck Spirit of Knightmare's open flipper, bouncing onto the overturned Steel Avenger. The Steel Avenger was unable to right itself and was counted out, putting Spirit of Knightmare through to the fourth round.

"And the damage was caused by Spirit of Knightmare, dragging away The Steel Avenger and rolling the Avenger. Very well armoured, Spirit of Knightmare, good control, not a bad top speed and impressive so far."
— Jonathan Pearce praising Spirit of Knightmare's performance

However, prior to the fourth round, Panic Attack was forced to withdraw due to suffering irreparable damage from Disc-O-Inferno and The Steel Avenger in the previous battle, despite being given extended time for repairs. This meant that Spirit of Knightmare, along with Disc-O-Inferno, progressed through to the Annihilator final after only two full rounds.

Disc-O-Inferno vs Spirit of Knightmare

Spirit of Knightmare meets its match

"Put 'em together, take 'em apart, put 'em back together again, Spirit of Knightmare!"
— Craig Charles introduces Spirit of Knightmare for the final

As the battle began, Spirit of Knightmare had the faster start, charing at Disc-O-Inferno, but only glancing towards the side. It chased after a retreating Disc-O-Inferno and managed to hit it side-on, buffeting Disc-O-Inferno upwards, but missing with its flipper. The two robots passed each other before Spirit of Knightmare turned and wedged underneath Disc-O-Inferno from the side, pushing it across the arena briefly. It then tried to use its flipper, but Disc-O-Inferno slipped off, turned and struck Spirit of Knightmare's right-hand flipper bracket, ripping it clean off.

"There's the little flipper...and something's come off the side of Spirit of Knightmare's flipper and it's bent and buckled and I wonder if that will be able to work properly!"
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare takes damage

Spirit of Knightmare was hesitant following this attack and moved in jerky movements, although Disc-O-Inferno made no attempts to attack it here. Spirit of Knightmare tried to chase after Disc-O-Inferno, but seemed to hesitate as Disc-O-Inferno crashed into Refbot, before landing a glancing blow on Spirit of Knightmare. The former heat-finalist chased after Disc-O-Inferno again, but spun away at the last moment, allowing Disc-O-Inferno to land an attack to the back-left side. Spirit of Knightmare then moved towards the far end of the arena in an attempt to press the pit-release button, but it continued to move in a jerky fashion, allowing Disc-O-Inferno to graze its flipper before it activated the pit. Spirit of Knightmare still tried to give chase, but it fired its flipper three times whilst nowhere near Disc-O-Inferno.

"And I don't think that is working properly, the pneumatic lifter! They don't seem to be moving freely, Spirit of Knightmare."
— Jonathan Pearce
Spirit of knightmare vs discoinferno

Disc-O-Inferno damages Spirit of Knightmare's flipper

Spirit of Knightmare still continued to pursue Disc-O-Inferno across the arena, but took glancing blows in the process and was unable to launch an attack of its own. Although Disc-O-Inferno lingered near the arena wall, Spirit of Knightmare did not capitalise, and Disc-O-Inferno launched another attack to its flipper, causing more damage to the front panel. Spirit of Knightmare twitched forward, allowing Disc-O-Inferno to land another hit to the flipper, warping it even further.

"Look at that! It really is deshevelled, and bent and buckled and almost ripped clean off there! On one side, it's actually buckled back onto itself!"
— Jonathan Pearce as Spirit of Knightmare takes more damage.
Spirit of Knightmare counted out

Spirit of Knightmare is counted out

As Spirit of Knightmare continued to struggle for movement, Disc-O-Inferno backed off before launching a heavy attack at the rear, warping the chassis and bending one of the axes. Spirit of Knightmare suddenly reversed into its opponent's flywheel twice in succession, causing itself more damage each time. It then nearly drove into Sergeant Bash's CPZ, but backed away before the House Robot could attack. It attempted to spin towards its opponent, but Disc-O-Inferno struck it hard on its right hand side, which spun it away and ripped another piece of armour off. Disc-O-Inferno landed another attack, spinning Spirit of Knightmare around, but it was clear by this point that Spirit of Knightmare had been immobilised. Refbot moved in to count it out, but not without Disc-O-Inferno hitting it twice more, warping the rear even more.

"Look at the back of it as well, as the Refbot starts to count them out! It's almost crumpled! It's almost split apart! And they're out of the competition, Spirit of Knightmare!"
— Jonathan Pearce
SoK remains

The remains of Spirit of Knightmare

The House Robots immediately moved in to attack the beaten Spirit of Knightmare, with Shunt axing it through the top panel and dragging it onto the Floor Flipper. The resulting flip threw Spirit of Knightmare across the arena and it landed close to the Pit of Oblivion, which allowed Shunt to adjust its position and push it in. As a result, Spirit of Knightmare finished the Annihilator in second place, although not without Craig Charles praising its durability.

"Can I just say that, to get this far, robots have been dropping out, they've been pulling out, they've been battered - it shows the durability of your robot, it shows its tenacity."
— Craig Charles

This was the last appearance of Knightmare, with the team subsequently building Raging Reality for the next domestic championship.

"Spirit of Knightmare just had an awful dream. It dreamt it'd just been battered, on Robot Wars Extreme."
— Craig Charles' sign-off

Results[]

KNIGHTMARE - RESULTS
Series 4
The Fourth Wars - UK Championship
Heat Final
Heat L, Eliminator vs. Banshee, Spawn of Scutter (10) Qualified
Heat L, Semi Final vs. Plunderbird 4 (26) Won
Heat L, Final vs. Spawn of Scutter (10) Lost
SPIRIT OF KNIGHTMARE - RESULTS
Extreme 1
Mayhem & Annihilator
Annihilator Runner-Up
Mayhem vs. Bulldog Breed 3, Judge Shred 2½ Lost
NOTE: After winning the mayhem battle, Bulldog Breed 3 was forced to drop out of the Annihilator after taking severe damage from Hypno-Disc in another battle, so Spirit of Knightmare took its place
Annihilator, Round 1 vs. Disc-O-Inferno, Fighting Torque,
Napalm 2, Panic Attack, The Steel Avenger
Qualified
Annihilator, Round 2 vs. Disc-O-Inferno, Napalm 2,
Panic Attack, The Steel Avenger
Qualified (by default)
Annihilator, Round 3 vs. Disc-O-Inferno, Panic Attack, The Steel Avenger Qualified
Annihilator, Round 4 vs. Disc-O-Inferno, Panic Attack Qualified (by default)
Annihilator, Final vs. Disc-O-Inferno Lost

Wins/Losses[]

  • Wins: 4
  • Losses: 3

The second round and fourth rounds of the Annihilator, skipped because Napalm 2 and Panic Attack withdrew from damage, are omitted from the wins tally.

Series Record[]

Knightmare s4 arena side

Knightmare in the first round

Main Series Knightmare Series Record
The First Wars Did not enter
The Second Wars Did not enter
The Third Wars Did not enter
The Fourth Wars Heat Final as Knightmare
The Fifth Wars Failed to qualify as Spirit of Knightmare
The Sixth Wars Entered with Raging Reality
The Seventh Wars Entered with Raging Knightmare
Series 8 Did not enter
Series 9 Did not enter
Series 10 Did not enter
Robot Wars Extreme Appearances
Series 1 Entered as Spirit of Knightmare
Series 2 Entered with Raging Reality

Outside Robot Wars[]

Team Knightmare salvaged parts from Knightmare to use for Raging Reality and also used Knightmare's shell to test out the later robot designs by filling it with weight. Knightmare's shell was later recycled.[1]

Trivia[]

Who Needs A Shrimech

The "Who needs a srimech" sign on the underside of Knightmare

  • The original Knightmare was the only robot to fight a seed in every battle, and win at least once.
  • The Series 4 version of Knightmare is the only robot from Team Knightmare not to fight in an Annihilator (Spirit of Knightmare fought in the Extreme 1 Annihilator, Raging Reality fought in the Extreme 2 Annihilator and Raging Knightmare fought in the Series 7 Annihilator).
  • Knightmare's successor robot Raging Knightmare would go on to avenge Knightmare's defeat in Series 7 by defeating Spawn Again. This meant that Scutterbots/Knightmare became the second of three rivalries (after Team 101/King Buxton and followed by Pulsar/Ironside3) where both teams won a heat by defeating the other.
  • Knightmare was the only robot from Team Knightmare to never throw an opponent out of the arena.
  • Knightmare is one of only two robots to use "Spirit of" in its title for its updated incarnation, the other being Scorpion.

References[]

  1. Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Lee Summers in October 2021

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