Manta (UK)

This article is about the British robot which attempted to enter Series 8. For the American entrant in Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, see Manta.

Manta
Manta, as it appeared at the time of Series 8
Participation Information
UK Series	8 (not selected)
Robot Wars Live Circuit	2013-16
Team Information
Team	Team Shock
Team Members	Will Thomas Ian Thomas
From	Reading
Robot Statistics
Power	2 x Bosch motors
Weapons	Flipper
Statistics correct as of its most recent show/competition appearance, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Manta was a heavyweight robot that attempted to enter Series 8 of Robot Wars. It was submitted for qualification alongside Team Shock's other heavyweights Maelstrom and Shockwave, but was not selected, with Shockwave ultimately being chosen to compete in the series. Prior to this, Manta had enjoyed considerable success at Robot Wars Live Events, and other live robotic events, including a win at the 2013 Winter Tour, and second place at the 2013 UK Championship, later becoming an FRA UK Champion in 2017.

Design

Manta is a wedge-shaped robot painted blue and silver, and armed with a full-pressure pneumatic flipper. For its small size, Manta's flipper is more than capable of throwing other robots over and out of the arena in live events, and it can reach high top speeds.

Robot History

Series 8

Manta makes a cameo appearance on Robot Wars

Although Manta was not selected as an entrant in Series 8, it made a cameo appearance during Team Shock's VT before Shockwave's battle with Foxic, sitting on a workbench while Will Thomas was engineering.

Series Record

Series	Manta Series Record
Series 1-7	Did not enter
Series 8	Not selected Entered with Shockwave Not selected with Maelstrom
Series 9	Entered with Aftershock
Series 10	Entered with Aftershock

• NOTE 1: Will Thomas also competed in Battle of the Stars as the mentor of Soldier Ant.
• NOTE 2: Will Thomas' students entered Series 10 with Track-tion

Outside Robot Wars

Manta at the 2016 UK Championship

In 2013, Manta earned second place in the UK Championship and European Championship that year, as well as first place at the Roaming Robots Winter Tour. Manta followed this up with third place in the 2014 UK Championship.

In October 2016, Manta fought at a Robots Live! event in Stevenage, competing in the 2016 FRA UK Heavyweight Championship. It finished runners-up to eventual champion Gabriel, flipping robots such as Dystopia out of the arena along the way.

Manta vs Eruption, Maidstone 2017

Manta in late 2017

In 2017, Manta fought at Extreme Robots in Guildford, and repeatedly challenged Eruption to head-to-head battles, but did not emerge victorious. In Gloucester, Manta fought Thor, Deadlock and The Saint. It later immobilised Vortex and Two-Headed Death Flamingo, also winning that particular battle over Tauron. It then won a battle against ThunderChild and Rattler outright, by flipping the former over and pitting the latter. In a head-to-head battle with Eruption, Manta pitted its foe, but Eruption self-righted out of the pit, and then Manta fell in itself. It closed out the show with a full battle against Ripper. It fought Eruption several times in Maidstone, at the last Extreme Robots of the year, also battling robots such as TMHWK, Weird mAlice, Saint and Iron-Awe 5 and 7.

Manta in its 2017 UK Championship victory

Manta earns second place at the 2018 UK Championship

Manta (right) in September 2019 with its third place trophy

Manta achieved its biggest success in October 2017, winning the FRA UK Heavyweight Championship in 2017, defeating Iron-Awe 5 in the Grand Final. It was repainted in celebration, branding the robot's name and its new title on the flipper, also using the same shade of blue seen on Aftershock's disc. Manta continues to be a regular participant at live events, its most recent appearance being at the Robots Live! Burgess Hill event in April 2018. It won the event outright, doing so by defeating Eruption in the final. Later that year, it finished second in the 2018 FRA UK Championship at Stevenage, relinquishing its title to Eruption. In the 2019 championship, Manta was knocked out by the eventual champion Iron-Awe 6, but defeated YOTON to finish in third place.

In 2021, Manta received a new black paint scheme and a host of internal upgrades ahead of its reappearance at the Robots Live! Crawley event that October. Competing alongside Team Shock's new machine Tectonic, its run of success was limited following recurring reliability issues with the new internals. For 2022, Manta regained its familiar blue paint scheme ahead of appearances at the Extreme Robots Portsmouth, Guildford and Colchester events.

In November 2022, Manta was one of two heavyweights featuring in Battle Of The Mechs, a promotional crossover event organised by Extreme Robots and the card game Magic: The Gathering. Competing under the team name Urza, it featured a new paint scheme - dark blue, gold and red - along with visual modifications including decorative pipework and a centre grille with orange lighting placed on the flipper. Team Urza - comprising of Team Shock plus online personalities RTGame and Kiwo - won the Agility, Skill and Weapons Trials, before losing the climatic battle to Team Mishra's machine after their machine's flipper lost the ability to self-right.

Manta at Extreme Robots Brentwood, May 2023

For the 2023 live season, Team Shock overhauled Manta to feature a new flipper arm and front end, along with a new blue and black paint scheme. One of the team's three heavyweights for the Extreme Robots Brentwood event - alongside Aftershock and Tectonic - it enjoyed a more competitive showing despite encountering more technical issues on the first day. Manta would pick up three victories over the course of the weekend, against Iron-Awe 6, Beast and the brand-new Ripper VII, but lost its championship challenge to incumbent belt holder Eruption. At the Guildford leg, Manta collected an additional head-to-head win over The Saint, alongside a pair of Tag Team wins with Troublemaker and Meggamouse respectively. This win tally was repeated at Newcastle on 22-23 July, with Troublemaker and Thor being Manta's partners for the event. However, Manta would also suffer a surprise defeat to Meggamouse during the 23 July show, after running out of gas and being unable to self-right in the latter stages of their head-to-head.

Following the summer break, Manta returned to Extreme Robots Colchester on 16-17 September 2023, joined by Tectonic and the newly-introduced Poseidon. Again, it united with Thor to win a team battle against The Saint and TR4, before defeating The Saint, Ignition and Shane Lale's new machine Alpha in a four-way melee. At Maidstone (21-22 October), a further Tag Team win was collected by Manta against Brutus and Meggamouse, again with Thor as partner, alongside a one-on-one victory over Iron-Awe 6. However, Manta would end up losing its other battles of the weekend to Gabriel and Ignition, the latter after getting shoved into the Fire Pit hazard by Brutus.

The end-of-season Extreme Robots Cheltenham event (11-12 November) saw Manta again participating in multiple battles, now with an extra layer of HDPE armour to absorb axe blows. In this form, it is known to have lost two separate head-to-heads against Eruption and a melee to Implosion, but won a Tag Team battle alongside Troublemaker; the latter against Ripper 6 and Gabriel.

A featherweight version, Mini Manta, was built in 2012 and competed until 2015, where it was retired until it was sold to Team Azur in early August 2021. Under Team Azur's ownership, it was repainted orange and renamed to Fanta after the orange soft drink.

Mini Manta as of August 2021

Fanta as of August 2021

Robot Wars Live Events

Manta as it looked when first built in 2013

Manta made its debut on the live circuit in 2013. Manta's greatest achievement in 2015 was reaching the semi-finals of the Robot Wars World Championships in Colchester. Manta won its first round in impressive fashion, first throwing DTK out of the arena, and followed this up by flipping Titan and Apex out as well. In the second round, Manta flipped Dystopia out of the arena, allowing it to win the resulting Judges’ decision over Iron-Awe 7. Manta promptly flipped Tough As Nails out in the quarter-finals, but eventually fell to the same method against the eventual champion Toxic 2 in the semi-final.

Manta was one of the two main mascots of Robot Wars live tours, as there was a regular part of the show where half of the audience were told to cheer for Team Ripper, while the other half cheered for Team Manta. Audience members on Team Manta had the opportunity to win a Team Manta cap, or any audience member could purchase one from the merchandise stall.