Panic Attack was a robot that competed in the British television game 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. It also won the "Sumo Basho" competition in Series 4.
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 left the team to work as a technical assistant on the show, 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.
Robot History
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 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 into the pit of oblivion.
Series 4
Panic Attack returned for Series 4 as the fourth seed, in recognition for winning Series 2. In the first round, they 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 into 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 lead 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 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
Series 6
Series 7
Robot Wars Extreme
Results
Series 2
Heats
- Gauntlet: Qualified
- Trial (Sumo): Qualified
- Arena Semi-Final vs Whirling Dervish: Won
- Arena Final vs Disruptor: Won
The Series 2 Panic Attack
Semi-Finals
- Gauntlet: Qualified
- Trial (Pinball): Qualified
- Arena vs Mortis: Won
Grand Final
- Eliminator vs Killertron: Won
- Final vs Cassius: Won
Series 3
Heats
- Round 1 vs Axios: Won
- Round 2 vs Toe Cutter: Won
- Round 3 vs X-Terminator: Won
Semi-Finals
The First World Championship
- Eliminator vs 101: Lost
Firestorm ends Panic Attack's reign
Series 4
Heats
- Eliminator vs Overkill GTI vs S.M.I.D.S.Y: Qualified
- Semi-Final vs Saw Point: Won
- Final vs S.M.I.D.S.Y: Won
Semi-Finals
- Round 1 vs Spawn of Scutter: Won
- Round 2 vs Stinger: Lost
War of Independence
- Round 1 vs Rammstein: Won
- Round 2 vs Mortis: Lost
Extreme Series 1
All-Stars
- Round 1 vs Firestorm 3: Lost
Mayhem vs Diotoir vs Shear Khan: Won
Annihilator 2 vs Spirit Of Knightmare vs Fighting Torque vs Napalm vs Steel Avenger vs Disc-O-Inferno
- Round 1: Qualified
- Round 2: Qualified
- Round 3: Qualified
- Round 4: Eliminated
Note: Panic Attack had suffered terrible damage and were unable to fix it, so the competition skipped to Round 5 and Panic Attack was eliminated.
Wild Card Warriors vs Axe Awe: Won
Vengeance vs X-Terminator: Won
International Inferno vs Flensburger Power vs Manta vs Maximill: Won
Series 5
Heats
- Eliminator vs Barber-ous: Won
- Semi-Final vs Tiberius 2: Won
- Final vs Kat 3: Won
Semi-Finals
- Round 1 vs Pussycat: Lost
- Losers Melee vs Wheely Big Cheese vs Firestorm 3: Lost
Series 6
Heats
- Round 1 vs R.O.C.S. vs Corkscrew vs Kronic 2: Qualified
- Round 2 vs A-Kill: Won
- Final vs Terrorhurtz: Lost
Extreme Series 2
Commonwealth Carnage
- Round 1 vs Terror Turtle vs Cerberus vs Crushtacean: Qualified
- Round 2 vs Firestorm 4: Lost
Series 7
Heats
- Round 1 vs Mega Morg vs Edge Hog vs Spin Doctor: Qualified
- Round 2 vs Tough As Nails: Lost
All-Stars Championship
- Round 1 vs Bigger Brother vs Kat 3 vs Firestorm 5: Qualified
- Semi-Final vs Dantomkia: Lost
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
Honours
Series 2
- Second Wars Grand Champion
Series 4
- Sumo Champion
| ||||||||||||||||||||