Robot Wars creator Marc Thorpe has died after a decades-long battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Marc is remembered for founding the popular competition series Robot Wars as well as building incredible models for iconic Hollywood films including Indiana Jones and Star Wars.
The news of Marc's death was sadly confirmed by his daughter Megan Feffer who shared a candid post about her father's heartbreaking health battle in a Facebook post.
She detailed how her father, who had the idea for the famous competition show while designing outlandish weapons and droids, struggled to work on his projects due to his Parkinson's battle.
Announcing her father's death, Megan penned: "This morning my dad, Marc Thorpe, passed away. This was his 30th year with Parkinson's Disease.
"Although I'm sure it's different for every patient, for him early-onset Parkinson's Disease started out with relatively mild tremors, and then over time progressed toward less and less bodily autonomy – something particularly torturous for a fiercely independent artist like my dad whose joy in life was to create things with his hands.
"While the disease itself is not technically considered terminal, it does eventually remove crucial functions like movement and swallowing – functions essential for life."
Megan detailed the "challenging" last weeks her father experienced as she added that she was "grateful" he is "finally at peace."
She also explained how it had been "eye opening" to realise that the care system "is not set up to adequately support patients with progressive, degenerative diseases."
She said: "To say the last few months, and especially the last few weeks, were challenging for my dad would be an understatement, and I am grateful that he is finally at peace."
Megan continued: "But if there's one thing I know for sure it's that my dad would want to be remembered – and not for his Parkinson's Disease. He would want to be remembered for his art.
"So, here are some photos of his work throughout the years. From being a model maker at ILM on Star Wars and Indiana Jones to his creation of Robot Wars, he made many, many beautiful, weird, detailed and strange things. And me… he helped make me. May his memory be a blessing."
On his Go Fund Me page set up in 2020, Marc penned: "I created the sport of fighting robots, producing and directing the first four Robot Wars events in San Francisco from 1994 – 1997.
"Before that I worked at Industrial Light and Magic making models and doing animatronic design for movies such as the Empire Strikes Back, return of the Jedi and the Indiana Jones trilogy to name a few."
Robot Wars was a UK robot combat competition series that ran from 1998 to 2004 and then again from 2016 to 2018.
The show aired on BBC and was launched with Jeremy Clarkson as the main presenter.
Thorpe first came up with the idea for Robot Wars in 1992, through his employment at LucasToys and building a 'radio-controlled vacuum cleaner'.
Recognising the potential for the tank to be modified with 'dangerous' weapons, and aligning this with his idea for 'fighting vehicle' toys, the idea of robot combat – along with the Robot Wars name – was born.
The show was a huge success and Robot Wars also held events in the US in 1995 and 1997.
Source: Read Full Article