Battlebots Recap: Episode 5

Last night Battlebots pushed through the final eight matches in the Round of 32 to set things up for the Sweet Sixteen, which meant we got four full fights and four cut matches.  Here’s what happened:

Beta vs. Overhaul

Beta is a strange bot, in that its main motion is reminiscent of a certain stripper flailing around in a swimming pool, but it seems to get the job done.  It’s been the most successful hammer bot thus far in the competition, and showed no signs of slowing down when pitted against lifter/crusher Overhaul.  Overhaul missed its one great chance to activate its pincer and Beta was able to pound it into submission for a knockout win.  Here’s a pretty extensive breakdown of the fight from Overhaul’s designer, Charles Guan.

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Hypershock vs. Warrior Clan

A number of robots seem to have adapted a modular approach to weapons, but Hypershock took this to the next level by literally attaching a rake in order to deal with Warrior Clan’s drone “Dragon”.  It was a brilliant maneuver in two ways – their takedown of the drone was awesome and produced a magnificent explosion, and later it came in handy as they were able to fend Warrior Clan’s main bot off during the endgame.  Hypershock looked like they might have to dance around the ring and take a judge’s decision, but they ended up doing enough damage to win by knockout.

hypershock

Stinger vs. Mega Tento

I can’t stand Mega Tento’s design, it really irritates me.  Its stupid corral really seems useless and pretty much was in this match; its backside vertical spinner was the only part that did a bit of damage to Stinger, who completely dominated the fight – pushing Mega Tento around the arena into various hazards and torching it repeatedly with its flamethrower – but got robbed in a bullshit split decision by the judges.  It was a pretty lame fight and a lame decision.

megatenta
THIS IS BATTLEBOTS NOT HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS! BOO!

The cut fights were next…

Icewave vs. Nightmare

You’d think that a vertical spinner vs. a horizontal spinner would make for an entertaining match, but apparently not as Icewave knocked out Nightmare’s blade but lost its own drivetrain in the process and was summarily counted out.  So it looks like there were about ten very interesting seconds worth of this match, but that’s about it.

Brutus vs. Lockjaw

In what was described as a “driving exhibition” (in NFL terms, a “defensive struggle” with lots of punts), Battlebots’ answer to Marshawn Lynch (gold, grills, and guns) Brutus took a split decision in a fight that ended with a lack of visible damage to either contestant.

Bombshell vs. Cobalt

Bombshell had a horizontal spinner that’s capable of in-match height adjustment, so in response to Cobalt’s attempt to back into the fight and use its armor to take out the blade, (the same technique RTD favorite Bronco used to take out Chromefly), Bombshell’s drivers simply used the time to lower their spinning blade to the perfect height where it sheared off Cobalt’s tires and left him stranded to be counted out.  Not the most visually compelling fight, but excellent strategy.

Bite Force vs. Ringmaster

In a matchup that normally might have been fun to watch, Bite Force made fairly easy work of spinner Ringmaster by taking out its ability to spin (and do any damage) but its own weapon malfunctioned before it could chop Ringmaster to bits, so it was forced to settle for a unanimous judges’ decision after the two bots could do nothing but drive in circle and kill time for the rest of the match.

Chomp vs. Captain Shrederator

Despite Battlebots producers clearly rooting for Chomp’s designer Zoe Stephenson (and RTD clearly rooting for Chomp), over jingoist Brian Nave, it seemed like Chomp’s design flaws would catch up to it.  But YET AGAIN, Chomp managed to somehow emerge as the winner.  Chomp did more visible damage to the floor with its flailing hammer spike, and to itself, as it got caught on top of the killsaws, than it did to Captain Shrederator, but apparently it landed enough hits as Shrederator repeatedly lost power and eventually stopped moving altogether.

So this leaves us with sixteen bots remaining.  In an interesting twist, robots that have appeared here on DFO (Bronco, Chomp, and Bite Force) have all advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.  I’m still pulling for Minotaur to win it all.  BrettFavre’sColonscopy currently leads the bracket challenge, though only two entries have seen their predicted champion fall so it’s still very much anyone’s game.  There are four matches coming up next week and here are my thoughts:

TOMBSTONE (-8) vs. Brutus: There’s no way Tombstone loses before the semifinals.

BRONCO (-2.5) vs. Razorback: Razorback was gifted a win over the insanely overrated Ghost Raptor. The books see this one as being close, as do I, but I the Bronco is able to take this one.

MINOTAUR (-4) vs. Warhead: You’ll see a lot of sparks flying in this one, but I’m fully in the tank for Minotaur and its monstrous drum spinner so this an easy call for me.

Red Devil vs. BOMBSHELL (+1):  I was very impressed with Bombshell’s use of strategy last week, so the points seem like a gift here.

See you next week, folks!  After that apparently the show is hiatus until August 25th, and Senor Weaselo will be back to take over.

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Rikki-Tikki-Deadly
Law-abiding Raiders fan, pet owner, Los Angeles resident.
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ballsofsteelandfury

I love being the hot blonde in the office that only made picks based on names and colors and is only one away from leading! WOOOOO!!!!

Senor Weaselo

Guess who had Stinger? THIS GUY. Really well done, RTD, and no, I go back up a second time to play another show, so I’ll have to play it by ear. I did watch the four cut fights on my phone so here’s my taeks on them.

Icewave vs. Nightmare: I picked Icewave fearing another Son of Whyachi/Warhead moment for Nightmare, and I wasn’t too far off, according to the post-fight report Nightmare lost its wheel guards, blew a weapon motor, speed controller, and the locking mechanism on the arm and Jim Smentowski had to completely disassemble and rework Nightmare’s frame, just barely getting everything fixed before the producers were going to replace them in the next round.

Brutus vs. Lock-Jaw: In the olden days Lock-Jaw wins the fight. Donald Hutson expertly controlled Brutus’s disc with Lock-Jaw’s plow and controlled the fight. But the current rules state that aggression and damage only count when the active weapon is involved, and they didn’t turn to the jaws early enough in the fight, it was the dying moments. I’m not happy with it, but under these rules Brutus deserved that win.

Bite Force vs. The Ringmaster: Disappointed, both weapons cut out early, and once it became a shoving match the circular bot is not likely to win it. I wasn’t too too impressed by the new weapon on Bite Force and this didn’t do anything to help it along, but last year’s spinner killer claims another victim.

Cobalt vs. Bombshell: Excellent strategy by Bombshell, poor strategy by Cobalt. If you’re claiming the strength of that spinner is what it is go weapon to weapon, don’t back in gingerly, charge. It cost them once Bombshell got the right height and shredded Cobalt’s tires.

As for me, I’ll take Tombstone since Last Rites has done the job against more powerful spinners, Bronco to flip Razorback 4 times and add another smear to the lexan, Minotaur to tear up my beloved Warhead, and I’m taking Bombshell to not use the axe like it did against Complete Control and learn from their mistakes because I have neither robot in my bracket and it doesn’t matter because Stinger lost so fuck my bracket anyway.

Senor Weaselo

Out of the TV fights they’ve only posted HyperShock-Warrior Clan because #TheRakening

BrettFavresColonoscopy

So did I win our bracket or what?