Battlebots 2015: Episode 3 Review

Well, here we are, the first 4 fights of the round of 16, and the first of the true eliminations. Fights were determined by seed, you know, 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, and so on. It was a KO kind of night, with only 1 of 4 reaching the 3 minute mark, and honestly, the one that did go 3 minutes was over way before the buzzer ended the fight.

Ice Wave vs. Chomp

A horizontal spinning blade versus a bot whose sole strategy seemed to be spraying flame in the general direction of its opponents. Like seriously, why did Chomp get a wild card pick? It's big, fat, not sturdy in any way, and had clearly inferior weaponry. Ice Wave could have sat still and let Chomp run into it and still won.

Warhead vs. Stinger

At least Warhead makes sense as a wildcard. Unfortunately, it was thoroughly embarrassed once again, this time by Stinger. Stinger proved once again the effectiveness of a simple wedge in the Battlebox, especially if that wedge can lift. Warhead couldn't get past the wedge, and so it was dominated the entire time. I did think it was pretty cool of the Stinger team to keep Warhead in the fight the entire time, since the fight was basically over after 20 seconds. They put on a good show, at the very least.

Ghost Raptor vs. Warrior Clan

Finally, a fight where both robots actually won their first fight. Good of Ghost Raptor to get rid of the blade, that thing was literally useless, and the wedge/lifting arm is probably a better option. I say probably, because Warrior Clan did a whole lot of nothing the entire fight. With its opponent literally breaking down, all Ghost Raptor had to do was not break down first, and it didn't, so it got an extremely boring KO.

Plan X vs. Bronco

Basically, unless you have an extremely destructive robot and get a really good shot off first, if your robot cannot self-right or cannot drive upside down, you have basically no hope against a flipper, especially against Bronco. Plan X is not destructive, it cannot self right and it can't drive upside down. The fight lasted 30 seconds. It only took one flip.

Random Thoughts to close:

Finally some Killsaws in this episode. They do actually work.

How exactly were the seeds determined? Were they random, or was some thought put into them?

I noticed that Bronco is fighting Stinger in the quarterfinals. That might be an interesting fight.

Speaking of future fights, they put Lock-Jaw and Overhaul together again for their round of 16 fight. Hoping for more controversy, I guess.

Battlebots 2015: Episode 2 Review

This episode concluded the qualifying round. How did they manage this when they only show 4 fights a show and there were 8 fights to do? Simple, they only showed highlights from the other 4, which is disappointing. I'm not sure why they didn't want to do an extra show to, you know, show all the fights. But they didn't. So, let's review the fights they did show.


Overhaul vs. Lock-Jaw

In a close match, totally-not-Disector beat Overhaul, another clamping robot. Overhaul got off to a really good start, but I think the experience behind Lock-Jaw was just too much. Also, there was controversy of Lock-Jaw dishing out a late hit, but I guess it ultimately didn't matter.

Witch Doctor vs. Bronco

It was yet another multi-bot where the smaller robot had a flamethrower against Bronco, a bot from the same people who did Toro...and T-minus...and Matador. With Bronco, they took the bold step of...no they didn't. It was basically the same as its predecessors. This fight didn't last very long, as Witch Doctor got stuck after it got flipped into a gap on the edge of the stage. Bit of a design flaw of the stage if you ask me.

Tombstone vs. Counter Revolution

Two robots I'm completely unfamiliar this time around, both with big blades. Tombstone with a horizontal bar and Counter Revolution with two vertical saws. One of the robots got obliterated. It was the one that didn't look stupid. The weapon on Tombstone is something brutal, it's going to take some really fancy driving to beat that robot.

Complete Control vs. Ghost Raptor

I remember Complete Control back from the old days. It was a Middleweight back then, and my most vivid memory was it getting destroyed by Hazard. I mean, most robots in that division were, but I remember that fight was especially fun to watch. Well, Complete Control is a Heavyweight now, and to start off this fight, it got a net stuck in the blade of Ghost Rider. This was the most exciting point of the entire match. After a restart, Complete Control performed the equivalent of breaking its own leg on the floor, and Ghost Raptor's blade snapped in half after hitting its opponent once. Ghost Raptor won the fight, mostly because it was able to move.

Random Thoughts to close:

Seriously, what's up with flamethrowers? I guess the rules have been changed, and I know the House Robots in Robot Wars had them, but they don't feel right for Battlebots.

That net was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. I mean, in what sort of reasonable universe would that be allowed.

I saw the guy who did Minion in the highlight reel for the 4 qualifying fights they didn't show.

It doesn't feel right to have a Heavyweight division Battlebots tournament without Biohazard or Vlad the Impaler. I guess those guys have moved on, because they weren't there in any capacity.

The wild card thing was weird. Why didn't they just bring in 32 bots instead of 24?

Next week we get to the real competition, I'm looking forward to it.

Battlebots 2015: Episode 1 Review

Finally got around to watching the opening episode of this new Battlebots, and you know what? It wasn't too much different from the old Battlebots. I recognized at least half of the 8 teams present, and two of the robots were old veterans. I mean, it wouldn't be Battlebots without Nightmare, would it? Anyway, the fights were good, I wish there had a couple more of them, 4 was not quite enough.

Icewave vs. Razorback

The robot with the big horizontal spinning bar beat a robot that really didn't have any way to counter a big horizontal spinning bar. Razorback got KO'd pretty fast, and that wasn't much of a surprise.

Wrecks vs. Plan X

Plan X controlled the fight for almost the entire match, until it apparently got stuck on something and Wrecks shuffled its way over (and I do mean shuffled) and destroyed half of the other robot. Went to a decision, with the victory ultimately going to Plan X. I agree with that decision, if only for the reason that I really don't want to spend any more time looking at Wrecks. I mean, I've seen some pretty stupid designs in all the years I've been watching Battlebots, and a robot that relies on momentum from its saw to shuffle awkwardly across the room is a pretty stupid design.

Warhead vs. Bite Force

This one went the whole 3 minutes, but it was no contest. Warhead, the old veteran robot from the old Battlebots, got shoved about the entire match, and did virtually nothing to its opponent. An easy victory for Bite Force

Warrior Clan vs. Nightmare

The robot might be different, but we all remember what happened the last time when the Whyachi team went against Nightmare. It didn't go much better for Nightmare this time around either. At least it didn't lose any wheels.

Some random thoughts to close out here:

Where are the stage hazards? Specifically, where were the Killsaws? I know they have them, but I never once saw them. Where's the more than a little crazy guy to control the hazards? I mean, there hardly seems like a point if they don't get used.

I guess this is just heavyweights for this tournament? Maybe? There's only 24 robots here, which is a much smaller scale than the old Battlebots, which had 4 divisions and more than a 100 robots in total. Of course, we never got to see every fight, and maybe ABC is just testing the waters to see if Battlebots still has an audience. Hopefully if we get another season we'll see a more diverse field.

I miss the old stage announcer. That guy was awesome.

All in all, I'd say that Battlebots still has the charm that I remember, and I'm looking forward to seeing more robot fights. Hopefully I can review the next episode in a slightly more timely fashion.

Battlebots is Returning

Yes, you read that correctly. Battlebots is apparently making a comeback this summer. I remember watching Battlebots when I was young, it was great. Who doesn't like robots fighting each other in an arena filled with saws and sledgehammers? Sounds like a great formula to me. Really hope it works out, I'd love to have Battlebots back.

To celebrate, here's a video of Ziggo destroying some poor robot that decided a bit of wood was a good weapon against a bunch of rapidly spinning metal.

Or if you prefer non-wanton destruction...