Battlebots - General Discussion

[rmontro]

4-1 with my predictions this week.  I was hoping for 5-0 but for some reason I picked Chomp to win.  Which I was very hesitant to do because I think it's a ridiculous design.  But I didn't expect Overhaul to be able to pick it up and dunk it into the saw blades like that.  It was like watching a preying mantis handle its prey.  All I figured it would be able to do is knock it over.  Oh well.

[Destiny74]

3 hours ago, rmontro said:

4-1 with my predictions this week.  I was hoping for 5-0 but for some reason I picked Chomp to win.  Which I was very hesitant to do because I think it's a ridiculous design.  But I didn't expect Overhaul to be able to pick it up and dunk it into the saw blades like that.  It was like watching a preying mantis handle its prey.  All I figured it would be able to do is knock it over.  Oh well.

I rooted for overhaul but it was a tough choice.  I don't like either bot but Chomp landing on it's side every time it fires it's weapon (for the third televised season running) aggrivates me.  

[enoughcats]

OTOH, I rewatched the first match of the night several times.  That was absolutely the most refreshing brawl I've seen in a long time. 

And the main event.  OK, so all the metrics said the team from New Zealand should win.  Size, armor, new minds at work.  Only experience trumped them, quickly.

[rmontro]

4-1 on my predictions this week.  Witch Doctor dominated its fight against Blacksmith, but then got stuck on the screws!  If it hadn't gotten itself off of them at the last second to avoid a knockout, I would have had another loss.  

Where I messed up was picking Reality to defeat Duck.  I just couldn't take Duck seriously, since it doesn't seem to have any real weapon to speak of.  A beak with a weak wedge.  But Reality burned itself out against it.

I was glad to see the guy from the "Battle Royale w/Cheese" crew admit that there were design flaws in the robot in order to make it look like a burger.  I'd say it's time to drop the burger theme, then.

The Bronco vs. Lockjaw finale was kind of anticlimactic, with both teams having technical issues (Bronco won).  The announcer mentioned possible frequency issues, I wondered if their radios were interfering with each other?

[chitowngirl]

Witch Doctor got SO lucky that she got herself off the screws at the last seconds.

eta-only in the Battlebots thread would that sentence make sense!

Edited June 30, 2018 by chitowngirl

[libgirl2]

On 6/30/2018 at 10:55 AM, rmontro said:

4-1 on my predictions this week.  Witch Doctor dominated its fight against Blacksmith, but then got stuck on the screws!  If it hadn't gotten itself off of them at the last second to avoid a knockout, I would have had another loss.  

Where I messed up was picking Reality to defeat Duck.  I just couldn't take Duck seriously, since it doesn't seem to have any real weapon to speak of.  A beak with a weak wedge.  But Reality burned itself out against it.

I was glad to see the guy from the "Battle Royale w/Cheese" crew admit that there were design flaws in the robot in order to make it look like a burger.  I'd say it's time to drop the burger theme, then.

The Bronco vs. Lockjaw finale was kind of anticlimactic, with both teams having technical issues (Bronco won).  The announcer mentioned possible frequency issues, I wondered if their radios were interfering with each other?

I didn't think Duck would do it, but it hung in there. 

Yes, Battle Royale got torn apart. The design is cutesy but flawed. And that little burger went flying. Wow. 

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 10:55 AM, rmontro said:

The Bronco vs. Lockjaw finale was kind of anticlimactic

There seem to be a lot of these lately.  The first several episodes of the season were really good, I thought, but the last few not so much.  Several where one big hit (sometimes the first hit) knocks out a bot, and a couple where a bot that dominates for most of the round suddenly starts smoking and stops moving and the (generally) inferior bot wins.  The featured matchups have been particularly prone to this.

After watching most of the extra battles on the Science channel airing, I can understand why they didn't make the "big leagues" on the Discovery channel airing; most of them are pretty lame with poorly thought out designs and tentative driving.  However, you have to start somewhere.

[enoughcats]

On 6/30/2018 at 11:55 AM, rmontro said:

The Bronco vs. Lockjaw finale was kind of anticlimactic, with both teams having technical issues (Bronco won).  The announcer mentioned possible frequency issues, I wondered if their radios were interfering with each other?

Technical issues is a nice way of saying neither one was fully functional.  Upon rewatching it looked as if Lockjaw had lost one side of its controls and they were having to try to relearn how to drive with one side non functional.  Bronco seemed to have lost one side as well and his tossing mechanism didn't seem to align with when I would have sent a signal to flip.  Aside from frequency problems, maybe both had gremlins?????

Could a cell phone jammer have wrecked havoc?

___________________________________________________________

What made the old Battlebots great (IMO) was the competition in many size classes.  The small bots that came up with ideas that then grew with time and expertise.  

Right now it seems to be spinner, tosser, * repeat.  Too many of them have forgotten how to right themselves.  Maybe this is why I like Huge.  Such a different materials and approach (ok, the spinner is there, but its delivery is different.)

eta. * I forgot hammer.  Maybe because they seem to fail often and I include don't hit when they need to in 'fail'.

Edited July 2, 2018 by enoughcats
prefer to forget hammer

[4Sibes Redux]

56 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Maybe this is why I like Huge.  Such a different materials and approach (ok, the spinner is there, but its delivery is different.)

Oh yeah! That’s why I like Huge. I doubt it’ll win the whole thing, but there probably won’t be plans to specifically beat it, either. 

 

I really hate the costumey teams and the bots that waste their weight limit on decorations. That’s why I love cheering against Witch Doctor so much. My loud jeering scares the  dogs  

 

I loved seeing the burger get demolished... Especially the little burger. I was surprised, however, that no one mentioned the little rake that the small burger had. I assumed it was because of Hypershock’s prior take success. 

 

Final point, I do love seeing drones get destroyed. 

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Yes, Battle Royale got torn apart. The design is cutesy but flawed. And that little burger went flying. Wow. 

It was oddly satisfying seeing that little cheeseburger demolished, lol.  I don't know what they thought they were going to be able to do with it anyway.  Besides, I don't know why they didn't design it to look like a bag of fries.

6 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Maybe this is why I like Huge.  Such a different materials and approach

Agreed, I like Huge also.  It's a breath of fresh air with its unique design.

[libgirl2]

15 hours ago, rmontro said:

It was oddly satisfying seeing that little cheeseburger demolished, lol.  I don't know what they thought they were going to be able to do with it anyway.  Besides, I don't know why they didn't design it to look like a bag of fries.

Agreed, I like Huge also.  It's a breath of fresh air with its unique design.

That is a great idea! 

[QuantumMechanic]

What/who controls the screws?

Witch Doctor only escaped the KO because the screws reversed direction just before WD was counted out.

Seemed fishy as hell.

[enoughcats]

Oh, be still, my beating heart.  I could have watched Huge vs. Chomp go on for another six minutes.  Everything I haven't liked about Chomp came into play and everything I like about Huge also came into play. 

I so want Zoe (I might finally have her name correct) to make some major adaptations to Chomp.  Now that the world has seen the weakness of Chomp's hammer maybe they'll rethink.

I loved the little surrender bot that did get Chomp's attention and C's first blast of flames (that missed the little one.)

[4Sibes Redux]

22 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

Oh, be still, my beating heart.  I could have watched Huge vs. Chomp go on for another six minutes. 

Yes!  I love HUGE. I just am not picturing a way to disable it. Based of what I observed tonight, I don’t think that pushing it over the screws will be the answer. 

 

I don’t think I’ve ever liked Chomp’s design. And this year it seems like they only improved technology that is of no help. 

 

I hope to see HUGE vs Tombstone sooner than later. I think it will be an interesting fight. 

[rmontro]

I was 3-2 on my predictions this week.  I didn't expect Petunia to win, but Captain Shredderator seemed to suffer from having a rookie driver.

I also thought Ice Wave would beat Skorpios, but the judges gave it to Skorpios.  That fight could have gone either way.  Skorpios was pushing Ice Wave around, but it's primary weapon wasn't working at all, while Ice Wave tore a lot of pieces off of it.  I thought damage with the primary weapon was supposed to be the most important thing?

Yeti beating Bombshell could have also gone either way.  Bombshell dominated the fight, but caught fire and stopped working as time ran out.  There wasn't enough time left to get the actual KO.

Brutus vs Warhawk was another good battle, with Brutus coming out on top despite losing its vertical spinner.

Huge vs Chomp was also entertaining, Huge has such an innovative design.  Chomp put up a much better battle than expected though.

[Quilt Fairy]

This is the second time that Huge has gone up against an opponent that used fire on it.  I keep expecting the wheels to melt, but they are apparently made out of one hell of a durable material.  However,  Chomp was also hitting the center of Huge where all the electronics are.  You could see the scorch marks clearly, I am surprised that didn't take it down. 

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

I also thought Ice Wave would beat Skorpios, but the judges gave it to Skorpios.  That fight could have gone either way

I agree with Kenny, if you keep hitting and destroying your opponent and all it does is push you around the ring, you should win that fight.  Ice Wave got cheated of a win.

Edited July 7, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[QuantumMechanic]

During the Icewave/Skorpius fight I kept my eyes on the screws. I never saw them reverse direction - they rotated inwards the entire time.

So even more I believe there were shenanigans to save Witch Doctor from the KO last week.

[jhlipton]

On 7/7/2018 at 4:19 PM, QuantumMechanic said:

During the Icewave/Skorpius fight I kept my eyes on the screws. I never saw them reverse direction - they rotated inwards the entire time.

So even more I believe there were shenanigans to save Witch Doctor from the KO last week.

I saw the screws stop during one other fight, though, although it didn't matter then.  So I wouldn't say for sure.

Since there's prize money involved, I think it's illegal for them to screw with the screws.

[AwesomO4000]

On 7/6/2018 at 9:44 PM, 4Sibes Redux said:

Yes!  I love HUGE. I just am not picturing a way to disable it. Based of what I observed tonight, I don’t think that pushing it over the screws will be the answer.

Huge is my favorite! My Mum keeps saying that it looks like a tea cart, but I keep saying that I think it looks like one of those metal things that you roll firehoses onto.

On 7/6/2018 at 11:58 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

This is the second time that Huge has gone up against an opponent that used fire on it.  I keep expecting the wheels to melt, but they are apparently made out of one hell of a durable material.  However,  Chomp was also hitting the center of Huge where all the electronics are.  You could see the scorch marks clearly, I am surprised that didn't take it down. 

I agree with Kenny, if you keep hitting and destroying your opponent and all it does is push you around the ring, you should win that fight.  Ice Wave got cheated of a win.

 

I wonder what it is made of? As you noted, Huge doesn't seem to melt, but if it were metal that wasn't aluminum, it looks to me like it would be really heavy. If it were aluminum, it would seem that it would be pushed around more easily. Hopefully they'll tell us a little more about it later... though admittedly I may have missed it - our cable doesn't get the Science Channel, so I don't get to see the extra material.

As for the Ice Wave match, I'm a little torn. Admittedly I agree with you about the damage, but I couldn't help but be really impressed with how strong the Scorpios bot was and how it was able to still seemingly manhandle Ice Wave and throw it around the arena even after Scorpios seemed to lose what should have been vital parts. Considering how some bots - like Chomp - seem to lose balance and fall over or damage themselves just by deploying their weapons, it was refreshing to see a bot be able to lose so many parts and still not only remain upright, but moving around the arena and pushing another bot with it, meaning it had to still be somewhat durable and aerodynamic(?) - I'm not sure that's the word I want. Maybe stable is better. Like a Timex. It took a licking and kept on ticking. (Okay, I just really dated myself there.)

On 7/2/2018 at 3:05 PM, enoughcats said:

What made the old Battlebots great (IMO) was the competition in many size classes.  The small bots that came up with ideas that then grew with time and expertise.  

 

Right now it seems to be spinner, tosser, * repeat.  Too many of them have forgotten how to right themselves.  Maybe this is why I like Huge.  Such a different materials and approach (ok, the spinner is there, but its delivery is different.)

eta. * I forgot hammer.  Maybe because they seem to fail often and I include don't hit when they need to in 'fail'.

 

I agree. Every year since 2003, I have watched the battlebot battles at Dragon Con (D*C) in Atlanta. Now admittedly, those matches have nowhere near the frills that these do, and due to safety reasons, the weapons designs have to be much more scaled down, but the D*C matches have weight classes so that the designs can be more unique without just the biggest, heaviest bot pushing the others around.

Actually, I like the ant weight and beetle weight competitions almost as much as the main events. It is amazing what the builders come up with for robots that only weigh a pound or two. Also the little bots can be a little more "dangerous" at Dragon Con since they fight in a large plexiglass box arena which keeps the bots contained... though every once in a while even a little one or two pound bot can manage to crack that really thick plexiglass by slamming an opponent into it with amazing velocity.

I also agree about the hammer weapons and which in the case of Dragon Con this includes spike type things. Very often the hammer misses and just ends up sending shock waves into the hammer wielding bot or makes it go off balance and fall over. Even the spike types can be problematic if the wielding bot gets the spike stuck in a non-essential part of the other bot, and they both pretty much end up stuck together and "nonfunctional" or off the edge of the platform (which is one way bouts are won at Dragon Con - push, throw, or cause the other bot to drive off the platform. Total destruction also works.)

Oh, and the rumbles at Dragon Con are so much fun... at the end of the main competition, all remaining functional bots of a weight class (usually between 10 and 15 or so) are thrown together and battle it out until only one bot is left moving on the platform.

Edited July 9, 2018 by AwesomO4000

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, AwesomO4000 said:

I wonder what it is made of?

In one of the early episodes (maybe Huge's first appearance) they said it was made with either polypropylene or  polystyrene.

I was only half listening and it caught my ear because back in the day I had lost my source for test tubes (discontinued) and had to make a polystyrene vs Polypropalene decision in four days that would affect my part of our lab for the next couple of years.  And I had no idea that either could be used that way.or that massively.   Huge.

I would love to see how they made the molds and did the injections for the wheels.

[Quilt Fairy]

36 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

In one of the early episodes (maybe Huge's first appearance) they said it was made with either polypropylene or  polystyrene.

The interesting thing is that you can see the wheels deflect from a blow yet they always seem to return to shape.  I know they aren't metal which is why I keep expecting them to melt.  It's an amazing material, whatever it is.

36 minutes ago, enoughcats said:

 Huge.

Now I'm going to keep thinking of the scene in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts confronts the snobby saleswomen:  "You girls work on commission, right?  Big, big mistake. Huge!  I musty be off to shop now....."

Edited July 9, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[AwesomO4000]

On 7/9/2018 at 6:49 PM, enoughcats said:

In one of the early episodes (maybe Huge's first appearance) they said it was made with either polypropylene or  polystyrene.

I was only half listening and it caught my ear because back in the day I had lost my source for test tubes (discontinued) and had to make a polystyrene vs Polypropalene decision in four days that would affect my part of our lab for the next couple of years.  And I had no idea that either could be used that way.or that massively.   Huge.

I would love to see how they made the molds and did the injections for the wheels.

Thanks so much for the information.. and I, too, would be interested in seeing how they made the wheels. I wish they would do a "making of..." type episode with some of the most successful / favorite bots (even if it was only a half hour thing), because I'd find that really interesting.

[Quilt Fairy]

Some fantastic battles tonight, a lot of evenly matched bots and great driving as well.  A lot of the battles went to the judges but they were all unanimous (and obvious) decisions.

I don't get the point of Duck, it doesn't seem to have any weapon at all except for that thing in the front that they sort of use as a flipper.  But it's obviously not pneumatic, there's no oomph to it at all.  It was amazing to see Bronco flip it and then Bronco basically self-flipped a few times as well.   

[enoughcats]

On 7/12/2018 at 3:01 PM, AwesomO4000 said:

In one of the early episodes (maybe Huge's first appearance) they said it was made with either polypropylene or  polystyrene.

I was wrong.  I did some searching on the 'official' site and found that Huge's made from HDPE, which stands for high density polyethylene.  This is the same stuff that is used to make probably half of all plastics in the US. You know it from milk bottles, but much thinner. 

From a facebook page for Huge, the builders (IIRC) said that they cut the giant wheels from single sheets of polystyrene.  They had earlier made a one pound "Mini-huge" and a huge that looked to be half the size of the current monster (and that had something black on the wheels.)

It's worth finding the Facebook comments about how they didn't assemble the H Huge until they got to California and the help that other competitors shared (one had a drill press, for example.)

I was on our notepad, out of town and didn't save links, I'll try to see links and share them and see what else might be out there.

[rmontro]

19 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I don't get the point of Duck, it doesn't seem to have any weapon at all except for that thing in the front that they sort of use as a flipper.  But it's obviously not pneumatic, there's no oomph to it at all.  It was amazing to see Bronco flip it and then Bronco basically self-flipped a few times as well.   

Duck amazes me.  You're right, it doesn't have much of a weapon.  But it is tough!  It's built not to be damaged, to employ a "rope-a-dope" type of style, or as Faruk puts it, a "Break your fist on my face" strategy.  I couldn't believe how well it stood up to the beating Bronco was giving it.  From what the announcers said, Bronco was nearly out of flips when it finally chucked it out of the arena.  Duck wasn't going to win, but for awhile there I thought it was going to have to go to the judges.  

I was 4-1 in predictions this week.  I thought Hypershock would defeat Free Shipping, but it got set on fire.

It was weird seeing Warhead with that dinosaur head, instead of the spinner.  Obviously it worked out well for it.  That's what's impressive about a great team, they can change their main weapon and still be effective with it.

[enoughcats]

22 hours ago, rmontro said:

it doesn't seem to have any weapon at all except for that thing in the front that they sort of use as a flipper.

The flipper is a weapon, and the duck beak is more of a weapon, once they improve their driving skills. 

Let me put in a few words for a sharply pointed duck beak.  Most weapons are a surface or at least a long stick like surface. 
Let's say the machine driving something has five pounds of power behind it. Like the weight of a bag of flour.  If you drop that bag on your foot, your foot will probably hurt but not break.  If that five pound weight is a piece of metal that's half an inch wide and five inches long and it hits your shin at one time, you are going to bruise and maybe fracture.  Now lets make the weapon a five pound cylinder half and inch in diameter and a very dense metal so all five pounds hits at once.  You skin will puncture and muscles break and a lot of bones won't survive without shattering.

Not multiply the situation above and let the weight be eighty pounds.  The damage done by a single spike is so much greater than a linear attack (spinning blade) or a flat surface (flying wedge.)

IF they can get the speed up on drive shaft and learn to finesse the driving, duck could destroy exposed wheels and chain drives as well as some of the hinges on some of the big famous bots.  The duck beak has to be able to reach in and under spinning weapons, but it's a different kind of idea, one that I like more  I see it (preferably when it isn't flying through the air.)

eta  Duck is apparently made from a solid block of Aluminum, so we may see a loss of a wheel, but it's unlikely to lose a side.

Edited July 15, 2018 by enoughcats
finding info slowly is fun

[enoughcats]

Not-quite-so-big Huge sort of fighting and maybe got it by decision.  This was the predecessor of the massive white Huge, and it seemed to have a few problems earlier this year.  

[jhlipton]

On 7/14/2018 at 2:05 PM, enoughcats said:

Ihe help that other competitors shared

This is the kind of Ninja Warrior camaraderie I like to see, and can't imagine Billings joining in.

ETA: Duck was winning against Bronco, in my opinion -- better driving, more aggression and better use of the primary weapon.  But then he forgot his number one rule: stay in the middle of the Box.  He let Bronco take him to the edge, and bye bye Duck.

Edited July 16, 2018 by jhlipton

[libgirl2]

8 hours ago, jhlipton said:

This is the kind of Ninja Warrior camaraderie I like to see, and can't imagine Billings joining in.

ETA: Duck was winning against Bronco, in my opinion -- better driving, more aggression and better use of the primary weapon.  But then he forgot his number one rule: stay in the middle of the Box.  He let Bronco take him to the edge, and bye bye Duck.

I thought Duck was winning too. It was taking the flips and still going. Like you said it made the mistake of going to the edge as many bots have against Bronco..... and once your flipped out of there, you just can't get out. 

[Quilt Fairy]

14 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

and once your flipped out of there, you just can't get out. 

Really, you just can't get back in.

[libgirl2]

9 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Really, you just can't get back in.

Better said that me. 

[rmontro]

On 7/16/2018 at 3:35 AM, jhlipton said:

ETA: Duck was winning against Bronco, in my opinion -- better driving, more aggression and better use of the primary weapon.

Not sure I agree with that, Duck wasn't doing any damage to Bronco.  Of course, Bronco wasn't doing any damage to Duck either.  But Bronco was flipping Duck more than Duck was... doing whatever it is Duck does.  He has that little flipper, but that didn't do much, neither did the beak.  I do remember him getting under Bronco once.  I thought it was going to end up going to the judges.

[enoughcats]

One site I found said Duck was designed to beat Tombstone. Period. Full stop. 

Duck, made of a solid bar of aluminum and four wheels (and we've seen it can continue with just three. Takes a flipping and keeps on ticking.)

Tombstone, 99.9% offense based on driving skills, no defense 'because he doesn't need it'

[enoughcats]

Friday 7/20 Checking a TV listings, I couldn't find Battlebots for tonight.  Cooper's Treasure is on for two hours? one of them should maybe be Battlebots' hour.

[chitowngirl]

The Facebook page says they’re off for two weeks because of Shark Week stuff. Will return August 3rd.

3 hours ago, enoughcats said:

 

Friday 7/20 Checking a TV listings, I couldn't find Battlebots for tonight.  Cooper's Treasure is on for two hours? one of them should maybe be Battlebots' hour

 

[enoughcats]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

The Facebook page says they’re off for two weeks because of Shark Week stuff. Will return August 3rd.

Thank you, I guess.  Never thought to check Facebook for TV listings. Duh.

I should have parcelled out binge watching The Expanse more slowly.

[rmontro]

12 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

The Facebook page says they’re off for two weeks because of Shark Week stuff. Will return August 3rd.

They should have just ran an episode with Sharkoprion  :)

[jhlipton]

On 7/18/2018 at 7:12 AM, enoughcats said:

One site I found said Duck was designed to beat Tombstone. Period. Full stop. 

Duck, made of a solid bar of aluminum and four wheels (and we've seen it can continue with just three. Takes a flipping and keeps on ticking.)

Tombstone, 99.9% offense based on driving skills, no defense 'because he doesn't need it'

I can't wait to see that. 

[QuantumMechanic]

So what exactly do you get on the Science broadcasts relative to the Discovery ones.  Both are an hour so the Science doesn't have that much extra stuff?

[enoughcats]

The first 'addendum' episode was interviews with some of the bot builders.  Since then, the Science broadcast has had an extra bot battle.  These can be bot on bot, or multiple bots rumbling.  None of them are brilliant and dazzling, but I would expect this is where the wannabes who don't have years of driving experience can begin to hone their craft and learn as they compete for real. 

I will admit to watching both.  I have an excuse, though, I find most of the rest of TV this summer to be dull  dreck(this is the cleaned up version of how I'd describe this summer's schedule.) A rewatch of a couple of good battlebots matches is pretty satisfying to me.

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎7‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 7:36 PM, QuantumMechanic said:

Both are an hour so the Science doesn't have that much extra stuff?

The initial airing on Science (which would be the Wednesday after that episode airs the previous Friday on Discovery) is generally an hour and 5 minutes.  The re-airing later on Wednesday is also an extra 5 minutes, but I've noticed that repeats after that go back to an hour.   Science consistently hawks that you get an extra battle in their airing, but that's simply not true.  At least 25% of the time it's behind the scenes stuff.  Interesting, but not the promised extra battle.  That being said, I agree with @enoughcats that the extra battles have not been particularly noteworthy.  There's a reason they didn't make the final cut.

[enoughcats]

Anybody remember Robot Wars?  It was the British iteration of Battlebots. (I admit I don't know the history of bots, but to me, it was similar and different at the same time.)

Anyway, Robot Wars has been advertised on Science Channel.  It appears to be like the British version I remember and it has house robots.  If you haven't seen it before, the house bots mean that a bot isn't just fighting his opponent, but also some bots that have been honed through experience.

There were also scenes for a competition with much smaller/lighter weight bots.  I think I may have seen a predecessor of Huge there.  

Anyway, two things to watch for, while waiting for the end of Shark Week.

[EAG46]

ROBOT WARS!! That show was nuts!  Because it wasn't just your opponent you had to worry about, it was the House Robots you had to contend with if you entered their "zones."  And they could be even more trouble.  [Team Matilda!!!]   It will be very interesting to compare and contrast with Battlebots.

[Quilt Fairy]

I was very excited to see the ads for Robot Wars, although if they don't have Chris, Kenny and Farouq it won't be quite as beloved to me.

There were some really good fights tonight in the "Desperado Tournament", although Lockjaw clearly had the edge after it won it's first fight.  I was a little confused about the setup, however.  When they said that they were fighting for a guaranteed spot in the Round of 16, I thought that the round robin had finished and the other 15 bots had been selected.  But apparently this event was just thrown in midway through the round robin and it will continue.  I'm all for more Battlebots, but at what point will the top 15 be selected?  We've had bots with 3 fights going against bots with only 1, so things seem to be extremely random.  I know this is a new setup this year for Discovery, but does anyone know the rules? 

[rmontro]

I was 4-1 with my predictions for the Desperado Tournament.  I didn't have time to pick the two fights where they just showed the highlights.  I keep getting suckered into picking Gigabyte to win, and it always lets me down lol.  

Lucky's dispatching of Gemini II showed that it is always better to have one heavy bot than two lighter bots.  Mass is a big factor in these bouts.

I don't remember Robot Wars.  I do remember Robot Combat League, which was kind of like a giant Rock Em Sock Em Robots game.  IIRC, the teams on that show didn't get to design their own robots, they were just assigned one to fight with and maintain.

[libgirl2]

On 8/4/2018 at 12:22 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

I was very excited to see the ads for Robot Wars, although if they don't have Chris, Kenny and Farouq it won't be quite as beloved to me.

There were some really good fights tonight in the "Desperado Tournament", although Lockjaw clearly had the edge after it won it's first fight.  I was a little confused about the setup, however.  When they said that they were fighting for a guaranteed spot in the Round of 16, I thought that the round robin had finished and the other 15 bots had been selected.  But apparently this event was just thrown in midway through the round robin and it will continue.  I'm all for more Battlebots, but at what point will the top 15 be selected?  We've had bots with 3 fights going against bots with only 1, so things seem to be extremely random.  I know this is a new setup this year for Discovery, but does anyone know the rules? 

I can't wait for Robot Wars! 

Is it true that Chomp will fight again? Chomp spent almost this whole season on its side. 

[enoughcats]

My brief, biased review of Robot Wars: This is an hour long show that follows Battlebots on the Science Network.  It sounds to be six hours or so in total length.  It's frantic and confusing, and would be better if it's weren't so late at night when watching two bots go at it seems sort of calming, but four plus minis at one time for three minutes is tiresome.  Not to mention the floor treatments, mini bots and the half ton bots that live in the corners.  It's not a really big cage, and the photography and photographic story on Battlebots is simply better from the lighting and multiple camera angles to the announcers and Farouk. 

The bots are 220 pounders that don't look that big and don't seem to pack that much potential kinetic power. What makes it interesting are the different approaches, even if they seem wonky,sometimes they work.  

[EAG46]

I want to know why we can't hear the original British announcers on Robot Wars.  The American voice over is annoying.  And there wasn't enough House Robot action.  [Especially from Matilda.]   I remember watching older Robot Wars episodes years ago on G4 [RIP] pretty much uncut.  Craig Charles [Dave Lister from Red Dwarf] was the host then and he was just fine.   Battlebots does have better camera work, I'll concede that.

[Quilt Fairy]

Not a fan of Robot Wars based on the first episode.  It was like a disco from hell:  flashing lights, red background light, too many bots, bad camera angles, and that annoying, over-the-top, obviously American announcer on what is obviously a British show.

[chitowngirl]

God, I would love to see Tombstone get clobbered tonight.