Battlebots - General Discussion

[enoughcats]

There is a little bitty bot that deserves your attention when you watch tonight's episode.  Fast as a mosquito and does affect the fight. 

Tonight's matches were so good that we backed up and rewatched three of them.  Some of tonight's bots are just built so well that they can survive all kinds of hits.  

Tonight's fights are the ones you want to tape and return to and watch on a cold snowy night with a hot butter rum (0r two) and some comfort food.  (and maybe a big cigar, if you are so inclined.)  
So, I'm not going to spoil this for anyone, but you really need to enjoy this one tonight.

[rmontro]

I was 5-0 on my predictions for the first time last night!  Hurray for me.  Spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen it yet.

Rotator vs Skorpios:  Skorpios was fast, but Rotator knocked off it's saw, so it was done.

Ultimo Destructo vs Witch Doctor:  A quick KO for Witch Doctor.

Overhaul vs War Hawk:  Best performance by a mini bot that I've seen, I think its name was War Zone.

Chomp vs Warhead:  It was really surprising to see Chomp landing blows without knocking itself over (they had turned down the force of the hammer to be more stable).  I was worried that         Warhead had made a mistake using the dino head instead of the rotating head.

Tombstone vs Whiplash:  An absolutely brutal fight.  Whiplash did better than I thought it would, but it still got KO'd.

[crookedjackson44]

Robot Wars just sucks.  The camera work is terrible - do not present replays during the action!  There is little real fighting or damage.  Pushing an opponent into a hole in the floor sucks too.  The house robots have little to do.  The American announcers are awful - on BattleBots Chris Rose has a good sense of humor and a whole lot of one-liners.  I watched two episodes; I won't watch any more.

[enoughcats]

I agree that Robot Wars isn't my cup of tea.  A lot of improvements could be made in having a better stage, better camera work, and more space for the bots to do their thing.  Having bots vs. floor obstacles just doesn't do it.  Give me the US version with wide open spaces.

The Wednesday night repeat (8/15) did have an interesting bonus fight that I thought, going in, was going to be worthless.  It had the Shark, whatever silly name they put on it.  But this time it was stronger, and it used its tail.  It used its tail a lot and effectively.  Split decision, and I'll leave it at that.

Edited August 16, 2018 by enoughcats

[rmontro]

Followed up my best predictions performance with my worst this week:  2-3.

Valkyrie defeated Red Devil:  Red Devil got dismantled, as one tread got knocked off.  The announcers had a funny line about it being possessed, because the tread continued to roll around the arena on its own.

Gigabyte defeated Brutus:  I'd been bitten too many times picking Gigabyte to win this season, so I went for Brutus.  But Brutus got flipped over and couldn't right itself, go figure.

Biteforce defeated Bombshell:  Knocked Bombshell out of the arena to be the first robot to be 4-0!

Son of Wyrachi defeated End Game:  Only took one hit to knock out End Game.  I think their mistake was modifying their robot to make it faster.  It turned out it was too light, IMO, and got KO'd.

Minotaur defeated Blacksmith:  Good fight that had to go to the judges, but Minotaur won, unsurprisingly.

[4Sibes Redux]

Based on Red Devil, I want a bot that can split into two equal bots. 

[friendperidot]

I thought I posted a question but maybe I was asleep. I am not interested in this show, I am not going to read all the comments. I don't want to insult anyone. I wouldn't expect you all to watch shows about sewing and doll houses if it didn't interest you. But I do watch Discovery Science, a lot. I see ads for this show. I see the commercials. Are the crowds yelling "one for the bar keep, one for the bartender"? That's what it sounds like to me. And can someone explain briefly, why?

[enoughcats]

Hello, Friend,  No problem about choices (although I wish Nancy on Sunday would get away from quilts and tshirts and go back to sewing real clothes. 

Quote

Are the crowds yelling "one for the bar keep, one for the bartender"?

I racked my brain and it doesn't sound right for Battlebots US, and then I remembered Science is pushing Robot Wars, the British production.  Our languages are so different that Science had to insert an American accented announcer who I have muted both times I've watched.  

The British crowds could be yelling almost anything, if it's them.  (American Battlebot crowds are NOT that organized, nor do we queue. )

If no one answers here, maybe Science has a website?

[friendperidot]

thank you for an answer. I just heard it again, that's what it sounds like. Maybe I'll look on their website.

And Nancy isn't going to get back to any sewing, she died about a year ago, I think. I'm an experienced seamstress, but I always learned from her shows. I'll miss her.

[Totale]

On 8/19/2018 at 2:29 PM, 4Sibes Redux said:

Based on Red Devil, I want a bot that can split into two equal bots. 

There's one which starts out as two equal bots, cleverly named "Gemini".

[StatisticalOutlier]

16 hours ago, friendperidot said:

And Nancy isn't going to get back to any sewing, she died about a year ago, I think.

What kind of crazy world is this that I find out in a discussion of Battlebots that Nancy died a year ago? 

On topic, I'll just say that Chris and Kenny really make this show for me.  They're fantastic.

[jquitar]

On 8/20/2018 at 10:35 AM, friendperidot said:

I thought I posted a question but maybe I was asleep. I am not interested in this show, I am not going to read all the comments. I don't want to insult anyone. I wouldn't expect you all to watch shows about sewing and doll houses if it didn't interest you. But I do watch Discovery Science, a lot. I see ads for this show. I see the commercials. Are the crowds yelling "one for the bar keep, one for the bartender"? That's what it sounds like to me. And can someone explain briefly, why?

 

"Two Bots enter, one Bot leaves" is the chant during the commercial for Battlebots.

[friendperidot]

thank you so much! That makes ever so much more sense! 

[chitowngirl]

I thought they should have begun to count out Tombstone WAY before they did. It would probably still have started back up in time, it just seemed they gave him a long time to recover.

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I thought they should have begun to count out Tombstone WAY before they did. It would probably still have started back up in time, it just seemed they gave him a long time to recover.

You may have a point there.  I thought there may have been some confusion about whether or not Tombstone was truly immobile, at first I thought it was just setting back before making another run.  Plus there was a bit of shock at play too.  Would have been quite an upset.

I had my second 5-0 week in predictions.

Tombstone KO'd Duck:  I hadn't realized Duck was built specifically to break Tombstone's blade.  It nearly won.  Duck is one tough little bot.

Yeti defeated Petunia:  No surprise here, I've never cared much for Petunia's design.  Spinners and flippers seem to be the way to go.

Monsoon KO'd Axe Backwards:  Real quick knockout here, never really got to see what Axe Backwards could do.

Warhead defeated Warrior Dragon:  Warhead went with its spinning head instead of the Dino head, and it almost cost them.  Because the armor got knocked off the head early on and Warhead limped around the rest of the match.  By the end, it didn't appear Warrior Dragon was functioning at all though. 

Bronco defeated Saw Blaze:  Battle of two 3-0 bots here.  It was all Bronco early, but it appeared to lose flipper strength about halfway through.  I don't know if it lost hydraulic power, or something got bent.  But Bronco disabled Saw Blaze's blade early on with some vicious flips, so Bronco was able to coast to a win.

[enoughcats]

55 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I thought there may have been some confusion about whether or not Tombstone was truly immobile, at first I thought it was just setting back before making another run.

Tombstone may have been in a no win situation.  From several years ago, they were criticized for going in for a more dead kill hit when an opponent was almost dead but still moving.  That move also damaged them.

This time Duck had lost several wheels and if any wheels were still on, they were wobbly.  That ends up being almost dead.  At the end I though Duck was about the most pitiful thing I'd ever seen.  However, in real life, a friend had an estate with a large duck pond, with islands in the center for the ducks to breed on. Then turtles got into the pond and snapping turtles snapped the feet off of some of the ducks, who survived. And who hobbled around much like Duck only more pitiful .  Childhood memories came back strong last night.  

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 8:07 PM, chitowngirl said:

I thought they should have begun to count out Tombstone WAY before they did. It would probably still have started back up in time, it just seemed they gave him a long time to recover.

ITA, it was very noticeable.  There was a long pause before the ref even said  "Ray, I need to see some movement"  followed by another long pause and another "Come on Ray, I need to see some movement".  Whereas the ref for Duck began the countdown almost immediately. 

[rmontro]

13 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

ITA, it was very noticeable.  There was a long pause before the ref even said  "Ray, I need to see some movement"  followed by another long pause and another "Come on Ray, I need to see some movement".  Whereas the ref for Duck began the countdown almost immediately. 

I think the difference was that it was very clear that Duck was impaired, whereas with Tombstone it was not.  Like I said, at first I thought Tombstone was just hanging back to see if maybe Duck was immobilized.  That's the problem with Duck's defensive strategy, there was nothing obvious that had happened that would have damaged Tombstone.  

[Skyfall]

Is it just me or has this season gone on forever?

[chitowngirl]

54 minutes ago, Skyfall said:

Is it just me or has this season gone on forever?

YES!

[4Sibes Redux]

1 hour ago, Skyfall said:

 

Is it just me or has this season gone on forever?

 

And it’s been far to long since some bots have competed. HUGE,for example, last competed in Week 9. I think Week 14 just aired. 

[Skyfall]

Should’ve done 2 airings a week one on Discovery and one on Science or something.

[jhlipton]

It's not that Tombstone was "hanging back" -- the sponsors have want Tombstone in the Top 16 and will cheat to get it there.  So in the fight against Duck, they don't start the countdown until Tombstone "miraculously" comes back to life.  And in the previous one, Whiplash was CREAMING Tombstone, then hung back just long enough for Asshole to win.

I'm done watching Billings' bouts -- I'll fast-forward over that crap and watch the decent bots fight.

ETA: Tombstone didn't have to attack Duck to avoid the countdown, just show movement.  So that excuse  is just that -- an excuse for huge favoritism.

Edited August 27, 2018 by jhlipton

[Quilt Fairy]

I've been re-watching some of the earlier episodes from this season, and the ref on Tombstone's side (the younger guy with hair) just seems to give the bots more time.  He repeats "You've got to show me some movement" several times.  Whereas the other ref (older with less hair) pretty much just starts counting down right away.

[enoughcats]

Not needed: flag waving and nationalistic chanting.

Needed: the mute button. 

At least I had a cat to pet and to feed a cheesey poof to (he appreciates fine dining.)

[chitowngirl]

Definitely a waste of time.

[rmontro]

I was 2-3 on my predictions this week, I think that's the first time I've had a losing record.  I didn't care about the "USA vs the world" gimmick.

Warhead defeated Blacksmith:  in a split decision, close fight.  Blacksmith hit Warhead about 1,000 times but didn't seem to do much damage.  Blacksmith was smoking at the end.

Capt. Shredderator KO'd Vanquish:  Vanquish was able to keep its wedge toward Shredderator but got damaged anyway.

Kraken defeated Red Devil:  Kraken bit down on Red Devil's right tread, disabling it, and coasted to the win.

Reality KO'd Hypershock:  Hypershock dominated early but got immobilized.  It was smoking early so maybe it burned something out.  I know it's left front tire was all bent out of whack.

Saw Blaze defeated End Game:  Another split decision.  I predicted for the upset here but End Game couldn't quite get it done, despite some nice strategic modifications (it had some plastic strips which allowed it to get under Saw Blaze's "dust pan").  Good fight though.

[jhlipton]

"USA vs The World" is so overdone.  It would have been fun to do something like having two vertical spinners fight, or to have "oddest robots" fight.

[Quilt Fairy]

There were some good battles, though.  I think every fight went the full 3 minutes, which is unusual.  I think they were intentionally going for "give a good show" vs. "knockout as soon as possible." 

Warhead amazes me.  I don't understand how they can change the head from a spinning disk to a chomper.  Those are 2 very different mechanical systems. 

[Destiny74]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

There were some good battles, though.  I think every fight went the full 3 minutes, which is unusual.  I think they were intentionally going for "give a good show" vs. "knockout as soon as possible." 

Warhead amazes me.  I don't understand how they can change the head from a spinning disk to a chomper.  Those are 2 very different mechanical systems. 

I just love team Warhead, no matter what they are driving.  They purely love the competition and no matter what the outcome, they are smiling and cheering if they have a good show.  Never change, Team Warhead!

[enoughcats]

11 hours ago, Destiny74 said:

just love team Warhead

I wish they'd mike up the tallest guy who seems to be their go-to driver. His intensity and talking to himself is a pleasure to watch

[libgirl2]

On 8/26/2018 at 7:43 PM, Skyfall said:

Is it just me or has this season gone on forever?

I don't mind, I love this show. 

[SayMyName]

I just wish they would show more fights each episode. I record the episodes and only watch the fight portions. 15 minutes (or less) isn't enough robot carnage each week.

Edited September 9, 2018 by SayMyName

[rmontro]

4-1 this week (I've already decided this is the last season I'm doing this).  The one I missed was the first one, I picked Warhead. 

Whiplash KO'd Warhead:  Warhead's spinning disc was damaged from the previous battle, so had to go with the dinosaur head.  It got flipped over and couldn't self right in that configuration.

Reality KO'd Mohawk:  Mohawk hardly showed any offense, didn't get any use at all out of its primary weapon.  Then it got flipped over and its self righting mechanism was broken.

Warhawk defeated Free Shipping:  Free Shipping got torn to pieces, it's forklift got all bent off and finally fell off completely.

Witch Doctor KO'd Overhaul:  Witch Doctor quickly damaged and immobilized its opponent.

Minotaur KO'd Subzero:  They said Minotaur had its drum spinner turned up all the way, and it was impressive.  It chewed up Subzero's heavy armor and bent up their flipper.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, SayMyName said:

I just wish they would show more fights each episode. I record the episodes and only watch the fight portions. 15 minutes (or less) isn't enough robot carnage each week.

 

Robot Wars is much better in that respect.  The way they have things set up, I think there are at least a dozen battles in each episode.  Unfortunately, I find that show totally unwatchable.  

Edited September 9, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[chitowngirl]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

Warhawk defeated Free Shipping:  Free Shipping got torn to pieces, it's forklift got all bent off and finally fell off completely.

Free Shipping whipping around its torn off forklift was a thing of hilarity!

[enoughcats]

2 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Free Shipping whipping around its torn off forklift was a thing of hilarity

That was one takeaway from Friday night's fights.  I can almost see that working against some of the designs.  

My second takeaway is admiration of the strength of Minotaur. That they can ramp up and cut back on their drum seems the mark of some really devious and successful minds. 

(The filler about the Lincoln welding group and its importance in rebuilding some of the bots was a positive addition to the broadcast. )

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Free Shipping whipping around its torn off forklift was a thing of hilarity!

Oh yeah, that was pretty cool.  It was wielding that torn off forklift like it was a morning star weapon.

[enoughcats]

OK, so at our house, Mr. Ecats is delighted that Huge did a humpty dumpty.  Me?  I still like the idea behind Huge and wonder how many pounds it could gain to strenthen the wheels. 

The fight for the 15th slot was something some of us have wanted for a while: three similar weapons, going at each othre, a (ahem) three for all.

And then there was the real free for all.  Still wondering what happened when and how disabled some were and who caused what to whom.  

All in all almost too much happened.

[Quilt Fairy]

I would have given that last spot to Duck.  There's no way the other bot (whose name I'm blanking on at the moment) has a remote chance against Tombstone.

[AwesomO4000]

4 hours ago, enoughcats said:

OK, so at our house, Mr. Ecats is delighted that Huge did a humpty dumpty.  Me?  I still like the idea behind Huge and wonder how many pounds it could gain to strenthen the wheels. 

Oh man, I was saying "Oh noooo... Huge!" ...while at the same time admiring the fight.

4 hours ago, enoughcats said:

And then there was the real free for all.  Still wondering what happened when and how disabled some were and who caused what to whom. 

Oh yes, there was a lot going on there.

I thought for sure that in the previous fight that second bot - who KO'd the first bot out - would win, but it turned its back on the other bot and that was a fatal mistake.

For me that was a really entertaining episode. I wish I could rewatch it, but sadly, for some reason they don't show Battlebots on our On Demand. Boo! Oh, maybe they'll show it at 7:00 next week... we usually don't get back that early on Fridays, but I might have to try.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, AwesomO4000 said:

For me that was a really entertaining episode. I wish I could rewatch it, but sadly, for some reason they don't show Battlebots on our On Demand. Boo! Oh, maybe they'll show it at 7:00 next week... we usually don't get back that early on Fridays, but I might have to try.

Do you get the Science Channel?  They've been rerunning the Friday Discovery episodes on the following Wednesday, always including at least 5 minutes of bonus content, which is sometimes an extra battle, and sometimes a peek behind the scenes.

Edited September 15, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[rmontro]

14 hours ago, enoughcats said:

And then there was the real free for all.  Still wondering what happened when and how disabled some were and who caused what to whom.  

This is what I managed to piece together:

Lucky seemed to malfunction of its own accord early on, and could only limp around in a half circle.

Bombshell then tore off a big chunk of Red Devil, and Gigabyte took advantage and finished Red Devil off by slamming it into the wall.

Bombshell became immobilized itself after running into Gigabyte.

Gigabyte seemed to quit working after it slammed itself into the wall accidentally.

Duck started picking on Lucky, who was still limping in its half circle.  The effort seemed to finish off Lucky, as it started smoking and quit even limping afterwards.  

Duck appeared to finish off Valkyrie after pushing it into the wall, but Valkyrie was already struggling at that point. 

Bombshell came back to life at the end, forcing the fight to go to the judges, with only Bombshell and Duck left.  Bombshell won in a unanimous decision. 

I don't know, I might have picked Duck if I was a judge.  It functioned throughout the match whereas Bombshell didn't.  Duck's offense is on the subtle side though.

____________________________________________

I was 2-1 in the one on one predictions.  In the "battle royals" I picked End Game and Duck, so obviously I lost out there.

Icewave KO'd Huge:  We found out that Huge's wheels aren't indestructable after all.

Gemini defeated the Four Horsemen:  Gemini took out two of the three Horsemen bots quickly, but its third (War Bot) proved to be surprisingly durable.  It looked a little like a miniature Tombstone, and actually might have won the bout had it gone on longer.

Skorpios defeated Hypershock in a split decision:  Hypershock knocked off Skorpios' grinder early on, but finished the fight upside down and unable to right itself as time ran out.

I had picked Hypershock here, but this team always makes me question its strategy.  Hypershock kept ramming into Skorpios, and I thought he should have waited until its spinner got up to speed before attacking.

____________________________________________

In the other free for all, Brutus got its wedge ripped off early, but then End Game got flipped over, so Warhawk won by double knockout.

[AwesomO4000]

17 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Do you get the Science Channel?  They've been rerunning the Friday Discovery episodes on the following Wednesday, always including at least 5 minutes of bonus content, which is sometimes an extra battle, and sometimes a peek behind the scenes.

Sadly no, our cable does not get the Science Channel in our package which is already really expensive. We get the first tier (basically local channels and shopping channels - 2-20 something) and second tier channels. They put the Science Channel on the third tier. We considered satellite, but we live among really tall trees. Our previous neighbor got it for about two weeks before becoming frustrated and going back to cable.

[jhlipton]

On 9/14/2018 at 9:28 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I would have given that last spot to Duck.  There's no way the other bot (whose name I'm blanking on at the moment) has a remote chance against Tombstone.

That's the reason that Duck didn't get the spot.  At 16th, he'd fight Tombstone in the first match.  He would think to protect his wheels and AssHat (who HAD be featured even though he didn't say anything) would be out early.  Can't have that! 

[rmontro]

On 9/15/2018 at 12:28 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

I would have given that last spot to Duck.  There's no way the other bot (whose name I'm blanking on at the moment) has a remote chance against Tombstone.

That's a good point, they had a very good match earlier in the season.  It's hard to wrap my head around a tournament without Duck.  I thought that bot was a joke when I first saw it, but I've gained a lot of respect for it over time.  It had a very tough schedule this year also, fighting both Tombstone and Bronco.

[libgirl2]

On 9/15/2018 at 11:22 AM, rmontro said:

This is what I managed to piece together:

Lucky seemed to malfunction of its own accord early on, and could only limp around in a half circle.

Bombshell then tore off a big chunk of Red Devil, and Gigabyte took advantage and finished Red Devil off by slamming it into the wall.

Bombshell became immobilized itself after running into Gigabyte.

Gigabyte seemed to quit working after it slammed itself into the wall accidentally.

Duck started picking on Lucky, who was still limping in its half circle.  The effort seemed to finish off Lucky, as it started smoking and quit even limping afterwards.  

Duck appeared to finish off Valkyrie after pushing it into the wall, but Valkyrie was already struggling at that point. 

Bombshell came back to life at the end, forcing the fight to go to the judges, with only Bombshell and Duck left.  Bombshell won in a unanimous decision. 

I don't know, I might have picked Duck if I was a judge.  It functioned throughout the match whereas Bombshell didn't.  Duck's offense is on the subtle side though.

____________________________________________

I was 2-1 in the one on one predictions.  In the "battle royals" I picked End Game and Duck, so obviously I lost out there.

Icewave KO'd Huge:  We found out that Huge's wheels aren't indestructable after all.

Gemini defeated the Four Horsemen:  Gemini took out two of the three Horsemen bots quickly, but its third (War Bot) proved to be surprisingly durable.  It looked a little like a miniature Tombstone, and actually might have won the bout had it gone on longer.

Skorpios defeated Hypershock in a split decision:  Hypershock knocked off Skorpios' grinder early on, but finished the fight upside down and unable to right itself as time ran out.

I had picked Hypershock here, but this team always makes me question its strategy.  Hypershock kept ramming into Skorpios, and I thought he should have waited until its spinner got up to speed before attacking.

____________________________________________

In the other free for all, Brutus got its wedge ripped off early, but then End Game got flipped over, so Warhawk won by double knockout.

Duck should have gotten that last spot. 

I just knew someone would bet Huge's wheels and sure enough someone did. 

[chitowngirl]

Yes!! Tombstone is OUT!!!

[AConspiracy]

Wow I never expected Tombstone to be out in the first round by Bombshell!

But then Bombshell is out in the next round with one hit

Edited September 22, 2018 by AConspiracy

[enoughcats]

On 9/15/2018 at 12:28 AM, Quilt Fairy said:

I would have given that last spot to Duck.  There's no way the other bot (whose name I'm blanking on at the moment) has a remote chance against Tombstone.

The other bot must have had a special laser to break the industrial strength of the chain that ran Tombstone's weapon.  We were shocked that Tombstone lost (and that the opponent had a total rebuild since its appearance two years ago and they said it was designed to take out Tombstone.  I guess that was their brief success after losing their first four matches and somehow getting into the eight bot rumble.)

Sometime we need to be bored s###less and look at the rumbles over time and figure out if playing dead really works when they aren't declaring KOs (like last week).