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1) If the driver of Lock-Jaw had his hand on the stick after the buzzer, he should not only lose that round but be DQ'd from the competition.  That's what the buzzer is for, and ignoring it is totally against the rules.

 

2) Rules are rules. None of this "historically" nonsense (because historically flames were not allowed, so that makes the entire previous rule-set obsolete.  By the rules they were given, Complete Control won. Period.

 

I thought the wild-cards were a little sketchy, too.  I'd have gone for the robots that scored the highest but didn't win, and lasting the full battle should be massive points.

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While the new ring announcer isn't as good as Beiro, he's still pretty good.  Glad New Show got a good one.

 

I'm amazed that this incarnation appears to have even more filler than the Comedy Central version.  Only 4 fights in a 60 min episode?  In last night's show it took to the :22 mark to start the second fight.  Yeesh!

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(edited)

The second episode was too jam packed, (or poorly paced,) to do the same kind of review I did for the first.  Oh well.

 

So first, some observations on the bracket... 

 

Wild Cards: Witch Doctor isn’t a bad “wild card” pick, but a nine seed?  A lot of winners seeded behind this choice.  Warhead probably was the best choice of the English contingent to get the wc, and a twelve seems right.  Chomp seems like the least deserving ‘bot to get a wc.  Overhaul definitely deserved a wild card, but it seems completely rigged that their seed, and Lock-Jaw’s, just happened to align for a rematch.  Finally, Complete Control should have received a wild card, (if not the win over Ghost Raptor,) at the expense of either Warhead or Chomp.

 

The top four seeds are the ‘bots I would have chosen, but I do not understand the inclusion of Hypershock in the bottom four - if anything it looks like a bigger (no mini-bot) version of Witch Doctor, who lost their match and got a nine seed!  And I was surprised Ghost Raptor was seeded as high as it was with its main weapon broken.

 

#5 Stinger (W 3-0) vs. #12 Warhead  This played out as I expected.  I thought that the (relative) novicity of Team Stinger showed, as they put on a great show, but had a couple of opportunities where I think they could have backed up, and given the referee a chance to count out Warhead.  Stingers driving control is also a little suspect, again due to a lack of experience.  The picture of Stinger shows lifting arms, but it has competed as a wedge/ pusher in both matches so far.

 

#4 Bronco (W KO) vs #13 Plan X  This also played out as expected, with Bronco avoiding the reactive armor of Plan X’s sides while also avoiding the vertical spinner at the front.  Son of Toro looks awesome.

 

Quarter-final prediction: Bronco in a KO.

 

#2 Ice Wave (W KO) vs #15 Chomp  My daughter was hoping Chomp's flame thrower would have an effect upon the gasoline powering Ice Wave’s spinner, but alas, the match went completely as expected.

 

#7 Warrior Clan vs #10 Ghost Raptor (W KO)  Ghost Raptor drove an excellent match.  The jury-rigged lifter didn’t really come into play, and it was about as good a match a pushbot could hope to have.  Warrior Clan’s spinner died early in the match, and they weren’t able to maneuver their lifter/flipper under Ghost Raptor.  (Remember WC’s first round match wasn’t won by their spinner, but by flipping Nightmare on its side.)

 

Quarter-final prediction: Ice Wave, probably by KO.  (I think they lucked out here, Warrior Clan looked low enough to be under Ice Wave’s blade.  IW’s front wedge also looks lower than GR’s, allowing for the “lift and thwack.”)

Edited by Way Wes Jr
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(edited)

In my post above, i said, “went as expected,” a few times - easy to say after the episode has aired.  So, I’ll post predictions for Sunday’s episode.

 

#1 Tombstone over #16 RadioActive.  I’ll go with a quick knockout here ~30 seconds.

 

#8 Overdrive over #9 Witch Doctor  Judges decision?  I don’t feel very confident on this one - Wait, wait, Hulu has some of the Qualifying Round fights we got shortchanged on?  Let’s watch Overdrive’s win over Chomp

 

#8 Overdrive over #9 Witch Doctor  Late knock-out or Judge’s Decision.  Have to go with the veteran driver here.  (Overdrive may actually be too fast, though.)  Witch Doctor’s best bet is to go after those big tires of Overdrive.

 

#3 Bite Force over #14 Hypershock  Judge’s Decision.  I still don’t understand why Hypershock is seeded so low.  I mean, I personally don’t think Vertical Spinners are the way to go, but the “seeding committee,” put Witch Doctor (a Qualifying loser,) and Plan X above Hypershock - so that isn’t it...

 

#6 Lock Jaw over #11 Overhaul  Judge’s Decision (again!)  I think this will be a more clear cut decision this time.  (Or, that’s just my personal feelings intruding, the MIT kids came off as entitled whiners to me in the first match.)

 

ETA: Strikethrough.  Because I can!

Edited by Way Wes Jr
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To me, Bite Force and Witch Doctor's wins were pleasantly surprising. I was rooting for Witch Doctor anyway, but Bite Force seemed much more aggressive this time out.

 

As for Tombstone, we are getting all the super-/over-confident talking pieces and after battle interviews. Are we heading for a guy who can't walk his bot into the arena or are we looking at a possible Humpty Dumpty?  As for folks going against Tombstone, they seem to need quickness/agility and a good piercing attack after they get around the backside. Taking Tombstone on head-to-head is just folly.

 

I just have to give some love to Farouk, our announcer. He's got a great voice and, whether he writes his own material or not, he clearly has fun introducing the bots and teams.  If the show comes back next summer, I hope we get Farouk again!

 

So,  if I have this correctly, the Quarter Finals are: Tombstone/Witch Doctor, Stinger/Bronco, Ice Wave/ Ghost Raptor and Overhaul/ Bite Force.  It will be an interesting evening, for sure.



 

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the MIT kids came off as entitled whiners to me in the first match

This. I found them extremely annoying and hence last night's outcome was depressing, though I did love that Lockjaw's captain immediately ran over to congratulate them. Take some notes on classy behavior and sportsmanship, children.

 

Also, I know I'm old, but the blue hair and the cats ears just make me snicker.

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An all Knock-out episode, that was unexpected.  If I took one thing away from this episode, it was that having exposed wheels, especially ones that can be punctured, is b-a-d.

 

#1 Tombstone (W KO) vs. #16 RadioActive.  Let’s have an edit debate.  I understand, that during competition, almost everyone engages in an amount of “trash talking.”  Is Ray Billings being edited to be the villain of the season?  ‘Cause I’m beginning to want to root against Tombstone at this point.

 

#8 Overdrive vs. #9 Witch Doctor (W KO)  If it is possible to be right in being wrong, I nailed this one.  Overdrive was too fast for its own good, and while the tires weren’t hit ‘til late, Witch Doctor was planning on attacking them.  WD’s drum spinner managed one good hit, (and then seemed to have trouble spinning up again,) and the driving for WD was improved over their match with Bronco.  [Which wasn’t “bad” to begin with.]

 

#3 Bite Force (W KO) vs. #14 Hypershock  I still don’t get Hypershock’s seed.  If they were dropped because of their mechanical issues, why wasn’t Ghost Raptor dropped for its?  Anyhow, another drum spinner gets off a good hit, and never spins up again.  I’m glad the rounds are three minutes, as it allowed Bite Force to get the win.  [Perhaps the “seeding committee” knew that Hypershock was “put together with baling wire, duct tape, and chewing gum.”] :)

 

#6 Lockjaw vs. #11 Overhaul (W KO)  I want to give Overhaul credit for making their pincher come down with more force.  They were lucky enough to puncture one of Lockjaw’s tires, and use that as their clamp in order to neutralize Lockjaw.

 

Looking forward to next week’s Quarterfinals:

 

#1 Tombstone vs. #9 Witch Doctor  I’ll predict a Tombstone knock out, because that seems like the obvious result.  It all comes down to driving skill: Can Witch Doctor stay behind of Tombstone?

 

#3 Bite Force vs. #11 Overhaul  I’ll go against the chalk and pick Overhaul.  Bite Force took a pretty good hit from Hypershock’s drum, and Overhaul looked to not take any appreciable damage against Lockjaw.

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Looking forward to next week’s Quarterfinals:

 

#1 Tombstone vs. #9 Witch Doctor  I’ll predict a Tombstone knock out, because that seems like the obvious result.  It all comes down to driving skill: Can Witch Doctor stay behind of Tombstone?

 

#3 Bite Force vs. #11 Overhaul  I’ll go against the chalk and pick Overhaul.  Bite Force took a pretty good hit from Hypershock’s drum, and Overhaul looked to not take any appreciable damage against Lockjaw.

 

Does this mean next week we'll only get two battles?  That's a lot of fluff to fill out an hour.

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Does this mean next week we'll only get two battles?  That's a lot of fluff to fill out an hour.

Oh no, there are four matches total - I had given my predictions for those two matches a few posts above, to wit:

 

Quarter-final prediction: Bronco in a KO.

 

For #4 Bronco vs. #5 Stinger, and,

 

Quarter-final prediction: Ice Wave, probably by KO.  (I think they lucked out here, Warrior Clan looked low enough to be under Ice Wave’s blade.  IW’s front wedge also looks lower than GR’s, allowing for the “lift and thwack.”)

 

For #2 Ice Wave vs. #10 Ghost Raptor

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Okay, so four matches next week, that will leave four bots.  So I'm assuming the episode will be the week after (with three battles to get our champion).  But I guess we should expect extra fluff for the championship bout...

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I enjoy the show but hate the way Megan is reduced to a show pony/booth bunny. Let the woman stand with her legs parallel to each other, rather than this exaggerated "non-threatening" legs-crossed stance. They just emphasize the fact that she is only on the show to wear that dress. Grrr.

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Well! That was a cool evening at the fights. *g*  While I am disappointed that Stinger and Witch Doctor are out, their opponents were really good tonight. The surprise was definitely left for the last one of  the night, but the best on was between Overhaul and Bite Force, imo. If it comes down to damage taken- and the judges need to eyeball it to be sure- then both teams drove well!  Which they did.

 

I was pretty sure Tombstone would be okay once we saw that Shaman was not coming to the party. Especially since Shaman was the only thing that concerned Team Tombstone.  I think the editors' tried to make Ghost Raptor's "De-Icer" more of a thing to throw the audience off. Showing us the pre-battle "you're going to have to keep the head up", weight stuff could have ledsome- like me- to think that was going to actually get more play in the battle. I am not disappointed in the battle, but trying to goose tension when there was no need, to me, shows a lack of faith in the final product. 

 

The top 3 seeds and 10th seed Ghost Raptor will make for a fine Final Four and Final Two. 

 

Between Tombstone and Bronco? I think it could be Tombstone, but the cat's been belled ( the shearing of the lethal blade!), so it may not be a walk-over.  Between Bite Force and Ghost Raptor, I want Bite Force to win because the guy leading Team Ghost Raptor just rubs me the wrong way. ( Not that Tombstone's leader is unicorn kisses and rainbow stickers, with his No More Mr. Nice Guy bs- you have to actually be a nice guy to stop being one.)

 

Still, I am not watching to make new bffs; I am here to see intense bot fights. I am happy and hope we see this next summer!

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I was so sorry to see Tombstone win.  Witch Doctor was owning that fight until the very end.  But at this point, how can you make a bot that can get flipped like that?  That's the only thing that did them in.

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Stinger's death was exciting to watch, but pretty horrible.  Tossed out of the arena while on fire?  Ouch.

 

Re: Biteforce vs Overhaul.  The first part of the battle looked like they were dancing.  I wanted to send them a bottle of wine.  So it was a bit of shock a when Robot Love turned into a nasty breakup.  <sigh>  I had such hope for those two crazy kids...

 

Ghost Raptor vs Ice Wave - boring.

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Those were some exciting matches, really enjoying it all. 

 

I have watched casually before, but still not clear on all the rules.  Like how much repair and change can be done between fights?  Is it just limited by time and ability of the engineers or other factors as well?

 

I think some of the drivers are too aggressive.  I know you are rewarded for that by the judges, but sometimes i think they ought to just sit back, wait and see if the opponent is incapacitated.  A few times I thought they helped the opponent by flipping them back over or getting them back in the fight by bumping them again. 

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(edited)

Stinger's death was exciting to watch, but pretty horrible.  Tossed out of the arena while on fire?  Ouch.

 

What's worse is that -- Bronco didn't have a flame-thrower; it looked like Stinger set itself on fire!

 

 A few times I thought they helped the opponent by flipping them back over or getting them back in the fight by bumping them again. 

 

I thought so too.  Your opponent is getting counted out -- back off and get the KO.

Edited by jhlipton
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Tombstone versus Witch Doctor was the best fight, IMO.  Witch Doctor was winning until it got flipped over, you have to have a way to flip yourself back over.

 

Bronco versus Stinger was fun to watch - short, but Bronco was just beating the crap out of Stinger and the end was awesome.

 

I thought Bite Force and Overhaul was boring - neither robot was really able to establish that much, they were too similar and there wasn't a lot of action.

 

Ghost Raptor versus Icewave was another good fight - Ghost Raptor had the perfect design to beat Icewave with that arm at the perfect height and size to grab control of Icewave and push it around.

 

Overall, I thought the fights last night were good.  Lots of action with some spectacular knockouts and a big upset.  It will be interesting to see how Tombstone comes back next week.

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you have to have a way to flip yourself back over.

 

In an addition to reality show rules for potential contestants:

 

*If you build a 'bot, make sure it can right itself!

 

Because as sure as Survivors will have to make a fire or fish and The Amazing Racers will have to drive a stick shift, robots will be turned upside-down and will have to right themselves in some way. So add that to your designs, Future Builders. OR face the scorn of the TV audience. *g*

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Ghost Raptor versus Icewave was another good fight - Ghost Raptor had the perfect design to beat Icewave with that arm at the perfect height and size to grab control of Icewave and push it around..

 

I predict that Tombstone will get knocked out in the next round by a similar design.  Grab it by an arm so the blade can't reach, then pummel it into submission or let the arena do it for you.

 

Because as sure as Survivors will have to make a fire or fish and The Amazing Racers will have to drive a stick shift, robots will be turned upside-down and will have to right themselves in some way. So add that to your designs, Future Builders. OR face the scorn of the TV audience. *g*

 

Absotively!

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I am guessing that Witch Doctor was hoping that their drum spinner could (possibly?) help with self righting.  That being said, everyone above is 100% right, every bot needs to have some sort of self righting strategy - I was shocked by the number this season that didn't.

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I remember Toro from the old Battlebots as the first one I saw with a self-righting mechanism.  Toro was just laying waste to all comers in all its early fights with the pneumatic flipping arm similar to the even more powerful one Bronco has now, until one week somebody else got Toro sideways and flipped it over.  Seeing an attached arm come out of nowhere to manipulate the flipper to slowly (well, like two seconds) right itself was a thing of robot beauty.

 

Or, maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

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I must say that was the most satisfying summer replacement fill-in series I've seen in ever.  Even the Battle Royale they threw in to fill time was fun. They need new play by play commentators next year, though.  That one guy who predicted Tombstone for the easy win looked almost offended in the last few shots they had of him.

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Good championship bout and it could have gone either way. Tombstone won it on damage inflicted; Bite Force won it on control of the match and I guess the judges gave it to Bite Force on aggression. Couple of times Tombstone spun away to regroup. Perfectly sensible but he probably lost aggression points there. I'd like to know what Bite Force was made out of to withstand the damage done to it.

 

Totale, one of the best ways to take out a bot is by simply picking it up and dropping it. They each weigh 250lbs so if you do that a few times sooner or later something is going to come loose. The problem with Bronco and Toro is they both flipped themselves almost every time they went to strike an opponent or if they needed to right themselves.  

 

Chitowngirl, I was a participant way back in 2002 and back then it was held over the Memorial Day weekend. There were three weight classes back then and the whole thing took four days. Most teams showed up a couple of days early for testing and other stuff but the bouts were over four days.

 

It was interesting listening to the driver for Ghost Raptor talk about how awesome he was for being able to modify his bot to address the strengths of his next opponent but then he forgets to acknowledge that he lost to a guy who did the exact same thing to him; he complained to the judges and was awarded a do over. He shouldn't have even been in the tournament at that point.

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I think Tombstone made a fatal error at the end of his battle with Bronco - the countdown had started and he went in for a gratuitous hit that resulted in his batteries being knocked loose and other damage.  I have to believe it played a factor in the problems with the blade in the championship fight.  I thought the guy driving Tombstone was way too cocky, I like that he screwed himself up by going for a totally unnecessary hit in a battle he had already won.

 

According to Wikipedia the competition was held May 21-23, so it was only a couple of days.

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Having never seen a robot-fighting competition (the running joke in our house was after the "Robots, activate" voice, a Dalek from Doctor Who would say "You will be exterminated!"), I enjoyed this series. Despite the "villain" edit they gave to Tombstone, I was rooting for him in the end. Admittedly knowing nothing about robots, Bite Force was just never that exciting in any of its matchups. The closest I can think is the other bots were hitting homeruns or striking out completely and Bite Force was just a series of singles and doubles. Like, it did just enough to win, but never enough (for me) to be impressive in any of its wins.

 

Anyway, it did win, so congrats to Bite Force -- even if it seems like it should share a name with some kind of dental x-ray.

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I think Tombstone made a fatal error at the end of his battle with Bronco - the countdown had started and he went in for a gratuitous hit that resulted in his batteries being knocked loose and other damage.  I have to believe it played a factor in the problems with the blade in the championship fight.  I thought the guy driving Tombstone was way too cocky, I like that he screwed himself up by going for a totally unnecessary hit in a battle he had already won.

 

According to Wikipedia the competition was held May 21-23, so it was only a couple of days.

 

 

I thought the same thing.  I don't know why Tombstone did that when he had the match won.  Take it and move on.  It didn't look like the same bot then in the final

 

I thought it was pretty clear Bite Force controlled the championship match.  And what impressed me at least was they won not based on being the better bot but do to driving and maneuvering, how they handled the match, their approach to it all.  This is where I think the show and the battles are lacking.  I get the impression these competitors spend all their time on the bots and making them, little time on practicing with them, considering the opponent, coming up with a plan on how to manage the match up and practicing how the match might go.  It seems to be mostly brute force and not much strategy. 

 

Tombstone I think overall was the better bot than Bite Force, but Bite Force just outperformed them in the match. 

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The semi-finals were a bit pathetic, I thought -- over way too early.

 

Good championship bout and it could have gone either way. Tombstone won it on damage inflicted; Bite Force won it on control of the match and I guess the judges gave it to Bite Force on aggression. 

 

From what I saw, most of Tombstone's hit were to the front wedge, which was still intact after the bout.  Bite Force made Tombstone's weapon shut down -- which was 90% (or more) of the bot.  If I was a judge, I would have given the win to Bite Force without a doubt.

 

I thought the same thing.  I don't know why Tombstone did that when he had the match won.  Take it and move on.  It didn't look like the same bot then in the final

 

I thought it was pretty clear Bite Force controlled the championship match.  And what impressed me at least was they won not based on being the better bot but do to driving and maneuvering, how they handled the match, their approach to it all.  

 

Tombstone I think overall was the better bot than Bite Force, but Bite Force just outperformed them in the match. 

 

Tombstone's driver said that he wanted a knockout rather than a judge's decision, but I think he was getting a knockout anyway.  It was a rather dumb move.

 

I never cared for Tombstone.  It was barely a bot -- just a lawn mower on a remote-control platform.  So I liked the way that Bite Force added the wedge to take out Tombstone's attack.  It was probably the best match of the tournament, though.

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I never cared for Tombstone.  It was barely a bot -- just a lawn mower on a remote-control platform.  So I liked the way that Bite Force added the wedge to take out Tombstone's attack.  It was probably the best match of the tournament, though.

 

That's the way it is nowadays. The last time Battlebots was on TV, in 2002, Bio-Hazard was the most dominant bot out there. It was sleek and efficient and it's only "weapon" was a strong durable lifting arm. The driver was very skilled and his method of attack was to simply get under the other guy and press the button to activate his lifting arm and flip the guy. Back up and repeat as needed. That was good enough to win multiple nuts. 

 

Now the show is on a major network and the producers want pop and pizzazz and bots like Bio-Hazard don't provide that; spinners do. Unfortunately, spinners take the skill of the driver completely out of the equation. You just point it in the general direction of your opponent and sit back and watch the destruction. Hopefully the rules can be tweaked next season to bring driving skill back into play. 

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If they updated to allow "Tearaway entanglement weapons" that would probably help take a lot of the gas out of the spinner strengths. So allow nets and similar but they have to be connected to the 'bot and can not be launched in any way (but they are allowed to tearaway). Seeing a spinner get snarled up in a net was one of the early highlights of this season, even if it was right smack dab in the grey area. 

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Tombstone's driver said that he wanted a knockout rather than a judge's decision, but I think he was getting a knockout anyway.  It was a rather dumb move.

 

They were already counting down the knock-out when Tombstone made his ill-advice gratuitous attack.  He was clearly getting the knockout.  It was beyond dumb.

 

That's the way it is nowadays. The last time Battlebots was on TV, in 2002, Bio-Hazard was the most dominant bot out there. It was sleek and efficient and it's only "weapon" was a strong durable lifting arm. The driver was very skilled and his method of attack was to simply get under the other guy and press the button to activate his lifting arm and flip the guy. Back up and repeat as needed. That was good enough to win multiple nuts. 

 

Now the show is on a major network and the producers want pop and pizzazz and bots like Bio-Hazard don't provide that; spinners do. Unfortunately, spinners take the skill of the driver completely out of the equation. You just point it in the general direction of your opponent and sit back and watch the destruction. Hopefully the rules can be tweaked next season to bring driving skill back into play. 

 

This year the finals were won as a result of better driving against a spinner.  Admittedly, the spinner probably hurt his chances with his unnecessary attack at the end of the semifinal match but the spinner didn't win.  The lack of good driving skills and strategy cost the spinner.

 

That said, if Tombstone had a better drive he would have won easily.  But he felt that with his lethal spinning blade he didn't need to worry as much about driving skill or strategy and that cost him.  Tombstone almost lost to Witch Doctor the week before because Witch Doctor had the better driver.  Having a great spinner weapon is not enough by itself to win the title, you still need some skills.

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Tombstone almost lost to Witch Doctor the week before because Witch Doctor had the better driver.  Having a great spinner weapon is not enough by itself to win the title, you still need some skills.

 

I think that if Witch Doctor had built in a "self-righter", it would have won.  It was way ahead as I recall, but the flip killed it.

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(edited)

I thought Bite Force and Overhaul was boring - neither robot was really able to establish that much, they were too similar and there wasn't a lot of action.

 

I thought Overhaul was dominating at the end, and was robbed by the judges. Going the distance should be weighted by the judges, starting strong and finishing weak hints at problems with the battery system or other design issues.

 

Was surprised not to see Overhaul in the group match though. Maybe they were a little pissed? Oops. Never mind. Overhaul was there, the mind plays tricks.

Edited by Latverian Diplomat
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Was surprised not to see Overhaul in the group match though. Maybe they were a little pissed?

 

I was surprised to see a rookie mistake by Witch Doctor in the Melee Round.  It should have hung back and let Overhaul and Nightmare pick at each other, then take on whichever was left.  Instead, it got right between them and got clobbered by both.

 

Looking at the Wikipedia entry, I didn't know it was filmed at Mare Island.  Mare Island is a "Navy town" just across the bay, north of San Francisco.  My dad worked there for a while as a civilian, and we got to see a number of keel-layings and had a tour of one of the subs one time.

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I was surprised to see a rookie mistake by Witch Doctor in the Melee Round.  It should have hung back and let Overhaul and Nightmare pick at each other, then take on whichever was left.  Instead, it got right between them and got clobbered by both.

.

 

I don't think the point of the Melee Round is to win, it's to give the crowd a good show. The tournament is over and the participants don't need to keep their bots in good shape anymore. I think the point is have some fun and show off and maybe let off a little steam.

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Good point.  Shaman certainly gave a good show!

 

As Mad Max showed us, Fire makes everything better.

 

Frankly, once the big bot was flipped and wasn't easily flipped back, I would have had the little guy following the other two around, keeping them bathed in fire until the tanks ran dry. :)

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 I would have had the little guy following the other two around, keeping them bathed in fire until the tanks ran dry. :)

 

The worst that could have happened is that it got flipped into a corner and set itself on fire (as happened to the other flame-throwing robot).

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I am guessing that Witch Doctor was hoping that their drum spinner could (possibly?) help with self righting.  That being said, everyone above is 100% right, every bot needs to have some sort of self righting strategy - I was shocked by the number this season that didn't.

Seems to me the reason they don't all is because some designs are hurt by that.  Maybe it's because of the weight limit--where perhaps they want to centralize as much weight as possible on armor (or perhaps a big spinning blade) and a self-righting mechanism might steal a lot of that.  Or perhaps it's a bot with a deliberately low center of gravity, or a deliberately compact central body design.  I mean think of Tombstone's design. He essentially didn't need a self-righting mechanism because his bot was virtually the same either side up.  No idea what the rules say about him STAYING upside down of course (we only saw him that way briefly after all), but with that design where would he have even PUT a self-righting device?

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For an invert-able bot, like Tombstone or Sweet Revenge, that part of their design *is* their self-righting mechanism.  A low wedge bot, with an "upside-down" wedge on its rear, would also work - to cite a non-spinner example. 

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No idea what the rules say about him STAYING upside down of course

 

I don't think there were any rules about staying upside down as long as you could move.  Once a bot was immobile, the count started, regardless of whether it was right-side up or not.  

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Battlebot Hexbugs announced at Toyfair2016

 

Thank you for posting that. 

 

I don't think that I'd be interested in buying the toy Battlebots, even if I could afford them.  I think I see where they were going with this.  Kids could have their own Battles at home.  But the Battlebox itself would cost some money, and it doesn't even come with any hidden dangers (that I could see).

 

Each Battlebot would be an extra cost, and the kids couldn't change anything on them, because the toy appears to come as is.  Did I miss something and the kids have to build them?  Because that would be interesting.  As it is, I thought that the Battlebots were underpowered and had a couple of parts that might fall off during the battle, but could easily snapped on again for the next round.

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Well, I got excited to see Battlebots was scheduled to air Tuesday at 10:00 pm on ABC.  But then I saw the episode description:

BattleBots

A preview of Season 2 features 12 robots in competition for the last four spots in the field of 48. Clark Gregg is the first guest judge for the season, which begins June 23.

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Black Ice looked good as well - a simple, no frills, low slung machine that looked able to withstand just about any attack.  It seems a lot of these battlebots can be a little too fancy for their own good.

I remember watching a show years ago, where the object was to build a robot to fulfill some simple task, say, gathering ping-pong balls.  It was always fascinating to me to see how different people had such differing ideas of how to best accomplish the same goal; it was neat to see how many options there are, and no one design is definitively the best.  I find Battlebots interesting in the same way, not to mention the blood-lust thing being satisfied as well, with no one really getting hurt.  Glad to see it's back, and looking forward to the rest of the season.

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