BattleBots Thread

[Atheris]

I see Endgame is the inaugural sacrifice to Tombstone this season.

I guess you can say that they're at their...



endgame.

[Ameriganastan]

Goddamn, did they fill Axe Backwards with propane or something? One hit and that thing lit up like New Years.

[Ameriganastan]

Oh look, Shredderator knocks himself out. Shocker...

[Ameriganastan]

Ho
Lee
Shit.

[Ozzy]

Ugh, all it takes is one stroke of bad luck, I guess

[Kohr]

These spinner on spinner fights seem to be getting shorter every year...

[Atheris]

What happened?! I can't watch the show right now!

[Kohr]

What happened?! I can't watch the show right now!

End Game knocked Tombstone out of the arena.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

got to admit I did not see that ending coming. I wonder if Tombstones rep is starting to bite it in rear end.

[Atheris]

What happened?! I can't watch the show right now!

End Game knocked Tombstone out of the arena.

NOOOOOOOOOO! MY BOY!

[Pencil Sharpeners 2]

A day late, here are my thoughts on each battle.
- Before the season started, I kinda thought Sawblaze might win the whole thing, and the first fight increased my confidence. Last year they looked unbalanced when they had the heavier weapon on, but not so this year. Whiplash usually controls and dominates fights, so to see them not even get a look in is a sign that Sawblaze is very impressive this year.
- In my last post, I wondered if the powerful but untested Fusion would live up to the hype. I saw Madcatter as a sacrificial lamb designed to allow Fusion to show off what it could do but damn I was wrong. Madcatter seems much quicker and more durable than last year (probabaly not top 16 material though), and it seems Fusion might end up as the new Falcon rather than the new Hydra, but it's too early to judge.
- Axe Backwards took a design from an under-performing robot wars machine from 1999 and somehow made it worse. Malice looked decent but I worry about its reach against a stronger opponent.
- Bloodsport looks seriously impressive this year. The weapon spins up fast and looks smooth, and although Skorpios isn't a top tier robot, it did take down IceWave a couple of years ago. I reckon Bloodsport will make top 16 this time around.
- I kinda feel Captain Shrederator got unlucky. Remember, Lockjaw's defensive wedge has previously withstood Tombstone, SOW, and even smashed Valkyrie's weapon in half, but the Captain took a chunk off it. The era of shell spinners is over, but I think Captain Shrederator will win at least a fight this year. Lockjaw, for its part, doesn't seem any more reliable than in the past, which may still be its downfall.
- I thought Rusty was the worst robot in the field. I was wrong. It's second-worst.
- Smee(etc.) seems like a load of fun, if not hugely effective. Sharko looks like a downgrade from the spinner, unfortunately.
- Bite Force: "I can knock out Tombstone the quickest". End Game: "Hold my vertical spinner"

[Atheris]

Just watched the Tombstone v. Endgame fight.

Nine seconds.

Nine fucking seconds.

That's insane.

I think Tombstone should've gone for the pure steel blade instead of the wedge blade. Can't wait for Tombstone vs. Slapbox. I'm also hoping we'll see Tombstone go up against Bronco; that's my favorite matchup in Battlebots history. That 2015 fight still gets me hype.

Here's hoping my boy can pick it up after that embarrassing performance. Tombstone or rust!

Anyways: How the heck did Rusty beat Spork? What did it hit?

[Pencil Sharpeners 2]

My talking points for this episode:

- Can Ghost Raptor take hits? It looks pretty fragile, and I don't think Shatter reached full potential last year. It will be nice if a hammer bot does real damage.
- How will Tracer work? I've heard that the entire front armour is mounted only to the weapon shaft, which is an interesting idea, but could be a single point of failure.
- Who will win the battle of the giants? I've seen footage of Mammoth, and it looks much better this year. HUGE has destructive power, but may struggle to reach Mammoth's important bits because of all that frame.
- How powerful is Hijinx? One of the coolest looking new spinners, I really hope this thing can perform, but it is untested so may have the first-season-issues that a lot of teams have.
- Has Perfect Phoenix being brought up to date? Originally built by the Bite Force team, and upgraded by the Tombstone team, but this is essentially a 2009 design being tossed in with 2020 bots. I also reckon the producers will hype up this fight as the battle of the child drivers.
- Can Hydra beat one of the favourites? Last year Hydra had huge hype, but mainly fought lower tier opposition (other than Bronco and Minotaur). The only spinners it faced were a barely functioning WarHawk, and Minotaur, who revealed Hydra's significant structural weaknesses within 20 seconds. This will be a test to see if Hydra is truly an elite bot, or is just an overhyped glass cannon.

[Ameriganastan]

I see they're already throwing Bitch Doctor some easy fights. Can't have it get its ass kicked, so they make it fight a flipper instead of a bot with a real weapon.

[Atheris]

(Image)

My talking points for this episode:

- Can Ghost Raptor take hits? It looks pretty fragile, and I don't think Shatter reached full potential last year. It will be nice if a hammer bot does real damage.
- How will Tracer work? I've heard that the entire front armour is mounted only to the weapon shaft, which is an interesting idea, but could be a single point of failure.
- Who will win the battle of the giants? I've seen footage of Mammoth, and it looks much better this year. HUGE has destructive power, but may struggle to reach Mammoth's important bits because of all that frame.
- How powerful is Hijinx? One of the coolest looking new spinners, I really hope this thing can perform, but it is untested so may have the first-season-issues that a lot of teams have.
- Has Perfect Phoenix being brought up to date? Originally built by the Bite Force team, and upgraded by the Tombstone team, but this is essentially a 2009 design being tossed in with 2020 bots. I also reckon the producers will hype up this fight as the battle of the child drivers.
- Can Hydra beat one of the favourites? Last year Hydra had huge hype, but mainly fought lower tier opposition (other than Bronco and Minotaur). The only spinners it faced were a barely functioning WarHawk, and Minotaur, who revealed Hydra's significant structural weaknesses within 20 seconds. This will be a test to see if Hydra is truly an elite bot, or is just an overhyped glass cannon.

- I expect Ghost Raptor to win because Shatter is a hammerbot, but I'm personally rooting for Shatter. Ghost Raptor looks pretty fragile to me.
- If that's true, then that leaves a huge opening that can be exploited by bots - especially fast bots and hammerbots.
- I'm expecting HUGE to pull it off, honestly.
- I hope Hijinx can perform, too. I don't expect it to perform terribly well but I'm ready to be proven wrong.
- I expect Perfect Phoenix to win. I don't have high hopes for Extinguisher.
- If Witch Doctor wins I'll honestly be surprised. I don't expect them to do particularly well this season.

[Ameriganastan]

Well, that was a lackluster return for Ghost Raptor.

[Romextly]

Tombstone got taken out so quickly by End Game

[Ameriganastan]

Tombstone got taken out so quickly by End Game

He got lucky.

[Romextly]

Tombstone got taken out so quickly by End Game

He got lucky.

Yeah, took him out of the arena in like 10 seconds. Me and my dad were talking on how Tombstone's spinner looked more powerful, and how End Game would put up a good fight, when End Game kicked Tombstone out of the Arena. WE just stayed quiet for 5 seconds

[Ameriganastan]

Booyah, suck it Witch Doctor!

[Atheris]

Yeah, fuck off, Bitch Doctor. Go cry in that 2 foot hut you call a home.

[Washington Resistance Army]

The Kraken vs Black Dragon decision was 110% bullshit. There's no universe in which Black Dragon won that fight.

[Kohr]

The Kraken vs Black Dragon decision was 110% bullshit. There's no universe in which Black Dragon won that fight.

I agree. Kraken went in there and did what it needed to do to win fights and got punished for it. Some other thoughts:

-Mammoth vs Huge and Hydra vs Witch Doctor were just absolutely jaw-dropping fights. Mammoth got its statement win (did you see that thing doing gymnastics?), while Hydra I think proved that it isn't a glass cannon. If he can take out the top vertical spinner, he can take out anyone.
-I'm bullish on Claw Viper, who used his speed more than anything to take out what looks to be a lower-tier horizontal.
-Extinguisher still sucks.
-All be told, it was a great night of fights where the non-spinners mostly got to shine. Honestly I liked this episode a lot better than the first one.

[Kohr]

He got lucky.

Yeah, took him out of the arena in like 10 seconds. Me and my dad were talking on how Tombstone's spinner looked more powerful, and how End Game would put up a good fight, when End Game kicked Tombstone out of the Arena. WE just stayed quiet for 5 seconds

Honestly, I think Tombstone's time at the top of the food chain is coming to an end. Battlebots is a lot different than it was in 2015/16. and people have gotten a lot more serious about their armor. When Tombstone comes across a good set of armor and is forced to take the recoil from its massive hits, it's not stable enough to win nearly enough of those fights.

[Atheris]

Yeah, took him out of the arena in like 10 seconds. Me and my dad were talking on how Tombstone's spinner looked more powerful, and how End Game would put up a good fight, when End Game kicked Tombstone out of the Arena. WE just stayed quiet for 5 seconds

Honestly, I think Tombstone's time at the top of the food chain is coming to an end. Battlebots is a lot different than it was in 2015/16. and people have gotten a lot more serious about their armor. When Tombstone comes across a good set of armor and is forced to take the recoil from its massive hits, it's not stable enough to win nearly enough of those fights.

Yeah, and that sucks. I'm really hoping Tombstone can find some way to adapt, seeing as he's my favorite bot.