The Steelers N'at

Battlebots 2015 Episode 2 Recap

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Alan Draper
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Sports Editor
11 min read
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Episode 2 of Battlebots started with a bang – telling the audience this was the final night of the qualifying round. With 12 qualifying matches and only 4 shown in the initial episode, this meant that there were (theoretically) 8 fights that would air. We were also told how the Wild Card system would work (an anonymous “Selection Committee” decided which bots they wanted to see move on). The second thing ABC did right was they finally called the trophy by it’s proper name, THE GIANT NUT.

Battle #1: Overhaul vs Lockjaw

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsOverhaul was a clamp bot built by some kids from MIT. The clamping portion wasn’t very effective and it’s biggest asset was that the front wedge was lower to the ground than Lockjaw. On the other hand, Lockjaw was built by Donald Hutson, the architect of two-time Superheavyweight Champion Diesector. Diesector was best known for its epic showdowns with Vladiator in Season 3 and Season 5 and had a 16-3 record over the 5 original Battlebots seasons.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfswZnZnkoo]  

While Lockjaw is a completely new robot, it incorporated some similar designs, including the hydraulic lifting and clamping jaws. This was probably the fight of the night as Overhaul dominated the first half of the match, using it’s superior leverage to push Lockjaw around. But the savvy veteran Hutson would not be outdone and got in his best shots in the closing minute, eventually rendering Overhaul incapacitated against the screws. The fight ended with controversy as Lockjaw delivered a final ramming blow after the buzzer had sounded which caused his clamping jaws to get stuck in Overhaul’s framework. The MIT kids took exception to the late hit and as Hutson tried to free his bot, Lockjaw basically carried Overhaul around the box like a trophy for 10-15 seconds after the match ended. The judges handed in a “split decision” (we still don’t know exactly how the scoring works) in favor of Lockjaw, sending Hutson through to the elimination round.  

Battle #2: Witch Doctor vs Bronco

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Witch Doctor is a ramming bot with a spinner that doesn’t cause much damage. The big draw to Witch Doctor is the secondary bot (Shaman) which shoots a 6-foot flame. Bronco is designed by Inertia Labs who built the ever-popular (and Season 4 Superheavyweight Champion) Toro.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PZoruAPj4]

(As an aside – this match features some of the best commentary ever between Tim and Bill, starting around the 2:30 mark.)

Inertia Labs is also known for producing T-minus, the middleweight bot that was the only bot to ever defeat Hazard. Bronco incorporated the well-known design of a pneumatic flipping arm. The Inertia Labs family of bots had been derailed numerous times for small issues in the original Battlebots series – from Toro suffering mechanical issues in a fight he dominated in Season 2 to having CO2 tanks punctured to Matador literally getting it’s wheels taken off by M.O.E. Danger seemed to be afoot early in this match as Shaman was small enough to get under Bronco and set a blaze underneath the bot. However, Bronco was able to use it’s flipping arm to propel itself away then get in a few good flips on Witch Doctor before a final flip sent the main bot into the dead zone above the screws where Nightmare got lodged in Episode 1. With the primary bot incapacitated, Witch Doctor was counted out while Shaman ran around trying to incinerate Bronco. This dead zone space ended two fights so far and is a big problem with the design of the battlebox. That said, Inertia Labs is moving on, which means we’ll get to see more awesome flipping action.

 Battle #3: Tombstone vs Counter Revolution

At this point, Tombstone is probably the odds-on favorite to win the whole thing. It is an incredibly well-designed bot with a devastating horizontal spinning arm on the front that absolutely shreds everything in its path – including dual-bladed Counter Revolution. As I mentioned last week in the Warrior Clan vs Nightmare recap – vertical spinners traditionally do very poorly against horizontal spinners. This held true once again as Tombstone decimated Counter Revolution in under 30 seconds. Tombstone looks to be invertable which means that even a well-timed lift or flip won’t incapacitate the bot. As long as the blade on the front is spinning, I can’t see Tombstone losing to any of the bots in the tournament. Just take a minute and enjoy the outright carnage.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pknVRzGldiM]

Battle #4: Complete Control vs Ghost Raptor

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This match featured two veteran teams from the original series. Ghost Raptor was the latest product of Team Raptor. Team Raptor had some success in the lightweight class, reaching the Season 1 and Season 3 finals as well as the semi-finals in Seasons 2 and 3. Canadian Derek Young, the builder of Complete Control, had one of the more popular middleweight bots, but hadn’t competed since being epically destroyed by Hazard in the Season 4 Championship.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxV92vHgyCA]

This fight was filled with controversy as Young started the fight by putting a large box in between Complete Control’s clamping jaws. Ghost Raptor attacked and the box shattered to reveal a large net which entangled Ghost Raptor’s spinning blade. The builders were almost at each other’s throats arguing over the rules (Battlebots traditionally banned entanglement devices but Young argued the rules for this competition did not specify “nets”.)

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//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js  What came next was one of the most bizarre segments of television I’ve seen in a long time. All of these fights are pre-recorded, and the best idea ABC could come up with was to say “this is going to take some time to sort out, let’s check in on some other fights.” This was a totally bizarre move when the entire viewing audience knows the show is not live so contriving drama like this just feels forced. ABC used this opportunity to show fast-forwarded versions of four other fights.   ABC has not yet said if full versions of these fights are available for viewing online, which means we could just be left with these shortened clips. It’s hard to believe that ABC can’t figure out how to fit 8 3-minute robot fights into a 1-hour time block. It also begs the question why (if they knew they were going to have to fast-forward through some fights) ABC showed only 4 fights in Episode 1 and left 8 fights for Episode 2. Why not split it 6 and 6 and show all 12 preliminary matches?  

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Battle #5: Stinger vs Captain Shrederator

This fight between a lifter and a spinner looked really damn cool and I’m sad we only got highlights of it. Captain Shrederator, like many disc-shaped spinners that came before him, fell victim to being flipped over and not being able to right itself. Stinger, a bot that looks like a hyper-engineered snow plow, moved on.

Battle #6: Overdrive vs Chomp

Overdrive was the brainchild of Christian Carlberg who was best known for building Superheavyweight Champion Minion and Heavyweight Overkill (who had epic fights with Biohazard in the Season 3 semis and Season 4 Championship). Overdrive did not have the swinging sawblade of its predecessor Overkill, but was an effective lifting wedge. Chomp – true to its name – is a clamp bot that breathes fire. Carlberg’s veteran driving abilities paid off and was able to use the dead space above the screws to incapacitate Chomp. In truly bizarre fashion, ABC showed more reaction shots of the drivers and the announcers than actual footage from this fight. It looked cool, especially with Chomp breathing fire everywhere. Also, for those keeping score at home, 3 bots were trapped in the “dead zone” above the screws and we have yet to see the Kill Saws come out of the floor.

Battle #7: Radioactive vs Sweet Revenge

Sweet Revenge was built by a group of high school students and had a similar design to Tombstone with a spinner on the front. However (based on the little footage we saw), their blade had mechanical problems, allowing the shape-shifting Radioactive to pummel it with blows from his hammer. From what we saw, it looks like this fight went the full 3 minutes but Radioactive’s hammer didn’t do a ton of damage to the top of Sweet Revenge.

Battle #8: Hypershock vs Mohawk

Hypershock has a spinning drum and clamping arms (with a body made out of carbon fiber). Mohawk, while sporting an impressive clamping jaw and flamethrower, did not prove to be effective. Hypershock KO’d Mohawk in a single blow, wedging underneath the bigger bot and letting the spinning drum tear into Mohawk. With Mohawk’s drive train incapacitated, the fight was over almost before it began.

Battle #4.2: Complete Control vs Ghost Raptor Redux

The show ended with a decision to re-start the Complete Control-Ghost Raptor fight. Freed from the shackles of the net, Ghost Raptor was determined to get the best of Complete Control but his first hit broke half of his spinning arm off. To their credit, the Ghost Raptor team did not panic and used their broken arm like a wedge to get underneath Complete Control and drive him around the box into the hazards. Complete Control did get a few good hits in with its flamethrower but at the end of the day the judges awarded the fight to Ghost Raptor.

 

That put a wrap on the fighting action for Episode 2. With the 12 winners in place, the “selection committee” announced the four Wild Cards that would be moving on.

 

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Overhaul deserves to move on, they drove a good match against Lockjaw that ended in a split decision. Since we didn’t get to see Chomp’s fight with Overdrive, it’s hard to say whether or not Chomp was deserving. It’s a little surprising that ABC didn’t show that whole fight since Chomp will be moving on. Remember, the tournament itself actually happened at the end of May, so the full results are known to ABC and they are the ones making the editing decisions for each episode of the show. Despite its short-lived bout with Bronco, I have no problem with Witch Doctor moving on as well. That had all the makings of a good fight if Witch Doctor hadn’t been knocked out by a flaw in the design of the Battlebox. Finally, Warhead was probably chosen because it’s a known commodity and not for anything it did in the Battlebox. Warhead was totally out-maneuvered by Bite Force last week and probably only got a spot based on reputation.

Given ABC’s utter failure to figure out how to show more than 4 “full” fights (“full” in quotes because Bronco and Tombstone both KO’d their opponents in under a minute) in an hour of television, it is safe to assume the rest of the season will play out like this:

  • Episode 3: Round of 16 (Part 1)
  • Episode 4: Round of 16 (Part 2)
  • Episode 5: Quarterfinals
  • Episode 6: Semi-Finals, Finals, Royal Rumble

This would give each episode 4 fights per episode which means we shouldn’t be subjected to the ridiculous “fast-forwarding” of fights any more. Despite only seeing 4 full fights, there was some great robot fighting action in Episode 2. We saw the Legend of Toro continue with Bronco flipping Witch Doctor and three builders with Giant Nuts to their name (Hutson, Inertia Labs and Christian Carlberg) advance to the elimination stage. On top of all that, I’ll leave you with the lasting image of Tombstone obliterating Counter Revolution:

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Alan Draper

Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
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Alan Draper

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Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper
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