I find it funny how Witch Doctor was treated as the “upset” for the season and yet these last two episodes just delivered so many losses that at this point my bracket is a shell of its former self.
But this was a good episode to end the qualifying round with! The only major fault I had with this episode was showing the Chomp v Capt Shrederator battle instead of the Icewave v Nightmare fight. But that aside, the other three fights were great. I’ll publish another article after this one for my predictions but for now, let’s take a look at the battles!
BETA vs Overhaul
This was definitely the episode for the hammer bots as both BETA and Chomp won despite their faults. I have to say, my friends and I doubted BETA’s credibility as I thought BETA’s hammer looked weak while they thought he was just plain unwieldy. Luckily, we were given a good, dare I say, smashing, battle that delivered strong blow after blow against Overhaul. I think the real highlight of the battle was after it as I was reminded how heart endearing BETA’s builder was. Makes it all the more powerful when the audience started chanting BETA’s name near the end. Man, I got the feels now!
Hypershock vs Warrior Clan
Okay, so I know I’ve been throwing this a lot these past few articles but this was great battle and probably the best one yet, if not this round then definitely this episode. First off, that rake! I was so sure that rake would be unwieldy and would plain not work. But HOLY SHIT, it did! Not only was it awesome that he batted it out of the sky but then he blew it up and flew it through the air! Fuck, yes. But I really like the back and forth between Warrior Clan and Hypershock. They were evenly matched which made this match even better. Great battle with great moments.
Mega Tento vs Stinger
Bug vs bug! But for real, I’m sad, like, super sad, that Stinger lost. I love Stinger, I love the team, and I had them going to the final four. They’re a great robot and team but it just didn’t work out for them in this battle. If it was any other robot then Stinger could’ve won but MT was just too big and heavy. At least Mega Tento got a win under its belt. That’s gotta be one of the few times it won a fight.
Chomp vs Captain Shrederator
You would think ABC would end on a high note for the qualifying rounds but unfortunately that was not the case. I mean, the battle wasn’t bad but it certainly wasn’t thrilling. ABC certainly hyped the tough talk and grudge match between these two so I can’t fault them for riling me up. It’s funny how Chomp looked so ineffective against Capt, I’m not even fully confident Chomp’s blows did much to Captain Shrederator but hey I shouldn’t doubt too much. Chomp won so congrats on them!
Episode Five was definitely the upset episode as three out of the four matches had a lower seed beating an upper seed with one of the matches beating a top eight seed! This was a good episode with crazy fights and awesome moves. Let’s take a look!
Warhead vs Complete Control
This was probably the craziest battle yet this season and I LOVED IT. Flames, collisions, and a break-dancing robot tied everything together nicely. But seriously, the announcers got this right when they compared this fight to Rocky II when the fighters were so badly beaten and just need to move in order to win. Warhead gave possibly the best defeat this season through not only slicing open Complete Control but catching him on fire. It certainly highlights the biggest weakness for flame robots and their vulnerability to their own weapon. But man, Warhead is just nuts with his moves! I love it! And the best part is that Warhead has proven himself worthy after beating a worthy opponent. I hope you go far man, (my bracket is already busted at this point so who cares!).
Razorback vs. Ghost Raptor
Suplex! If Warhead vs CC was the best battle then the suplex was probably the best move for this episode. Razorback has jumped up in favorites for me as I just love how efficiently designed this robot is. Rb is like Complete Control 2.0! Strongly designed, able to right itself easily and very maneuverable, Rb is a great battlebot. Poor GR just didn’t have the power necessary to chew through Rb. That fight against SoW must’ve really hurt him hard. Again, looking forward to seeing RB in the next round!
Tombstone vs Escape Velocity
After this fight, people on reddit called EV “Walmart Bronco” and I’m not surprised. Even though “honeycomb armor” was promised it certainly did not deliver. Tombstone just chewed through him like he was another meal. Tombstone didn’t even break a sweat. Still though, gotta love how the builders of EV dressed up like hardcore nerds.
Poison Arrow vs. Son of Whyachi
Son of Whyachi’s unfortunate losing streak continues this season. It’s a shame that such an iconic robot continues to lose matches. Regardless, at least he went out with a huge BANG and not through some dumb thing like radio trouble. Poison Arrow joins Red Devil in being the underdogs and thanks to the both of them, the third quadrant is now wiiiiiide open. That section of the quadrant is now more interesting as unproven veterans and plucky newcomers will battle it out for the final four. But back to the match. It’s too bad that SoW didn’t give a good hit to Poison Arrow. SoW probably could’ve won this if they tried to go around PA and not full frontal. But they lost so now they’ll have to hope for their family members to avenge them. What such most about this is that I had SoW go to the final four so now my bracket is officially busted thanks to PA. So, bleh on you PA.
In all fairness, things could be worse for my bracket.
So begins the first elimination round of Battlebots Season 2. Four battles were shown and not one of them was disappointing; even the more one-sided bouts began with uncertainty for the victor. Perhaps the biggest disappointment for tonight was that ABC failed to squeeze just one more fight into this episode. There was a lot of backstory given during this episode and honestly I don’t think it was needed. Now, I’m all for the background of builders and what’s going down in the workshop but at this point of the game we are still in the first round. How much of this is really necessary? Save it for the later episodes when the victors deserve some praise.
With that off my chest let’s look at the battles!
Yeti vs Lucky
Arguably the best fight for Episode Four, this battle was flavorful and fun despite the ineffectiveness of Lucky’s weapon. What made the battle really interesting though was Yeti’s wheel loss. With Yeti handicapped, the odds swung towards Lucky who was now more maneuverable than his opponent. Despite such amazing, if you will, luck, Lucky failed to clinch the win. I have to applaud Yeti’s driver and his mechanic for not only designing a robot that can drive with three wheels but can drive effectively as well.
Minotaur vs Blacksmith
Ah, now this fight I could watch again and again. At first I was worried that Minotaur would not be able to hit Blacksmith but thankfully, I was proven wrong. So many things to comment about this fight like the fact that Blacksmith just kept going and going to the bitter end. Then there’s the fact that Minotaur seemed impervious to Blacksmith’s onslaught even when he gave several good blows. But the best part was the end when Minotaur stripped off Blacksmith, layer by layer, until it could chew away at the juicy insides. And I have to say, I don’t think I had ever seen a Battlebot explode so chalk this fight up as one for the record books. Also, I couldn’t help but laugh my butt off when I saw Minotaur’s driver whose eyeballs looked like they were trying to pop out of his skull. Good fight, good fight.
Bronco vs Chrome Fly
ABC played me like a fiddle because I was nervous before this fight began (Bronco is my pick for Champion). Chrome Fly’s deadly horizontal blades looked like they could chew through Bronco and leave him badly disabled. Needless to say, that did not happen and Bronco came out of that fight virtually unscathed. I have to say, super props to Bronco who did not underestimate his opponent unlike a certain high-seed robot…
Witch Doctor vs Red Devil
It was clear early on that the builders for Witch Doctor underestimated Red Devil and truth be told I don’t blame them. Red Devil looks fragile and the only reason why he won his last fight was because Wrex was a complete joke. But I got to hand it to RD, a saw is not the most useful weapon but in this case everything came out perfectly. If it was any other battlebot, RD would have lost. But Witch Doctor was built to such a degree that RD could grab-and-saw to his heart’s content. Now, RD is the underdog in the tournament. If he can win his next fight then he won’t be a fluke in the system. I guarantee that the next robot he fights, whether it’s Cobalt or Bombshell, will go all out on him. Good luck RD (but not really, I have Cobalt winning that on, fingers crossed!).
The third episode of season 2 of Battlebots premieres tomorrow which kicks off the single elimination tournament. Luckily, ABC bestowed to us a bracket that we can fill out and post online. My bracket is below along with my reasoning why I picked Bronco to be the overall winner.
So I had to deal with two big problems while filling out this bracket. The first of which was that a lot of the battles were relegated to just clips. Its thanks to the Battlebots Youtube channel that we even get to see a few of these in the first place. As such, a lot of the robots are basically unknowns. What’s their driver like? How powerful is the robot? Does the robot have any outstanding faults? Did the robot sustain serious damage during its last bout? These are questions that I had to deal with and it was quite frustrating.
This ties into my second problem, since Battlebots is a reality show, and not an actual sports program, what does ABC know that we don’t? Are the Battlebots that are relegated to the clips portion ones that won’t go far in the tournament? Normally I would say yes but last year, Stinger was only given a clip for its first battle yet it went far last year. So this makes choosing a winning robot frustrating.
As such, I couldn’t help but predict veteran robots as the Final Four. I know what these robots are capable of and I have seen them in action. It’s hard to pick upsets when you don’t know the competition very well. Even the people who seeded the robots favored veteran robots in the top seeds. Six out of the top eight seeds are returning robots; Son of Whyachi (6) and Minotaur (7) are the only new robots that break the top eight. This is incredibly bias as 16 out of the 32 robots this year are veterans from Season 1.
It was very easy determining who would win in the first round but after that it got much tougher. Battlebots has so many upsets that I couldn’t help but throw a few of these in. The biggest upset I have planned is Lockjaw beating Tombstone in the second round. I honestly think, after that battle with Yeti, that Lockjaw is a strong and capable Battlebot, Lockjaw has incredibly agility and traction so I think it could easily swing around Tombstone and push him up to the deadly screws. Lockjaw would then get a face full of steel by Icewave in the following round and lose. I also had Overhaul beating Beta as Overhaul has won its fair share of battles and Beta looked pathetic in its qualifying round.
Biteforce and Stinger I feel will face each other and defeat their respective opponents. Both look so strong and durable that I honestly think they can bear the brute force that their opponents can dish out. Stinger will then upset Biteforce and go to the Final Four.
Bronco will win his division candidly even going up the likes of Minotaur. As such, the best battles to watch here will be the Minotaur ones has he is essentially an unknown. I also think Warhead is simply too big for Complete Control and will burn his opponent right up.
Son of Whyachi will also make his triumphant return here and drive forward to the final four. By far the trickiest spot in my bracket to fill in was if Witch Doctor or Cobalt would win. In the end, I gave it to Cobalt, more on guts than on anything else really, but on the manner that Cobalt seems strong and Witch Doctor has lost before. Cobalt may even be the dark horse in this race. That would be sweet.
I think Bronco will redeem himself last year and win the Giant Nut as such. With a simple extension to his flipper he will get underneath both SoW and Icewave and flip them onto their backs. All he needs to deliver is one blow. Icewave will also defeat Stinger I think because Icewave has a very strong horizontal spinner and I think that will be enough to defeat Stinger.
Alright, there’s my predictions, looking forward to the rest of the season and seeing how wrong I was!
Battlebots is back for season 2 and I’m glad it has returned! This season has introduced new robots without sacrificing the quality (for the most part) of the fights. Things are already better than the first season but first, let’s take a look at the bad.
-Once again, I have to question why some fights were relegated to the clip show while others we saw the whole thing. Beta vs. Lucky for instance was by far the worst fight so far. Even though the fight between Stinger and Nightmare was much shorter, I’d rather have seen that than see B v L. Thankfully, some of the clips we saw were from fights that seemed lackluster so good call there. Thankfully, an unedited version of the fight can be seen below.
-Continuing on from the previous complaint, why were many of the veteran robots, like Tombstone, Stinger, and the returning champion Biteforce, not given full coverage on their battles? Again I would like to see their fights than Beta vs Lucky or Chomp vs Disc O’ Inferno.
-Nitpicking big time here but I’m disappointed in the lack of wedges and lifters. Battlebots like Biohazard in the past would win by sheer simplicity and not by outlandish design (*cough* Ghost Raptor *cough*). This is nitpicking though as I’d rather have a lot of launchers, clampers, and spinners than the other way around.
-Also, ABC, you REALLY, need to upload that Bronco fight on YouTube. I would watch that fight again for sure.
That’s really it, I had a good time watching it and sure it’s corny and stupid but I love it.
One thing I have to compliment are the hosts who were the same as last year, their chemistry has really taken off and I really like the banter they give both during and in-between the fights. I now look forward to their commentary although I still miss the interviewers from last year who were down in the pits.
Also, I’m glad that Battlebots has continued to dive into the builders’ lives and tell us who they are and how they got here. People find them boring or pointless but I love it. When I root for a robot, I not just want to cheer on it but the builder as well. They struggled to get here and you really get sad when their robot gets destroyed. My heartstrings were particularly pulled when Witch Doctor easily handled Rotator. The backstory in Rotator was like that from a movie with the builder’s father helping him out even when he was sick. ABC really pulled the rug under us when Rotator lost its first round (but seriously dude, even before the match I couldn’t help but comment how there were NO guards around your two wheels, not the best design choice…).
I think ABC has now wised up and are showing us backgrounds of builders even when they lose. It keeps us guessing who will win and lose. It’s almost like Game of Thrones how you become close to characters and are stricken with grief when they get the axe. Now that I think about it Rotator was like Oberyn Martell when he fought the Mountain, he was gone too soon from this world.
The big thing though from this season is the introduction of not only projectiles but drones! That’s awesome. Unfortunately, the drones seem only mildly effective if not completely worthless. I think the best example of this is the Complete Control vs. Bombshell where the drone just straight up crashed into the arena. Luckily, Bombshell is still in it so hopefully it and Poison Dart can redeem drones.
One weapon that got redeemed was fire. In the last season, fire was all bark and no bite. Just a flashy distraction to win the audience and judges over. The problem with fire was that it only grazed the robots and not damage it. However, Complete Control (and Warhead) showed us that you can win purely by fire. That was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, when Complete Control had Bombshell in the air and was burning him alive. I think after this fight there will be more robots that will use a grab-and-burn technique since it seems to be a winning combination. Also, Complete Control, we respect you again, welcome back.
Creativity is also overflowing big time from this season as these robots were just freaking crazy. Walkers unfortunately were rare but that was made up by other weirdos like Razorback and Deathroll. Obwalden vs. Warhead was particularly nuts as it was like a dragon fighting a knight. Obwalden seriously reminded me of that one-and-done mascot that Battlebots had in season 2 called Y2K. It’s too bad that Obwalden barely functioned but damnet I think it was awesome nonetheless.
Let’s talk about the battles, by far, the best battles came from the second episodes as you had such fights as Rotator vs. Witch Doctor, S.O.W. vs. Ghost Raptor, Burtus vs. Moebius, and Lockjaw vs. Yeti. You had a great mixture of close calls and brutal knockouts. However, Bronco’s fight from the first episode was great though as well as Complete Control vs. Bombshell; Minotaur’s fight was also amazing.
I already mentioned the sad fight between Beta vs. Lucky but Chomp vs. Disk O’ Inferno was also subpar as well. The biggest fail though of the first couple of episodes was when Moebius just self-destructed big time against Brutus. That was hilarious. Moebius and Captain Shederator really highlight the risky nature of full body spinners. On the one hand, they are powerful and robots have a hard time trying to hit you. But on the other you can be extremely unstable if you aren’t built right.
Son of Whyachi had made his triumphant return as well. The former heavyweight champion really stuck it to Ghost Raptor (which was amazing) and boasted its devastating power. Unless something major happens to S.o.W. early on, I can easily imagine him going far.
Finally, the best fight of the qualifying rounds was probably the aggressive and intense battle between Lockjaw and Yeti. Sure, it wasn’t a KO or totally one sided, but that’s what made it so much fun! One thing you’ll notice about these two bots is how hyper, energetic, and aggressive they are on the box. They were just zipping through the arena like racecars trading blows and trying to get the upperhand. Lockjaw was surprisingly durable given that it had a face full of spinning drum for a good portion of the match. I’m looking forward to what these two bots had to offer in the future matches.
That’s it for now, I’ll be publishing my predictions of the tournament soon. Looking forward to the rest of this season!
The Unapologetic Nerd 