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Witch Doctor is my pick for the 2019 Battlebots Champion (Sweet Sixteen Bracket)

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BattleBots-2019-Bracket.jpg

Man, this was a rough bracket to fill.

With so many good robots participating this year I struggled picking which bot would advance and which would go home.  Nonetheless, I am (mostly) confident that Witch Doctor, if not Tombstone, would be the winner of this year’s Battlebots.  Let’s take a quick look at my reasonings.

Sweet Sixteen
Biteforce vs. Uppercut- Biteforce by KO in less than 2 minutes
Biteforce has been a near unstoppable force this season while the rookie Uppercut has struggled to deliver satisfying KOs.  I think Biteforce will end Uppercut in less than two minutes and move on unscathed.

Black Dragon vs. Lockjaw- Black Dragon by UD
This was a tough call for me as these two bots have shown sturdiness and ability to deliver strong hits.  But who to choose?  Rookie team from Brazil or the veteran driver?  Based on Black Dragon’s last four matches, I’m giving it to Black Dragon for a mild upset.  I think both bots will be aggressive and have nice control but BD will win by Unanimous Decision by the Judges.

Tombstone vs. Quantum- Tombstone by KO, 1:20
Now, I can see Quantum winning like it did against Valkyrie by tanking hits and pushing its foe around the arena until the bell rings.  But Tombstone…is no Valkyrie!  That weapon is crazy dangerous and I think no amount of bite force will save Quantum.  I bet Quantum’s jaw will even go crooked like a sad croc when its done from this match.

Huge vs Whiplash- Huge by UD
Huge has improved so much since last season to the point that if you’re not a horizontal spinner than you’re in for a bad time.  If it wasn’t for the Hypershock vs Huge match I would’ve given it to Whiplash but now…I have to give it to my man, HUGE!  Whiplash will have difficultly controlling the match while Huge will just wail at it until its bruised, bruised, bruised.

Witch Doctor vs. Blacksmith- Witch Doctor by UD
Blacksmith’s luck may have turned in the nick of time by the end of the season but I’m afraid his luck will run out against the 4-0 Witch Doctor.  The hammer hasn’t been shown to be too effective and it would be hard to accurately pound the very agile Witch Doctor.  I think Witch Doctor won’t be able to KO Blacksmith but it will still win the match easily.

Son of Whyachi vs. Sawblaze- SoW by KO, less than a minute
Yes, I know, I know, SoW can be flipped and KO easily but I honestly think it can damage Sawblaze to the point of destruction before it could have a chance to flip it.  That saw is just begging to be torn and bludgeoned off.

Hydra vs. Minotaur- Hydra by SD
This will probably be the closest match for the Sweet Sixteen.  Minotaur is basically unflippable and Hydra would have to win by flipping Minotaur out of the arena, which is entirely possible, or by simply dominating the match by flips after flips.  Minotaur can easily win though by aggressive and chipping away from all sides.  However, I honestly can’t see Minotaur do too much damage due to Hydra’s low design and smooth armor.  I think Hydra will win if by Split Decision if it can’t flip Minotaur out.

Death Roll vs. Yeti- Death Roll by SD
This was also a very hard match to decide and if it was any other year and even six episodes ago I would have easily picked Yeti…but now…?  I don’t know…I feel like Death Roll has been such a chaotic force this year that I think it will be this bracket’s Dark Horse.  Yeti on the other hand has been…alright…not great but good.  I think Death Roll will do some crazy upset that will throw everyone for a loop by damaging Yeti until it starts smoking by the end of this match.  Weirder things have happened this season.

 

Elite Eight
Bite Force vs. Black Dragon- Black Dragon by KO in 2:35
That’s right!  I’m calling it here!  Bite Force will lose to Black Dragon in a surprise upset!  The desperado team will continue their wins by a long but strong match against the champion.  There will be many clashes and collisions and both bots will be heavily damaged but I think Black Dragon will throw us for a loop and flip Bite Force onto its back and win with a KO.

Huge vs. Tombstone- Tombstone by KO, less than a minute
There are two bots in this bracket that can defeat Huge, Tombstone and SoW.  If Huge doesn’t fight them he will win.  But unfortunately, Huge will have to fight Tombstone and he will lose to that ferocious horizontal spinner.  Perhaps Huge will have a different set of wheels than what we’re used to but I think it will be fruitless against the former champ.

Witch Doctor vs SoW- Witch Doctor by KO in about one minute
Witch Doctor and Death Roll are this season’s most improved bots.  I think Witch Doctor will continue her reign by defeating another improved bot, Son of Whyachi.  Witch Doctor’s record can be spotty, yes, but I think this will be one of those matches that will be done in less that five hits.  One solid hit by Witch Doctor’s vertical spinner will send SoW up…and onto its back.

Hydra vs Death Roll- Hydra by KO in 1:40
However, Death Roll’s luck will end here.  With two 4-0 bots fighting each other someone has to bow down and it will be Death Roll.  I think Hydra is just too experienced and intense for Death Roll to handle.  Death Roll will have a hard time damaging Hydra and a few good flips from Hydra I think will wreck Death Roll.

Final Four and Championship
Black Dragon vs. Tombstone- Tombstone by KO in about a minute
Black Dragon will be the talk of the town as the rookie who made it to the semi-finals.  However, it will fight Tombstone and, unfortunately, the Duck’s good luck powers will run dry.  Tombstone will wallop and destroy Black Dragon with a quick KO.

Hydra vs. Witch Doctor-Witch Doctor by JD
I think some of you might say I’m inconsistent here with Hydra beating Death Roll and Minotaur but lose to Witch Doctor.  You are…correct!  But!  Witch Doctor has been really good this season!  Reddit likes to shit on Witch Doctor (which was very much undeserved even before this season) but it’s a good bot on a good team!  I think Witch Doctor is sturdy and strong.  I think it has a good shot of taking down Hydra by chipping away, avoiding the flipper, and controlling the match.

Witch Doctor vs Tombstone- Witch Doctor by KO, in about a minute

I rest my case.

 

And as a bonus, here is Mary’s bracket!

BattleBots-2019-Bracket Mary

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Battlebots 2019 Midseason Review

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We’re halfway through the 2019 Battlebots season and man what a trip!   We ended on a high note with the crazy Desperado Tournament with Black Dragon winning against Minotaur in a Brazilian Battle for the ages!  With that said, let’s take a look at this season so far before it resumes tonight.

First, the negative.  This season has been wonderful so far but it’s bogged down by some flaws that I feel should be addressed. The biggest complaint I’m seeing, and I agree with, is the Battlebox’s floor. The infamous gash on the arena floor is so prominent that robots racing at top speed can be stopped dead in their tracks by its protrusion. It can even temporarily wedge a robot onto the ground and even stop it completely like Cobalt who was straight up destroying Duck! before dying to the arena floor. Drivers now have to plan for that dent and wedges are suddenly at a disadvantage.

On the positive side, the move to two hour episodes is very welcome and a smart choice. We now watch a steady stream of battles that give us a whole variety of robots fighting each other. We also saw a full Desperado Tournament episode which was great! They cut some of the Desperado battles from airtime last year so I’m glad they have the whole package this year (and a bonus battle with Deep Six which FINALLY made an appearance after nine episodes).

This additional air time also gives us a lot of clips and interviews on the Builders’ Floor which I always appreciate. Jenny Taft, the interviewer on the Floor, is a great conversationalist and does a good job asking questions and gleaming answers from the builders. These segments also show the work the builders go through to get their robot up and running for the next fight as well as their strategies.  One thing I would like to see more of is builders’ reactions to fights since that scene when Mammoth YEETED Axe Backwards out of the arena was hilarious! I still feel they can cut down on the pre-battle filler where we have to wait for the teams to get in place…press the button…wait some more…and finally start the battle. You could pare a lot of those segments down and squeeze in an extra battle that may not be as stellar as the other fights but still worth the watch.

The stars, the robots of course, this year have been most wonderful giving us a lot of thrilling battles that get my heart racing. While a lot of the new robots are having trouble making an impact (besides Black Dragon, of course), we do see middle-tier robots make a surprise shake up in the arena and suddenly become the buzz of the internet like Rotator and Deathroll. It is equally surprising to see high tier robots like Minotaur struggle to deliver KOs and wins that we come to expect. This gives the show a pulsing excitement that’s satisfying to watch and can keep us guessing what happens next.

We also had some great battles so I’m going to list my top four favorite 2019 battles so far and I’ll update it to a top 10 by the end of the season.

Minotaur vs. Lucky

By itself the match isn’t too special but with the story of Minotaur’s downfall this season there was A LOT hanging in the balance. A Minotaur loss would’ve spelled the end for its 2019 season career. Instead, we saw a return to form for Minotaur as it was aggressive and hit hard. I was still worried though as the smoke coming from Minotaur had me on edge as that’s never a good sign. But Minotaur prevailed and was able to beat Lucky down until it couldn’t move any more. The best match moment was when Lucky flipped itself over immediately preceding Minotaur delivering the knock out blow. Minotaur had won and although he lost the Desperado Tournament, he was back.

Rotator vs Tombstone

The 2019 season has so far, unfortunately, given us fine, but not stellar, Main Event matches as they are usually one sided and end quickly. I thought this match would be the same and boy was I wrong! Lasting 2:58 long by a KO, Rotator defeats Tombstone in a blaze of glory! Every time those bots clashed, shivers would ripple through my body! I could only imagine how much it would hurt if I got hit by one of them.

Anyway, Rotator’s plow-shape design was the surprising key that unlocked Tombstone’s defeat. Tombstone has been defeated before, sure, but not like this! The consistent hit after hit after hit was incredible, especially since Rotator’s blade was basically blown off and Tombstone could drive totally fine excluding weapon malfunctions and all. The thing that just blows me away was how long Tombstone could drive while on fire! Imagine if Rotator suddenly died and Tombstone kept going while on fire! I could honestly see that happen considering Tombstone almost went the full three minutes.

This battle shows Battlebots at its greatest. Don’t take everything for granted because the underdog might just topple a giant.

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Mammoth vs. Axe Backwards

Ever since I saw Mammoth on the Battlebots’ website I hoped and prayed that we would see this gorgeous creature launch a small robot out of the arena. And although it was more of a toss than a yeet, we got what we wanted! God, those precious moments when Axe Backwards was on the edge of the arena and barely on the screws while Mammoth was trying to push it off was so tense! And when it finally tossed Axe Backwards over I couldn’t help but cheer and holler!! Seeing this big clunky creature stumble around the arena and go at Axe Backwards was a thing of beauty.

What also makes this battle fantastic was the unique design of both robots. A typical Battlebot has a square design, with a vertical spinner, and four rubber wheels. These two robots threw that design out the window and did their own thing! Axe Backwards with its barrel-shaped design and Mammoth with its weird, Knex-like design of pipes and gears. Variety is the spice of life and this battle was most tasty.

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Deathroll vs End Game

Before this season, Deathroll was your average, middle-of-the-road robot. It was okay. Cool theme and design, but a pretty average track record. But this season has been a blessing for this robot and nowhere did we see this better than when we saw it fight End Game.

The New Zealand robot End Game was the favorite for this battle due to its past record of aggression and KOs. So imagine our surprise when Deathroll defeated it in a KO! But Deathroll winning is only half what makes this battle so entertaining. The two clashed and it was beautiful. So many delicious hits and sparks with both bots flying. Deathroll rolling around in the arena was the funniest thing this season has shown us so far! What’s funnier is that End Game was flipped over once and that was it!! It couldn’t do anything else than sit there! And when parts of the ceiling came crashing down onto the arena due to spray carnage was extra crazy! God that was great, I’m hoping Deathroll is the dark horse for this season because that would be fantastic.

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Son of Whyachi vs Whiplash

The other Main Event match that I really enjoyed was the SOW vs Whiplash battle. I love the angle the battle had; two robots representing the next generation of Battlebot competitors, sons of former builders, go head to head in a terrific clash! SOW’s rise from an okay robot to a powerhouse against relatively new but already great Whiplash made a great matchup. I was honestly torn who I should root for which made this battle extra heart-wrenching.

But man, can Whiplash take a hit! Bits and pieces of it flying over the arena made it a wounded animal desperately trying to stay alive. For a few moments, I thought Whiplash had it because it pinned SOW against the wall and almost flipped it over. But when SOW escaped I thought, man, that was it, they lost! They can’t win! But Whiplash came back and was able to cleanly flip over SOW! That was sooooo good. This was definitely worth of being a Main Event. Well done.

 

That’s all I have for now, looking forward to the rest of the season!

Reaction to Battlebots S2 E5

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Okay, NOW my bracket is busted.

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.

Battlebots Season 2 Bracket Prediction

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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.

Battlebots Season 2 Bracket Prediction

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.

Image from http://battlebots.com/robot/bronco-2/

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!

Greatest Moments in Battlebots History: Son of Whyachi vs. Biohazard

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We love a good underdog story and honestly, who doesn’t??  There was a plethora of 90’s sports and kid films that just milked this trope repeatedly.  I think by far though the best film that pulled off the underdog story is Rocky.  Can I get a hell yeah on that one folks?

Anyways, what’s better than an underdog in film is one in real life which brings us to today’s article, Battlebots.  Now, I already talked about Battlebots last year where I critically analyzed how well it held up (hint: not very) but with the recent revival of the series (yay!) I want to go back to the show and talk about one of the greatest moments in Battlebots History, Son of Whyachi vs. Biohazard.

Okay, let me set the scene, it’s season 3 of Battlebots and the show is reaching its peak in popularity.  By now, many of the series’ fan favorites have already made their appearance (such as Nightmare and Hazard) or will make their rookie appearance (Mechavore) this season (the season was already starting off great when Nightmare destroyed Slamjob in the first episode in a spectacular fashion(see above video!)).

As such, the stage was set for veterans and newcomers to fight each other to determine top bot.

image from Battlebots Wiki

One of these top bots was one of the most winningest battlebot of all time, Biohazard, a several time winner of the Heavyweight division in Battlebots.  Biohazard has taken down foes again and again no matter how formidable they were.  Biohazard was definitely one of the best defensive robots of all time.  It was incredibly low to the ground and it had steel flaps that protected itself from getting flipped (and it minimized damaged significantly from blades).  But the most important feature of Biohazard was its god damn lifting arm which he used incredibly well to flip over high-centered gravity opponents and push them against the hazards.  Biohazard’s ability to tank hits, be aggressive, and easily disable opponents won him many battles.

Image from Battlebots wiki

A rookie to season 3 is the now glorified, Son of Whyachi.  Whyachi unusual makeup helped him win many rounds.  He had a spinning helicopter-blade like weapon that was supported by strong cables at the end and topped off with hard spikes to jam into the opponents.  Whyachi was also a walking robot and as such, got a weight bonus that was allowed towards him meaning he could be much heavier (walking robots, in general, have not worked very well and have won few battles which was why they got a bonus).

Both of these robots faced each other in the finals and the best part is that they almost seemed like they were destined for each other for the fights they went through.  Biohazard took down Little Sister and the more famous Overkill and Tazbot while Son of Whyachi knocked down Nightmare (in a glorious fashion mind you, see above video), chipped away at Mechavore and tore apart Hexadecimator.  All of these robots the two fought, mind you, have won their share of battles and would win more in the following seasons.  But more importantly, these were robots that everyone knew and recognized.  Overkill, Nightmare, Hexadecimator, Tazbot, Mechavore, these were celebrities in the heavyweight division!  Taking these guys down earned you much street cred!

And oh man!  The HYPE surrounding these beasts were incredible.  I was rooting for Son of Whyachi so hard, I always liked Nightmare but not even he could take down Biohazard as evidence in their fight in the previous season.  You know what, I’m going to shut up and show you the fight.  It’s awesome.

This is like eeeevvverrryyything a Battlebot battle should be like.  A long battle where the bots continue to go at each other despite their limping, broken status.  These bots were not giving up and would keep going if their battery connections allow them to.  It’s too bad this is not the status quo because some final round battles are either dull or one sided but this is definitely not one of them.  It’s really similar to Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa just pounding the shit out of each other in Rocky I and not letting up until the final round.

The result of the battle was monumental in the Battlebot community.  Biohazard’s almost untarnished record was smashed along with his sleek, unbent and unbroken body.  Son of Whyachi proved a wholly offensive robot could take down the defensive based Biohazard and that walkers were not all useless.  Unfortunately, newcomer Son of Whyachi, although he won the Nut, was never able to reclaim his glory because he was that good.  I’m serious, it used to be that you could have a 50% weight bonus if you were a walker.  Son of Whyachi dropped that down to 20% the following season.  As such, Whyachi had to adjust to his new environment in the Super Heavyweight environment where it miserably failed to go the distance having suffered a bad design plan in Season 4 (it was saaaaaaad) and only going to the sweet sixteen in Season 5

The build up, the battle, and the fallout afterwards made the Whyachi/Biohazard bout one of the greatest in Battlebots history.  There are few battles I can recall that were this epic and not one-sided.  I sincerely hope that with the upcoming new Battlebots show on ABC, we’ll see more battles like this with intensity and power.  Fingers crossed!