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.

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.

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!