BattleBots Season 2 Discussion Thread

[Philippa]

I didn't expect Mega Tento vs Stinger to be that good. That was awesome.

[Philippa]

I didn't expect Mega Tento vs Stinger to be that good. That was awesome.

Motherfu.cker.

[Natef]

Next round predictions:

Tombstone over Brutus via KO

Beta over Nightmare via KO

Bite Force over Chomp via split decision

Yeti over Mega Tento via KO

Bronco over Razorback via unanimous decision

Minotaur over Warhead by KO

Bombshell over Red Devil via split decision

[RedAce]

I'll give out my predictions and thoughts for the round of 16 as well.

Tombstone vs. Brutus (Odds: 7-2)
This might be a repeat of Tombstone vs. Witch Doctor, but I don't see Brutus lasting as long as Witch Doctor, and that fight was pretty short.  This will come down to Brutus having good protection on the front or not.

Nightmare vs. Beta (Odds 5-4)
As much as I love Nightmare, I don't expect Nightmare to get around to the sides of Beta very easily.  However, Beta can go crazy with how powerful that weapon is.  This will be interesting to watch.

Bite Force vs. Chomp (Odds: 8-1)
Chomp is way too unstable to land a decent blow on a bot like Bite Force, and Bite Force can do a good amount of damage.  Might not come down to a knockout though.

Mega Tento vs. Yeti (Odds: 7-2)
I'll give Tento the benefit of the doubt as they surprised me with the fight against Stinger, but I see Yeti absolutely destroying the ladybug shell and drum in a heartbeat.

Bronco vs. Razorback (Odds: 6-3)
From the credits, we saw Razorback using the drum device.  So it looks like Bronco is gonna have to focus on good flips and driving.

Minotaur vs. Warhead (Odds: 9-0)
Lets face it.  Warhead is gonna get absolutely mauled by Minotaur.  It'll most likely be fun to watch.

Red Devil vs. Bombshell (Odds: 5-4)
Honestly, this is up in the air for me.  While Red Devil has a counter for both Bombshell's spinning blade and hammer, but at no point did Bombshell hint at using an interchangeable weapon in previous interviews and such, so they could be hiding something up their sleeve that I don't know about.

Poison Arrow vs Hypershock (Odds 6-3)
I love Hypershock.  I really do.  But I just don't see the fly swatter doing much to the useless fly of Poison Arrow to begin with.  Plus Hypershock has those big juicy tires just waiting for Poison Arrow to chew up.

inb4 i get scolded for having an opinion again

[botomatic1000]

Anyone ever thought Poison Arrow looks like Mad Cow Bot?

[RageTester]

Skipped some wrong fights, and showed us the most boring match up ever xD...
Would be cool if they re-ranked the bots after every round, cuz bots didn't have the chance to show themselves while those ranks were made...
My thoughts on latest episode and whatnot:

Brutus forgot the guns? Lock Jaw disappointed by not using main weapon, probably couldn't fix it after last fight...
BiteForce getting easy fights and already falling apart, only spare parts save them...
Can't call Chomp a tank, but it sure gives judges more work...
Glad to see Nightmare moving on.
BETA finally showed hammers are no joke.
Mega Tento vs Stinger, most boring fight ever, whoever ranked the bots get's another red flag from me...
Warhead might just be solid enough to last versus Minotaur...
Bombshell and Red devil fight might just be the best yet, unless red devil grabs opponent right at the start...
So we have 16 bots left and numbers 3,5,6 & 8 already out...also numbers 2 and 4 showing poor performance...
HyperShock should go all the way and have fun while they do it, it's drum @ drum vs Poison Arrow, and weight matters.
 

[Thyrus]

got to see the episode.
wow.
that was really good

This it how beta is supposed to work. really good job there! Glad overhaul is out. Also good for beta that they have to face Nightmare instead of Icewave.

this is my favorite BB fight so far. I knew Warrior would loose as it has prooven to be not reliable. and the rake thing. awesome! from the clips it looks like Hyper Shock is going to loose against Poisen Arrow. Too bad but PA is a good bot to loose against.

The most supprising fight of the night appart from the Icewave/Nightmare one. I didn't see Stinger loose against Tento but good job there Lisa! Also weird to see that Stinger is out but the bot they beat is through

I don't like either. I don't like Chomp for beeing Chomp and I don't like shredder for this "patriotic" attitude. Glad Shredder lost. Sad it lost against Chomp and didn't take it out

I CALL FREAKING BS ON THE LOCKJAW vs BRUTUS FIGHT! This active weapon rule has to change into something else. Lockjaw controlled the whole fight and had better controll but was not using the weapon and so it was out. BS Is tell ya!

Ice Wave loosing to Nightmare was weird as I missed the show tonight and watched those highlight battles this morning. I endet this fight early as I thougt nightmare was out for sure. I just watched the episode and there I saw Ice Wave loosing its drive. Sad to see it through but glad nightmare gets another chance to die again. love both bots <3

Ringmaster vs Biteforce: the only supprise was BFs weapon stopped. that's it.

And now to you Mike!
When I read on facebook that Bombshell (the short form is BS... funny) was using the horizontal spinner I was like: way to commid suicide! then I saw the bot with the attachement in the arena and I was like: well... it doesn't even touch the chassis... way to commid suicide! Then the battlestarted and the first chip of Cobrats Carbolts Calbites... the other robots wheel came of I was like: DAMN Mike you freaking genious! I love you! Also exposed wheels on the other bot?
way to commid suicide!

thanks for reading and stuff

[Mr. AS]

Season 1:



Season 2 (thus far):



Viewer base seems to be shrinking rapidly this season. Not looking too good for season 3.

[Jonzu95]

Season 1:

(Image removed from quote.)

Season 2 (thus far):

(Image removed from quote.)

Viewer base seems to be shrinking rapidly this season. Not looking too good for season 3.

Such a shame really because Minotaur vs Blacksmith got a lot of popularity in Youtube.

[R01]

Personally I wasn't a fan of this rule change, which I think is why they deserve it. A lot of comments also reminded me of the terrible Series 7 of Robot Wars. Don't want battlebots to go down but if they keep this up then it might happen.

[Jonzu95]

Personally I wasn't a fan of this rule change, which I think is why they deserve it. A lot of comments also reminded me of the terrible Series 7 of Robot Wars. Don't want battlebots to go down but if they keep this up then it might happen.

What rule change? Also I still consider the new BattleBots being much better than Robot Wars Season 7 or the new Robot Wars.

[R01]

Personally I wasn't a fan of this rule change, which I think is why they deserve it. A lot of comments also reminded me of the terrible Series 7 of Robot Wars. Don't want battlebots to go down but if they keep this up then it might happen.

What rule change? Also I still consider the new BattleBots being much better than Robot Wars Season 7 or the new Robot Wars.

This is new in Season 2, but if your robot pushes with a wedge and doesn't use it's weapon actively it will lose aggression points, that's what happened to Lockjaw, Sawblaze vs Razorback as well as a bit to Stinger(to be fair, both winning would've had it's pro and cons, either Mega Tento being called useless by a lot of people or Stinger getting an early exit).

Of course it's still better, last Episode just had some bits that sounded similar("A lot of roboteers are changing their design to see what works best, but Tombstone doesn't because it's design already works", as if they didn't do any internal changes, and it evolved from Last Rites after all. Technical talk was going on, this then just gets cut, enough talking "who's ready for a fight in here?" or if you want to take the new episode as a example, the talk about the lifter arm on Hypershock, the important bit is the vertical part, as long as that's there it should still be able to self right) and Warhead was way too overhyped in my view.

[RedAce]

I CALL FREAKING BS ON THE LOCKJAW vs BRUTUS FIGHT! This active weapon rule has to change into something else. Lockjaw controlled the whole fight and had better controll but was not using the weapon and so it was out. BS Is tell ya!

I freaking agree with absolutely everything you just said.  I watched the raw fight this morning and knew Lock-Jaw was in total control of that fight.  I know the rules say you must have an active weapon, but did they ever say it must be used?  That's incredibly stupid.  That's like if Storm 2 were to be disqualified for not using it's arm in it's fight against Firestorm.

Viewer base seems to be shrinking rapidly this season. Not looking too good for season 3.

I blame the Olympics.  That might be one of the reasons I've heard from Battlebots Update anyway.

[R01]

I CALL FREAKING BS ON THE LOCKJAW vs BRUTUS FIGHT! This active weapon rule has to change into something else. Lockjaw controlled the whole fight and had better controll but was not using the weapon and so it was out. BS Is tell ya!

I freaking agree with absolutely everything you just said.  I watched the raw fight this morning and knew Lock-Jaw was in total control of that fight.  I know the rules say you must have an active weapon, but did they ever say it must be used?  That's incredibly stupid.  That's like if Storm 2 were to be disqualified for not using it's arm in it's fight against Firestorm.

Viewer base seems to be shrinking rapidly this season. Not looking too good for season 3.

I blame the Olympics.  That might be one of the reasons I've heard from Battlebots Update anyway.

See the reply I did for Jonzu's post, the second series got a new rule(I'm surprised that you guys don't know about it yet), if you push a bot around with a wedge without using your weapon you actually lose aggression points, Sawblaze vs Razorback was the first example of this and think Stinger vs Mega Tento is having a bit of that as well.

got to see the episode.
wow.
that was really good

This it how beta is supposed to work. really good job there! Glad overhaul is out. Also good for beta that they have to face Nightmare instead of Icewave.

Why are you happy that Overhaul is out? After hearing the story about how a screw from a different robot(from a different fight) got stuck in their drivetrain, I found the wildcard to be more than fair, hoped they could show more this season but just like Ghost Raptor they went out early.

this is my favorite BB fight so far. I knew Warrior would loose as it has prooven to be not reliable. and the rake thing. awesome! from the clips it looks like Hyper Shock is going to loose against Poisen Arrow. Too bad but PA is a good bot to loose against.

I liked that fight as well, minus the commentators talking about Hypershock's self righter, as long as the vertical part of it is still there they should be able to, if they really wanted to do drama about that then they should've talked about how the Rake might stop them. yeah, the ending spoiled that, think most of their wheel is gone there.

The most supprising fight of the night appart from the Icewave/Nightmare one. I didn't see Stinger loose against Tento but good job there Lisa! Also weird to see that Stinger is out but the bot they beat is through

Sadly I kinda expected a upset like that even if I was hoping for Stinger to win and melt the shell just like Poison Arrow's drone did. Well it was either Stinger getting out early or Mega Tento being called a useless bot by many people. also guess you meant tough?

I don't like either. I don't like Chomp for beeing Chomp and I don't like shredder for this "patriotic" attitude. Glad Shredder lost. Sad it lost against Chomp and didn't take it out

I'm alright with them, but just like with Beta I felt like they should've mentioned that the magnets don't work because of a arena change(Beta's backstory of trying to enter 2 battlebots events should also have been mentioned), Shreder looked like it had trouble keeping the disc up, slowing down multiple times before Chomp finally hit it.

I CALL FREAKING BS ON THE LOCKJAW vs BRUTUS FIGHT! This active weapon rule has to change into something else. Lockjaw controlled the whole fight and had better controll but was not using the weapon and so it was out. BS Is tell ya!

Ice Wave loosing to Nightmare was weird as I missed the show tonight and watched those highlight battles this morning. I endet this fight early as I thougt nightmare was out for sure. I just watched the episode and there I saw Ice Wave loosing its drive. Sad to see it through but glad nightmare gets another chance to die again. love both bots <3

Ringmaster vs Biteforce: the only supprise was BFs weapon stopped. that's it.

And now to you Mike!
When I read on facebook that Bombshell (the short form is BS... funny) was using the horizontal spinner I was like: way to commid suicide! then I saw the bot with the attachement in the arena and I was like: well... it doesn't even touch the chassis... way to commid suicide! Then the battlestarted and the first chip of Cobrats Carbolts Calbites... the other robots wheel came of I was like: DAMN Mike you freaking genious! I love you! Also exposed wheels on the other bot?
way to commid suicide!

It's the stupid rule that they added in Season 2, screwed over Sawblaze vs Razorback and possibly Stinger vs Mega Tento as well.
It was surprising to see Nightmare go on, hope they can win one battle for legit without their machine breaking apart. Their self righter is also good.
Bombshell had a clever plan, first wanting to rip off that chain(which the Cobalt team either heard of or wanted to first stop their blade and then him them) however they had to change it and did well damaging the wheels. I did read about it on their reddit post before and how it's adjustable so I knew it could turn into a interesting match.
Not really exposed wheels, they're like that so they can drive upside down, that's the issue of invertable robots in general.

[090901]

yo mike were you actually aiming for the wheels on the cobalt or was that just straight up luck? either way it was funny as hell.
also the reason why i think brutus got the win was based off aggression and i guess damage since it was basically always trying back up and flank and attack lockjaw. all lockjaw really did imo was just block brutus's attacks with the plow, lockjaw too never really seemed to have the pushing power to push brutus around which really did hurt it for judging

[Probably Rob]

You also have to remember that it's also suffering from bullsh** politics that's happening

[Scorpio]

Before I get started, lemme just say two things:

1) I'm pretty sure there's a conspiracy out there to make bots not focused on big active weapons extinct, but I hope the rule change is due to Hanlon's Razor, and that they change it back for S3.

2) I agree with Brian Nave's comment about whoever did the bracket this year.

Anyways, here are my thoughts on the Round of 32:

Yeti v. Lucky: Wasn't quite sold on Yeti after its fight with Lockjaw, but I gotta say, now I think it'll be going pretty far. Lucky got absolutely eviscerated by the drum. Though, I do feel bad for Lucky, but they have really got to work on their flipper being up for ~10 seconds after a flip.

Also, I didn't know birch syrup was a thing, like, at all until after this match.

Blacksmith v. Minotaur: Utterly brutal. Minotaur is p. scary. Major props to Blacksmith and Al Kindle for fighting on until the bot literally exploded. I can see why this has so many views on Youtube.

Bronco v. Chrome Fly: AKA the match literally everyone could predict the outcome of. Though I don't think anyone could have seen Chrome Fly getting rear-ended to death. SERVES YOU RIGHT FOR KILLING OFF BUCKTOOTH BURL, DICKS.

And yes, Burl is my bot-I'm-salty-about-for-losing-unfairly instead of Disk O' Inferno. And it's gonna stay that way,

Witch Doctor v. Red Devil: NUMBER 3 SEED IS DOWN. I REPEAT, NUMBER 3 SEED IS DOWN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Yeah, the first major upset of the season. I will commend Red Devil for its win, but it's a crying shame Witch Doctor got outed so early. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

Warhead v. Complete Control: I think at this point Warhead had completely shed the stigma of last season and proved it can be a contender. That fight was amazingly destructive and that fire could make TF2's Pyro weep with joy until they needed to drain their mask. Shame Complete Control is out though. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

Razorback v. Ghost Raptor: Razorback wins with an impressive suplex, and in a way that isn't "being the only bot with an active weapon". Ghost Raptor IMO was kinda overhyped this year. To their credit, though, the blade did not snap in half once.

Tombstone v. Escape Velocity: AKA the OTHER outcome most people could see from a mile away. While I think EV is a better bot objectively than Chrome Fly, it was in no way prepared to take on Tombstone. The biggest surprise IMO was Ray Billings deciding to go easy.

Also, Ray Barca, I think the point of honeycomb aluminum is to have a lot of it, not just to spread a tinfoil-thick layer on top of your bot.

Also also, mfw Uranus -> 

Son of Whyachi v. Poison Arrow: THE DESTROYER IS DOWN. I REPEAT, THE DESTROYER IS DOWN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Yeah, that was one hell of a hit from Poison Arrow. Just goes to show the power of a good drum spinner. Shame SoW had to go out so early though. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

beta v. Overhaul: John Reid is really proving himself this year. Dude hasn't just beat the curse, he's left it unconscious in a roadside ditch. Also, the gyrodancing was fun. Shame Overhaul couldn't get working this year though. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

Hypershock v. Warrior: I totally did not see the rake coming, and Hypershock swatting Dragon out of the air and obliterating it was both awesome and hilarious. It did also have an admirable performance against Warrior, though the latter crapping out may have been more due to residual problems.

Stinger v. Mega Tento: NUMBER 5 SEED IS - YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU KNOW THE DRILL BY NOW. WHICH THIS ISN'T.

I was actually banking on Stinger to win this due to pedigree, but Mega Tento held up admirably, even with the flamethrowers. Though TBH, I think Tento got the win because it did more visible damage. Shame Stinger got out so early though. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

EDIT: After looking at the fight again, there was the fact that Stinger was unable to properly lift Mega Tento, which may have hurt it in the judge's decision.

ICEwave v. Nightmare: I was certainly expecting a lot of destruction from at least one of them, but I wasn't expecting ICEwave to crap out like that. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

Anyways, glad Nightmare FINALLY has a win under its belt.

Brutus v. Lockjaw: Uuuuuuuuuugh. I was really hoping Donald Hutson would settle the score once and for all, or at least not have 0-2 this season, but the judges decided Adam "Late Hit" Bercu should move on. Plus, no guns. Maybe if Lockjaw had gone against Chrome Fly...

Cobalt v. Bombshell: ...MikeNCR, if you're reading this, you are a GENIUS.

This fight was simply tactical amazingness. Don't think anyone would have thought to target the wheels like Bombshell did. Shame about Cobalt though, at least they have Carbide to be proud of.

Bite Force v. Ringmaster: Man, Bite Force was playing Ultimate Frisbee with Ringmaster. I was expecting the ring to be vulnerable to a good VS, so it didn't surprise me when it busted. Bite Force's spinner doesn't seem particularly tough though, so we may see an earlyish exit from the champs.

Chomp v. CAP'M SHREDERATOR! PATRIOTALITY!: I feel Brian Nave cranked up his jerk factor for this fight to give ABC some ERMAGERD DREHMEH in the show. As for the actual fight, up until they crapped out, I actually expected TH' CAP'M to win, if only by knocking over Chomp enough to impress the judges. Though I have to say, Chomp has at least somewhat redeemed itself in my eyes; when that hammer connects, IT CONNECTS. I imagine if they were more stable, people wouldn't be so salty over them winning against Disk O' Inferno. Kinda sucks Shrederator got out though. Maybe if they'd gone against Chrome Fly...

Screw it. Let's just get a 3D printer and print out some more Chrome Flies (just as durable as the real thing ) and pit them against everyone else who lost this round, as well as Deathroll, Disk O' Inferno, Overdrive, Photon Storm, SubZero, SawBlaze, Ultimo Destructo, Mohawk, Bad Kitty, Skorpios, Basilisk, Gemini, Invader, Lycan, Black Ice, and last but certainly not least Bucktooth Burl so they can all have at least one win under their belts.

And now for my predictions:

Tombstone v. Brutus: Ray Billings wipes that smug smirk off of Late-Hit's face, though I expect some gunplay to happen before the big hits.

Nightmare v. beta: beta's probs gonna win, though Nightmare could pull an upset. How much does anyone wanna bet beta hits Nightmare's blade and it falls off in hilarious fashion?

Chomp v. Bite Force: Chomp could get a lucky hit, but it's still hellalisciously unstable, so I'm banking on Bite Force to grind up the underside.

Mega Tento v. Yeti: Poor Tento is so, so screwed. Yeti will probs obliterate the cover.

Bronco v. Razorback: This should prove... interesting. Razorback may be able to take care of Bronco, but I think Bronco has the sheer flipper power to win.

Minotaur v. Warhead: Minotaur will most likely win, but Warhead still has the T-Rex head, so it might damage the drum and pull off an upset.

Red Devil v. Bombshell: While Red Devil is cool and all, it's kind of a one-trick pony, and got RIDICULOUSLY lucky against Witch Doctor. Bombshell probably has a trick up its sleeve to beat it.

Poison Arrow v. Hypershock: Hypershock may be able to get to Poison Arrow in less than 12 seconds, but if it doesn't, this fight could go either way.

[JoeBlo]

I said it at the end of season 1.. having the fan favourite / super destructive robot loose to a strong boxy defensive robot isnt a good look to the casual audience..

Same situation as robot wars series 6 that resulted in the politics of series 7.

That said though I cant really pick much fault with this series, I think its been awesome..

Lock-Jaw deserved to loose imo, you can just put a block of metal on the front of your robot and rotate in circles blocking everything, if you play the defense game you need to still be able to push opponents around and utilise the hazards

Tombstone v. Brutus: RIP Brutus.. that little disc isnt going to do much here, lots of nice edges on the bodywork to rip away

Nightmare v. beta: once the hammer gets in the way of the disc I can see Nightmare at least loosing the belt/drive to the weapon, Johns also looks to be getting a lot more confident in the driving of beta, its been fun to watch the rise of the hammer bot once again

Chomp v. Bite Force: At this point I think its a bit of a miracle chomps got this far, too easy to topple which makes it easy picking for a VS

Mega Tento v. Yeti: chunks of the poor lady bug shell and going to be scattered around the place, Id love to see tento move on but I dont think itll happen.

Bronco v. Razorback: Bronco is another who seems to be getting into a groove when driving, they are getting quicker at picking points in the arena to get opponents stuck so its my pick here

Minotaur v. Warhead: Heart says Warhead, Head says Minotaur.. This will be edge of your seat stuff im on the fence here but as a team Razer fan, im backing the brits for this one

Red Devil v. Bombshell: If Bombshell can play the strategy right again itll do well, its hard to say without know what weapon it will use

Poison Arrow v. Hypershock: I think the wedge is the biggest factor here its Hypershocks to loose,

[R01]

I said it at the end of season 1.. having the fan favourite / super destructive robot loose to a strong boxy defensive robot isnt a good look to the casual audience..

Same situation as robot wars series 6 that resulted in the politics of series 7.

That said though I cant really pick much fault with this series, I think its been awesome..

Lock-Jaw deserved to loose imo, you can just put a block of metal on the front of your robot and rotate in circles blocking everything, if you play the defense game you need to still be able to push opponents around and utilise the hazards

Yes but that's exactly the problem in my view, rigging fights to get views(even if it's needed in this case which makes the situation even more harder) isn't the right thing to do, sadly this show needs all those people who only want to see destruction, and according to some, the producers themselves wanted Tombstone to win. But tell me how you are going to face spinners instead? Just go head on and slam your main weapon into them so it gets destroyed and they win by default? At this point they could stop fights as soon as a primary weapon is lost- oh right that still allows for destruction, as soon as both primary weapons are lost, which just shows how bad this got.

Lockjaw blocked every attempt from Brutus to attack which shows good driving, it was a war of attrition but Lockjaw was able to push them, not only that but the hit against the screws probably played a big part in why the spinner stopped in the end. Instead of only hyping the action and destruction they should also show how clever driving, war of attition and slamming other robots into the wall can be fun, and if this show continues doing stuff that way I can see it gone just like the 7th Series very soon.

[J]