Hey guys! It’s finally time for my Robot Arena tournament - The BattleBots Reborn Cup - to begin! I will be posting discussion threads (pre and post) for all 7 episodes!
Before I begin this, for anyone new to this tournament, here’s what you need to know:
-The tournament features 22 heavyweights from my YouTube series BattleBots Reborn
-Single elimination tournament
-Stock Robot Arena 2 is used. It provides me with the greatest challenge for building bots, which increases my skills for the future.
-All bots in all fights were controlled by humans, no AIs were used
-Judge’s Decisions use the 45-point scoring system. Fights that went the distance were reviewed by multiple people to make judging as fair and no bias as possible.
With that, let’s get into the fight previews for Episode 1!
FIGHT 1: HEXADECIMATOR VS BRONCO
The first fight will be a tense battle of flippers, when HexyD and Bronco square off. It’s most likely that this will be a one flip knockout, should one bot get the perfect lineup. Hexidecimator is one of the best flippers I have ever made. His double-flip motor system allows for flipping with relative ease. He drives a bit slowly, but being a two-wheeled bot allows him to turn quickly and avoid trouble. Since his Reborn appearance, his flipper motors have been rotated to a more narrow position. His flipper now looks more like the thinner Season 5.0 version as compated to Season 3.0.
Bronco proved to be one of my biggest ever building challenges. The best part about the 2015 Bronco recreate is his accurate looking wheel guards. Other than that, the bot struggles. The long flipper is awkward when attempting to flip. Since his Reborn appearance, the flipper has been shortened in length, and extra parts have been removed to help with weight concerns. There is noticeable improvement in its performance, however, will it be enough?
FIGHT 2: GHOST RAPTOR VS SURGEON GENERAL
Fight 2 promises to be a blood bath when these two spinners meet. It’s a good thing damage doesn’t carry over in this tournament! The Ghost Raptor recreate is as similarly unpredictable as the real bot. One difference is the recreate’s balance; he struggles to stay on all four wheels after getting off hits. He will have to be mindful of his balance throughout the fight in order to win. Since his appearance, the blade has been lowered to allow him to strike small opponents. Surgeon General will be a tough target to hit regardless.
Surgeon General is arguably the most accurate of my recreated bots. Even the coloring looks nice with the blood edge lines. Surgeon General is left unchanged from his appearance. The only thing that he will struggle with is when he is flipped. There is nothing to stop the blade from hitting the ground, so it fails to work. That shouldn’t be a problem in this fight though, right?
FIGHT 3: OVERHAUL VS SON OF WHYACHI
Two vastly different bots square off in the last fight. Overhaul comes in with no changes since his Reborn appearance. Since proper clamp bots cannot be made on Robot Arena 2 (see Complete Control, Episode 1), Overhaul’s beak and lifter are equipped with flip motors. So the beak is basically a hammer, and the lifter is a flipper. Overhaul’s side spikes do their job of trapping robots near the weaponry, but will he get that chance against S.o.W?
Son of Whyachi is a mixed bag. He is the only walker bot in the tournament, as I went with the Season 3.0 and 4.0 version when I built him. He is a very slow bot, making him a sitting duck for any opponent. However, his hammers cover his chassis completely, so the only real way to beat him is to flip him over, and that’s obviously easier said than done. He is also unchanged from his Reborn appearance.
Well that’s all I have for the pre-episode thread. I hope you guys enjoyed the write-up! If you have any ideas as to how I can improve these don’t hesitate to tell me. I hope to make these interesting and fun, and that they can lure in new viewers. Episode 1 of the Cup will be posted tomorrow (Sep. 19) sometime in the morning. When it’s up, you’ll see it on Reddit and you’ll also see the post discussion thread. Thank you for reading and see you tomorrow for the big day! :)
-The Barangoat
