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Featured Replies

Can they kick off the first episode by letting this season's contenders dismember Styx in the center of the Battlebox?

  • 1 month later...
  • Author

Bumping to remind everyone that tonight is Robot Fighting Time. 

There's an all day marathon airing on Discovery in case you need to refill your DVR or just get hyped. 

I saw a PoD post in another thread yesterday and immediately got to wondering if the new Battlebots season had started yet.

Predictions: 

Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Red, Blue

Is the "Youtube exclusive" for folks watching on YoutubeTV only?

  • Author

I think the YouTube is just on their YouTube channel - I don't think it's paywalled or anything, but I could be wrong. 

Oh my God. Pain Train does not fail to deliver the lulz. We’ve watched that fight three times and can’t stop laughing.

  • Author

We ran up against a bedtime deadline last night and just finished tonight. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the new platform. I think it's going to disproportionately affect full-body spinners by allowing their opponents to confine them to the corner like we saw happen to Gigabyte. And I'm not sure what appeal or improvement it's supposed to make anyway. 

Faruq's intros were great last night with the movie theme, but there was one (Pain Train?) where he was just like "and here's the other robot!" 

As soon as Ray mentioned his concerns about how they fiddled with all their variables at once, I had a feeling that they might not be dominant this year, and while it's just one match, that was a real pants-shitting. 

The long prongs on the front of End Game seem like they might have been a real problem if they ever needed their weapon to make contact. Seemed like they lucked out with Hydra having unrelated mechanical problems. 

I just feel bad for Pain Train at this point. 

3 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

I just feel bad for Pain Train at this point. 

They got their heads knocked off! I've never seen an entire top armor plate get snapped off like that - absolutely awesome robot carnage

Sawblaze looked really strong.  Durable and hard hitting.  I enjoyed their fight. 

I did fairly well with my predictions.  Didn't expect Tombstone to shit the bed.  Missed on End Game too.

Has Pain Train ever fought Rusty?  Because I think that would be hilarious.

I would guess blue is going to win almost every fight.  I don't know what to expect/predict for the Hijinx/Mammoth fight.  Bloodsport probably takes Whiplash for my lone red pick.

  • Author

I'd say that Tantrum and Kraken are the most likely reds to win, but our entire household only went 3/7 or 4/7 last week, so what the hell do we know... 

Tantrum is a decent bot and definitely could win.  I'm not sold on Kraken.  Rotator isn't great either, but I think it's been more consistent than Kraken.

  • Author

Past versions of Rotator have been very boom-or-bust, and his success has been accordingly opponent-specific. I like Soto's creativity and agility in design, but sometimes I think he gets a little too carried away with trying to design and configure a robot that can be good at everything at the expense of being great at something. 

  • Author

That was a hell of an episode. 

That one hit that Rotator put on Kraken - holy shit. The amount of debris in the ring afterwards was amazing. 

Whiplash put on a clinic. 

I think Madcatter might be final four-level robot this year. 

Finished watching last night.  Good fights.  My predictions held until the last two fights.

I'm intrigued by the rookie bot Blip.  Nice design.  Will be interesting to see how it performs against a bot that can lift it (get under its wedge).

Love watching this with my 10yo boy. 

@Prepuce of Doom You can also watch it on the Discovery+ app so you won't run up against bedtime. 

I am seriously considering taking him and my gf's 11yo boy to Vegas to watch a live fight.  

30 minutes ago, Nuge said:

Love watching this with my 10yo boy. 

@Prepuce of Doom You can also watch it on the Discovery+ app so you won't run up against bedtime. 

I am seriously considering taking him and my gf's 11yo boy to Vegas to watch a live fight.  

I got to see Battlebots fight at the 2011 Maker Faire in Austin. It was fucking unreal to see and hear and FEEL those big ass bots throwing eachother around like ragdolls.

It looks like a fun event with a wild atmosphere, any idea where you'd start with finding tickets? Asking for a friend....

  • Author
57 minutes ago, Nuge said:

Love watching this with my 10yo boy. 

@Prepuce of Doom You can also watch it on the Discovery+ app so you won't run up against bedtime. 

I am seriously considering taking him and my gf's 11yo boy to Vegas to watch a live fight.  

The less the boy knows about streaming and On Demand, the better... 

Our family saw a live taping in Long Beach a couple of years ago. Had tickets for April 2020, but alas... 

We plan to check it out in Vegas someday though. Ticket sales are announced through the Facebook site and on the email mailing list from the website. 

https://battlebots.com/

  • Author

Tonight's fight card. Looks like a good night for red except for Lockjaw and possibly Cobalt. 

 

20220120_081205.jpg

Edited by Prepuce of Doom

Main event should be spicy if both bots perform.  Copperhead can be beastly but has had some issues with durability.

Huge vexes me.  I never have a good idea how their fights will go.  They don't usually get k.o. so it's a judges decision most of the time.

  • Author

Tonight's fight card. 

I predict a nearly complete zig-zag pattern starting with Jackpot, then Ribbot, etc. with the only deviation being Sawblaze in the main event. 

 

20220127_074551.jpg

I concur with your predictions.  I hope Tombstone doesn't disappoint again.  Looks like they had a design problem with internal combustion last fight.  The competition is better with a strong Tombstone 'villian'.

Madcatter looks much stronger/improved this season.  But same can be said about Sawblaze.  Should be a fun match.

  • Author

Yeah, Mad Catter is no joke. I won't be surprised if I'm wrong about the main event outcome - or anything else, for that matter. I think I'm batting about 55-60% on the season. 

27 minutes ago, bernorange said:

I concur with your predictions.  I hope Tombstone doesn't disappoint again.  Looks like they had a design problem with internal combustion last fight.  The competition is better with a strong Tombstone 'villian'.

Madcatter looks much stronger/improved this season.  But same can be said about Sawblaze.  Should be a fun match.

I'd bet Tombstone is just BRRRRRT'ing too hard - those motors have an insane amount of torque, and if there's not appropriate mechanical dampening whenever its blade hits something... It's gonna let the smoke out. He needs some sort of clutch or chainsaw kickback mechanism to decouple the motor and chain from the blade during impact

You would think after so many years of competing with Tombstone and helping other teams with their bots that Tombstone guy would have these engineering issues sorted.  IIRC last fight they mentioned that they had overhauled Tombstone with new parts (new vendors) so I'm guessing they didn't do enough QA/QC on the new build.

On 1/27/2022 at 8:16 AM, Prepuce of Doom said:

Tonight's fight card. 

I predict a nearly complete zig-zag pattern starting with Jackpot, then Ribbot, etc. with the only deviation being Sawblaze in the main event. 

 

20220127_074551.jpg

that first fight was awesome - just two punchers going at it non stop.

I was entertained.  Looks like Tombstone fixed their battery issue.

 Glitch was an interesting bot.  Their wedge was very effective (too effective apparently) and their multi directional "wheels" gave it some strong manueverability. 

  • Author

Tonight's fight card. 

With the exception of Jager/P1, each of these looks like it has potential to be a classic. 

20220203_075149.jpg

b, r, b, r, b, b, r

I'm not terribly confident in those predictions.  

  • Author
7 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

Needs moar Pain Train.

Disagree - I feel vicariously embarrassed whenever they show up all confident and then get smashed into rubble. 

  • Author

Double check your DVRs - ours wasn't going to record tonight's episode. I think the number of reruns that they air can sometimes confuse the DVR scheduler. 

I don't have confidence in predicting winners on this card aside from Yeti, but it seems like blue side could sweep tonight's card.

  • Author
20 minutes ago, bernorange said:

I don't have confidence in predicting winners on this card aside from Yeti, but it seems like blue side could sweep tonight's card.

Main event is a coin flip, Rotator may very well beat Black Dragon, and I don't remember enough about Blade to hazard a guess, but otherwise, I agree that blue is looking a lot stronger than red tonight. 

Yeah, there are a few coin flips imo, hence my hedge that blue *could* sweep.  Red side could win 2-3, but I wouldn't be confident on predicting the coin flip matchups.

  • Author

Outstanding destruction last night. 

The dude from Dragon Slayer looks like a young Lars Ulrich. 

Man the 15 foot flying self right onto the platform was spectacular! And the main card fight was awesome

I cherish every Pain Train fight, because that bot is a once-in-a-generation piece of crap. 

  • Author
20 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

I cherish every Pain Train fight, because that bot is a once-in-a-generation piece of crap. 

It was just absolute rubble by the end last night. 

Chris and Kenny have made multiple references to the fact that the Pain Train Engineer is very accomplished in the "Beetleweight" division of robot combat. 

I looked that up last night, and it's got an upper weight limit of 3 lbs (versus 250 lbs. in what we're all accustomed to). Seems like quite a different ballgame if his inability to survive a match in fewer than 25 separate pieces is any indication. 

Honestly, I’d bet big money on the 3 lb bot if it was fighting Pain Train. 

Watched last night.

Farouk's intro for Rotator mentioned "immortal like Betty White".  I'm guessing it was taped before she passed away. 

Rotator surprised me.  Their backside forks consistently got underneath Black Dragon.  Good fight.

WTF were the South Koreans thinking bringing a 3 ft blade made of solid aluminum?  You want weight/mass in the blade for kinetic energy as much as durability.  I mean, have they ever watched a horizontal spinner fight in Battlebots before?  Bots break blades made of AR steel.  How did they think their blade would last?

The judges' decision for Hijinx surprised me.  I didn't think Hijinx drive train was fully functional and Kraken was due more damage points than they gave it.

The driver for Defender needs to learn how to take a win.  They righted their opponent when it would have been counted out.  Dumb.

Hypershock's drive train impressed.  That bot can move with power even without some wheels.  They delivered the goods in a fun match.

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