Battlebots 2020

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

48 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

I am interested in watching Rusty get fucked up by Beta. 

Only if they actually use their weapon this match. 

[tbone_ 14411]

Haven’t watched tonight yet but I now maintain uppercut is the one to beat.

[BrickHorn 18426]

The last fight was pretty good, but the rest of the episode was boring. 

Spork or whatever it’s called is useless. Is its primary weapon designed to softly tap the opponent? And the driver seems to purposefully wander aimlessly around with no attempt to do anything other than be a sitting duck. After watching several fights with Spork, Rusty, Sharko, Bale Spear, and that piece of shit Pain Train, I’m starting to suspect that Battlebots has adopted the pro wrestling concept of a “jobber” whose sole purpose is to take a beating and make other bots look good.

Hypershock looked good but Mammoth is not built to stand up to heavy-hitting spinners. 

Overall, there weren’t any real contenders featured in this episode. It was like watching a Saturday morning WWF show from the 80s featuring a bunch of mid-carders winning one-sided matches against chumps like Barry Horowitz. 

[bernorange 8385]

There were several bots on the card that we hadn't seen before.  Announcer mentioned they competed in fights that weren't aired.  After watching them "fight" last night, I understand why.

Pain Train is so terrible it makes us all laugh out loud.  When it just fell apart it was a perfect moment of Zen hilarity.

Might just be the engineer/nerd in me, but I'd love it if the show provided more data about the contestants before each fight:

- how much the bots weigh

- measured force (kinetic energy) of main weapon (if it isn't a flame thrower)

- material cost (some are using exotic metals, battery systems, etc.)

 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Last season had a much more comprehensive "tale of the tape" graphic preceding most fights. They probably did away with it this year because of how shitawful many of the "competitors" are. Some of the bots' "weapons" listed in the previous two posts couldn't even reasonably be described in technical terms. 

I'm giving them a pass because of Covid, but I really hope that they don't decide to paywall the decent fights next season like they seem to be doing this year. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Tomorrow's fight card. Looks like there's less filler garbage this week. 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

I can't seem to figure out spoiler tags from my phone, but I have a strong opinion about last night's main event. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Prepuce of Doom

[BrickHorn 18426]

I only saw the first three matches. Kraken against Huge was a lot of fun.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Last night's fight card was a definite improvement top to bottom over some of the duds we've had lately - felt like an episode from previous seasons. 

[bernorange 8385]

Jackpot surprised me.  I thought Lock-Jaw would destroy it.  Not so much.

i also expected Bloodsport to decimate Chronos, but was disappointed in the lack of carnage from that fight.

Huge/Kraken and Skorios/Tombstone were both excellent fights.

Big Dill is silly.  Horizontal spinners bend it's forks every time and it can't do anything.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Chronos is an intriguing but bad design, but it is about the worst possible construction for Bloodsport to face - it's just solid metal right at Bloodsport's weapon height. 

[BrickHorn 18426]

19 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

I can't seem to figure out spoiler tags from my phone, but I have a strong opinion about last night's main event. 

I think it’s safe to discuss at this point. That was an odd ending and I’m not sure it complied with the rules. But I’m not expert on these things.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

First off, I just hate the "crabwalking doesn't count as controlled movement" rule, not just because I feel like it takes a lot away from the "fight to the death" appeal of robot combat, but also because it invites disagreement about what constitutes "controlled movement." 

The way the rule was applied to Tombstone, it's almost as though the rule amounts to "if a two-wheeled bot loses a wheel, no movement can be considered controlled, so the clock automatically starts" which is obviously bullshit and bad television. 

A better rule would be to allow shambling and crabwalking and whatever other kind of limited/suboptimal movement a bot can muster, and only start the count once a bot is stationary. Stationary is easy to adjudicate - everyone knows what that means. And what's the point of the countdown anyway? Are we really in that much of a hurry?! 

But my more specific complaint is that the referee started counting Tombstone out while it was still pinned by Skorpios, which doesn't seem fair or reasonable either. 

[BrickHorn 18426]

15 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

But my more specific complaint is that the referee started counting Tombstone out while it was still pinned by Skorpios, which doesn't seem fair or reasonable either

That was my problem. That shit happens all the time where one robot is holding the other immobile and they never count either robot out. In this case, it seemed like both bots were immobile but he only counted down Tombstone. Just a poorly officiated match.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Tonight's fight card. It'll be interesting to see whether Chomp can manage to even beat a complete piece of crap in Hijinx. 

Main event will be interesting - two very similar bots... 

 

[bernorange 8385]

Shatter played smart.  Good planning on the design changes.

Witch Doctor finally fought to expectations.

Gruff screwed themselves.

Main event was an excellent fight.

[Duval Street 420]

Glad to see someone finally get to Chomp’s legs (though pregnant driver still kinda does something for me).

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

If the judges were counting Shatter's ablative armor against them previously, then there's something terribly wrong. 

Chomp must be funded by Raytheon or some shit - every year, they show up with some completely bonkers, overengineered gizmo that fails spectacularly at great expense. The past few years they had some kind of A/I, laser-based "weapon guidance system" and this year they have a lumbering giant made of tens of thousands of ineffective bespoke pieces. During the segment on Witch Doctor's scramble for a new weapon blade, it was revealed that they got some help from the Chomp team who happened to have a waterjet at their workstation. Compare that to Rusty, who might have an extra sprocket from a penny farthing bicycle laying around his space. 

The fact that Hijinx, an obviously D-league bot, was able to defeat Chomp is just icing on the cake of Chomp's overall absurdity. 

Is ours the only household that gets a big kick out of Gruff's driver possibly being named Sam McAnus? 

[bernorange 8385]

I was musing that Chomp is a missed opportunity.  It doesn't have wheels, so it's not limited by the 250 lb weight limitation that every other bot faces.  It was said in a previous episode that Chomp is actually two separate bots (top half, bottom half).  They should scrap the top half.  The flame thrower is dumb.  It will never get close enough like Gruff does to do real damage with it.  The hammer is powerful but too slow and awkward to land hits consistently.  They should replace the top half with two diagonal spinners (think helicopter blades turned 45 degrees toward opposite sides.  Spin the base (top half) so the rotating blades are are constantly moving and nothing is going to get close without getting hit.

[Mango4 191]

Chomp needs to be relegated to the untelevised matches. That bot is completely worthless, some how they made it worse from previous years.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Final night of regular matches tonight. 

Hydra might be low enough to avoid Uppercut - should be interesting. P1 vs. SMEEEEEEEEEEE looks like one to miss, and I'm kind of surprised that Rusty is still apparently viable. 

[bernorange 8385]

I'll lay out some predictions...

Uppercut will destroy Hydra

Sawblaze will beat Rusty.  I wonder if the dude who builds Rusty managed to find quality replacement parts after his last match.

Tantrum v Gamma 9 - who?  what?

Hypershock v Endgame should be an interesting fight.  Two very similar bots.  I suspect Hypershock wins as it seems to be a well funded team with quality materials to build.

Smeeeeeeeeeee sucks.  Don't know if P1 is better, but it will likely win if it's even average for the field.

Beta will dominate Grabot

Valkyrie v Whiplash - I have no opinion.  I generally like the horizontal spinners, but I don't really remember watching these two bots before (though I know I've seen them - just don't remember much about them).

[Chewbacca 7827]

Glad to see someone finally get to Chomp’s legs (though pregnant driver still kinda does something for me).

Agreed on both counts.

[BrickHorn 18426]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:56 AM, Prepuce of Doom said:

Final night of regular matches tonight. 

Hydra might be low enough to avoid Uppercut - should be interesting. P1 vs. SMEEEEEEEEEEE looks like one to miss, and I'm kind of surprised that Rusty is still apparently viable. 

Great fights this week. SPOILERS BELOW.

 

 

 

Uppercut made a tactical error against Hydra. It should have used its distraction bot to occupy the flipper and then pounced from the side. That was its chance to mangle Hydra’s weapon. Not sure why it didn’t do this and instead ran its distraction bot at Hydra when its main bot wasn’t in striking distance. Bad tactics and its inability to land with its weapon led to an ass whipping.

I can’t believe Rusty kept going. But then again, Sawblaze seems like an overrated bot to me. And was Rusty’s main weapon ducktaped together?

Gamma 9 sucks. It’s one of many pointless bots this season that seemingly have no primary weapon.

End Game is a knockout artist. Damn. 

Smeeeee is an interesting design, but they need to make some changes. Switch to a single, heavier primary weapon. And add a locking mechanism, so that a bot can’t escape once Smeeeee surrounds it.

Grabot is so perplexingly stupid. I have no idea what its “weapon” is supposed to do. Beta kicked its ass but honestly didn’t do a lot of damage considering how many direct hits it put on Grabot. I’m not sold on Beta and think its 3-0 record is a mirage. 

Smart tactics by Whiplash. Valkyrie got some solid hits early then got dominated after its weapon went down. 

So now that the regular season’s over, let’s rank the worst bots. Here’s my Bottom 5:

1. Grabot. This thing is fucking pointless. Its main weapon is a couple of marionette arms positioned harmlessly on top of the bot. 

2. Sporkawhatever. The main weapon on this is a low-speed head-patting thing. It looks more solid and functional than the other shitty bots, but it sucks so bad and somehow managed to get its ass thoroughly kicked by Rusty.

3. Pain Train. I don’t care that it “beat” Smeeee because it did not and that was a bullshit decision. This bot is undriveable, moves in random, jerky lurches, has a weapon with no reach, and literally fell completely apart in the battle box. It’s a piece of shit.

4. Rusty. The bumfighter of Battlebots. Rusty is basically a coffee can with an automated shiv. It beat Spork and somehow survived a beat down by Sawblaze, but managed to look incompetent in every fight.

5. Gamma 9. What the fuck is the point of this piece of crap?

Honorable mention: Sharko, Bale Spear, Big Dill.

[bernorange 8385]

I missed badly on a couple of those predictions.  Looking forward to the bracket games.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Printable brackets here:

https://battlebots.com/bracket/

Tournament starts tonight - I encourage everyone to fill out a sheet and upload them here. I'll post our family's soon... 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Doom family picks. 

Doomlet is obsessed with owls, raptors, and other birds, and he couldn't/wouldn't separate that obsession from his picks, so he's got Hijinx winning it all... 

[bernorange 8385]

23 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Printable brackets here: ...

Thanks for that.  I had my son print out two copies and he and I both filled out our brackets just before watching last night's show.  I'm too lazy to take a photo and upload so I'll just type my predictions here:

Mine:

Top left

Hydra wins out beating Malice, Valkyrie, Upper Cut and Copperhead.

Valkyrie beats Whiplash

Bottom Left

Uppercut beats Beta, Tombstone

Tombstone beats Black Dragon

Top Right

Bloodsport beats Fusion, Witch Doctor

Witch Doctor beats Kraken

Bottom Right

Copperhead beats Bloodsport, End Game and Shatter

End Game beats Jackpot

~~~

I was 6 of 8 last night.  I missed on Beta shitting the bed and Malice being unable to land a hit on Gigabyte.  My son was 5 of 8 with his predictions. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

I'm pretty annoyed that I went with Malice, as it seemed like a terrible decision in the moments leading up to the fight itself, but I guess I just got carried away by expecting Gigabyte to bounce around corners and destroy itself. 

Putting Hypershock as the #32 seed seemed really questionable to me. I'd have been pissed if I was Hydra. Hijinx, Shamwow, and Perfect Phoenix are all (in my opinion, at least) a tier below the rest of the field. 

I have the same criticism about putting Gruff at #31, and think that Bloodsport has a pretty valid complaint, too. 

Our family got a lot of mileage out of shouting "BAHK OHFF!!!" at each other in English accents last night after Shamwow's driver got all hysterical and pissy during the countdown. Dude needs to go learn how to relax somewhere along with the Ghost Raptor tittybaby. 

[bernorange 8385]

Hypershock vexes me.  They clearly have deep pocket sponsors.  The bot looks great and can take a beating, but it never performs to my expectations.  Not sure that it really "deserved" a better seed, but I could be persuaded that Hijinx or another bot deserved their seeding less.

The "back off" moment caused me and my son to laugh out loud.  There is no mercy in this dojo.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

No disagreement about Hypershock's inconsistency. Will's "ah, fuck it" attitude is also kind of all over the place. He was a really obnoxious tittybaby during the first or second season (of this current version, so like 3-4 seasons ago) and has become really laid-back over the past few years. And he's one of the better drivers and (at least based on my impression of the pre-fight blurbs and interviews) one of the better strategists to anticipate strengths and weaknesses of upcoming matches. 

I think the producers of the show were in a tough position with the seeding, the relative unevenness of strength of schedule (especially considering that it needed to be organized in a way that keeps viewers interested, which isn't the same as an equitable "round robin" kind of arrangement), and all the challenges based on who could and couldn't show up this season because of C19. 

And paywalling certain bots and fights on Discovery+ definitely didn't help with seedings, either. 

[BrickHorn 18426]

Finally had a chance to watch the first tournament episode. Very solid fights, but no real surprises. The upsets were more the result of distorted seeding than anything else. Despite higher seedlings, Beta and Mad Hatter faced superior bots.

[BrickHorn 18426]

Some good fights last night with a couple of true upsets and some favorites squeaking by. 

[bernorange 8385]

Yeah, we very much enjoyed last night's show.  Two split judges decisions that were really close.  I think the judges made the right calls on both.

I went 4/8 on my predictions (oops).  My son went 6/8 on his (and he let me know about it).

Mammoth is dumb and it's "weapon" is a wet noodle.  How is it supposed to damage anything?  WTF Copperhead?!?!?

lolololol at Fusion.  Epic move to end that fight.

Bloodsport/Gruff match was excellent. 

Gold jacket guy on team Rotator looks like an uber douche, but talks like a really humble, cool dude.  He vexes me.

Also WTF Kraken?  Why don't you drive your opponent into the 100lb hammer when you have them locked up in your jaw?  Or drive an exposed wheel into the screws?  Driving donuts in the middle of the arena is just dumb.

[BrickHorn 18426]

Mammoth is dumb, but was a bad matchup for Copperhead (which is an overrated bot anyway). 

Team Jackpot outsmarted itself. I bet they’re kicking themselves for removing the self-righting mechanism. 

Endgame is a killer. Once it lands a hit, it’s over. 

Kraken completely wasted its opportunity. On the other hand, I was more impressed by Sawblaze last night. Its weapon is more powerful than I thought.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

I remember being a bit outraged by the judges' decision to put Mammoth over Copperhead, but I have forgotten the details given how much more egregious their error (in my opinion) was in giving Bloodsport the win over Gruff. Sam McAnus must have personally offended the judges or something - it seems like they just refuse to give that team a break. 

My bracket is currently in the driver's seat among our family. Missed only three in the first round (had Malice over Gigabyte, Lockjaw over Shatter, and Copperhead over Mammoth) and the only E8 points I'm missing is that I had Copperhead beating Lockjaw. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Tonight should be a good time. 

Black Dragon and Tombstone could be a sneaky tough matchup for both bots - won't be surprised by many possible outcomes, but I fully expect that someone will get the shit kicked out of them. 

I wonder how well Bloodsport will be repaired. I still think it'll roll over Tantrum, but I am obviously not very impressed with their first round performance... 

Sawblaze and Witch Doctor should be a slugfest, Rotator could surprise End Game, and Shatter vs Mammoth will be.........something. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Prepuce of Doom

[bernorange 8385]

Wow.  That was a fantastic episode.  Every fight was fun to watch.

Ribbot is much tougher than I thought.  Might need to rename it "TIMEX".

Tombstone is it's own worst enemy.  Black Dragon's wedge looked super strong.  I think I heard them say they had gotten the material for it from the Gruff team.

Bloodsport/Tantrum was rough.  Looks like Bloodsport didn't really rebuild (well enough) from their last fight.

Sawblaze is looking much stronger than I expected.

Mammoth switched back to the rigid weapon instead of the wet noodle they used last time and actually used the weapon somewhat effectively.  It was a humorous battle.

End Game/Rotator was fun.

I'm left with 2/8 correct (Hydra, End Game) on my predictions.  My son has 3/8 correct (Hydra, End Game, Shatter).

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Yeah, last night was a hoot. Not a bad match among them. 

Glad that the doofus judges didn't give Bloodsport another gift. I still don't think much of their weapon but Tantrum must be the most improved from last year when they were basically just exhibition-level cannon fodder for Tombstone. I loved how they used the hammer to bend Bloodsport's Snork. 

I was really impressed with how durable Gigabyte was - really didn't expect it to take that much abuse. 

I am surprised that Uppercut got knocked out, and by Ribbot, no less. I'm not quite sure exactly what happened there, but enough craziness happened everywhere else that losing my champ didn't take me out of contention. 

I think that the winner of Hydra/Whiplash will face Sawblaze in the final. 

If Whiplash beats Hydra, then I will win our family's pool. If not, I'm eliminated, and it's a complicated three-horse race between my wife, her sister, and her dad. Her mom, my brother, and Doomlet are all already eliminated. 

[bernorange 8385]

I think Uppercut likely burned out a motor for one of it's wheels when they were locked up and trying to push/disengage.  Ribbot just got lucky imo.

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Tonight's the big night! 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Those were some pretty good matches. 

[bernorange 8385]

Fire! Fire! Fire!  /Beavis

[BrickHorn 18426]

Great fights. Really sound driving and tactics on display. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

I have been underestimating Tantrum all year. I kept insisting to myself that it was the same piece of shit that was just cannon fodder and the butt of a joke for Tombstone a year ago, but I'm a believer. I don't quite understand how it's been so successful (besides the expert driving and control - that dude can drive...) but I can't argue with it. 

I won our family's pool by virtue of being the only still-viable entry to not have Hydra winning it all, and nobody could catch me from the points I earned by picking Whiplash to beat Hydra. 

I didn't agree with several of the judges' decisions this year, and the suffocating Discovery+ advertising (and its paywalled fights) was lousy all around, but I thought this was a very entertaining season, particularly considering the challenges the production effort undoubtedly faced. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Prepuce of Doom

[BrickHorn 18426]

We enjoyed this show much more when we decided to start DVRing it. Got through the last episode in about an hour. 

Endgame impressed from the get-go with a dominant win over Tombstone and finished the season with a disciplined, smart tactical performance in the final. Those guys deserved to win it all. 

Tantrum is an interesting design and the team executed a great game plan against Sawblaze. 

Whiplash also had a great game plan against Hydra and executed it well. It was a close call but I think the judges made the right decision. 

The only fight I thought was lame was Black Dragon’s win over Ribbot. The fire was a cool visual, but it was mostly just a pushing match. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21260]

Fyi (and sorry for the late notice in case anyone isn't already aware) but my DVR has been picking up the Bounty Hunter episodes lately. 

Haven't been able to really watch them from start to finish much - the boy is bingeing them without the rest of the family, so we're all just kind keeping up piecemeal here and there, but they seem to be entertaining enough. 

Not $8/month entertaining, but worth watching if you have the opportunity. 

[bernorange 8385]

Yeah, our DVR has been catching them too.  There is usually one good fight per episode.  Most fights are predictable having watched the season.  We busted a gut laughing that Pain Train was in the Witch Doctor hunt.  Worthless.

[BrickHorn 18426]

On 4/17/2021 at 1:47 PM, bernorange said:

Yeah, our DVR has been catching them too.  There is usually one good fight per episode.  Most fights are predictable having watched the season.  We busted a gut laughing that Pain Train was in the Witch Doctor hunt.  Worthless.

Oh shit I missed the Pain Train fight. How bad was it?

[bernorange 8385]

1 hour ago, BrickHorn said:

Oh shit I missed the Pain Train fight. How bad was it?

I think the fight lasted a whole 30 seconds.