# Battlebots is back!



## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

Surprised it is ABC, I hope they don't blow it -
http://deadline.com/2015/02/battlebots-revival-reality-series-abc-summer-1201367663/


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

I wonder if they'll have some appearances from ex-BattleBot operators, like Grant, Jamie and Adam.

Actually what would be cool: Kari, Grant, and Tory as PxP, color commentary, and pit reporter. (Not sure who would do what... don't really care.)


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

I didn't like this quote from the article.



> The show also will have a greater emphasis on the design and build elements of each robot, the bot builder backstories, their intense pursuit of the championship and the spectacle of the event.


I just want to see carnage. Don't really care about all that other stuff any more than I care about those fluff pieces during the Olympics. Just show me mindless violence and I'm happy.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

LoadStar said:


> I wonder if they'll have some appearances from ex-BattleBot operators, like Grant, Jamie and Adam.


Adam apparently already said no on twitter.



midas said:


> I didn't like this quote from the article.
> 
> I just want to see carnage. Don't really care about all that other stuff any more than I care about those fluff pieces during the Olympics. Just show me mindless violence and I'm happy.


I know everyone else whines about those things on the Olympics.. but I _sometimes_ like them (and just ff through them if I don't).. Also, "design and build elements of each robot" can mean more technical stuff too..


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I don't like the elimination of weight classes. I think we get better variety with weight classes, so not everybody builds a 400 pound super heavyweight behemoth.


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

zalusky said:


> Surprised it is ABC, I hope they don't blow it -
> http://deadline.com/2015/02/battlebots-revival-reality-series-abc-summer-1201367663/


thanks thanks THANKS for posting this! I've really missed this show. Agree with your sentiments re ABC.


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## CraigK (Jun 9, 2006)

Great news!

I went on a YouTube binge a while ago watching some of the old episodes.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

I can see Jimmy Kimmel doing bits as a strong geek challenge to Fallon.


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## Ment (Mar 27, 2008)

Don't care about weight classes. Maximum carnage in the shortest amount of time. However there should robot type classes else the boring wedge bots will rule again.


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

super excited!


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

Premiers Sunday June 21st!!!


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Me too!!! OnePass created! It now shows an upcoming episode - The Battle Begins: Qualifiers Part 1


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

Missed this thread the first time 

WOOOOO


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Thanks for the heads up


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

Missed this the first time around. Thanks to the OP and for the bump! SP (OP) set!


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

THANK YOU for resurrecting this thread!! Season Pass is set - can't wait!!!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I'm in!


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

I enjoyed it!

They still haven't learned from the original series. 
You have to have a way to right your robot if it gets flipped over. 
And if you can only attack from one direction, make your robot powerful enough to at least be able to push from the other.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Watched half of the show and it's still fun. I might get bored with it after awhile, but for now, I'm enjoying it. I think it's pretty close to classic Battlebots, but a little hyped up.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

We enjoyed it as well.

Some changes
- Gasoline powered engines are allowed!
- Flamethrowers are allowed!

Should be fun seeing how much more advanced the bots are since so much time has passed.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

I speed watched. You can get through the whole hour in 12 minutes if you FF the hype and the commercials and the hype and the commercials and the hype.


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

MikeAndrews said:


> I speed watched. You can get through the whole hour in 12 minutes if you FF the hype and the commercials and the hype and the commercials and the hype.


^^ Exactly my approach. Just the battlebots, please.


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## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

Too much fluff for a moment of gore.

The walking bot was just about useless, the Plan X bot could have easily wiped the floor with it quickly.

The basic Kinetic energy and Wedge bots always rule just like in the past, anything else will be destroyed with a good driver behind them.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

vertigo235 said:


> Should be fun seeing how much more advanced the bots are since so much time has passed.


They haven't really changed much at all surprisingly. The designs are basically the same as they were 15-20 years ago. I expected a bit more. But really the whole field of robotics has not progressed as much as I had hoped in the last 30 years. You'd think with the way computers advance at such a rapid rate the mechanical side would keep up but it really hasn't.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

It was nice to see some old faces, as well as new.

One rule change that seems totally pointless is the helper robots.



Spoiler



They were totally useless, pretty much. But they made for good carnage.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I think the little ones helped in that last bout. They distracted him just enough to allow the big one to get under the wheel and flip him over.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

They should make the little bots almost sacrificial, like bombs or mobile land mines heh.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Their might be weight limits that prevent them from having enough hardware to do any damage.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

That one had a flamethrower in it. It also kind of exploded when nightmare shredded it.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

They mentioned something about the hazards like the hammer being controlled by the opposite team. How does that work? Each team gets control of one hammer?

What does pushing the big button at the start do? Just says the team is ready? I remember something about the bots having to be disabled until the humans leave the arena?


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

MikeAndrews said:


> They mentioned something about the hazards like the hammer being controlled by the opposite team. How does that work? Each team gets control of one hammer?
> 
> What does pushing the big button at the start do? Just says the team is ready? I remember something about the bots having to be disabled until the humans leave the arena?


The weapons have to be disabled, you can sometimes see the team members with the "safety pins" in hand as they leave the arena. I think the button is just to signal they are ready.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

They also mentioned (during the hype- sometimes it pays to watch the hype) that there are other hazards in the floor like spikes that come up and stuff. I didn't see any used in the first episode. Maybe holding those for later rounds?


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

vertigo235 said:


> We enjoyed it as well.
> 
> Some changes
> - Gasoline powered engines are allowed!
> ...


Multi-bots are allowed; though the ones we saw in this episode weren't of much use.

I almost wonder if designers wouldn't be better off focusing on trying to build a propulsion system that allowed the bots to 'strafe-circle'; rather than focusing on weapons that relatively rarely connect. For a front facing weapons (which everything but spinners seems to have) that locomotion would make it easier to keep them on target; compared to the automobile, or tank, style steering that most robots seem to go with.

The long, reality show style, intro before we got to the fighting didn't get my hopes up but the combat was fun to watch.

Also I assume that the rules still preclude sensor activated weapons; so you can't have the robot auto-trigger a flipper when it detects that it's under the other robot.
I wonder what the rules have to say about armor built of patches of loose knit kevlar or carbon fiber (basically intended to get torn off and bind up spinners or saws) Got that inspiration from the one robot (forget the name) with the spaced armor on the rods; if that had been very high strength line instead of panels it might have wound round the spinning blade of the attacker and caused it to seize.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> They also mentioned (during the hype- sometimes it pays to watch the hype) that there are other hazards in the floor like spikes that come up and stuff. I didn't see any used in the first episode. Maybe holding those for later rounds?


Although one of the bots



Spoiler



did seem to get hung up on something on the floor, but that may have been the slot for the saws or something.


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

First let me say, I'm really happy this is back. 

Now, about the filler, or hype as some are calling it. I found it refreshing that they aren't telegraphing the winner with their 'feature stories'. They spent so much time hyping that one bot with the wings and that thing just got destroyed. No doubt it looked cool and I remember it from the first run. But man, that thing got it's lunch handed to it.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> They also mentioned (during the hype- sometimes it pays to watch the hype) that there are other hazards in the floor like spikes that come up and stuff. I didn't see any used in the first episode. Maybe holding those for later rounds?


The spikes did come up. That's why one bot got (nearly?) flipped.

In the UK version they had trap doors that would open over pits and flames that shoot up form teh floor.

One thing that gets me is having to rebuild your bot after winning a round. AFAIK< it's not like the builders come out with spare parts.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Many if not all of the winners said they did come with spare parts (the girl driver actually said she brought spares of everything).

Also, I noticed the saw blades that come up didn't seem to be doing anything, I wonder if they have those turned off in the early rounds.


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

Is this now a season or episode thread? If so, let's get the title changed. If not, then please stop posting specific episode information or put it in spoiler tags. I opened the thread expecting general comments, not specifics about the first episode.


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

or you could start a new thread and get exactly what you want


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

Not really because there will still be untagged spoilers in this thread that will get seen by other unsuspecting people.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

This thread should not have untagged spoilers.

I have gone back and tagged some small stuff that could be considered spoilery.


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## doom1701 (May 15, 2001)

I watched some of it last night in the hotel. Still fun, but the robot that got flipped and couldn't right itself had me screaming at the TV. That's Battlebots 101.


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## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

My son and I went all 3 days of the taping of this. It was fun, but if you think the TV show had too much fluff, watching it live was quite painful. IRL it was about 45 minutes between bouts and when it got down to the finials, they drug it out so long, many people bailed didn't even stay for the last few fights.

However, they did a good job of editing things and I was surprised the pace felt so much faster..

Not a spoiler but a little info on what happened that you will not see broadcast.



Spoiler



More than once, they had the bout readly to go, and they had to pull the bots off the floor because one of bots didn't start, or the weapons would not spin up.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

scsiguy72 said:


> My son and I went all 3 days of the taping of this.


Awesome dad for the win!!!


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

I guess I'll take the initiative to start a new thread and this thread can die.

Look for an all episode spoiler thread momentarily


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

New thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10546001#post10546001


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

scsiguy72 said:


> My son and I went all 3 days of the taping of this. It was fun, but if you think the TV show had too much fluff, watching it live was quite painful. IRL it was about 45 minutes between bouts and when it got down to the finials, they drug it out so long, many people bailed didn't even stay for the last few fights.


This is kind of like drag racing. When it gets on TV it all goes pretty fast. But if you're there live it starts to really drag the closer you get to the finals.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

Season 2 is almost upon us. Tomorrow (05/10/16) there is a kick off special - BattleBots: The Gears Awaken.

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/battlebots-abc-kicks-off-season-two-preview-special/


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Didn't realize it was coming back! Thanks.


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## jamesl (Jul 12, 2012)

midas said:


> This is kind of like drag racing. When it gets on TV it all goes pretty fast. But if you're there live it starts to really drag the closer you get to the finals.


so drag racing drags ?


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Donbadabon said:


> Season 2 is almost upon us. Tomorrow (05/10/16) there is a kick off special - BattleBots: The Gears Awaken.


Oooooooooooo yeah. My pass got it. Bring it on, nerd gladiators!


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

Donbadabon said:


> Season 2 is almost upon us. Tomorrow (05/10/16) there is a kick off special - BattleBots: The Gears Awaken.
> 
> http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/battlebots-abc-kicks-off-season-two-preview-special/


Thanks!



justen_m said:


> Oooooooooooo yeah. My pass got it. Bring it on, nerd gladiators!


Yep, my SP (or OP or whatever we call it now) was all set to record, but reminders are much appreciated.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

There was maybe 30 minutes worth of actual content, total, last "season". It was 99% fluff pieces. If they need filler maybe they should explain some of the actual science behind the bots, instead of just a bunch of B roll profiles of the people who drive them.


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## ufo4sale (Apr 21, 2001)

Dan203 said:


> There was maybe 30 minutes worth of actual content, total, last "season". It was 99% fluff pieces. If they need filler maybe they should explain some of the actual science behind the bots, instead of just a bunch of B roll profiles of the people who drive them.


100% agree.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

That's essentially what Myth Busters was. The actual experiments were only a few minutes of the show. The fun part was them explaining the science and strategy behind the builds. If they did that on this show it would be a lot more compelling.


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## JohnS-MI (Jan 25, 2014)

Dan203 said:


> There was maybe 30 minutes worth of actual content, total, last "season". It was 99% fluff pieces. If they need filler maybe they should explain some of the actual science behind the bots, instead of just a bunch of B roll profiles of the people who drive them.


"It's robot-fighting time," but FastForward is the key to enjoying this mindless summer show.


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## ehusen (Jan 7, 2002)

JohnS-MI said:


> "It's robot-fighting time," but FastForward is the key to enjoying this mindless summer show.


So true. I only need about 20 minutes to watch this show. 

Can we discuss the show without spoiler tags? Well just in case for now...



Spoiler



So putting those stupid lightweight 5 bots in with 'Son of Weyachi"??? Talk about lambs to the slaughter. I think on one hit Weyachi took out 2 of the other bots at once by slamming one into the other one.

And the drones??? The minute they even come down to the ground level they are instantly destroyed. I think the one drone actually destroyed itself by just bumping into the other ground robot.

It's fun to watch the destruction but some of the designs are just made to be instantly destroyed. Splitting your robot into multiple ones seems to only weaken your attacks and defense.

I think the flamethrowers are pretty to look at but do they really do anything? It seemed like the one set itself on fire.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

This episode seemed a little bit faster paced to me than last season, but maybe I was just looking forward to it and didn't notice.

I *think* we have to have a dedicated Season 2 thread to not use spoiler tags, but I could be wrong.



Spoiler



Agree 100% on the drone. And the only way it seems that one could be effective would be after the target bot has already been disabled, and then the drone sits on top of it.

My assumption is that fire goes after the tires and the wiring inside the machines. But it never seems very effective.

It also seems that just having a low-profile, powerful machine is much better than weapons. 'Son of Weyachi' being the great exception.


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## Frylock (Feb 13, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> There was maybe 30 minutes worth of actual content, total, last "season". It was 99% fluff pieces. If they need filler maybe they should explain some of the actual science behind the bots, instead of just a bunch of B roll profiles of the people who drive them.


30? That seems generous to me. It took me about 10-15 minutes to FF through and just watch the fights. The rest of the show adds no real value. It really could, but they seem to focus on really boring elements IMO.It's a show about robots destroying one another. I don't care about the people driving the robots. Focus on the ROBOTS, and I think the filler would be so much better.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Frylock said:


> 30? That seems generous to me. It took me about 10-15 minutes to FF through and just watch the fights. The rest of the show adds no real value. It really could, but they seem to focus on really boring elements IMO.It's a show about robots destroying one another. I don't care about the people driving the robots. Focus on the ROBOTS, and I think the filler would be so much better.


He said 30 minutes for the entire season, so that means he only thought there was 5 minutes per episode that was worthwhile.


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## Frylock (Feb 13, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> He said 30 minutes for the entire season, so that means he only thought there was 5 minutes per episode that was worthwhile.


My apologies. That makes a lot more sense, considering last season the battles seemed much shorter than the first episode of this season.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

Heads up, the full season 2 starts this Thursday, June 23rd.

It is a 10-episode run.


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

I'm not a fan of this new "assist bots" crap. And I can't wait to see a blade bot send a useless "drone" into a million pieces!

I can't believe the noise that drum roller bot was making. It did sound like a 747


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## john4200 (Nov 1, 2009)

pmyers said:


> I can't believe the noise that drum roller bot was making. It did sound like a 747


Minotaur? That is the one I'm betting on.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

The flying drones are the stupidest thing ever. They're a complete waste of time, effort, and space. They're never ever going to be able to do anything to any of the bots on the ground. Ever.

Well, unless the rules suddenly allow the flying drones to start carrying missiles.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Oh, two additional thoughts on the most recent episode:
- I would have liked to see them do a short segment on Adam Savage. They didn't even interview him or anything. I would have liked to have seen them reference that he wasn't only a host of Mythbusters, as they mentioned, but also a former Battlebots competitor.
- The last battle should have been "montage-ed" instead of the ones that did get the montage treatment. When pretty much everyone knows you're going to lose going into it, don't waste our time showing the battle, even if the bot has a novel feature.


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## ehusen (Jan 7, 2002)

Agreed that the drones are just stupid and pointless.

I used to think that the flamethrowers were pretty dumb too but then I saw that one robot that is a "grabber" with one. It was pretty cool to see it grab the other robot and hold it in place while the flames just baked it.

But I love the show and it's perfect for the DVR, FF through most of it to just watch the battles.


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## Zephyr (Sep 16, 2005)

LoadStar said:


> The flying drones are the stupidest thing ever. They're a complete waste of time, effort, and space. They're never ever going to be able to do anything to any of the bots on the ground. Ever.
> 
> Well, unless the rules suddenly allow the flying drones to start carrying missiles.


EMP bomb!  (electromagnetic pulse)


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## pmyers (Jan 4, 2001)

ehusen said:


> ...I used to think that the flamethrowers were pretty dumb too but then I saw that one robot that is a "grabber" with one. It was pretty cool to see it grab the other robot and hold it in place while the flames just baked it...


That was impressive. Really though that was the ideal matchup for that kind of bot. Against anything else, and I think it loses.

I'm just happy that most people have learned to include something to upright themselves!


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

As mentioned earlier , not talking to Adam Savage is a complete producer fail. He has more authenticity than any of the host etc. and is much better on camera. The only thing I can imagine is that the production company wouldn't pay his rate.


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## Big Deficit (Jul 8, 2003)

Adam should have been one of the commentators, instead of an annoying and pompous MMA "expert".


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## scooterboy (Mar 27, 2001)

This is the fastest hour of television I currently watch.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

xuxa said:


> As mentioned earlier , not talking to Adam Savage is a complete producer fail. He has more authenticity than any of the host etc. and is much better on camera. The only thing I can imagine is that the production company wouldn't pay his rate.


Do you think they would have had to pay him a different amount if they talked to him vs him just being a judge? As far as he's concerned, he's already there taking the time one way or the other. What difference does it make?


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> Do you think they would have had to pay him a different amount if they talked to him vs him just being a judge? As far as he's concerned, he's already there taking the time one way or the other. What difference does it make?


Yes generally you get paid more for any additional work, speaking or any other involvement due to SAG union. It looks like he is there because he wanted to get his blog/podcast tested.com involved as it has been in the past. They probably said he could judge in order to get the tested.com access to the Battlebots. Note they never mention the tested.com blog on tv even though they are promoted on the official battlebots site.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

Heads up - the 2018 season starts tomorrow (Friday 05/11/18), but now on the Discovery Channel. Episode starts at 8PM Eastern.






Edited to 05/11/18


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Donbadabon said:


> Heads up - the 2018 season starts tomorrow (5/10/18), but now on the Discovery Channel. Episode starts at 8PM Eastern.


Are you sure you don't mean 5/11/18 (Friday?).

Second, everyone check your season passes. No prior season pass picked this up for me. I created a season pass from search, and it didn't pick up tomorrows episode, but did pick up next fridays. I created a third season pass from Tomorrow's episode, which tagged all the reruns of tomorrows episode, but no future episodes.

So I now have three season passes, and no faith it what they will truly record.

And third, holy crap, this came back? I thought it was dead and buried, never to return. I don't know how this snuck up on me (and thanks for posting).

And fourth, why does a forum search for battlebots not find this thread...


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## MauriAnne (Sep 21, 2002)

Thanks for posting... I would have missed it too. I always feel like I'm back in school when I watch this show -- it somehow reminds me of a nasty lab. 

I've got Spectrum (TWC) and tomorrow's episode doesn't show up as part of the series either so I have a standalone recording for tomorrow and then a season pass beginning next week. Looks like something is screwy in the listings.


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## MauriAnne (Sep 21, 2002)

kdmorse said:


> And fourth, why does a forum search for battlebots not find this thread...


 I tried searching for it and it showed up for me.


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

There were three two-hour episodes that aired yesterday (starting at 5 pm). Watched the first ep, which starts at the very beginning of the tournament, with 24 bots competing. The ep titles are confusing though, as the three eps are listed as S3 Ep1, Ep2, and Ep3. Then _another_ set of eps are on the schedule (starting tonight and airing once a week), and are labeled as S3 eps 1 and 2. I'm assuming another Ep 3 will appear soon.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Donbadabon said:


> Heads up - the 2018 season starts tomorrow (Friday 05/11/18), but now on the Discovery Channel. Episode starts at 8PM Eastern.


AWESOME! Recording set!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I found this flipping around channels the other night (see, channel surfing still pays off sometimes). I recorded the episodes last night, but I'm confused as to what is new and what isn't. I guess I'll watch and find out.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Looks like Season 3 is the new ones (on DIRECTV at least). I told it to record new ones and that was what it picked up.


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

In my guide (Xfinity), the new season tonight is showing as Season 1. I assumed because it is the first season on the Discovery Network. But who knows.


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## KDeFlane (Jan 29, 2014)

While I'll be watching this on the Discovery channel (Fridays), people might also want to watch the same episodes airing on the Science Channel (Wednesdays beginning May 16th). It all depends on your cable access and possible schedule conflicts.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

KDeFlane said:


> While I'll be watching this on the Discovery channel (Fridays), people might also want to watch the same episodes airing on the Science Channel (Wednesdays beginning May 16th). It all depends on your cable access and possible schedule conflicts.


Mine came up on Science, S3. I think perhaps they were previewing it there? It was on last night


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## tivooop (Oct 10, 2004)

dbranco said:


> There were three two-hour episodes that aired yesterday (starting at 5 pm). Watched the first ep, which starts at the very beginning of the tournament, with 24 bots competing. The ep titles are confusing though, as the three eps are listed as S3 Ep1, Ep2, and Ep3. Then _another_ set of eps are on the schedule (starting tonight and airing once a week), and are labeled as S3 eps 1 and 2. I'm assuming another Ep 3 will appear soon.


I think the three two-hour episodes were a repeat of all of last season's episodes.

In the new season's first episode, they said this season will be formatted differently. They will have a "regular season", then the top X number of robots will make it to the playoffs.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

tivooop said:


> I think the three two-hour episodes were a repeat of all of last season's episodes.


Correct, I had seen those fights before. Not that they weren't fun to re-watch.



tivooop said:


> In the new season's first episode, they said this season will be formatted differently. They will have a "regular season", then the top X number of robots will make it to the playoffs.


And I was pleased that they got more fights into an episode with the new format. And they were all pretty good ones - even the three-way rumble of lesser bots, which is sometimes less entertaining.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

This show confuses the heck out of me??? There are many seasons across multiple networks. I have seen like three seasons but I am always confused what year it is and what network they were on at the time. I am never sure if it is new or marketed as new even though it was already aired on another network. They make it very hard to be a fan of this show. I am really glad it returned because is so fun to watch!


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I may have resorted to looking at the Wiki that lists all the matches, or that lists all the episode names to keep it straight at times.


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## KDeFlane (Jan 29, 2014)

kdmorse said:


> ...they got more fights into an episode with the new format.


This was definitely an improvement. Maybe they reduced the amount of time spent on personalities and backstory? I do miss the more detailed stats, however, at least a slide showing weapon types would have helped me get back into the flow faster. I think the producers must hand out art supplies to the audience -- the handmade signs all looked like last-minute scribbles on matching posterboard.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

KDeFlane said:


> This was definitely an improvement. Maybe they reduced the amount of time spent on personalities and backstory? I do miss the more detailed stats, however, at least a slide showing weapon types would have helped me get back into the flow faster. I think the producers must hand out art supplies to the audience -- the handmade signs all looked like last-minute scribbles on matching posterboard.


I usually just FF through the backstories. I could care less about it. I like watching the battlebots wreck each other. That's what I watch for. I can get through the whole hour in like 20 minutes


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

It is almost always the same builders. After 3+ seasons we know who they are already. Let's get to some robot action!


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

I thought they were much faster at getting to the action than previous seasons.

I liked some of the new designs, like the forklift and the cannon. But I did think the cannon was going to lose just because it was so much taller and the center of gravity would make it wobbly. But it did a great job.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I could care less about it.


That means you DO care about the backstories.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

darn, I missed this thread. I guess the show will be rerun up the wazoo, so I'll catch them.. though I haven't watched last season yet.. (I think I watched a couple eps last year).


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## John Gillespie (Oct 27, 2016)

Battlebots, Fight Night
Why you not show in guide as such?


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

mattack said:


> That means you DO care about the backstories.


meant to write COULDN'T. I'm usually careful about that. Happens when I type fast and don't pay attention


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Season 4 Episode 1 was great. The guy who built Tombstone is a jerk, but he seems to enjoy being the villain. I love the new 3 player battles (1 vs 1 vs 1). There does seem to be a lot more action this year with less back story stuff. I watch it on Science so I am always behind. Love the concept of a full season of battles with playoffs.


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

nickels said:


> Love the concept of a full season of battles with playoffs.


I wonder how that's really going to work. Some of those bots really get destroyed out there. It would take a lot of work and money to get ready for a 2nd fight. In theory though, it sounds like a great idea.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Donbadabon said:


> In my guide (Xfinity), the new season tonight is showing as Season 1. I assumed because it is the first season on the Discovery Network. But who knows.


OK, just because this is a Tivo group, I know many people don't actually have Tivos (anymore?).

So I'm not sure if you just are mentioning you have Comcast/Xfinity, or if you mean the guide data on a non-Tivo DVR. I too noticed the "season 1" thing. But I've noticed lots of things like this since the switchover to their guide data... I'm pretty sure many of these are compared with the 'old' guide data, but I think I see the SAME episode of a show sometimes show up with different season/episode #s on different airings.
(That's because I record a lot of things, like PBS shows, that air over and over -- and I do record repeats, and sometimes have accidentally downloaded the same one multiple times, or when I'm searching to see if I have that ep already, I see it has a different episode # -- since I have kmttg name the download with the episode # in the filename.)

So that's a tangent, but it makes confirming you have all episodes sometimes a bit difficult. (I think the show about Tesla is another one that skips episode #s in the middle, but based on original air dates, I think I actually have them all.)


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

It seems there are almost no smaller side bots this year, just one main bot. The one team The Four Horsemen was a group of smaller bots, and we've only seen them in group battle so far and they look easy to beat. Why aren't the new bots made specifically to defend and defeat Tombstone? Like come on already. If you can beat him you are most likely going to win. How many of these dopes continue to design bots that are useless when flipped over, or have tiny tires which are unprotected? The cannon is a cool idea (I thought projectile weapons were illegal) until we learn it shoots once and then it is done. Yeah, good luck with that. I will put my money on Bite Force vs Tombstone to determine this year's champion.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

nickels said:


> It seems there are almost no smaller side bots this year, just one main bot. The one team The Four Horsemen was a group of smaller bots, and we've only seen them in group battle so far and they look easy to beat. Why aren't the new bots made specifically to defend and defeat Tombstone? Like come on already. If you can beat him you are most likely going to win. How many of these dopes continue to design bots that are useless when flipped over, or have tiny tires which are unprotected? The cannon is a cool idea (I thought projectile weapons were illegal) until we learn it shoots once and then it is done. Yeah, good luck with that. I will put my money on Bite Force vs Tombstone to determine this year's champion.


I think the problem with minibots is that you end up wasting too much of your combined mass with providing batteries and motors for each of them.

Though against a bot like Tombstone minibots might work if the rules about grappling or entangling were different. If a minibot could managed to grab and immobilize Tombstone so the main bot could attack from the side or rear you to totally avoid its deadly spinner. But since you have to let go after 10 seconds you'd have to repeatedly catch and release, each time risking destruction of your grappler bot, just to try to get a free hit in - that's way harder than catch once and hammer into submission.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I think the idea of the Four Horsemen (Well, in this case the two and a half horsemen) could really work under the right circumstances. Against a bot with a monster front-only facing weapon, the ability to essentially mini-tombstone from both directions, could work. And the little mini-wedge, kinda worked surprisingly well. 

Every other multi-bot team we've seen so far (in prior seasons), was pretty (entertainingly) comically pathetic, and I think that's the main reason we've not seen them again this year. They just get smashed to pieces unless they're built like little solid bricks.

As to designing a bot specifically to beat Tombstone, it's been tried (and at times it has even worked). But your design also has to be flexible enough to beat bots of all other designs as well, and as time has shown, doing both at the same time, that's hard.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

I'm enjoying the new format with this production.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

This week and next I'm seeing no listing for Battlebots on Discovery Channel (usual Friday timeslot), My DVR did manage to pick up a repeat of last week's episode (or might have been 2 weeks ago, can't remember) on Science channel. Has it moved permanently to Science?


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Evidence suggests it's on two week break, coming back on August 4th for the "last half" of the season. I phrase it that way because it's really hard to find an actual schedule...


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## Zephyr (Sep 16, 2005)

Shark Ate Them....


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## KDeFlane (Jan 29, 2014)

End of last episode did say they were at the halfway point, but didn't mention the hiatus or when they'd return. I thought the parallel series on Science was extra stuff called "Mega Fights", not a simple reair of "Fight Night", but I don't get that channel so I could never tell just from the titles.


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> This week and next I'm seeing no listing for Battlebots on Discovery Channel (usual Friday timeslot), My DVR did manage to pick up a repeat of last week's episode (or might have been 2 weeks ago, can't remember) on Science channel. Has it moved permanently to Science?


My TV Guide lists this, for Friday Aug 3 at 8/7c DSC: "Battlebots midseason premiere"


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

dbranco said:


> My TV Guide lists this, for Friday Aug 3 at 8/7c DSC: "Battlebots midseason premiere"


Thanks, excellent. I was wondering if they cancelled it without crowning a champ


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## MarkofT (Jul 27, 2001)

From what I've seen, the Science channel are mostly repeats. They do toss in an extra fight or a 5-10 minute promo piece so it does run a bit longer then the Discovery shows.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

From what I've seen so far, Tombstone is going to have a cakewalk to the championship round. There may be one or two bots that could give it trouble, the rest have almost no chance to win. Ice Wave may be the only other serious contender, and Bronco if it gets really lucky. Honestly, I don't see Tombstone losing a single match.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nickels said:


> From what I've seen so far, Tombstone is going to have a cakewalk to the championship round. There may be one or two bots that could give it trouble, the rest have almost no chance to win. Ice Wave may be the only other serious contender, and Bronco if it gets really lucky. Honestly, I don't see Tombstone losing a single match.


Is Tombstone the one with the big flipper?


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> Is Tombstone the one with the big flipper?


No that's Bronco, Tomstone is the one with the spinning blade/hammer thing.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

vertigo235 said:


> No that's Bronco, Tomstone is the one with the spinning blade/hammer thing.


I can see Bronco beating Tombstone, but they'd have to extend their flipper so it's long enough to avoid the spinner. That flipper is awesome.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I can see Bronco beating Tombstone, but they'd have to extend their flipper so it's long enough to avoid the spinner. That flipper is awesome.


But extend the flipper and it's more likely to just bend rather than launch the opponent. Bronco might beat Tombstone if it get very lucky. Tombstone is usually very resilient, so tossing it around isn't likely to disabled it. But Bronco always has a chance to flip a bot clean out of the ring for an automatic KO. But Tombstone probably only needs to hit a couple times with it's spinner, so Bronco would have to nearly perfectly defend itself by timing flips before Tombstone can make contact. So you're talked about very very precise timing, while keeping the flipper towards Tombstone.

Possible, but I'd think Tombstone has a significant edge in that fight. It just needs to perform averagely to win while Bronco needs to be near perfect.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

I've always been a fan of Bronco/Toro for the unpredictability of the match, it's go big or go home kind of way to handle the match.

Tombstone, while it has a great weapon and it's hard to beat, is pretty boring and very predictable, usually the prediction is that it's going to destroy the other bot


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Tombstone and Bronco have fought before:





However, they are both much bigger and better than when they first met. I still give the edge to Tombstone, but Bronco has a great chance if they use the flipper at the perfect time.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tombstone is designed to work right side up or upside down. So how would Bronco flipping Tombstone be problematic?


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## John Gillespie (Oct 27, 2016)

DevdogAZ said:


> Tombstone is designed to work right side up or upside down. So how would Bronco flipping Tombstone be problematic?


What goes up must come down, but not necessarily on it's top or bottom and not on the battle floor. On it's side behind the barriers is a recipe for victory.


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## vertigo235 (Oct 27, 2000)

Could also damage the spinner


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

DevdogAZ said:


> Tombstone is designed to work right side up or upside down. So how would Bronco flipping Tombstone be problematic?


For a few reasons: It could get tossed clean out of the ring, no recovering from that even if you take no damage. If Tombstone lands blades first, that would cause lots of self damage and toss it again in a different direction quickly, possible damaging the bots internal parts. It could land on an awkward angle breaking or disabling its horizontal spinner. The spinner has so much power that if it hits a solid object like a wall or floor it could be in big trouble.


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

Tombstone actually took a gouge out of the arena floor earlier in the season. 

But yea, anything can happen when you land.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

The first desperado tournament is about to happen - this show is about to get into the serious playoffs rounds now. 








This first one seems pretty weak. None of these chump bots have a chance in the playoffs. I pick Valkyrie to win this scrub round.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

My OnePass for BattleBots isn't picking this up! The name of the show has changed to "BattleBots on Science". Yeah, even though it is airing on Discovery. So I created a new OnePass. Maybe I should just make a BattleBots all channel wishlist?

I hate when names of shows, episode naming, etc, change. I'm yelling at you Naked and Afraid and all your damn variants!


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

justen_m said:


> My OnePass for BattleBots isn't picking this up! The name of the show has changed to "BattleBots on Science". Yeah, even though it is airing on Discovery.


My preexisting "BattleBots on Science" OnePass didn't pick it up either. I had to create a new, second BattleBots on Science OnePass for just this one show. (It doesn't hit any others, including the normal episodes named "BattleBots on Science" on the Science channel.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I jus t skipped forward in the guide to Fri 8/10. It is back to being named Battlebots, yet my original Battlebots OP isn't picking it up.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

I'd given up a while back, after the last time they screwed up the guide data, and just made a keyword wishlist for Battlebots; limited to new-only. Thankfully that's picking up tonight's episode.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

This is how pathetic that tournament was, Lockjaw won it. That bot is a chump that has less than a zero percent chance of winning. Insult to injury, that team gets a trophy for being the best of the worst. Anyone know if Faruq Tauheed is personally responsible for the cheesy pun filled intros? As bad as they are, they are starting to grow on me. The one show intro with him saying stuff like "It's peanut buttery and jelly sandwich eating time!" was pretty funny.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

nickels said:


> This is how pathetic that tournament was, Lockjaw won it. That bot is a chump that has less than a zero percent chance of winning. Insult to injury, that team gets a trophy for being the best of the worst. Anyone know if Faruq Tauheed is personally responsible for the cheesy pun filled intros? As bad as they are, they are starting to grow on me. The one show intro with him saying stuff like "It's peanut buttery and jelly sandwich eating time!" was pretty funny.


I do kind of wonder if that giant nut is threaded to screw into any of the giant nuts Lockjaw's designer/driver Donald Hudson has from winning previous years of Battlebots.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Jonathan_S said:


> I do kind of wonder if that giant nut is threaded to screw into any of the giant nuts Lockjaw's designer/driver Donald Hudson has from winning previous years of Battlebots.


Wait what? As far as I can tell from my few years of watching I've only ever seen two champions: Tombstone and Bite Force. I had no idea there were earlier shows. Time to fire up the Firestick and attempt watch some early episodes. I think I've said before how confusing this show is with the moving around and rebroadcasting old shows.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

nickels said:


> Wait what? As far as I can tell from my few years of watching I've only ever seen two champions: Tombstone and Bite Force. I had no idea there were earlier shows. Time to fire up the Firestick and attempt watch some early episodes. I think I've said before how confusing this show is with the moving around and rebroadcasting old shows.


I don't even think that all years of the competition were televised, but it started running on Comedy Central back in 2000!


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I like this show because of its content but also because it's an hour long show I can watch in 15 minutes and not miss anything important. I just ffwd past everything but the battles.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Duck came very close to beating Tombstone, making me think he may not have this tournament in the bag. If he can time it right, Bronco seems like a solid choice to win it this year. All I know is the last episode was fantastic and all the battles were entertaining.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

My favorite bot is Son Of Wyachi. All kinds of violent sh*t happens when it makes contact.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nickels said:


> Duck came very close to beating Tombstone, making me think he may not have this tournament in the bag. If he can time it right, Bronco seems like a solid choice to win it this year. All I know is the last episode was fantastic and all the battles were entertaining.


I thought they gave Tombstone WAY too much time to get moving. At least from the editing, Tombstone seemed to be immobile for at least 20 seconds and then finally moved, while they started counting out Duck almost immediately after it stopped moving. I got the feeling they gave a well known owner the extra time. First time in all the years I've watched that I questioned anything around Battlebots.

I think if Bronco can flip Tombstone, it can easily disable it, assuming the officials don't give him like an hour to get restarted. That flipper is awesome.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I thought they gave Tombstone WAY too much time to get moving. At least from the editing, Tombstone seemed to be immobile for at least 20 seconds and then finally moved, while they started counting out Duck almost immediately after it stopped moving. I got the feeling they gave a well known owner the extra time. First time in all the years I've watched that I questioned anything around Battlebots.
> 
> I think if Bronco can flip Tombstone, it can easily disable it, assuming the officials don't give him like an hour to get restarted. That flipper is awesome.


Yeah, they did seem a bit slow to start that countdown. I'm impressed that Duck almost managed to win with his strategy of letting Tombstone break its fist on Duck's face.


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## type_g (Sep 9, 2002)

Wait did I miss a show? When was the last new episode? My DVR didn't record any UGH.


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## type_g (Sep 9, 2002)

Doh just checked, I did miss one dang it. gonna have to go find it now.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

type_g said:


> Doh just checked, I did miss one dang it. gonna have to go find it now.


I think Discovery Science (or whatever it's called now) repeats them the following Thursday, at least my DVR picks it up every week.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I wish they would stop cutting to the announcers' shocked reactions immediately after a big hit instead of remaining on the aftermath of the big hit. I don't need to see their "Can you believe that?" faces to know something dramatic just happened. Also, stop with the close ups of the robot operators' faces during the match. The camera should never be focused on these people unless their bot is in danger of or in the process of being counted out.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

cheesesteak said:


> I wish they would stop cutting to the announcers' shocked reactions immediately after a big hit instead of remaining on the aftermath of the big hit. I don't need to see their "Can you believe that?" faces to know something dramatic just happened. Also, stop with the close ups of the robot operators' faces during the match. The camera should never be focused on these people unless their bot is in danger of or in the process of being counted out.


Except that it's not being broadcast live. They are recording footage from all the camera angles and can then edit in those reaction shots without missing a second of the action on the floor.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Live or not, I don't like those reaction shots. They're distracting. If I'm watching a boxing match or a basketball game, I don't need or want shots of the announcers' "Did you see that?" faces right after something dramatic happened. Save it for the post-battle recap.


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I thought they gave Tombstone WAY too much time to get moving. At least from the editing, Tombstone seemed to be immobile for at least 20 seconds and then finally moved, while they started counting out Duck almost immediately after it stopped moving. I got the feeling they gave a well known owner the extra time. First time in all the years I've watched that I questioned anything around Battlebots.
> 
> I think if Bronco can flip Tombstone, it can easily disable it, assuming the officials don't give him like an hour to get restarted. That flipper is awesome.


Both drivers for Duck and Tombstone have posted on reddit that the countdown was fair and we did not see the real time countdown due to editing. Tombstone blade vibration was causing the RF radio to short out (a wire's insulation had worn thin) when the blade was at speed. Tombstone had to reboot radio and keep the blade still to show movement in wheels. Once he did that you see that he then spun up the blade to show his primary weapon was still operational too at the very end.

The countdown works like this, 20 seconds, in first 10 seconds is the referee determines the bot is immobile, that is when you here the callout, (I need to see movement), and then the 10 seconds start.


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## type_g (Sep 9, 2002)

Wow good info thanks.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

xuxa said:


> Both drivers for Duck and Tombstone have posted on reddit that the countdown was fair and we did not see the real time countdown due to editing. Tombstone blade vibration was causing the RF radio to short out (a wire's insulation had worn thin) when the blade was at speed. Tombstone had to reboot radio and keep the blade still to show movement in wheels. Once he did that you see that he then spun up the blade to show his primary weapon was still operational too at the very end.
> 
> The countdown works like this, 20 seconds, in first 10 seconds is the referee determines the bot is immobile, that is when you here the callout, (I need to see movement), and then the 10 seconds start.


Then that was just terrible editing. They showed an immobile Tombstone trying to get their bot moving, for at least 10 seconds before the countdown began, but it showed Duck being counted out as soon as it became immobile. I'm sure what you were saying is correct (but then again, I trust very little if anything said on Reddit), but it felt like they gave Tombstone much more time.


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Regards to editing they are making a tv show and it needs to be dramatic, and that editing made it dramatic. The reddit info came from Ray Billings (tombstones driver) post about the fight, can't get more direct than that.

Here is the official rules for the countdown process



> 7.5.3 Single Incapacitation KnockOut During a Match, a Robot or MultiBot segment must at any time be able to demonstrate that it is Responsive. This is confirmed as follows:
> a. At any time and for any reason, a Referee can request that a Team's Operators show that their Robot or MultiBot segment is Responsive.
> b. After the request, the Referee will allow approximately 20 seconds (the final 10 seconds of which will be verbally counted down) for the Operators to demonstrate that the Robot or MultiBot segment can exhibit controlled translational movement.
> c. If the Robot or MultiBot segment cannot demonstrate that it is Responsive before the end of the countdown, it will be declared Incapacitated.
> ...


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Put me in the camp that thought the (poor) editing made it look like the refs cheated Duck.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

What was the title of the last Episode, "USA's worst builders VS The World"?
Seriously, we won without Tombstone or Bronco fighting. What a waste of an episode.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

I do wonder if the matches were aired in the order actually fought.

Imagine if one side had started out 3-0 and clenched best out of 5; that'd make for bad TV because they're not going to skip holding and airing the last couple fights - they need them for time - but showing them after the event has already be decided is pretty anticlimactic. So if at all possible (so unless one side went up at least 4-0) I assume they'd want to make the final match televised decide the series for the home viewing audience. 
So did they have to fudge the order or did it happen to break naturally into the back and forth scoring contest that we saw?


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

I rewatched Duck vs Tombstone. Tombstone is not moving for that long, and he quickly recovers. Duck is totally incapacitated by the floor saws at the end of the fight. I don't think the judges gave Ray any extra time for Tombstone to get moving. The outcome was correct. Tombstone isn't unstoppable is the main thing I took from the fight. Duck is only really built to beat opponents with horizontal spinners.


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)




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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Jonathan_S said:


> I do wonder if the matches were aired in the order actually fought.
> 
> Imagine if one side had started out 3-0 and clenched best out of 5; that'd make for bad TV because they're not going to skip holding and airing the last couple fights - they need them for time - but showing them after the event has already be decided is pretty anticlimactic. So if at all possible (so unless one side went up at least 4-0) I assume they'd want to make the final match televised decide the series for the home viewing audience.
> So did they have to fudge the order or did it happen to break naturally into the back and forth scoring contest that we saw?


There were other matches that weren't show and overall the World won


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

I had no idea Subzero was out of Malvern, PA - now I have a local guy to support. Too bad he is going to get beaten by Minotaur in this fight. Anyone know how much these bots cost to build? I am guessing just the blade for Tombstone is a few thousand on its own. I just found Ray's AMA on Reddit and he said "A decent heavyweight is around 10 grand" - holy crap!


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Some bot owners have said upwards in the $20-30K, factoring in backup parts etc but not including time


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

xuxa said:


> There were other matches that weren't show and overall the World won


Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Apparently Faruq is a Philly guy! As if I couldn't love his bad pun making ass anymore and then this comes out:
'BattleBots' host is a Philly guy who dreams of introducing the Eagles, just once | We the People

I'm behind on the show so that is all for now


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Well, the giant nut is now totally up for grabs. I am still in shock over the latest episode. SHOCKED!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nickels said:


> Well, the giant nut is now totally up for grabs. I am still in shock over the latest episode. SHOCKED!


I think Bronco wins this, and I thought that all along. That was great, And great to see the smugness wiped off the face of the owner of Biteforce.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

nickels said:


> Well, the giant nut is now totally up for grabs. I am still in shock over the latest episode. SHOCKED!


Amazing how shockingly different Bombshell's two fights went.  Wonder if they had undetected / unrepaired damage from Tombstone going into that second fight.

But they skipped an entire fight! I had to rewind when I realized that what I thought was recap of some regular season recap footage of Son of Whyachi and Lock-Jaw was actually all they were going to show of their elimination bought.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Jonathan_S said:


> Amazing how shockingly different Bombshell's two fights went. Wonder if they had undetected / unrepaired damage from Tombstone going into that second fight.
> 
> But they skipped an entire fight! I had to rewind when I realized that what I thought was recap of some regular season recap footage of Son of Whyachi and Lock-Jaw was actually all they were going to show of their elimination bought.


Do they have the entire fights online somewhere? I didn't like that they skipped the entire fight and just showed the highlights. It sounds like they will play this out over three weeks and be done. Why not show 5 fights each like they've been doing?


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I suspect we'll find the missing fight in the Wednesday rerun on the Science channel.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> I suspect we'll find the missing fight in the Wednesday rerun on the Science channel.


Are the Wednesday shows different from the previous Friday show? i assumed they were the same.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> Are the Wednesday shows different from the previous Friday show? i assumed they were the same.


They often have a science channel exclusive bonus fight in them, usually a not very exciting one. Two low ranked bots noone has heard of roll up to each other and one falls over. Or a high end bot vs an unknown bot, and the unknown doesn't last 3 seconds, but in an unexciting way.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> They often have a science channel exclusive bonus fight in them, usually a not very exciting one. Two low ranked bots noone has heard of roll up to each other and one falls over. Or a high end bot vs an unknown bot, and the unknown doesn't last 3 seconds, but in an unexciting way.


Thanks. My DVR picks up both the Wed and Fri viewings, so I'll take a look at the Wed this week to see if they show it.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

It must mean that we are going to get the same thing this week. A few main bouts, a few cut down, all leading up to us only having three fights remaining in the finals. So, they will once again add in some nonsense battles to fill the gap. Only two episodes left... Go Bronco (or Ice Wave)!!! 

Good news - they have already confirmed Battlebots is coming back next season. One of the first fights will be Duck vs Tombstone. They are also thinking about changing the rumble rules due to the backlash of Duck losing to a bot that was dead for most of the fight.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Jonathan_S said:


> I had to rewind when I realized that what I thought was recap of some regular season recap footage of Son of Whyachi and Lock-Jaw was actually all they were going to show of their elimination bought.


Battlebots on Twitter:


> The FULL unedited Son of Whyachi vs Lock-Jaw fight will be on @ScienceChannel this Wednesday - 9pm ET


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

nickels said:


> Good news - they have already confirmed Battlebots is coming back next season. One of the first fights will be Duck vs Tombstone. They are also thinking about changing the rumble rules due to the backlash of Duck losing to a bot that was dead for most of the fight.


I've often through that a lot of the controversial decisions could be avoided if they just added another minute to the fight - let whatever is happening play out. Maybe that would just cause another set of problems, but the number of cases where a bot was disabled at the 2:50 mark, was clearly dead, but wasn't counted out - and then won the match on a ruling, annoys me.

* I like Duck. I feel bad for the way the Duck fight played out. But if Duck was truly dead, then that's that...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> I've often through that a lot of the controversial decisions could be avoided if they just added another minute to the fight - let whatever is happening play out. Maybe that would just cause another set of problems, but the number of cases where a bot was disabled at the 2:50 mark, was clearly dead, but wasn't counted out - and then won the match on a ruling, annoys me.
> 
> * I like Duck. I feel bad for the way the Duck fight played out. But if Duck was truly dead, then that's that...


Boxing works the same way, you can be saved by the bell. You could alleviate that if you start your count out no matter how late in the round it is. If there's 2:53 and the count out has started, then they get to finish the count out unless the bot becomes mobile


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Good post from Ray about the damage Tombstone took over the course of the season, plus a spoiler for the finale.



Spoiler: Ray's post



Ok, my personal life has been sort of busy with frankly more important things than robots (son recently got married) but it's time now to discuss the 'de-chaining'  It's been a few days, so I don't consider this a spoiler anymore.

In Tombstone's first match this season against Minotaur, we took significant damage to the frame. Honestly, much of this is my fault, since I did not build a new frame for season 3 and just used the same setup from season 2. I mean, it was undamaged, everything worked, and it was the champ! Why fix it?

Well there is only so much stress a frame can take, and it became apparent very quickly that I should have done something different. In the match against Minotaur, we had multiple sections of the frame separate, and those that did not actually break got bent. The only part of the frame that kept the front of the robot attached to the back was the plate that the weapon motor was attached to. This fact became significant later on.

All of the damaged sections that were visible were repaired after this match. Many hours spent in the welding area (Thanks Lincoln Electric!) got the frame back together. But to be honest, even with the herculean effort by my teammates Rick and Amy, the frame was never really quite the same after this first match.

So, on to the Gigabyte match. With all of the welding and repairs the frame gained a bit of weight, so we had to shave some weight off of the bar I planned on using against Gigabyte (thanks Tormach!) but we were able to get it all working again. But the overall geometry of the robot was slightly different now, requiring some last minute changes. The weapon bar was actually hitting the floor when spun up (I had to say sorry about your floor once again in the test box) so we had to do a bit more tweaking before this match. Now it may not look like there was any damage to me in this match, but the hits are starting to add up now. The plates top and bottom that the weapon is mounted to are starting warp. We do the best we can with this, and get ready for Whiplash.

In the Whiplash fight I used the titanium bar. This is basically the same physical specs as the aluminum one, but with significantly more weight. Which means it hits a lot harder - ask Whiplash  This also means that I have to take a bit more stress back into my frame. The warpage on those plates is really starting to add up. After this match we ended up actually cutting those plates out of the frame, doing our best to heat and straighten, and finally just grinding some material away after welding back in to make it all go back together.

Understand through all of this, the frame is getting shorter and shorter due to the stresses of the hits. Between the damage and the shortening, my chain is getting sloppier and sloppier, and I am using larger and larger tensioners to take up the slack. So now, off to face Duck!

Duck! was just and incredibly tough bot, that I had to wail on for a while. In the process of the Duck! fight, the tubing in the frame that the weapon motor is mounted gave way - probably a final bit of breakage from the Minotaur fight. The weapon motor moved forward in the frame, bending all the internal supports for batteries, electronics, all the stuff you can't see. And of course the plates in the nose are now really starting to get mangled - which is why the bar looks to be spinning off at an angle during this fight. **** is just getting bent way out of shape.

Trying to get this robot ready for the round of 16 was just a real pain. By the time we got the weapon motor plate back into a spot that could work, we could see that realistically the frame was pretty much toast. And we really didn't have enough time to just build from scratch, something I would have preferred to do, before going into the round of 16. So we cut, welded, grinded, cussed, and did the best we could to get a competitive machine back together. When it was all done, I actually felt pretty good about it, but the biggest issue was things were just no longer in the same spot any more. There was more slop in the chain setup than could be accounted for with a tensioner. And so the decision was made to put in a half link to shorten the chain.

Well we all know now how that worked out. The half link is weaker than the regular chain, and during the match again Bombshell the half link sheared, causing the chain to come off. And getting high centered on your own chain was probably the least expected way to lose a match! But I have to give the Bombshell team total credit for the win. Everybody at that point (including them) was a rolling wounded, so getting the bot back in shape to go forward is part of the game. They did all the right things they needed to in order to beat me, and they managed to hold together longer than I did and get the victory. All I can say to them is congratulations, and of course I'll get them next time!

And for all the arm chair quarterbacks out there, no they didn't cheat in the rumble, yes they deserved to be there, no the chain isn't going to be changed for next time, and yes I am truly happy for them to have won.

Oh, for any of you that may be sad that Tombstone is out of the tournament at this point, you may get to see me fight again on the final episode, and it may be a *really* good match.

Maybe


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

The missing SOW vs LockJaw fight was indeed aired tonight on Science.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> The missing SOW vs LockJaw fight was indeed aired tonight on Science.


Was that the only new thing showed? Can you tell me about where in the show it was aired?


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> Was that the only new thing showed? Can you tell me about where in the show it was aired?


Don't know if there was any other new material because I just fast forwarded until I found that one fight. It must have been a bit over halfway through?

Anyway it's the same spot in the show where the Friday airing put in the recap, but this time it was the full introduction and fight. (And the fight looked more eventful than the recaps had made it seem).


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

I swear Lockjaw is blessed. That bot stinks and should have been out of this contest forever ago. Looking forward to tonight's playoff round.










I would love to see Icewave and Bronco make it to the top of the bracket, and the winner fights Minotaur in the finale.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

How has nobody commented on these fights yet? This season has been totally awesome! Huge almost pilled off the upset before crumbling. Icewave got decapitated. Bronco barely got in a hit and was totally out driven. Looks to me like Bite Force is the top dog of the remaining bots.

Now on to the problem. This year had so many battles that we are at a point where they are all fighting wounded. It has become more about which team can quickly (and cheaply) fix their bot better than which bot is the best. It seems like there should be more money and time invested if this is the format they are going to use in the future. They used to fight a total of 2-3 times a season, now they are having 5 or 6 fights which is causing so many contenders to lose in the playoffs. It is better to get tossed out of the ring by Bronco and lose than to go toe to toe with Tombstone and win. At least in the next fight the bot that got tossed is at close to 100%, while the other bot that won would be closer to 40%. In a perfect world they would fully rebuild the bots for each match so they are always closer to 100% at the start of each battle. I know it isn't possible but I bet there will be many redesigned bots next year that put focus more on durability over destructive power.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nickels said:


> How has nobody commented on these fights yet? This season has been totally awesome! Huge almost pilled off the upset before crumbling. Icewave got decapitated. Bronco barely got in a hit and was totally out driven. Looks to me like Bite Force is the top dog of the remaining bots.
> 
> Now on to the problem. This year had so many battles that we are at a point where they are all fighting wounded. It has become more about which team can quickly (and cheaply) fix their bot better than which bot is the best. It seems like there should be more money and time invested if this is the format they are going to use in the future. They used to fight a total of 2-3 times a season, now they are having 5 or 6 fights which is causing so many contenders to lose in the playoffs. It is better to get tossed out of the ring by Bronco and lose than to go toe to toe with Tombstone and win. At least in the next fight the bot that got tossed is at close to 100%, while the other bot that won would be closer to 40%. In a perfect world they would fully rebuild the bots for each match so they are always closer to 100% at the start of each battle. I know it isn't possible but I bet there will be many redesigned bots next year that put focus more on durability over destructive power.


My question is this. In the past all we saw was the tournament if I recall. top 16. But, did they have a round robin before they showed us the rest? I don't know. This year, we got to see all the play in action, but maybe they always have that, they just don't show it.

With that said, I thought Bronco was a gimme for the finals, but again, the favorite goes out. This has been fun and very unpredictable, which is what we all love in sports. Looking forward to the semis and finals.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

How much time between a bot's matches during the regular season and in the playoffs?

I felt bad for Huge. It was sad seeing its two halves spinning around like a dead animal that doesn't know it's dead yet.

My money's on Minotaur.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

The best I could find:


> The 2018 season of Battlebots is filmed in Long Beach, CA over the course of two weeks from Apr 3 - April 15 2018.


Two-weeks for the entire season. That means that they had a couple of days at best between fights.

*Let's focus on Lock-jaw this season:*
Bombshell vs. Lock-Jaw (W) 1-0
End Game vs. Lock-Jaw (L) 1-1
Bronco vs. Lock-Jaw (L) 1-2

*Desperado Tournament*
Lock-Jaw vs. Kraken (W) 2-2
Lock-Jaw vs. Valkyrie (W) 3-2
Lock-Jaw vs. Lucky (W) 4-2

6 Fights going into the Playoffs

*Playoffs*
Lock-Jaw vs Son of Whyachi (W) 5-2
Lock-Jaw vs Bombshell (W) 6-2
Lock-jaw vs Minotaur ???
If he wins Lock-Jaw in the finals would be his 10th match in two weeks. There is almost no chance he can win that many fights in one season.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Great season! I thought the winner was well deserved. At this point BiteForce has a better lifetime record than Tombstone. Already looking forward to next season.

*Some news:*
Starting next Friday we will release the BattleBots Basement Tapes: All the unseen fights from the 2018 season! These will be exclusive to our YouTube channel so subscribe now: http://YouTube.com/BattleBots


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

nickels said:


> The best I could find:
> 
> Two-weeks for the entire season. That means that they had a couple of days at best between fights.
> 
> ...


I assumed it was recorded at the Staples Center since they have a fly over of the Staples Center during the opening credits. Has it always been in Long Beach? I kinda sorta remember it being in the Bay area back in the Comedy Central days (which sort of seems like a natural place for it, considering it's one of the cradles for anything techie.)


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

That was a fun season. Battlebots was one of the very first programs I recorded with my TiVo all those years ago.


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> I assumed it was recorded at the Staples Center since they have a fly over of the Staples Center during the opening credits. Has it always been in Long Beach? I kinda sorta remember it being in the Bay area back in the Comedy Central days (which sort of seems like a natural place for it, considering it's one of the cradles for anything techie.)


That is why they include that shot of Staples Center to look like they film there, but they actually filmed in Long Beach this year at Boeing Building 52 Google Maps 

Plus the founder of Battlebots' dad owns the Staples Center.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

xuxa said:


> That is why they include that shot of Staples Center to look like they film there, but they actually filmed in Long Beach this year at Boeing Building 52 Google Maps
> 
> *Plus the founder of Battlebots' dad owns the Staples Center.*


You'd think he'd get a deal or something


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

Most likely it's a scheduling conflict - they wanted to use Staples center, but it was already booked for something else so they had to use an alternate venue.

Usually it's the TV crew that dictates the film schedule so perhaps it just didn't work out this time


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## xuxa (Oct 8, 2001)

Worf said:


> Most likely it's a scheduling conflict - they wanted to use Staples center, but it was already booked for something else so they had to use an alternate venue.
> 
> Usually it's the TV crew that dictates the film schedule so perhaps it just didn't work out this time


Budget dictates the film schedule and location and they have no where near the budget and or even need to rent out the Staples center for a few weeks when a regular warehouse fits the bill perfectly. Especially when they can just show it in the intro and the majority of viewers will think it is there anyway.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

xuxa said:


> Budget dictates the film schedule and location and they have no where near the budget and or even need to rent out the Staples center for a few weeks when a regular warehouse fits the bill perfectly. Especially when they can just show it in the intro and the majority of viewers will think it is there anyway.


Exactly. Renting out the entire Staples Center for the time necessary to hold this event would be ridiculously expensive, and they don't have nearly enough spectators to justify needing a venue of that size.


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