September 13, 2019, S4E14 "Live to Die Another Day" Recap and opinions:
Well the hyped up "The Selection committee does something unprecedented!" that the episode info gives is
just a bit overhyped, what it does bring is good news. Basically, due to the number of bots entered into the season/tournament and battle records, 8 bots/teams are selected as automatically qualified for the Round of 16, and the final 8 will be selected with another 17 bots battling it out. Yes I said 17, because one of the battles is a 3 bot Rumble. Anyways, lets get to the battles.
Spoiler: Valkyrie vs. Quantum
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Valkyrie: Horizontal spinning bar/disc
Quantum: Toothed Crusher
Both teams made weapon modifications for this fight, with Valkyrie being equipped with a lighter bar/disc dubbed "Sweet Carolina" for a faster spin-up due to expecting a box-rush and Quantum switching from its twin fangs to a single tooth to concentrate all its "bite" force into a single point.
The battle begins and soon after the first few initial taps the first moderately heavy impact and the rotational force of its own weapon causes Valkyrie to flip over. While this puts the disc now at the height of Quantum's weapon arm it does make Valkyrie harder to control. Soon after, Quantum moves in to try and attempt getting a bite into under-side armor of Valkyrie and instead gets an impromptu surgical dental extraction, with its single metal fang getting ripped off by Valkyries disc.
This however does little to faze Quantum, and instead begins operating as a "clamp/grab bot", gets hold of Valkyrie and takes it for a tour of the arena hazards. It ends with Quantum finally tossing Valkyrie up and into the screw hazard and in a fashion that causes Valkyrie's disc to get trapped and wedged in to prevent the screws from reversing direction. 10 seconds latter, Quantum makes a leap into the tournament while Valkyrie is sent back to Robot Valhalla to wait for the next season.
Winner by KO: Quantum
Spoiler: Yeti vs. DUCK!
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Yeti: Upward vertical spinning drum
DUCK!: Duckbill lifter, solid aluminum block armor and structure capable of withstanding hard impact forces, causing other bots to suffer the worst of their weapon-recoil
Yeti's operators know that DUCK!'s main advantage is its durability that tends to leave attacking bots limping from the impact force of their own weapons, and so opts for a more tactical approach of aiming for the softer exposed components of DUCK!. The battle goes for the full 3 minutes, with Yeti taking repeated jabs at DUCK's weapon arm and wheels, or pushing it around the arena. Largely though, the fight isn't too eventful and goes to Judges Decision. And its a pretty easy one as by Unanimous Decision due to Yeti controlling the flow of battle throughout the match. Thus the mythical creature gets to live on and fight in the Round of 16, while DUCK! migrates home for the off-season (and maybe improve its ability to push other bots or its weapon).
Winner by Judge's Decision: Yeti
Spoiler: Lock-Jaw vs. Skorpios
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Lock-Jaw: Vertical Spinner w/ Lifting Forks
Skorpios:Top Attack Saw/Spinner "stinger"
Billed as the battle between famous bot-builder Donald Hutson (Lock-Jaw) and long time fan Zachary Lytle (Skorpios). Lock-Jaw wastes no time getting stuck in, and begins racking up damaging hits on Skorpios, bending its front armor/scoop, and repeatedly being knocked on its back appears to have damaged Skorpios' weapon. Then Lock-Jaw repeatedly gets direct hits on Skorpios' wheels and begins shredding the tires, eventually tearing one off and leaving it with a damaged wheel rim. Just about mid-way through the match, Lock-Jaw begins showing signs of internal damage, and begins emitting some light smoke. Knowing he's going to be counted out soon due to only being able to "crab-walk" Skorpios, Lytle begins trying to encourage Hutson to keep attacking Skorpios, which Hutson obliges. Despite the occasional wisp of smoke emitting from it, Lock-Jaw maintains operation through the fight and with 30 seconds remaining in match, backs off and lets the 10 second knock-out countdown commence, sealing the battle.
Winner by KO: Lock-Jaw
Spoiler: Hypershock vs. HUGE
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Hypershock: Vertical Disc Spinner w/ Dual-Lawn Rake sub weapon
HUGE: Vertical Bar Spinner
To those unfamiliar with Battlebots, that is not a typo. The team that practically killed off the passing trend of helicopter drone mini-bots by using a lawn rake as a fly-swatter against Team Whyachi's previous version of Warrior Clan a few seasons ago decided to take another dip into the "stupid enough to work" pool of ideas. One quick trip to Big Box Tool And Home Improvement Store Chain latter, they brought back and installed two rakes to its self-righting mechanism to try and limit HUGE's ability to approach on its own terms. This is definitely going to be the fight between two quirky gimmicks, one armed with lawn-rakes, the other, a bot with silly large wheels.
At first, Hypershock's lawn rakes work and keep HUGE's bar out of range while Hypershock drives in and begins chipping away at the wheels. At one point, after sacrificing one of the rakes to absorb a hit from Huge's Spinning bar, the other is used to prevent it from spinning back up to speed again. But soon, disaster strikes for Hypershock, as the flimsy ad hoc installation of the add-on weapons comes back to bite it, when the second lawn rake is destroyed by HUGE, while also taking off a portion of Hypershock's top shell armor. A large piece of the lawn rake gets stuck between Hypershock's hull and weapon, jamming and disabling it.
HUGE goes on the counter attack, and while Hypershock is able to push HUGE around the arena, the previous damage it inflicted to HUGE's wheels causes them to bend and then let Hypershock slip underneath and right into HUGE's fully spun-up bar several times in a row. HUGE's attacks deal damage to several of Hypershock's tires, before completely destroying the right rear wheel. Almost right after that hit, the "magic smoke" is seen escaping from Hypershock and it fails to respond to control inputs, ending the fight.
Winner by KO: HUGE
Spoiler: 3-Way Rumble Match: Bloodsport vs. RailGun Max vs.Uppercut
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Bloodsport: low profile bot with top mounted horizontal bar spinner
RailGun Max: "Egg Beater" drum spinner (spinner weight concentrated to two striking bars), with Mini-bot (pushbot/ramp)
Uppercut: "Puncher"/asymmetrical-style vertical spinner.
Three youngblood teams all trying to get into Round of 16. And right from the start something goes wrong for RailGun, as it proceeds to run weapon first right into its own mini-bot, wrecking it for the remainder of the match. Uppercut proceeds to play a game of trying to avoid fighting until one of the other two teams are disabled, and gets it wish, as a weapon to weapon hit between Bloodsport and RailGun occurs, with RailGun living up to its name and launching Bloodsport upside down and skidding across the arena floor to bounce over the corner wall, before it comes to rest right next to the BattleBox entrance door, knocking it out.
Railgun's propensity to not be able to withstand its own hits strikes again and this one leaves its weapon disabled, and there's still another active bot in the arena. In comes Uppercut, and it begins taking chunks out of RailGun's hull and destroys the the right wheel, effectively immobilizing RailGun by limiting it to spinning in circles/crab-walking. The battle is called soon after.
Winner by Last Bot Standing/KO: Uppercut
Spoiler: Blacksmith. vs. Rotator
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Blacksmith: Hammer with built-in flamer
Rotator:Double Horizontal Disc-Spinner, mounted in Low-Front, High-Rear configuration
Team Rotator, not wanting to leave so much of their robot exposed to Blacksmith's Hammer, reverts back to its classic weapon set-up, even though they know it won't be able to use both weapons simultaneously at full power, but it comes with the added benefit that the "top" side disc will be perfectly level with the weapon-drive chain for Blacksmith. Sure enough, it proceeds to destroy the chain and damage the sprocket wheel on Blacksmith. This however, only serves to make Blacksmith's crew angry, who proceed to go all-out sumo/push-bot style, repeatedly ramming Rotator into arena hazards, dealing minor tire damage, internal motor-drive damage, and seemingly weakening Rotator's weapons. Its to the point that Blacksmith may win by Knockout, but rather than back off and let the Ref make a judgement of Rotator being effectively disabled, it continues its attack for the full three minutes, leaving it up to Judges Decision.
The winner by Unanimous Decision, Blacksmith
Spoiler: Copperhead vs. Son of Whyachi
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Copperhead: Vertical Drum Spinner
Son of Whyachi: Caged 3-arm Horizontal Spinner with hammerheads.
The latest version of Team Whyachi/Ewert Family's namesake robot has a chance of making it into the Round of 16, and perhaps the chance at a Whyachi Brawl between Luke Ewert controlling SoW and brother Jake Ewert on Hydra, the new King of the Flipper-bots after taking the crown from Bronco.
That said, everyone knows by now to dread the impact force of Whyachi's weapon, but that to defeat it you have to run directly at it, and hope it breaks itself apart from the impact and better yet, that the recoil sends it pin-balling into walls. Team Caustic Creations knows this especially after defeating SoW previously with their old 2016 precursor to Copperhead, Poison Arrow, and equips Copperhead the drum it hopes to be best suited for a weapon-on-weapon hit.
The fight begins in very cautious manner, with both robots operators attempting to maintain control of the center of the arena. The first two hits simply send both bots to opposite sides and corners, with the distance giving them time to avoid slamming hard into the wall. Then Copperhead gets a good hit in and sends SoW flying into the air, but SoW lands safely with minimal damage. But the hits are beginning to unbalance Copperhead, and the "Minotaur Effect" of gyroscopic force caused by its spinning Drum weapon becomes more pronounced, limiting Copperhead's ability to turn quickly without flipping it self over. The next Weapon-on-Weapon hit ends poorly for Copperhead, sending it flying hard into the screws, with sparks shooting out from its underside armor and damaging a wheel motor. Copperhead baits SoW into another weapon-on-weapon hit to avoid the K.O. countdown, but the hit causes Copperhead to go flying again, this time getting one of its lower "jaw" armor and drum caught on the outer arena edge and perched right over the gap between the battle area and safety Lexan of the Battlebox.
Winner by Knock-Out/Ring-Out: Son of Whyachi
Spoiler: Main Event: Cobalt vs. Minotaur
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Cobalt: Vertical Disc Spinner
Minotaur: Drum Spinner
Minotaur has been plagued throughout the season with weapon issues, with multiple failures to spin up, and concern over their heavier drum making the bot difficult to control. But with this being their last chance this season to get into Round of 16, Team Minotaur equips the heavier 2-1 Drum (2 short bars on one side, one long bar on the other). Cobalt on their end, decide to switch from the multi-tooth Sprocket/Buzz-saw style spinner, to an asymmetrical 1 tooth disc-spinner, and equip a wedge ramp on the front to hopefully feed Minotaur right into its weapon.
The first hit was huge, with both bots sent flying into opposite corners, Minotaur inverted, and the wedge ramp of Cobalt sent flying high with enough force to shatter yet another Battlebox light and bring parts of it crashing back down to the arena (add "armored lights" to the 2020 BattleBox build list). Minotaur used its drums own gyroscopic force to safely flip back over to its preferred orientation and hit Cobalt hard again, sending Cobalt flying about 10-15 ft up into the air, and barely avoiding a Ring-Out by landing on top of the arena edge. But Cobalt remained fully functional, while Minotaur's drum again broke down. But this led to a new problem: Cobalt's weapon is mounted too high to be able to score a decent strike on Minotaur, and Minotaur still has the power to push Cobalt around the arena, pinning Cobalt repeatedly against the sides, corners, and Kill Saws for the rest of the match.
Winner by Unanimous Judges Decision: Minotaur