New season of battle bots started today

[martix_agent]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DcVmWllZYY
That hit really did some nasty damage.

[Trbo323]

i would like know how huge is 4 and 0 and got top 6 place. should been in top 3 since only 3 bots who where 4 and 0

Strength of schedule

HUGE vs Shatter HUGE by KO 2m
Blip vs HUGE HUGE by JD
HUGE vs Fusion HUGE by KO 44s
Starchild vs HUGE HUGE by JD

Shatter has never been strong
Blip is decent but really not set up to be able to do much to huge
Fusion catches on fire if you look at it
Starchild is a untested rookie

What I don't understand is riptide as the 2 seed instead of #1

Riptide vs Glitch Riptide by KO 47s
MaDCaTter vs Riptide Riptide by KO 1m1s
Riptide vs Captain Shrederator Riptide by KO 1m9s
Black Dragon vs Riptide Riptide by KO 1m1s

They haven't even been fighting for 4 minutes this season and remember those times include the 10 second count out plus whatever time the ref needs to come to the conclusion that they should count out

Glitch has been reasonably strong
MaDCaTter has been a real contender the last few years and is having one of their best seasons ever this year
Captain shred while never having the best offense doesn't get knocked out often and riptide damaged it more than anyone ever has to the point that the team basically threw that particular chassis away
Black dragon had NEVER been KOed and much less been in trouble 1 minute into a match

Meanwhile

Tantrum vs Minotaur Minotaur by KO 1m20s
Free Shipping vs Minotaur Minotaur by KO 2m1s
Minotaur vs Cobalt Minotaur by KO 2m54s
Minotaur vs Witch Doctor Minotaur by JD

Tantrum while the defending champs has been having a terrible year and I think got the giant nut with a fair amount of luck in the first place

Free shipping has never been a strong opponent

Cobalt is a solid win for sure

Witch doctor had to go to judges and frankly I would have given that fight to witch doctor as minotaur lost half it's drive, suffered a really big hit and everything else was pretty equal


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[Trbo323]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DcVmWllZYY
That hit really did some nasty damage.

Did you see the shot in the pits? They didn't get the best camera angles on it but you could see that tank was just ribbons. I'm sure that concussion in the arena was wild

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[BretG]

I like Battle Bots and now that the round of 32 is starting, I hope to see Riptide and Hydra destroyed. I like Pizzaroni, but this may be the year for Minotaur.

[chrislognshot]

huge just prove it should been number one on list of bots

[cfos00]

T2 of Boston Paintball has done BattleBots the last couple of years, and is a good buddy of mine. His team this year had two robots in it, Ripperoni and the Aliens-themed gigantic robot. He actually does all of the merch and marketing for them, so things like the pizza boxes were his work. And he does a work on the builds themselves. Those two robots were part of their team, which was a combination of people from 3 teams from last year. They were pumped about how well Ripperoni did. The other robot got matched up against bad styles for it, and it's design was way out there...kind of an experimental bot. It sounded like that one won't be repeated next year. Also, first time that they drove that robot fully assembled was at battlebots. They had prototypes built prior, but it got its first runs there.

As for seeding and stuff, make no mistake, the producers play favorites and don't believe everything you see. He had one win last year by knockout that was somehow a decision on the show (robot last year was a wedge called P1). They change some stuff to build suspense---not fight outcomes as in who won, but other stuff for sure. Tombstone last year was also ranked and put into the tourney even though it lost 2 of the 3 qualifying matches in the prelims. They will definitely play favorites in that part of the process. It's not like they stage fights, but some robots are given preferential treatment if they are known.

The funny thing is that the producers initially rejected Ripperoni. The team made a smaller version of it and ran it in some leagues in the Northeast---and it was BY FAR the most popular robot in terms of social media engagement and generated the most buzz, and they were able to sell merch with it. They showed the producers the numbers, and changed their mind. Just crazy bc Battlebots not only approved it, but then did a bunch of hype pieces and small segments on the driver and robot after the initial NO bc they thought it was too cheesy.

[rawbutter]

My wife and I have been watching Battlebots for about 5 years now, and this was by far the best season. Well, there were some disappointing episodes, perhaps, but the tournament was fantastic. Last year's tournament was a little underwhelming because it felt like some bots just got lucky. I felt like Tantrum winning was a total fluke (right place, right time), and their poor showing this year only reinforces that belief. But this year every match just felt great. The fights were relatively balanced, no shenanigans, and the winning team really deserved to win. Heck, the runner's up deserved to win too.

My wife and I both jumped up from the couch cheering when you-know-who's eggbeater broke. That was karma at its best. I'm sure some of the drama around that team this season was manufactured by the showrunners, but it was cathartic nonetheless.

[Grendel]

Yup my wife and I were rooting for anyone but the hubris team

[Trbo323]

. They were pumped about how well Ripperoni did. The other robot got matched up against bad styles for it, and it's design was way out there...kind of an experimental bot.

Was that starchild? Riperoni did awesome, that fight against endgame was a legit win for sure. Very fun team to watch, I loved how they changed the delivery name on the side of the bot for each fight and how it was always marked pepperoni and pain

Also, first time that they drove that robot fully assembled was at battlebots. They had prototypes built prior, but it got its first runs there.

Honestly it kind of felt that way so I'm not surprised to hear that

As for seeding and stuff, make no mistake, the producers play favorites and don't believe everything you see. He had one win last year by knockout that was somehow a decision on the show (robot last year was a wedge called P1). They change some stuff to build suspense---not fight outcomes as in who won, but other stuff for sure. Tombstone last year was also ranked and put into the tourney even though it lost 2 of the 3 qualifying matches in the prelims. They will definitely play favorites in that part of the process. It's not like they stage fights, but some robots are given preferential treatment if they are known.

Honestly I'm not surprised and I even agree with this to an extent. If witch doctor went 1 and 3 in the prelims and you have 6 other bots that went 1 and 3 but only 2 tournament spots to fill, put witch doctor in. They are a fan favorite and their past record says they are typically better than a 1 and 3 team

What I don't agree with is choosing the #1 seed based on popularity. Like them or hate them, Riptide had one of the best preliminarily showings in history and minotaur was chosen over them

The funny thing is that the producers initially rejected Ripperoni. The team made a smaller version of it and ran it in some leagues in the Northeast---and it was BY FAR the most popular robot in terms of social media engagement and generated the most buzz, and they were able to sell merch with it. They showed the producers the numbers, and changed their mind. Just crazy bc Battlebots not only approved it, but then did a bunch of hype pieces and small segments on the driver and robot after the initial NO bc they thought it was too cheesy.

They were hyping all the same stuff about starchild as well. It had an amazing run as a smaller bot in the past, revolutionary design yadda yadda yadda. They scalled it up and it got it's ass handed to it. So it's kind of funny to me that both of those bots had a similar past but BB chose to focus on one and the other is the one that did well.



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[cfos00]

Yep, starchild, and they made it to fight against certain types of bots---none of which it got paired against. It was like they saw a big bot and just decided---let's pair it with big bots. That wasn't who they had in mind for it to fight, but who it got. The tires were a huge reason that they hadn't run it much prior, and they kind of showed why in the fights. The material that they were made of was expensive, and unfortunately, wildly inconsistent in how it performed. I think that they went in with 3 pairs of wheels, and none made it back home. They just got wrecked.

The focus that the team got likely came from the fact that it was a few teams that had performed so well the year before. The drivers for the two teams are actually a couple, and both are really good drivers. They also both had very different types of designs, and major departures from what the team had done before. And Ripperoni did WAY better than anyone, the team included, thought it would. They didn't think it was a bad robot by any means, but it didn't seem like T2 or the rest of the team expected THAT.

And it definitely isn't too uncommon for robots to get their first runs there---but normally they have done scaled down versions in other fighting leagues before. For example, I know that Pain Train was built in the two weeks prior to the taping---but the driver has fought smaller versions of the same robot a lot in the Northeast. The team itself really didn't seem to have a great idea on what would happen with it. And, based on from my conversations with T2, I could see the Ripperoni bot continuing and them completely scrapping Starchild for a new design.

Don't really mind the seeding, but it can be wildly unfair to unknown bots trying to get in. They might have better records and get tossed just because they aren't as well known, but how are you supposed to become unknown if you don't get the shot? And they definitely don't want certain types of bots to win---specifically wedges or bots without real weapons. They see them as boring---and I get that.

[Trbo323]

. I felt like Tantrum winning was a total fluke (right place, right time), and their poor showing this year only reinforces that belief.

I 100% agree with that. Tantrum was never the strongest design, hell their only real claim to fame before last season was the exhibition fight against tombstone were their fist got lodged in the support poll for the box.

,

the winning team really deserved to win. Heck, the runner's up deserved to win too.

Also agree, winning team and runners up are stand up teams and to me what really separates them is they are willing to improve their bots in the off season. Teams like captain Shrederator come back with the same bot year after year and somehow don't learn from the 1 and 3 seasons

wife and I both jumped up from the couch cheering when you-know-who's eggbeater broke. That was karma at its best. I'm sure some of the drama around that team this season was manufactured by the showrunners, but it was cathartic nonetheless.

Yeah I was kind of rooting for them and also if they were to fall I wanted to see the captain shred levels of destruction. I didn't really get either unfortunately.

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[rawbutter]

Also, first time that they drove that robot fully assembled was at battlebots. They had prototypes built prior, but it got its first runs there.

Honestly it kind of felt that way so I'm not surprised to hear that.

I think they mention every season that this is common for a lot of teams, not just the new ones. The robots can do an insane amount of damage, so most of the teams aren't willing to test them at 100% power in their own shop. It's just too dangerous if they don't have all the right safety equipment, especially the Plexiglas box. It's like testing a grenade.

Hydra is one of the few bots that can be tested at home. There's a video of it flipping an ATV. But that's relatively safe compared to something like Hypershock, which can turn scrap metal into shrapnel.

There's also that video of Deep Six. The first time they ever went up to full speed in the test box, the bot almost destroyed itself.

I thought there was another video of a different bot destroying a fridge, but all I could find was this funny video.