Greetings. Last time we took a look at the first twenty hopefuls for this year’s BattleBots Giant Nut. Let’s take a look at another twenty, including the oldest robot in the field, my favorite-looking newcomer, and the robot I think is most likely to crash last year’s contenders’ party. I didn’t think all the embed photos would actually show up in the first one though, they were links to the site. We’ll see what happens there, shall we?

Escape Velocity: It’s a flipper-spinner multi-bot. Now, out of all the types of robots you can have flippers I can almost understand having a multibot because you don’t need all 250 lbs. of your robot to launch the opponent’s in the air. Bronco for instance has about three times the power of its superheavyweight brother Toro which could routinely flip 340-lb. robots several feet high. So if you scale Bronco’s power down by half it’s still much more than enough. My issue is the spinner portion which might not be strong enough to do damage, and I worry about the defense of both pieces (is that wood on the side of the flipper?). But they have sweet, sweet SpaceX technology because that’s where the builder works, so I guess anything is possible, right?

Gemini: Out in the qualifiers. Not to be confused with the British bot Gemini, which was two flippers. Unfortunately not as effective as I’d hoped. The spinner didn’t do great and both bots got hammered repeatedly by Blacksmith, only staying alive long enough to make it to a decision. They did almost steal the spot because after it caught fire Blacksmith started to get counted out before magically moving again at 5.

Ghost Raptor: Even though they’ve never won a title, Team Raptor has had a robot make the semis in every televised season of BattleBots. With Ghost Raptor, we still have no idea how that happened last year, considering the spinner blade broke in the qualifier against Complete Control (and it looks like a similar bar, come on Chuck Pitzer, you should know better than this). I honestly think Ghost Raptor should have come back this season as just a lifter, which worked against Warrior Clan and Icewave (okay, that was because of the controversial “De-Icing” tool too). Maybe give it a little more power and armor and then it becomes a dark horse contender since you can write Team Raptor into the semis. Fun fact I just learned writing this, it was Team Raptor’s Tripulta Raptor who got dressed up to play the robot in the Bud Light Mini Fridge commercial. (You’re welcome, Covalent.)

HellaChopper: At first glance it looks like a full-body spinner, but I think only the top bit spins. Call me intrigued, depends on how heavy the spinner is, but apparently the tips of the hammers can reach 650 mph. However I don’t think we’ll get to see it, I don’t think it passed the safety tests, or it did but had to make the hammers lighter and spin at a lower speed because it would be too much kinetic energy for the Box to take if something broke off, either from HellaChopper or from the opponent. I’m reading into it a little now on Reddit from the team itself (apparently the same team who made superheavyweight Atomic Wedgie), but apparently they’ll have to ramp down the power for next season. You read that correctly.

HyperShock: New chromey paint job! Minor stuff too, the front wedglets look a little different. It had the eventual champ, Bite Force, on the ropes in the round of 16. And then it broke down. If it works, it can make a run. If it doesn’t, it gets bounced in the first round.

Icewave: A contender for the Nut, Icewave was the second-most destructive robot last year, absolutely wrecking Razorback and Chomp before being thwarted by Ghost Raptor’s “ingenuity” in the quarters. On the other hand, it should have been counted out against Razorback as it caught fire and stopped moving while Razorback, though destroyed, was still trying to spin its wheels trapped on Icewave’s body and blade. For a spinning weapon it keeps itself very stable, and as long as it stays spinning not much can touch it without getting hit hard. The best way to take it down is to just bull-rush it before the gas-powered blade gets up to speed, but not a lot of robots can do that. The right matchups and Icewave could be spinning all the way to the Nut. Or it could catch fire again and explode. Hey, it could happen.

Invader: I did not expect this bot to lose in the qualifier. It’s a full-body spinner whose previous incarnation was Megabyte, known as the robot who retired long-time heavyweight legend (and the most decorated robot in BattleBots history) BioHazard. But the problem with big full-body spinners, and what did Invader in, is Newton’s Third Law—for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The energy can easily rebound, and Invader hit every wall in the arena like an air hockey puck and even though it was still spinning it couldn’t drive. You have to have drive, so it got counted out. (Then they had to wait for 45 minutes for it to stop spinning and be safe enough to remove.)

Lock-Jaw: Team Mutant Robots’s flagship robot, Diesector, is STILL the reigning superheavyweight champion of BattleBots (they haven’t run out superheavies since the last Comedy Central season in 2004). Even though Lock-Jaw’s basically Diesector minus the mallets, Lock-Jaw didn’t have the same success, losing in the round of 16 to the same robot it beat in the prelims. It looks like they shed the tail in the back which is a little surprising because it acted as a rear wedge, which isn’t what I would have changed, I would have maybe played with the front jaw’s length. But they are calling it a launcher instead of a grappler now. Did they ramp up the jaws’ power for when they release? That seems counterproductive.

Lucky: It’s a flipper and the team name is “Lucky Canucky.” And there’s a guy wearing overalls. I think that’s all I need to say actually. I’ll root for them but I don’t expect much.

Lycan: For all the hype it was getting in the qualifiers, it lost. Oh well. Jaws seemed a bit too high and too steep to get a good grip anyway, and the speed was nice but it kept running into the incapacitated Invader. Remember, you don’t get points for attacking a knocked out robot.

Mega Tento: Plan X didn’t work, so here’s a new version of Tentomushi, the little ladybug that sometimes could. Basically the toy shell clamps and there’s all sorts of things inside to do whatever (apparently a drum spinner). It was surprisingly effective! Until something eventually destroys the toy shell but that costs like 20 bucks.

Minotaur: A newcomer to BattleBots, but Team RioBotz’s 120-lb. and 220-lb. versions (Tauro and Tauro Maximus) are past champions of RoboGames, the other major fighting robot competition. All based on the same two-wheeled spinning drum design, Minotaur is a serious contender to take the Nut international for the first time (as the team name suggests, they’re from Brazil) as long as they avoid the major spinner killers (Bite Force and Stinger). Minotaur vs. any big spinner (especially the horizontal ones) will be a spectacular fight either way, and I have reasons to believe Minotaur comes out on top against most of them. 

Moebius: Another returning vet! Classic Moebius was a middleweight full-body spinner, and this one’s a larger version of the same concept. Maybe I would have kept it flush though, a sloping spinner seems silly because not as much gets to make contact. And the green and black robes are back! Maybe the coffin’ll come back too.

Mohawk: Mohawk was crap in Season 1 (basically went down in one hit to HyperShock), to the point where it was the only robot from last year to have to compete in the qualifier rumbles. And it won because Invader broke and Lycan attacked Invader until a drive chain fell off it and Mohawk went for the kill. It’s a good idea, a crusher with the fire coming out of the arm. If the crushing arm actually worked against things other than tires it would be a great weapon, but it did nothing against Lycan’s armor. If, say, the Robot Wars legend Razer had a flamethrower out of the tip, it would kick all the ass. But the difference is Razer’s beak actually pierced through armor. Mohawk hasn’t shown me that.

Nightmare: #NightmareOrNothing. Everyone’s favorite glass cannon, that big signature vertical disc is back, even though like last year it’s not the whole circle for weight reasons. The teeth are rectangular now (interesting choice), and the wheel guards are smaller. And green lights! Not sure why, but green light! Nightmare has competed in every BattleBots competition except for the untelevised 2009 tournament, where Team Nightmare competed with their other heavyweight Breaker Box. Hopefully the old vet can give us another moment like this.

Obwalden Overlord: Um, I have no idea what this is. Looks like a BattleBots mascot, or one of the Robot Wars House Robots’ cousins. I kinda want it to take on Tombstone in the prelims and watch the carnage ensue.

OverDrive: OverDrive looks drastically, drastically different than its Season 1 form. It’s gone from four wheels to two, from a lifter to a spinning vertical bar, a new paint job… I like it! I’m expecting OverDrive to still be speedy like last year and these tires look a little bit more sturdy too, and I’ve seen its new self-righting mechanism, which is basically “back up, brake on a dime, let bot tip itself over.” If you like good driving, you’ll like this team.

Overhaul: Teal paint job? Teal paint job. The bottom jaw looks a bit curved now too. The top jaw looks a little sleeker as well, and they probably tinkered with the jaw mechanism to have a little more power—they changed it in between the two fights with Lock-Jaw and the quicker trigger and greater force gave them a KO the second time around.

Photon Storm: Hey, it’s a baby Razer! Oh, it’s from Team Storm, who should have won Series 7 of Robot Wars but got absolutely gypped and the judges wrote them letters basically saying “We’re sorry the producers lied to us about your opponent’s damage, you guys should have won.” Photon Storm vs. BETA vs. Warhead rumble, DO IT DO IT NOW. Sorry, for those of you who don’t understand what I’m saying because I’m speaking a mile a minute, Photon Storm is a crusher from a British team with championship pedigree that doesn’t look quite as reptilian or sleek or stylish as the most famous British crusher and coolest-looking robot ever, the previously mentioned Razer (whose younger brother will be talked about in the final installment) but was absolutely inspired by it.

Poison Arrow: Invertible drum spinner, but it comes with a drone that probably has a flamethrower or something. Other than that… I’ve never seen it, it’ll be okay, I guess? I don’t know how strong it is so I can’t hype the rookie weapons I’ve never seen in action.

So there’s another twenty robots. The next (and final) installment will show off the remaining teams, including the most destructive robot from last year, the triumphant return of a former champion, and my personal favorite of the field who hopes to restore his honor after a brutal comeback last season.