Welcome back to the Beat! The recap this morning is a pretty simple premise: Eight robots, seven fights, one champion.

So with that, let’s get started.

5. Black Dragon vs. 20. Ribbot
Records don’t matter now anyway, it’s the final 8 bots. And one of these bots you could totally have expected to get here, and I did considering I had them making the final. Yeah, that would be Black Dragon.

As for Ribbot, their undercutter got damaged beyond repair in their upset win over Uppercut, so for this fight (and I guess any after) it’ll have to be the vertical disk.

Ribbot went for the circling maneuver, getting nothing but a snapped off wedgelet for their troubles. And Black Dragon could take advantage when the two bots finally met, getting the leverage and with it sending Ribbot somersaulting right over. Black Dragon came in for another hit and actually flipped Ribbot back over, so minus whatever damage, Ribbot was okay. I mean, less so the foam frog, but the rest of it.

Black Dragon continued to win the ground game, as Ribbot was losing forks left and right and even just getting turned turtle by Black Dragon’s wedge. Ribbot was just getting by by turning using weapon and wheels until they could find a way to get back over. The get back over was once again Black Dragon hitting them, though. Poor foam frog, at this point it was as good as gone.

But Black Dragon was smoking. Not sure what, as they were still zipping around, and still flipping Ribbot over. But it looked like it was the weapon and it was just any leftover inertia. Also it was now on fire. Yes, dragons catching fire!

So you had Ribbot inverted, without enough oomph in their weapon at this point to get back over, and Black Dragon, whose weapon motor was on fire. Black Dragon was still dominating in control, chasing after Ribbot, putting the frog on the screws, taking it to the pulverizer (actually pinning it next to the pulverizer, either a mishit by Black Dragon or a great defensive ploy by Ribbot depending on whose corner it was) and around the Box. Meanwhile the fire was spreading and I swear half the internals had to be engulfed in flames at this point. Would Black Dragon hang on? It was still being the aggressor, still controlling the fight, and Ribbot was doing very little to stem that tide thanks to being inverted. And with all that, it went to the judges, and I get to adjust the winner of my “House of Pain” Award!

The unofficial Senor card:
Damage: The flip counts as damage in a way and might have been the most debilitating thing to Ribbot, though the forks also made it tough. So yeah, Black Dragon was on fire and it killed the weapon, but I don’t think I can go 5-0 Ribbot. Honestly, 4-1 or 3-2, and let’s be real, that was Black Dragon probably breaking itself on Ribbot’s face.
Control: Black Dragon controlled this fight. 3-0.
Aggression: Thanks to being flipped over, Ribbot couldn’t get anything going in aggression either. 3-0 Black Dragon.

On fire for 2 minutes or so? No problem. Black Dragon wins by unanimous decision and moves to the semis to face the winner of Hydra-Whiplash.

6. End Game vs. 19. Shatter!
It’s Auckland vs. Brooklyn here in the quarters. End Game survived a controversial split decision with Rotator to get this far, while Shatter! managed to break the meta-breaker juuust enough to win their own decision vs. Mammoth. It would be forks vs. forks in an attempt to win that still all-important ground game, Shatter!’s single forks (but also magnets!) vs. End Game’s double on each side.

The ablative armor did as intended with the first strikes of End Game’s weapon, but Shatter! overcorrected to return to meet End Game, which means End Game was on the corner, and then the side, slicing away at the plastic and exposing Shatter!’s titanium billeted chassis and its underside to hits.

Shatter! bounced back, pushed back impressively and got a hammer shot in. Another was just a glancing blow, and enough of a jump for End Game to get under Shatter! and push Shatter! enough around to get to the back, push and send it popping up with a big hit. Shatter! could self-right but it wasn’t driving, either because the drive was lost or the bent fork had gotten stuck. It looked to be the latter as it got away for now, and moved front to front to try and line up again.

And it was a success, weapon on weapon! Wait, not a success. Hitting the belts would have been a success, instead this was just a loss of hammerhead. Well, that’s probably not good.

End Game came in and ripped off part of the front wedge as Shatter! was barely mobile. You could see a gouge in that billet from that shot in the back. A few more shreds and Shatter! started to get counted out.

Actually they were stuck as you could see them start to move… but right as the count hit zero. That is still a KO, and we’ll be honest, the last minute plus probably wasn’t going to go well. I guess my question about whether they’d get a star (or nut) on the jersey for winning the title’s a moot point, as End Game wins by KO in 1:57. (Also I should go order that shirt.)

Though ousted in the quarters, Shatter! becomes the most successful omni-bot in BattleBots since (checks Google… wait, it was?) Donald Hutson’s Root Canal back in 2009, which made the final before losing to Brutality (then still Brutality, then still owned by Paul Ventimiglia). It becomes the most successful hammerbot since Jascha Little’s The Judge made it to the super heavyweight championship in the 2004 NPC Charity Open. (I don’t know why it’s specifically given the same credence as a BattleBots championship, but it does. The Judge lost to the super heavy version of Tombstone.) Meanwhile End Game will face the winner of our next fight.

Fun fact: This fight was apparently shown a clip of in a trailer at the start of the year, so… apparently there were spoilers!

7. SawBlaze vs. 18. Tantrum
One of these bots was very expected to get to the quarters, because they made the quarters last year. I didn’t expect Tantrum to get to the quarters pre-season, but hey, the robot (mostly) works! Big props to Aren Hill and Seems Reasonable Robotics for getting this far.

But from the get-go it looked like the little bot that could was gonna be in for it as Tantrum looked to be running away from the chasing SawBlaze, as the pair circled and… Tantrum outcircled SawBlaze, got under, and produced a pop to the underside? Well this could be more interesting than I feared…

When finally going front to front Tantrum went right up SawBlaze though. But it spun off before SawBlaze could get its patented pin, and now as SawBlaze backed away Tantrum chased and managed to get under again. It was a bit surprising, especially considering Tantrum had its wedge on, but Tantrum was getting the majority of the leverage, and by feeding the middle into the puncher it would make its job even easier. It was Tantrum getting the pin against the screws, with SawBlaze having to find a way to escape. It was Tantrum pushing around, Tantrum now the pursuer. Tantrum getting around to the back of SawBlaze to try and neutralize its weapon. Tantrum scoring the pin, holding for the max ten seconds, and using its weapon, spinning up to punch at the end of that time and then retreating.

SawBlaze was now starting to wheelie, its fatal flaw from last season. And that was making it even easier for Tantrum to win the all-important ground game and get punch after punch. Each one individually wasn’t doing a ton from what it looked, but well-timed strikes doing enough to do such things as flip SawBlaze over. And then finally that big piece, as though SawBlaze didn’t wheelie Tantrum hit and ripped off a part of the bottom plate as the right fork of SawBlaze wasn’t even close to touching the floor anymore. It actually acted as a little bit of usefulness as in the dying seconds SawBlaze finally got to corralling Tantrum and could at least bring the hammer saw down once, but it had to be too little too late.

Damage: I don’t know if that last hit maybe did something, but unless it did some serious damage (didn’t look like it) gotta go 5-0 Tantrum.
Control: Tantrum controlled the first, what, 2:55 of this fight? Five seconds is not enough to make it 2-1, 3-0 Tantrum.
Aggression: Tantrum wins it, whether 2-1 or 3-0 depends on how you weigh how long it was even in terms of aggression. It was a minute, max, I think I go 3-0.

Tantrum wins by unanimous decision and makes the semifinals.

1.Hydra vs. 8. Whiplash
The only chalk matchup we’ll have the entire night. Hydra is also the last of the unbeatens remaining, so if Whiplash were to win we would be guaranteed our first BattleBots champion with a loss since… Ziggo at Long Beach ’99 when it was double elimination? Because Brutality ran the table in 2009, Tombstone ran the superheavy table at the NPC Charity in ’04… so definitely Ziggo, maybe a bot from the NPC Charity Open in ’04, but I think Tombstone, Karcas 2, and Devil’s Plunger all won without a loss. Lightweights? Lower divisions? Do we even count featherweights and below in BattleBots? (Hey, this tangent is important.)

For the first time in my memory, we see Whiplash sporting forks to try and repel Hydra’s forks. And trying to circle to get around, naturally, but that wasn’t quite enough to work at first. So Whiplash charged, and got that first hit without getting flipped. Because the first flip actually came from Whiplash on Hydra, nowhere near as majestic, but still counting. Hydra self-righted right onto Whiplash’s flywheel and some damage to something was done, I think one of Hydra’s forks. (Jason Vasquez, Matt’s brother and spotter, was pumped for this.)

Whiplash’s forks were repelling the flipper and the push was kind of neutral, which meant Whiplash’s disk was actually coming into play on the Hydra front armor, pushing Hydra back. It looked like they got caught on a killsaw, freeing Hydra and getting a chance to get a get ’em over flip on Whiplash, but Whiplash self-righted before Hydra could go for its big shot (keeping the flywheel in front).

The two bots continued to clash rather than have one with a definite win. Whiplash retreated to move to the side and this was a rare mistake as Hydra followed and got another one of its smaller flips (2) to get Whiplash by the screws. Whiplash was trying to get off, and Hydra fired (3) but again, not that 10-15 footer, just enough for Whiplash to actually get back on its wheels. Or on its back trying to use the lifter to get back on its wheels and instead dropping it on Hydra’s top. Hydra may have been compromised from the Gigabyte fight where the flipper was staying up by the end, but the fight seemed to be evening up. Though they were still neutral, Hydra was getting under more and getting its flips in (4), even if at half-ish height. Interesting the strategy seemed to be wait for Whiplash to re-right, as Hydra waited rather than trying to chain flips together. As Kenny Florian said, it may have been to avoid accidental weapon to weapons.

Whiplash got a lift, but by losing the lift before flipping Hydra over it actually gave Hydra an opportunity (5). Hydra had Whiplash in the corner and looked to go for its OOTA chance but missed as Whiplash’s self-righting dance might have saved it. It was a smart change of strategy by Jake Ewert, as Kenny Florian again noted.

It remained more clashes but also more Hydra flips (6). But Hydra was also taking some killsaw shots and flywheel shots. And in the last few seconds, Hydra hit a seam or something, giving Whiplash the chance to get around and get one final push, dealing sparks but also giving a puff of smoke (probably its flywheel motor). This was going to be tight.

Damage: Whiplash definitely wins this considering it took out one of Hydra’s forks and I did see a piece of the top missing I think? It did slow up and run hot at the end, but I think I go 3-2 Whiplash.
Control: Gotta go 2-1, but which direction? It was even throughout, one then the other. I’d say the first minute or so and the last 10-15 seconds were clearly Whiplash, but the middle part was mostly Hydra. Definite beats most, so I guess 2-1 Whiplash.
Aggression: Also gotta go 2-1, and again, which direction? They were both aggressive, both used their weapon. I think the “first action” helps Whiplash over Hydra’s counter strategy, so… again, 2-1 Whiplash.

Close fight no matter how you cut it, even if I have it 7-4 Whiplash. The judges, meanwhile, were split. Derek Young and Jason Bardis, however, called it for Whiplash, who wins by split decision and will take on Black Dragon in the semis.

Semifinal: 6. End Game vs. 18. Tantrum
Preseason, who had either of these bots in the semis? Okay, pre-tourney, who had Tantrum in the semis? The puncher now has a puncher’s chance at the title, as crazy as it sounds. Sorry.

End Game had a pair of very long forks against Whiplash’s forks. It seems like with a fixed floor forks and wedgelets are about to get more and more ridiculous.

Tantrum kinda half-box rushed and half-tried to get around. And it worked because End Game gyroed enough for Tantrum to get under and drive End Game into the wall. And it looked like the gyro was getting rough in this one because as it gyroed Tantrum was getting under. When the two were clashing, neutral, Tantrum went for the forks. That’s actually a brilliant strategy, as Tantrum was getting the upper hand early.

And then it started to smoke. (Aren Hill said that this was due to a stopper for the puncher getting knocked loose and then the puncher hitting things on the rail that it’s not supposed to hit.) But it was still spinning and with Tantrum under End Game it was doing damage to the undercarriage. But that might have been inertia from the weapon, because it wasn’t spinning up after that.

Tantrum was still getting under though, but one moment of End Game getting under took out one of Tantrum’s forks that had been working so well, as the bot was getting spun around by End Game’s weapon. Tantrum could still control as the gyro did its thing, but down a weapon and a fork, it seemed like Tantrum for all they were doing had lost their biggest edge. End Game was getting under more especially with the fork on the side that didn’t have one, and it was getting more and more spark-inducing strikes. A big frontal collision flipped Tantrum over, and when they smoked out their weapon motor it also smoked out their srimech. That was unfortunately it for the 18th seed, but with a trip to the semis, you can’t help but give Tantrum, previously known for serving themselves up to Tombstone challenging the former champ to take their fist off (which Tombstone then planted into a thing of PVC), a round of applause. But the clock strikes midnight and End Game advances to the championship by way of KO in 1:56.

And Chris Rose with the “they had them in the first half, not gonna lie.” Yup. But horseshoes and hand grenades.

Semifinal: 5. Black Dragon vs. 8. Whiplash
The forks were back on Whiplash, so after all those fights of not having them, well, they have them now. Black Dragon probably had a lot of work to do, considering the fire that engulfed half their robot.

So naturally to test it gotta start with a box rush. Whiplash came across in two seconds with a hit and run. Nothing major though, as the two bots continued. Whiplash’s forks were getting under the wedgelets on Black Dragon, even if the two bots were circling in the center of the ring. The reach on Whiplash’s weapon, however, bites before the rest of the bot, as opposed to Black Dragon’s egg-beater, and ripped off one of those wedgelets. Black Dragon hit the same side again and had Black Dragon perched on top of them as Matt Vasquez sent Black Dragon turned over thanks to the wall. Now Whiplash really had the ground game advantage, and pressed it, using the flywheel to try and work Black Dragon’s side and maybe steal a wheel, continuing to toss the Brazilian bot, actually flipping it back over. But they kept pushing, kept spinning up, and rectified the mistake, as Black Dragon was turned turtle again.

Whiplash was fine going weapon on weapon, they were fine using the lifter to flip Black Dragon over, and having that front right wedgelet on Black Dragon removed combined with the marksmanship that is a Matt Vasquez driving class meant Whiplash could exploit that weakness all day. Although slamming Black Dragon into the wall sheared off one of their own plow/fork sides thanks to the carom, so as a reminder, you’ve still gotta be careful. Though Black Dragon then got caught on it which gave Whiplash a free moment to grind.

Whiplash continued to push, primarily using the lifter (again, using Tale of the Tape as source material, Matt Vasquez stopped the spinner at this point to prevent it from overheating like at the end of the Hydra fight), using the full 10 seconds to pin, taking Black Dragon on a tour of the walls. Black Dragon’s weapon wasn’t spinning either, so inverted and without a weapon, it was going to be difficult for Team Ua!rrior if not nigh on impossible to turn the tables.

Eventually Whiplash got the angle to lift and pin Black Dragon on its rear against the wall. And re-spun up the weapon, just in case Black Dragon fell back down. They did, and Whiplash was right there for the backhand. That probably salted it away, but just in case and because there were another 30 seconds left, Whiplash continued taking Black Dragon around the arena, to the screws, getting them wedged in with about 10 seconds left, and, knowing the screws would reverse, did the same backhand move as Black Dragon came off the screws right into the flywheel.

I go 4-1, 3-0, 3-0 personally. Either way, Whiplash wins by unanimous decision, and gets to fight End Game for the Giant Nut.

Championship: 6. End Game vs. 8. Whiplash
So it comes down to this. It’s the second time in three years an international team has made the title fight (Minotaur, Season 3), but will the Kiwis be able to do what RioBotz could not? Less bold and brash now than their rookie year, sure, but now the bot can clearly back it up, gremlins seemingly taken care of.

On the other hand, Whiplash has steadily ascended these last three seasons after the meh-ness that was version 1.0, Splatter in Season 2, just an alternate that got an untelevised rumble. It also included a silver at Robogames with Whiplash in 2017, which became the proof of concept for these last three years. (Original Sin won for the umpteenth year in a row, no forklift necessary.)

Also check out the full team shots for the final. Come on, they deserve it.

Whiplash, like in the Hydra fight, came out quick to circle and look for an angle around End Game’s forks and vertical weapon. Jack Barker kept End Game steady, just letting Whiplash circle and keeping the nose in front… until it was time to cut it off. Whiplash tried to go test the forks, and this one went to End Game, as Whiplash got sent back on its lifter and on top of the screws, lifter still not totally down. And because the lifter wasn’t totally down, End Game went after that soft underbelly of Whiplash, taking something off of Whiplash that probably holds the lifter in place. The lifter could sort of get down, but that was definitely some damage. At the least the flywheel wasn’t spinning. End Game gyroed briefly for Whiplash to charge in but End Game’s forks may have saved it from getting lifted and flipped. Matt Vasquez had to pull his bot back and see if he could outflank this time.

Whiplash hit a seam that gave End Game a chance to cut the distance. Whiplash spun away and retreated, and went back to the spin cycle. But props again to Jack Barker, a cool customer on End Game’s sticks, cutting the angle again, this time getting the forks to flip Whiplash over and deliver another hit while Whiplash had to re-right. And you could see now that the lifter was jammed ever so slightly, meaning it wasn’t getting all the way down. Whiplash pushed, but End Game pushed back, got the weapon in again to flip Whiplash back over, then continuing to cut the ring as Whiplash self-righted, into a corner, and over the corner wall… and out!

Your winner, by KO in 1:50, and champion of BattleBots 2020, is…

End Game!

Obviously, a lot of noteworthy things. The big one: it’s the first international BattleBots heavyweight champion in history, and only the second international champion ever in any of the four BattleBots weight classes (light, middle, heavy, and super heavy). The other is Derek Young (living in Vancouver) and his middleweight Son of Smashy, which won the inaugural Long Beach ’99 competition.

Yes, they had to quarantine for two weeks upon return to New Zealand and not tell anyone they won. Apparently the Giant Nut was in their checked luggage and an airline worker asked about it… fortunately they weren’t a BattleBots fan.

End Game also manages to score a second leg of the combat robotics Triple Crown for OYES Robotics. The Triple Crown consists of championships in BattleBots, Robot Wars, and one of the Chinese televised tournaments. OYES won Fighting My Bots! with their original heavyweight, Death Toll. (In a stunning note, they managed to beat Diotoir in the final. You know, Diotoir. Which was originally from classic Robot Wars.) Unfortunately as of this moment they can’t win the Triple Crown because Robot Wars was canceled by the BBC. The only teams that could possibly do it are Team Carbide (winners of Robot Wars with Carbide; winners of This Is Fighting Robots, the Season 1.5 outfit of King of Bots, with Tungsten; competitors on BattleBots with Cobalt) and Team Robots Live!/Team Apollo (winners of Robot Wars with Apollo; winners of King of Bots with Vulcan; planned to compete on BattleBots with Orion, but COVID—we’ll expect them in Season 6).

It’s the third straight year of a vertical spinner winning, the fourth straight year of any spinner winning. We can hope that changes soon, right? Greg Munson noted on Tale of the Tape that the new meta isn’t specifically vertical spinners, but forks and wedgelets and the all-important ground game. Like football, judo, sumo, etc., low man wins. We may see some adjustments to the BattleBots with the return of the ramrods and some things tweaked for safety for next season regarding the inner Lexan walls, especially by the screws and the sides.

Lastly, the Beaties will come sometime in the next week or so, but not in this usual spot, because Bounty Hunters is coming to regular-ass Discovery, starting tonight! The premise: Six robots (Bronco, Icewave, Tombstone, Beta, Witch Doctor, and Son of Whyachi) were given a legendary status. Their figurative heads are worth some money in the bank, to the tune of 25 Gs. Want to collect? Just get through an eight-bot tournament to become the bounty hunter, then knock off the bounty bot. Tonight’s bot: the Inertia Labs big bucking flipper, Bronco. We’ll cover it next week, but the bots included are:

Axolotl, Rotator, Captain Shrederator, Sharkoprion, MadCatter, Atom #94, Bale Spear, & Chomp

And yeah, we’ll have the Beaties coming up soon too. And the Salty 16, Flacco 8, Penultimate Four, and Banner Madness championship. All for pride, and hot sauce!

As for the Beat, we’ll see you next week, bounty style!