Welcome back to the Beat! Last time out we had a pair of stuck bots come back from seemingly the brink, a pair of curbstompings, and a pair of bots being knocked out at the same time. Will this week be any more ridiculous? I’m gonna say yes, but for different reasons, such as the title above. Onto the fights!

Free Shipping vs. Uppercut
Free Shipping: 0-1 (L, JD 3-0 vs. Blacksmith)
Uppercut: 1-0 (W, KO 1:08 vs. Gigabyte)

Well first off, I’d feel a lot better if this was Original Sin. That flamethrower and lifter is ripe for Uppercut’s height. Also, because sticking a lifter on arguably the best 220-lb. heavyweight of all time (especially since Robogames is no more and the few heavyweight events that still run probably run the BattleBots 250 lb. weight class) doesn’t actually help a bot be fast, agile, and get under. Also, we saw a ginormous explosion in the trailers, so that also does not bode well for Gary Gin’s bot in this one. But then again, can you actually kill Free Shipping short of taking off the wheels? And I mean all four, because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Original Sin fight with one wheel left.

As for Uppercut, fresh off their pog flip of Gigabyte, they have minibot Helping Hand for this fight.

Free Shipping rushed, lifter up. The makeshift clamp was at the least keeping Uppercut away from the lifter, while the wedgelets were getting under easily. But it just takes one miss, for

Well, there’s your explosion.

It also bent up the wedgelets, with then got ripped off from the next hit. To me, that’s actually the more impressive feat. Free Shipping was inverted, scrambling to get back over, and I guess the lifter wasn’t working because of the attempted backup vertical spinner move of “crash into the wall and let the wall flip you over” didn’t work on account of not being a vert and Free Shipping was stuck on the wall. Just in the nick of time for Uppercut too, because it wasn’t moving all that great either—they looked like they were down a wheel and only able to circle.

There was no simulaneous incapacitation though, it’s Uppercut by KO in 1:58. They’re 2-0 with 2 KOs, and as good as in. Even if Alex Hattori was scared about another explosion. That his robot caused.

For the BattleBots safety crew, they can probably rest easy knowing they have their vengeance for that time Free Shipping blew flame right towards the ceiling. Because that really pissed them off.

Blacksmith vs. Shatter!
Blacksmith: 1-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Free Shipping)
Shatter!: 1-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. SubZero)

It’s the battle for Hudson hammer supremacy! Or hammers evolved, in this case, because neither of these bots has a standard hammer anymore. Blacksmith of course has the new “Power Hammer,” joining the hammer saw ranks, while Shatter! Brings the “Mary Special,” named after their very own Mary Chimenti. It brings back memories of old with OverKill, the original spinner-killer, and the “anime sword” was originally meant for spinners, but it’ll work on Blacksmith and try and chain snipe rather than try and crack through the sturdy armor.

The bots circled as Shatter! landed first with the reach advantage, but Blacksmith returned fire and the two bots went weapon to weapon. It looked like the slower-armed Blacksmith would have a chance to cut in, but the sword had done its job because you could see a belt out of Blacksmith’s weapon and that was the snipe the Brooklyn crew were going for. That was the power portion of the Power Hammer, as the hammer-saw was reduced to a weaker hammer now.

Shatter! was keeping Blacksmith at bay, but Blacksmith was able to get pushes into the rails to try and win back some control and aggression points. Blacksmith tried to get to the side and was rewarded with Shatter! getting its “social distancing” forks stuck in the saws. Blacksmith came from behind to use its hammer but got backhanded instead by the other side of the sword (an added benefit of the weapon), as every time Blacksmith was near Shatter! could deliver two, three, four hits to their one. It was still good pushing by B, winning the pushes, gaining control, as in the final minute you could see that the sword was bent. There wouldn’t really be anything of too much note until it went to the judges.

Damage: Weapon chain removed is definitely the difference here, pretty much rendering the Power Hammer useless, as opposed to the bent arm. I’d say as far as 4-1 Shatter!
Aggression: Plenty of weapon aggression by Shatter! against Blacksmith’s pushing. I go 2-1 Shatter!.
Control: Blacksmith won the pushes, and Shatter! almost got severely stuck in the forks. I go 2-1 Blacksmith.

It’s Shatter! by unanimous as the Brooklyn squad is 2-0, and probably as good as in. I expect their third fight to be against another 2-0 bot for seeding purposes.

Jäger vs. P1
Jäger: 0-0
P1: 1-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Valkyrie)

It’s our long-awaited first look at Jäger, this year’s token multibot. Unlike most multibots, the two component bots have two different weapons, one with a hammer saw and one with an undercutter. Plus there’s a minibot. There actually was supposed to be a third main Jäger bot, where they’d have three bots and depending on the matchup use two, but it wasn’t built. Meanwhile P1 got their biggest win ever against last year’s Most Destructive, Valkyrie, and go into this fight as the overwhelming favorite, a rare place for the bot to be. The front-hinge flipper won’t be able to launch 120 lbs. into the lights like other flippers, but strategy is the key here.

The minibot immediately got punted, but it got revenge on P1 by high-centering. The hammer saw (named Arm Muscle) came in with the first hit which just missed P1’s rear right wheel, then the undercutter (named Toe Kicker) came in… to hit the minibot because the undercutter is so low that the minibot actually raised P1 above the weapon.

So that ended up actually saving P1, which responded by flipping Arm Muscle at an angle where it couldn’t self-right. So now it’s essentially a heavyweight vs. a middleweight as P1 manhandled Toe Kicker onto the Upper Deck where it was beached. P1 with some brilliant ring generalship there using the new hazard, and that was enough to count out Jäger… except the undercuttter got off of where it was beached at the last second. So the fight was still going. P1 was dominating through sheer size difference as the flipper pushed Toe Kicker around, into the short corner to get the now overcutter (because it was inverted) successfully back up on the deck. The weapon wasn’t beached, but the bot was stuck on the wall, and this time there would be no last-second save.

P1 wins by KO. At 2-0, short of catastrophe, where P1 loses to a low-tier bot, or gets absolutely robbed, they’re in.

Prior to Hydra vs. Gruff we actually got a segment about the all-important ground game. As BattleBots has evolved, and especially with the new, more even (though not totally) floor, forks and wedges can get even more ground-scraping as bots try to counter each other. After all, whoever wins the ground game often wins the fight. We also learned, for instance, that End Game’s wedge is actually flat at the bottom, to act as a bit of a fork itself.

Hydra vs. Gruff
Hydra: 0-1 (L, KO 1:36 vs. End Game)
Gruff: 1-0 (W, KO 1:56 vs. Switchback)

Nobody’s gotten the lowest wedge more than Hydra, though the flipper is 0-1 after misfiring against End Game. This is going be a driving battle between the powerful flipper and the tanky lifter, Gruff. According to Sam Mcamis, Gruff actually wants to be on the Upper Deck to land, self-right, and regroup. Bold strategy, Cotton, but I think I understand. It’s fewer times getting flipped, and it’s less distance on the way down for gravity to accelerate your robot.

Both bots a were bit tentative coming out and looking for an angle as both just missed getting the other in their clutches. First to the action was Hydra, getting a mini flip to start a four flip flurry. And then a fifth. None of these were full power, which meant that Hydra still wasn’t at 100%, but it was enough to get Gruff by the screws, first at the ones by the Upper Deck, then by the blue square. Hydra made Gruff kiss the glass to unstick them, but at this point it was the perfect height to control Gruff as Hydra kept Gruff on the corner by the pulverizer, and got the out of the arena flip in the corner. Which with the flamethrowers, I’m sure the producers loved.

Rule check! Isn’t an accidental OOTA supposed to be an unstick, or, if that’s impossible, going to the judges? And isn’t a deliberate OOTA supposed to be a disqualification? In the rules, yes. In actuality, it’s impossible to figure out the latter unless it’s grabbing a bot from the middle of the arena and taking them to the wall. Which I’d actually be impressed by, because that would be an extreme case of control. But it seems like the rule, except for hilariously blatant attempts, might not have been actually enforced, so why even have it on the books?

Anyway, according to Kenny Florian, Hydra had 16 flips, even if none were the 15-footers we’ve grown so accustomed to. Hydra by KO in just under two minutes.

Gigabyte vs. Captain Shrederator
Gigabyte: 0-1 (L, KO 1:08 vs. Uppercut)
Captain Shrederator: 1-0 (W, KO 2:02 vs. Tombstone)

Well, we’ve waited a long time for this, and no, Gigabyte vs. Chronos technically doesn’t count because it’s a ring spinner, but we finally have our full body spinner fight. Lizard people, start your Beyblade jokes!

(We would have also allowed Perfect Phoenix in the conversation, but that bot will only be competing in Bounty Hunters on account of Tyler Nguyen being 11 and having to go to school. Because he’s 11.)

Shrederator can spin in either direction, so that gives them the edge. They can choose their method of attack, either by spinning in the same direction, amping up the power of the attacks as the two bots try to overspin each other, or by neutralizing the power by spinning in the opposite direction. Which seems backwards, but what do I know? Also, Shrederator’s shell is wedged throughout, as opposed to Gigabyte which has a slight lip. I do think Gigabyte has the lower teeth though since it’s on that flat surface. For this fight Shrederator had a different shell than the one in the picture and the teeth looked to be at the lid. That seems like it’s too high for this fight.

Both bots spun up and met in the middle, with Shrederator spinning opposite of Gigabyte. Gigabyte got air on the first bump, but Shrederator got pushed on the second exchange off the short corner. And those old Shrederator issues popped back up as it slowed and stopped and was out. “Just unexplainable death, just like everybody expects.” No idea what happened, but Brian Nave said it had to be the radio. Well, that was disappointing.

Gigabyte by KO in under a minute.

Dragon Slayer vs. DUCK!
Dragon Slayer: 0-0
DUCK!: 0-1 (L, JD 3-0 vs. Witch Doctor)

DUCK! didn’t have the same power it normally has in their loss to Witch Doctor. They get a rookie in this one to try and get right. Dragon Slayer is a two-wheeled wedged vert.

DUCK! didn’t fully box rush and Dragon Slayer immediately cut into the beak. (Whatever the beak’s made of, it’s brittle.) DUCK! was able to push this time then retreat while timing Dragon Slayer to get a pulverizer hit.

Dragon Slayer kept grinding away the beak with every frontal hit as DUCK! could do nothing in terms of its lifter, on account of there not being much of a lifter considering the tip’s been sheared. Dragon Slayer wasn’t pressing its advantage and DUCK! wasn’t getting the kind of push it needed to. Again, in a pushing match, the pushing bot wasn’t winning.

A bit of a dud as it went to the judges. All we got of it was that DUCK!’s beak quacks now, but its quack was worse than its bite. Hal Rucker announced that will be retiring DUCK! after this season, where hopefully Team Black and Blue will come up with something else.

Damage: 5-0
Aggression: 2-1
Control: 2-1

Dragon Slayer by unanimous decision.

YouTube Exclusive: Valkyrie vs. Triple Crown
Valkyrie: 0-1 (L, JD 3-0 vs. P1)
Triple Crown: 0-0

Valkyrie finds itself in a peculiar situation, being 0-1, but they have a somewhat soft fight against a new bot. Not, however, a new builder.

Todd Mendenhall’s an old-school builder, most famous for his bot Wrath, which competed in BattleBots before being renamed Panzer and winning the two American seasons of Robot Wars (known as Extreme Warriors; the Nickelodeon six episodes had a US championship but each episode was a one-off). Panzer also competed in seasons 1 and 3 of Robotica, winning the championship in Season 3. So, definitely not a rookie, though he hasn’t competed since 2003.

As for his bot, Triple Crown, it’s has a three-wheel swerve drive system. So it means that it can move and spin along any axis simultaneously. It’s a different sort of omni-wheel than Shatter!’s mecanum wheels and is a bit more complicated, but… well, we’ll see how it works. It also has a wedge and an asymmetrical spinner along two of its respective sides, with the third left bare. I don’t know, would an overhead weapon work better for this size of bot? It’s pretty spacious. I mean just watch the fight.

Cool concept, definitely a long way from Wrath/Panzer’s six-wheeled tank drive. It wasn’t extremely effective though.

Valkyrie wins by KO in under a minute.

Oh yeah, by the way, American Robot Wars was hosted by Cactus Jack himself, Mick Foley. Even if it was filmed in London.

Main Event
End Game vs. Witch Doctor
End Game: 1-0 (W, KO 1:36 vs. End Game)
Witch Doctor: 1-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. DUCK!)

So, since we talked about the ground game, there are a few bots who don’t really go for it as much as others. One of them is clearly not End Game, whose forks have gotten more and more ridiculous. But one of them is Witch Doctor. The Gellatlys believe, first and foremost, that this is BattleBots, and it’s not about fighting with forks, but fighting with weapons. The second reason is that the overly long forks mess enough with center of mass and make the robot harder to drive, and forks don’t do much if the opponent can get around you. Mike Gellatly is a hell of a driver, to boot.

End Game doesn’t need ridiculous forks for this one, though it’s an interesting enough pattern of the longish forks on the inner. Witch Doctor of course has their plow.

Witch Doctor was immediately trying to outflank End Game, similar to Matt Vasquez’s attempts with Whiplash last year. But Witch Doctor can snipe better than Whiplash, and Witch Doctor was little pieces of End Game and trying to work the short corner. For all the ground game, End Games’s forks were bent up as the two continued to trade blows. Witch Doctor was so close to knocking off all of Bite Force’s wedgelets in the championship—could they do it here against this defending champion instead?

It looked like they had a chance, but like Witch Doctor’s left side was locking up. That diminished mobility gave End Game time to regroup and send Witch Doctor 15 feet back with an attack, then  zeroing in to hit Witch Doctor into the Lexan, able to turn the tables and get them in the short corner. Witch Doctor was inverted, and the ribcage srimech was dead, which meant fight over.

End Game wins by KO in 1:08. End Game holds serve for the top seed, as it should be between them and SawBlaze. End Game probably has the advantage in strength of schedule and both fights ending in KOs, but SawBlaze has been absolutely dominant.

Here’s what my top 4 seeds would look like at this point. Yes, it’s still early.

1. End Game (2-0)
2 KOs against two top opponents gives the defending champs the slight edge.

2. SawBlaze (2-0)
Props to Minotaur for surviving the bell, but no one has been more dominant this year.

3. Whiplash (1-0)
An absolute masterclass against last year’s second seed and only bot to beat the champ.

4. Uppercut (2-0)
Doing what they do best: 2 fights, 2 KOs, and a second explosion.

In the hunt: Ribbot (2-0), Jackpot (2-0), Skorpios (1-0)

As for this week’s fights:

A battle of 1-0 bots trying to assure themselves a spot, as Rotator takes on Black Dragon.
A pair of 0-1 international bots try to bounce back, as Lucky takes on Blade.
1-0 Dragon Slayer continues to try and work their way up to dragon slaying, but this time it’s Minotaur. (Yes, we realize Dragon Slayer is in the same episode and not fighting Black Dragon.)
In a battle of drum/drummish bots, Pain Train takes on Yeti.
A pair of 0-1 bots need a win to stay in the hunt as HiJinx fights Kraken.
0-1 Defender fights the surprising 1-0 Riptide.
In the YouTube Exclusive, tallboi Deep Six takes on wideboi SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
In the Main Event, HyperShock and Lock-Jaw square off.

With that, we’ll see you next week!