This is the BattleBots Season 3.0 heavyweight final, all the way back from the Comedy Central days. In one square, you had the two-time champion, BioHazard, believed by many even now to be one of the most dominant robots of all time. Its low profile and four-bar lifter controlled many an opponent en route to a second straight finals appearance. In the other, the rookie bot that had been throwing its weight around en route to the finals, Son of Whyachi. Thanks to a revolutionary cam-powered shuffle propulsion system, Son of Whyachi had similar speed of a wheeled bot, but as it wasn’t wheeled and was under the rules as a walker bot, it was eligible for a 50% weight bonus, which made it in the neighborhood of 330 lbs. taking on 220 lb. robots.

It was one of the more controversial endings in classic BattleBots, with a count-out that was later ruled premature, meaning the fight went to the judges, who gave the victory, and the BattleBots championship, to Son of Whyachi. The next season, shufflebots were declared ineligible for the weight bonus and Son of Whyachi was classified as a super heavyweight, became a wheeled bot, and didn’t have the same success.

Now, why is this relevant to the featured robot from this bounty bracket, Gigabyte? Well, last season, Gigabyte earned its place as a bounty boss by defeating Son of Whyachi. Great fight that I did not write up the Beat for, but you can definitely search for it on the tubes. It’s a lot of fun, and considering Fusion and Hydra have been the two bots the Ewerts have been running, that may have officially been the former champion’s final fight.

But John Mladenik and the Robotic Death Company carved out their own legend long ago, in the dark times where there wasn’t televised robot combat, the mid to late aughts. Their original overhead spinner, Megabyte, was the most feared bot around for a time. Hell, the heavyweight was so good and so dominant they put it in super heavyweight competitions giving it some minibots, and it still won. But arguably their crowning moment was this, from RoboGames 2005.

BioHazard had come out of retirement to compete for, to my knowledge, the first time since the final BattleBots season three years prior. The four-time champ was back for another run! Then this happened, and hey, I’ve never seen this angle!

The strategy was there, but it was clear BioHazard just couldn’t take that kind of power and energy transfer. Carlo Bertocchini tried his best to repair the bot in time for his next fight in the double elimination bracket, but couldn’t and had to forfeit. BioHazard did get semi-repaired for a whiteboard fight against the robot it was supposed to face, Brutality, owned by some guy named Paul Ventimiglia, but even that was more formality. The legend never fought again.

So now we see where we’re coming from, right? Whether competing under the name of Megabyte or Gigabyte (or that Bots Awaken rumble as Invader), John Mladenik and co’s full-body spinner has been doling out the punishment for over 15 years, whether in RoboGames, BattleBots, or King of Bots, where Megabyte competed (hence Gigabyte being the BattleBots version).

Eight bots looking for a chance to knock the spinner’s top off. To the fights!

DUCK! vs. HyperShock
DUCK!: 0-3, did not qualify for championship
HyperShock: 2-0, #13 seed, lost to P1 in round of 32

Just a reminder of how each bot did this year: DUCK!’s new lifter-clamper promised to show a little more offense, but it proved to be an Achilles beak for the bot. Hard to win fights when your beak gets ripped apart every single fight, as Hal Rucker stated that everyone’s favorite waterfowl bot will be retired after this.

Meanwhile, HyperShock took steps towards sucking less, going 2-0 and beating Lock-Jaw of all bots. They didn’t get a third fight and were bummed about it, and moreso when in their first round fight in last year’s 32nd seed controversy grudge match, Will Bales Bond-flipped the bot but it was the Casino Royale version and not the Man with the Golden Gun version so HyperShock was upside down for most of the fight en route to the loss. They made stiffer antennae now, so hopefully that will be less of a problem!

The fight began, and though DUCK! rushed in to stop the spinner, after a few exchanges, HyperShock started feeling itself and started getting after DUCK!. Once again, the first thing on DUCK! to go was that top portion of the beak, now 0/4 in staying intact this season, which I imagine is less than ideal. HyperShock swerved for more, but DUCK! nearly got its chance as the wedge caught one of HyperShock’s wheels and nearly tipped the bot over. But HyperShock was still upright to retreat and regroup and do more damage to DUCK!’s front fork and to the beak as the basically beakless bot was stuck on the screws.

DUCK! freed itself but HyperShock was feeling itself now, turning up the dial on its weapon to the max (source: HyperShock’s blog, I’ll be referencing it a bunch this week), sending DUCK! skyward. The impact of the landing bent DUCK!’s front left wheel (now front right because it was inverted), which soon fell off entirely as HyperShock punted the bot towards the Upper Deck and the short corner and continued to work on controlling the fight. Partially because the weapon started to smoke, so trying to dole out more damage would have proved unwise. After all, you have to win four fights to punch your ticket to the Champions tournament. So HyperShock dialed it down, spinning occasionally to show the judges, yes, the weapon still works. (And, again, courtesy of the HyperShock blog, they have two weapon motors so one going doesn’t kill the weapon).

To the surprise of nobody, HyperShock wins by unanimous decision.

SMEEEEEEEEEEEE vs. Valkyrie
SMEEEEEEEEEEEE: 1-1, did not qualify for championship
Valkyrie: 2-1, #26 seed, lost to Blip in round of 32

Man, they’re giving Joe Fabiani’s bot all the heavy hitters this year. SMEEEEEEE managed to beat Deep Six thanks to the massive vertical spinner getting itself caught in a killsaw. Things didn’t go so well against Gigabyte, so it’s strange that it’s in the Gigabyte Slugfest bracket. I would have figured, you know, not a robot it fought this year. And now Valkyrie, which is the defending Most Destructive Bolt-holder. Fun fact, SMEEEEE will not be using its standard hugging configuration, but the locked giant plow version. Fewer spring points, fewer points of failure. That was the Gigabyte iteration, by the way. It was supposed to have a third fight against MadCatter, but forfeited due to the damage sustained, which is why it’s 1-1.

Valkyrie did Valkyrie things in terms of being damaging, but after a surprising loss to P1 was in some trouble. Fortunately it faced Triple Crown (which we’ll see later) and Pardon My French, so the powerful undercutter could still be in the tournament. Where it got thrown around for three minutes by Blip, but better that than the alternative of missing out entirely!

Valkyrie started off by going for the middle and the plow, which dealt sparks, but that’s about it. This was SMEEEE’s chance to do something with its disks in the overhead position… but they basically just died upon impact with Valkyrie. Valkyrie could regroup and after a short while, eventually go for the left drive pod, which took some serious damage, with the bottom plate getting bent and a wheel getting shredded. Valkyrie continued on that side, doing more damage and removing both that side’s disk from its attachment. So that was probably a better call on Valkyrie’s end than trying to go through the middle of the robot. (Which is partially a bait move on SMEEEE… if its disks were a bit more powerful.)

SMEEEEE was technically still mobile and Joe Fabiani tried to use the pulverizer on Valkyrie, but this wasn’t going to prove much help as the left pod was hanging to the plow by a thread, and then Valkyrie went for the right pod’s wheels. That would make the count-out imminent.

Valkyrie wins by KO in 2:51 and will fight HyperShock.

MadCatter vs. Triple Crown
MadCatter: 2-1, #15 seed, lost to Black Dragon in round of 32
Triple Crown: 0-1, did not qualify for championship

MadCatter, by Macho Man Martin Mason, Calvin Iba, and crew, had another solid season in the qualifiers, except for the part where SawBlaze dominated the bot for slightly under 3 minutes. The next step would definitely be getting through the first round, as losses in the first round to Tombstone and SawBlaze over the last two years have hurt a bit. It’s a good robot, but it’s about taking the next step.

Triple Crown was more of a proof of concept this year. Todd Mendenhall’s swerve robot works, but it wasn’t finished, so Greg and Trey said “Hey, come, we’ll get you a fight and you can see what needs to be done.” A fair bit, first of all, considering swerve drive is omniwheels but on steroids as each wheel can drive independently of the others.

As for the fight…

So what happened? Todd?

Triple Crown, we hardly knew ye.

MadCatter wins in 33 seconds.

Claw Viper vs. Defender
Claw Viper: 1-2, did not qualify for championship
Defender: 2-1, lost 31st-seed play-in vs. Hydra

Do you like grappling robots? Cause, that’s what we got! Claw Viper got potentially robbed against Bloodsport after splitting fights against Pardon My French (win) and Black Dragon (loss). Out of the robots to not make the original field of 34, I’d call this the second best bot, after Mammoth. Which then became the alternate for Glitch, so there you go. Claw Viper might have been the best bot out of the tournament. They have also lost to Gigabyte in their career, so like the Black Dragon fight a run here could show how far they’ve come and potentially how far there is left to go.

Defender did make the tournament… technically. Does the play-in portion count? Jason Vasquez’s bot went 2-1 but got thrown around by Hydra in the play-in. So they didn’t actually make the round of 32. Out of the two Defender’s got the cooler party trick in that the whole chassis can lift so it’s got a bigger grasp, but I don’t think we’ve seen a proper suplex by it in three fights.

Defender won the ground clearance game as the two bots clashed in the center, and actually got the lift and the flip in, though no, no suplex yet. But that was fine, as while Claw Viper had to self-right, Defender could push it around and start using the hazards for control points. But Claw Viper could get away and retreat and live for another exchange, with Defender in pursuit. The two bots got tangled and the usual driving and shoving match ensued, which worked for Claw Viper because Defender managed to get its forks wedged in the wall, setting up an attack. But Claw Viper couldn’t quite get the necessary purchase.

Defender continued to chase, but Claw Viper was able to slam it into a wall… and take off a wheel. Well, that changes things, as that will almost definitely become the most meaningful damage from this fight. Especially considering it looked like that really hobbled Defender.

From here it was all Claw Viper, taking Defender into the screws in front of the judges, the short corner, the screws again, and an attempted lift before the buzzer.

Claw Viper wins by unanimous decision and gets to fight MadCatter next.

HyperShock vs. Valkyrie

This is a rematch from 2019, where HyperShock’s legendary box rush nearly put Valkyrie out of the arena and into the screws in, like, 2 seconds. I would be very surprised if it happened again.

Valkyrie decided to not spin up in its starting square for the box rush, which was a good call. However, HyperShock’s speed shunted the undercutter to the side. It meant Valkyrie could spin up, but it was in that mode where it was in about-to-takeoff mode where HyperShock could continue to try and get a hit in towards the side.

It was towards the side but it was weapon on weapon. Someone was going to win the exchange, and the top-like thing that was spinning away from the impact would answer your question, as that was Valkyrie’s weapon, where the weapon shaft had finally given up the ghost. Sour Caroline was not doing so good, so good, so good. (Yes, that’s the name of that horizontal weapon.)

So HyperShock could go to work on the body of Valkyrie without fear. And also smack the weapon, because why not? (The answer is because sending a 65 lb. spinning hunk of AR400 or AR500 20+ feet in the air towards the ceiling isn’t the safest thing as some debris rained down. To once again quote Kyle Awner on the HyperShock blog, “BattleBots did not appreciate us sending 65lbs of sharp steel into their ceiling and told us not to do it again.”) Anyway, HyperShock continued to tear away at Valkyrie until she was stuck on the screws. The screws unfortunately reversed to let Valkyrie down so HyperShock could continue to tear into Valkyrie, taking the plow mount off on one side, and the whole bottom plate, and something was hanging out. Okay, now fight over, please do not reverse the screws for Valkyrie’s sake.

HyperShock wins by KO in 1:06, and once again thanks to the blog, the bot was sent to the Test Box “for a weapon speed test after that fight, which is the closest thing we have to doping tests in combat robotics. We were flattered, and comfortably under the 250mph tip-speed limit.” (In case you’re wondering how the weapon speed test works, they use a laser tachometer and reflective tape, according to HyperShock answering my question on Facebook.)

Listen, I like the team and they answer my shit. Makes my job easier. For the second year in a row, HyperShock is in a bounty final.

Claw Viper vs. MadCatter

Claw Viper came from behind against Defender thanks to knocking a wheel off, while MadCatter probably had absolutely no damage considering their “fight” with Triple Crown. The big note is the heavier weapons for both—metal claw for the clamper, and a heavier disk for the cat.

MadCatter came out sideways to reverse from the inevitible box rush and pushed Claw Viper into the screws by the Deck. The spin time meant that Claw Viper didn’t take any damage though. But Claw Viper absolutely needed to win the ground game, so if Calvin Iba could get under Claw Viper like that, this could be a short night.

After a more glancing blow, MadCatter punted Claw Viper from near the Upper Deck to the rear of it. So, 12 feet or so? Claw Viper slid off but was backed into the corner where MadCatter could get another hit in, but could turn the tables, pinning MadCatter to the wall. But the lifter was up, so there’d be no prolonged attack by Claw Viper as MadCatter ground sparks off while Claw Viper tried to clamp.

Though Claw Viper was holding, MadCatter’s push was working as a drive belt had come off Claw Viper as well and it was even less mobile. MadCatter took Claw Viper (and accidentally minibot GassyCat) to the corner for a big shunt, with GassyCat underneath. It meant that MadCatter could line up one more hit to get Claw Viper airborne and off the minibot, but quickly under the pulverizer. A lift and some more damage from the vertical disk and you could see the left drive belt broken as well. That would do it.

MadCatter wins by KO in 1:53. The final is set.

Bounty Hunter Final: HyperShock vs. MadCatter

Two vertical spinners. Two of the better entrances in the game, as HyperShock had one of their teammates hit Will Bales with the steel chair. Who gets to take on Gigabyte though?

The two bots rushed and HyperShock hit MadCatter’s wedgelets rather than going weapon to weapon. It almost ended badly as there was a two-wheeled moment, but the bot stayed down. Which meant that HyperShock could deliver its own attack, flipping MadCatter over multiple times as the lifter self-righted. HyperShock continued to advance but, oh no, it pressed its luck and flipped itself over. They tried to get themselves back over using the arena but it wasn’t being kind to them. A hit from MadCatter got them back over, as it seemed that the cat’s weapon power was diminished. Calvin Iba had the setup perfectly after flipping HyperShock back over to catch HyperShock as the bot landed, but the cat wasn’t biting anymore, and HyperShock used this to get a second wind, flipping MadCatter over. It could self-right still, but it was going to be an uphill battle. This was also time for HyperShock to send GassyCat flying to take it out of commission, before getting the big cat back onto the shelf.

At this point, HyperShock could really just go for it, slamming MadCatter into the wall, continuing to flip it over, wires hanging out. One more barrage had MadCatter back on the Upper Deck, upside down and unable to self right.

HyperShock wins by KO in 2:34 and moves on to face Gigabyte.

Sin City Slugfest Final/Champions Qualifier: HyperShock vs. Gigabyte
HyperShock: W, JD 3-0 vs. DUCK!; W, KO 1:06 vs. Valkyrie; W, KO 2:34 vs. MadCatter
Gigabyte: 2-1, #22 seed, lost to Tantrum in round of 32; Won Son of Whyachi’s bounty (2020)

We know how HyperShock got here, but as a reminder, Gigabyte went through the gauntlet last year, beating Grabot, Big Dill, and avenging its fight card loss to Copperhead, before taking down Son of Whyachi by, crazy enough, having the overhead spinner land on Gigabyte’s mast, which was broken, which flipped SOW over. That was definitely not the way anyone expected that fight to go. Go watch it now!

Good, back to the present. HyperShock came in with a semi box rush, which was enough to get Gigabyte towards the shelf. HyperShock came in for the first exchange and sent Gigabyte, I don’t know, 15 feet in the air? And across the Upper Deck? And yet after landing that, the bot still spun, so credit there. HyperShock now had the advantage of the short corner, trying to get Gigabyte up and over but being thwarted by the wall and the rails.

Gigabyte eventually got out to spin up again, so HyperShock had to charge. You can’t let Gigabyte get up to speed. Unless that speed is air speed as HyperShock punted it into the wall by the blue square screws and into the other short corner, as HyperShock was trying to get Gigabyte stuck. Instead it was a couple of pulverizer hits.

But HyperShock was driving funny. All this and now it gives up the ghost? That would be peak HyperShock. Gigabyte spun up, but held back. This was questionable, because HyperShock was still mobile enough. This would be the iron being hot to strike. But Gigabyte was expecting a count-out.

“This is weird—OH! My transmitter got changed.”

Somehow, from the hits, HyperShock’s transmitter flipped the throttle and the steering commands. Or, once again to the HyperBlog (thank you again, Kyle Awner).

“On a pistol-grip transmitter, he has a trigger that normally controls forward back and a wheel on the side that controls steering. Now the wheel is going forward-back and the throttle trigger is steering. Right before we exit the corner, the robot keeps turning. That’s Will trying to make it go straight with the trigger.… In a move that I still don’t understand, Will is managing to crabwalk with his controls flipped.”

And somehow, Will Bales, steering with a trigger, which I don’t even know how that makes sense, got HyperShock in a straight line from the spinning and waiting Gigabyte, and with one big charge, sent it.

It was a good choice, because in a hit that will be seen for the rest of BattleBots highlights (like the re:MARS trailer that was BEFORE THIS AIRED, COME THE FUCK ON), Gigabyte’s shell goes one way, the rest of the robot goes a different way. And, normally, like, when Gigabyte’s gotten deshelled, it’s because of a mast failure. This was not that. This was the bolts from the shell being ripped off the spindle, along with the other tooth (because the first was damaged earlier in the fight), and the shell traveling the length of the mast, ripping everything else off. Will Bales, who knows where the camera is, cannot believe it. This fight is over. Also the wheels are now no longer on Gigabyte, you know, just in case.

HyperShock wins by KO in 1:41 and punches its ticket to the Champions Tournament. You guys, between this and winning re:MARS by beating Tombstone, Blip, and Hydra… HyperShock is good f’reals now. I mean, these four fights were convincing, destructive victories against good robots.

So, HyperShock joins Tombstone, End Game, and Tantrum in the Champions Tournament. Four will join them. Next up, seeing who gets the right to take on Lock-Jaw.

See you next week!