Welcome back to the Beat! Well, we’re down to 25 from 34, and will be down to 16. Let’s just get to it. To the fights!

31 seed play-in: Defender vs. Hydra
Defender: 2-1 (L, KO 1:50 vs. Ribbot; W, JD 3-0 vs. Riptide; W, JD 3-0 vs. Retrograde)
Hydra: 1-2 (L, KO 1:36 vs. End Game; W, KO 1:58 vs. Gruff; L, KO 1:43 vs. Glitch)

Winner gets Ribbot, and for Jake Ewert, a minor chance at revenge for last year. It isn’t Whiplash, but it’s a Vasquez bot!

Hydra came in fairly hot, in part buoyed by Defender immediately getting its lower forks on a seam. It went right up Hydra’s wedge and had a small flip onto its backside. Defender was able to get back upright, but it was also notable because Hydra had lost one of its front forks.

It didn’t mean too much because Defender charged, went right up the wedge again and did a perfect double springboarding off the flipper.

Hydra now stood in the middle of the Box, with Jason Vasquez trying to find some sort of workaround or opening for Defender to turn the tide. It didn’t work and Hydra’s flips started getting a little bigger as the third flip of the fight put Defender on its head, though it was still able to self-right.

Not for long though, as Hydra put Defender on top of the (lowered) pulverizer from about 10 feet up, then methodically kept the pressure on, for a fifth flip against the wall. Hydra continued to stalk down its prey for a sixth flip taking Defender to the corner, a seventh just missing putting the bot out, hitting off the wall instead and actually putting Defender in the relative safety of the center.

Defender was definitely hobbled and the drive wasn’t in top condition. Hell, Hydra’s didn’t seem fantastic either. But it was good enough for an eighth flip putting Defender face-down on the Upper Deck, with the clamping arm stuck off the Deck. Jake Ewert took this time to say “And that’s why the shelf sucks, because I can’t play with my toy anymore.”

Sorry Jake, no OOTA for this one. Hydra wins by normal plain ol’ KO and nabs the 31 seed to take on Ribbot.

19. Yeti vs. 14. Cobalt
Yeti: 2-1 (L, KO 2:01 vs. MadCatter; W, KO 2:05 vs. Pain Train; W, JD 2-1 vs. Skorpios)
Cobalt: 2-1 (L, KO 1:15 vs. Fusion; W, KO 1:08 vs. Ghost Raptor; W, KO 1:34 vs. Gruff)

Well this is gonna be a good fight between two bots that can really ruin your day. Cobalt returns with a fork configuration to try and neutralize Yeti’s.

Both bots met in the middle of the arena but then stopped to spin up. It looked like Cobalt’s wedge was going to have the advantage because from the first push they ever so slightly got under, but to Cobalt’s detriment, there was the slightest bit of gyro.

Yeti, after resetting the forks, was able to capitalize and draw the first bit of sparks on Cobalt’s underside. Cobalt was on the run and Yeti was able to get one more hit in on the backside while Cobalt tried to regroup.

After retreating, Cobalt was able to get back towards the middle of the arena and this time they got the ground edge, delivering a nose to nose hit to Yeti sending it rolling over. Yeti self-righted, but this cost it the very same fork as Cobalt finished the job against it. And the remaining fork, the right fork, wasn’t going down as cleanly, so with that Cobalt had a clear edge going forward.

Which they showed on the next hit running right under Yeti, dealing a ton of sparks and sending the drum bot about nine feet high, flipped over, and not moving too good. As a matter of fact, not good enough, the drive wasn’t working apart from using the one good fork to fruitlessly lift Yeti up and down. That’s not quite controlled movement, no matter what Greg Gibson said.

Cobalt wins by KO and will get either Whiplash or Icewave.

23. Tombstone vs. 10. Jackpot
Tombstone: 2-1 (L, KO 2:02 vs. Captain Shrederator; W, KO/JD 3-0 vs. Mammoth; W, JD 3-0 vs. Free Shipping)
Jackpot: 2-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Deadlift; W, KO 0:48 vs. Malice)

Tombstone is one of two robots in the original field of 34 who was knocked out twice in the regular season. Hydra was the other, and Mammoth doesn’t count for this question. I said original. What I mean by that is that this year Tombstone seems to be more of a glass cannon then usual. Hell, the fight that went the distance had the oddity of control bot Tombstone. Yes, it was because Free Shipping had one wheel.

On the other side, at a combined 5-0, Jackpot is now one of two robots to be perfect in two or more Fight Night seasons. Bite Force remains the other from Seasons 3 and 4, a perfect 8-0.

The two bots met in the middle and strangely enough Jackpot went weapon to weapon against the big horizontal bar. It took some light damage but both bots spun out and prepared to repeat the process, undaunted.

Second verse, much more violent than the first as both bots got sent way back, and an entire side panel of Jackpot flew off.

Luckily for Jackpot this also dislodged one of Tombstone’s wheels enough that the left drive was dead. Aaaand, that’s it.

And let the questions begin because they always do. Is Tombstone outdated? No, if anything this new iteration is more powerful than ever. But the drive motors were apparently one of the few things not revamped for this year. That specifically might be outdated. But good luck claiming Tombstone’s bounty, whoever dares to take it. It’s gonna hurt.

18. Black Dragon vs. 15. MadCatter
Black Dragon: 2-1 (W, KO 1:10 vs. Icewave; L, JD 3-0 vs. Rotator; W, KO 1:37 vs. Claw Viper)
MadCatter: 2-1 (W, KO 2:01 vs. Yeti; L, KO 2:44 vs. SawBlaze; W, KO 0:39 vs. Rampage)

The most controversial decision of the episode… and it gets the Phil Rizzuto WW from me. How close was it? Split decision close, and did the judges make the right call? I mean, I’ll be able to answer that eventually.

Black Dragon wins the split decision.

26. Valkyrie vs. 7. Blip
Valkyrie: 2-1 (L, JD 3-0 vs. P1; W, KO 0:42 vs. Triple Crown; W, KO 0:54 vs. Pardon My French)
Blip: 3-0 (W, KO 1:14 vs. Rusty, W, KO 2:19 vs. Overhaul; W, JD 3-0 vs. Lock-Jaw)

Blip gets rookie bot of the year, even if not rookie team of the year. The Beaties jury is still out on whether that counts. Aren Hill’s new bot with the murderously cute face gets another step up in competition, last year’s most destructive, which admittedly got a soft schedule to get to 2-1. Triple Crown and Pardon My French means Valkyrie got a pair of cupcakes.

Blip came in with the wedge already looking to slow down Valkyrie’s lethal undercutter. It was dealing plenty of sparks but Blip’s face, though maybe a little less pretty from the paint, was still in one piece.

Which is better than Valkyrie’s weapon, which was in one piece, yes, but it wasn’t spinning. That would be considered a major problem both offensively and defensively for the powerful spinner, as now Blip was able to get under without worry.

After some slight wedging around Blip fired a mini flip, just enough to get Valkyrie up and over and onto the Upper Deck screws. Blip followed up by assisting the screws and just putting Valkyrie on the Deck. She could easily get down, yes, but Blip was racking up the control points now. Even Valkyrie getting back over, assisted by Blip’s wedge, was points for Blip. (No, that does not count as a flip.)

Blip chasing them down and flipping counts (3), as did another triple from Valkyrie (4) into the corner, where Blip kept her there (5) and bounced her off the pulverizer (6, plus a shove that doesn’t count) before getting that big flip straight up, I don’t know, 14 feet (7)? As Blip continued to get Valkyrie out (8) but instead got her out of the corner (9) and onto the screws before returning to the middle (10, 11).

After pushing Valkyrie to the other side the assault continued (12) as Blip looked to either end with an OOTA or an old-fashioned KO (13). Another moonshot would help bring Valkyrie to a proper corner (14) before another flurry (15?, 16) pushed the undercutter back towards the blue square and the screws (17) before once again the short corner (18). Valkyrie had to have done a full lap of the Box. In the air. And back (19). In a little over 2 minutes (20). Until Valkyrie came to a stop with a wheel on the wall (21), and though they got down, the referee was asking about movement. No, flying through the air doesn’t count (22). Spinning, not quite either (23).

Having a wheel beached on the Upper Deck and the other off the ground as a result doesn’t count either. In fact, it counts for the opposite.

Blip wins by KO a little under the gun. They get Jackpot next.

22. Gigabyte vs. 11. Tantrum
Gigabyte: 2-1 (L, KO 1:08 vs. Uppercut; W, KO 0:50 vs. Captain Shrederator; W, KO 2:16 vs. SMEEE)
Tantrum: 2-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Malice; W, KO 1:44 vs. Lucky)

Speaking of Aren Hill, here’s the old bot from the same team, trying to recreate its shock semifinal appearance. Against a decent matchup for it, a full-body spinner. Gigabyte had an extra attachment for this fight, which we haven’t seen, on account of what do you attach to a full body spinner other than teeth? It’s meant to neutralize Tantrum’s wedge and inevitable rush.

Tantrum put the rush in box rush and absolutely flew into Gigabyte’s square. It was trying to prevent Gigabyte from spinning up, but that attachment was preventing it and buying Gigabyte time. Then it could swing the attachment to the other side and attack, and that’s what it did.

And then Gigabyte went flying and lost the attachment, and then pinged right into the wall. Tantrum got sent back as well but didn’t have a wall right by them. Somehow Gigabyte still looked okay, but another charge by Tantrum destabilized it and Gigabyte flipped over and had to self-right with Tantrum bearing down on it. Tantrum was able to grab it and corner it, setting up for its death humming puncher.

But the puncher didn’t fire, probably because the rail could have been damaged from the big hits. I mean that would be my guess. So back to the charging Gigabyte, which has otherwise worked well. And it’s damaged, so there was technically an attempt? Might lose a point though, though sticking Gigabyte on the Deck wall prevents it from worse. Gigabyte spun, flipped itself, then self-righted to get off, an interesting strategy right before it got pushed onto the Upper Deck proper.

Where Gigabyte waited and spun up. You know, that’s not a bad idea. I wonder how it works as it dropped to a waiting Tantrum and flew upwards, back onto the Deck, but bounced off and back onto the floor. And somehow, it was still spinning! Meanwhile it seemed that Tantrum was down a tire. It meant they were a little less rapid, but still game to tank the hits and send Gigabyte firing itself into another wall.

That hit finally did kill the spinner, which, what, somewhat neutralized damage now? Maybe Tantrum claws back a point? The good news for Tantrum is that they were still spinning their weapon and now drawing sparks on Gigabyte, so no automatic point deduction for not firing the weapon. As a matter of fact, it was still punching! But there was some faint smoke. Unless it was belt smoke? No, it was definitely not that. But there was more control as Tantrum held Gigabyte onto the killsaws, which actually did something.

But was Tantrum’s drive becoming an issue? It briefly spun about before finally coming forward, but it was definitely compromised as the fight went the distance to the judges.

Damage: Definitely a Gigabyte win here, but is it 3-2 or 4-1? Gigabyte lost its weapon system and a piece of tactics, but Tantrum lost a tire, some drive functionality, and started to smoke. Probably all the same system. I think the puncher working saves it from being 4-1 so I go 3-2. Narrowly.

Aggression: Tantrum charged time and time again, and that’s what you do against a full-body. They did the charging, even if it wasn’t with the weapon. I guess I go 2-1 Tantrum.

Control: Tantrum had the majority of control, where it borders on 3-0. But Gigabyte had enough I think to make it 2-1 and not 3-0.

So I have it 6-5 Tantrum, but I would not be surprised if it was a split decision, because I could very easily see damage 4-1 Gigabyte which would swing this the other way.

Surprisingly it was unanimous, as Tantrum wins by unanimous decision.

31. Hydra vs. 2. Ribbot
Hydra: (31 play-in: W, KO 2:09 vs. Defender)
Ribbot: 3-0 (W, KO 1:50 vs. Defender; W, KO 0:43 vs. Overhaul; W, KO 2:59 vs. P1)

Well, we missed a Ribbot-Defender rematch. Instead last year’s 1 seed gets its chance at this year’s 2 seed.

The big question would be the modular Ribbot’s setup. And they went with their undercutter instead of their more “standard” vert. Definitely a novel idea, but it makes sense. Hydra has to win the ground game or there’s no shot, and shredding the wedge is the best plan. Of course we see that didn’t work in Blip-Valkyrie, but this is Ribbot, the 2 seed!

Hydra came to somewhat rush Ribbot and perfectly time the flip, nailing Ribbot off the screws, and taking off the frog! It’s just a regular looking robot! A regular looking robot still dealing sparks to Hydra but once again getting sent skyward, but a regular robot! A very strong one that landed on its weapon but still ended up right-side up, and with the weapon still spinning. Which was also important, because just a fraction of a second too early and the frog successfully did its best/worst mohel impression taking off more than just the tip of Hydra’s flipping arm. Sensing that, there was no time to biddy-biddy-bum, as Ribbot continued to attack and spark up Hydra’s front wedge… until paying for it by landing in the screws thanks to Hydra’s shortened flipping arm. See, it’s still fine!

The naked frog was hopping up and down and all around the box, from being spit out of the screws to bouncing around before getting flipped once again by Hydra, then still bouncing around. And somehow always landing on its feet. Though it was crabwalking at this point, spinning in a circle with only a brief moment of vague forwardness. The referee asked for controlled movement, and somehow that didn’t count as controlled, and there was a count.

Hydra wins by controversial KO. I don’t know, I think that kind of crabwalk would have counted, but apparently not. Hydra was well in the lead though.

As for the cut fights:

27. Captain Shrederator vs. 6. Rotator
Captain Shrederator: 2-1 (W, KO 2:02 vs. Tombstone; L, KO 0:50 vs. Gigabyte; W, KO 2:15 vs. Jäger)
Rotator: 2-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Kraken; W, JD 3-0 vs. Black Dragon)

Congrats, Rotator. You win your first fight and good things happen in the form of a top 8 seed. And you get a fairly favorable matchup as Rotator’s as bulky as they come, coming up against a hit or miss robot.

Congrats, Captain Shrederator. You got back into the round of 32. It’s been a while. Good luck with a spinner that’s also a spinner-killer.

This went… yeah, about expected.

Rotator by KO. Rotator gets Tantrum in the round of 16.

30. Icewave vs. 3. Whiplash
Icewave: 2-1 (L, KO 1:10 vs. Black Dragon; W, KO 2:11 vs. Deadlift; W, KO 1:39 vs. Fusion)
Whiplash: 2-0 (W, KO 2:59 vs. Bloodsport; W, JD 2-1 vs. Skorpios)

If there was time and not new site-related delays, I would have had Whiplash vs. Uppercut, winner gets the 2 seed. To me that would have been a fun fight.

Also… can someone update Icewave’s page to have 2021 fights? It makes cross-referencing a pain in my ass. The wedgelets return on Icewave, and would a loss to Whiplash mean it’s time to scrap the idea?

Right, speaking of spinner-killers, Whiplash. As I said, no way to know if this is the end for Icewave, but we’ll find out.

As for now, Whiplash wins by KO and gets Cobalt in a tantalizing round of 16. Let’s go over those:

Defending champions 1. End Game get one of the bots that previously beat them, 16. Minotaur.
8. Copperhead gets 24. Witch Doctor in a battle of vertical spinners, drum vs. disks.
As per the leaks, 4. SawBlaze takes on 20. P1.
5. Uppercut is the next team to try and stop boisterous rookies 21. Riptide.
What could have been last year’s semifinal matchup had things broken slightly differently, 18. Black Dragon takes on 31. Hydra.
Hey, there was some chalk, as two undefeateds square off, 7. Blip vs. 10. Jackpot.
Somehow this is the highlighted fight: last year’s runner-up, 3. Whiplash taking on my pick for Most Destructive, 14. Cobalt.
A pair of tanks square off as it’s 6. Rotator and 11. Tantrum

And with that, we’ll see you next week.