Interesting finals this year.



Minor Spoilers...

Not the usual suspects at the end this year. It was good to see some different designs do well this year, biting bots, control bots, flippers, etc.

Good to see the Udder Gun boys lose.

A lot of upsets and surprises along the way, I enjoyed the battles.

Kinda disappointed we had no running Battlebot thread this year, I confess to dragging my feet for sure.

So a very good year, the finals loser got outsmarted but such a fight! I was happy to see this year's villain get some of it's own medicine and end very busted up. May well have ended that way even without the Covid wild card

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Kinda disappointed we had no running Battlebot thread this year, I confess to dragging my feet for sure.

So a very good year, the finals loser got outsmarted but such a fight! I was happy to see this year's villain get some of it's own medicine and end very busted up. May well have ended that way even without the Covid wild card

Yeah there never was any explanation on how it got 2 pounds lighter suddenly after weigh in

I remember that show.

Seems like every year the judges found some way to push Bitch Doctor through the tournament.

Gave up on the whole thing when they stopped the fight because Bitch Doctor was stuck on one of the Battle Box hazards.

Didn't want her to lose a fight with Minotaur? We can't have that!

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Kinda disappointed we had no running Battlebot thread this year, I confess to dragging my feet for sure.

So a very good year, the finals loser got outsmarted but such a fight! I was happy to see this year's villain get some of it's own medicine and end very busted up. May well have ended that way even without the Covid wild card

Yeah there never was any explanation on how it got 2 pounds lighter suddenly after weigh in

Yeah, something about Rip Tide didn't seem right, how could a rookie (last year) use such a common design -- big drum vert -- and be so destructive? Not to mention Ethan Kurtz (sp?) is such a bitch. Copperhead correctly figured their weapon could take on Rip Tide's and come out on top.

As for that weight differential, Rip Tide was going against hammer bot Shattered. I'd guess they added top armor and a little smaller drum/egg beater.

I was an early fan. I remember watching Grant Imahara compete when it was on comedy central iirc. My wife and I used to love it.

I am not sure what happened it just kind of fell of our radar.

However, I see season 7 is on youtubeTV so I am starting with episode 1. I guess they have moved way beyond using parts from scooter and mobility carts.

I just watched the first fight. Was rooting for ribot vs. witch doctor. I cant say why but I was rooting for the college kids.

oh man, that thing got tore up. I was laughing so hard. It was primal, barbaric, and rude. Completely unnecessary. I havent had this much fun grading papers in a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Kinda disappointed we had no running Battlebot thread this year, I confess to dragging my feet for sure.

So a very good year, the finals loser got outsmarted but such a fight! I was happy to see this year's villain get some of it's own medicine and end very busted up. May well have ended that way even without the Covid wild card

Have to say that I thought the 17 year old who stepped in to drive Riptide at the last minute did a pretty good job for never having driven the bot before, much less in a final.

I'm using Roku, what channel are you guys watching this on?
Thanks

We get it on Discovery, Thursday nights 7PM CT.

I enjoyed watching the fights this season. I was pretty shocked to see who ended up in the finals. Things have definitely changed up lots since the inception of this show and contenders. I was a a fan of Tombstone. A simple destructive machine. Gyroscopic effects can wreak havoc for sure.

^^^^

Tombstone could never get past being as destructive to itself as it was to opponents. But it lives on in today's generation of bots designed to beat Tombstone -- 4WD vertical spinning drums or discs, angled front armor to deflect and launch a horizontal like Tombstone.

This year's final pitted two bots made to deal with such verts. My money would have been on Tombstone to beat either. Huge for sure, Saw Blaze maybe, if Tombstone could not launch itself.

And yeah, with all this spinning, gyroscopics are a problem. Was it Pizzaroni (sp?) that used a countering flywheel and asymmetrical wheels so effectively? Next year's Giant Nut competition could be a veritable bar scene from Star Wars in design, bring it on!!

Until then, stay tuned, the Golden Bolt is up for grabs soon.

Tombstone will be back. Ray had hand surgery this year. I agree he needs to innovate and update a little, and he did change the sport.

Coup!e of the newbies they trialed this season were underwhelming, especially Doomba...but seeing Quantum and the other really fast control bot get as far as they did was cool to see.

I was hoping it would come down to Huge and Hydra again, just to see if Hydra broke out the cow catcher again

This season has shown that Huge is a problem for almost every robot that can’t get their weapon up high enough to attack its “body”. For low bots like Tombstone and Minotaur, about all they can do is that hope that Huge’s weapon breaks. Those flexi-wheels mostly just soak up damage (although Tombstone’s lawnmower blade could likely do more damage than Minotaur’s drum spinner). Sawblaze is one of the few bots with a weapon that can get up there to attack the “body”, and even at that, they had to add some raised ears to prevent Huge from driving over them.

Tombstone is going to need a rethink if Ray comes back next year. Years ago, it was tearing up bots left and right, but in recent years, rival bots have gotten better armored and designed so they can take the hits from Tombstone’s blade. Now, when it hits a rival, there is a better chance that Tombstone will fling itself high in the air and across the box from the very high gyroscopic moment inherent in the design. Most fights Tombstone loses these days aren’t the result of another bot doing direct damage with their weapon, it’s because of Tombstone bouncing itself around the box.

I do believe Tombstone utterly destroyed a less refined Huge's wheels some years back. I have no reason to think today's Huge wouldn't be just as vulnerable to a Tombstonesque spinner.

That said, Huge's weapon is far more effective today. About the size of Tombstone's with less mass and speed. But it did many numbers on common verts this year. Madcatter almost pulled it off, cutting up Huge's wheels pretty good, just not enough. But that big horizontal spinner, coming from above ended Madcatter's tournament. I guess its secret weapon, the Huge Poon , didn't work out as hoped.