Tonight's episode opens with the voiceover announcer saying, "They've waited, watched, agonized as Stinger, Bronco, Ghost Raptor, and Icewave battled their way into the quarterfinals." Everybody knows that these eight fights aren't actually being aired in chronological order, right? Okay, just making sure.
Tonight, we'll be seeing the other four fights in this first round of the brackets. After some sound bites from the builders that are used only in this introduction (this show is really good at sound bites, I'll give it that), Molly welcomes us to the show and calls our attention to the giant nut trophy that will be awarded to the winner. This is the first really good shot we've seen of that cool-looking stand the trophy is sitting on. Did Setrakian build that? It looks like something he'd build.
Chris calls our attention to the brackets and the fights which will be occurring tonight. He praises "the selection committee" for arranging a rematch between Lock-Jaw and Overhaul. I would like to comment on how everybody on this show seems so overjoyed about the fact that we'll be seeing this fight again, but I need to pace myself. They're going to be gushing over this a lot before the episode is finished.
First, we'll go to Witch Doctor versus OverDrive, a fight that we are told is the 9 seed against the 8 seed. Witch Doctor received one of four wild card spots, you see -- that's why it's seeded 9 out of 16. To explain any further would really just be talking down to the audience.
We see Witch Doctor and its team after their fight against Bronco. It looks like the show tried to make the awarding of the wild cards more dramatic by doing a bit where actual cards were left at the chosen teams' pit tables, but Witch Doctor's team was the only one that pretended to be excited well enough to be included in even a clip package.
Andrea Suarez says that she thinks if the fight against Bronco had gone all three minutes, they would have had a good chance to win. But... the whole reason the fight didn't go three minutes is because you were knocked out. That's like saying, "I think I would have had a really good chance of scoring a touchdown if I just hadn't been pushed out of bounds at the 50-yard line."
The two parts of the multibot didn't suffer any damage, so there's nothing to do but strategize on how to defeat OverDrive. Since OverDrive has large exposed tires, Andrea suggests that Shaman can "flame them up." Watch what you say -- it's Kenny's job to suggest ludicrous strategies that will never work.
(I realize that it looks like I've been picking on Witch Doctor throughout these write-ups. That was never my intention, I swear -- it's a respectable multibot controlled by what appears to be a team of perfectly nice people. But these are the snippets of interview that the show chose to air tonight.)
This is our first chance to take any kind of in-depth look at OverDrive, operated by Christian Carlberg and his daughter Carissa. Actually, from the footage of OverDrive being tested at the Carlberg home, it looks like the reason Christian hasn't been competing much in the past thirteen years is because he's been busy raising a family. I suppose a family is more important than combat robots. Maybe.
I'm sorry, did I say "in-depth look at OverDrive"? That implies that we learned anything about the robot in that edited package. It isn't until the supposed rankings are displayed that we see an image of OverDrive with its wedge in the air, confirming that it is indeed a lifting robot. These clips of the builders discussing strategy are nice, but it's really difficult for the audience to comprehend the strategy being discussed when they don't know what the robots are capable of doing.
I'm just going to ignore Kenny's discussion of the merits of Witch Doctor's Shaman, because it's no fun pointing out statements that aren't accurate but do have a kernel of truth to them. Instead, let's go straight to the introductions. For the second time in this episode, the hosts discuss how Christian is one of the best drivers in the tournament. I don't remember him explicitly being given that label back in the Comedy Central days, but I don't remember him making any foolish mistakes, either, so I suppose that could be true. Regardless, wouldn't the fact that this is a new robot being operated after roughly a decade of inactivity have some minor impact on his driving ability?
The fight begins. As Witch Doctor spins up its weapon, Shaman and OverDrive charge toward the center of the arena. Shaman's flame doesn't immediately ignite, though, and OverDrive shoves it aside.
OverDrive attempts to hit Witch Doctor's spinning disk with its sturdy wedge. Witch Doctor wants to hit OverDrive's large tires. It sort of gets a chance when OverDrive drives into a wall; OverDrive escapes. The two spend some time driving around. Shaman is still having trouble activating its flamethrower reliably.
The flamethrower finally works, obscuring our view of the first big hit of the fight. Witch Doctor connects with the side of OverDrive, popping it into the air and sending shards of something to the floor. I think Witch Doctor just shattered one of the hubcap-type things on OverDrive's tires.
Another hit from Witch Doctor's disk flips OverDrive over. OverDrive's wheels are large enough that mobility from that position isn't a problem, though obviously its wedge isn't particularly effective. OverDrive activates the wedge and drives itself into a wall, trying to flip back over. But it only succeeds in balancing on its side.
Now driving on the side of only two wheels, OverDrive moves out of the corner. Witch Doctor hits it again, putting it right side up. Before OverDrive can lower its wedge, Witch Doctor hits it another time, flipping it back onto its head.
OverDrive again lifts its wedge. Witch Doctor delivers a blow to its right front tire, flipping OverDrive right side up and scattering more pieces of hubcap across the floor. And now OverDrive is unable to rotate either of its front two tires -- they've been knocked out of alignment by the hits from Witch Doctor's disk.
As OverDrive drives in circles, Shaman gets the flamethrower working and gets close enough to roast OverDrive. Chris exclaims that OverDrive is on fire. Well, no -- it's in fire, but no part of the robot has actually been ignited. Witch Doctor comes in to hit OverDrive again and flips it over once more. As OverDrive lands, electrical sparks briefly come out of one of its rear tires. Wow -- it's very rare to see a combat robot short out and produce visible sparks like that. This actual interesting damage occurring to OverDrive goes unnoticed by the hosts.
Cut to a shot of Christian Carlberg laughing at the entertaining destruction at the expense of his robot. As the referee counts a motionless OverDrive out, he applauds. It's always great to see a builder be such a good sport while he watches his robot get obliterated.
Replays and interviews. Witch Doctor moves forward in the brackets, where it will face the winner of Tombstone vs. Radioactive. Not that I want to assume anything, but it looks like we'll soon get a chance to see that sturdy steel wedge that Witch Doctor has been sporting in its glamour shots.
After the break, we take a closer look at Tombstone and Radioactive. A member of Radioactive's team says that due to mechanical problems, the robot was immobile by the end of the fight. To illustrate this, the show gives us a clip of Radioactive driving across the arena floor.
As for Tombstone, its team brought it back to its pit table with very little needed in the way of maintenance. During the shot of them wheeling Tombstone back, I notice in the foreground a green robot that was never mentioned or seen during this tournament. Wha...?
In the studio area, the hosts discuss the inevitable bloodbath that will be this fight -- the dangerous, effective weapon of Tombstone will be going up against the plastic armor of Radioactive. Kenny tells us that Radioactive's team will be changing the configuration of the robot's body to serve more as a ramming robot. Nobody bothers to tell us why the robot has the ability to independently move its three body segments in the first place.
As we see Tombstone enter the arena, Chris says, "Kenny, somebody should cue the menacing music when this guy enters the Box." Of course, the viewers at home are watching the fully edited version of the program, in which every time we see a robot enter the Box, music is played underneath. So to the viewers' ears, what Chris is saying makes no sense.
As Radioactive enters the arena, Kenny talks about potential strategies it could consider, all of them bleak. As someone who has seen his fair share of fights involving Tombstone, I can tell you that the one and only way Radioactive can hope to win this battle is to put as much energy as it can into that first collision with Tombstone's weapon and hope that the blow sends Tombstone caroming into the arena wall, an impact which might cause something on that spinning weapon to break internally. And that's still a "might." Any other scenario, and Radioactive is doomed.
So let's make this happen. The lights turn green and both robots drive out of their squares. And Tombstone isn't spinning its weapon. Ray Billings sounded like he thought everything was fine, but for the briefest moment, I wonder whether something on Tombstone has unexpectedly stopped working...
Nope. There it goes. Ray was just giving Radioactive a few extra moments of life before its execution. Tombstone gets its weapon up to speed and chooses the nearest of Radioactive's body segments to attack. A full panel of armor is torn clean off.
Tombstone circles around, then puts two more gashes into Radioactive. A severed battery pack is lying nearby. Tombstone hits Radioactive again, spinning it around a bit. Radioactive comes to a stop, so Ray looks over and asks Radioactive's team if they want him to hit them again. By the time he looks back, Radioactive has resumed moving, so now he has no choice but to keep hitting them.
Chunks of plastic are everywhere. Radioactive is currently spinning in place, although I'm pretty sure that's just a result of being hit by Tombstone's weapon. Still, it looks like movement, so Tombstone hits Radioactive again. Now Radioactive has stopped moving entirely.
With his opponent now dead, Ray decides to get some driving practice in, taking a fully-functional Tombstone dangerously close to the arena wall (the multi-ton weight of the BattleBox makes it the one object that could potentially break Tombstone's weapon). Oh, I see -- he just wanted to attack the large piece of plastic lying near the corner.
There's the countdown, and Radioactive is officially knocked out. The replays and post-fight interview all confirm that Tombstone is the most dangerous robot in the tournament and a strong contender for the finals. A commercial break happens, and now it's time for Lock-Jaw versus Overhaul. All right, let's get this over with.
Molly calls this a "highly anticipated rematch." Maybe I'm in the minority -- maybe people really do want to see these two fight each other again instead of seeing how they might fare against literally any other robot in this competition. But my gut is telling me that in a sport where the actual combatants are emotionless machines, this show is willing to overdramatize any human conflict it can find. If there's one thing we've learned about this series over the course of these few short episodes, it's that the circumstances surrounding the fights are more important than the fights themselves.
The hosts discuss the handshake snub. Kenny says that he thinks the teams should have shaken hands at the end of the day. Um... they did. After the score was announced. You aired it. He continues, "It will be settled now, though. They have an opportunity to do it again, do it fairly, and settle the score." Settle what score? The judges didn't take the late hit into consideration when declaring Lock-Jaw the winner last time! Yes, the late hit shouldn't have happened, but how does making us sit through this fight again settle anything? If Overhaul wins this time, what does that prove in relation to the late hit?
We see footage from the pits of the teams getting ready for this fight. Charles Guan says that he's a little upset that he was once again paired with Lock-Jaw. You and me both, man. Each of the teams is making minor adjustments to their strategies in preparation for the rematch. There isn't much more to add.
Molly explicitly thanks the selection committee for making this fight happen again, thereby undermining the show's own efforts to make it look like the robots just happened to land next to one another in the brackets due to seeding. Chris calls our attention to the rankings that we already saw for these robots two episodes ago. He and Kenny point out that based on Overhaul's performance in that first fight, these numbers aren't a true reflection of what it's capable of doing in the arena. Then why have you been making us look at them all this time?
Chris asks who has the edge in a rematch. Kenny doesn't give a definitive answer, pointing out that both teams are very capable at making adjustments. The correct response is "the show's producers." They're the ones who come out ahead due to a rematch.
Then there's about two and a half minutes of fanfare before the fight actually begins. None of it is worth commenting on.
The lights turn green and it's time to fight. Again. The two machines cautiously face each other in the center of the arena. They meet wedge to wedge, but when neither gets a clear advantage, they both back away. During the repositioning, Overhaul is able to circle around and use its sharp clamping weapon to dig into Lock-Jaw's left front tire.
Overhaul attempts to lift, but since it only has a grip on the corner of its opponent, a full flip isn't going to be successful. Still, it is able to squeeze that tire and prevent the wheel from spinning, even though the other two wheels on that side of Lock-Jaw are rotating furiously in an effort to break free. That's a hold worth keeping for as long as the rules will allow.
Overhaul keeps one side of Lock-Jaw off the ground while the wheels on the other side drive the robot in a wide arc back and forth. Lock-Jaw tries to move its jaws into a favorable position, but only succeeds in getting them both to point down under the body of the robot, getting all of its tires off the ground. Meanwhile, something (I'm going to guess it's the strain from trying to spin an incapacitated wheel) has caused smoke to begin emanating from Lock-Jaw's body.
Overhaul eventually has to release, so it does. Lock-Jaw lands on top of all of its jaws bent underneath the body of the robot. Lock-Jaw's front two wheels are now touching the ground, but one of those two wheels is the one that Overhaul clamped, and it looks like it's been permanently immobilized.
Also impeding Lock-Jaw's progress is the fact that Overhaul is still there, trying to get a hold of it once again. Clamping isn't 100% successful, but Overhaul has wedged under Lock-Jaw, and with Lock-Jaw's jaws having the greatest amount of contact with the floor, Overhaul is able to push its opponent around.
Out of nowhere, a pillow of flame bursts forth from the front of Lock-Jaw. Everybody watching briefly thinks that something has gone terribly wrong, but Chris then informs us that one of Lock-Jaw's weapons is a flamethrower. Is it me? Am I being unreasonable when I ask that they not spring this kind of information on us in the middle of the fight?
Overhaul is now wedged under the front of Lock-Jaw, trying to perform a damaging clamp somewhere inside the jaw mechanism. Lock-Jaw can't do anything else, so it just activates the flamethrower toward Overhaul's body. The referee begins the countdown on Lock-Jaw. Hold on a minute. Overhaul is lifting Lock-Jaw's body slightly off the ground. All of the wheels are still functional on one side -- if Overhaul let Lock-Jaw go, it's possible that Lock-Jaw could still drive around on that tire. You can't count a robot out while it's being lifted by its opponent!
The referee reaches zero and declares Lock-Jaw KO'ed. Since when are the referees allowed to KO a robot in the middle of a pin? Granted, Overhaul would've likely won if it went to a judges' decision, but you can't end the fight when there's still a minute on the clock without at least separating the two robots first!
Great -- now we're going to have to have another rematch.
Replays and interviews. Overhaul's team now seems much happier about the rematch occurring. I'd reckon that winning the fight helped to brighten their attitude about it all. The show makes a point of showing Donald Hutson shaking the hands of Overhaul's team.
At ringside, Chris says, "So Kenny, the way that match ended, it was literally a passing of the torch as Lock-Jaw with the flames and Overhaul with the victory." Sigh. If you explain the metaphor, then it certainly isn't literal, is it?
After the commercials, Molly welcomes us back by saying, "Up next, we have a highly anticipated battle in the arena." Highly anticipated by whom? The home audience isn't even familiar with one of the competitors yet. And the other competitor hasn't fought enough to become a crowd favorite.
It's time for the last battle in this round of the tournament: Bite Force vs. HyperShock. After we see footage of HyperShock's brief first fight, we learn that at the end of the bout, the robot's drive controllers all failed. Will Bales's family (which drove the robot he defeated in that previous round) loaned him their speed controllers, but because those controllers are more powerful, he's going to have to make some other adjustments on the fly.
(I need to lie down. That was more information than I'm used to being given during these segments.)
We aren't told whether any significant repairs needed to be performed to Bite Force after its fight with Warhead, but we do learn that the robot's weapon system is modular (although Bite Force will be maintaining the same configuration for this fight, since it's facing another spinning weapon in HyperShock) and that there are magnets attached to the treads of the robot to give it more traction on the steel arena floor.
The hosts take a look at the oh-so-vital rankings. If I thought these numbers mattered in any way whatsoever, I'd ask how the "experts" were able to calculate a single Weapons ranking for a robot with modular weapons. Instead, let's take this time to actually get a look at HyperShock. Its weapon is a drum with two disks at the ends.
Kenny says that the danger of Bite Force is its grappling weapon, which "can get you out of the arena and get you out of there pretty fast." Two questions. One: In order to make weight for its anti-spinner wedge, the team has had to remove the upper clamping arm. Doesn't that diminish Bite Force's ability to manipulate opponents up and over the arena walls? Two: Aren't the only places where a robot can go "out of the arena" those spaces behind the screws? Everywhere else, the Lexan abuts the steel barriers.
Introductions, light show, time to fight. Bite Force leads with its wedge. HyperShock doesn't spin its weapon, so for the time being, it's relying on the two hinged wedged forks on the front of the robot. Bite Force tries pushing the side of HyperShock. Chris gets too excited about the idea of a robot being pushed into the screw while HyperShock drives out of the push without much difficulty.
HyperShock is able to get underneath the wedge of Bite Force and pushes it into the corner. Bite Force absorbs three blows from the sledgehammer before it can escape.
HyperShock has gotten its weapon to work. As it spins up, Bite Force wedges underneath the back of the robot, but it can't take advantage. HyperShock appears to now have its weapon at top speed.
The two machines do a little positioning. HyperShock is able to get its weapon to connect with the corner of Bite Force's wedge. And the hit pops Bite force into the air and onto its head!
Bite Force's lifting forks are designed to flip the robot right side up in just such a situation. Problem is, the wedge currently attached to the back of Bite Force's body is preventing the body from tipping all the way over when the forks move to that self-righting position. HyperShock (its weapon not spinning again) comes over to push Bite Force toward a screw as it struggles.
Possibly with some help from HyperShock, Bite Force is able to self-right. It goes back to chasing after HyperShock with the wedge. One of HyperShock's hinged wedge forks is pushed way out of position.
Bite Force continues to attack HyperShock with its wedge. Which gets me to thinking -- I know that at the previous BattleBots tournament (the one that never aired), each of the competitors was told that their robot had to have an active weapon in order to be included in the tournament. I assume the same stipulation applied for this invitational tournament.
And while the details are hazy in my mind, I also remember there being some discussion among the builders after that tournament regarding a different modular robot. When it had to face a spinner, that team removed the robot's primary active weapon and replaced it with a passive wedge (I think there was a secondary active weapon on the other side of the robot, though I don't remember whether it was working). During the fight, the robot just used its wedge, ignoring its active weapon and (I think) winning the fight just by acting like a wedge bot. Which went against the spirit of the rules, if not the exact letter of the rules.
So has that issue been resolved for this tournament? Does a robot have to always have an active weapon that it uses in each fight? What about after some damage has occurred? After all, Ghost Raptor is one broken weapon motor away from becoming a wedge, even though it started this tournament with active weapons. Would BattleBots disqualify a robot in the middle of a tournament because it became too broken to have an active weapon?
That last question is one in which a scenario hasn't come up yet for it to be relevant. But this fight so far has me thinking about the rule in general. Bite Force has an active weapon, but up to this point, all it's done is use its stationary wedge to push HyperShock around. I can't imagine the BattleBots executives being too happy about that.
Anyway, back to the fight. Bite Force is finally able to get its wedge under HyperShock. As it pushes HyperShock, Bite Force pivots its lower forks all the way to the back to make it appear that it is trying to clamp onto HyperShock. Although the forks are a few inches away from touching HyperShock and the reason HyperShock hasn't yet escaped is because one of its wheels is stuck on Bite Force's wedge.
HyperShock gets back on the floor. Bite Force stays on it. A little bit of smoke starts to creep out of HyperShock's body. Then a lot of smoke starts to creep out of HyperShock's body. HyperShock is no longer moving -- its replacement speed controllers may have given up.
Will Bales calls across the drivers' platform, asking Paul Ventimiglia to flip him. Paul puts the forks of Bite Force back on the ground and uses them to jostle HyperShock up and down a little bit. Bite Force backs off, but HyperShock continues to not move. A spike comes up from the BattleBox floor because... well, nothing much else is happening, so why not?
The referee begins to count HyperShock out. With about one or two seconds left in the countdown, Bite Force comes back to get underneath HyperShock and begins to perform a more significant lift. As it does so, the referee reaches zero and declares HyperShock KO'ed. Again, I don't know what the specific rules are for BattleBots, but I know that at other tournaments, if you try to pin/lift your opponent like that while they're being counted out, that resets the countdown (because your attack may inadvertently get your opponent to start working again). Between the last fight and this, I think BattleBots needs to get some clearer rules on when the referees can perform a knockout count.
In the post-fight interviews, Paul Ventimiglia reveals that Bite Force wasn't as responsive as he expected. Some replays, and Chris says, "We'll be right back with more action right after this." That... isn't true.
Unless "action" is now defined as "closely examining the brackets to look at the quarterfinal fights that we'll be seeing in next week's episode." Because that's what the hosts do in the final segment of content. They identify the Bronco vs. Stinger fight as one that has a high potential of being exciting, and I agree. I haven't gotten to see Stinger take on too many flipping bots, but when it does, the fight usually puts me on the edge of my seat.
One more correction before we go: Molly says that these robots have been fighting for over a month. Even if you ignore the fact that there has been at least one interview in which a builder talked about his fight "yesterday," the first episode aired 21 days ago. This might be week four, but that doesn't mean four weeks have already elapsed.
With that, we await the quarterfinals of this tournament. Only eight robots and seven fights remain. And now that we know how all of the remaining robots work (well, sort of), I think it's time we intensify our search and rescue efforts for Bobak. He's still listed in the closing credits, but at this point, I fear the worst.