Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Jul 14, 2018 10:45:31 GMT -5
RIP Spitfire. Monsoon got knocked the f*** out! One of the best delivered hits this season. And no surprise Duck! gets eliminated by ring-out. It showed aggression and could've gotten Bronco to run out of flips, but it wasn't meant to be. There looks to be no new episode next week as my cable's guide shows Cooper's Treasure mini-marathon going on at that time. Yeah, they're taking a week break thanks to Shaq We- I mean Shark Week.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Jul 14, 2018 15:36:32 GMT -5
Also, why the f*** are they not televising some of the fights at all (notably for Ultimo Destructo)? Mainly they aren’t showing the fights that basically flat out suck. Ultimo’s fights apparently just haven’t been entertaining.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Jul 17, 2018 21:21:55 GMT -5
So Battlebots is off until August 3rd, so what bots have been hits, misses, and surprises for you so far?
For me, the hits have been Tombstone, Bronco, Bite Force, End Game, HUGE, Ice Wave, DUCK!, and Sawblaze.
Misses have been Bombshell, Lockjaw, Blacksmith, and Chomp.
Surprises have been End Game, Sawblaze, DUCK!, HUGE, Petunia, and Monsoon.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Aug 4, 2018 1:09:49 GMT -5
DESPERADO TOURNAMENT TIME~!
Too bad we couldn't have gotten all seven fights in full but that's what happens when you have a mere hour to work with.
The first fight between Lucky and Gemini was flat out BRUTAL. I do have to wonder if Lucky would have gotten a KO had their flipper had kept working but they got the win regardless.
I honestly thought Kraken was winning until Lockjaw got that one big shot to flip it over. I doubt we're ever going to get a good Razer-style crusher in BattleBots anytime soon.
THERE'S the Gigabyte everyone was expecting, and good grief Valkyrie is a damaging beast.
Valkyrie, however, was utterly screwed the moment that bar broke. I was half expecting it to blow apart Apex-style with how it was flying around. Yikes.
WHAT AN UPSET BY LUCKY! I had a feeling Gigabyte was in trouble with how it was wobblespinning on the first couple of hits, and then Lucky got a flip in with the broken flipper and Gigabyte's bar broke. Wonder if that was due to shoddy parts again....
Annnnnnnnnnd Lucky's luck then ran out. Lockjaw claims the Giant Bolt and looks like the threat it was expected to be going into the resurrected series.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Aug 4, 2018 6:36:08 GMT -5
That was very good.
Heading into the episode I figured if any of the lower seeds had any chance to make noise in this mini tournament it was Kraken, working off of the logic that given the rough timeline of events of when this all was taking place according to Kraken’s builder(in a video he made before this week’s episode about the behind the scenes stuff around this tournament, they didn’t make the final selections for the bracket until the very end of the taping day that ended with the episode where Lock-Jaw fought Bronco, with Lock-Jaw’s decision to enter coming down entirely to whether they lost to Bronco or not), I figured they could possibly beat Lock-Jaw since they were coming fresh off of a loss where they not only had significant drive issues but got flipped several feet in the air multiple times by Bronco, and if Kraken somehow won that match, they’d take on the battered winner of Hypothermia and Valkyrie. What I completely forgot about was the fact that Donald brought two freaking Lock-Jaws to the event(pulling an Inertia Labs from last season). So all he had to do was swap in the Lock-Jaw that didn’t face Bronco(possibly the one that fought End Game or Bombshell instead and had more time to be repaired and ready to go).
Even then Kraken still put on an impressive display and showed they kind of got a raw deal being placed into two freaking rumbles. Like what the hell is a clamp/crusher gonna do in rumbles? The inherent design of the robot means they are specifically meant for one on one fights where they can focus on one opponent. Kraken finally only gets one foe to face, and look at that, did quite well for themselves. Speaking of doing quite well for themselves, bravo to Lucky. They clawed their way to a good run, and it was ingenious reforming their mangled flipping arm into a pneumatic puncher instead. Lucky gets some crap but they really just had bad luck(ironically). Last season they fought beta, who they could barely do anything to, and Yeti, who was perfectly designed to counter them, what with being invertable and being a vertical spinner perfect for uppercutting their flipping arm off if they mistimed a flip attempt. This season before this tournament they had to take on Skorpios, a(now abundantly clear) excellent control bot who was able to score the one lucky hit needed to basically win them the match, and Son of Whyachi, which was just a bad draw for Lucky all around(unlike Gigabyte who had some “safe” spots on the shell to strike them on, attempting to do any flips on SoW meant losing their arm if they didn’t stop those spinning hammers first somehow).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2018 8:24:24 GMT -5
That was a good tournament. Donald Hutson saw his opportunity and took it, becoming the first winner of the Desperado Bolt and getting a shot at the Nut. I have a feeling though that because he had to get into the tournament this way, Lockjaw is gonna have a very low seed, meaning it'll take on the likes of Tombstone, Bronco, or Minotaur in the first round. Next week returns to regular action, and we'll have 2 bots in the main event that look to have tournament spots locked-up (for now) {Spoiler}{Spoiler}Tombstone vs. Whiplash And for something completely different, Youtuber William Osman decided to create his own Battlebot to see if it could hang with the big boys. Can the cheaply-made Moist Pony pull off a massive upset against Huge? You probably know the answer already, but it's still fun to watch the end results.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Aug 11, 2018 1:08:33 GMT -5
Warhead lighting birthday candles: BAD IDEA.
That may be the best ROTATOR has ever been, dismembering Skorpios. Doubt they do too well should they make the 16 but I think they'll be there.
Welp, there was a good reason why Ultimo Destructo's two wins never made air: it f***ing SUCKS. Witch Doctor broke them so badly that it's just ridiculous, and to lose to Axe Backwards prior to that is awful too.
Overhaul actually gave WAR Hawk some real problems until that minibot got underneath. And I honestly thought Overhaul was finished once it caught fire. Not sure if that's enough to get WAR Hawk into the 16, though.
Not sure if I would have gone with the jaws for Warhead, and considering how the fight started for Chomp, I would have not complained if Zoe Stevenson had taken the decision. But thankfully Team Razer knows how to drive because that turned out to be the key for them. NOW USE THE DISC NEXT TIME, YOU GUYS!
I expected Tombstone to win but good lord, Whiplash made it take some punishment as well. That had to have made the frame issues worse, and if DUCK! is indeed next, Tombstone's chances of retaining its title may be getting a hell of a lot slimmer.
….BUT SERIOUSLY, TEAM RAZER, USE THE DAMN DISC NEXT TIME.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Aug 11, 2018 4:42:56 GMT -5
Warhead lighting birthday candles: BAD IDEA. That may be the best ROTATOR has ever been, dismembering Skorpios. Doubt they do too well should they make the 16 but I think they'll be there. Welp, there was a good reason why Ultimo Destructo's two wins never made air: it f***ing SUCKS. Witch Doctor broke them so badly that it's just ridiculous, and to lose to Axe Backwards prior to that is awful too. Overhaul actually gave WAR Hawk some real problems until that minibot got underneath. And I honestly thought Overhaul was finished once it caught fire. Not sure if that's enough to get WAR Hawk into the 16, though. Not sure if I would have gone with the jaws for Warhead, and considering how the fight started for Chomp, I would have not complained if Zoe Stevenson had taken the decision. But thankfully Team Razer knows how to drive because that turned out to be the key for them. NOW USE THE DISC NEXT TIME, YOU GUYS! I expected Tombstone to win but good lord, Whiplash made it take some punishment as well. That had to have made the frame issues worse, and if DUCK! is indeed next, Tombstone's chances of retaining its title may be getting a hell of a lot slimmer. ….BUT SERIOUSLY, TEAM RAZER, USE THE DAMN DISC NEXT TIME. Warhead going with the Dino head instead of spinner was actually smart on their part. That massive green band at the base of Chomp is spinner-killing metal. Don’t want to risk breaking their spinner especially when they had a configuration that just so happens to be Chomp’s biggest weakness. And yeah Whiplash made Tombstone have to work for their win here. 3 or 4 fights is usually the point in the event where Tombstone starts struggling and doesn’t have easy wins, and you could see it by the end of this fight, Tombstone’s wheel almost fell off. So now that’s two hard hitting matches where Tombstone went flying all over the arena. The Minotaur fight warped and even fractured Tombstone’s frame in places. What the hell did the Whiplash fight do? If DUCK! is their next opponent, then even if Tombstone wins, they’ll probably be in no shape to repeat as champ.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2018 7:45:33 GMT -5
Rotator actually pulled off an upset. Amazing. Chomp finishes 0-4 in a disappointing season. Overhaul/Warhawk should've gone to the minibot. And Tombstone pulled victory from the jaws of defeat against Whiplash. Duck! should be the next opponent if the first episode is any indication. No new episode next week as they're be rerunning a 2016...wait, what? That is a new episode? And that's the main event? Ooooookay then. {Spoiler}Minotaur vs. Blacksmith
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Aug 11, 2018 11:27:34 GMT -5
Rotator actually pulled off an upset. Amazing. Chomp finishes 0-4 in a disappointing season. Overhaul/Warhawk should've gone to the minibot. And Tombstone pulled victory from the jaws of defeat against Whiplash. Duck! should be the next opponent if the first episode is any indication. No new episode next week as they're be rerunning a 2016...wait, what? That is a new episode? And that's the main event? Ooooookay then. {Spoiler}{Spoiler}Minotaur vs. Blacksmith {Spoiler}I mean, Blacksmith hasn't done too well either so Minotaur might as well put it out of its misery.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2018 20:34:01 GMT -5
I didn't have my usual Friday lessons tonight, so I watched tonight's episode live rather than Saturday morning.
Red Devil being split-up like that was just hilarious. Valkyrie has a good shot making the round of 16 now.
Gigabyte got the lucky shot to KO Brutus. Funny how once Gigabyte stopped spinning, it got the edge it needed. I wonder if that was intentional?
Poor, poor Bombshell. 0-4 with the last one being a ring-out against Byte Force, who should be at least in the top 4.
Son of Whyachi vs. End Game was just...wow. I'm actually surprised this wasn't called a Double KO as it looked like Whyachi wasn't really able to move either.
And the rematch was better than the original, but Minotaur pulls out the victory. I wonder if having this one end in a decision hurts his standing?
Guide currently has nothing listed for next week aside from the fact that it's a new episode. Once it reveals the main event, I'll put it on here with the spoiler tag.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Aug 18, 2018 1:08:04 GMT -5
I didn't have my usual Friday lessons tonight, so I watched tonight's episode live rather than Saturday morning. Red Devil being split-up like that was just hilarious. Valkyrie has a good shot making the round of 16 now. Gigabyte got the lucky shot to KO Brutus. Funny how once Gigabyte stopped spinning, it got the edge it needed. I wonder if that was intentional? Poor, poor Bombshell. 0-4 with the last one being a ring-out against Byte Force, who should be at least in the top 4. Son of Whyachi vs. End Game was just...wow. I'm actually surprised this wasn't called a Double KO as it looked like Whyachi wasn't really able to move either. And the rematch was better than the original, but Minotaur pulls out the victory. I wonder if having this one end in a decision hurts his standing? Guide currently has nothing listed for next week aside from the fact that it's a new episode. Once it reveals the main event, I'll put it on here with the spoiler tag. Not sure how well Valkyrie would do in the Round of 16, though. Maybe it would have a chance at clipping someone's wheels but the top level bots like Tombstone or SOW would slaughter it. Brutus was doing so well and then got flipped. That wedge is a lot sturdier than 2016 too. Has any bot fallen worse than Bombshell this season? And meanwhile, Bite Force with that Big Nipper-style OOTA! Poor End Game. Started out so promising but then ran into two of the most terrifying bots in the competition. I know they called out Tombstone that one time but Tombstone would probably wallop them too. Too bad Blacksmith (SPONSORED BY NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS) lost again since I join Al in throwing up the horns every time. At least it held up a lot better this time. And I'm not really worried about Minotaur's status as far as the 16, Tombstone loss notwithstanding.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Aug 18, 2018 4:47:33 GMT -5
So, credit to Red Devil, those treads are insanely sturdy. Like seriously, they were at times getting directly blows from Valkyrie's spinner! Treads usually explode just from being nipped by a saw for god's sake! I actually think Jerome Miles has figured out the secret to making good tread robots, because bravo, Red Devil, bra-freaking-vo. Also I entered this fight knowing full well that each tread pod was autonomous, as well as the center module, and yet during the course of the match forgot that fact until, well, they got split(speaking of, that makes Red Devil the third robot to be split in two this season, joining Vanquish(who split because of poor welding that busted), and Ultimo Destructo, the group grows to 4 if you want to include Gigabyte's de-shelling).
I'm so damn conflicted on Brutus, the robot was pretty legit this season(first fight smokeout notwithstanding), actually legitimately earning wins over Son of Whyachi and WAR Hawk(last season their win over Moebius was rather lame as the robot was damaged irreparably during shipment, so they literally fought a broken bot, and let's be honest, they absolutely did not beat Lock Jaw, Lock Jaw made them their bitch, and they only won because that season went full raging boner on "primary weapon rule"), but, the robot's builder/driver, Adam Bercu is suuuuuuch a putz that I kinda have to hate a legitimately good, robust robot because the guy behind it is someone I want to see lose. So here I am, seriously impressed with how good the wedge is, just flat out tanking the hits from Gigabyte until Gigabyte broke, but unlike Captain Shrederator, Gigabyte kept driving(which, btw, Nick Nave, is why people don't shit all over Gigabyte despite them having difficulties this season(for context, about two weeks ago Nick Nave got butthurt on the Battlebots Reddit page about people dunking all over Captain Shrederator, but was holding Gigabyte up like some god of full body spinners, but like just look at both of their seasons, Gigabyte only lost two fights due to poor metal working decisions, Captain Shrederator routinely died just from being hockey pucked against the wall once, just once, whereas here, Gigabye was ping ponging all over the arena, and it took nearly two minutes for the shell to die, and then the robot continued working and freaking won(by somehow wedging under the wedge)! Go sit your ass down, Nicky), and then in the end, Gigabyte somehow manages to flip them and they pull a 2018 Bombshell and lose because they got high-centered on the tooth of their weapon.
Speaking of Bombshell, oh man, poor Bombshell. Like I get why they had such a tough schedule this season, they were the runner up last season, so logically it made sense to give them hell if they were going to give Tombstone hell. It was really the short build time that screwed the team over, mixed with some poor design choices, such as that wedge that at first glance looked great, but then you realized only tapers in a way that leaves just the front panel/"blade" close to the floor, the flanks of the wedge have obvious ground clearance, and all four of their opponents could take advantage of this design choice. Lock Jaw has forks, Bronco has a low flipper with massive wedge flanks, Yeti also had lifting forks, and Bite Force has hindged wedgelets, which, thanks to gravity, will always be lower to the floor than any static wedge, because they literally scrape the floor(just like Blacksmith's forks(which is why Blacksmith's forks keep catching of floor seams and the killsaw slots)). Anyways, once Bite Force flipped them over the first time, it was over. They just toyed with them after that point, and look at that! The first spinner OotA of the season(the second one of the reboot seasons, as the first ever spinner OotA was Wrecks freaking launching Witch Doctor out of the arena in their rumble that also involved Bite Force last season)! Bombshell has the rotten luck of not only joining the 0-4 club, but also being the first robot in the reboot series to be OotA-ed twice(in the same season to boot!).
Son of Whyachi won, like I expected them to, but not at all in the way I expected them to. End Game's wedge, unlike Brutus' which tanked SoW's spinning hammers allowing them to flip them over, looked suspect to me this entire season. It is short and looks very thin, at least compared to other wedges this season. I thought SoW was going to rip that thing off(especially considering Bite Force tore a notch into it when they fought), or maybe rip End Game's spinner off. Instead it is literally a one hit fight, and End Game is dead, along with their chances at going to the main tournament.
Blacksmith vs Minotaur 2: Electric Boogaloo was definitely a better fight in terms of both robots actually being able to fight. Their previous encounter is likely to remain more memorable, because of the sheer amount of damage, and the spectacle of Blacksmith just going back for more punishment over and over again. I forgot but did Minotaur's team say they went with their weapon powered down against Hypothermia as well? Because this reminded me a lot of that fight, at least in terms of Minotaur showing a lot more control, and a lot more push & grind attacks rather than big chunk ripping hits.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2018 8:49:43 GMT -5
I was rewatching SOW vs. End Game earlier and I noticed during one of the replays that there were a few pieces of what looked to be shredded rubber around End Game before the hit. Not sure if it was from earlier battles or if it was from End Game's tires, but if it was the latter, I wouldn't be surprised if that played a factor in the KO.
I wish the video clip would go up. The Gif does this moment no justice.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2018 17:31:46 GMT -5
So yeah, Science Channel replays had some bonus battles that I haven't yet covered, but thanks to some people on Youtube, you can watch them for yourselves.
From episode 6, here's Valkyrie vs. Predator vs. Bale Spear
From the Desperado Tournament, here's Gigabyte vs. Double Dutch
and from episode 12, here's Gemini vs. Sharkoprion
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2018 18:11:29 GMT -5
Tonight's fight card:
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
Patti Mayonnaise
Metal Maestro: Co-winner of the FAN Idol Throwdown!
Fun while it lasted
Posts: 38,465
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Aug 25, 2018 1:07:58 GMT -5
THEY OPENED WITH DUCK! VS. TOMBSTONE. That's like opening a random RAW with Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns. (Wait....) And it turned downright violent. No idea how Tombstone survived but it's damaged and damaged badly. Ray Billings may not be walking away with the Giant Nut this time.
Yeti just smacked Petunia around like it was, well, like it was the mediocre bot that it pretty much is. Yeti should be in the 16.
So, Axe Backwards sucks. And Monsoon will likely make the 16. I don't envy the selection people, though. Going to likely be some decent bots that will be out.
WARHEAD!!!! AND THE DISC IS BACK!!!! Or it was, anyway. I'm wondering what went wrong with Warrior Dragon to make it almost ineffective as anything other than a wedge, and I guess it didn't do a good enough job at that either, even though I expected the judges to give it the win. Guess Derek Young and Lisa Winter thought Warhead's flamethrowers coupled with still trying to fight with a broken disc and a loss of stability was good enough.
Sawblaze was screwed when it got matched with Bronco. That was a matchup that I'd pick Bronco to win 10 times out of 10, and sure enough....
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Aug 25, 2018 5:54:55 GMT -5
Yeah Tombstone is definitely not repeating as champion this season. It is looking rough as hell now. Yes they managed to win the fight, but they legitimately died in the middle there, and in doing so almost lost to a robot with just one god damn wheel left. Petunia isn’t a bad robot, this was just a very bad matchup for them. End of the day with two wins to their name they are far and away the most successful crusher shown on Battlebots’ episodes. Monsoon vs Axe Backwards basically went how it was only ever going to go. I kinda get the feeling Monsoon’s team knew they were likely winning and used the fight to test out their other bar option. It is powerful, but slower and much more unstable due to what looks like higher gyroscopic forces as Monsoon would pull a Minotaur wheelie each time they tried to turn. Warhead vs Warrior Dragon had the winner that I expected but not even remotely how I expected it. RIP Warhead’s dome spinner. Looks like it is the Dino head for the rest of their fights this year. I dunno if they’ll try to recreate the dome for future seasons or make an entirely new spinner or even a second head option, maybe one more Razer-like, a legit crusher instead of a grappler? Bronco va SawBlaze, I’ll admit I kinda wanted SawBlaze to win and they did have some moments where if their saw was working they could have done stuff, but well saws don’t exactly like being landed on.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2018 8:22:28 GMT -5
My heart aches for Duck!. If it went the whole 3 minutes, it probably would've won via the judges. Now it sits at 2-2 and as a longshot to make it into the round of 16. If it does make the tournament, how much you wanna bet that its first opponent will be Minotaur?
The Vanilla Killa, the Alaskan Assassin, the 3-1 Yeti shows that their best defense is a damn good offense, taking out Petunia.
Axe Backwards is a good idea on paper. In reality? Not so much. Looking forward to seeing Monsoon in the round of 16.
RIP Spinning Head of Warhead. Guess that means they're going with the Rex setup for the rest of the season.
And Bronco continues to show why he's becoming a favorite to win the whole thing. Never gave Sawblaze a chance to use its primary weapons in the match and tossed him around like a ragdoll.
And next week will be a special tournament. This year, we've seen a lot of foreign bots dominate the box. And it's time to defend the turf. Next week: Team USA vs. The World.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2018 8:29:28 GMT -5
Fight card has been announced for the USA vs. The World show.
Blacksmith vs. Warhead Captain Shrederator vs. Vanquish Kraken vs. Red Devil Hypershock vs. Reality Sawblaze vs. End Game
Plus, the Science Channel extra will take a look at robot competitions around the world. With them on the same channel, any chance they show Robot Wars?
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