Current Events > Robot Combat (BattleBots and Robot Wars) General Discussion Topic *SPOILERS*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well, my carelessness let the last topic purge... again... but on the bright side, now I can put the spoiler warning in the topic title that I forgot last time. Anyways, the US BattleBots and UK Robot Wars series are both now on US television and present different offerings from the beautiful and chaotic sport of robot combat. Here's the weekly schedule:

Wednesdays:
BattleBots = 9:00 PM EST on the Science Channel (replay of previous Friday's episode with bonus footage)
Robot Wars = 10:05 PM EST on the Science Channel (US television premiere, episodes already aired in the UK on BBC2)

Fridays:
BattleBots = 8:00 PM EST on the Discovery Channel (brand new episode)

Tomorrow's premiere episode of Robot Wars will be the first episode of the revived series, technically the eighth in the show's existence. It will feature many returning veterans from the old series, including the legendary Razer, alongside many powerful new robots such as Carbide. Since the episodes already aired in the UK and are available online, the results to these shows are floating out there on the internet. Unmarked spoilers to these episodes that have not aired in the US yet will not be allowed, but discussion of episodes that have aired in the US will be allowed in this topic, spoiler tags not needed.

Finally, same as before, I'm just going to tag some of the frequent posters from last time. I'll definitely try harder to not let the topic purge this time.

@Orthopox12
@El_Mexicano_Texano
@KFHEWUI
@DevsBro
@DuneMan
@DuranOfForcena
@unclekoolaid73
@Gheb
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Wait the US is three series behind on Robot Wars? Wow that makes things hard for us Brits that wan't to talk about it in here.
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spikethedevil posted...

Wait the US is three series behind on Robot Wars? Wow that makes things hard for us Brits that wan't to talk about it in here.

It took a while for anyone outside of the UK to get the rights to it. It's the same the other way around too, since BattleBots will start airing on TV in the UK (on SPIKE) next month.
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Gotta find a way to watch it now I'll check some sites
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Okay. I'll try to keep this topic bumped too.
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Almost robot fighting time!
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The BattleBots re-run is starting on the Science Channel. To those who missed it on the Discovery Channel last week, or those who want to see the full Gigabyte vs. Double Dutch and Valkyrie vs. Hypothermia battles in the first round that were only shown as highlights, tune in at 9PM EST and watch. But more importantly, the US television premiere of the revived Robot Wars immediately follows that. Even if you've already watched the episodes online like I have, still watch them on the Science Channel and give them ratings. We can speak with our viewership, and we can make our voices heard that we want to see more metal mayhem!
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Let's see how merciless this Gigabyte beatdown actually was.

EDIT 1: Extremely.
EDIT 2: Yeah, I understand why they cut these two matches from the original Discovery broadcast and only showed highlights.. Gigabyte's dismantling of Double Dutch, while exciting, lasted all of 30 seconds, while Valkyrie's disc died a minute into the fight (but not before doing severe damage to Hypothermia) and the rest of the fight was two minutes of the bots limping and weakly pushing each other around the battle box.
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Calwings posted...

The BattleBots re-run is starting on the Science Channel. To those who missed it on the Discovery Channel last week, or those who want to see the full Gigabyte vs. Double Dutch and Valkyrie vs. Hypothermia battles in the first round that were only shown as highlights, tune in at 9PM EST and watch. But more importantly, the US television premiere of the revived Robot Wars immediately follows that. Even if you've already watched the episodes online like I have, still watch them on the Science Channel and give them ratings. We can speak with our viewership, and we can make our voices heard that we want to see more metal mayhem!

Not to killjoy your enthusiasm, but unless you have a Nielsen box to record your viewership, your viewership doesn't actually impact ratings.
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Lockjaw looks solid.

Valkyrie looked like it was trying to break dance after Lockjaw destroyed the spinner.
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KFHEWUI posted...

Lockjaw looks solid.

Valkyrie looked like it was trying to break dance after Lockjaw destroyed the spinner.

Valkyrie going full chaos mode and still spinning up despite knowing how crazy and off balance they were was my favorite part of the episode. It was great.

Anyways, time for the robotic carnage from the other side of the pond: Robot Wars is up next. Interesting to note that this new voice over we're listening to was NOT part of the original Robot Wars broadcast. Did Science Channel just edit out the British hosts? They better still have Jonathan Pearce calling the fights, or I'm gonna be fucking pissed.

EDIT: Okay, I'm fucking pissed.
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The US broadcast of Robot Wars has made some... changes... that I'm not fond of. They've completely edited out the British hosts and presenters, and they have a new disembodied voice narrator who explains the rules and calls the fights. Not even Jonathan Pearce's epic commentary remains from the original UK cast.

I can understand shortening the segments/interviews in the pits to fit the US broadcast timeslots, since the BBC network in the UK has no commercials, while hour-long shows here in the States have about 15 minutes worth of commercials. But going as far as to edit Jonathan Pearce's commentary out of the fights seems a bit too drastic.

I'll still watch the Science Channel broadcast each week, and I do hope that you guys do too. But if you would like a link to watch the original UK version of the broadcast, complete with the glorious voice of Jonathan Pearce calling the fights, let me know and I can PM it to you.
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Aside from the house robots, the only one robot I recognize is Razor.
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KFHEWUI posted...

Aside from the house robots, the only one robot I recognize is Razor.

Behemoth and Terrorhurtz are also veteran bots from the original series. Behemoth has competed in every season of Robot Wars (original and reboot) except the very first, and is by far the oldest combat robot still competing. Terrorhurtz was a grand finalist in series 6 of the original Robot Wars and a two-time UK champion in the untelevised FRA Championships that took place after Robot Wars was taken off TV. Team Hurtz also competed with Killerhurtz in the original BattleBots and Beta in the rebooted BattleBots.

Also of note, Sam Smith of team Carbide previously competed in the original Robot Wars with the crusher robot (AKA Razer clone) Tiberius.
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Ah hell, Terrorhurtz's axe isn't working right. At least Carbide's spinner is giving us enough destruction for two bots!
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Both Dara O Briain and Angela Scanlon are Irish btw. Jonathan and the Judges are English.
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Calwings posted...

The US broadcast of Robot Wars has made some... changes... that I'm not fond of.

Could it be a performance licensing issue? I.e. that the presenters for the UK broadcast only authorized their voice and performance for the UK, or the BBC?
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DuneMan posted...

Calwings posted...

The US broadcast of Robot Wars has made some... changes... that I'm not fond of.

Could it be a performance licensing issue? I.e. that the presenters for the UK broadcast only authorized their voice and performance for the UK, or the BBC?

That's very possible.
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Finally Tombstone again!
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Seems like at least a few of those matches should be entertaining.

Also, it's kind of funny that Sharkoprion has a construction budget of like $500 while the rest of the bots can be in the $10,000 range. IIRC the creator said he powers it with a motor taken out of a sit down scooter for the elderly. The weapon placement makes me weep though, as the bot will have a hard time hitting most opponents.
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DuranOfForcena posted...

saw this episode 12 fight card on my reddit frontpage just now, thought i'd share:

Warhawk vs. Overhaul looks like fun. And yeah, Tombstone.
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New episode of BattleBots is about to start... IT'S ROBOT FIGHTIN' TIME!
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Skorpios vs. Rotator was a fun fight, and Rotator has really impressed me after the disappointment of its opening fight loss to Petunia. As for Witch Doctor vs. Ultimo Destructo... yikes. Press F to pay respects.
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Warhawks vs Overhaul went exactly as expected. Warhawk was unreliable and Overhaul was offensively impotent.

Warhead going style over effectiveness was pretty funny. I'm glad they won.
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Gheb posted...

Warhead going style over effectiveness was pretty funny. I'm glad they won.

Yeah, that team were always experts at making a robot perform well and look good doing it. Remember all those gifs of Razer that I posted in an older thread? Same team.
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Calwings posted...

Valkyrie going full chaos mode and still spinning up despite knowing how crazy and off balance they were was my favorite part of the episode. It was great.

It will make a great gif.
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KFHEWUI posted...

Calwings posted...

Valkyrie going full chaos mode and still spinning up despite knowing how crazy and off balance they were was my favorite part of the episode. It was great.

It will make a great gif.

I'll try to find/make one soon. In the meantime, here's a couple gifs from the first episode of Robot Wars last week. I made these years ago when the show first aired in the UK and was posted online, so bear with me if the quality isn't very good.

Razer impales a defenseless Nuts minibot, then goes after Kill-E Crank-E:


Carbide wrecks Nuts:


Carbide and Behemoth collide, sparks fly:


Remember, if you would like a way to watch Robot Wars unedited as it aired in the UK, let me know via a PM and I can hook you up. We should still support the US airing on Science Channel though, because if it does well, it could help lead to another season and more robot combat action for everyone.
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Yeah, the Chomp and Warhead fight was just flash and little damage. But the method to tear Chomp apart is pretty much a known factor as this point: flip the thing over repeatedly and it's stuck spamming the self-righting mechanism.

The other fights made up for it. If the Whiplash team sticks to it I'm sure they can rise in the ranks in future seasons. They're already in a better place than some of the teams competing.
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