After my fairly angry last post, lets turn to something a little more positive. BattleBots season two-sevenths is just a few months away from filming and promises to be even better than last season, with twice as many competitors, more variety, more big hits, more tense moments and more destruction! Next week, teams will start receiving e-mails telling them if their application was successful or if they'll have to wait 'til next time. With 228 applicants so far and only 56 spots available (including 'alternates'), this is in some ways the fiercest part of the competition, just with less actual fighting.
Many of these are from upstarts outside of the community, others are being kept secret and will no doubt be revealed tantalising bit by tantalising bit. We know of 69 teams which have confirmed that they've applied but we still have no clue what many of them are building. I could write about each and every one for ages but that would be boring, so here's just the ones I'm really looking forward to.
Back For More
Most of last year's teams are ready to come back and give it another shot. Reigning champions Team Aptyx and
Biteforce have of course applied and will presumably be returning, along side
Tombstone and
Bronco. Weirdly though, there's been no news from the other semi-finalists Team Raptor, who's ingenuity and lasting power really set them aside for me last year.
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The shot BattleBots is using on its application posters
It seems to be working
Source: http://battlebots.com/redcarpetcrush/ |
Other returning robots include
Stinger,
Witch Doctor,
ICEwave and
Hypershock.
Overdrive is also on the list and hopefully won't be bouncing off the walls quite as much this time. Donald Hudson has signed
Lockjaw up again, still trying to prove that otters know all the best fighting moves.
Nightmare's on the list and will not be short-changed by the wildcard committee this time, or else, and is joined by
Mohawk which many still have yet to see in combat but which now has a bigger, scarier flamethrower. Seriously, you could stand on the other side of the BattleBox and still roast a marshmallow. The very unique
Wrecks will also hopefully be back and, finally,
Chomp and
Counter Revolution have both been glued back together.
Alternates
Chronic and
Splatter are hoping to get some TV time too, as is the forever-unlucky
Beta, may the curse finally be lifted.
Those of you who are paying attention may have noticed a few missing names. Some of last year's entries aren't signed up, as far as we know, and fingers crossed that they've just gone under the radar. They are
Warhead,
Radioactive,
Plan X,
Sweet Revenge,
Captain Shredarator,
Complete Control and, like I said, Team Raptor's
Ghost Raptor. British alternate
Bull Dog will also be missed, although it is hard to miss something we barely got to see.
Some of the teams are returning with new, harder-hitting entries and the most exciting name on the list is
Son of Whyachi & Falcon. Team Whyachi's signature bot is returning in cluster-bot form with their successful middleweight drumbot Falcon. Perhaps one will keep the opponent busy while the other gets spun up to deliver big shots, or perhaps they'll both get tossed around like leaves in the wind because they weigh half as much as every other bot. Oh, also
Overhaul will be getting rebuilt and given a new paint job. Word is, Team JACD member Charles Guan will also be dressed up for the occasion. I will say no more.
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OH YES!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Whyachi/?fref=nf |
Resurrected Legends
There are also a lot of entrants from real veterans and, as the Americans say, 'legacy bots' (not including those returning from last year). Son of Whyachi's coming back, if I didn't mention it.
One name which stands out from the rest is
Carlo Bertochini. Yes, that's right, the legend behind Biohazard is back, although no one knows what he's planning to build. Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it.
Team Extreme's
M.O.E (that deadly lawnmower that tore the wheels off The Matador, twice) will hopefully see a fifth iteration. I'm looking forward to seeing what a decade and a higher weight limit will change for that robot. Most of all I want to see it de-tire Bronco. Anyone else?
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In case you needed reminding of that moment
Source: http://battlebots.wikia.com/wiki/M.O.E. |
Team Half-Life intend to return with
Atomic Wedgie Acceletator. This thing is nuts. Apparently, the team weren't happy with sticking four spinning discs (including two trifoils, of course) on the back, they want to raise the whole weapon up and hold it over the wedge so they can pin something against the wall and chew them up. Sounds great but I'm a little concerned about where the weight's coming from. Also, they seemed to have pulled the CAD off their Facebook account. Maybe it was one of the early prototype designs they've put up there. Maybe I made all this up in some kind of delirious fever dream.
Techno Destructo wasn't a cheesy-enough name so it's being reincarnated as
Ultimo Destructo. I'm expecting a sleeker design than the barrel with stuck on wheels from the last robot.
Speaking of ironically cheesy names,
The Robotic Death Company, builders of Megabyte, have also applied. Yeah, Megabyte was built for Season 5, remember? Yes that's the same Megabyte, they redesigned and rebuilt it. Point is, they're back. And you know who else you didn't realise were original BattleBots veterans?
Team Think Tank, creators of Ringmaster and, more recently, VD6.0 and Double Rainbow Party. They, too, seem fond of big spinners so lets hope for something scary here.
Team Chinkilla has also applied, again, but they weren't accepted last year. Fingers crossed Leno's seemingly near-pornographic face can be shown on national television this time. We know Ginsu is still floating around, so perhaps there'll be a reunion.
Team WetWare of Abattoir infamy have applied too. They have quite the reputation to shake but they've had 10 years of engineering practice since then, so I'm optimistic.
The New Guys
With so many applicants and so few places, there are concerns that new teams will get crowded out by the more experienced builders. For their sake, here's a section on the new guys who are already up against it.
First up, Team Chaos Corps and their entry
Bombshell. I'm really backing these guys because they're based on a favourite team of mine, Team Near Chaos Robotics. They've never built a heavyweight, or even a lightweight, but they do have plenty of driving skill behind them and experience with nearly any design type imaginable, including a chainsaw thwackbot. Going by the team logo, it looks like Bombshell will probably be a giant version of the successful current Nyx design, with interchangeable axe and lifter but with a compact drum instead of the claw.
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The Bombshell graphic compared to Nyx and its arsenal
Note the similar lifter and axe designs
Source for top: https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/3rqcsa/battlebots_2016_info_thread/cxyccmu
Source for bottom: http://sparc.tools/forum/index.php?topic=5.15 |
Also applying are
Team Western Allied Robotics. This name will likely ring a bell because it is shared with the events organisation who mostly put on insect events. With this in mind, I reckon they deserve some exposure, although once again I have no idea what they'll build.
Team Torch Bears deserve a place simply for the unique entry. Their design is a two-wheel drive bot with a drum at one end and a wedge at the other. Real original. The fun part is the use of a drone, armed with magnets to latch on to the opponent and a downward-facing flamethrower. I wish the best of luck to them but I would love to see a big hammer swat that thing out of the air in an out-of-control fireball, complete with emergency
whoop-whoop and optimistically-insistent "Pull up".
I'll fleetingly mention Team Pwny Express'
ARMageddon, a surprisingly phallic flipper (once you've seen it you cannot unsee it), and Team Twister Robotics'
BattleSaw who's boasts of simplicity and destructiveness take the form of a spinning bar which seems to me like a direct challenge to Ray Billings. I am, however, curious to see whether they can pull it off and to what extent Tombstone is set apart form the rest by the team rather than the weapon.
Colossus is an intriguing entry, with a teaser video showing an extremely blurry CAD of what appears to be a Roomba armed with two giant cones, like the recurring nightmare of a neutered dog. One theory is that the cones represent flamethrowers. Perhaps. Or perhaps this is something completely unique (and possibly a bit ridiculous).
The Invaders
Of the 69 known applicants, 13 are foreign. Surprisingly, only one of these is Canadian. The influx is partly because, with heavyweight spinners returning to the UK soon (touch wood), many Brits want in on the action. They also want to make up for the lack of success last year, with only one win from Radioactive. I'll say now that no Brazilians are known to have applied, not even Team RioBotz and
Touro. Once again, let's hope that they've just gone under the radar.
From Canada comes
Team NERCanadians, a group of regulars at Motorama. I'm sorry to say I'm not familiar enough with the sport in the US to know who they are and what they build but it's fairly safe to say that they have plenty of experience between them but have never built a heavyweight.
One team bathing in hype is
Team Dutch Robot Guys, a group from the Netherland's robot combat scene and the Dutch Robot Games. Their entry, briefly shown as a simple top-down CAD in a teaser video, looks like the lovechild of Tough As Nails and the current version of Kan-Opener. This might actually be the first appearance of a heavyweight horizontal crusher ever in the US and definitely the first time the Dutch have tried their luck there.
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The glimpse we get of the CAD for Team DRG's entry
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2rHJD_dgn0 |
Perhaps we're getting jealous of the Americans getting their show back, because Britain has 9 teams applying, including Beta and Chronic. Team Storm have applied with
Photon Storm which is presumably all-new and not a new version of Storm II, and probably have a decent chance to get in with their history. Craig Danby and
Team Danby enter Combots fairly regularly but haven't seen a lot of success. Of their 3 current and 2 planned heavyweights, I'd say Tanto can be ruled out as not having an active weapon and Apex is still a little unreliable and (as far as I know) can't self-right, leaving Foxic or a new build. One of the names I didn't expect is
Team Eventorizon who usually build impressive-but-glass-cannonish featherweights. I'd love to see them build a big spinner heavyweight and try to beat the Americans at their own game.
Team Ranglebox, current MMM champions with Tormenta 2 and 3, have applied too. Their entry likely be reliable and well-driven like their other, smaller bots. No pressure. Team Saint have signed up as well, presumably with
Cherub which, they claim, is tough enough to last with spinners, having been designed with Thor's pounding axe in mind. Sadly, their signature thwackbots don't have active weapons so we won't be seeing them.
Team Shock, builders of the impressive Manta (and the now-ageing Maelstrom) are on the list and I'm actually hoping for another big British flipper in the mix. It's kind of our thing. Finally,
Team Tilly have applied. I'm holding out for something new here (sorry guys but I don't think Ew3 is up to it), preferably a hardened Tilly XP because I want to see how a pure front-hinge flipper would do in modern BattleBots.
Finally, 2 teams all the way from Australia have sent in applications. One is Team Hellfire Labs who do great things for the sport over there and wish to enter with
Huntsman, a giant version of their manic axebot Avenger. The other Aussie entry is
Team Twisted Constructions who own half of cluster-bot Double Dragon (which doesn't have an active weapon, so won't be competing) and featherweight Doolsaw.
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This is Hunstman and as you can see, it's about one-third axe, two-thirds robot
Source: http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1086&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=285 |
So That's Who to Look For in the New Season
There are, of course, many other applicants with ingenious, unique designs and which are deserving of a place but I really can't mention all of them, partly because I don't know a lot of them. Over the next few weeks, people are going learn whether or not their entry has been accepted and they'll get a chance to fight in the BattleBox. Best of luck to all of the teams and if they don't get in, fingers crossed we'll be seeing them at live events instead, until Season 3 rolls around.
