Current Events > BattleBots: Fight Night week 5 discussion topic *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

More bot bashing bedlam awaits!

https://i.imgur.com/C9Itq36.jpg

Pretty interesting main even this week with Riptide, one of the most promising rookies last year, taking on Mad Catter hot off their win over Whiplash earlier this season. We also have more battles between veteran bots across the card along with the debut of the lovable jokebot Doomba. Blip vs. Huge looks like the most interesting matchup of the night for me though.

As a reminder, please put any discussion of match results under spoiler tags until 24 hours after the episode airs out of consideration for people who can't watch the episode live, especially if you decide to watch the episode early on Discovery+ before it airs on TV. Showtime for us TV viewers is 8PM EST on Discovery, about an hour from the time of this post.

Minotaur has been a beast so far. Definitely my top pick for winning it all at the moment.

Doomba looks interesting.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/0/5/AAKYEFAAEJYd.jpg

I think we all know how that Minotaur vs Free Shipping match is gonna go.

Wedgelets and forks should be dead after this season. They're a liability.

Free Shipping isn't agile enough for this tournament. Great driving means shit unless you can turn on a dime.

Claw Viper continues to impress with its speed. Haven't seen suplexes like that since Complete Control. Should add a butane torch to roast bots in its grasp.

Lock-Jaw hasn't corrected any of its flaws.

Blip has a rough schedule. This doesn't help.

Fusion was robbed. Despite all of its persistent issues, winning damage and splitting aggression should mean you win.

Doomba... what the fuck. What a waste of weight.

Riptide is so damn strong.

IT'S ROBOT FIGHTIN' TIME! Minotaur vs. Free Shipping leads off the show

Holy shit, Claw Viper is legit! It tanked Ribbot's hits, and not only controlled that fight, but dominated it. That was awesome.

Sawblaze vs. Lock-Jaw was uneventful, but Blip vs. Huge... that was something. Blip got impaled right in the face by Huge's blade, to the point where they had to pause the fight and get a crowbar to unstick them. After the unstick, Blips flipper seemed to be broken, so Huge clearly won the fight. Just a bad matchup for Blip, unfortunately.

The first controversial judge's decision of the season, but at least it was due to how the actual fight was scored and not other bullshit with the rules. I disagree with giving it to Witch Dictor, but I can understand why. Fusion only barely won damage because they delivered more big hits and did more visible damage, but were less mobile at the end of the fight. But they definitely lost in control when they were pushed around and having drive issues in the second half of the fight, and although I would personally give Fusion aggression and the decision, I can see how the judges would give it to Witch Doctor.

A dominant win for Riptide over Mad Catter in the main event to shut Martin Mason up for a bit and end the show with a bang. Riptide looks like a serious giant nut contender. I guess nobody else showed up to discuss live this week. Hopefully there's at least a few comments after the fact.

I'm glad that movement prevents count out. Many bots, particularly Minotaur, have made the bias against crab-walking and alternative controlled movement seem silly. No more arguing with the ref and screaming "I am in complete control of my robot".

The new rule forces aggression and control against wounded bots. Can't just sit back and wait for the count out. You have to risk further damage to get the knockout or keep points.

Eh, I forgot to comment last week until after the topic purged.

The minibot rescue advert was an interesting way to start the last episode.

For this episode, if Madcatter puts on a performance similar to last time it should be a mega brawl of a main event.

Anyone else getting a little annoyed with Riptide's captain? They've got a great bot that can go deep into the tournament but dude needs to chill. Looked like Martin Mason was about to hit him after the fight.

I also thought Tantrum should have won the decision

Starks posted...

I'm glad that movement prevents count out. Many bots, particularly Minotaur, have made the bias against crab-walking and alternative controlled movement seem silly. No more arguing with the ref and screaming "I am in complete control of my robot".

The new rule forces aggression and control against wounded bots. Can't just sit back and wait for the count out. You have to risk further damage to get the knockout or keep points.

Agreed. No more ambiguity, you're either moving or you're not. If they're moving at all, keep hitting them. On the flipside, if you know your bot isn't mobile enough to fight back and win, and you would rather tap out to prevent more damage, put down your controller. Simple as that.

Mike_Xtreme posted...

Anyone else getting a little annoyed with Riptide's captain? They've got a great bot that can go deep into the tournament but dude needs to chill. Looked like Martin Mason was about to hit him after the fight.

He's like the loudness and passion of Daniel Freitas from Minotaur combined with the cocky smugness of early Ray Billing from Tombstone. I don't see it coming from a place of malice or actively trying to annoy people, but he definitely needs to see Riptide wrecked at least once to get humbled. Riptide's losses last season were due to a judge's decision and then getting flipped over by Sawblaze and not being able to self-right, so it hasn't been properly knocked out due to damage yet.

There's no tapping out in BattleBots. Somebody tried last season.

Refusing to move is allowed but nobody has tried that. It's against the spirit of the rules.

Gigabyte was de-shelled once and just stopped moving so Ray Billings wouldn't destroy its squishy insides.

NightRender posted...

Gigabyte was de-shelled once and just stopped moving so Ray Billings wouldn't destroy its squishy insides.

Yeah, I remember that one. It mentions on its page on the BattleBots Wiki that tapping out is against the rules, but they deliberately stopped moving to get counted out and avoid further damage, and I don't blame them one bit for making that decision. I could understand fighting until the bitter end in the postseason tournament or in the last fight of the regular season, because those are really important fights. But really early in the regular season when you know you have more fights to prepare for? I would see no problem with a team putting their controller down and cutting their losses if their bot is already badly wounded with not much chance to come back and win.

Mike_Xtreme posted...

Anyone else getting a little annoyed with Riptide's captain? They've got a great bot that can go deep into the tournament but dude needs to chill. Looked like Martin Mason was about to hit him after the fight.

Yeah.

One of the reasons I did not like Endgame at first. They had this arrogant attitude, but the team has really mellowed out since then.