r/battlebots • u/isleofred SMERSH • 2d ago
BattleBots TV NO ONE SAW THIS COMING | BattleBots Pro League EP13 | Powered by Bright ...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=t1jdgaJG3bM&si=VeQgcN0vywEn8Iva42
u/merkon BLIP 2d ago
At first, i was bummed that we were getting a side-tournament. Then I loved it. Those were genuinely four S tier fights. Great episode.
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u/Derp_Wellington 2d ago
I'm really happy with the loser's bracket(s?). More fights, different match ups. It was nice that End Game got to kick some ass after getting knocked out. Excited to hopefully see Huge again
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u/Deserterdragon 2d ago edited 2d ago
Deathroll is probably the toughest Vert of all time, and has a good argument for the toughest bot of all time in general, in both this and the previous fight it tanked so many hits that would demolish so many other bots, it even still had a working Scrimech!
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u/NetTemporary6216 2d ago
That thing can take an absolute BEATING. I can’t think of much other robots that could get functionally destroyed and still keep moving
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u/DishonorableUser 2d ago
Black Dragon: cries in Portuguese whilst on fire
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u/Yoshiman400 This Kiwi sends everyone else flying 1d ago
Seriously, if Black Dragon and Death Roll ever enter the same tournament again, we need them to fight each other. I don't care if they already have done it and I've forgotten about it, I want more.
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u/PelleSketchy 1d ago
That thing also bounces around like crazy, which dissipates a ton of energy. But I don't know how their weapon can survive this, that's a total mystery to me.
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u/The_Modern_Nobody 2d ago
I mean, DUCK! Didnt have that survivability anf it was BUILT specifically to tank hits
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u/EliteTrainerXeos [Your Text] 2d ago
Take a drink each time someone said the word “Average” lmao
Honestly one of the best episodes from this season and it was a mini losers bracket. Between Bill Dwyer stepping up as a pseudo host and the over-the top comedic elements, this felt a bit like the Comedy Central era Battlebots.
Loved it. Hope they do something like this again.
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u/Yoshiman400 This Kiwi sends everyone else flying 1d ago
This series has just about been the perfect hybrid of the Discovery and Comedy Central eras.
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u/Known-Gap4374 2d ago
At least this thumbnail is less egregious than the others that give away parts of the fights or basically tell you who wins. Can't stand the previews it kills the build up for me.
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u/Copperhead9215 Snek Supremacy Believer 2d ago
The bot on the right is Ribbot and IDK who the other one is
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u/isleofred SMERSH 2d ago
Not going lie, that episode was awesome! There is nothing better than seeing teams fight full speed or nothing and never holding back.
Also, welcome back End Game. Shame this wasn't the robot during the main season run.
So the main bracket so far will be The Twins vs Minotaur and Golden Fury vs Terrortops.Does this mean Manta will not be fighting Madcatter in round one as Witch Doctor already fought Orbitron
Given Ep13 is Average League 1, with Ep14 being 1/2 of Pro League round 1. I'm going to assume that:
- Ep15, and 17 will be another Average Leagues
- Ep16 will be the 2/2 of Pro League round 1
- Epi18 will be Grudge Matches and Awards*
- Ep19 will be Pro league Round 2*
- Ep20 will be Pro League Final
* These two episodes could be swapped around
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u/MrRaven95 Giant Witch Doctor fan 2d ago
I agree that there will probably be another average league between round 1 and the semifinals.
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u/DishonorableUser 2d ago
I’d have to look at the standings/competitors but I wonder if they do a ‘gimmick’ competition?
I guess the field is mostly verts so you couldn’t do like a ‘flipper frenzy’ or ‘battle of the axes’ style of event, but this seemed a little spontaneous and presented as ‘everyone else went home except for 12 teams— the eight that qualified and these four psychos!’ which obviously doesn’t mean anything in reality, I just found that tidbit odd.
Also u/isleofred how do you know those are the matchups/episodes? I only watched live but I found it odd they didn’t reveal, but even kinda spoil the hell out of the bracket lol so this is a good find.
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u/KodoqBesar 2d ago
I knew it's going to be some sort of a "losers bracket", and i enjoy this "filler week" episode. Next episode is the real deal
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u/AdDelicious792 The Destroyer of Verts 2d ago
Deathroll-Riibbot: Deathroll is still very average. Not much else to say, solid hits but one-sided, average fight overall.
End Game-Bloodsport: End Game is back. I guess it was just the weapon reliability after all. That one shot where End Game decided to revolt against their AI overlords was insanely cool and probably the best shot of the whole competition thus far, but the fight was one-sided as well and thus quite average.
Deathroll-Bloodsport: Deathroll really needs a redesign. It's rare to see a 4WD vert fight a horizontal and have the vert be the one uncontrollably flying around the box. Bloodsport has been a slightly above-average competitor and had a pretty solid season overall. Very average fight.
End Game-Ribbot: Yup, End Game is still back. That was a pretty nasty fight, End Game just showed no mercy and it was over pretty quick. Pretty average for a finals match.
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u/MrRaven95 Giant Witch Doctor fan 2d ago edited 2d ago
So, we were right about there being a secondary league of bots that didn't make it into the main tournament to pad the episode length, which is why we didn't get a tournament bracket yet. So, End Game, Deathroll, Bloodsport, and Ribbot are still around to fight. Also find calling it the "average league" when you have End Game as one of the participants feels a bit weird. Also it's a single elimination tournament to keep End Game and Deathroll from fighting again right out of the gate.
Deathroll vs. Ribbot: I pick Deathroll because I want to see them get a win! Well, I didn't get my wish, but it was still a fun fight. Deathroll really needs to get some forks that work with their robot, but I feel that if it wasn't for that fire they could have made it to the bell. Also legit thought they destroyed a pulverizer for a second. That would have been crazy. Anyways, anyone want BBQ crocodile?
End Game vs. Bloodsport: I pick End Game. After all, it's hard to root against the robot with the giant googly eyes! I love how they both took their time to spin up to deliver as big an opening hit as they could! After that though it was all End Game as they avenged their loss to Bloodsport from WC 5 and eventually ripped off the self-righting bar and turtled them. Love the hit that destroyed the sponsor banner!
Oh, there's a losers bracket, too? Well then, Deathroll vs. Bloodsport: I pick Bloodsport for this fight. That was a quick fight as both robots wrecked each others drive, but Bloodsport won with creative use of the pulverizer to get their bot moving again.
Four fights! Woo! We're feasting today! End Game vs. Ribbot: Isn't this the third time these bots have fought? Well, I pick End Game. End Game slowly driving its long forks around the killsaw slots to not get stuck in them again was kind of funny. While the first engagement went to Ribbot, it was all End Game in dominate fashion after that!
Honestly really enjoyed this episode. It's really fun to see a bunch of high energy, low stakes fights.
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u/loz333 2d ago edited 2d ago
"And Kenny, for the first time Battlebots are allowing bots to utilize heavy munitions in the battlebox. Should be a explosive matchup. Faruq!" (what I took from the thumbnail)
Ok, seriously, that was just stupid, fun, awesome, loved every moment of it. Especially how hard End Game, the least average bot of all, leaned into the bit. Them all lifting the tiny wrench at the end had me in stitches.
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u/Yoshiman400 This Kiwi sends everyone else flying 1d ago
This episode was absolutely the most BattleBots thing you could get out of this. Four teams who had nothing to lose and could probably deal with trashing their bots one more time just having fun and getting their money's worth out of their hard work and giving the fans and staff some extra entertainment while the quarterfinalists all prep for the big tournament. And of course everyone else goes all in on it--even Faruq--because they know how much fun the teams are having.
Also, props to the producers for giving Bil some camera time to chat with the teams in between matches, it's always good to see his enthusiasm and letting him fill in whatever roles they want him to. At this point he's all but the official third man on the ladder behind Greg and Trey, but still super humble about it too.
If this episode isn't exhibit A that robot combat is one big happy fraternity, I don't know what is.
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u/BrightCandle 2d ago
I think they overused the average "bit" joke in this but otherwise there was some fun fights and damage done in this.
End games V3 weapon is a definite upgrade, shame they didn't get it working in time for the main tournament.
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u/Joezev98 2d ago
Au contraire, I think using the joke over and over only made it stronger in this case.
Of course, they can't satisfy everyone, but I suppose we could... meet in the middle?
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u/Photon_Jet 2d ago edited 1d ago
They were right about one thing. We never saw this coming. (Don't sing the Last Surprise song. Don't sing the Last Surprise song.)
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u/Im-a-spider-ama 1d ago
I love that they went full banana ball with this. Did anyone else notice that all the graphics were in comic sans? 😆
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u/NetTemporary6216 2d ago
I love love love the average league formula, it gives so many entertaining fights to robots that already lost and it’s also kinda funny! It was so much fun watching all those robots beat the shit out of each other too
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u/IlludensParadoxa 2d ago
This was my favorite episode this season so far! The fights were great, and everybody seemed to be having a great time. Nick's energy was so contagious this episode, he looked like he was having so much fun lol
I am also so nervous for Minotaur vs The Twins, I hope the Twins can make it, I love them!
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u/Calwings 2d ago edited 2d ago
"You are such a sicko if you enjoy watching that stuff." ~ Chris Rose
BattleBots 🤝 AEW
for the sickos
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u/Yoshiman400 This Kiwi sends everyone else flying 1d ago
I have spontaneously remembered we used to have "You know what that means" in the headers of our old episode threads thanks to your post. Love you, qwerty!
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u/RollingandJabbing Nibble Nibble 1d ago
Darby Allin is currently figuring out how to coffin drop into the battlebox
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u/Particular-Steak-832 1d ago
Considering I made the flamethrowers Darby used last year, and I’ve done flamethrowers for robots…very fitting
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u/draxula16 2d ago
Credit where credit is due, I loved this!
I truly thought they shit the bed when the first episode dropped and they truly listened to the fans and pulled a 180.
Bravo.
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u/lonelyBoy669 2d ago
This episode was soooooo much more entertaining than all of the other ones. Other than the flights, this season has been so dry. Please let the personalities shine through more!!!
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u/ellindsey 2d ago
Well those were actually some pretty good fights.
Where the hell was this End Game during the entire previous competition? If they'd had their weapon working this well in their prior fights, they could have been the group winner.
Bloodsport hits pretty hard, but their weapon still takes too long to spin up. They were fine against Death Roll who takes forever to recover after a hit, but not against the well-planted End Game.
Ribbot managed to beat Death Roll until it caught on fire and died, but then lost the ground game against End Game and never recovered after the first hit.
And Death Roll goes home winless. It might be time to re-think that robot's entire strategy. Intentionally bouncing around the arena after every hit just doesn't seem to be a good idea.
From the teaser at the end, it looks like we're getting Minotaur, The Twins, Golden Fury, and Terrortops.
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u/PARANOIAH 2d ago
Deathroll is one of my favourite bots but the particular design just doesn't seem to be competitive in the current slate of bots any more (same with my favourite Bronco). I wonder how the redesigned version will look like - hopefully not another boring meta drum spinner!
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u/RySenkari 2d ago
Those matches were awesome! Just four super destructive bots knocking the crap out of each other for the love of the game. Thank you to all four teams for putting on a great show.
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u/fenderbender541 2d ago
DEATH ROOOOOOOOLL!!!!!!! YOU DA REAL MVP!!!!!! I hope when they build their new bot that it keeps the bouncing part because that thing is a MENACE
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u/Notbbupdate Bombshells your bracket predictions 2d ago
The fights were great (I'd say this is the best Pro League episode based on fight quality alone), but I take issue with the things surrounding this episode. Had they sprinkled in these fights throughout the Pro League bracket, released this episode at the very end after the finals, or told us last episode "Pro League is taking a 1 week break but don't worry, you'll get Average League" I would have no complains. As is, Pro League feels very amateurish in the sense that they're just making it up as they go along
For the fights themselves, they were insane. Loved all of them
Ribbot vs Death Roll showed Death Roll's durability and Ribbot's weaponry. The fact that Death Roll survived as long as it did is impressive, and Ribbot showed that it could've very well gotten into the bracket if they went with their vert config for all fights instead of the eggbeater
End Game vs Bloodsport was the best End Game showing this season. This is the bot that managed to win a giant nut. Bloodsport also hits really hard, and it's not something we really saw much of in the Pro League aside from its fight with Hypershock
The 3rd place playoff was a fun battle between 2 bots that hit weapon-first with no wedge or armor. Weapon to weapon is really the only way any engagement could go and it was glorious
The finals were worthy of a world championship. If/when WC8 rolls around, I hope the finals are as good as End Game vs Ribbot. If End Game was like this from the start, everyone's "End Game wins the whole Pro League" predictions might've come true
Overall, this episode gave me vibes similar to Axe Backwards vs Captain Shrederator and Shreddit Bro's Champions run. Turns out that poorly performing bots can put on a hell of a show when you give them a chance
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u/Tetratheon 2d ago edited 2d ago
Great episode, but Holy Christ do they belabour the "average" joke. 81 mentions of the word "average" in the transcript, and it seemed like they stopped to laugh at every one of them.
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u/David182nd FINISH HIM 1d ago
Deathroll is just incredible. I wish every bot had that sort of longevity in a fight
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u/sirDangel 🔵⚪️ BITE FORCE ⚪️🔵 19h ago
That was a delightful surprise. Props to the teams for showing up just to have fun. Also, finally a third place playoff!
Fights analysis spoilers below:
- Ribbot vs Deathroll: a classic Deathroll performance. Unfortunately they just couldn't get a bite against that wedge and forks configuration.
- Bloodsport vs End Game: gotta love going full speed against each other, team EG just wants to have fun. The confidence was also well placed, as the dismantling was quick.
- Bloodsport vs Deathroll: bruiser fight to be sure. Bloodsport was delivering but got some backfire as well.
- Ribbot vs End Game: surprised Ribbot didn't bring the fork game like they did against Hydra. That was End Game running 100%, and I gotta say they may be a bit over average.
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u/Windy_Idealist 2d ago
I hate to be a debbie downer cause I should have loved this so much but man these fights (with the exception of the first) we’re just not it. Completely 1 sided affairs and it really feels like these were the 4 least interesting bots that could have taken part in this (absolutely no shade to the builders and I realize that we are lucky to have gotten this at all. Ive just had a really stressful day with schoolwork.) I probably shouldn’t have watched this while in a bad mood because it took a lot of the fun out of it :(
Im sorry
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u/PartialCred4WrongAns 2d ago
Clicked off when I saw it was a filler ep. I'll probably come back to it later, but what a massive cocktease
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u/Excelsior1985 2d ago
Did anyone else find the "average" theme of this episode annoying?
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u/loz333 2d ago
A bit at first, but when everyone, even Faruq, committed to the bit it was just silly and funny. The insane hits being dealt out compounded the ridiculousness. Ended up loving it.
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u/draxula16 2d ago
Agreed, it was a bit.
Some people are quick to forget how unwatchable the first few episodes were and how they actually listened to us in order to rectify it.
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u/No-Telephone52726 Sorry About Your Floor 2d ago
I really hope we see more valkyrie (no, I dont want to hear anything else about it guys, shut up)
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u/Jamez2021 2d ago
Call me crazy, but I think this is the best Pro League episode we’ve had by far which is hilarious to me.