♪♪
tauheed: Can you feel it?
That rumble in the distance.
Like a freight train on a track.
An army this way marches,
ready for attack.
The ground, it shakes beneath your feet.
Get ready to react.
Both big and small will rise and fall.
The battlebots are back.
Rose: Let the bot...
Battle...
Begin!
Tauheed: As the most elite tournament in robot combat returns,
the sport's next generation of builders has evolved.
-Oh! -Oh!
Their modern masterpieces are more powerful,
more ingenious... -Oh, look at that!
...More dangerous than ever.
Mabey: If you're not ripping the opponent apart...
Rose: Wow!
Oh! Oh!
...You're not really playing battlebots in my opinion.
Oh [ buzzer ]
it's game time, fellas.
Tauheed: Can the legends who shaped these rising stars
now hold them at bay?
Hammer him!
Or is it time for the torch to be passed?
Keep going, keep going, keep going!
Could the next champion be lurking in the shadows...
Go and do it!
...Ready to prove that all you need
is a garage and a dream? Bite 'em, bite 'em!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...
Aah!
Hit 'em again!
Ooh!
He died?
...This is...
-Whoa! -That's how you do it!
..."battlebots."
robots, activate.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by discovery communications
♪♪
number 5 is alive! Yes, sir!
We are back with a fifth season of "battlebots,"
the hardest-hitting, unremitting, robot-splitting
tournament of all time. Hi, everybody.
I am chris rose, joined once again by an all-time ufc legend,
the most feared beard in the history of mma,
it's kenny florian.
Chris, thank you very much, but conor mcgregor
might have something to say about that.
[ laughs ] he might.
Now, I know both of you guys are very tough,
but wait till you see the army of mind-blowing bots
that have converged for this season of "battlebots."
they'll each have a chance to fight up to three times
during the regular season,
hoping to build a body of work strong enough
to earn themselves a spot in the top 32
for our winner take all tournament.
In the end, only one will take that title
and claim the piece de resistance,
our aptly named trophy, the giant nut.
[ cheers and applause ]
and the teams will see it all from the best seats
in the house, brand-new this season,
we've got these box-side suites where for the very first time,
any one of our builders can get a bot's-eye look at the action.
That means they'll have an unprecedented chance to scout
or shout for the rest of the field.
[ cheers and applause ]
alright, so let's take a look at season five's
opening night fight card.
If this doesn't get your gears spinning,
you're probably watching the wrong sport.
Tonight, you'll see eight heavyweight matchups
featuring deadly weapons
all designed to inflict maximum damage.
We've got one of the most decorated builders in the game,
donald hutson and his legendary bot, lock-jaw,
taking on the full-body spinner, captain shrederator,
this year, led once again
by the godfather himself, brian nave.
We'll also see the return of bloodsport,
who's out for blood against the hammer saw of skorpios,
a team that posted an impressive 6-2 record
over the past two regular seasons.
And I'll tell you right now, who's gonna win?
Us. Mm-hmm.
Don't miss this fight.
Four of tonight's matchups also feature "battlebots" rookies,
that's a group headlined by fusion,
a potentially revolutionary new machine
courtesy of team whyachi and the ewert family dynasty.
And the cherry on top of tonight's fight card is,
of course, our main event.
This is easily one of the most anticipated fights
in the history of "battlebots,"
you got the killer kiwi's end game.
They get the bout they've been begging for,
taking on the spinning villain, the emperor of doom,
ray billings and tombstone.
Over two years ago, after just their second fight,
jack barker and nick mabey of end game
laughed in the face of what seemed like certain death,
saying, "bring on tombstone."
we thought they were just these young pups,
but they proved they can run with the big dogs, and tonight,
they get the chance to knock out the biggest dog of all.
For more on this fight, let's send it over
to our ultimate insider, the robotic juggernaut,
we say good day once again to jenny taft.
Jenny, what's the word back in the pits?
Taft: Well, chris, kenny, nick from end game
said he wanted to fight tombstone.
He just didn't want it to be the first fight of the season.
When you go up against tombstone,
one of the most destructive bots in battlebots,
there will be damage
and something nick is concerned about,
they do not have a spare self-righter.
When I caught up with ray, he was cool, calm and collected.
This is ray billings. He has been here before,
but he made sure to point out to me that end game
is a bot that is built well.
He just didn't know how long this fight
would actually go.
[ laughter ]
oh, that confident chuckle of ray billings.
It can only mean one thing, baby.
We are back!
And it all starts with two veteran teams
that expect to make a run at their first championship
this season -- that sawblaze taking on whiplash right now.
It is time for the words we've all been waiting for
from the man himself, faruq,
tell 'em what time it is.
[ cheers and applause ]
ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
It's robot-fighting time!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
in the blue square, this bot comes fast,
its saws a-blazing,
bringing the heat, it's temperature-raising,
putting you through punishment like it was hazing,
and I also got to admit the engineer's hair is amazing.
Give it up for sawblaze!
♪♪
there they are, team sawblaze, led by mad man
from mit, jamison go, sporting that deadly hammer saw.
Made it all the way to the quarter finals last season,
looking to improve on that mark this year.
And that journey begins tonight.
And jamison knows how important this opening fight
will be for his team.
They believe they have one of the top bots here in sawblaze,
and now it's time to prove it.
In the red square, to quote dustin hoffman,
"he's an excellent driver,"
not many have left a match with him a survivor,
but instead of rain man, he's here to bring the pain, man.
It's definitely, definitely whiplash!
♪♪
and there you see the vasquez family
known to us as team whiplash.
Father jeff, his two sons, jason and matt,
along with their mom, debbie,
made a deep run to the semifinals last year.
Kenny, this is a team that many of the builders here
think could win it all this season,
that articulating vertical disk
allows them to attack opponents in so many different ways.
Whiplash is one of the most unique bots in the field,
and matty vasquez might just be the best driver
in this entire competition.
Alright, I want to introduce you
to a brand-new team member.
He is not brand-new to the battlebots world.
He was there in 1994 for the founding of this sport.
He built one of the most famous robots of all time in ronan.
He is a special effects wizard, also our man on the inside.
He is now our bot whisperer.
He is the one and only, peter abrahamson.
Pete, what's going on?
Well, guys, I'm super excited to move
from the background to the foreground now.
This is going to be pretty amazing for me.
First of all, there's two of my favorite drivers
that are in this bout right now.
I can't wait for this match because, like jamison,
he's really worked on getting the wedge
to be the lowest wedge he can possibly have
to get underneath whiplash. And then whiplash
went completely the opposite direction
and put some really big, flat wedges on
so they can deflect that hammer saw
when it comes down and starts hitting on top of the robot
rather than let jamison drive up the front of their face.
Alright, pete, thank you very much.
Kenny, how do we get one of those nifty name tags?
I like that. He's got bot whisperer on his.
Do I get a "generic host" on mine
and you get "cool guy analyst" on yours or something?
We need patches. Yeah.
[ cheers and applause ]
robots, activate.
Alright, if you need a refresher,
each battle will consist of a single three-minute bout.
The goal -- to completely destroy
or disable your opponent.
If you can't do that,
our panel of judges will declare a victory.
And remember, the box is a minefield of hazards, screws,
hammers, controlled by the other team
and killsaws that become active
in the final minute of the fight.
-Red team, ready. -Ready?
-Let's do this! Light 'em up! -Slash and burn!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-red team, ready. -Go.
Yep.
[ cheers and applause ]
rose: Here we go, we are getting ready
for two of the best young drivers in the biz.
♪♪
come on!
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
we've been waiting an entire year to say this.
Here we go, here we go!
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
let the bot battle begin!
A little side kiss and then one face on.
Florian: Sawblaze all over whiplash here,
pushing him towards the side of the box.
Doing a nice job of pushing and shoving whiplash
right into the corner.
Oh!
Jamison go told us this will be a battle for low ground
and he is winning that fight, chris.
Here we go again, that big blade of sawblaze
looking dominant in the early --
oh!
Scored some points right there.
Sawblaze lands a little shot to the underbelly.
Matt vasquez needs to get control of his bot here.
Remember, the damage category
is all about your use of the primary weapon.
Oh!
Jamison go taking whiplash into the screws.
Yeah, whiplash is landing some nice shots
over the top, though, chris.
Let it spin out.
Yeah, whiplash doing a great job
of attacking with that weapon in the backwards position,
looking to evade sawblaze now.
Right now, those forks of sawblaze
really doing the business on whiplash, though.
Any time they go nose-to-nose,
it's sawblaze getting the better of whiplash.
And kenny, there's no question about it.
A minute through this match
that sawblaze has been the one on the attack.
He has been the chaser instead of the chasee.
Ooh!
That's the first big hit with the primary weapon,
though, chris, it's interesting how the judges
are going to see this.
If this does indeed go the full three minutes.
These are two of the most durable and seasoned bots
in "battlebots" history.
Jamison go has got whiplash up on the screws!
Whiplash has got to work its way out.
Look at jamison go, he says,
"you ain't getting off those screws, boy!
Sawblaze just has so much horsepower.
Oh! Yeah!
There's a nice shot from sawblaze again.
Watching -- oh!
He's cutting his teeth on whiplash!
Into the corner, you got him, you got him!
And here sawblaze bullying whiplash.
Lands a shot as he takes him into the side of the box.
Whiplash could be in trouble here.
Put him down!
Oh! A huge shot to the top of whiplash!
Hell yeah!
Could it be a knockout, chris?
Whiplash is not moving.
He may have into the shadow realm.
Yeah!
Whiplash can move its arm.
Sawblaze is already doing its victory dance,
anticipating a countdown! Wow!
Here it comes!
10, 9, 8... What a performance!
...7, 6... Jamison go and sawblaze...
...5, 4... Talk trash if you want,
you are a winner. ...3, 2, 1.
Whiplash is knocked out.
Winner, sawblaze!
[ cheers and applause ]
what a performance there from jamison go and team sawblaze.
Wow!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
talk about living up to your game plan with jamison go
and sawblaze, kenny.
Well, before this fight, the bot whisperer told us
that jamison had been working on that wedge
all off-season. There are those forks
getting underneath whiplash.
There's a nice shot with that vertical saw as well.
Later on, jamison go just continued his dominant driving.
Yeah. And I thought that, you know,
matt vasquez showed some nice defensive driving as well,
some nice counter shots over the top of sawblaze,
but sawblaze just had too much power,
just a dominant performance from team sawblaze.
And then finally the knockout shot.
And that's the finish there for team sawblaze.
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
aaah!
Jamison go.
Jamison, what kind of scream was that?
Was that one of like,
"I can't believe we just kicked some butt"?
You alright? Oh, man.
Like, I got to check my pulse again,
because that definitely felt like -- it's like,
a lot of, you know, we've been waiting so long
to fight these robots.
It's all that pent up emotion
that we've had for so, so long.
And there it is, that's a scream.
That's the emotion.
Florian: Jamison, you believed this was really
going to be a ground battle
and you believed whoever was able to get underneath the other
was going to win this fight.
Seems like that's exactly how it went down.
Yeah, I totally agree.
We were able to get underneath from the sides
and after he bent up the front a little bit,
we were able to get them from the front.
Matt did a great job.
He did a little trick where he tried to hit
with the back of the blade
and he actually got us a few times.
However, my team put together very quickly
an additional top plate to defend against
the critical parts of the robot.
So I think maybe without that, it'd be a different story.
But, you know, my team's awesome, great job, team.
Thank you very much for your hard work.
Yes! Slash and burn!
Jamison go, congratulations,
an awesome start.
See you down the line. Whoo!
Thank you very much.
Well, talk about trying to impress the selection committee
in the very first fight of the season.
Jamison go and sawblaze did just that.
They came out and got a statement win
over whiplash.
Here, jame-o, nice driving, man,
that was awesome.
Rose: And with that, the 2020 season is officially underway.
Stick around for more "battlebots fight night."
♪♪
rose: Welcome back to "battlebots"
on opening night of our 2020 season.
One fight down, seven to go.
And this next matchup brings a lot of intrigue.
It's fusion taking on mad-catter.
Let's start with fusion.
This is a rookie bot courtesy of team whyachi
and the legendary ewert family.
Over the past decade,
the ewerts have introduced a number of new bots,
son of whyachi, falcon, warrior dragon, and of course,
last year the flipper, hydra.
But with fusion, this might be their most ambitious design yet.
The first robot of its kind with a vertical and horizontal weapon
on a single bot.
At the helm will be 26-year-old reese ewert,
of course, battlebots is in his blood,
but he hasn't been behind the controls
since he was 12 years old.
So what happens if he doesn't win the giant nut
or at least have a good showing?
Is he allowed back in the state of wisconsin or not?
He will, he'll just be ridiculed for the rest of his life.
Alright. Taking on mad-catter
led by martin mason, who is like the wwe guy!
"I will sell. I love mad-catter.
I bring mad energy to the show," and he does.
What about his bot this year?
The guy is absolutely hilarious.
But, you know, don't be distracted by the character.
His bot is both modular and strategic.
He thinks he's got a really good bot that can get in the top 16.
If he wins, the guy might just be running around
the box in circles. It's going to be a ton of fun.
Can't wait to see how it plays out.
Faruq, do what you do.
[ cheers and applause ]
in the blue square, from abbotsford, wisconsin,
the two-headed terror -- fusion!
Kenny, one bot, two weapons
and a whole lot of expectations for team fusion.
Florian: Listen, the ewerts seem to bring a new bot
almost every year.
Last season, they struck gold with hydra.
They're hoping they can do the same here with fusion.
So there's a lot riding on this fight.
In the red square from pomona, california,
it's the gritty kitty.
Meow!
Mad-catter!
Oh, look at the eyes.
Kenny, the thing scaring me.
That is one crazy cat.
The bot looks wild, too. [ laughs ]
by the way, kudos to martin's daughter, katie,
who is a graphic design major, for coming out
and decorating this artistic bot.
♪♪
we're fighting fusion, and I'll tell you what,
we're gonna tear them apart, we put the plow on the robot
that's gonna deal with that little weed whacker,
that little tickler they've got on the back.
We also put the arm on here. That's going to give us
a lot of flexibility to deal with anything they might try.
We're just gonna get the weapon spun up,
wait back for him to come into us,
and then, you know, whale on 'em.
I'm gonna try to rip them to shreds as fast as possible.
Are you kidding me? With this piece of garbage?
Where'd you find this?
[ laughter ]
rose: Martin mason, never change.
Robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
alright, kenny, here we go, it's fusion and mad-catter
as the 2020 season gets into full swing.
Blue team, ready.
It'll be interesting to see which weapon
fusion wants to attack with first, chris.
Red team, ready.
[ cheers and applause ]
yeah, and, you know, mad-catter is just ready to pounce.
♪♪
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
♪♪
let the bot battle begin!
Oh! A rush!
Massive hits there by mad-catter!
Unreal. And already it looks like fusion is a bit off center.
Welcome to the battlebox, reese ewert!
But look at this, trying to use that vertical disk spinner
and going right into the cat's meow.
We had major shrapnel on that hit.
Oh, boy, kenny.
Fusion losing some control there through that
horizontal spinner.
Uh-oh!
Oh!
Big hit by mad-catter there!
Oh! Fusion rips a chunk
out of mad-catter and then ricochets off that wedge.
Wow! Fusion has been inverted!
Oh, another big shot!
Fusion is hurt, chris,
and mad-catter is still going strong.
Oh, no! Mad-catter taking it to fusion,
which is on fire. Wow!
Major, major fire inside the battlebox
here in the first minute of this fight.
This is not what he planned for.
Fusion has lost a vertical disk spinner,
has lost its ability to use its horizontal spinner
as well, kenny.
Yeah, they are behind the eight ball now.
Let's see how durable this bot is.
Can they make it to the closing bell?
At this point the only thing that fusion could do
is just push around mad-catter.
While it's on fire, it's basically a barbecue on wheels.
Well, reese ewert said he didn't want his robot to explode
and he might have jinxed himself.
Mad-catter now trying
to push fusion into the corner and drop the pulverizer,
that 100-pound hammer right on its head.
Mad-catter may just want to back off here,
see if they can draw a countdown.
Catter, I don't know if he's trying to
flip the burger or what.
Referee: 10, 9...
Here comes the countdown.
...8, 7, 6, 5...
It won't be left on the grill any longer.
...3, 2, 1. That's a knockout!
[ cheers and applause ]
mad-catter with the k-o
of the new bot, fusion.
[ cheers and applause ]
yeah!
Oh, yeah!
Oh, yeah!!
Kenny, mad-catter could not wait to get the 2020 season going.
What a hit.
You know, and I tell you what he was talking about,
you know, being strategic out there,
but also being aggressive,
took out fusion,
really shell-shocked it from the get-go.
And what did you think of fusion?
So high in terms of expectations with the dual weapons,
a vertical spinner, a horizontal spinner,
and neither one could lay that blow.
Well, again, when you have two high-energy weapons,
again, you're gonna have to run a ton of energy out there.
And I think they burned out both those motors very early.
And that's what lost the fight
in association with those big hits.
[ cheers and applause ]
yeah!
Whoo!
Yeah!
Martin? Martin mason,
I thought you'd be running around the battlebox
after knocking out the newbie, you okay?
You know what?
We were gonna bring it. This was gonna be
a total meltdown. We promised you that.
And we brought the meltdown. I'mma tell you what.
I am so proud of these kids. These kids did great.
And we are gonna keep bringing it
the entire time we're here.
Martin, you're 1-0, you have a knockout.
How does it feel to start the season this way?
It feels great. We got a few scratches in the paint.
We're gonna get it sorted. You're gonna see us again.
Martin mason, mad-catter, congratulations
on laying the smackdown.
You got it, bro! Thank you!
Yeah!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
martin mason, do we have to, like, plug him in,
does he have to recharge for his next fight?
How does that work? Man, I feel like
I need a recharge. What a fight.
I mean, the guy brings the energy
out of the battlebox,
inside the battlebox. What a fight.
So it's a disappointing debut for team fusion, who falls
to 0-1, courtesy of that mad-catter knockout.
Alright. So far, two fights, two knockouts.
And we've got malice versus axe backwards
coming your way right after this.
♪♪
alright, we are back on "battlebots fight night."
right now, it's malice versus the full-body
drum spinner axe backwards.
And kenny, let's start with malice,
led by first-time captain adrian "bunny" sauriol.
Now, bunny, we have seen her
with several teams throughout the years,
most recently shatter! During 2019.
But now she's the captain. She says she's nervous,
she's excited, but she believes that she belongs 100%.
You know, when you're a part of many different teams,
you learn a lot about how to do things, how not to do things.
She feels she's best prepared right now.
And tonight, taking on somebody
that's looking for a little redemption.
Kurt durjan and the bot axe backwards.
He described last season as, "brutal."
I don't think he'd get any argument from anybody here.
He has just one win since 2018.
How's he get it going?
You know, kurt was pretty honest with us.
He said, "listen, I come from an electrical
engineering background. I need someone
from a mechanical engineering background.
He's added one and he believes he has the right team now
to find some success in battlebots.
Should be a whole lot of fun.
Faruq, it's all you.
In the blue square, from san jose, california,
the belle of the brawl, malice!
And there we see malice,
which sports a 65-pound horizontal drum spinner,
bunny calls it monster weapon, big red.
Well, it's definitely an unorthodox weapon choice.
Normally, you see this type of drum spinner
on a vertical plane.
I'm very interested to see what kind of damage it can do.
In the red square, from vero beach, florida,
it's the ratchet hatchet, axe backwards!
Kenny win axe backwards debuted in 2018,
the idea of a full-body drum spinner,
it seemed pretty darn cool.
The entire robot is a weapon
and it's the biggest drum on the field.
Unfortunately, it hasn't had a lot of success.
In a lot of ways, this season will be make
or break for axe backwards, as a design, a concept.
At a certain point, you just have to start seeing results.
My strategy for fighting axe backwards is to hit him hard
and hit them on their tires so they explode.
We're gonna use big red.
Big red is our 65-pound drummette,
and it's a very large stick disk
and it spins at 180 tip speed.
Oh, I'm so ready for this. I'm ready. I'm ready. Ready.
[ laughs ]
so our first matchup against malice,
I'm really excited about. We have fire this year.
We have flame throwers built into the tail of this robot.
So she has a belt drive that could slip potentially,
the rubber will heat up and start to slip.
Their weapon won't work anymore after that.
My plan of attack, I think,
is gonna be just a box rusher.
I think if we're all up in her face
before she can spin up her weapon,
it will minimize the damage on our part.
I hope malice has her pilot's license
'cause I'm going to send her to the ceiling.
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
alright, it's malice versus axe backwards.
And look at this, kenny, the trash talk has already begun.
Here we go.
♪♪
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
oh, yeah.
[ buzzing ]
let the bot battle begin!
Little sizing up, nice shot by malice,
who's going right for the tires!
Oh! Oh, my gosh!
We have a huge bot flaming!
Whoa! Yes!
That's how you do it! Unbelievable!
Bunny sauriol's team lights up the battlebox
in its very first fight!
What a hit by malice.
Right, there is a little movement, there it is.
Kurt is trying to find a way to extend this fight
as parts continue to fly off his bot!
One more hit, kurt!
Oh, they're going in for another hit, it looks like, chris.
There it is! And another!
Malice is like a mad dog off a leash!
[ barking ]
look out, look out!
Oh!
That might have been the knockout blow, chris,
I got -- I got no drive. Unbelievable.
You can hear kurt durjan saying, "I got no drive."
10, 9... Here comes the countdown.
8, 7, 6... Knocked out!
...5, 4... Rose: Malice with a huge shot,
big time flames and win number one.
Malice wins!
Yeah! Suck it, kurt! Suck it!
I have no idea what happened.
Did she just say suck it? [ laughs ]
she did. Who is she? Pete weber
at the pba tour?
To quote the legendary comedian eddie murphy,
"now, that's a fire!"
yeah, absolutely. And to quote mike tyson,
"everyone has a plan until you get hit in the face."
and that's exactly what happened.
This was a very mike tyson-esque fight here from malice.
I mean, went right at him, hit him right in the face.
And this fight was over in seconds.
Give axe backwards. And kurt and his crew credit,
they tried to get those wheels spinning,
but they just had nothing left
after turning into a bot of flame.
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
bunny. Hi!
Hi, chris and kenny!
Your first win as a team captain.
How did that feel? Amazing.
It was like all these years of people telling me that I can't.
There you go. First knockout.
How many people come here
and then don't do well their first fight.
And here I am killing it with my team.
Look at these guys. Look at these amazing guys.
I can't even tell you how wonderful it is
to go in there and just make flames.
Look at these ears. This is what I do.
Bunny, why are you tearing up?
I can't even tell you how hard we worked on this robot.
Probably like 700 hours into this robot.
And they just, like, they just went in there
and they did what it's supposed to do and they killed it.
[ inhales deeply ] there we go. Cleansing breath.
Go celebrate with your team.
Congratulations on winning number one.
It was so nice to see you.
♪♪
alright, things are heating up here on opening night,
three fights down, three knockouts,
and I'm starting to wonder if the judges should even get paid.
But, hey, there's more "battlebots"
coming your way right after this.
♪♪
rose: Welcome back to "battlebots."
as with most things in life at the moment,
it's all a little different this year.
For our 2020 season
we're lucky enough to have our teams
boxside for all the action.
Right now, we are joined by a very special guest,
the captain of team hypershock, will bales,
who's up in the opera boxes.
You've got some pretty good seats up there, huh?
Yeah, this is pretty great.
I like watching from above. This is nice.
Is it good in order to scout the competition up there?
I mean, how much information can you actually draw
when you're watching a fight from up there?
Oh, it's everything.
You need to know who you're fighting,
you know, how hard they hit, what their driving style is,
where in the arena they like to sit
and where they're comfortable,
because you can take advantage of that.
If they like being really close to their side,
then just play around in the opposite corner.
And will, what's it gonna take for you and your team
to take this competition?
Well, it's going to take a lot of work in the pits,
you know, a lot of luck, and a lot of planning,
a lot of prep and really good driving.
And finally, for people that are sitting here at home
and say, "okay, I do have the confidence to build a robot,
but I will never have will bale's hair."
what do you say to them?
You know, you can wear a hat,
you can just dye it like kyle here.
You know, he's doing a great job.
Oh, yeah. Isaac also has
a wonderful dye job here.
It's top notch.
Will bales, thanks as always
for the time and the energy.
Absolutely. Thanks, guys.
[ laughs ]
so we've got three fights in the books,
and it's bloodsport taking on skorpios next on the card,
they should be gearing up for it as we speak.
But I got to be honest, kenny,
my eyes are starting to wander down to that main event.
Jack barker and end game called out tombstone
a couple of seasons ago, and now they'll finally
get the matchup they've been asking for.
Oh! Oh!
What a huge hit by end game!
Maybe: We're feeling pretty good at our peak season,
we're on a bit of a win streak.
End game, ferocious!
And I think jack took it maybe a little bit too far
and called out the champ.
Who else do you want to take down?
We'd take tombstone.
I think that tombstone should be more worried than us.
Oh! Those are fighting words!
Tauheed: It's tombstone!
Billings: I know it's a match
that they've wanted for a while now.
Oh, my goodness.
Be careful what you wish for.
He hits you once, and it could be over.
Whoo!
End game is a very well-built machine.
It's a very tough machine. Pretty strong vertical spinner.
I want to see them in pieces in 90 seconds.
That's what we're after.
Oh! Huge shot!
Always a threat to do damage with that heavy vertical weapon.
The disk spins at about 4,500 rpm.
Which is pretty high.
Billings: For tombstone this year,
we brought several different weapon bars.
This is a new one that I made this year.
So there's some new material that I'm trying out
that I haven't used before.
I expect that there's going to be a lot of power unleashed.
Barker: We've watched all of tombstone's fights,
and we know that he struggles against wedges.
Rotator's wedge doing some amazing work there.
Mabey: We've set it up with a big wedge at the front.
We're hoping that he'll ride up the wedge into the weapon
and we'll be able to watch him do his flips.
Tombstone is in big time trouble, chris.
At some point, we're thinking that this season was the season
that we were gonna fight them.
I don't know if we were all mentally prepared for it
to be the very first fight.
Billings: The original build for tombstone started in 2003.
So I've been refining this design for 17 years.
The king of kinetic energy has done it again!
Tombstone has been around
for almost as long as jack barker has.
Barker: So we've got to put our money where our mouth is
and pay the price for what we said a couple years ago.
Tombstone will win by knockout.
[ laughs ]
♪♪
we are back on "battlebots fight night."
kenny florian and chris rose.
Next up on our power packed opening night fight card,
it's the deadly bar spinner bloodsport
taking on the hammer saw skorpios.
It's a pair of bots that had pretty successful seasons
in 2019, looking to take that next step in 2020.
And let's start with skorpios.
Driven by veteran driver zach lytle.
He actually told us, "listen, we are shooting
for the giant nut."
confidence or overconfidence here?
Florian: Listen, skorpios has proven time and again
that it's a really durable bot.
It's got that big plow on the front.
They use that saw to attack the top of their opponents
where a lot of robots are weak on armor.
They're going to be a tough out for anyone.
Yeah, I think they're feeling confident, rightfully so.
Second season performance now for bloodsport,
anchored by justin marple.
Justin was very funny and honest with us.
He said, "last year as rookies
we had no idea what we were doing out there."
still, he managed to pick up four wins,
didn't make the round of 16.
But he's got a lot more confidence this time around.
I mean, not too shabby to have a winning record at battlebots
in your very first season.
Three of those wins came by knockout.
I think justin marple and bloodsport could turn out
to be one of the top teams here
and just their second year on "battlebots."
let's find out.
Faruq?
In the blue square, from cambridge, massachusetts,
it's bloodsport!
♪♪
alright, justin marple's bot looking a little different
this time around.
Man, I've never seen that plate.
We definitely didn't see that last season.
That thing looks crazy.
We'll see if it can dish the pain.
♪♪
in the red square, from crockett, california,
it's skorpios!
Let's go!
Rose: We've seen several different versions of skorpios
over the years. What do you like about this one?
Well, I tell you what, they're hammer saw has always been
a very dangerous weapon for them.
But this one in particular, they believe,
can do some serious damage on any bot it gets ahold of.
♪♪
for our first matchup, we're fighting skorpios,
and we have these wedges in front
that can get under the opponent and hopefully that means we can
get them off their drive base and we can push them to walls
and into the pulverizer and things like that.
First time running this new bot configuration.
So it'll be exciting to see how it works out.
Our strategy is to control the tempo of the match.
We have a big steel front
and he has a little spinning blade,
and I want to pin that to the wall
and keep it from getting up to speed.
We're hoping to just defeat bloodsport quick and easy.
We want to get through this with as little damage as possible.
Robots, activate.
Alright, so, peter, let's focus on bloodsport.
Please explain that weapon.
Abrahamson: I know, it's pretty massive compared to the old bar
that they used to just have, but this is designed
specifically for saw-type bots.
As you notice, it covers their whole robot,
giving them a complete coverage for when that saw comes down
and it can't bite into any of the important components
underneath bloodsport.
That hammer saw should be able to
cut through a lot of stuff,
whether they can get through bloodsport's weapon,
that's anybody's guess.
Well, it is time to find out.
Peter, thanks, as always, for the insight.
Blue team, ready.
[ cheers and applause ]
this should be a good one.
Red team, ready. We got this.
A pair of evenly matched teams.
[ laughs ]
aah! Let the carnage begin!
♪♪
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
[ buzzing ]
let the bot battle begin!
It's skorpios quick on the box rush.
Bloodsport without a weapon.
Full speed blow!
Whoa!
Holy smokes! What just happened?
Bloodsport just launched skorpios
halfway across the battlebox,
but lost two of its wedgelets in the process.
But skorpios right back in pursuit,
keeping the pressure on.
Oh! Oh!
That was an amazing hit!
Not the battlebox sign!
We're gonna charge you for that!
It'll be in your hotel bill when you leave.
Wow! Skorpios looking to get
underneath bloodsport and exert some control here.
Oh!
That's saw of skorpios's looks like it's wobbly.
It is. It's bent, chris.
Here comes the pulverizer.
It's not getting a great angle right now on bloodsport,
but it's definitely hitting that weapon on top.
Bloodsport has got to free itself, and it does.
Bloodsport is looking to create some space here
so it can get that weapon up to speed.
Spin, spin, spin, spin.
Ah, you can really hear that thing humming.
Skorpios feeling confident in that plow.
Really look at to force the issue here.
Looks like bloodsport's trying to attack the wheels
of skorpios, so far, no dice.
Look at the sparks created!
Oh!
Big time energy release on that.
Oh! Holy smokes,
there's another one!
We let the weapon cool. Weapon cool.
Chris, the right side of skorpios
has taken a beating in these exchanges.
Yeah, kenny, you can clearly see it.
The frame is bent, the tire sheared,
and skorpios's looking a little punch drunk,
something just smoking.
Florian: Some serious damage, chris,
I think bloodsport got to their electronics.
Skorpios barely moving.
Is it enough to prevent a countdown?
Bloodsport on the attack.
Oh, no, that frame.
Getting that weapon to spin up yet again,
is he going to go in for another shot?
Man: Let him sleep. He's got to come out.
Bloodsport kind of creeping at him, going,
"you want some of this, bro? Come on."
hey, skorpios is out of options here.
And the countdown has begun!
...8, 7, 6...
Bloodsport just standing in front of him,
taunting his victim.
...3, 2... What good fight.
...1! Skorpios is knocked out!
What an impressive performance by bloodsport!
Justin marple and his crew! Fired up!
And you guys should be.
Yo...
♪♪
kenny, if that was indeed the game plan by bloodsport,
it certainly worked out after taking a huge hit early.
Florian: Well, you could tell they're from boston
because there was no bark, they were all bite.
They went right in there to fight.
I mean, my goodness, an aggressive game plan there
from justin marple and team bloodsport.
Yeah, skorpios in the early going,
won the game of push and shove.
But then you can see the damage from that weapon
that he told us all about causing some serious damage
to the front grille of skorpios.
Yeah, even the great driving of zach lytle
couldn't save them here.
♪♪
kenny, there's always those bots in the second or third year
where they have some experience under their belt
and they make that huge leap.
I think we just saw one. Yeah.
Justin marple and his team at bloodsport,
they're really coming into their own.
I mean, beating a veteran team like skorpios
and an excellent driver in zach lytle really says a lot.
No question about it. In the meantime,
our amazing crew back there working on it.
Hi, guys, let's see.
[ laughs ]
hi, guys. Keep working.
They're doing a great job fixing that pulverizer back there.
Alright. Coming up, it's a matchup
you will not want to miss.
It's the legend, donald hutson and lock-jaw
taking on america's own captain shrederator.
That's coming up next
as "battlebots fight night" rolls on.
♪♪
rose: Alright, we are back up "battlebots fight night."
and up next, a pair of veterans,
including one in donald hutson and lock-jaw
that's got its eyes on the biggest prize.
Donald told us, "listen, it's been a while
since I've got my hands on the hardware."
he really believes he's got the bot
yet again to pull it off.
Florian: Yeah, absolutely. That's the benefit
of bringing the same bot or a similar bot
every season, you'll learn of its weaknesses.
You can improve it over time.
And I think that's exactly what donald hutson has done.
In the other corner, you got brian nave,
who's back running the ship for captain shrederator.
Last year went winless.
He said, "listen, for two decades,
this has been striking fear
in the rest of the battlebots community.
Right now, we don't know what's going on."
so what is going on?
Well, you know, he was really frustrated
with the lack of reliability in last season's bot.
And for a full body spinner like shrederator,
reliability is especially key.
Every impact it makes with its opponents,
it's hitting with its weapon, which can be effective,
but also means it has to absorb a lot of punishment
over the course of a fight.
Brian always says if he's spinning, he's winning.
We'll see if he can keep it spinning tonight.
Ready to check this one out? Let's do it.
Faruq, take it away.
In the blue square, lock it up, lock it in,
donald, this bot is a sin.
It's lock-jaw!
♪♪
well, there he is, donald hutson,
who has been building combat robots since 1996.
Lock-jaw is an incredibly versatile machine, kenny.
And donald has the all-around skills to match.
In the red square,
this bot will hit you so hard, you'll separator,
give it up for captain shrederator!
♪♪
brian nave, back driving captain shrederator.
And, kenny, this is a team that's really struggled,
just one win since 2015.
Yeah, he sure has and really has gone back to the basics.
And in bringing an older bot,
he believes he's going to find a lot
more success this season.
Brian nave told us it takes two seconds
to get spinning up to a dangerous speed.
Five seconds and it's up to full speed.
We'll see if captain shrederator
is up to the challenge.
And for more on this fight,
let's bring in the bot whisperer.
Pete, what can you tell us about these two veteran teams?
Donald has completely rebuilt lock-jaw from the ground up,
even though it looks the same, it is a brand-new bot.
But on the opposite end of the spectrum,
we have brian who went ahead and stripped out
all the bells and whistles out of captain shrederator.
There's no magnets.
He's gone back to an old contactor
to get it to be old reliable.
Right before this fight, brian came to me and said,
"I think donald has chosen the wrong wedge
for the back of lock-jaw." we'll see how that plays out.
♪♪
robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
alright, it's the first road test
for both of these bots in 2020.
Who's gonna walk away with the win?
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
[ buzzing ]
let the bot battle begin!
Here comes lock-jaw leading with that wedge.
Oh! We've already got some sparks inside the box.
Shrederator ripped a piece of lock-jaw's wedge off
in that exchange.
Oh, big hit there.
And there goes a missing tire.
Shrederator with a near perfect start here.
And now both weapons are firing up.
Oh! Look out for some action here.
Yeah, that first hit really messed up that --
oh! There goes the frisbee
and it takes a shot from the screws.
Already see some bot parts
all over the battlebox right now, chris.
Captain shrederator out of control.
That only took 35 seconds.
Now they're right in front of us.
Shrederator backed in the corner and it's smoking too!
[bleep] are you kidding me?
This is a nonsmoking zone, brian nave.
This could be bad news for shrederator,
which can only do damage
when it gets to the center of the box
and can spin up to full speed.
Florian: Looks like donald hutson's having some problems
with his primary weapon, that's starting to slow down.
But he wants to finish the job
and let the battlebox do it.
So shrederator right now cannot spin,
seems to have lost its ability to do that.
Donald hutson's vertical disk spinner is not working.
So now who has the advantage in this scenario, kenny?
Well, without the ability to spin,
shrederator is in big trouble here.
He has no real way to score points
and now lock-jaw looking to take advantage.
Nice driving there by brian nave.
Nick nave, brian's son has been the one driving shrederator
the last few years, so brian said it might take him
a fight or two to get his driving skills back.
But so far he's been able to elude
donald hutson till then.
Lock-jaw got caught up in the killsaws there.
Without that weapon,
shrederator desperately needs some bob and weave here
to stay alive. Oh!
He's got to get out of there, kenny.
There he is! Lock-jaw delivers
shrederator into the screws
and he's gonna get clawed up here.
Can brian nave escape?
Uh-oh, and now look at this.
That primary weapon of donald hutson is back working again.
Will lock-jaw choose to finish him
or will the ref beat him to the punch?
10, 9... And there it is,
the countdown has started.
...7, 6... Shrederator in control
of the fight early and now rendered helpless in the teeth
of the screws. ...1!
Shrederator is knocked out!
And the first fortune here on opening night!
Donald hutson takes care of business knocking out
captain shrederator.
It's just begun.
Donald hutson really doing
what everyone expected him to do.
What a performance there.
Captain shrederator, the struggles continue,
unfortunately.
Kenny, wasn't the most dominant box rush
right off the top,
took donald a little while to get there,
but still successful nonetheless.
Well, it was still a very big hit.
But I tell you what, brian nave
did some really great driving during the course of that fight.
The problem with shrederator was he never landed
that one critical blow
that is so important for a full body spinner.
Yeah, that's right. Donald hutson
has so much experience
going against these full body spinners.
And I just think his design was just built specifically
for someone like captain shrederator.
Not only a win, but a knockout.
♪♪
so after shrederator had him on the ropes,
donald hutson turns the tables
and notches that oh, so important first win.
Coming up, it's a matchup you won't want to miss.
Two rookies looking to start their battlebox careers
with a win.
That's rusty squaring up to sporkinok.
And don't forget, we're driving toward
tonight's main event, it's the killer kiwi's end game,
taking on the grim reaper himself,
the king of kinetic energy,
former battlebots champion tombstone!
Billings: [ laughs ]
♪♪
rose: We are back on "battlebots."
five fights in the books,
and we just witnessed captain shrederator
lose its first match of the 2020 season.
Our very own jenny taft caught up with captain brian nave
after the loss to find out what went wrong.
Taft: Brian, hello.
Hey, jenny, how you doing?
Good to see you.
I heard a little rumor
that the reason why your bot had a little trouble in the box
was as simple as this.
It was as simple as that.
A little pin. I can't even --
all of this and that killed it.
Wow. Can you please explain this to me
and why this was the issue?
Since we got rid of all our high tech in the throwback,
we went all the way back to 2003 technology.
Because that's when I was winning, winning, winning,
winning, winning. I wanted to get back to winning again.
So we have a brake on it now that we had never tried before.
Okay. And this kept the brake
disengaged.
And when we took that big hit and flew in the air,
it sheared this pin and applied the brake.
So the rest of the match, every time we tried
to spin up, the brake was stopping it.
So the motors were fighting the brake and the brake won.
It's an obvious question, but I mean,
how frustrating is this to you?
I cannot even explain.
I never want to see that pin again.
No, never. Alright. We're done.
Thank you for your time. Alright, thanks.
It was nice talking to you.
Rose: We look forward to shrederator's next fight
as jenny taft continues to get it done back in the pits.
In the meantime, let's get back
to our next fight.
For the first time ever, we have a trans captain.
Her name is lilith specht, she is the captain of sporkinok.
Even though she's new to battlebots
she is not new to robot fighting.
She's been running some smaller events down in orlando, florida.
She's ready to show that she's got the goods.
She is taking on another rookie robot named rusty,
the captain here is dave eaton.
Do you want to know all about his crew?
The rest of them are named dave eaton
and dave eaton and dave eaton.
It's a one-man show.
He's put this thing together with bubble gum,
popsicle sticks, and a dream that it will, in fact, work.
Let's see how this one goes.
Faruq, you got this.
[ cheers and applause ]
in the blue square, from orlando, florida,
it's not a southpaw it's a mouth claw.
Here's sporkinok!
♪♪
lilith specht, a 33-year-old accountant by day,
ready to show that this bot is ready to do its job, kenny.
Lilith designed sporkinok
to run as either a hammer or a lifter,
that's the configuration you see here.
She wants to use those sharp mandibles
to get underneath her opponent and control the fight.
In the red square, from antioch, illinois,
it puts the die in oxidize.
Don't worry. It happens to lots of guys.
It's rusty!
♪♪
dave eaton grew up on a farm, he's used just
about anything you can find on his parents' farm.
Thrown it together,
and that looks like one of my salad bowls.
[ laughs ] well, you know, he calls that
primary weapon a hammer spike
and curious to see if it could do some damage.
Here we go.
I'm here alone. One man band, I'm getting it done by myself,
you know, doing what I need to do
and I've kind of got it all planned out
and I've got to get up and go to get it done.
There's a lot of great teams here and stuff
that I'm trying to compete against.
Things came together. I got the robot
and everything's ready to go, and I'm ready to do it.
I love rusty's look, I have never seen it fight.
I don't know the builder.
It'll be interesting to see what it does.
I don't know if it's fast or slow.
It's completely unknown. That's exciting in its own way.
♪♪
robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
alright, so let's put this into some perspective, kenny,
this probably isn't a preview
of the battlebox championship final.
No, that's right. These are two rookie teams,
two brand-new bots.
It's their first time driving them inside the battlebox.
This is like a jump of the deep act, chris,
and so it's sink or swim for sporkinok and rusty.
♪♪
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
oh, this is really happening!
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
[ buzzing ]
let the bot battle begin!
Sporkinok on the attack.
Rusty trying to get away.
Oh, gosh, don't take yourself into the rails there.
Oh, sporkinok gets under rusty and manages to tip him over.
Come on, rusty, can you get up, huh?
He does have a self-righting mechanism, chris.
Yeah, oh, yes. There you go.
Nice!
I was worried there for a second.
Well done by the junkyard bot.
Now rusty is gonna have to find a way to score some points.
Rusty rising that spike up in the air.
An intimidating posture, rusty lowers that needle
for nothing.
Takes a little bit to get your bearings straight
when you haven't fought in this large a venue.
That lifter on sporkinok
looks like it's stuck in the upright position, chris.
You know, these type of matches
are a road test for new bots, kenny.
Not everybody can jump into the box and be tombstone right away.
Now, we did see mad-catter score
a knockout earlier tonight,
that bot was definitely in the startup category last year.
But I got to say, rusty might be the cutest little bot
I've ever seen. The front of it
looks like something out of "star wars."
the only thing is I don't know what they're trying
to inject him with a hypodermic needle
or what that thing is on top.
This is a great opportunity here for rusty.
Get in there. Get in there, rusty.
Trying to do some damage to the back tires.
Oh, darn.
I think that may have caused some damage, kenny.
Yeah, rusty looks like he's in the driver's seat now.
Sporkinok not looking good.
Can rusty pull off the win in its debut performance
on "battlebots"?
Whatever occurred in that exchange there looks like it
may have been enough to hurt sporkinok.
Sporkinok looks like she might be tapped out
and rusty doing a little shuffle here.
He thinks he's got it.
Referee: 10, 9...
And here comes the countdown,
from the junkyard to the big show!
...5, 4... David eaton and rusty
has come into the battlebox
and picked up a win.
...1! That's a knockout!
[ buzzer ]
and look at the excitement on david's face.
Whoo!
[ sighs ]
unbelievable.
Hey, listen, kenny, this is the sort of stuff
that happens when you get two rookie bots
matched up against each other for the very first time.
Yeah, absolutely. And you see sporkinok
did a great job of tipping rusty over,
but rusty, able to self-right,
that was just brilliant stuff there from dave eaton.
And he had some nice shots there,
was able to attack the backside of sporkinok.
And then here you go, dropping the needle.
Obviously it did something to team sporkinok
because after this, we didn't hear from lilith specht's bot.
I hope that needle is clean, chris.
Well, we threw a little hand sanitizer on it.
There you go. Don't worry about it.
[ cheers and applause ]
whew! [ chuckles ]
alright, david eaton, yeah, you've give us a few "whew!
Whew!" yeah!
I'm pumped up. I tell you what.
I feel like I'm dreaming right now, guys.
That was intense.
I have never -- it's my first time out, obviously.
And I am -- I am lit up.
I'll tell you what.
You know, you don't have any other team members to blame.
But since it's just yourself, you can also
congratulate yourself for all the work you put in.
High five! Hey! Yeah! [ laughs ]
dave, take us through the fight, man.
Yeah, you know, honestly, being in the box and stuff,
trying to get coordinated with the layout and stuff,
it was really hard. I was like, "oh, my gosh,
this moves faster I thought he did," right?
So I was trying to get my bearings and stuff
and get used to getting him squared up
and then getting that hammer down on him.
And it was tough. It was tough.
I can understand some of these drivers and stuff.
This is not as easy as it looks.
Dave, we have never seen a robot designed quite like this.
Please explain where the idea came from.
So honestly, I wanted to get into it and I was like,
"hey, I got to start build up a body and stuff."
and my parents' farm.
I just would go out back and be like,
"hey, there's some square tubing there.
Hey, there's a round tube."
and I just started putting stuff together,
and once I got the body together, I was like,
"hey, I could put tracks on it!"
dave, this is amazing. I mean, you've got a great personality.
Obviously you have a passion for robotics.
You are currently undefeated.
You got your first win, man.
I did! Yeah, thank you, thank you very much.
I can't believe it. It's a dream come true, guys.
Do you have a celebratory dance that you do or something?
A celebratory dance?
Yes! [ laughs ]
there you go. It's the rusty shake!
David eaton, congratulations. A job well done, my friend.
Thank you, gentlemen.
♪♪
chalk one up for the big farm boy from illinois,
dave eaton, and by the way, he's so funny,
he's gonna be performing on the ha-ha hole down in pico
once they open that thing back up in the near future.
Dave eaton, check mark by your name.
Job well done, my friend.
Hey, we're only one fight away from the main event,
so let's not waste any time.
We'll be right back with more "battlebots fight night."
♪♪
all right, we are back on "battlebots" fight night,
and don't look now, but we're only one fight away
from tonight's main event
and our first glimpse
of the most notorious bar-spinner in the sport,
tombstone.
There's the man -- ray billings -- gearing up
for this highly anticipated fight.
He'll be taking on end game.
And there's nick mabey and jack barker,
who called out the former champ
just a couple of seasons ago.
But right now, we'll see rookie smeeeeeeeeeee
taking on someone who's made quite a name for himself
in the "battlebots" community these past few seasons.
That's edward robinson and sharkoprion.
It's really an emotional time for edward
because this is gonna be his final go-around,
and this is the first time he's competing
without his longtime "battlebots" partner,
john hoffman,
who unfortunately died because of cancer.
And we talked to edward ahead of time --
he was in tears.
He said, "listen, I have to win this first fight
in john's memory."
taking on a "battlebots" rookie, joe fabiani.
The name of his bot is smeeeeeeeeeee.
We asked joe, "wait, is that one-two-three-four 'e's?"
he's like, "well, the most I ever put down
filling out the sheet was 22."
now, you look at this bot --
it's unlike anything we've ever seen before.
Florian: There's a lot of things I love about this bot.
First of all, you know, coming from a jujitsu background,
I want to be a human boa constrictor,
and this is kind of a robotic boa constrictor,
and I love the fact that he's trying something new.
This thing's 14 feet long.
It wants to encapsulate the other bot
and then kind of chew it up.
So, let's check it out.
It's sharko against... [ inhales deeply ]
smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Can I stop?
That's a lot of "e"s, yeah.
Eeeeeeee --
cut.
Faruq?
[ cheers and applause ]
in the blue square,
from new york city,
the choke-artist,
it's smeeeeeeeeeee!
♪♪
holy smokes, kenny.
Look at that thing.
[ laughing ] oh, my goodness.
Yeah, that's big.
Are there 22 "e"s on that thing, or what?
That's a lot of "e"s. That's a lot of bot.
You see the flanks have those horizontal
disc spinners there.
I don't think we've seen anything like this.
This is like a massive thanksgiving table
just to bring the bot over here.
And once again, I got stuck at the kiddies' table.
♪♪
in the red square,
from jacumba, california,
the jaws of strife,
it's sharko!
[ cheers and applause ]
kenny, in years past,
we saw edward robinson deliver us a bot
that basically was made out of recycling materials.
That is not the case here.
No, it's not.
Edward robinson and his late partner
put a lot of time and money into this bot
since last season.
They actually decided to change that weapon
from the vertical spinner we saw in years past
to a 4,000 psi crusher,
which seems pretty fitting when your bot is modeled
after a prehistoric shark.
Robinson: [ chanting ] sharko, sharko, sharko!
Sharko, sharko, sharko!
Tonight, we're fighting sharko.
We're gonna try to get to his side --
get to those nice juicy wheels
and maybe take one of them off.
We have a new robot, so we're not sure
how well it's gonna work.
We've had a lot of problems the past couple of days
getting everything up to speed, but now it's running,
and I hope it's gonna keep working the whole fight.
Sharko's slogan is,
"you should have brought a bigger bot."
well, for once, someone brought a bigger bot.
This is john's design.
We had it running before he passed away,
so this is a completely brand new build.
New motors, new speed controls.
This thing is almost 8-foot long.
It's ridiculous.
What we're gonna try to do
is get around to either of the end
with the mouth open and get ahold of the end.
Then I can just swing him around.
I don't know what a 250-pound robot tastes like,
but he is about to find out.
♪♪
[ indistinct chatter ]
robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
ok, kenny, get your popcorn ready.
We got smeeeeeeeeeee --
a platform like nothing we've ever seen before
on "battlebots" -- versus a mechanical shark.
Hit it!
[ cheers and applause ]
ying: We can do it! We're gonna do great.
We're gonna do something.
[ laughs ]
[ electronic warbling ]
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
[ audience chanting "fight" ]
[ buzzer buzzing ]
rose: Let the bot battle begin, and here we go!
Sharko on the attack.
Oh, let's see what smeeeeeeeeeee can do.
Tried to wrap its way around,
but he can't get all the way around that big shark.
Sharko trying to attack the center of smeeeeeeeeeee,
and I think they're just too pliable there, chris.
Yeah, it's so interesting because sharko is so big
that smeeeeeeeeeee, even with its size and reach,
cannot wrap all the way around its opponent.
Yeah, that's right -- the shape of sharko
is making it very difficult
for smeeeeeeeeeee to do anything to it.
Meantime, sharko trying to use that tail
to smack smeeeeeeeeeee and snap it in two,
which would make it "smeee," and then "eeeeee."
[ laughs ]
both teams still feeling each other out.
Lots of contact so far,
but no real pain dished out by either side.
Yeah, chris, in a match like this,
it just takes one shot to get [ indistinct] attention
and jump ahead in the damage category.
Now, you can see sharko's tires have been chewed up a little.
Those horizontal spinners on smeeeeeeeeeee
are just nibbling away at that giant shark.
And now, smeeeeeeeeeee has sharko backed into a corner.
It's like a giant piece of spaghetti
on wheels, kenny!
And right now, sharko's the meatball, chris.
All right, here we go.
Yeah, go.
I'll tell you this, though --
sharko's crushing it on the dance floor.
I mean, he's the dude in the corner just --
he doesn't care. He doesn't have a partner.
He's just having fun. Florian: [ laughs ]
yeah, go do your fish thing.
Go. [ laughs ]
now, sharko's got those jaws open,
chomping away at smeeeeeeeeeee,
but it's kind of like when your food falls
off your fork before it gets to your face, kenny.
Dude, our weapons are good, man.
Yeah, and sharko's just not able to get low enough
to really get a good clamp on smeeeeeeeeeee.
That was the closest he's been so far.
And on the other end, smeeeeeeeeeee just wanted
to give him a hug
so he can keep chewing up those tires.
As we reach the 30-second mark,
it's time to see if somebody --
somebody -- can make a push.
Sharko trying to find its way.
Robinson: Bite, bite, bite! Bite him!
Chomp, chomp, chomp! Chomp him!
One of the more bizarre fights we've seen
in quite some time, kenny.
Two bots that are pretty amazing to look at
but have had some trouble getting it in gear here
in fight number one.
Yeah, some really cool technology at play here.
Both teams just need to get it dialed in.
We are under 10 seconds to go.
Oh, that was good.
And this one is gonna go the distance.
[ timer beeping ]
[ chomping ]
[ buzzer blares ]
[ cheers and applause ]
yeah!
I can't believe those weapons survived!
So, now it will be in the hands of the judges --
derek young, lisa winter, and jason bardis.
This season, it's an 11-point scoring system --
up to 5 points to be awarded for damage,
3 for aggression, and 3 for control.
Kenny, this was definitely a unique match --
one we had not seen before.
Yeah, absolutely.
Two very unique bots,
which made for an interesting match-up.
You see smeeeeeeeeeee there
looking like an eel in the mouth of sharko,
and then a nice counter-shot there by smeeeeeeeeeee.
And smeeeeeeeeeee, with those horizontal spinners,
took a few little chunks out of the tires
at the very least, kenny.
Yeah, you know, you could see the potential of smeeeeeeeeeee
as a weapon if it could fully envelop its opponent,
but in this one, both teams just traded shots.
Neither one could score a knockout,
so we'll just have to see where the judges land.
[ cheers and applause ]
the results from the judges are in!
♪♪
the winner by unanimous decision is...
♪♪
smeeeeeeeeeee!
[ screams ]
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
so, joe fabiani gets his first "battlebots" win,
and smeeeeeeeeeee is currently undefeated.
Our crew just has to wheel out that squiggle of a bot
out on that thanksgiving table.
And then, it's "all systems go"
for the one you've been waiting for --
tombstone!
End game!
It's tonight's main event,
and it's coming your way, next.
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
well, pete -- the bot whisperer --
I know being inside the box
is not a big deal for you --
this is old news.
But for me, this is spectacular.
And I know a lot of adjustments have been made,
so could you just break down the highlights for me?
Definitely.
So, we have the kill source.
They're much more destructive now.
They've got a lot of horsepower.
They come up randomly
and will blow the ground game up.
Rose: That's gonna leave a mark!
The pulverizers, they still weigh the same.
They're 100 pounds, but it's more compact,
and they can take way more abuse.
Oh, the pulverizer!
No!
We have inch-and-a-half thick lexan.
Oh! Rose: Oh!
It almost got it out of the arena!
This box contains it.
We keep all of that destruction in.
That's what makes it so exciting,
is we can be this close --
witness the devastation that happens in here --
and yet, it's safe for us to watch.
This is all-out mayhem!
[ cheers and applause ]
we are back on "battlebots" fight night.
And kenny florian, it is time right now
for the main event of the evening.
I get scared even saying his name.
Tombstone! [ chuckles ]
ray billings sat down for his interview with us
and he said, "yeah, well, I guess it's time for me
to kick everybody's ass again."
yeah. You know, it was classic ray
and it was classic tombstone here.
You know, he's coming in with some new bar spinners,
which should make things very interesting
and very destructive.
He's taking on the kiwis.
End game -- jack barker, nick mabey.
A couple of seasons ago, they made their "battlebots" debut.
They won their first few fights.
They called out tombstone and were like,
"oh, they're going to be the next big thing."
ever since then, they've kind of been treading water.
How do they take that next step? Does it begin tonight?
You know, they ran into some problems.
You know, they tried a lot of new things last season.
It didn't really go their way.
They believe they've learned their lesson.
They also believe that their vertical disc spinner
hits harder than anything in the competition.
Did bring their shades with them this time?
I hope so. Okay.
Will they be hiding tears or will those be tears of joy?
Oh, it's gonna be... Let's find out.
...Such a good fight.
Faruq.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
[ crowd cheering ]
it's robot-fighting time!
[ cheering intensifies ]
in the blue square,
this match is over before it begins.
R-I-p you apart with its lethal spins.
When it's all done, you'll take the walk of shame.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to end game!
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
rose: They asked for it. Now they got it --
a match up with tombstone.
Nick mabey said he's watched all of tombstone's fights.
Kenny, they don't want to go weapon-to-weapon,
which I think is probably a pretty good call.
Florian: Yeah. You know, it's funny.
They would probably go weapon-to-weapon
against any other bot except tombstone.
[ crowd cheering ]
♪♪
in the red square,
as you approach this tombstone,
your heart starts to pound, you open your mouth,
but can't make a sound.
Then you get closer and closer and get a clear-eyed view
and read the inscription,
[ shaky voice ] "here lies you."
[ normal voice ] it's tombstone!
[ crowd cheering ]
♪♪
since 2015, this bot is 20 and 4, kenny,
with 17 knockouts.
And boy, look at the thing that stands out there,
that primary weapon, that huge blade,
which is actually experimental. It's h13.
It's another type of tool steel.
And he's not sure how that's going to hold up.
But something tells me we're going to find out real soon.
♪♪
kenny, you see anything new on the bottom of end game?
I definitely see a larger vertical disk there.
That is much larger than they had in previous seasons.
They have some nice strong armored wedges
on the front as well, but they definitely don't want
to have any direct hits against tombstone.
Well, "battlebots" fans are very familiar
with both of these robots. Pete, what do you have to add?
Abrahamson: Talking the end game back in the pits,
they, after viewing many videos of ray,
really realized that depending on which direction
his blade is spinning
and it looks like he's going to be spinning clockwise,
they will be presenting their left side.
So hopefully dragging after they hit their weapon into ray,
now, ray knows he's not coming out of this fight unscathed.
He's pretty sure he's going to take a beating,
but he's confident he'll make the win.
[ cheers and applause ]
we got it. We got this.
Come on. No worries.
Robots, activate.
[ cheers and applause ]
rose: Kenny, with tombstone,
the equation is pretty simple for him.
Florian: That's right, just swing at the other bot
as hard as possible. [ chuckles ]
that is a very durable bot.
Overall, ray is very confident this season
and I can't wait for this first hit and miss fight.
My goodness.
Blue team, ready.
As we'll ever be. As we'll ever be.
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
red team, ready.
Ready to rock and roll? Rock and roll.
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
oh, this place is hopping.
You can feel the energy for our main event.
The old guard and tombstone,
the young gun and end game,
ready to cap off an amazing night.
I love this sport. Oh, yeah.
Just relax.
Rose: Let the battle begin!
And everybody's up to nearly full speed!
Nice on that, end game. Whoa!
Check out the energy on that!
Oh, my god! It got thrown out of the arena!
Florian: What a shot by end game!
Oh, man, end game has done the unthinkable!
[ cheers and applause ]
as it has knocked out the favorite
right out of the arena!
Take that victory spin, end game. You deserve it!
That's a knockout! [ buzzer ]
and a look of shock on the face of ray billings,
rick russ, and the rest of the tombstone gang.
Oh, my gosh.
[ cheering ]
you guys! You did it! You done did it!
Billings: I was trying to get fancy.
I probably should have just hit him weapon-to-weapon,
seen what happened.
♪♪
rose: Kenny, when you have that much energy
flowing inside the box,
you never know what could happen.
Florian: Yeah, absolutely.
This is one of those fights we kind of just felt
was not going to go to decision.
What an unbelievable counter shot there by end game.
They kind of deflected tombstone away.
Tombstone kind of got stuck. They took advantage of them
and took them right out of the battlebox.
What a shot by end game.
Jack barker.
Hi.
What do you mean "hi"? Nick?
Hey. Are you guys in shock?
Are you okay over there? A little bit.
Yeah, that was -- I mean,
you kind of expect a quick game with tombstone,
but, like, that quick? Oh. [ scoffs ] ah.
I can't hold my hand still. [ chuckles ]
guys, break that down for me.
What happened there?
Oh, yeah. Go ahead, jack.
I'll run through what we in the match said.
So we knew from the start that we wanted tombstone to hit
the left side of our robot because he's spinning clockwise.
We saw tombstone running towards the other side, the right side,
and I just had to turn straight into him
and hope for the best.
And that actually managed to spin them round.
So we got a good hit on the back of their robot,
which was kind of lucky.
And then, yeah, we just pounded him out of the arena,
which was awesome.
[ chuckles ] yeah. Oh, man.
You guys have been calling out tombstone for, like, two years.
You guys have finally gone out there and not only beaten them,
but done it by knockout.
How does it feel?
Well, like this has been in the back of my mind
for, like, years now
and, like, the forefront of my mind for at least a year
coming up for this current 'battlebots" season.
So like -- oh, god, I can't even describe how it feels.
It's -- [ chuckles ] it's feels -- like, the relief.
And also just I feel like the confidence for
because this is an entirely new robot that we're --
like, all the parts are brand new, whole new design.
So -- but the confidence that it just works the way
we want it to work against tombstone,
I think this season is looking pretty good.
Finally, jack, what do you think the reception
is going to be like for you guys
when you walk back into the pits?
[ chuckles ] I hope it's going to be big.
Hopefully people are happy for us.
[ both laugh ]
some people told us they bet on us.
I'm sure they're happy.
Nick, jack, congratulations.
Both: Thank you very much.
[ crowd cheering ] cheers.
Alright, ray, it's not exactly the way
you imagined your 2020 season would start.
How difficult was it to watch your bot
get punted out of the arena?
You know, I know it's a tough machine.
I knew it was going to be a tough match.
I got the wheels stuck there on that screw and just --
it gave him the opportunity to get the good hit in.
So, you know, more power to him.
They did exactly what they needed to do to win the match,
and we'll get the robot put back together
and keep going forward.
Does this loss take away
any of your confidence moving forward, ray?
No. I have confidence to spare,
so there's no problem with that.
[ chuckles ] alright.
Sure do.
No. We'll be fine.
We'll get it out. We'll see what's broken.
We'll get it back together and we'll be ready
to put on the big hits again.
Ray billing's, we appreciate the time.
Thanks so much.
And I'm sure you will rebound sometime in the near future.
Oh, you'll see me again.
[ chuckles ] I'm sure we will.
[ cheers and applause ]
♪♪
kenny, it happens so rarely that tombstone
not only loses a match, but literally gets punched
in the face the way that end game took it to them today.
So when you look at the big picture here,
I know it's just the first match,
but does this kind of set a tone
for the rest of the season moving forward?
It's a big deal. I mean, any time you get a chance
to beat a legend like ray billings and tombstone,
it sends a message to everybody else.
And of course, it makes you feel good
that you're robot's doing what you built it to do.
So we are off and running.
It's going to be a blast this season.
Seven knockouts tonight and we are just getting started.
Join us next time where you'll see more of the bots
you know and love,
as well as some exciting newcomers.
Who knows, maybe we could even get kenny to do the rusty shake.
So for jenny and faruq and our bot whisperer, pete,
and my buddy kenny florian, I'm chris rose.
We'll see you next time on "battlebots."
♪♪
[ cheers and applause ]