[man 1] at this point in tim all the robots were 0-0.
Yeah.
And this is where it starts to count.
[chris] oh, are you kidding me?
[andrea] nothing that happened matters anymore.
It's not about the seed, it' about your next opponent
And getting through the tournament.
Show has gotta go on.
[justin] we're just trying t survive one fight at a time
[chris and kenny] oh!
[man 2] if you assemble a part wrong,
If you forget to connect the wire,
You can lose it before you even get into the arena
[bleep]
[nick] in the tournament, the bots are top in the worl
If you give them any advantage, they'll take it
- And you'll be done. -Get up! Get up!
Now that's full power, baby!
[jamison] everything you do in the box can be their greatest mistake...
-[indistinct yelling] -burn it like that.
...Could be your greatest mistake.
[chris] that's a big one.
It can change...
[indistinct screaming]
...Just like that.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[audience cheering]
Hey, everyone, and welcome to the opening round
Of the 2021 world championship tournament of battlebots.
I am chris rose, joined as always by ufc legend,
And the best damn robot fighting analyst
This side of the giant nut, kenny florian.
[audience cheering]
Thanks, chris. This is what we've all been waiting for.
I can't believe we're finally here.
All of the painstaking work game changing strategy
And insidious destruction has led to this moment
When true champions reveal themselves to the world.
[chris] are you kidding me?
As we take a look at the tournament bracket,
The top bots have been seeded one to thirty-two
Based on their performance in the qualifier
As well as their overall pedigree,
And it's been broken down into four quadrants.
Each headline by one of our top four seeds,
End game,
Ribbot,
Whiplash
And sawblaze.
[kenny] the team that can navigate this minefield of mechanical mayhem
And win five consecutive fights, will be crowned the 2021 champion.
And because this season's field was so competitive,
Four teams on the cusp will fight for the final two spots in the bracket
And a pair of play in bouts
Now, everyone in the field of 32 is kicking, scratching, lifting,
Flipping and sawing for the chance at the ultimate prize in robot combat,
The giant nut.
All right, it's time to meet the moment.
Tonight, we head to the left side of the bracke
To kick off the round of 32
And top to bottom, this is a stacked group of contender
We've got fearless and ferocious rookies like, riptide and glitch,
Punishing offensive juggernauts like, minotaur and uppercut.
Perennial giant nut favorite sawblaze and witch doctor.
This is as epic an opening round as we have ever seen.
[kenny] no question, and we've barely mentioned
Our number one seed, the returning champion from new zealand,
End game, and its captains, nick mabey and jack barker.
Their journey to repeating begins later tonight.
[chris] okay. Batting leadoff.
It's the 12th seed, shatter facing the 21 seed, riptide
In a matchup of devastating weapons,
Between shatter's, lethal spiked hammer
And riptide's eye-popping drum spinner.
We're going to kick off the tournament in style.
Kenny, we have waited months for this moment to arrive. Are you ready?
-I am so ready. -I know I'm ready.
Are you guys ready?
[audience cheering]
Faruq, it's all you, my man.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time.
In the red square,
The water is not warm, the water is just scary,
You don't need a ply, when the ocean is your cemetery.
Swimming parallel to the beach will still get you dead,
Because if the water doesn't kill you,
You'll get a hole in the head
From riptide.
[chris] team riptide making its tournament debut
After going two and one in the qualifiers.
Captain ethan kurtz started off his career by knocking out huge
And we've been watching this bot closely ever since
[kenny] riptide just hit so hard,
Every impact makes you wince
I love this team's energy and confidence.
Let's see how they handle the pressures of the tournament.
[audience cheering]
[faruq] in the blue square,
This beastly bot's from brooklyn,
And you'll get no sleep
When your dreams are haunted by fear.
So what's your... What you want? Mercy?
Not likely. You better ride away like paul revere
And the bot's crash so fast it feels like sabotage.
You'll fight for your right to get dropped.
He's a sure shot whose rep is intergalactic
And you're about to be... Mm... Dropped.
It's shatter!
[chris] team shatter lost to end game
In the quarterfinals of last year's tournament.
This year earned an early entry and a number 12 seed
After two straight impressiv wins in the qualifiers.
They think this spiked hammer can win them the giant nut, kenny.
[kenny] they redesigned the hammer to be more shock absorbing,
And that's giving them the green light to fire it over and over.
Adam wrigley needs to avoid any direct shots with riptide's drum,
But one clean strike can end this match in a hurry.
[chris] all right. We are moments away from kicking off the 2021 tournament.
Make sure you head over to battlebots.Com
To fill out your championshi tournament brackets
And keep up with all of tonight's action.
[kenny] I'm on the edge of my seat already, chris.
Every fight is win or go hom
And every bot has the potential to go on a championship run.
[audience cheering]
[chris] riptide.
Shatter.
A berth in the top 16 is on the line.
Let the world championship tournament begin.
Adam wrigley told us he was gonna...
Feeling out, period, but...
Wow, that was a serious job
Some of that of blade of armor came off right away
That's strictly cosmetic.
This isn't a good look for shatter,
Getting thrown up by riptid
On the upper deck with no props.
[kenny] we are already seeing a good job.
[chris] whoa! Oh!
[kenny] parts of shatter are getting thrown around everywhere. My goodness!
[chris] actually the entire robot is getting thrown all over by riptide.
Let's go! Let's go!
This team has no fear, and they have absolutely no mercy either.
[kenny] riptide has been dominant so far,
And still plenty of time.
[chris] kenny, shatter is starting to smoke a little bit.
They're going to have to show some movement,
I'm not so sure that their drive is working anymore.
[kenny] I mean, they have been launched up in the air
They've been hit hard head o
I don't think that, I don't think they're getting out of there--
[chris] oh, gosh! They're no getting out of anywhere
Because a 100-pound pulveriz just dropped out on 'em
And now referee's dropping their season 6-feet under.
Knock out!
Whoo!
[chris] unbelievable.
Kenny, somebody's for real.
[kenny] yeah, no question about it,
If there were any doubts, uh, I think they just put that to bed.
These guys are serious.
Amazing driving,
Amazing weapon aggression.
They're the full package.
[chris] wow. And look at that shot, high off the glas
Followed it up with another one.
And at that point, shatter pretty much incapacitated.
The rookies just never led up in this fight
And true to its name, riptide leaves shatter
Dead in the water.
Ethan,
How pumped up are you now that you're out of the round of 16?
Let's go! That was so good! Yeah!
Ethan, you were so excited just to be accepted
Into the battlebots world.
Have you kind of shocked yourself
As a rookie making it as far as you have?
Well, actually my legs are like shaking to death like, right now.
You could see my leg just like twitching, like, literally.
It's just, it's not... It can't stop.
[chris] all right. Well, go relax a little while.
-We'll see you in the round of 16. -I'm gonna go sleep.
-Okay.
-Go sleep. -Thank you.
Whoo!
[chris] so riptide is indeed the first team
To punch its ticket to the round of 16,
Where it will face the winner of uppercut
Versus huge.
This rookie squad just keeps getting better
Each and every time out.
And as for team shatter, we have no doubt
Adam wrigley and that hammer from hell
Will be out for blood next season.
Coming up...
Two speed demons line up for a drag race into the round of 16,
It is p1 versus hypershock.
When the battlebots world championship tournament continues.
[audience cheering]
Welcome back to battlebots,
The world championship tournament is in full swing
And up next, it's the number 13 seed, hypershock
Taking on the number 20 seed p1.
After two decisive victories in the qualifiers
Will bales and his squad earn an early bid to the round of 32.
So, kenny, is this the best version of hypershock that we have ever seen?
[kenny] no doubt. I've talked to a lot of folks who believe hypershock
Can make a deep run in this quadrant of the bracket.
That vertical spinner is hitting so hard.
The bot is incredibly agile, and will has this large pit crew in sync.
[chris] for p1, it went two and one in the qualifiers,
Its lone loss was courtesy of ribbot, so no shame in that.
Brandon zalinsky's bot really seems to be taking form here, don't you think?
[kenny] p1 can get underneath your skin
As easily as it gets underneath your bot.
It could be so frustrating to fight,
Especially when brandon's driving is dialed in.
Against a veteran like will bales driving
May be the x factor in this fight.
Let's see what happens. Faruq.
In the red square,
This killer bot driver will rip out your [indistinct] earnhardt
Leave you screaming and broken like a roadblock, sandra bernhard.
He's got a petty death wish for you like, race car, charles bronson,
So don't ever cut off this robot
Or he'll cut off your jimmie johnson.
It's p1!
[chris] captain brandon zalinsky leading his team out here
As we get a look at p1
And his bot is looking like rocky balboa.
[mocks rocky] I can't see nothing. Cut me, mick... Cut me.
[kenny] oh yeah, it's been through some wars this seaso
Remember, they took down 2020's most destructive bot
Valkyrie in their opening fight.
Here against hypershock, p1 wants to use that lifter
To keep hypershock off balance
And seal the win with some precision maneuvers.
[faruq] in the blue square,
This team has like 80 members, even a team mom.
She gives rides in the minivan and hands out snacks.
She is the bomb. That bot can carve up your grill
With a spinner that comes from above
And leave you with a mangled face
Only a mother could love.
Give it up for hypershock.
Mom! This is my mom.
[chris] one of the most popular bots around 2-0 this season.
There's will bales giving mama the credit.
Yes, she's the reason, she's it.
I'm sure she's a big help, but let's give credit where it's due.
Hypershock has looked ferocious all season.
The discs on that weapon are over an inch thick now
And hitting harder than ever
P1 is already so beat up
And the road's not getting any less bumpy here
Against will bales and hypershock.
[kenny] I don't think will's girlfriend appreciate that sign.
We're just going to try to drive around them
And ke... Keep off the direct front of his robot,
Get to the sides a little bit
If I can get kind of one of the shoulders of my robot
Just to the wheel, I'm hoping to be able to knock them over.
And once I knock him over, he can't self right.
So get behind him, get the lifter up,
Slam him all the way across the field into the wall,
Hopefully break the weapon.
We're feeling good. We're feeling confident.
Um, I think we have the speed on them.
I think we have the maneuverability on them.
And and thank goodness they're not a vertical spinner,
So they're not going to damage us, that's our job for them.
If we can get a good momentum going,
You never know.
We say every year, "oh, this is our year."
Everyone says, "oh, this is our year."
Maybe it's our year.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] and for more on this fight,
Let's bring in our bot whisperer. Pete, what do you have on it?
One of the things you guys have heard
From lot of the builders over the years has been,
One of the failure points has been loose wires
They've usually gotten them crimped.
They've gotten smashed, they've gotten cut.
Well, will is trying to eliminate that from hypershock.
He has created a battery box that
Six of his battery packs all fit in
So that he can just plug this directly into his robot
Instead of having any loose wire looms that are hanging up
And allowing to be caught by spinning weapons.
[chris] that's great. It took him ten years to figure that one out?
[kenny] yeah, well. I mean, he's getting better, look at him.
[crowd chanting] hypershock! Hypershock! Hypershock! Hypershock!
[chris] p1 and hypershock,
Somewhere, dom toretto is raising his eyebrows at this one.
The race to the round of 16 is on.
Let the bot battle begin.
Hypershock on a box rush, trying to get under p1
And delivers a shot.
[kenny] those front forks on hypershock, very effectiv out of the gate.
[chris] whoa! Nice shot ther
And p1 flips back... Oh!
Pushed into the corner, bad spot to be.
[kenny] and, this is what he was hoping for, he's hoping for
Will to get overly aggressiv
Perhaps that was will stepping on the gas,
When he should've just been more patient.
[chris] yeah, drove right up p1's lifter and now hypershock is inverted.
[kenny] he can drive this way, chris,
But will bales is at a disadvantage now.
[chris] brandon zalinsky of p1 told us he hoped to get him inverted
And put him up on the jump up on the upper deck.
But will this help will get back over?
That's what will tried to do, but he can't flip himself back
And then utilize that weapon
[kenny] and that was one of the big changes he made this season,
He took out that self righti mechanism to get himself
More armor in this fight, but right now,
He is struggling out there.
[chris] so, what will bales is trying to do is utilize the battlebox
And throw himself into the rails to flip himself back over.
But, kenny, it's not workin and it's costing him time.
[kenny] yeah, and p1 not eag to do him
Any favors and engage with that lifter, chris.
Brandon zalinsky knows hypershock is less dangerou
Inverted like this and he's going to take advantage.
[chris] so, for the moment, p1 playing it conservatively
And let's remember the three categories on the judges' scorecards,
Damage, control and aggression.
[kenny] yep, neither bot has taken much damage,
I think p1 feels like hypershock can't really hurt them in this scenario.
Let's see if will can find a way to right the ship.
[chris] oh, there we go. Can he get himself back over he cannot.
It's got to be so frustrating for will bales.
And now a minute left in this match.
And watch out for the kill saws there now.
And there you go.
Will bale's back the right side up.
Let's see if he can do some damage.
-[kenny] amazingly maneuvere -[crowd shouting]
That was a huge hit, that's what he wanted.
[chris] wow!
What a come back here by both teams.
Hypershock curling p1.
But the middle of match now hypershock trying to score as many points as possible.
But bales does not have that primary weapon spinning in now.
Caught under the rails, momentarily.
Both bots caught in the shor corner near the upper deck.
[kenny] yeah, hypershock may have burned out it's weapon motor
Trying to self right, chris
[chris] under 30 to go.
[kenny] hypershock trying t attack that flank of p1 now
The backside of the [indistinct] as we
[chris] hypershock got the underbelly of p1.
This fight is going to go the distance.
Hypershock's weapon no longer working.
P1, a little smashed and crashed.
A super entertaining round of 32 match.
Bales' a bit stunned.
Zalinsky got the job done.
And now, it's in the hands of the judges.
They are derek young, jason bardis and lisa winter
Scoring on an 11-point scale.
Five points can be awarded for damage,
Three a piece for aggression and control.
-Good job. That was fun at least. -Whoo!
[chris] well, kenny, hypershock wasted no time getting to work in this one
[kenny] yeah, I thought they had control and I thoug
They were landing some great shots.
I mean, p1 is one durable bot, that's the mistake
Right there it seemed p1 followed a beautiful recovery up
With basically a judo move.
He used will's aggression against him
And sent hypershock flying over the top.
[chris] will bales spend half this match
Trying to get himself uninverted, if you will?
And finally, he was able to it with about a minute to go
Shortly thereafter, he delivered this massive shot. Whoa!
[kenny] oh, man, knocked him out of every camera fram
That move was sick, but hypershock actually took the worst of that,
With its vertical spinner dying.
That's going to weigh heavily in the judge's mind
[chris] hyperschock finds a way to get back in the match late,
But was it enough?
Here is faruq with the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
P1.
Oh, yeah!
We did it! Good job.
[chris] brandon,
Brandon zalinsky, how's it going?
Are you, are you shocked by the decision?
I... I, the only thing I'm shocked about is that
It was unanimous and not split.
I thought for sure it would be a split decision.
In your opinion, what did you do right?
Uh, when he got inverted, we didn't kick him back over,
When they were near the upper deck, we put him on it,
Uh, and we stayed working the entire fight, driving weapon work, the whole fight.
So yeah, thank you.
The goal was to keep the drive and weapon working
And to make his weapon not work.
So that was, that was the goal of the fight and it succeeded.
You guys have continually made improvements season after season.
How big is this for your team?
Oh, it's huge.
I mean, we now have a win in the tournament.
We had never made a tournament before.
This is enormous for us.
It's over an established veteran robot,
A vertical spinner,
Somebody who... May be in the rock paper scissors
Isn't somebody we should beat on paper.
So, I'm unbelievably proud of myself and the rest of my team.
Hey, brandon, congratulations on getting
-That first postseason win. -Thank you.
Kenny, I think we made it through the entire regular season
Without once saying, "you never want to leave it in the hands of the judges."
-We get to the round of 32 and boom, there you are. -That was a tough one.
[kenny] two of the three judges scored it 4-1
In the damage category in favor of p1.
And despite that highlight shot,
It looks to me like hypershock
Losing function of its weapo was the deciding factor.
[chris] well, one thing's for sure.
A lot of folks at home just had their brackets busted with this p1 victory,
And brandon zalinsky now has a date with
The winner of the sawblaze versus hijinx matchup,
Which is later this evening.
[kenny] this is a bitter pil for will and team hypershock
But boy, did they look great this season and they will be back.
This sport is just more fun when hypershock is out there mixing it up.
[chris] all right. Coming up...
The number 32 seed
And a dance with the defendi champion end game is up
For grabs in our first play-in match,
It's skorpios vs. Malice.
That's coming your way next on battlebots.
Welcome back to the battlebo world championship tournamen
Where dreams are dashed,
Legends are born
And all eyes are locked on the most coveted trophy in the sport,
The giant nut.
The action continues with tonight's playing match between skorpios and malice
The winner earns the number 32 seed
And advances to a matchup with end game.
No time to waste.
The bots are ready inside the box. Let's go.
[automated voice] red team, ready.
Captain bunny sauriol and team malice
Had a tough string of schedule this season and went 1 and 2.
But the records are out the window now
And all that matters is getting this win, kenny.
[kenny] that's right, and they'll be relying
On that massive horizontal bar they call drumstick.
Consistency has been an issu with their weapon all season
But when it works, it hurts
[automated voice] blue team, ready.
[chris] co-captain zach lytle and diana tarlson
Also went 1-2 in the qualifiers.
Coming into this season, you and I both thought
Skorpios had a real shot at the giant nut here, kenny
[kenny] well, they were a fixture in main events this year,
Losing decisions to whiplas and yeti in two epic battles
When skorpios has that weapon working at full speed
And zach is on top of his game,
This is still a legit contender.
We got this!
[chris] the qualifiers had a bottleneck of talent
Vying for a spot in the top 32.
And the selection committee said, "you know what? Fight for it."
So here we are.
Skorpios. Malice.
The winner moves on to face end game.
Let the play-in battle begin
Skorpios with a huge box rush, and gets the attention from malice.
[kenny] yeah, that's the kind of confidence they have in that front armo
Went right at that primary weapon of malice
And that may have disabled it.
[chris] yeah, keep an eye on that drumstick weapon of malice,
It is not spinning.
Of course, it can't get any distance to get away from skorpios.
The obvious aggression in the first 20.
[kenny] yeah, now skorpios trying to eat malic
With that one tooth spinning disc.
- Oh! -[chris] and malice, kenny, has got to get off
That front wedge of skorpios, it's just bein dragging around the box.
[kenny] well, that's the beauty of that front armor,
It has those little hooks that can kind of drag
Their opponents around the battlebox.
[chris] kenny, that primary weapon, that drumstick of malice is not working.
-[kenny] oh! -[chris] what's their best chance now?
[kenny] well, they have a he of a driver in david rush,
And he has to find a way to break that primary weapo of skorpios now.
[chris] skorpios still on the offensive.
Oh, delivers a shot to the top of malice,
It gets sparks flying.
Who's going to move on in the tournament and face end game?
[laughs] can malice find a way to turn the tide and even the score cards?
[kenny] skorpios really taking advantage of its speed here, chris.
Malice puts so much stock in that big weapon of theirs as a deterrent,
But they sacrificed some mobility as a result.
[chris] and sometimes you cannot see the damage
That a weapon like skorpios is doing to a bot like malice, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, that's right. I mean, they're attacking from above.
Hammering the top of that robot.
And remember, there is complex wiring
And battery configurations inside all of these machines
Internal damage can be as dangerous as external damage
[chris] skorpios just landing shot after shot,
It's got malice down, up near the screws.
However, there is smoke coming out of skorpios.
Oh! Will it continue to function while smoking?
[kenny] skorpios staying aggressive, but they have to be careful here.
They cannot afford to lose function in that saw.
[chris] they are not shutting down their weapon.
Under a minute to go, which means the kill saws are active.
Oh, add that to the equation.
Forty-five to go.
[kenny] you know, malice showing some serious durability.
This is what bunny wanted,
To at least be durable and go the distance here.
[chris] if you're thinking about the judges' scorecards
Three different categories, the most heavily weighted
Is damaged by that shot from skorpios.
The other two categories are aggression and control.
And as skorpios continues to smoke, they are undaunted
They say, "we don't care. W are going to rule this match
[kenny] yes, sir, this is a team with tournament experience
And they are going for it.
Oh, look at this.
[chris] nice work taking malice into the screws.
This fight is going to go the distance.
An impressive performance by team skorpios
Fighting for its tournament life here in the play-in match.
[crowd cheering]
Zach and diana are looking confident.
While the judges score this one,
Let's take a look at the replay.
Kenny, this box rush by skorpios, I think,
Did in malice's weapon pretty much.
[kenny] there's no question about it.
Those two hits was all it took to disable that weapon
Skorpios is just so fast and that front armor is just ridiculous.
[chris] zach lytle was in predator mode for much of this match.
Could've dialed it back after that initial onslaught
But chose to keep attacking and leave no doubt, kenny.
[kenny] yeah. Listen, I thin the main deciding factor
Was the fact that the primar weapon of malice was shut do
The first 10 seconds of the fight, so that wasn't a good sign.
Skorpios did have their primary weapon for the full length of the fight.
And man, did they drive aggressive.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Skorpios.
...Skorpios!
-Love you, guys. -[indistinct chatter]
[crowd cheering and applauding]
[chris] so congratulations to team skorpios.
Zach, diana and their entire crew will now rush back to the pits
To reconfigure and repair
Whatever it takes to get them ready for a matchup
With end game later tonight
That is no easy task, kenny
[kenny] definitely not easy
But listen, skorpios thrived in last year's bounty tournament.
They're going to be a tough opening test for the champs
[chris] and for malice a challenging season ends here,
But we all know the bunny will be back.
All right. Coming up...
Does bloodsport have what it takes to be an all-star?
Or will he fall at the hooves of minotaur?
We're going to find out next on battlebots.
Welcome back to battlebots, and we're getting a look
At team skorpios in the pits, putting in some work on their bot
Fresh off their victory over malice.
Moments ago, they stopped for a visit
With their upcoming opponent from team end game.
Looks pretty cordial to me,
But we all know they're hopi for each other's demise.
And over on the other side of the pits,
Near the haas automation haaspital,
We're getting word that team glitch
Is having some issues with their robot's weapon system
The rookies have had a phenomenal season
Coming into the round of 32 with a perfect 3-0 mark,
They've got to match-up wit witch doctor later tonight.
So, we'll certainly continu to monitor that situation.
But right now, we turn our attention
To the 16 versus 17 matchup that is,
Minotaur taking on bloodsport.
They both went 2-1 during the regular season,
But you talk to justin marple, he's like,
"man, my draw sucks.
This is going to be really, really tough." why?
[kenny] I mean, minotaur is a legendary team with a brutal weapon
And even though they starte their season off in flames with the loss to sawblaze,
They've been on fire ever since, with back to back knockouts
Of dragon slayer and deep si
[chris] it was really interesting.
We talked with junior, the captain of minotaur,
He said, "listen, I have great respect for bloodsport
But I'm really starting to think about my preparations to face end game."
Wa... Wait, a second, you got a round of 32 match-up, bro.
What should he be worried about?
[kenny] well, bloodsport is such a destructive horizontal spinner
With a full arsenal of weapons to choose from.
I think minotaur's driver daniel freitas likes this style matchup.
But remember, bloodsport was the number two seed last season,
And it can chew bots up.
[chris] yeah, no doubt these are two punctures
Who aren't known for holding back.
Faruq.
[faruq] in the red square...
This bot is one of the most feared in the entire tournament
And the way he draws blood, you're going to require a tourniquet.
He'll find a way to cut you. Don't worry, he's an optimist.
He's got precision with the blade.
He puts the bot in phlebotomist.
Give it up for bloodsport.
[audience cheering]
[chris] the 17th seed started out the season
Losing a knockout to whiplash,
But then came back to knockout subzero,
Won a decision against claw viper.
That's an interesting configuration.
[kenny] they call this weapon the club sandwich,
It's aluminum sandwiched by ar steel.
Justin marple isn't afraid to bust out a new weapon in a big fight.
They say it hits incredibly hard,
They love its reliability.
They also think its reach will help them
To chip away at minotaur's edges.
In the blue square,
Just like david bowie, labyrinths are his favorite places,
Gonna make some ch... Ch... Ch... Changes
To other bots' faces.
He's a hero, a star, man, he'll kill you quick with no pity,
Pack your bags 'cause he's sending you to suffer death city.
It's minotaur!
[chris] daniel freitas with the terminator walk out.
All right, there's the wave to the crowd, he is human after all, kenny.
Guess it helps to be this intense when you drive a ruthless bot like minotaur
[kenny] it takes a certain amount of fearlessness
To put constant pressure on your opponent.
And look at that drum, it's 57 pounds of night night medicine,
You take too many shots fro it and you're going to sleep
Minotaur is really a really quick and aggressive bot,
But we think we're a little bit quicker and a little bit more aggressive,
So we're just going to try to counter that,
Really go for their edges, try to, try to just like, get them like,
Off their game and, uh, and we'll see how the three minutes goes.
This is like a legend team. Uh, we've...
I've been watching them since I was a kid and like,
They never gave up a free shot, they...
They're always on you, they're really aggressive.
Early in the competition, they were in flames
And they kept driving around as if nothing was happening, so,
You know, we, we know this is going to be a really tough fight for us.
We're gonna beat them because we are more powerful.
We are ready and we can take the heat,
I don't think they can handle our heat.
We are spinning really fast and
So that way we can hit them like hard as we can,
Try to take their, their wheels out and also
Their, their armor, and that's our strategy right now.
We are pretty confident that we can make it to the, to the giant nut.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[chris] oh, listen to this crowd chanting for the legend, minotaur.
Can bloodsport silence them all
With a win in this round of 32 showdown?
We'll have the fight when battlebots continues.
Welcome back to battlebots, where the 16th seed, minotau
And the 17th seed, bloodsport are ready to clas
You know they say, you shouldn't wear red around an angry bull?
We're about to find out if they are indeed right.
[audience cheering]
Let the bot battle begin.
Here comes minotaur.
It's... Oh, listen to that drum spinner fire up.
- Whoa! -[kenny] oh!
[chris] bloodsport just ricocheted off the glass,
You have to keep your eye on that new weapon and see if it's going to work.
[kenny] he already took the tips off of that blade, chris,
That clip flew over here.
[chris and kenny] oh!
[kenny] that was a big hit.
[chris] bloodsport absorbs the pain, this bot is awfully hard to kill.
Their horizontal spinner see to still be functional, kenn
[kenny] yeah, but it looks like it might be off balance, chris.
Part of that blade has been clipped by minotaur
And that is going to be a problem.
[chris] yeah, the weight distribution is certainly off on bloodsport.
So far, daniel freitas has been on the attack
And dishing out the punishment.
[kenny] but don't sleep on bloodsport, looks like
Justin marple's going to continue to attack with that weapon no matter what.
A spot in the round of 16 is on the line here,
Who wants it more?
Oh! Another huge hit as bloodsport's weapon
Trying to fire up, but more pieces of bloodsport
Being thrown around the box, and now minotaur
Takes him over by the screw in the upper deck.
[kenny] yeah, it's the surgeon, dr. Daniel freitas.
[chris] going to work here, just chipping away.
Yeah, he has his doctorate in botology.
That is a class you don't want to be taking if you're bloodsport.
[kenny] no, not at all. But justin marple hanging in
He knows if he can break minotaur's weapon, this figh can change in an instant.
And look at freitas just staying right on top of bloodsport.
[kenny] yeah, this is what he wanted chris.
He wanted to make sure that that primary weapon
Never really had a chance to get up to full speed.
[chris] whoa!
Another enormous shot.
Bloodsport doing cartwheels in the battlebox
But like you said, kenny, now we have to keep our eye
On the drum spinner of minotaur,
Which has stopped working, at least for the moment.
[kenny] minotaur leaning on bloodsport now
Like a boxer that's punched himself out.
[chris] under a minute to go
Oh!
Pulverizer getting in on the action now.
Remember, that's 100 pound hammer
That just dropped down onto the head of bloodsport
Now, minotaur playing the waiting game,
Hitting for ten seconds wha you can do before releasing
And bloodsport make a push here down the stretch
Firing that horizontal spinner back up.
Oh! Minotaur now is playing little possum.
They still have life in their drum spinner,
And that's bad news for bloodsport, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, I mean, these guys just know what to do
Against horizontal spinners they have so much experience
Daniel freitas, one of the best drivers in the world.
Pieces just continue to fall off of bloodsport, chri
[chris] twenty seconds to go for bloodsport to make some sort of rally.
Instead, that 100-pound hammer drops on their head,
Not once, not twice, almost thrice.
[kenny] maybe bloodsport's just trying to bend their blade back the right way.
[chris] this one will go the distance.
[horn blaring]
Yeah!
[chris] minotaur circles the center of the box
As though they are the ones moving on.
Yeah!
[chris] you think somebody's fired up?
Not sure which judge is gonna tell daniel freitas
He isn't victorious with minotaur.
Well, it's always tough when as a bot you taste glass early on.
[kenny] did he call backboard by the way,
That was an amazing hit there.
Minotaur just stayed right on it the whole time.
[chris] and you mentioned th bloodsport's weapon was compromised early on in this
[kenny] yeah, daniel freitas chipped away at the edges of that new weapon
And it was off balance for most of this fight.
And look at this shot, sending bloodsport cartwheeling across the box
[chris] and then minotaur, putting them under the pulverizer
Say, "hey, have a little bit of this."
[kenny] we should give credit to bloodsport.
Not a whole lot of robots would have gone the distanc with minotaur tonight.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Minotaur.
[audience cheering and applauding]
-Thank you guys. Focus. -Thank you.
Hey, daniel. I just have one simple question.
How much fun was that?
I don't know.
I don't remember what happened in the fight.
You guys gotta ask him in a few hours.
I don't remember, I don't remember.
-Don't worry, I'll text him later about it. -Yeah.
Congratulations, junior.
-We'll see you in the next round. -Thank you.
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[chris] well, kenny, minotau I think, is in prime form right now.
No question about it and so much of doing well here in the tournament
Of battlebots is peaking at the right time
And these guys are peaking at the right time.
[chris] oh, they sure are.
And the brazilians are on their way to the round of 16,
Where they may have a shot at the number 1 seed, end game.
That's if the new zealander can take down skorpios later tonight.
And for justin marple and team bloodsport,
This bot continues to impres us each and every year,
They simply got the horns in this one.
Now, after the break, hijinx gets up to some serious shenanigans
Against the fearsome sawblaze.
But which of them will be left standing?
We'll find out when we come back.
It's battlebots.
Welcome back to battlebots where we have some breaking news.
Earlier, we learned that rookie, glitch,
Was having trouble with its weapons system.
And you can see one of our producers informing the tea
That their prep tim had indeed expired
So, we can now confirm that glitch
Has been forced to withdraw from the tournament
Stepping in to replace them on short notice, it will be.
Mammoth.
And, of course, ricky willem took all of two seconds to sign on.
This is a huge opportunity, as mammoth
Will now fight as the number nine overall see
After initially missing out on the tournament.
Remember, the team went 1-2 in the qualifiers, but came
Oh, so close to knocking out tombstone.
The selection committee determined that
Of all the alternates on standby,
Mammoth was the most deservi of this emergency swap.
Ricky will now be doing all he can to prep his team
For a looming fight with witch doctor,
Who also must game plan for a whole new opponent.
Well, nothing like a little last minute drama, huh, kenny florian?
[kenny] oh, man, ricky, he's got to be on cloud nine and listen,
Very tough news for glitch, who was so impressive
Going 3-0 in the qualifying rounds.
Not the way kyle miller wanted his season to end,
But team glitch has a promising future in this sport.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so, exciting things happening
On this opening night of the world championship tournament.
And up next,
The round of 32 continues, with the number 4 overall seed, sawblaze
Taking on the number 29 seed, hijinx.
Let's start with sawblaze and captain jamison go.
This is a popular name back in the pits
When you talk about potential champions.
Is this the year sawblaze lifts the giant nut, kenny?
[kenny] I mean, listen, the field is so stacked,
The tournament is a true gauntlet.
But jamison go is as good as they come in this sport.
[chris] as for hijinx, captained by jen herchenroeder,
This is one heck of a mountain to climb here in the round of 32.
[kenny] well, jamison go is an oppressive driver
And he'll be focused on jamming up their weapon.
Hijinx needs to create space, so for me,
It's going to come down to driving.
They have an excellent drive in orion beach. Should be fu
Let's check it out.
Faruq.
[faruq] in the red square
From oakland, california, it's got a lisa frank binder
To store your death certificate.
It's hijinx.
[chris] jen herchenroeder leading out hijinx,
Enjoying its second straigh season in the tournament.
Nice start for the sophomore bot.
But it doesn't get any tougher than this opening round match up.
[kenny] for me, their greate asset here is momentum.
They come into this fight with back to back wins over kraken and subzero
And a whole lot of confidence in the bot.
You need that kind of mental edge against a force like sawblaze.
[faruq] in the blue square
From cambridge, massachusett your championship dreams
Are about to go up in flames against
Sawblaze!
[chris] well, last time sawblaze entered the battlebox
The world champs end game, immediately sent them flyin out of it.
That was a shocking moment for this team, kenny
But it also could have been considered a wake-up call.
[kenny] yeah, and this is a bear you shouldn't poke,
They'd beat you in so many ways,
That powerful saw, the deadly torch
And the world-class driving of jamison go.
You can see that big plow they've added to counter
Hijinx's horizontal spinner
As always, the battle reall starts back there in the pit
[audience cheering]
In addition to it being an intense fight,
We're also breaking out our brand new weapon.
It's chamfered instead of having a rake angle.
So instead of a bite and a kick out, this one is meant to cut right in.
I know sawblaze is going to run a big front plow against us,
And I want to get into that plow and do some real damage.
So, jamison, I... I hope you enjoy that
You are the first ever to see this new weapon.
Uh, I hope you feel special, I know we broke it out just for you.
Been saving it for a big, big fight and this is the one.
They're a pretty high energy horizontal spinner.
They have a tricky little tail
On the back of the leg to try and disrupt wedges,
Which is going to be interesting for us
Since that's usually our strategy for mitigating weapons like that.
We're going to try to play them at their wedge game with our defensive wedge
And see if we can get in real close and disrupt their weapon.
Feeling pretty good about this. We got a good seed.
I think it says that the selection committee
Believes that we're a good robot.
We got to keep winning
And just keep our eye focused on the giant nut.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[chris] as you said, kenny, hijinx has been hot,
But there's no resting on your laurels here because
Well, I don't really know what laurels are,
But I'm pretty sure sawblaz could burn them right off.
[kenny] yeah, well, you're getting a good look at that tail on hijinx.
They'll need it here to fight through low ground
[automated voice] red team, ready.
[automated voice] blue team, ready.
-Slash and burn, guys. -Slash and burn!
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Sawblaze on a box rush, gets under, a little mini hit
On hijinx, not letting it fire up that blade, kenny. Great strategy.
[kenny] now, speaking of fire,
He's trying to get that goin on the backside of hijinx.
[chris] oh, the pulverizer, the 100-pound hammer hit that blade.
Hijinx has got to be careful
[kenny] sawblaze, such a well-rounded robot
Just smothers you inside the battlebox.
Jamison go doing it.
Oh, now it's weapon getting in on the act.
[kenny] yeah, he might be trying to chop off that whee off hijinx.
No! That thing hit so hard.
[chris] trying to toast the wheel and then get rid of it.
Quite the lethal one-two punch.
[kenny] my goodness!
[chris] oh! Just broke off a top piece of armor.
[kenny] this is not good here.
And cut one of the, one of the motors to
[chris] oh, the guts are coming out.
Close your eyes if you can't handle it and if you're squeamish.
[kenny] oh, my gosh.
-[chris] oh! -[kenny] ...Is chopping hiji
Bit by bit and that might have been the knockout blow
[chris] the tail's absolutel done and the question now I
Can hijinx show enough movement to avoid a countdown?
And it gets put right in front of us.
[chris and kenny] oh!
[kenny] I didn't order that
[man 2] all right, once agai hijinx, you gotta show me you got some movement.
[chris] hijinx is got to show movement.
It's trying to get out of the corner.
Oh, it's got packs on the floor.
[indistinct chatter]
Oh, but hijinx counters, throwing that wheel into sawblaze.
More pieces thrown on the battlebox floor.
Oh!
[kenny] jamison go an absolu savage tonight.
[chris] hijinx trying to do whatever it can to get back in action,
And sawblaze says "you want some more? I'll give you more."
Got another taste of the pulverizer.
[kenny] this is just complete brutality.
How tough is hijinx, by the way?
[chris] oh, my gosh. Look at the gash on that thing.
Unbelievable action box side
[kenny] we've never seen the hammer saw on sawblaze hit this hard, chris.
[chris] most people will pay thousands and thousands of dollars
For a front row seat like we've got, kenny.
Just a masterful job by jamison go.
[kenny] best seats in the house and it's happening literally in front of us.
Sawblaze just going out hard on hijinx.
[chris] sawblaze isn't backing up.
He's saying, "as long as you're moving, I'm moving in for the kill."
[kenny] sawblaze looking eve bit like a top four seed.
Remember, it's only loss this year was to end game.
Jamison go, taking out all his aggression on hijinx tonight.
[chris] oh, gosh! He's trying to put him up on the upper deck
And he put hijinx up there.
The last few seconds.
Hijinx has nowhere to go, except, perhaps, home.
[audience cheering]
Boy, did jamison go and sawblaze take control of this match early.
[kenny] I mean, listen, this is what you expect to see from a top four seed.
Obviously, this is a fight sawblaze is supposed to win,
But I wonder if jamison was expecting such a clean match.
Well, clean is right if sawblaze really didn't take any notable damage.
That's going to pay huge dividends as the tournament rolls on.
Meanwhile, back in the pits I think the other team's
Spidey sense, is doing a lot more than just tinglin
[kenny] no question, jamison go just put this tournament on notice.
His bot is out for blood.
[chris] give a ton of credit to orion beach, the driver of hijinx,
To actually keep that robot alive for three minutes,
But boy, it took a pounding, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, once hijinx lost its tail,
We thought it was over, but jen herchenroeder's tea
Has built one tough bot.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Sawblaze.
[audience cheering]
[chris] jamison,
It didn't seem as though there was
A single misstep by you during that fight,
Is that a correct assessment?
Uh, the front of our wedge, we'd disagree.
I kind of hit... Hit the bot a few times ourself.
Really, jamison?
I mean...
He's a perfectionist.
-Jamison... -You got to be hard on yourself
-Otherwise you never improve. -Take a breath, brother.
How much fun was that?
Oh, that was, uh, that was crazy fun.
You know, we were in there, in the box, we are aggressive
And everything else, everything else went according to plan.
Jamison, you were really upset after the end game fight,
It seemed like you took that frustration out on hijinx.
-Is that, is that correct? -Yeah, and I'm sorry.
Jamison, you've always talked about
The ultimate goal is, unless you're number one,
It just, just doesn't matter.
Do you feel that that's within your grasp?
We're one step closer, we'll find out.
-Boy, you are all business. -I won't say too much.
It's just one fight at a time.
Well, that next fight is now against p1.
How do you break that one down for us?
Well, I was really impressed with brandon's driving this tournament,
Uh, especially against the ribbot fight,
He was extremely methodical and very patient.
So we're going to have to bring our a game for sure.
Jamison, congratulations. You are on to the round of 16.
Okay.
[audience cheering]
[chris] so jamison, showing a ton of respect
For his upcoming opponent in p1.
But I think we both agree here kenny,
He'll be heavily favored in that matchup.
Yeah, I can't... See what he's done.
When he's at his best, I don't see anybody beating him.
[chris] and for hijinx, a second straight season goi out in the round of 32.
But this beautiful machine is set to be a fixture
In this tournament for years to come.
After the break.
Glitch is out, mammoth is in
And witch doctor awaits.
The battlebots world championship tournament continues.
Next.
All right, we continue on here in the round of 32.
And if you've been following along tonight, team glitch had some well,
Glitches back in the pits and after earning
The number nine seed with a sizzling rookie season,
Kyle miller and his team hav officially bowed out of thei matchup with witch doctor.
No, it wasn't a curse, at least as far as we know.
But it is a great example of how vital reliability and preparation
In the pits are late in the season
And especially here in the world championship tournament.
So, stepping in for glitch will be the first alternate
Mammoth and ricky willems, they say,
"yo, we're ready to go."
So, ricky and mammoth are going to get their shot.
It's a little crazy, but you never know what could happen here at battlebots.
After a top 16 appearance in 2020,
Mammoth faced a tough streng of schedule this season,
Securing its lone win in a vintage performance against hijinx.
In the tournament last year, they took down
The number three overall seed, copperhead
In a first round shocker.
Mammoth!
[kenny] yeah, I mean, what an opportunity here for mammoth and listen,
Mammoth is just so unusual and so awkward,
Don't discount the impact th change has on witch doctor,
Who's been game planning all week for the 3-0 rookie glitch.
[chris] so for mike and andrea gellatly,
A whirlwind season just got whirlier.
2-1 in the qualifiers, thei lone loss to the champions, end game,
You have been a competitor when things have gone awry, how do you deal with it?
Now, these kind of last-minute changes are, are difficult to deal with,
Especially if you've already configured your robot.
But listen, late swaps happe frequently in the fight game
And this is when it helps to be such a storied vetera
Who's seen every type of madness there is in this sport.
When in doubt, they rely on their strengths.
And in this case, it is mike gellatly's ability
To put witch doctor in the right place
And let that vertical spinner go to town.
Things are a little crazy, let's see how it all unravels inside the box.
Faruq.
[faruq] in the red square
From miami, florida, I don't care if you have an hmo or a ppo,
This doctor will leave you tko'd.
Give it up for witch doctor!
[chris] witch doctor was a 2019 runner up,
And this squad has been out for redemption ever sinc
This is a true legend of the sport, kenny,
A beautiful bot and run by a fierce, fierce team.
[kenny] yeah, that's right. They are peaking at the right time as well.
And think about this, they avoid a truly nasty 3-0 rook
And instead fight a 1-2 mammoth.
But will this be a blessing or a curse?
In the blue square
From baltimore, maryland, the massive mastodon,
Mammoth.
[chris] and it doesn't get any better than this
For mammoth captain, ricky willems.
For all we know, he was minutes away from grabbing a hot dog
And a beverage and picking out a seat in the crowd.
And now he's got a shot at sending his team
To the round of 16 for the second straight season.
[kenny] well, you mentioned it earlier, chris
In the tournament last year,
They took down an equally dangerous vertical spinner in copperhead.
Mammoth is no stranger to an upset.
Uh, there's not a lot to hit on mammoth,
So we're gonna have to do a lot of strategic driving.
They have these big forks, they kind of corral you,
So if you get anywhere on there, they're gonna grab you and toss you.
Uh, luckily, our self-right is working really well,
We've tested it a lot this year,
Uh, but we're still going to be trying to drive around
And hit those wheels, which is the way to knock mammoth out.
Uh, so I haven't seen exactly what configuration they're running,
But we're going to go for those juicy wheels that they have exposed
And not try to do anything fancy 'cause this is the round of 32.
I'm over the moon. This is incredible.
We're in the top 32.
Glitch had some problems, they had some glitches, that's... You know,
Happens to the best of them, but, uh, what, what a second chance.
Witch doctor is going to come at us hard.
They're running without their forks.
They're not going to try and get under this.
I don't know if that's the right move for them, but I'm excited about it
'cause it means that I can hook 'em and hopefully, I can throw them around.
I know they can self-right well, so I still have to be careful,
But if I can get some combos, get them rolling around,
Maybe get them out of the arena, uh, it is going to be awesome.
Whoo!
[automated voice] robots activate.
[chris] witch doctor has visions of securing the giant nut,
Mammoth currently blocking its view like an suv on the highway.
We'll find out if a little voodoo can cut it down to size.
The fight, when we return on battlebots.
We are back and witch docto has a mammoth size problem
Facing them inside the battlebox.
We are moments away from another round of 32 clash.
[audience cheering]
Can mammoth seize this opportunity
And shock the world by taking down a legend?
Let the bot battle begin.
Mike gellatly, the outstandi driver for witch doctor
Driving up his way through mammoth.
Oh! Knocks it up and then lets it...
Oh, gosh!
[kenny] went right for those tires, chris, and look at the chains.
One is off.
Oh!
Oh, my goodness, he just tor the weapon off of mammoth.
Oh!
[chris] wow, another ridiculous hit.
Ahh! It's over.
[kenny] well, mammoth's vegas freeroll, it's going to last under a minute.
-Ten, nine, eight-- -[kenny] the countdown has started.
Mike gellatly with his driving
Will send witch doctor, into the round of 16.
Wow.
Knockout!
Whoo!
[chris] talk about the driving of mike gellatly
He's a master.
[kenny] yeah, there's no doubt about it.
I, I mean, he just used those tires as a bullseye
And he was hitting them every single time.
The... His ability to drive is just something to behold out there,
Went right at the weapon, chewed that up
And started going for it, the wheels, and it was over shortly thereafter.
[chris] glitch, mammoth, heck, it doesn't matter,
Witch doctor's moving on to the round of 16.
Andrea and mike,
I think the fight was way easier than the last several hours
Because you didn't know exactly who you were going to fight.
How crazy has it been, andrea?
We've been wa... Ready all day.
We were ready for about 12 hours, so we have the nerves,
The anxiety, just waiting there
To fight one robot and then they switch it on you,
We switch our configuration.
And the thing with mammoth is that every robot fits in a box,
You have your horizontal spinners, your vertical spinners,
But mammoth does not fit in the box,
They don't even fit into the starting square.
So we had to improvise a little.
Wha.. What was the strategy here against mammoth?
Uh, not get flipped.
I mean, that mammoth is running some ridiculous, like,
Power on their, on their flipper,
And they've been doing such a great job over the last few years,
Iterating and making it better and better every year,
So we weren't really sure what to expect out of mammoth,
But we really wanted to put on a good show.
Um, and like andrea said, you know, the highs and lows of today,
Waiting and then hurrying up and then waiting some more.
Um, you know, we were taking naps in the pit
And just kind of like trying to get ready and stay on our game.
And I think, I think that was a pretty decent fight.
Um, I don't know what the strategy was, though.
[laughs] I don't know. To win.
Andrea and mike gellatly, team witch doctor,
Congratulations as you move on to the round of 16.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
[chris] so despite all the drama,
Witch doctor's moving on in the tournament.
It will face the winner of the 8 versus 25 matchup,
Copperhead and lucky.
Let's take a look at how that fight went down earlier tonight.
Robert and kimberly cowan of team copperhead
Entered the arena determined to avenge
Last year's shocking round of 32 loss to mammoth,
And copperhead wasted no tim
Putting its intimidating drum spinner to work.
Kenny, it's just jab after jab after jab.
[kenny] I mean, look at that thing, it's a brick
It's so low to the ground,
It is so powerful, just a brutal machine.
- There goes the tire from lucky. -[chris] whoa!
And another huge hit.
But the 25 seed lucky hung in,
Absorbed the punishment and succeeded
In enforcing a judge's decision.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Copperhead.
[kenny] copperhead is living up to its top ten see
And this squad's motto of smash, smash, smash,
Continues to propel them forward.
[chris] in the five versus twenty-eight matchup, destructive weapons
And a whole lot of unpredictability were in play
When uppercut squared off with huge.
Like two rabid dogs let off their leashes,
It didn't take long for these two to clash
In the center of the box.
Whoa!
[kenny] what a shot! My goodness.
[chris] and look at the recoil on uppercut.
Those bots were reeling from this monster shot,
But it was uppercut who recovered first and continued to engage.
[kenny] huge looks stunned, chris.
Here comes uppercut.
[chris] uppercut looked to be in control
Until things went a little haywire.
It looks like both robots are incapacitated.
We could have the rare double ko.
If that's what's gonna happe
Unbelievable!
Knockout.
[chris] as per the rules, the simultaneous knockout
Went to the judges' scorecards and faruq delivered the decision.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Uppercut.
[chris] so after a fight tha didn't go down as we expecte
Uppercut moves on to the round of 16 for a bout
With the rampaging rookie, riptide.
Let's go! Yeah!
[chris] so with that, here on the left side of the bracket,
Only one spot in the round of 16 remains unclaimed.
When we return,
Zach lytle picks up the controls for the second time tonight
As he faces off with the defending champs.
It's skorpios and end game,
When the world championship tournament continues.
Much like dogs and their owners
Or an old married couple,
The line between bots and builder
Can sometimes get a little, uh, fuzzy.
I think there's a little bit of vanity that gets wrapped up into robot design,
And a lot of times some of these robots
End up looking kind of like the builders.
You know, hypershock is ver flash, just like will bales
And, uh, unfortunately, subzero is
A little wide and a little big.
I think matt, my driver, probably resembles this bot a lot.
He's very intense, and, uh, they don't call him plumbcra for nothing.
Witch doctor, witch doctor's outfits really match their bot.
Hijinx. With hijinx, team appearance kind of has a flow with the robot.
Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. The guy's like taller than all of us,
His robot's longer than all of us.
[audience cheering]
[chris] we are back for the round of 32.
Hey, skorpios, congratulations, you won the play-in game
And now you get to face the number one overall seed
And the current holder of the giant nut, end game.
And how great has the bot built by jack barker and nic mabey been.
They took care of hydra first time out,
Then they took care of witch doctor,
Then they took care of sawblaze.
Holy smokes! Dare I say that end game was
Better so far in 2021 than the team that won it all last year?
[kenny] they have been. They faced a murderer's row here at battlebots
And they have knocked every single person out.
It's been mind-blowing.
In the on-deck circle sits skorpios.
You saw them take care of malice
In the play-in game, diana tarlson,
The co-captain of the squad said, "we're coming for you end game."
She is absolutely fearless and truly believes her bot can win it all.
[kenny] well, listen, they have a awesome front armor,
You're going to need that against a devastating weapon in end game.
They have excellent driving, they have experienc
One solid shot from skorpios' upgraded stinger can turn the tide
And that confidence they've got can be a major asset.
Let's find out if it works for 'em.
Faruq.
[faruq] in the red square
From up near san francisco, so if you look at him the wrong way,
Divers will have to retrieve your body from the bottom of the bay.
This bot is a giant, but if he winds up to throw a pitch,
It'll be tossing your bot off the golden gate bridge.
Give it up for skorpios!
[chris] in its four fights this season,
It has gone the distance in all four,
Including a play-in win over malice.
The husband and wife tandem of zach lytle, diana tarlson,
Can they make some history tonight, kenny?
[kenny] very interesting to see skorpios without its plo
Instead going with a new fork configuration.
I will say that zach is really good at capitalizing on mistakes.
End game hasn't been making many of those, but it only takes one, chris.
Skorpios!
[faruq] in the blue square,
I was thinking, this team name has end at the beginning,
Seems backwards, but it kind of explains how they're winning.
They're endearing, but their opponents are endangered, that's for sure.
Face them and there's an endless amount of pain to endure.
If you endeavor to fight them, I can't endorse that thought,
Because end game has ended every enemy they fought.
Give it up for end game.
[chris] oh, oh! Faruq, bringing the heat and so too is end game.
And the champs have a new look.
They styling, they profiling and that thing is just flat out nasty.
[kenny] it even looks like a championship bot.
We said earlier that p1 was looking like rocky balboa,
No question that end game has that apollo creed swagger right now.
Skorpios are a really durable bot.
We've seen them in the past take incredible damage and just keep running,
So we're not confident we'll be able to take them out very quickly,
But I think we'll be able to break through
And, and hopefully, disable them.
They're not going to have any problems turning and jarring.
They're gonna be facing their front towards us the whole time,
So I think we've just got to go straight down the middle.
Even though this is the round of 32,
We're treating it as if it's the final
Because it's just as important.
Yeah, if you make one mistake, you're out.
A lot of teams have to wait till the very end
To see if they can beat the champion or not,
-We get to do it in round one. -Oh!
Skorpios has killed robots that have won the giant nut before,
And we're ready to do it again.
We're fighting end game,
And if we take him out here, he's out,
That's it, he's out of the contest for the year.
Everyone thinks end game is unbeatable.
He went through witch doctor,
He went through hydra, he went through sawblaze.
Everyone thinks you just can't beat him,
But I think everyone keeps trying to beat him at his own game.
We're going to try something different,
And this unstoppable robot
Is about to meet the unbreakable bot.
[automated voice] robots activate.
[chris] both bots using some unique fork configurations here, kenny.
[kenny] that's right, and both bots are hoping
To feed the other right down the middle.
The champs are using the sam setup that sent sawblaze ou of the box.
We should see some fireworks in this one.
[automated voice] red team, ready.
[chris] I remember that thin
[automated voice] blue team, ready.
[audience cheering]
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Oh!
There's that weapon already displayed by end game.
Uh-oh, skorpios turns its back on the jam.
[kenny] oh, boy, end game going with a lot of force. Getting under that...
Oh! Just all over, chris.
[chris] and end game's got skorpios near the upper deck
[kenny] and look at how bent those front forks are on skorpios.
[chris] end game trying to p skorpios on the upper deck,
It's halfway there and the wheel is shredded.
Can skorpios work its way off the deck
Or is this thing done in less than a minute?
[kenny] my goodness.
[chris] oh, my god, you can get a good look at gary gin
Whose face is all battered u on the bottom of that robot
Nine, eight...
[chris] and the countdown has started.
Zach and diana, all they can do is look at the miser
Because the champ is moving on.
[buzzer buzzing]
Well, uh, end game did whatever it wanted.
[kenny] yeah, this was really a case of the strong getting stronger,
Uh, I mean, these guys just continue to impress.
Talk about, you know, the configuration game here
Using those long forks, they were just winning the ground war.
And from there, skorpios really was in big time trouble.
[chris] we've seen this throughout the 2021 season,
When you are wobbly and you get placed in that short corner,
Your match can end in a hurry on that upper dec
[kenny] yeah. And how about that precision?
I mean, he placed him perfectly,
Right on the upper deck where he couldn't move,
Just surgical there from jack barker.
[chris] yeah, talk about landing a coin on its side.
A little bit of bad luck for skorpios,
A whole lot of magic from the defending champs.
And you just know that daniel freitas and minotaur
Back there in the pits, sharpening their hooves.
We have got a dream matchup brewing in the round of 16.
[audience cheering]
Whew!
[chris] jack barker, nick mabey,
Congratulations, you guys are moving on.
-Thank you. -Thank you very much.
Uh, you've had four fights,
You have knocked out all four of your opponents,
They are all great competitors,
Well-decorated inside of this arena.
Jack, what does that say about your robot?
I think end game's on form this year, you know,
We've come back stronger, we've come back with a lot of improvements,
Um, and we've tested them out through the fight nights
And now they're starting to show through,
So we're really happy with how it's performing.
You told us that there was more pressure on you,
Even though you had already won the giant nut,
That was before the regular season started.
Now that you've already taken your first step here in the postseason,
Is there additional pressure you're feeling, nick?
Hey, so, like it's the round of 32, so every fight
Is as important as the next one.
It's more important than the pre's
Than the pre-tournament, so like
The pressure is on, like we have to perform.
Every fight from here is equivalent of the grand final.
Like we have to win every single one.
Yeah, if we don't win everyone, we can't get the nut.
Well, your next one is going to be like a championship fight,
It is against minotaur,
That means it is against daniel freitas.
Jack, how much are you looking forward to that battle?
Look, we got our ass beat by them last time we played,
So we are coming back, end game is a lot stronger
And we have some configurations, especially for them.
We were up all night the night before we left
'cause we thought we need to beat minotaur.
So we're gonna try put them on and see what happens,
You know, we'll smack them with our weapon and hopefully, they break.
Well, guys, congratulations on taking your first step toward defending your title.
Thank you very much.
[audience cheering]
[crowd chanting] end game! End game! End game! End game!
Dude, I, I don't know what more to say about end game,
I mean, I've said it countless times this season,
I think they're better than a season ago
When they hoisted the giant nut.
[kenny] they've already take down the best of the best this season.
It makes you wonder if the only team
That can actually beat end game is end game.
[chris] well, kenny florian their round of 16 opponent, minotaur,
Will certainly have something to say about that
That is going to be a war with all the flavor of a final's matchup.
And we say our farewell to skorpios,
Who pulled out all the stops in its two fights this evening.
Great effort from a stellar team.
All told, eight robots advanced to the round of 16 tonight,
Including sawblaze, witch doctor,
And p1 after that big-time upset of hypershock.
[kenny] and once again, shout out to mammoth
Stepping in on short notice for the rookie, glitch.
This was a wild night.
[chris] and guess what?
Next week we get to do it all again as we round out
The field of 16 robots left in the fight
For the 2021 battlebots world championship.
[kenny] and what a loaded li up with bots like tantrum,
Whiplash, ribbot and last season's number one seed, hydra,
Fighting for its life in ou second play-in match.
[chris] the race for the giant nut is just getting started.
For faruq, our bot whisperer, pete,
My man, kenny florian, I am chris rose,
We'll see you next time right here on battlebots.
End game!