#Battlebots Season 6 Episode 4 Review (TV Series, 2022)
We’re back with another exciting week of fights on Battlebots. While we haven’t seen all the competitors fight yet, this episode sees quite a few competitors return to teach us lessons about the true value of sportsmanship in combat robotics.
Let’s get into the fights.
Up first is Malice vs. Jackpot. Both of these are returning rookies from last year and they’ve both had their first fights already. Malice, a powerful horizontal spinner with multiple weapon configurations, lost a judges’ decision to Tantrum after losing its weapon early in the match. Jackpot, a powerful asymmetrical vertical spinner with multiple weapon options, won its YouTube exclusive fight against Deadlift, winning a judges’ decision after their minibot Ace helped them disable Deadlift’s drive in the last few seconds of the fight.
The show mentions the connection between Malice and Jackpot. It’s part of what I discussed in my Bounty Hunters review last season. The circumstances surrounding Covid-19 and its impact on Season 5 led to some teams creating second bots for the tournament. Jackpot captain Jeff Waters was originally party of Malice captain Bunny Sauriel’s team. All of those builders work together on various projects, as pretty much everyone you see Arena-side in this fight competes in all the different weight classes at tournaments across the country. Bunny and her team test out different configurations for Malice in Beetleweight tournaments and Jeff’s design for JackPot comes from his Beetleweight bot Off Track. Whatever bot is competing from the various members of these teams has a consistent style in battle: attack until someone can’t anymore.
Malice vs. JackPot is an explosive fight. The drivers go head to head over and over, sending both bots flying from the force of one of the strongest horizontal spinners going against a dual-disc vertical spinner optimized for combat against horizontal spinners. Eventually, Malice has a bad landing, damaging part of its drive train. The weapon lasts the entire fight, but Malice gets counted out when its crabwalking—shifting a robot back and forth on one wheel to slowly gain distance—is no longer considered controlled movement.
Next up is Ribbot vs. Overhaul. Ribbot, the modular frog-themed robot with a weapon and plan for every opponent, is coming off of its knockout against Defender. Overhaul, a control bot with a grappling arm and lifting forks, is returning for the first time since Season 3. Ribbot opts to paint its outer shell the same shade of blue as Overhaul and run its undercutter blade.
The undercutter is the right choice. Ribbot wins the fight in a quick knockout. Overhaul loses control of its drive train after a couple hits and gets counted out. I’m not counting Overhaul out yet, as the team has great driving and strategy when the bot is tuned in and working correctly. Meanwhile, I think Ribbot might be a real contender to win this season. Their weapon system and drive train are stronger than ever and they’ve proven the reliability of their major weapon styles this season against very durable opponents.
The next fight is Blade vs. Skorpios. Blade, also known as Orby Blade, is a powerful horizontal spinner from South Korea. The team previously competed in the Chinese combat robot show King of Bots. This was a massive, high-budget competition featuring international competitors and two very different formats in its two seasons. Other competitors you’ll recognize from the show include Captain Shrederator captain Brian Nave competing with Shrederator Tiger Claw and Gigabyte captain John Mladenik competing with his Hall of Fame heavyweight Megabyte.
Blade’s opponent is hammersaw robot Skorpios. Skorpios is coming off their victory in the Bounty Hunters tournament against ICEWave. Quite a few Battlebots teams have active YouTube channels. Skorpios’ team has one of the most entertaining and informative. Don’t miss out on the Halloween special, featuring Free Shipping’s Gary Gin.
Skorpios brought multiple styles of hammersaws to Season 6, as well as varying front armor/plow configurations for every possible opponent. They seem to be good friends with most of the builders in Battlebots. This includes Blade’s team, who hosted Zac Lytle and Diana Tarlson when they competed in a major robot competition event in South Korea a few years ago.
Skorpios dominates this entire fight. There are many points where a knockout seems like a likely outcome, but both teams seem onboard with causing as much destruction as possible. This is Blade’s first fight in Battlebots and Skorpios’ first fight of the season. Actual time in the Battlebox is a huge advantage and both teams let the fight go to the unanimous judges’ decision for Skorpios.
I fully expect Blade to come back better than ever—they had issues gauging in their weapon slowdown speeds to pass inspection that took time away from other preparations—and Scorpios is another robot that I think has the potential to win this season. Remember, it’s not just having a strong weapon. You need great driving, strategy, and creative thinking and planning to go against any number of powerful robots to make it to the end of this tournament. Scorpios hosted a master class with this fight.
Next up is Tombstone vs. Mammoth. This is the second fight of the season for both bots. Tombstone lost in a knockout to Captain Shrederator. Mammoth won in a knockout against HiJinx. I have trouble imagining how this fight could go. Mammoth is just so big, and Tombstone is so low to the ground. Tombstone is really only capable of hitting Mammoth's wheels, and Mammoth's more flexible vertical spinner attachment designed for horizontal spinners isn't going to be able to get a good grip on Tombstone's compact frame.
I did not anticipate a Double KO in under 30 seconds. That's impressive. Tombstone is the obvious winner because Mammoth lost enough of its drive shaft and wheels to not be able to move anymore. Now, if Mammoth could've still moved, it would've won two matches in knockouts against powerful horizontal spinners that landed just the wrong way to break their drive system. As it stands, the judges agreed with me that Tombstone clearly won this fight even if it knocked itself out in the process.
Up next is Lucky vs. Tantrum. Lucky is a lifter/flipper returning for its first fight after taking last season off. This robot is no joke and should not be underestimated. Just look at how well it did in the Desperado playoff episode in Season 4 to see how easily it can dominate fights against a wide variety of opponents.
Tantrum is coming off of a decisive victory against Malice earlier this season. Tantrum is another robot with so much potential. If its weapon system keeps working, it's going to cause major damage against any opponent.
There's an interesting element of sportsmanship on display this episode. There is nothing in the Battlebots rules that say you have to help an opponent if they get stuck in the Battlebox. That's true in any robot combat event. What you'll see more often than not is one robot choose to unstick another robot without using their primary weapon. They came to fight and they want the fight to last the full time or end by knockout caused by damage, not bad luck.
Lucky lost the fight because of good sportsmanship. They win the box rush and bully Tantrum with their flipper. Tantrum becomes stuck on the side of the Battlebox, unable to free itself and regain movement. Lucky knocks it back onto the floor so the fight can continue. Then Tantrum attacks again and again until Lucky breaks and loses in a KO. Tantrum makes the most of the opportunity given to them by Lucky. You'll see fights every season where one team is calling out the other to hit them again to free them from a hazard or an awkward landing and the other team refuses so they get the guaranteed win. There is no right answer here. I just want Lucky to actually have luck on Battlebots for once.
Next up is the second rookie debut of the night. Glitch is a new omniwheel drive eggbeater spinner. Omniwheels are fascinating. They're the same style of wheels that Shatter! uses. These wheels can move in any direction, allowing the robot to spin and face its opponent however it wants to at any given moment. The tradeoff is losing traction. Omniwheel robots are unlikely to win a shoving match. The teams that choose omniwheels are aiming for weapon precision, not control. Glitch takes it a step further by essentially being a series of ground-sweeping shallow wedges aimed right at its powerful eggbeater spinner. When the opponent runs into Glitch, they’ll easily roll right into its weapon.
Their opponent is Ghost Raptor, one of my favorite designs in all of Battlebots. Ghost Raptor is a highly adaptable horizontal-ish spinner that doesn't require modular design elements. It has an extreme independent suspension on its tank tread drive system, allowing the treads to be flipped a full 180 degrees apart from each other and still drive like nothing's wrong. The horizontal spinner also has an adjustable angle, allowing it to tilt anywhere from horizontal to angled right to the floor to get the perfect shot. Ghost Raptor is so flexible with so many moving parts that you never know how its fights will turn out.
This is another example of sportsmanship changing the outcome of the fight. Glitch's weapon is super powerful and gets strong shots in the entire match. Its drive system is also struggling because the wedges are too low to the ground, stopping the omniwheels from consistently moving the robot around the Battlebox. Meanwhile, Ghost Raptor is incredibly mobile and controls most of the action in the fight. Ghost Raptor actually frees Glitch from being stuck against the wall of the Arena, which gives Glitch the chance to get some incredibly powerful shots in with its weapon.
Glitch wins in a pretty clear judges' decision, giving us back to back fights where the losing bot had the choice to take an easy win by knockout and opted for a longer fight that fell out of their favor. I will say this is the best Ghost Raptor has looked at the start of a tournament. Glitch has a lot of potential, too, if they have enough time to sand down the edges of their wedges like they said in the post-fight interview.
For the Main Event, SawBlaze and Mad Catter return after decisive wins against Minotaur and Yeti, respectively. This fight is going to be explosive no matter what. Both teams have aggressive driving, destructive weapons, and built in mechanisms to take control of their opponents before wreaking havoc.
SawBlaze's dustpan design has the upper hand the entire fight. Again and again, SawBlaze wins the low ground game against Mad Catter. That hammersaw is deadly this season. Mad Catter does what Mad Catter does best, attacking head on until someone is knocked out. This time, they're on the losing end of that gamble.
We haven't seen all of the Season 6 competitors fight yet, but I do have some strong thoughts on a few key players. I think the winner of the season is going to be one of these three robots: Ribbot, Skorpios, or SawBlaze. They all have a strong combination of control features, strong weapons, and reliability. I also think that Captain Shrederator and Deep Six have the potential to be total spoilers this season. Those weapons are deadly, and you only need to last for one impact if that one impact is strong enough to knockout your opponent. I think Blip is going to do the best of the rookies. It was battle ready right away, where the other rookies so far definitely have to make some tweaks to keep up with the more experienced competitors.
I'm most looking forward to seeing Double Jeopardy return this season. If you haven't been following the development of Battlebots' only projectile robot, you're in for a big surprise. Double Jeopardy can have up to three rounds loaded in its new weapon chamber. It's always fun to see Double Jeopardy fight because the audience, the competitors, and the show staff all clearly want to see one of those massive weights hit a robot right smack in the middle of its frame. Just look at its fight in Season 3 against Mecha Rampage. That robot literaly attached a bullseye to its frame and dared Double Jeopardy to take the shot. That's just good entertainment.
The YouTube Exclusive fight this week sees Retrograde, a new grappler/lifter bot from the same team as Bloodsport, fight Rampage, a returning vertical spinner from last season. If you have a membership to the Battlebots Facebook page, you can watch this fight already. For everyone else, it will be available on the Battlebots YouTube page on Sunday.
Battlebots premieres new episodes at 8PM EST on Thursdays Nights on Discovery Channel. Discovery+ releases the episodes earlier in the day.
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