#Battlebots Season 6 Episode 6 Review (TV Series, 2022)
content warning: grieving
Editorial note: These Battlebots reviews will contain spoilers.
Last week, Battlebots was all about the low ground game. This week, it’s a celebration of weapon on weapon contact. Let’s get into it.
Up first is Rotator vs Black Dragon. Rotator is the invertible by design horizontal undercutter from Victor Soto and Team Revolution. It won its first fight of the season in a judges’ decision against Kraken. Black Dragon is an eggbeater spinner with a flamethrower from João Marcos and Team Uailrrior. It won its first fight against ICEwave in a knockout.
Rotator is leading with its back forks to get under Black Dragon before spinning around to its undercutter. It works. Rotator’s forks easily get under Black Dragon in every exchange. Black Dragon does not back down, attacking head on again and again even as its robot smokes so badly it fills the arena. To me, it looks like a LiPo battery fire, which is why there’s so much smoke and the Battlebots team comes in with giant ventilation hose. Black Dragon gets a phenomenal hit against Rotator the one time its wedge scoops up Rotator. That eggbeater is a serious weapon when it can make contact.
Rotator wins a unanimous judges’ decision. I agree. Rotator caused more Damage and had better Control for most of the match. Black Dragon was more Aggressive, but it got the worst of most exchanges. That wedge attachment they went with wasn’t quite at the right angle to work against Rotator.
Next up is Lucky vs Blade. Lucky is a powerful flipper from Mark Demers and Team TKO Robotics. It lost its first fight against Tantrum in a knockout, but not before dominating the first part of the match and even getting Tantrum stuck on the Arena barrier. Blade is a massive horizontal spinner from CheonGuy Hwang and Team ORBY. It lost its debut fight against Skorpios in a unanimous judges’ decision. Both of these robots need to demonstrate what they bring to the tournament to increase their chances of making the round of 32. Remember, track record isn’t everything with the selection committee. Going 2-1 against relatively easy opponents can still lead to you missing out over robots that demonstrate more potential with a 1-2 record.
This is a quick fight. Blade leads with their back wedge to give their weapon time to spin up. They make contact with Lucky’s wedge and go flying into the Arena barrier. The impact snaps Blade’s weapon in the barrier, leaving it unable to use its weapon due to the unbalanced gyroscopic forces. Lucky comes in for the flip and tosses Blade perfectly onto the barrier in a way that totally high centers it. Lucky wins in an impressive knockout.
The next fight is Dragon Slayer vs Minotaur. Dragon Slayer is the powerful vertical spinner from Jordan Neal and Team Wild Side Robotics. They made their Battlebots debut last week in a dominant fight against DUCK! Minotaur is a terrifying drum spinner from Daniel Freitas and Team RioBotz. It lost its first fight against Sawblaze, but showed how strong the robot is, lasting most of the three minute fight on fire and still attacking.
This is where the content warning comes into play. Daniel Freitas lost his mother to COVID-19 shortly before the season began. The program does a lovely tribute to him, his family, and the way the Battlebots community has helped him get through this difficult time. It’s heartbreaking but not exploitative.
These two robots go head to head in pretty much every impact. Black Dragon is not afraid to put their weapon to the test against the reliability of Minotaur. There are massive hits over and over until Black Dragon’s weapon breaks. Even then, Black Dragon keeps attacking with its wedges, deflecting Minotaur’s drum spinner. Minotaur eventually wins by knockout, but Black Dragon shows a whole lot of promise.
Up next is Pain Train vs Yeti. Pain Train is the massive drum spinner from Evan Arias and Team Shreddit. They lost their first fight in a knockout against Deep Six. Yeti is a giant drum spinner with moving forks from Greg Gibson, Christian Carlberg, and Team C2 Robotics. They lost their previous fight against Mad Catter in a knockout.
Evan Arias shows off his impressive driving skills in this fight. Pain Train and Yeti go weapon on weapon over and over again. Pain Train is the more maneuverable bot, letting it get huge running charges at Yeti. Yeti’s weapon is just more powerful in this matchup. Pain Train gets flipped again, which is fine since it can run inverted. Then it loses its top armor again and gets knocked out again. Yeti earns a dominant win here. Patience pays off in Battlebots and the blows Yeti landed at the right times set the pace of the fight.
Next is HiJinx vs Kraken. HiJinx is the invertible horizontal spinner with a four foot blade from Jen Herchenroeder and Team Offbeat Robotics. They lost their first fight in a knockout against Mammoth. Kraken is the most powerful crusher in Battlebots from Matt Spurk and Team CE Robotics. They lost their first fight in a judges’ decision against Rotator. Despite losing their respective matches, both of these teams left an impressive mark in their last fights. HiJinx almost sawed Mammoth’s weapon in half before it lost its wheel and Kraken showed great control and strategy.
This fight is fascinating. It all comes down to strategy. HiJinx is running better than it has in any of its other fights and uses it to their advantage. Kraken is very aggressive, but can’t quite get a good bite on HiJinx. HiJinx actually pretends to lose control of its drive to give it time to spin its weapon up to full speed and attack Kraken. You even hear the judge on their side of the Battlebox ask if they have drive control and Jen says “yes.” This is repeated throughout the match. Matt Spurk catches on quickly, but it works well enough to give HiJinx more time to spin up. Kraken does get a good lift on HiJinx and drops it upside down on The Shelf, but HiJinx uses its weapon to shimmy back onto the ground. The inverted form gives HiJinx a clearer shot at Kraken’s teeth, causing the only really noticeable damage of the entire fight.
This one goes to the judges’ decision. They rule unanimously in favor of HiJinx. Battlebots is being better about score transparency in potentially controversial matches and actually shows off the handwritten ballots of the judges. HiJinx won Damage on all three cards and earned at least one point in Aggression and Control, guaranteeing it the win. Remember, Damage is worth 5 points, but Control and Aggression are only worth three. Kraken’s inability to clamp down on HiJinx for most of the fight costs it that third Control point it would’ve needed to win instead of HiJinx.
Do I agree? I think so. With the current scoring system, HiJinx wins. They caused more damage to Kraken. HiJinx is not super-fast this season and intentionally slowed down or even stopped throughout to spin up before Kraken could get close enough for a bite. If HiJinx was seriously damaged, they didn’t show it like Kraken’s missing tooth.
The next fight is Defender vs Riptide. Defender is the control bot with grappling/lifting arms and flamethrower from Jason Vazquez and Team Fast Electronics. It lost its debut fight against Ribbot in a KO. Riptide is a rookie eggbeater spinner with lifting arms from Ethan Kurtz and Team Break32. It won its debut fight against HUGE in a KO.
Riptide and Defender go weapon to weapon from the start. Riptide rips off part of Defender’s grappling arm and both robots immobilize themselves. Defender frees itself first and chooses to give Riptide a tap so it can keep battling. Riptide arms are not working to self-right, so it rams its eggbeater into the edge of The Shelf, sending itself flying in the air and landing right side up. Both robots essentially lost their weapons in the first exchange or from yeeting themselves into the air, so it becomes a shoving match.
The fight goes to a judges’ decision and Defender wins unanimously. It’s a hard fight to judge. Neither robot shows off what they can do after the initial impact. However, in a weaponless fight, a control bot with a working drive train is going to win against a robot that puts its emphasis on a destructive weapon.
The Main Event is HyperShock vs Lock-Jaw. HyperShock is the RC-car styled vertical dual disc spinner from Will Bales and Team HyperShock. It won its first fight in a knockout against Slammo! Lock-Jaw is the asymmetrical vertical spinner from Donald Hutson and Team Mutant Robotics. It lost its first fight in a split judges’ decision against Copperhead.
This is another battle of weapon on weapon contact. Both robots are fast and easily maneuver around the Arena. Lock-Jaw takes off one of HyperShock’s front tires, then HyperShock does the same to Lock-Jaw. Lock-Jaw seems to have the advantage until it gets flipped upside down. They’re still being aggressive, but HyperShock backs them into the corner and then sends them flying into that little, tiny out of the arena space by the entrance to the Battlebox. Hypershock wins by knockout.
Fun fact: in the actual timeline of the shoot, Hypershock vs Lock-Jaw happened before last week’s battle between Hydra and Gruff, making it the first out of the arena knockout in a season designed to stop out of the arena knockouts.
After this episode, I’m adding HyperShock and HiJinx to my list of likely winners this season. HyperShock has never looked better and HiJinx is capable of a whole lot more strategy than similar horizontal spinners in the game. That means I predict that one of these bots will come out on top this season: Ribbot, Sawblaze, Skorpios, HyperShock, and HiJinx.
The YouTube exclusive fight this week is Deep Six vs Smeeeee…! The glass cannon of Battlebots goes up against the widest, noodliest bot ever made. Members of the Battlebots Facebook page can see this fight already. For everyone else, it debuts this Sunday, 13 February, on the Battlebots YouTube page.
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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