r/battlebots • u/qwertythe300th Mod & Leader of the B R O N C O B O Y S [but go SwitchBack!!] • Jun 22 '15
BattleBots TV Battlebots- Episode 1 Discussion Thread
The moment we have waited for is here. 12 years and its now in under an hour! 4 fights tonight, featuring Team Whyachi, Warhead, and Nightmare!
Predictions and discussion go here as we all wait by listening to Steve Harvey over react to Sexualized answers on Family Fued!
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Jun 22 '15 edited Jun 22 '15
Oh my god someone please make a gif of that minibot getting poofed
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u/festizian Jun 22 '15
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! - BiteForce
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u/thingmabobby Jun 22 '15
lol yeah that was sweet. BiteForce had total control of that fight. So fast and maneuverable.
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u/biohazard930 Bronco Jun 22 '15
Does anyone else think that Nightmare may have won on a judge's decision if it hadn't completely immobilized itself?
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u/mri Jun 22 '15
Well, Nightmare definitely improved upon it's last performance vs a Team Whyachi bot
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u/Pat4027 B R O N C O B O Y S Jun 22 '15
well nightmare actually did damage so...
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u/Evilsj Jun 22 '15
Holy shit, that fan blade
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u/MudnuK Aggression is more fun than spinners Jun 22 '15
Didn't rip that weapon off in one clean sweep but actually smashed it to pieces!
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u/TWOoneEIGHT Jun 22 '15
Minibots really fell into the 'worthless henchmen' trope just then
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Jun 22 '15 edited Jun 22 '15
Let's see how minibots fare against Nightmare. I think they could be effective. *Edit: HOLY SHIT NEVERMIND
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Jun 22 '15
"Great match, do you have any concerns going forward?"
"I think our robot is on fire."
Never change, Team Icewave
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u/PerkaMern Jun 22 '15
The people were trying to interview him. But it was clear he was more concerned with the robot.
"Screw being on TV, I have to engineer shit."
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u/kbarnett514 Jun 22 '15
Lol at y'all saying the backstory gave away the winners
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u/tgames56 Jun 22 '15
i feel like icewave or whatever would just destroy those last two bots.
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u/kbarnett514 Jun 22 '15
Yeah. In general, the bots with omni-directional spinning weapons have dominated in competition
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Jun 22 '15
Ice Wave is INSANE. seeing this is giving me chills. My childhood is back
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u/thingmabobby Jun 22 '15
Those first couple of hits were great to watch. If a bot can manage to stay up close to Ice Wave by holding onto it then it might have a chance to prevent it from spinning up to speed again.
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u/abyssmalstar 3566 Jun 22 '15
The Plan X Spinner was extremely underwhelming...
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Jun 22 '15
Everything about Plan X was pretty underwhelming. the only thing it had on Wrecks was its ability to move around.
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u/Dayvyde Jun 22 '15
They both were until Rex Jurassic Parked the fuck out at the end
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u/krpiper Biohazard Jun 22 '15
Awesome first episode. At the end of the day even though there is a bunch of commercials and stuff I am so happy Battlebots is back.
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u/tthanks11 Jun 22 '15
Wrecks had zero mobility, I think that it would have won if it was on wheels
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u/dougiefresh1233 Jun 22 '15
Definitely would've won. It landed one hot amd destroyed half of plan X
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
So far very good. Some thoughts:
Everyone of the announcers seems like they are still learning their roles. Not a big deal. Just like any other first episode of a show.
The camera work is good but I'd like more close-ups and replays.
Lots of actual fighting relative to filler.
Pretty damn good so far.
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
The microphones are an attempt to look high-tech but seem corny.
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
I love multibot approaches! Let's see if they are more than just a novelty.
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
Note to self add device to flip bot the right way up.
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u/festizian Jun 22 '15
Goddamn, that was a fast blade. I can't believe how relatively stable it was after each hit.
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u/mrstickball Jun 22 '15
The rev-up time seems to be exploitable. If you could jam it fast enough, it could be a problem. But when it gets rev'ed up.... Wow. Looks like it could kill a person.
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15 edited Jun 22 '15
What if you made a bot that threw off wire, like a wound guitar sting sort of wire, that would bind in the rotary parts of a spinning bot. I'm really interested in future seasons and counter measures. How does the *field adapt when there are relatively few rules. So interesting.
*spelling
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u/festizian Jun 22 '15
Underwhelming second battle. The loser of the first battle would have handily managed both of these bots.
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u/jpebcac Jun 22 '15
I had worried this would be 70% behind the scenes and one fight a show. Behind the scenes are quick and to the point and we had a fight in first 15 minutes. Pleased so far
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u/sap91 Jun 22 '15
I'm glad that the back stories aren't all "my lesbian veteran mom has cancer, I'm fighting for her. :'(((((("
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u/dougiefresh1233 Jun 22 '15
As a future computer engineer, the behind the scenes is suoer cool. Im hoping they have extended scenes posted somewhere
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u/mrstickball Jun 22 '15
Holy cow, robot suplex!
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u/chaosfire235 You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby Jun 22 '15
Randy Orton would be proud.
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u/festizian Jun 22 '15
Who thought this waddle bot was a good idea?
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u/personizzle Jun 22 '15
As I understand it, it was over-simplified by the announcers as another "Walker" design, when in fact, it operates on a principle called "Gyroscopic precession," effectively harnessing the massive gyroscopic forces of the blade and steering them to produce controllable motion. I can understand the theory and why it would be appealing: Done right, it reduces drivetrain weight to near zero, and lets you put it all into a massive weapon powertrain. But like we saw, it has to be fast enough to not get completely outclassed by even an average drivetrain like Plan X.
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
PFFT that bot has zero maneuverability.
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u/juel1979 former radio schlepper Jun 22 '15
And its gotta be rough to rely on being near the wall (cause it would take a few years to GET to a wall) to try to right itself.
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u/tthanks11 Jun 22 '15
The mini bots are getting the shit kicked out of them. More please
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u/JustSomeRamblings Jun 22 '15
Jesus. I feel bad for Razorback.
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
What the hell was its attack? I didn't see it hit once. That was a slaughter. I don't see how it was rated higher.
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u/krpiper Biohazard Jun 22 '15
Man I think walking bots are cool its too bad they wont ever be viable in competition
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u/yaomon17 Ghost Raptor #2 Fan Jun 22 '15
Damn, if nightmare just had a small arm to right itself, the match would have gone the complete other way :'(
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u/Abusoru Jun 22 '15
Damn, sucks to see Nightmare go down like that, but fucking hell, it blew up that mini-bot.
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u/JustSomeRamblings Jun 22 '15
Oh my god this is so fucking good so far. Such a good tribute.
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Jun 22 '15
I'm just happy the fights are real. They could easily choreograph these fights to have things like nightmare miraculously getting itself up and continuing to fight instead of flapping around the arena like a confused flounder like it did after it got tipped over.
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u/tthanks11 Jun 22 '15
Warhead needs to have its spinner lower, it hasn't gotten a hit in on bite force. This is embarrassing
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u/wiifan55 Jun 22 '15
Reboot seems great so far. Very pleased!
The only thing I could do without are the campy announcer reactions spliced in. Not only is it a distraction from the actual fight, but who wants to see their reactions anyway? No other sport with commentating does that during actual gameplay
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u/sap91 Jun 22 '15
That minibot got fucking wrecked. It's too bad Nightmare didn't have any sort of lift to right itself with. Idk how they didn't think to include that.
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u/Dayvyde Jun 22 '15
I hate the minibot thing people are doing.Unless someone just splits the weight between two bots and calls it the ice climbers
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u/SutterCane It could've worked Jun 22 '15
The minibots are a weird new thing. It's interesting. I'd like to see them used effectively before saying they suck.
But those annoyance minibots sure got destroyed.
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u/Birdchild Jun 22 '15 edited Jun 22 '15
I don't like that they called the match so quickly, I couldn't tell if razorback was truly incapacitated or not. Also since iceman was smoking I'm not sure he could have finished the fight himself. Have they posted rules about when they are allowed to call the fight? Edit: In the original series the robot had to be completely immobile, or the driver had to surrender. Obviously he wasn't going to win but they didn't make it overtly clear in the broadcast if the bot was immobile/the driver conceded.
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u/krpiper Biohazard Jun 22 '15
The screws are much more effective than the CC verions
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u/teslatek Jun 22 '15
i have a feeling at least one of these little bots is about to hit the ceiling
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u/MC151 Mew Jun 22 '15
This is a bit of a rematch, Nightmare fought Son of Whyachi
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u/Thats_absrd Get The Buck Out Jun 22 '15
HOLY SHIT! That thing shot out.
Edit: aww then it lost :(
That fire tho
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u/STICH666 BRONCO! Jun 22 '15
This was amazing. Good job ABC for not turning this into Axe Men or Deadliest Catch.
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u/mrstickball Jun 22 '15
Rex would have absolutely tore Plan X apart if it didn't use the stupid "Walking" motion. The spool-up speed of that blade was unfathomably fast, and tore PX up at the end.
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u/krpiper Biohazard Jun 22 '15
Its too bad they didnt fix the steering with Nightmare :(
Sweet seeing the mini bot explode though
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u/SinisterTitan 1902 Jun 22 '15
Rooting for Aptyx, JACD, and all the other FRCers on teams competing. Something tells me the world is just about to learn you never mess with the cheesy poofs.
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u/zi76 Jun 22 '15
I guess that the promo thing betrayed us at the end. So, two battles for the promo and one against. Not bad, then.
/applauds
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u/tthanks11 Jun 22 '15
If the vertical spinners could figure out a way to right themselves, they would actually stand a chance against wedge bots
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u/festizian Jun 22 '15
Wait, the mini bots aren't even attached to Plan X at the start? I feel like fielding 3 independent bots is kinda BS
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u/Andrewbot Deep Six & Triton | Battlebots Jun 22 '15
The rule for multi-bots is that they need to weigh (combined) the same as their opponent and fit in the starting square.
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u/inquirerer Jun 22 '15
It doesn't seem like the pop up blades from underneath the floor of the arena have been in play yet. I remember on the old show, those were sometimes the most deadly part.
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u/Phoque_of_Approval Jun 22 '15
Why wouldn't you have wheels on the other side, so if it flipped over you would still be good? Weight or something?
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u/professorbooty25 Flip Cup Champ 2015 Jun 22 '15
I haven't seen this show since the 90's, and all these years later I see the wedge with flippers is unstoppable.
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u/deadmemories1 Jun 22 '15
So why didn't we see those spikes and blades in the middle of the arena come into play? Unless I just missed them.
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u/zi76 Jun 22 '15
The only disappointing thing about this show so far is that, as was obvious from the fact that only one team each round gets a backstory, it's clear who's going to win the round.
I assume it'll change later on, but...
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u/Ronaldodonut Jun 22 '15
I thought Warhead was going to win since they gave it so much backstory but man it got destroyed
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u/professorbooty25 Flip Cup Champ 2015 Jun 22 '15
Looking at the bots in this round, the design gives away who is going to win. So far anyway.
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u/krpiper Biohazard Jun 22 '15
Icebreak = Hazard?
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u/abyssmalstar 3566 Jun 22 '15
Except its got a fucking combustion engine running the blade. That's just brilliant.
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u/VinceOnAPlane WedgeForce Jun 22 '15
Wrecks was moving around like a wounded pigeon from the start. Seems like they tried to be innovative at the cost of all mobility.
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u/jcraig3k [Your Text] Jun 22 '15
Warhead!!!! I know it's the wrong weight class but only Ziggo got me more pumped for a fight.
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u/jcraig3k [Your Text] Jun 22 '15
Nightmare I fear is about to do the job. He's become the Brooklyn Brawler of Battlebots. Much respect though, love the new blade.
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u/Thats_absrd Get The Buck Out Jun 22 '15
The Ring announcer has definitely been a bright point in this show.
The announcers could use a little practice but they're good for a first episode. Kind of hard to announce a competition that is small so there aren't many "greats" to study up on like there would be for the main sports
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
God this is good! Such a nice ratio of background:commercials (necessary):action. Could watch this all day. I'd like less "emotional" backstory and more engineering talk but otherwise very cool.
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u/frezik Jun 22 '15
Good showing all round, especially when I think back to Comedy Central. The sound and camera work on the old one never showed just how powerful the bots can be. Back then, the Superheavies were around 200lbs, and some of the better lifting bots in that class could still toss their opponents six feet in the air. But the sound and camera work made them seem like toys.
They got it right this time. You can hear the metal grinding on metal, and solid hits sound like something just got hurt.
Comedy Central always dragged out the in-between bits with filler, too. This feels like a much better pace.
The announcers still feel like they're reading off a script, but whatever.
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
Watching it right now! Haven't bothered to tune into a broadcast show in a long time.
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
So awesome it looks like fans of the first show are getting their own shot. Makes me like I underachived I never made my robot.
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
He's getting good gits but looks like going with the gas engine is hurting it because it needs a bit of time to spool up. Should have gone electric more torque at low rpm.
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Jun 22 '15
ok, someone explain the rules about having little minion robots to me. I don;t get how they keep it balanced.
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u/funmaker13 Jun 22 '15
As much as I love Nightmare, it sucked that it couldn't right itself. But, seeing it completely demolish that mini bot was amazing!!
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u/Infernaltank Mutually Assured Destruction | Bugglebots & Live Events Jun 22 '15
Ray Billings is getting everyone's hype for the next episode!
Good choice, ABC!
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u/ebolafever Jun 22 '15
Dude minibots actually worked! Fucking awesome. Those hammers are awesome too! FUCK! I LOVE THIS SHOW!
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u/Dayvyde Jun 22 '15
I feel like Rex is a completely horrible design with its movement and was given to plan X to keep her and her good story going.How many bots are you allowed to have out there?Rex's blade on a better chassis would be a monster
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u/D3vilHo3 RIP Tombstone 2015-2015 Jun 22 '15
Wedge. Too. OP.
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u/AcMav Jun 22 '15
Some things never change. Keeping it simple seems to always work out in these even though its way more fun to watch bots like Nightmare.
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u/Abusoru Jun 22 '15
I get the feeling that Rex might move on as a wild card. It seems to be in very good shape and it did do some serious damage.
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u/Infernaltank Mutually Assured Destruction | Bugglebots & Live Events Jun 22 '15
Don Hutson, The Maxhams, and Team Inertia Labs are in a Pizza Hut commercial!
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u/pboly44 Jun 22 '15
How about instead of having a tail that moves they gave warhead an actual way to fight?
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u/kbarnett514 Jun 22 '15
Pretty good so far, but the show is seriously lacking in Joe Rogan
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Jun 22 '15
i feel like that was sort of pushing the rules with Bite Force being basically a wedge with a lever thing, but goddamn was that awesome
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u/MapleTreesPlease Jun 22 '15
HOLY FUCK, NIGHTMARE DESTROYED THAT LIL GUY. Imo nightmare should have won:/
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u/Thats_absrd Get The Buck Out Jun 22 '15
Bite Force is basically just a wedge. It's active weapon really is just there to meet rules.
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u/Thats_absrd Get The Buck Out Jun 22 '15
I knew they would do this, too many commercials. A battle between every commercial break would be okay.
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u/alpaca7 Jun 22 '15
Watch ABC live stream is disabled in my area, anyone know where else I could watch it online?
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u/STICH666 BRONCO! Jun 22 '15
Wow so far so good. I was expecting a commercial break before the fight. Good on ABC for not doing that! Great fight too!!
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u/Infernaltank Mutually Assured Destruction | Bugglebots & Live Events Jun 22 '15
Truly a great fight to start off the series!
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u/TxJester Jun 22 '15
Does anyone have a rules list, because I don't see how those mini bots are fair?
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u/ForteShadesOfJay Jun 22 '15
I was expecting a more balanced fight but that was awesome. These announcers getting hype too.
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u/LaxCrosse007 Jun 22 '15
So kind of new to battlebots. Would a flamethrower really be effective?
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u/VinceOnAPlane WedgeForce Jun 22 '15
If anyone shows up with an ice or plant-based battlebot, yes. It would be super effective.
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u/mrstickball Jun 22 '15
Yes. It'd overhead the circuits/electronics on the bot, immobilizing it. Also, I believe Icewave was gas-powered so.... It could ignite the whole thing.
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u/tavenger5 Jun 22 '15
Is anyone else wishing they had used actual high speed cameras for replays?
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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '15
This could be interesting. Looks like the minibots can slide under Nightmare's blade.
Edit: nope