BattleBots

Oh, no, not the Minibots!

Oh! You leave those little bots alone!

Pick on somebody your own size, you creep!

You bully!

On nearly every single episode of BattleBots, a Minibot is abused.

Oh, the humanity!

Last year alone, over 13 Minibots were rescued from the Box.

Hi, I'm BattleBots judge, Lisa Winter,

will you be an angel for a helpless Minibot?

Everyday these little guys are beaten and neglected, and they need your help.

Call the number on your screen right now.

For just pennies a day, you can help save these Minibots from harm's way.

Call in the next 30 minutes, and you'll receive a picture of the bot you've adopted.

One who's been given a second chance thanks to you.

Right now, a Minibot needs you.

Your call says, "I'm here to help."

- Oh, my gosh! - Poor cat!

Robots activate.

Welcome to BattleBots!

I am Chris Rose, joined by UFC legend

and robot combat analyst to the stars, Kenny Florian.

I am so ready for tonight, Chris.

We're here Box-side at our arena in beautiful Las Vegas

where in moments, the world's most savage robots will go head-to-head.

Who will rise to the occasion, and who wlll fall in the stands?

Well, I guess there's really only one way to find out, isn't there?

Let's take a look at tonight's fight card.

The stakes are high

as we dive into week four of the qualifiers.

We've got a mix of teams

kicking off their World Championship campaigns,

as well as a handful of squads

stepping into the Box for their second of four fights.

That includes the UK's crippling crusher bot, Quantum.

Fresh off the very American feast of Captain Shrederator.

Things might get toasty in its matchup with the fearsome flamethrower of Gruff.

We've got three rookie bots making their BattleBots debuts:

Starchild, Horizon and SHREDDIT BRO!

All looking to prove they belong in this elite field of 50 robots.

And tonight's main event features a pair of icons

- already backed into a corner with 0-1 records. -

HyperShock and Whiplash collide in a critical match for both teams.

That's right. Will Bales had to literally cut a hole in HyperShock

to remove Jamison Go's hammer saw from its gut.

And Matt Vasquez had to completely strip down Whiplash

after getting dismantled by MaDCatTer.

Both teams are desperate for a win and will do whatever it takes

to avoid falling to 0-2.

But, we're kicking things off with some international warfare.

The vicious vertical from across the pond, Monsoon,

makes its long-awaited return to the BattleBots.

It's gotta dance with the burner from below the equator,

Black Dragon, who's saying, "You want samba this? Come get it!"

Let's see what happens. Faruq?

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?

It's robot fighting time!

In the red square,

this bot comes from the land just south of the equator.

It's almost as hot, as when he leaves you in a smoldering crater.

There's no beating the heat breathed by this mean Brazilian.

You couldn't stop the burn, with a whole bottle of SPF a billion.

- It's Black Dragon! -

Yeah! Whoo!

The Brazilians and Black Dragon out of the tunnel

for the first time this season and there's a good look at the new captain,

Julio Cortez, there on the right.

Kenny, he has inherited one of the toughest bots in the sport's history.

Yeah, hasn't been knocked out in 21 career matches.

Just nutty durability.

We've seen this bot engulfed in flames

for over two minutes and still win.

That toughness will keep them in this fight.

And their 40 lb.. drum can end it in a hurry.

In the blue square, this bot comes from the UK,

but it's entire foreign policy is to use its vertical blade

to leave Americans lying horizontally.

It's invaded the States and has its residents running, yelling to their neighbors,

"The British are coming! The British are coming!"

- Give it up for Monsoon! -

And for the first time since World Championship IV,

Monsoon is out of the tunnel.

Co-captains Tom Brewster and Tim Rackley the, uh,

Viking-looking fellow there at the helm.

This British basher is here to kick butt and drink tea.

And Kenny, they're all out of Earl Grey.

Yeah, Monsoon is a powerhouse.

A career record of 6-5, but this is a full redesign.

They call that 42 lb.. massive bar spinner, "The Brawler."

That gives them a big reach advantage over a very compact Black Dragon.

For this fight against Monsoon,

don't get weapon with weapon

because Monsoon's weapons is bigger than ours.

We will win in driving, so come on, Monsoon.

Let's go to fight.

Black Dragon is a fearsome robot,

um, they're not to be taken lightly.

We've got a setup just for them

that we're using in this fight.

Yeah, we've got a gigantic blade. It's got a lot of reach.

And our plan is to use that to our advantage

so we're going to use quite short forks.

So that we can remain planted to the ground.

And as long as I can keep squared up to them at all times

because of the weapon reach, we should be able to hit them before they hit us.

And we're aware that they've never been knocked out,

- but that's about to change. -

- Okay? - Okay, boys, we ready?

Yeah! Let's go, Brazil!

- Robots activate. -

Kenny, three straight seasons with three different captains for Black Dragon.

Yeah, this is a university-sponsored team

so when someone graduates, it's next man up.

But Julio has been a part of this group for years.

And I love seeing the return of driver Gabriel Bertozzi.

Very aggressive, wants to grind Monsoon into a pulp.

Once upon a time, Monsoon took down SawBlaze

to advance to the top eight of the World Championship tournament.

Tom says people have forgotten just how good this bot can be.

Well, if this team can deliver Black Dragon its first career knockout,

trust me, they'll have everyone's attention.

We've got this!

Red team, ready?

- Yeah! -

- Boo, nah, terrible. - Blue team, ready?

- - Yes! We're back!

- Come on! - Let's break 'em.

Come on, Tom. You've got this. You've so got this.

Oh, it's so good to be back!

Oh, boy.

[audience chanting indistinctly]

Let the bot battle begin!

- Both weapons up to full speed. -

Oh! Nice shot by Black Dragon out of the gate!

- Weapon on weapon and Brazil wins that exchange. -

Monsoon shakes it off and Black Dragon is having some drive issues.

- And either they shut down their weapon... -

- ...or it shut down on its own. - Oh!

- Monsoon just clipped off one of the forks on Black Dragon. - Yeah.

- - Oh!

- Huge shot! - Big time shot by Monsoon.

Full speed! Full speed!

Monsoon is smothering Black Dragon, Chris.

- - Oh! Sideline it across!

- - Monsoon looking fantastic right now.

That's a nice shot though by Black Dragon.

And it looks like the Brazilians may have been modulating their weapon.

They are known for that. It's back up and spinning, Chris.

Monsoon's weapon is not.

Black Dragons, you can hear that egg beater drum humming.

Still having some drive issues though, Chris.

- Monsoon's still speeding... -

- - Great shot there by Black Dragon.

Yeah, kind of a miscalculation there by Monsoon.

Still kinda punch drunk out there.

Kenny, there's no question that Monsoon has now lost its weapon.

Real issue with still more than half the fight to go.

Yup, it's not how you start, it's how you finish,

and right now Black Dragon in a good position to steal this fight.

- Monsoon trying to stay close to Black Dragon. -

Maybe prevent that weapon from spinning up.

But here come the Brazilians with some space.

Can they deliver the weapon yet again?

- -

- Oh! - Uh-oh! Black Dragon puts monsoon on its head!

- Monsoon in big trouble here, Chris. -

Yeah, big time trouble, Kenny.

The Brits do not have a self-righting mechanism

and without that active weapon they may be hung out to dry.

- Hit us again! Come on! Do it! - Flip it!

Team Monsoon's trying to beg the Brazilians into one more big hit.

There's the countdown.

- Ten! Eleven! Twelve! - Monsoon back at BattleBots,

and they're on the wrong side of a KO.

- -

Let's go, Brazil! Let's go!

The unclimbable, unbreakable, unkillable, Black Dragon.

Well, Kenny, the Brazilians welcomed back the Brits with a stiff jab,

but it was Monsoon dishing out the pain in the early going.

Absolutely. Both bots sort of working out the kinks in this first match

but Monsoon looked dominant to start, tossing Black Dragon all over the BattleBox.

The Brazilians though just won't die.

There's a great shot right there by Black Dragon,

sending Monsoon high up into the air.

Once Monsoon's weapon went down, it was all Black Dragon.

They seem to always find a way.

Monsoon caught on its head without a self-righter,

and that will do it.

- Julio! - Hey, guys.

- Yeah! - Yes!

Hey, Julio. Hey, hey, hey, congratulations!

- Hello! -

- Yeah! - Hey, Julio, the first 45 seconds or so of that fight

you guys were taking some serious shots right to the face.

Where did this turn, in your opinion?

So we tried to get Monsoon,

uh, uh, before their Monsoon weapons, spinners.

So we get to make some kind of box rush on them.

And I think it's not good work, uh, like we, we thought.

But the fight is there and we won!

So thank you, guys. Thank you.