King of Bots (Season 1)/Episode 2

Season 1 title card

**Episode 2 of *King of Bots* Season 1** originally aired on January 15 2018. It continued the first round of the competition, featuring eight head-to-head battles between robots making their televised debuts.

A subtitled English version of Episode 2 was introduced by Mech+ on November 3 2023, alongside similar translations of Episodes 1 and 3.

## Competing robots

* Blazing Hot Wheels
* Burning Twin Star
* Chinese Aegis
* Dark Knight
* Deep-Sea Shark
* Great White
* Hurricane
* Ninja General
* Rust Boar
* Steel God of War
* Spin Doctor
* Tánshè
* Thunder and Lightning
* Thunderstorm
* Two BBQ
* Unlimited Numbers

## Battles (Round 1)

### Steel God of War vs Thunder and Lightning

Initially, neither Thunder nor Lightning moved from their starting positions, and one of Steel God of War's wedges ran straight into the disc of Lightning (blue), and was thrown over. Steel God of War's "boss" drum spinner approached Thunder (red), only to be flicked upwards and have its feeder wedge buckled by the latter. This, in turn, disabled the "boss" robot's own spinner, while Lightning focused on one of the Steel God of War wedges. However, Thunder failed to escape, and a wedge drove under its back end to drive it towards a Grinder, where Thunder was held briefly. When freed, Thunder was also suspended by the Floor Rods briefly.

Lightning was also damaged by the arena saws, but managed to launch a brutal attack on a Steel God of War wedge, throwing it high into the air and over, before grinding at its wedge. Lightning was then able to push both static wedges at once, driving them both towards the Grinder, but Lightning instead drove straight into it, and was knocked away in recoil. Lightning attempted to gyro-dance using the power of its spinner in order to self-right, but was stopped by its wedges, as it wobbled onto a floor flipper, and would not be righted until it danced into the Grinder, sustaining damage in the process. Lightning struggled to drive away, and turned itself back over again, before Steel God of War pushed it straight back into the Grinder.

It had become evident that Lightning had lost the use of one wheel, but Thunder recovered by throwing a wedge of Steel God of War over, also chasing the main body of the machine across the arena. Thunder was pushed from behind by Steel God of War, and used gyroscopic procession to turn itself over, and it was pinned against the wall while Lightning was also pushed back into the Grinder before time expired on a very close match.

In their evaluation of the fight, the Judges commented on the effectiveness of Steel God of War's wedge-shaped clusterbots, along with the aggressiveness shown by both competitors. Thunder and Lightning's disc attacks were also praised, though Thunder's driver, Liu Yuan, believed that Steel God of War's more frequent use of the arena hazards would earn it victory. A 2-1 split decision was cast, putting Thunder and Lightning through to the next round with the backing of Ian Lewis and Zhao Ziyang. Lewis and Ziyang cited the perseverance and teamwork of the Polar Opposite clusters as the most decisive factor.

**Ian Lewis**: "*Damage for 'blue' was very good. It was very strong.*"
**Zhao Ziyang**: "*So for the control, I think for the whole fight, 'blue' controlled the two bots, kept fighting, working with each other, but I don't think the 'three-one' [Steel God of War] worked very... teammates. So control, I think 'blue' is better.*"
— The Judges praise the teamwork of Thunder and Lightning

Winner: **Thunder and Lightning**

### Great White vs Spin Doctor

"*Spin Doctor is a really really fierce opponent. I think it probably would've been the favorite to win the competition.*"
— Steven Martin

As the two vertical spinners converged, it was Great White's flywheel that landed the heavier hit than Spin Doctor's drum, sending the American robot flying into the side spikes and dislodging the plexiglass panel protecting its side. As Spin Doctor moved away, Remora drove into the side and sheared away the rest of the panel, but the impact sent the featherweight hurtling into the side spikes and flying out of range. Remora tried to recover while Great White landed more powerful blows on Spin Doctor, delivering hard knocks to the drum, chassis and wedge but not causing lasting damage. Great White, rather, was showing signs of wear, as its flywheel began to slow down. With its opponent less dangerous, Spin Doctor charged in and set off its flamethrower, concealing both in a blaze of fire.

Within the inferno, Spin Doctor's drum began to chew up Great White's armor, bending the side panels out of shape. Eventually, Great White was able to escape by driving over Spin Doctor. Spin Doctor took the lead, snapping off the side panels for the flywheel and pressuring Great White into the side walls where it was overturned by the drum. However, the side drums on the arena also caught Spin Doctor and overturned it, with Remora pressuring the American robot to alleviate the pressure on its partner robot. Both Spin Doctor and Great White self-righted, but Remora became stuck on its disc and was carried right into the side wall, where it was hurled away in explosive fashion, after which point it would not move. It became clear that Spin Doctor's flamethrower was not working, but it kept the pressure up on Great White, who dealt another powerful hit but was overturned. The two battled on even footing, trading blows, but in the last thirty seconds of the match, Great White got a slam on the side of Spin Doctor that dislodged the drum and bent the wheels out of alignment. Left immobilized, Spin Doctor was counted out and Great White progressed by knockout.

"*I think his robot worked really well, and had the battle going for as long as it did with all the massive hits was amazing, so credit to the robot for being as good as it is. But fortunately, we just came out on top, and I think it could've gone either way.*"
— Steven Martin

Winner: **Great White**

### Dark Knight vs Tánshè

**Gabriel Stroud**: "*What do we want to say the most when we face our opponent in the arena, John?*"
**John Reid**: "*Best of luck!*"
— The team lay down the gauntlet

Tánshè exited its square rapidly and drove straight under Dark Knight to reach its back end. Tánshè then manoeuvred Dark Knight into the spikes on the wall. Tánshè drove under the drum of Dark Knight, and sparks were thrown as the wedge made contact with the spinner, but Tánshè flipped Dark Knight back into the spikes. Dark Knight meandered in the center of the arena, so Tánshè circled around and then rammed into the side of it. It was evident that Tánshè had the lower ground clearance, as it breached the wedge of Dark Knight, and later flipped it over, albeit not with a full-pressure flip. Dark Knight landed on Tánshè and made contact with its drum, as Tánshè pushed it towards the spiked walls, sustaining damage. Tánshè flicked the Dark Knight up, but not over. Finally, Tánshè moved into a position where it could launch Dark Knight into the arena wall with a full-pressure flip. As Dark Knight was stuck on the rail, unable to break free, Tánshè drove around the arena in celebration, flipping itself over, until Dark Knight was counted out, awarding Tánshè the win.

**Gabriel Stroud**: "*That was our first fight together, how are you feeling, brother?*"
**John Reid**: "*Very happy. Must get that first win. Once you've got that first win, you can settle down into it. Gives you a lot of confidence. So we propose that we get to the final, we become the very first champion of King of Bots.*"
— Team Legion aim for overall victory

Winner: **Tánshè**

### Hurricane vs Deep-Sea Shark

In the opening seconds, Deep-Sea Shark drove straight into Hurricane, with the two competitors proceeding to exchange several blows with their spinning weapons. One of these collisions resulted in Hurricane ripping off one of Deep-Sea Shark's drum mounts, causing the latter's drum to hit the floor as it drove into Hurricane again. This stopped both of their weapons from spinning up, but Deep-Sea Shark pushed Hurricane away from the red square, before both robots separated.

Deep-Sea Shark continued ramming and pushing Hurricane around the arena, all while surviving more hits from its opponent's spinner. The former was pushed into the wall spikes by Hurricane, but reversed away as Hurricane momentarily pinned itself under them. The two competitors continued pushing and dodging each other until time ran out, with the battle going to a Judges' decision. Despite the damage inflicted by Hurricane, the Judges ruled 2-1 in favor of Deep-Sea Shark. Zhao Ziyang explained that, as Deep-Sea Shark persisted in chasing and pushing Hurricane after its drum had been damaged, it had demonstrated more control throughout the battle.

Winner: **Deep-Sea Shark**

### Blazing Hot Wheels vs Ninja General

Immediately the cluster splits into three, with the red and blue cluster coming in from both sides slamming into Blazing Hot Wheels, only to barged out of the way. As the clusterbots back away and getting ready another attack, Blazing Hot Wheels steered towards the arena grinders, turning and completely removing one of its own cutting discs. Hot Wheel drove into the other grinder where it is damaged internally. Ninja General avoided contact with Blazing Hot Wheels as it drove slowly in circles and on top of the arena saw blades, sending a shower of sparks as it impacts.

The blue cluster becomes wedged on the front spikes of Blazing Hot Wheels, and is slowly driven into the side wall spikes. The red cluster smacks itself at the back of Blazing Hot Wheels, trying to free the blue cluster. Blazing Hot Wheels uses its arm to scrap the top of the blue cluster of Ninja General, creating sparks, but failing to make must of an impact as Ninja General ran away. Blazing Hot Wheels reverses slowly onto a flame jet, and circular saw once more as Ninja General rams into it from all sides, with the blue cluster being caught on the back spikes once more.

As time ran out, the battle went to a Judges' decision, with Ninja General being unanimously declared the winner. Zhao Ziyang subsequently explained that the Oji Technical High School entry had shown 'a very obvious intention to attack' throughout, backed up by aggressive tactics and its success in controlling Blazing Hot Wheels into the hazards.

Winner: **Ninja General**

### Burning Twin Star vs Thunderstorm

Prior to the battle, Thunderstorm’s team captain failed to check the robot’s bar spinner before entering the arena - as a result, Thunderstorm fought with its weapon disabled. The weaponless Thunderstorm approached and bumped into the black part of Burning Twin Star, before pushing the white part into one of the grinders. The black part of Burning Twin Star attempted to attack Thunderstorm, only for Thunderstorm to get underneath, turn and ram it into the grinder mount. The impact immobilized the black part of Burning Twin Star, which Thunderstorm pushed into the grinder before it and the white part rammed each other. Sparks flew from the white part’s drum, but Thunderstorm kept pushing it into the spikes, grinders and circular saws until time ran out – the white part of Burning Twin Star had also been flipped over prior to Thunderstorm’s final attack. The battle went to a Judges’ decision, which ruled in favor of Thunderstorm.

Winner: **Thunderstorm**

### Rust Boar vs Unlimited Numbers

Unlimited Numbers drove straight out of the starting square in an attempt to negate the drum spinner of Rust Boar, but the immediate contact with the drum caused Unlimited Numbers to be knocked upwards, and a chain powering its weaponry fell loose, leaving Unlimited Numbers without a form of attack. It briefly destabilized Rust Boar with a slam, but sustained a direct blow to the side of the machine. Rust Boar drove under Unlimited Numbers using its drum, but Unlimited Numbers pushed it into a corner where the hammer was brought down on Rust Boar.

However, despite instigating this attack, Unlimited Numbers' poor turning circle meant that it struggled to leave that corner of the arena, and was struck by the hammer itself. This allowed Rust Boar to line up an attack which tossed Unlimited Numbers into the air, inflicting damage. Unlimited Numbers managed to escape slowly, but drove over the flame jets. It was at this stage that Unlimited Numbers had exposed its back end to Rust Boar, and the drum spinner ripped pieces away from Unlimited Numbers before barging it into an arena drum, which turned Unlimited Numbers over through a combination of both spinners. Unlimited Numbers was stranded on its back with no method of self-righting, and it was immediately counted out, awarding the win to Rust Boar.

Winner: **Rust Boar**

### Chinese Aegis vs Two BBQ

"*In front of it, I believe all opponents are like a piece of marinated pork belly. Barbecue in hand, I own the world!*"
— Song Peng, at the end of Two BBQ's VT (Mech+ subtitles)

Both robots hesitated in the opening seconds as they got their spinning weapons up to speed, before Two BBQ charged into a waiting Chinese Aegis. Sparks flew as Two BBQ shepherded Chinese Aegis towards the wall. A second hit launched Chinese Aegis into the spikes, ripping its shell apart and immobilizing it completely. Two BBQ drove towards and spun away from Chinese Aegis, but attacked no further as the latter was counted out. The black and orange machine gyro-danced and spun round in celebration as its victory was confirmed.

With only six seconds of combat being achieved before the count-out (within a total duration of 16 seconds), this stood as one of the shortest battles at this point in *King of Bots* history.

Immediately after the battle concluded, both teams were seen discussing and joking about its outcome. Song Peng and Wang Guozhe held each others' hands during the exchange, prompting questions from Ling Zhou about their collective outlook. Since both Two BBQ and Chinese Aegis originated from Jinzhou, Liaoning, Guozhe felt indifferent about the latter's fate, as the win still went to a Liaoning machine anyway. Additionally, it was explained that both teams had met and become good friends with each other prior to the season, sharing technical support and even common parts between the two robots.

"*Wang gave me a lot of guidance in technology. He has a lot of experience in mechanical processing, which I lack. In fact, I feel quite uneasy in my heart. Yeah, uneasy. Because we both have this intention to go further. Since we were opponents, there would be a winner between us. But I think the winning robot will continue to move with the will of the other robot.*"
— Song Peng, philosophically reflecting on Two BBQ's win and his collaboration with the Chinese Aegis team (Mech+ subtitles)

Winner: **Two BBQ**

## Trivia

* The battle between Steel God of War against Thunder Lightning saw five active robots in the arena, a record for the show until the later Tag Team/2v2 and Rumble battles.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1720452598799409409