This is Fighting Robots

This is Fighting Robots title card

***This is Fighting Robots*** (Chinese: ***这！就是铁甲***, romanized as **Zhè! Jiùshì tiějiǎ**, literally translating to ***This! Iron Armor*** or ***This is Iron Armor***) was a Chinese robot combat-based game show which was first aired in spring 2018. It was produced by TheMakers, the producers of *King of Bots*, as a separately-commissioned show for the video hosting service Youku.

The 10-episode series featured many returning competitors from the first season of *King of Bots*, along with the introduction of a celebrity-led team format with a variety of different combat stages.

In October 2019, the *King of Bots* Facebook page confirmed that a 'new round of soliciation' had started for a potential second season of *This is Fighting Robots*, encouraging submissions for new robot designs. A deadline of November 25 was issued for potential participants to submit their design drawings, though ultimately a second season never materialized.

A subtitled English-language version of *This is Fighting Robots* premiered on streaming service Mech+ on November 25 2022. This marks the show's first international release since its initial Youku airings, complementing UK and Dutch versions of the equivalent *Robot Wars* also available on the service.

## Concept

Much like *King of Bots*, competitor robots built by amateur builders and engineers fight each other in combat. While attempting to win battles, robots must also dodge the hazards of the arena. Although *King of Bots* used a straight knockout format, *This is Fighting Robots* puts a greater emphasis on the reality side of the competition.

Competing robots are required to weigh between 90kg and 110kg, and be equipped with an active weapon powerful enough to damage or immobilize opponents in various ways. Eligible weapons include high-powered spinners, flippers, axes, crushers, retracting spikes and flame weapons. Robots featuring multiple parts - including 'multibots' and drones - are also able to compete, as long as the combined weight of all parts remains within the maximum weight limit.

*This is Fighting Robots* involved four teams of robots lead by celebrities, all of whom would participate as **managers**. Each manager would initially choose which team to lead (identifiable by color-coded **badges**) and ten robots for their respective sides, the latter through a mix of manual selection and watching them fight in real time. The chosen robots would then compete on behalf of their allocated manager, with the competition format featuring multiple stages including points-scoring rounds, head-to-heads, melees (**Rumbles**) and a culminative knockout tournament between the 'Top 8' finishers. Three battles also involved the celebrity managers driving one of their own team's machines in head-to-head and melee environments.

## Episodes

*Main article: This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)*
## Presenters and Backstory

A major difference between *This is Fighting Robots* and *King of Bots* Season 1 was the deemphasis on a regular presenting team. Instead, the show included a fictional backstory involving a sci-fi interpretation of Shanghai set in the year 3018. From that time period, a female AI android - **CH0329** - would send an "information transmission" to the past (in actuality, present-day Earth at the time the show was filmed), while "summoning" the aforementioned Chinese celebrities to take part in the competition as team managers. The managers themselves would also provide much of the show's focus, with a greater emphasis on airing 'reality show' elements including strategy decisions and informal rivalries between them.

The four celebrities featuring in *This is Fighting Robots* were:

* Zheng Shuang (actress), manager of the Green Team.
* Sa Beining (TV presenter), manager of the Yellow Team.
* Zhang Yishan (actor), manager of the Blue Team.
* Wu Chun (actor, singer and model), manager of the Red Team.

For the first episode, each manager would be required to assemble their own teams through a 'blind selection' process. The first phase saw them choose five robots on display in the pits based on appearance alone, with a time allowance of just 100 seconds (1 minute and 40 seconds) per session. Competing roboteers would also be given the same time allowance to persuade managers to select their robot, during another phase in which managers would be allowed to swap over up to two robots from their allocations.

Once the managers' initial allocations had been completed, a series of preliminary melees would take place between the 28 robots not selected, for the purpose of expanding and completing their rosters. During later stages of the competition, they would also formulate their own strategies with their individual robot teams, primarily to decide which machines to fight with in a specific stage against their opposition.

In place of a human host, CH0329 would directly inform and instruct the team managers on every stage of the competition, including the initial selection process and individual battle stages. CGI animations of CH0329's head would be displayed on a giant screen at the back of the pits complex, explaining the rules and elimination requirements of each stage. On occasions, stock footage or on-screen graphics would be used to provide similar explanations to viewers in tandem with CH0329's disembodied voice. Some sequences on returning competitors from *King of Bots* would also include footage from their corresponding appearances in Season 1.

Battles and Judges' decisions continued to be announced by human co-presenters, these being David and Wang Cong respectively. Live commentary was provided from within the main arena complex by Wang Tao and Xiao Cang.

## Judges

*This is Fighting Robots* had two main judges with two additional judges filling the third seat.

* Peter, Famous MMA Referee
* Forrest Yeh, Builder and driver of Spin Doctor, Ragin Scotsman, and Free Shipping.

Judging Criteria was based on 11 points distributed among the robots in each match

* Attack Intent (# of Times, active attack, effective & bold damage) [5 points]
* Damage Effect (Massive, obvious and effective damage, functional, defensive and surface damage) [3 points]
* Control Ability (Attack & oppress opponents, arena weapons, action strategy, the ability to continue the battle when damaged) [3 points]
* Points may also be deducted according to referee's gesture (rule violations)

## Differences between versions

While preserving the show's original premise, format and editing style, the subtitled Mech+ episodes feature noticeable differences in presentation over their original Youku counterparts. Alongside replacement music in certain segments - notably the substitution of Linkin Park's "In The End" in most robot introductions - fewer onscreen graphics and animated captions are used throughout. The bottom-left graphic for Chinese subtitles is also omitted in favor of the English subtitles provided by Mech+.

Short commercial segments in the Youku episodes - serving as promotional tie-ins for sponsors including Samsung and Sprite - are also cut in some instances from the Mech+ versions. An example of this is the opening to Episode 9, where the extended promotional segment for Sprite is omitted alongside the regular title sequence. The Mech+ version of Episode 3 also omits much of the 'start-up' manager selection process for the fourth Freestyle Combat battle, involving Megabyte, Saturn and Golden Hoops. These changes result in the Mech+ episodes consistently featuring shorter runtimes.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/KOBCHINA/posts/638950073300955
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1590343462074822657
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX0-Iezglck
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%99%EF%BC%81%E5%B0%B1%E6%98%AF%E9%93%81%E7%94%B2
5. ↑ Also referred to as **Wu Zun** in Mech+ English translations.
6. ↑ https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%AB/10343609
7. ↑ https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B1%AA%E8%81%AA/9383099

## External Links

* *This is Fighting Robots* on Mech+ (English subtitles)