King of Bots (Season 1)/Episode 4

Season 1 title card

**Episode 4 of *King of Bots* Season 1** originally aired on January 29 2018. It showed six fights from the second round of the knockout competition.

A subtitled English version of Episode 4 was added to Mech+ on November 10 2023, available exclusively on demand alongside the first three episodes.

## Competing robots

* Blade Gyro
* Blue
* Deep-Sea Shark
* Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield
* Rust Boar
* Saber
* Spectre
* Tánshè
* The Grubs
* Thunderstorm
* Two BBQ
* Whirlwind Cut

## Battles

### Spectre vs Whirlwind Cut

"*Definitely, with the big spinning top… once it’s up to speed, it’s very difficult for us to pierce it, so we have to get in on [Whirlwind Cut] very quickly.*"
— James Cooper explains the main challenge Spectre faces against Whirlwind Cut

Whirlwind Cut turned away in the opening seconds to try and get its weapon up to speed – however, Spectre immediately rammed, grabbed and pinned it against the wall spikes, before maneuvering it towards a nearby hammer. Despite breaking free, Whirlwind Cut was pushed fully under the hammer by Spectre, sustaining damage to its weapon frame as a result. Spectre let go, but soon grabbed Whirlwind Cut’s weapon again, allowing it to drag Whirlwind Cut over the flame jets and ram it into one of the grinders. During this attack however, Spectre’s right-front tire delaminated and sheared off; this had no effect on the robot’s traction, however, as it repeatedly bit Whirlwind Cut, slammed it into the grinders and walls and damaged its weapon frame. The Shiny team activated a smokescreen in Team Robo Challenge’s control area, briefly obscuring their vision; despite this, Spectre lifted Whirlwind Cut as its teeth sank through the latter’s top armor panel.

Momentarily letting go, Spectre clamped Whirlwind Cut and forcefully rammed it into the wall again; its next attack resulted in it gripping part of Whirlwind Cut’s spinner and lifting the entire robot off the floor. Spectre carried Whirlwind Cut towards and over one of the grinders, which made contact with Whirlwind Cut’s underside, tore its front wedge off and carried it over onto the upper wall. Whirlwind Cut fell into the gap between the grinder and its mount as a result, leaving it permanently wedged behind the hazard. With this, Spectre was immediately declared the winner, leaving judge Ian Lewis impressed with its final attack.

**Ling Zhou**: "*Wow guys, congratulation[s]! You guys delivered a smash-down! How do you feel right now?*"
**James Cooper**: "*It was incredible. I mean, we were a bit worried about that big spinner and we lost one of our front tires quite early on in the match. But Grant drove really well and we put loads of holes in [Whirlwind Cut], and in the end, the gnargalator got them.*"
— Team Robo Challenge speak to Ling Zhou in the post-battle interview

Winner: **Spectre**

### Deep-Sea Shark vs Tánshè

**Gabriel Stroud**: "*It's the Hammerhead Shark, is it John?*"
**John Reid**: "*Yes, a young team. They've been up all night before, all through the night, no sleep.*"
**Gabriel Stroud**: "*Well, I think we're confident!*"
— Team Legion on the Deep-Sea Shark team

Within the opening seconds of the battle, Deep-Sea Shark's team activated a smokescreen in front of Team Legion to obscure their vision, so the British team did the same, preventing both teams from seeing the battle. Regardless, Tánshè was able to drive under Deep-Sea Shark and flip it onto its drum, where it then toppled onto the spikes on the arena wall. After Tánshè had previously defeated Dark Knight in this manner, Team Legion held off while the smoke cleared, and expected to win the battle by knockout. Tánshè spun in circles in the center of the arena, celebrating a prompt 'victory', but despite the referee reaching 9 in his knockout count, Deep-Sea Shark escaped from the wall and attacked the spinning Tánshè.

"*We thought we'd won, so John was in the middle doing his thing, but then I saw them coming! I went, John, John, they're coming, they're coming!*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Panicking, Tánshè flipped itself over, and was forced to self-right. This allowed Deep-Sea Shark to hit the front of Tánshè directly, and tear away various pieces from it. Tánshè attempted to self-right, but it was too close to the wall, and landed on its back again, losing more parts. Tánshè self-righted, while Deep-Sea Shark knocked a loose gear of Tánshè's towards the wall in front of the commentators. Tánshè started to recover, and drove under Deep-Sea Shark to then flip it over. With a huge flip, Tánshè then launched Deep-Sea Shark into the bulletproof polycarbonate screen straight in front of the commentators, and again into the spiked wall.

Keeping up the pressure, Tánshè then flipped Deep-Sea Shark onto the top of the arena hammer, and sent it spiralling forwards with another flip. Tánshè tossed Deep-Sea Shark back into the spikes, although its next flip was noticeably weaker. Tánshè shepherded Deep-Sea Shark towards the corner of the arena, and attempted to lift it over the wall, but lacked the necessary power. It made another attempt, and this time flipped Deep-Sea Shark directly into the wall, but not over. In its retreat, Tánshè then drove over a floor flipper and was overturned. It self-righted, but expended gas in doing so, and then wasted more resources by flipping itself over, taking two attempts to self-right near the grinder.

Deep-Sea Shark's drum had slowed but it still pressed a loose piece of armor against Tánshè. Within the last thirty seconds, Tánshè started to rely on its pushing power, pressing Deep-Sea Shark against the spikes, although Gabriel Stroud advised that John Reid take Deep-Sea Shark to the corner of the arena. Tánshè only had enough CO2 on board for one last flip, but it used this well, and flipped Deep-Sea Shark over the wall in the corner, putting it out of the arena with barely twenty seconds left on the clock. The team celebrated their win, and progressed to the third round.

**Gabriel Stroud**: "*That was the best fight we've ever had, I think, in our entire lives!*"
**John Reid**: "*We had no gas left! We recovered a little bit, we had one hit-- one fire left? We got them to the corner, and-- boof!*"
— John Reid adapts his catchphrase "wait for a good hit" to his new flipper

Winner: **Tánshè**

### Two BBQ vs Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield

The smaller multibot of Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield started quicker than its partner, but Two BBQ targeted the larger flipper robot, and pushed it across the arena before ripping away the panel of its wedge within seven seconds, leaving it without a way to get under its opponent. After Two BBQ backed away, it came in with another slam to batter the flipper half of Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield into the air with a somersault, ripping open its back end. The robot was now emitting copious amounts of smoke, but amidst the camouflage, Two BBQ landed another shattering blow to toss it into the wall. Lacking a wheel and the ability to self-right, the majority of Mighty Crossbow and Steel Shield was counted out while the wedge multibot avoided the weapon of Two BBQ before the battle was ended, leaving the battered opponent to burn in an emotional finish for the Twin Flowers.

Winner: **Two BBQ**

### Blade Gyro vs Rust Boar

Both robots initially avoided each other as they got their spinning weapons up to speed; this was until Blade Gyro inadvertently drove towards one of the grinders and stopped, allowing Rust Boar to charge into its spinner and deflect it away. Seconds later, Rust Boar rammed into Blade Gyro again, momentarily lifting its opponent off the floor, and retreated towards the left-most grinders. Blade Gyro pursued and slammed into the drum of Rust Boar, knocking the latter back into one of the grinders and slowing it down considerably. Rust Boar attempted to evade a pursuing - and smoking - Blade Gyro, but was hit again by the latter, and left in the corner as it started to lose forward drive. However, Blade Gyro did not escape without causing damage to itself; not only had its spinner stopped working, but its bottom castor had also broken off.

Rust Boar spun around constantly as it was bumped a few more times by the now-weaponless Blade Gyro, both competitors dodging a nearby hammer at one point. With its left wheel clearly disabled, Rust Boar continued to dodge Blade Gyro and shuffle its way back onto the red square. In doing so, it deflected an approaching Blade Gyro into the spikes; seconds later, Blade Gyro reversed and spun into another set of spikes, getting its bar spinner pinned underneath them in the process. With its wheels lifted off the floor, Blade Gyro was left unable to drive away, and was soon counted out; Rust Boar celebrated its victory by getting its drum up to speed and gyro-dancing across the arena.

Winner: **Rust Boar**

### Blue vs Thunderstorm

Before the battle began, Bots FC fixed extra armor panels onto Blue's front wedge in order to deflect and withstand the impacts of Thunderstorm’s bar spinner. Meanwhile, Thunderstorm’s wedge was removed entirely, and its spinner was made operable for the first time during a spin-up test in the arena.

"*I know [Thunderstorm] has a tough weapon that didn’t work in the first fight. He has a really scary weapon. So to prepare for this, we put a lot more armor on the front, hopefully deflect their weapon a little better, because we know it’s a really powerful spinner.*"
— Adam Wrigley explains Bots FC’s strategy against Blue’s next opponent, Thunderstorm

In the opening seconds, Blue drove and steered into Thunderstorm as the latter turned round, knocking Thunderstorm back into the wall spikes and succeeding in causing one of its drive chains to break. Blue capitalized on Thunderstorm’s reduced mobility by pushing it along the wall spikes, axing its top-left panel and pinning it directly underneath a nearby hammer. Sparks flew as Thunderstorm’s spinner made contact with the descending hammer; in the process, Blue axed Thunderstorm’s left-front wheel, then its bar spinner, stopping the weapon from rotating. Momentarily stuck to its opponent, Blue dragged Thunderstorm back before retracting its axe, but missed an axe blow as it turned and pursued Thunderstorm again. As Thunderstorm shuffled across the arena and spun its weapon up, Blue drifted in circles around it numerous times, before strafing across the arena floor into Thunderstorm’s spinner once again.

Blue’s front armor withstood the collision, allowing it to push Thunderstorm into the wall spikes near the hammer. As it lined up for another attack, the hammer swung down; Thunderstorm's spinner clipped the hammer head and send debris flying, while Blue’s axe struck the hammer arm and momentarily lifted its front wheels off the floor. Blue broke free to axe Thunderstorm a few more times, at which point Thunderstorm was left unable to drive away from the wall spikes. Thunderstorm was counted out as a result, with Blue spinning around and swinging its axe again in celebration.

"*I’m really impressed that [Peng]’s able to come here alone. I’m really impressed that he’s able to do that, but I need my team – I can’t do it without my team.*"
— Adam Wrigley praises Peng Changqi following Blue’s knockout victory

Winner: **Blue**

### Saber vs The Grubs

"*I hope that Sam, with his wedge, will go underneath, and then we'll go and chop its wheels off!*"
— Ian Watts

While the bar spinners of The Grubs accelerated, the wedge-shaped Banger drove under the side of Saber and briefly trapped it, but Saber was able to escape before Mince and Chop could catch up. Mince waited too long atop the arena's circular saws, and Saber destabilized it, knocking it onto its own bar spinner, and this attack left Mince with limited mobility; Banger was also struggling for controlled movement. Saber also drove straight under Chop, and although the flipper weapon missed, Chop's weapon made contact with the floor and flung the whole robot into the air.

"*If you're still going, I'm still alive!*"
— Ian Watts to Sam Watts

Ann Gribble activated the smokescreen in front of the Excalibur team, but Saber still threw the hardly moving Mince into the Grinder, which fully immobilized it. Chop landed an attack but caused no damage, and Banger finally displayed movement again, but was nearly flipped over by Saber's drive. Saber then reversed over the wedge of Banger, and backed straight into Chop's spinner. Damaged, Chop fled, and erroneously hit its own partner in Banger, immobilizing it, and it was then tossed over by Saber.

"*I'm dead. You've killed me, Dad!*"
— Sam Watts is immobilized by Ian Watts' driving

Two of the three robots within The Grubs were now immobile, so the overall machine was counted out. Saber was declared the winner of the battle, and The Grubs was eliminated in the second round.

"*It was a good match. We hit him hard a couple of times, he hit us hard and broke one of our robots! He's a tough driver, it's a tough machine, he deserves to win! Well done!*"
— Ian Watts

Winner: **Saber**

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1720505029587525996