King of Bots (Season 1)/Episode 8

Season 1 title card

**Episode 8 of *King of Bots* Season 1** originally aired on March 5 2018. It concluded the main competition of Season 1, featuring both Semi-Final rounds, a Grand Final to determine the inaugural *King of Bots* champion, and a third-place playoff between each of the semi-final losers. A nine-robot rumble was also televised as part of this episode.

A subtitled English version of Episode 8 was added to the Mech+ service on December 8 2023.

## Competing robots

* Chiyung Jinlun
* Megabyte
* Spectre
* Thunder and Lightning
* *NOTE 1: Through the Rumble battle, this episode also included Blue, Crossfire, Dark Knight, Griffin, Ink Thorns, Nuclear Bomb, Steel Dragon, The Grubs and Violent Dragon.*

## Championship Battles

### Chiyung Jinlun vs Megabyte

In a rematch of their earlier encounter from the second round, Chiyung Jinlun immediately maneuvered around and towards Megabyte, itself avoiding the Chinese machine’s charges to get its shell up to full speed. After several seconds, Megabyte clipped the wedge of Chiyung Jinlun, which suddenly stopped in the center of the arena, and continued maneuvring around the latter before slamming into it head-on. Both robots were sent spinning away by the collision, with Megabyte proceeding to hit Chiyung Jinlun a second time – however, while the impact broke the drive chain for Chiyung Jinlun’s drum, it also caused Megabyte to recoil into the wall and lose its self-righting pole. Despite being rendered weaponless, Chiyung Jinlun continued to drive into Megabyte, resulting in its wedge being buckled, then ripped open, and the Chinese machine to be left temporarily stunned near the wall. Another hit from Megabyte tore Chiyung Jinlun’s wedge off entirely – however, the same attack resulted in Megabyte being deflected into a grinder, resulting in the grinder launching the American shell spinner across the arena and into a stationary Chiyung Jinlun. It soon became apparent that Megabyte’s mobility had been impaired by this attack, allowing Chiyung Jinlun to drive into it a few more times, albeit not without sustaining damage to its drum mount.

After another head-on collision with Megabyte, Chiyung Jinlun retreated towards the wall spikes, it’s drum falling out completely in the process. With its wedge and weapon removed, and Megabyte struggling to drive forwards, Chiyung Jinlun turned round and tentatively reversed into Megabyte, sustaining a gash to its rear armor panel as it reversed into its opponent’s spinner. The two competitors briefly dodged each other, before Chiyung Jinlun reversed into Megabyte again, sustaining more damage to its rear and having its left-hand side panel torn clean off as a result. However, this impact was enough to immobilize Megabyte – bewildered, the Robotic Death Company attempted to regain control of Megabyte as its shell spinner continued rotating, but were unable to do so before their machine was counted out. After the battle, John Mladenick of the Robotic Death Company praised the Xiake team for their performance, and was left impressed by Chiyung Jinlun’s durability.

**Ling Zhou**: "*Hey guys! Good to see you again! So, why do you think you lost today?*"
**John Mladenick**: "*‘Cos we fought a very tough robot… and I don’t remember ever losing a fight where we knocked the wedge off, we knocked the weapon off, and the guy’s still moving. It’s incredible! I’d like – I’m gonna go see what he did to take all those hits, because these hits were bigger than all the other fights!*"
— Ling Zhou interviews John Mladenik following Megabyte’s second loss to Chiyung Jinlun

Winner: **Chiyung Jinlun**

### Spectre vs Thunder and Lightning

"*We’re coming to crush you both!*"
— James Cooper’s message to Thunder and Lightning

Straight away, the two-toothed Spectre charged into Lightning, pursuing the blue machine across the arena while Thunder proceeded to give chase itself. With its team realizing that the multibots had swapped drivers, Spectre drove into and pushed Thunder around in circles, before scooping up, clamping and ramming it into the wall – however, Thunder’s disc tore the teeth of Spectre’s crusher off, reducing the crusher’s effectiveness. Lightning, meanwhile, had retreated towards another wall, but was left unable to drive properly as Spectre pushed Thunder into its own spinner. Spectre let go of Thunder and reversed, leaving the Chinese multibots to slowly negotiate towards the red square. Lightning proceeded to slam head-on into Spectre, its disc momentarily throwing the British machine off the floor. However, Spectre landed on all four wheels, chasing Lightning across the arena again before grabbling and slamming Thunder into the wall spikes once more. The impact dislodged Thunder’s left wheel, immobilizing it on one side.

With this, Spectre concentrated on attacking Lightning – grabbing the blue multibot, it proceeded to drive Lightning into the grinders and past the saws, occasionally throwing it off-balance and causing enough internal damage to leave it spinning around in circles. Thunder, still attempting to maneuver across the arena on one wheel, met Spectre once more – Spectre clamped and pushed it into the nearby grinder, which threw Thunder over and left it completely immobilized. Despite momentarily getting jostled by the grinder itself, Spectre drove slowly away from Thunder and Lightning, and raised its srimech several times as both multibots were counted out.

Winner: **Spectre**

### Megabyte vs Thunder and Lightning

Prior to this battle, Lightning underwent a comprehensive rebuild, sporting a gray color scheme, a shallow front wedge in place of its disc and its side and rear armor completely replaced with tubular columns. Meanwhile, Megabyte’s shell was exchanged for one featuring cut-outs and polycarbonate top panels, with John Mladenik and his teammates initially unaware of the modifications carried out to Thunder and Lightning.

In the opening seconds, the heavily-modified Lightning drove into and scooped Megabyte up with its wedge, the momentum in its attack causing Megabyte to skitter into the wall. Sparks flew as the American robot’s cutters hit the wall, causing Megabyte itself to rebound across the arena towards Thunder. Thunder hesitated as Megabyte got its shell up to full speed again, before ripping its left wheel and motor out with a powerful side-on attack. Megabyte proceeded to hit Lightning a few times, with each hit launching and sending the latter spinning across the arena. It then hit Thunder again, sending it spinning into the grinder. By this point, Lightning began encountering control issues which again prevented it from driving in a straight line – Megabyte capitalized on this by weaving around, then hitting the left-hand side of Lightning one last time. The impact threw Lightning into the center grinder mount, immobilizing and causing it to catch fire within seconds. With the motors and wires for its left wheel hanging out of the robot, Thunder weaved itself across the arena in an attempt to show signs of mobility, but this was not enough to prevent Thunder and Lightning from being counted out as a whole. Defeated, Thunder reversed and stopped alongside the burning Lightning as Megabyte sat nearby; the father-and-son team of Thunder and Lightning were left disconsolate about their loss in post-battle interviews, but were soon congratulated and praised by John Mladenik of the Robotic Death Company.

Winner: **Megabyte**

### Spectre vs Chiyung Jinlun

For this battle, Spectre received a new set of wheels and the single tooth for its crusher, itself attached with larger bolts to prevent it from being sheared off as easily as in previous battles. Meanwhile, Chiyung Jinlun’s drum was thoroughly repaired, while the robot itself abandoned its side panels and adopted a pair of static front forks with the intention of exploiting Spectre’s ground clearance.

"*So we've both done an excellent job to get to the final, and you should be proud of yourself. Whatever happens in the final - good luck, and we hope to see you there!*"
— Grant Cooper's message to Chiyung Jinlun and the Xiake team

In the opening seconds, Spectre charged towards Chiyung Jinlun, but Chiyung Jinlun dodged, turning round and pushing Spectre into the wall spikes in response. The Chinese machine continued to push Spectre across and away from the spikes before both competitors separated, with Spectre attempting to grab Chiyung Jinlun by the wheels, but without success. Spectre proceeded to pursue Chiyung Jinlun across the arena, before pushing it into the wall spikes. It caught up with an escaping Chiyung Jinlun to pierce through the latter’s top panel, all while simultaneously ramming it into the spikes a second time. With its tooth firmly embedded in Chiyung Jinlun, Spectre proceeded to ram it into the grinders and walls several times, causing damage to Chiyung Jinlun’s left-hand side. After briefly letting go, it pierced several more holes through Chiyung Jinlun’s top panel, one of which was sufficient to puncture one of its opponent’s batteries.

As a result, Chiyung Jinlun began smoking as Spectre lifted, dropped, grabbed and rammed it into the wall once again. Within seconds, the smoke thickened, before Chiyung Jinlun caught fire as Spectre momentarily drove it back and forth alongside the wall. Spectre released its grip, bumping into a burning Chiyung Jinlun as the latter escaped, before lifting itself onto two wheels as it tried to grab Chiyung Jinlun once more. However, it was unable to do so, and proceeded to pursue Chiyung Jinlun across the arena again. Eventually, Spectre pushed Chiyung Jinlun into the wall spikes behind the blue square, resulting in Chiyung Jinlun getting stuck on the spikes themselves. Attempting to reverse away, but unable to gain any traction on the arena floor, Chiyung Jinlun was counted out, and Spectre emerged as the inaugural *King of Bots* champion. The Xiake team were left disheartened about their loss, but earned praise and support from the panellists and Team Spectre – Grant Cooper was left particularly impressed by Chiyung Jinlun’s performance in this battle and throughout its entire run.

Winner: **Spectre**

## Rumble

### Blue vs Crossfire vs Dark Knight vs Griffin vs Ink Thorns vs Nuclear Bomb vs Steel Dragon vs The Grubs vs Violent Dragon

Before the battle began, Violent Dragon drove out of its starting position towards The Grubs, to the amusement of the panellists. All robots started tentatively, with Blue approaching and hitting Ink Thorns twice with its axe. Griffin briefly pursued and tried to grab Blue, but separated, with Blue’s axe subsequently hitting the bar spinner of a gyrating Crossfire and causing damage to one of the Scottish machine’s ‘legs’. Spinning madly in the center of the arena, Crossfire ejected one of its own castor wheels, before being pushed across the arena by Griffin, itself coming under attack from Steel Dragon. At the same time, Dark Knight pushed Violent Dragon into Chop (the orange part of The Grubs), causing Violent Dragon to topple onto its side and have its head detached, while Blue missed another axe blow on Ink Thorns. Griffin then pushed Crossfire across the arena a second time – the Scottish machine incurring an axe blow from Blue in the process – while Chop momentarily balanced on its side due to the gyroscopic forces of its bar spinner. Dark Knight and Steel Dragon proceeded to cause more damage to Violent Dragon’s head, the former subsequently threw Griffin onto its side with a powerful head-on charge before pushing Crossfire into the wall.

Meanwhile, Blue attempted to axe Nuclear Bomb several times, but threw itself onto the latter’s top panel with its first strike, allowing Steel Dragon to attack its side as it was eventually knocked off. Blue proceeded to drive into and axed at Ink Thorns and Crossfire while the two machines were pushed by Dark Knight; one hit caused the electronics for Crossfire’s spinner to short out. Seconds later, Dark Knight was lifted by the floor rods, before pushing and dragging the now-immobile Ink Thorns across the arena. At the same time, Chop attempted to attack Crossfire – itself suffering from a broken leg – but was collected by Dark Knight and sent gyrating uncontrollably into the wall. With its weapon motor smoking, Blue drove head-on into Steel Dragon a few times, sparks flying as the Chinese machine’s balls and chains hit its wedge. Despite driving over the flame jets and catching fire, Blue continued to pursue Steel Dragon, pushing Violent Dragon and Crossfire aside – eventually, it was pinned against Crossfire by Nuclear Bomb as Dark Knight approached.

A few moments later, Dark Knight got underneath Steel Dragon and dragged it back, inadvertently reversing itself into one of the circular saws as it did so. In turn, Steel Dragon was also carried over by the saws, then Blue and Dark Knight again as the five remaining robots gathered round. The saws caused Blue to get wedged on a piece of Violent Dragon’s head – Steel Dragon capitalized on the American machine’s predicament by hitting its front wedge and side again. The hits were enough for Blue to begin spinning in circles as it tried to break free; meanwhile, Dark Knight pushed Steel Dragon around the arena perimeter. After initially pushing Crossfire around at the same time, Nuclear Bomb broke free to push Blue sideways into the now-immobile Chop, shortly before Blue began firing its axe again and shook itself off Violent Dragon’s debris. While this occurred, Steel Dragon broke free from Dark Knight and spun its chain flails up again, striking Blue once more as the American machine drove in axe-first.

As before, Dark Knight pushed Steel Dragon into Blue, but suddenly struggled for mobility as it drove alongside the overturned Griffin and Violent Dragon. This allowed Steel Dragon to escape and land another blow on Blue’s axe – seconds later, Dark Knight reversed itself onto one of the floor flippers, which threw the black and gold machine upside down onto Griffin’s wing. With its wheels suspended off the floor as a result, Dark Knight was eliminated. Nuclear Bomb, Steel Dragon and Blue were all lifted simultaneously by the floor rods, with the former slipping off and driving away. However, the floor rods were not retracted to let Steel Dragon and Blue escape; instead, both were eliminated together, leaving Nuclear Bomb victorious. After the battle, Sam Watts of The Grubs presented the captain of the Nuclear Bomb team with part of Violent Dragon’s head, as an unofficial trophy.

Winner: **Nuclear Bomb**

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1731688467195720039