Bombshell

* WC IV
* WC III
* WC II

## Overview

**Bombshell** is a robot which competed in World Championships 2-4 of BattleBots reboot. It was dubbed a 'Swiss army bot' in Season 2 due to its massive assortment of interchangeable weaponry: a large axe, a set of lifting forks, a vertical disc set within a wedge and an articulated horizontal blade. Bombshell was also joined in the BattleBox by Short Fuse, a flying drone equipped with a flamethrower. In Season 3, Bombshell didn’t have the drone, and had much sleeker design, only sporting one weapon however - a vertical spinner.

Bombshell was created by a team of Georgia-based roboteers well known for their entries into the long-running Robot Battles series of events.

In Season 2 (2016), Bombshell did very poorly in the round of 48, losing to Complete Control by a unanimous decision, but was brought back as a wildcard and did very well afterwards, reaching the championship final after taking out Cobalt, Red Devil, Poison Arrow and Minotaur before losing to the eventual champion Tombstone by a knockout. Bombshell’s performance was in turn awful in Season 3 (2018), where it lost all four of its fights, getting high-centered by Lock-Jaw, flipped out of the arena by Bronco and Bite Force, and losing unanimous decision to Yeti in spite of fight being close. However, it redeemed itself by winning six-way "Last Chance Rumble" to earn a rematch with Tombstone in Top 16.

## Configurations

* Axe
* Horizontal Blade
* Vertical Spinning Disc
* Lifting Forks

### Axe

Bombshell has 4 interchangeable weapons it could use depending on the fight. The first configuration they used for the tournament was the axe weapon. Unfortunately, the axe fired very slowly and barely caused damage to its first match against Complete Control. Therefore, they did not use this configuration for the rest of the tournament.

### Horizontal Blade

The horizontal blade configuration was used against its fights with Cobalt and Tombstone, the weapon is meant to impact any piece of the bot that is on the top layer, such as the wheels or a chain. This blade can be adjusted at any time of the match, though it takes a while to. It proved effective in their fight with Cobalt, being able to hit the wheels, in their Tombstone match however, it failed to hit the chain of the bot because it was too high.

### Vertical Spinning Disc

The vertical spinning disc configuration was used against its fights with Red Devil, Poison Arrow, and Minotaur, it also came with a wedge. Out of all the interchangeable weapons, this proved to be the most effective, being able to take hits from Poison Arrow and Minotaur, in its Red Devil fight however, one of its hit caused the weapon to shutdown, meaning it can be a danger to itself. Even if the weapon dies, the wedge is still strong enough to push bots around the arena. It also has an invertibility system similar to Backlash. However, the bot usually ended up sideways when upside down which made it lose all its fights in Season 4.

### Lifting Forks

The fourth configuration is a set of lifting forks. Unlike the other configurations, this one was never used in any fights. It was redesigned for Discovery Season 4, but was never used either, so it's unknown how well it could perform.

## Robot History

### BattleBots World Championship II

    Bombshell's first fight in BattleBots was against Complete Control. Before the fight, Bombshell's axe was adorned with an empty gift-wrapped box, referencing the box containing a net Complete Control controversially used against Ghost Raptor the year before. Right from the start of the battle, Complete Control grabbed Bombshell, which escaped and managed to use its axe to no effect. Then after another grab, Bombshell managed to get its axe in a chink in Complete Control's armor. Meanwhile, Short Fuse was flying near its main bot and nearly took itself out on impact with the BattleBox floor. Short Fuse then crashed against the Lexan wall, rendering itself disabled for the remainder of the match. Complete Control grabbed Bombshell, lifting it up and using its flamethrower to fry its internals. Eventually, Complete Control dropped a smoldering Bombshell in the corner before picking it up once more, taking it to the pulverizer until time ran out. Complete Control's impressive performance resulted in a win by a unanimous judges decision. However, Bombshell was awarded one of the eight wild cards most likely for its fire breathing drone Short Fuse and its interchangeable weaponry.

This put Bombshell to the round of 32 with its No.19 seeding, where it faced the No.14 seed Cobalt. For this match, Bombshell was fitted with its articulated horizontal blade. The match started out fairly evenly as both robots made contact with Cobalt backing in to save its weapon. Bombshell got in some sparks before its blade sliced off half a tire from Cobalt's wheel. After a few more attacks, Bombshell tore off the other tire, leaving Cobalt unable to move around the BattleBox. Cobalt was counted out and Bombshell advanced to the round of 16, where it faced the No.30 seed Red Devil.

Things started out well for Bombshell as the first hit on one of Red Devil's track pods tossed Red Devil into the air. However, the impact caused one of the wires leading to a battery powering the weapon to come out, leaving the weapon to power down and turn the match into a pushing match. Regardless, Bombshell continued to stay aggressive as Red Devil was having trouble moving around. Bombshell pushed Red Devil towards the pulverizer but Red Devil escaped at the last second. Bombshell took a shot from the killsaws and the pulverizer before getting Red Devil on its back in front of the screws. Bombshell took a shot from Red Devil's blade and was pretty well out of drive power when time ran out. Bombshell won on a unanimous 3-0 judge's decision and advanced to the quarterfinals, where it faced Poison Arrow.

Bombshell decided to go with its powerful drum spinner weapon. When the match started, it proved to be a good choice as sparks went flying. After a few more hits, Poison Arrow was sent flying and ended up on its drum against the arena wall. Its driver decided to try freeing Poison Arrow with the drone but came up short. As Poison Arrow as being counted out, Bombshell struck Poison Arrow hard enough to free it from the wall. More sparks were made as the robots collided but Bombshell landed a strong hit that sent Poison Arrow flying to just behind the screws where it couldn't move. Poison Arrow was counted out and Bombshell advanced to the semi final where it faced No.7 seed Minotaur.

Bombshell kept its drum spinner for this fight. The match started out fairly evenly for Bombshell as neither robot gained the upper hand. However, Minotaur eventually managed to tear off Bombshells left side. But several seconds later, Bombshell started to inflict some hits on Minotaur, including one that flipped Minotaur over and dislodged a drive train. Minotaur used its drum's gyroscopic forces to help steer but Bombshell kept coming. However, Bombshell's weapon motor eventually burned out, leaving Bombshell's drum useless, luckily for Bombshell though, Minotaur had stopped moving. Minotaur was counted out and Bombshell advanced to the championship final where it faced No.1 seed Tombstone.

In this match, Bombshell opted to go with the horizontal spinning bar it used to defeat Cobalt in hopes of disabling Tombstone's weapon by hitting the chain. However, this proved ineffective against Tombstone as it was just too high to reach the chain and Bombshell's side was ripped open by Tombstone. Bombshell continued maneuvering but Tombstone continued to attack, tearing off wheels and eventually immobilizing Bombshell. Bombshell was counted out and Tombstone won by KO to take the championship giant nut, eliminating Bombshell from the tournament.

### BattleBots World Championship III

    Returning for Season 3 as reigning runner-up, Bombshell’s first opponent was Lock-Jaw. The fight was pretty even initially as neither robot was able to take the lead. However, things changed for Bombshell as it was flipped over by the green opponent. Despite being technically able to drive inverted, Bombshell was in peril due to its weapon being so powerful that the belt kept slipping off, causing entire robot to lightly swing from side to side. Eventually Bombshell was high-centered and narrowly survived the countdown due to Lock-Jaw coming in for another hit. However, Bombshell soon found itself high-centered again and this time Lock-Jaw kept distance, giving Bombshell a loss by KO.

Bombshell’s 2nd fight of the season was against Season 1 semi-finalist Bronco. The battle started well for runners-up as Bronco failed to breach their ground clearance and Bombshell was able to briefly hit Bronco’s armor and underside, throwing sparks off. However, match turned as Bronco flipped Bombshell over near the arena wall. Again unable to drive inverted, Bombshell was flipped by its foe 15 feet into the air and out of the arena.

Its next opponent was fellow Series 2 semi-finalist Yeti. Once more, Bombshell started on top with several good attacks on Yeti, with the first one throwing the Alaskan robot into the air and one of the following mangling Yeti’s forks, making them useless. However, Yeti still had active drum and used it to hit Bombshell’s side as the latter backed off, bending an axle and causing Bombshell’s left wheel to wobble. The instability caused Bombshell to lightly tilt again, being plagued by gyroscopic forces. Yeti tried to take advantage and Bombshell kept pointing the weapon at it, eventually disabling the drum. Yeti continued to be sturdy and locked horns with Bombshell for about the final 30 seconds of the fight, eventually incapacitating runner-up’s motors. Bombshell lost mobility and started smoking, but there was no time to declare a KO and Yeti won the unanimous decision.

Bombshell’s last fight of the season was against Season 1 champion Bite Force. Bombshell drove shakily out of the gate, either deliberately or due to gyroscopic forces plaguing it again. Bite Force scored a well-aimed hit and flipped Bombshell over. After a flurry of relatively gently hits on moveless Bombshell, Bite Force came in with one solid slam that threw Bombshell out of the arena. This meant two things: Bombshell finished regular Season 3 winless, and gained dubious distinction of being the 1st robot in BattleBots history to get thrown out of the arena twice.

However despite finishing the regular season at 4-0, Bombshell was given last chance to advance in "Last Chance Rumble", because of being reigning runner-up, where it fought Red Devil again, along with Gigabyte, Valkyrie, Lucky and DUCK!. When the fight started, Bombshell drove across and around the arena, but wasn't making any contact with other robots. It gave a minor punch to DUCK! before retreating. It was hit by flying Gigabyte and spun sideways, but deflected the full-body spinner into the screws. Bombshell was then pushed by Red Devil, while at the same time scooping up the stunned Gigabyte. Eventually Gigabyte escaped and Bombshell sneaked out of Red Devil's grasp too. Bombshell approached Gigabyte and struggling Lucky as Red Devil attacked again. However, this time Bombshell had not found fun in it, and tore off Red Devil's entire rear plow in spectacular hit. Bombshell then rammed into Gigabyte, deflecting them slightly into the air. Then former runner-up got severe drivetrain issues and stopped dead on spot in the halfway point. It stayed almost idle for 81 seconds before it got moving again and managed to get to the judges' decision against the only other mobile robot, DUCK!. Decision was unanimously awarded to Bombshell, giving them the No.16 seed and setting a rematch against Tombstone.

Winless in the season and looking a world away from its previous campaign, Bombshell had to absorb hits from Tombstone's weapon off the bat, but did not take much damage from them in return. Tombstone continued to hit, but after a few collisions, Tombstone's weapon chain came off, laid strewn across the BattleBox. By this point, Bombshell had lost its weapon too, resulting in a pushing match between the two robots. Bombshell was able to get underneath Tombstone using the sloped front and flipped it over, but Tombstone was able to drive inverted, so this did not trouble them. What did, however, was the moment Tombstone moved to the corner near the pulverizer, and drove over its own chain, becoming high-centered in the process. Still mobile, Bombshell drove to the center of the BattleBox and started spinning in celebration as the count started on the defending champion. Tombstone was counted out, marking Tombstone's first KO loss in modern BattleBots, and allowing Bombshell to earn its revenge and advance to the quarter-finals where it faced Lock-Jaw in another rematch.

Both robots roamed around the arena a bit before Bombshell was thrown onto its back near the arena barrier and stopped moving. Bombshell's drive speed controller shorted out and caught fire, and the robot was counted out, eliminating Bombshell from the competition two stages earlier than the previous season.

### BattleBots World Championship IV

    Bombshell kicked off its 2019 participation with a redemption battle with DUCK! after its controversial victory in the 2018 Last Chance Rumble. For this fight, Bombshell went with its vertical spinner setup. The match got underway and after some circling, Bombshell found itself on the receiving end of a lift by DUCK! Unfortunately, Bombshell was thrown onto its back and bounced on its spinning disc, landing similarly to its defeats last season. Bombshell was unable to self-right or drive inverted and was counted out, giving DUCK! the win by KO.

Bombshell's next opponent was against quarter-finalist, Rotator. As a result, Bombshell opted to stick with its vertical spinner setup. As the match got underway, Bombshell was having some control by attacking Rotator and sending them flying. Rotator recovered and took another hit. Bombshell then took damage to its side, costing it a drive wheel in the process. After another big hit, Rotator sent Bombshell across the arena, dislodging its left base plate before Bombshell stopped moving since none of its remaining drive wheels were touching the ground due to being too small and was counted out, giving Rotator the win by KO.

Up next for Bombshell was a rematch with Cobalt from 2016. In response, Bombshell was originally planning on using their new horizontal spinner but had technical issues that were unable to be sorted and there was also not enough time to swap out the drive pods. Bombshell was still configured to drive upside down but the wedge was removed to not only allow the weapon to be Cobalt's first contact point but also to avoid getting high-centered on the floor. The match got underway but Bombshell was flipped over while Cobalt was high-centered on the floor. The match was paused and reset (any hint of this was cut from the TV airing.) When the match resumed, Bombshell was thrown into the air, taking Cobalt's wedge extension as a result. Bombshell landed upright and went in for another hit. Much like before, Bombshell went up the front of Cobalt, but this time landed upside down and still had no self-righting mechanism or way of running inverted, due to changing the chassis' position for the drive wheels and the smaller diameter drive wheels. Bombshell was counted out, giving Cobalt the win by a quick KO and sealing its revenge.

Bombshell's fourth match of the 2019 season was a rematch against Lock-Jaw from both instances last season. Bombshell went with its boat configuration and seemingly worked out all the kinks regarding invertibility. The match got underway and Bombshell did well, clipping Lock-Jaw's right rear wheel and hindering Lock-Jaw's ability to drive. However, Bombshell soon took a hit from Lock-Jaw that left it only able to turn in large circles or drive backwards. Bombshell then had some of its side armor damaged by Lock-Jaw before Lock-Jaw started temporarily emitting smoke. Bombshell circled wide in reverse and took another hit that caused it to strike weapon-first into the arena floor and stop working. Bombshell was counted out, giving Lock-Jaw the win by KO.

## Results

* Wins: 5
* Losses: 11