King of Bots (Season 2)/Episode 8

Season 2 title card

The **eighth episode of *King of Bots II*** aired on September 1st 2019, and was Emma Dumont's final episode. It saw the six celebrities form two teams, and face each other in a six-on-six "Attrition War", with the three losing celebrities eliminating a machine from their team.

The end of the episode also featured *Robo Genius*, an educational segment exploring different aspects of robot building and combat.

## Competing robots

* Boxing Champion
* Dragon King
* Earth Shovel
* Flaming Wheel
* Johnny and the Dinosaur
* Rhino
* Storm Cut
* The Hounds
* Warrior
* Yesaji

*NOTE: Shrederator Tiger Claw and Tánshè were slated to fight in the competition, but did not need to enter as their team had already won.*

## Setup

This episode introduced the **Attrition War**, where the six celebrity managers formed two larger teams, with three managers on each team. As two of the managers who had not yet been defeated, Emma Dumont and Zhu Zheng Ting were nominated to be the two captains, and they each invited over two more celebrity managers to join them. This created two teams of:

* **Emma Dumont**, Tu Ziya, Tao Shen
* **Zhu Zheng Ting**, Huang Jian Xiang, Di Yang

Each celebrity manager would then choose two of their robots to enter the round, creating two teams of six. All six managers chose their brand-new 'Challenger' robots, alongside one of their existing team members. The three celebrities would then decide a set order to enter all six robots into battle, from first through to sixth.

The first robots on each team would then enter the arena, and while the loser would be eliminated from the Attrition War, the winner had the option to stay in the arena and fight another opponent. The robot would not be allowed to leave the arena during this time, and would enter the next battle with no repairs or battery charging done before the fight. If the celebrities and roboteers were happy to continue, they would fight their next opponent for another opportunity to win. If a robot was withdrawn, they would also be eliminated from the Attrition War, and they would be replaced by the next robot in line. This process would continue until one team had lost all six of their robots.

After the winner of the Attrition War had been decided, the three managers who fell in defeat would be forced to remove a robot from their team, for a total of three eliminations. The teams were as follows:

## Battles

*NOTE: Robots on the left represent Zhu Zheng Ting, Huang and Di Yang. Robots on the right represent Emma Dumont, Tu Ziya and Tao Shen.*

### Flaming Wheel vs Johnny and the Dinosaur

Both robots initially hung back to power up their spinning weapons while being cautious of their opponents, spending the first 20 seconds of the two-minute match without contact. It was eventually Flaming Wheel which landed the first blow, swiping at the side of Johnny and the Dinosaur to knock it into the Grinder and bend up its front stabilizing wedge. With another light contact, Flaming Wheel disabled the bar spinner of Johnny and the Dinosaur, leaving it without any method of offence. Flaming Wheel landed another glancing blow, while Johnny and the Dinosaur tripped over its own broken wedge, driving over it slowly. Flaming Wheel targeted this loose part of Johnny and the Dinosaur, landing multiple glancing blows while attempting to rip it away, until the first minute of the battle had passed.

Flaming Wheel continued to hit the wheels of Johnny and the Dinosaur, causing minimal damage but nevertheless racking up points. Danger briefly struck when the floor flipper tossed Flaming Wheel into the air, also hitting Johnny and the Dinosaur in the process, but Flaming Wheel landed back on its wheels and continued to fight. Johnny and the Dinosaur attempted to mount whatever offence it could, driving over the top of Flaming Wheel, but suffered two large hits to its wheels from the opposing shell spinner, finally ripping away the loose wedge. Flaming Wheel continued to churn away at the damaged wheels of Johnny and the Dinosaur, until the final ten seconds of the match, where Flaming Wheel retreated and allowed the battle to reach a Judges' decision. The Judges wasted no time in voting immediately in favor of Flaming Wheel.

**Winner: Flaming Wheel**

### Flaming Wheel vs Earth Shovel

Earth Shovel was quick off the mark, ramming into the spinning shell of Flaming Wheel, although it was knocked aside with its flipper firing automatically. Flaming Wheel hung back to reach maximum spinning speeds, allowing Earth Shovel to charge in, but Earth Shovel again seemingly came off worse, with its front corner being clipped. However, the next blow worked in favour of Earth Shovel, with a charge from Flaming Wheel onto its opponent's wedge knocking it high into the air, where it landed with an almighty crash.

Flaming Wheel was visibly shaken, and backed straight into a Grinder to inflict recoil damage onto itself, which Earth Shovel followed up by ramming it head-on. Earth Shovel guided Flaming Wheel into the corner, where it ripped away an arena spike and hit the hammer hazard, before a head-on drive caused Flaming Wheel to leapfrog over the top of Earth Shovel and land on the other side. Although this initially seemed favorable for Flaming Wheel, an awkward contact with the floor caused one of its collars to pop loose from the top of the robot, which spelled significant danger for the machine.

Flaming Wheel's shell was visibly loose, and the robot took evasive measures until Earth Shovel caught up with a head-on slam, and caused Flaming Wheel's shell to fly off the robot entirely, hitting the arena walls and pinballing across the warzone. With Flaming Shell left with no armor or weaponry, Earth Shovel's driver celebrated mid-match, and then wedged under the fleeing Flaming Wheel to turn it over. Pinned on its spinner shaft, Flaming Wheel could not run inverted, and it was counted out, awarding the win to Earth Shovel.

**Winner: Earth Shovel**

### Boxing Champion vs Earth Shovel

"*Going into the fight against [Earth Shovel], we were very lucky that our teammate had done some decent damage to them, so it was a lot easier for us to get underneath them.*"
— Aren Hill

Boxing Champion went into this battle equipped with its forks, and made the first contact, wedging under Earth Shovel after the first ten seconds had passed. After having sufficient time to charge up its spinner to full speed, Boxing Champion used its punching mechanism to push its spinner directly under the side armor of Earth Shovel, connecting with maximum bite on its opponent's flipper to throw Earth Shovel completely onto its back. Earth Shovel immediately fired its flipper in an effort to self-right, but landed directly on its front end with the flipper still open. Earth Shovel could not retract its flipper from this position, and Boxing Champion waited for it to be counted out, securing its first victory.

"*We were very excited to be able to line up the perfect hit and do it in one shot, and everything else worked beyond great.*"
— Aren Hill

**Winner: Boxing Champion**

### Boxing Champion vs Storm Cut

"*Yang Di seems to respect the input of his team members, he had our backs the entire time. We were very happy to fight for him.*"
— Aren Hill

The battle between Boxing Champion and Storm Cut proved to be the fastest of the season so far, as Boxing Champion - which had not been repaired inbetween fights - wasted no time charging into Storm Cut in the first five seconds of the match. Storm Cut's blade caught the forks atop the wedge of Boxing Champion awkwardly, and caused the whole robot to flip itself over, sliding into a Grinder. Storm Cut had no method of self-righting, and Boxing Champion retreated, having earned the quickest knockout of the series so far.

After Boxing Champion had won the fight, Di Yang decided that it would be best to remove Boxing Champion from the arena, believing it would be unfit to fight a third match in a row. However, Aren Hill convinced him that Boxing Champion was fit to enter another battle, and stayed in the arena.

"*Really really antsy to fight, and did not want to stop! We were on a roll, wanted to keep right on through.*"
— Aren Hill after convincing Di Yang that Boxing Champion could fight again

**Winner: Boxing Champion**

### Boxing Champion vs Dragon King

Both robots met in the center of the arena and circled around each other until Boxing Champion wedged underneath Dragon King and brought its spinner straight into the right drive pod of the tracked machine. Nevertheless Dragon King continued to work, and after a series of bumps, found a grip on Boxing Champion and pushed it around the arena while biting its opponent, also bringing its saws down on Boxing Champion to throw sparks, while driving it into the Grinder. However, Boxing Champion retaliated by pushing back Dragon King, which was still holding on firmly and cutting into Boxing Champion using its saws, to ram it into the arena wall.

A gust of smoke seemed to emerge from Dragon King, but both robots engaged in an even contest, with Boxing Champion firing its disc into its opponent while Dragon King tilted its drive pods as an escape method, and continued to use its saws for cutting damage. When the two robots separated, Boxing Champion drove straight under the front of Dragon King and came out on the other side, delivering a hit with its spinner along the way. Dragon King seemed hindered by this, and Boxing Champion edged it backwards, despite being briefly lifted by the floor flipper in the process. Dragon King lowered its saws towards Boxing Champion, and both robots pushed each other back and forth, with Dragon King generally coming out ahead on pushing power until it rode up the front of Boxing Champion.

This ground clearance advantage allowed Aren Hill to drive Dragon King across the arena and into the Grinder. This thrusted Jerome Miles' machine into the air and chipped one of its saws. Boxing Champion continued its assault, landing a light blow with its spinner, although its next attack was more decisive. With a strong punch, Boxing Champion brought its spinner straight into the bottom jaw of Dragon King and completely broke the grabbing weapon apart. Dragon King's head fell limply onto the top of Boxing Champion, and so the punching spinner moved in to rip away the dragon head completely. In the final ten seconds, Boxing Champion used its wedge shape to overturn Dragon King and press it against the floor flipper, until the end of the two-minute battle.

"*In the fight against Dragon King, with the back-and-forth pushes, we were a bit worried at some points in time, and we actually managed to punch the saw blade once, and we removed the head of the dragon!*"
— Aren Hill

The Judges turned in a unanimous victory for Boxing Champion, its third consecutive victory. After the fight, the celebrities and Aren Hill agreed to withdraw Boxing Champion from the arena, believing it could not keep running for a fourth fight in a row.

**Winner: Boxing Champion**

*NOTE: After winning this battle, the celebrities withdrew Boxing Champion ahead of a potential fourth fight*

### Rhino vs Yesaji

"*This is gonna be an easy win. Rhino is way more aggressive, the weapon spins up faster, and it hits so much harder.*"
— Robert Pickford

Both robots spun up their blades and soon came into contact, with Rhino accidentally swerving straight into Yesaji's spinner. Rhino was thrown into the air by Yesaji's 4500rpm spinner, but landed upright. Rhino responded with a side-on hit, knocking Yesaji up and pushing it across the arena, but then exposed its backside to Yesaji and the Indian machine pressed it against the arena wall. The two robots then dueled over the top of the floor flipper, with Yesaji wedging under Rhino and carrying it in circles. The robots were stuck together for such a long time that Rhino disabled its spinner, with Yesaji's also naturally coming to a stop.

When the robots finally separated, Rhino turned its spinner back on and charged Yesaji, but in its next attack, rode up the wedges of Yesaji and was slammed into the wall. This was enough to fully disable Rhino's spinner, and the robots circled around each other until they collided with a slam so fierce that Rhino almost toppled over its front upon impact. Yesaji was momentarily clipped by the Grinder, but continued to press against the ramming Rhino. Yesaji was very briefly able to turn its spinner back on, but it gave out only seconds later thanks to a ram from Rhino. The two robots continued to ram and push each other until time expired, and the Judges turned in a unanimous victory for Yesaji.

"*I was pretty confident that I can beat him because I've got more weapon power than Rhino.*"
— Team Blanka Botz

**Winner: Yesaji**

### The Hounds vs Yesaji

"*The Indian team is already damaged from its previous round, so I'm going into this with The Hounds pretty confident.*"
— Ellis Ware

As a result of its previous fight, Yesaji was competing without the use of its spinner, and also appeared to struggle moving in the opening stages, which allowed The Hounds to power up their drums. Yesaji attempted to push both multibots, scraping across their drums, but managed to push the yellow Hound into the wall twice. Yesaji then attempted to trap the yellow Hound in the corner, but hit the wall itself, and the blue Hound closed in to hit the wedge of Yesaji, throwing itself over in the process. Yesaji edged the yellow Hound back, maintaining a steady lead, while the blue Hound self-righted using its gyroscopic forces.

The yellow Hound was then fed to the Grinder by Yesaji, and the blue Hound followed this up with friendly fire on its teammate, also throwing itself over once again. This allowed Yesaji to drive the yellow Hound into the corner, but the blue Hound caught it by surprise, and hit it straight from behind. Yesaji was thrown directly onto its front, atop the yellow Hound. While the trapped half of The Hounds remained in place, the blue Hound celebrated a come-from-behind victory whilst Yesaji was counted out.

"*We knew that we could just beat it cleanly, not cause too much damage. We love those guys, and if the weapon was working, it could have gone a very different way.*"
— Ellis Ware

**Winner: The Hounds**

### The Hounds vs Warrior

Equipped with its spiked axe, Warrior sped out of the gates and rammed into the yellow Hound, although it missed its axe swing, allowing the blue Hound to crash into Warrior's front wedge, throwing sparks and loosening the armor. Warrior quickly retaliated and hit the top of the blue Hound with its axe. Warrior then delivered another axe blow to the Blue Hound, with the yellow Hound passing underneath Warrior around the same time.

Warrior then pushed the yellow Hound into the Grinder, casting it into the air - however, Warrior's removable link fell out of the machine during this attack. Warrior landed inverted and was unable to self-right, leaving it to be counted out while The Hounds gyro-danced in celebration. The Hounds therefore secured the overall victory in the Attrition War for Zhu Zheng Ting, Huang Jian Xiang and Di Yang.

"*I'm a little disappointed with the first performance of Warrior. We got turned upside-down, and the removable link which turns the robot on and off... came out. It should've gone better.*"
— Jason Marston

**Winner: The Hounds**

## Conclusion

Following the defeat of Warrior, the team of Zhu Zheng Ting, Huang Jian Xiang and Di Yang won the Attrition War with a score of 3-0, as The Hounds, Shrederator Tiger Claw and Tánshè remained undefeated. For losing the Attrition War, Emma Dumont, Tu Ziya and Tao Shen were each required to eliminate one robot from their team.

As Big Carioca had taken substantial damage from Megabyte, and the team completely lacked spare parts, the Big Carioca team offered to leave Tao Shen's team in place of their teammates. Tao Shen agreed to cut Big Carioca.

Tu Ziya had a choice between Iron Scrap, Yesaji, Doraemon and her newly-added robot, Johnny and the Dinosaur. As Johnny and the Dinosaur had lost its only fight at this stage, Tu Ziya cut it from her team, its team captain's son being noticeably upset by the outcome.

Emma Dumont was required to make her first team cut of the season, from all six of her robots. However, Emma Dumont instead announced that she would be leaving the series at this stage, and made her departure while also nominating Leo of Drift as the new manager of her team. It is unknown whether this eliminated Drift from the competition in the process, or if there is a cut to be made in the next episode, as Emma Dumont did not directly eliminate any robot.

**Eliminated: Big Carioca, Zonny and Dinosaur**

## Trivia

* While the managers were selecting the order of their robots before the Attrition War, Shrederator Tiger Claw was instead pictured as its *BattleBots* equivalent Captain Shrederator on its card.