Monster

**Monster** (Chinese: **小怪兽**, romanized as **Xiǎo guàishòu**, directly translating to **Little Monster**) was a heavyweight robot from Ghana which fought in *King of Bots II*. It attempted to join Tao Shen's team by fighting a head-to-head battle against Earth Shovel, although it was flipped over late into the battle and lost by knockout. It then broke down in battle against Iron Barbie, and was eliminated from the competition at the earliest stage.

## Design

Monster was one of the largest robots in the competition, armed in a large green shell which was largely sacrificial, and was easily damaged in battle through any means of attack, although the robot's internals were housed much deeper inside the machine. Its decorative armor was also adorned with antennae and novelty arms, adding to the comedy monster-like design. At the rear of Monster was a wedge, and at the front was its primary weapon, a pneumatic flipping 'tongue' arm which was capable of throwing other robots over, although critically its reach was too low for it to function as a self-righting mechanism. As such Monster had no answer to being overturned, and its brittle armor made the robot defensively weak.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Monster made its *King of Bots* debut in Episode 3 of Season 2, where Monster was among twelve international robots attempting to join one of six celebrity teams, which at this point of the competition, had already been filled with three Chinese robots each. Monster was randomly drawn against Earth Shovel of Tao Shen's team, affording Monster the opportunity to join the team if it could win the fight.

Both flippers travelled across the arena and bumped into each other at the start of the match, with Earth Shovel maintaining more control over the arena, forcing Monster to drive into the arena spikes. Earth Shovel then drove into the side of Monster, but failed to get underneath it, and on a second drive, Earth Shovel was caught by Monster's flipper, which flicked it up into the air, causing its side skirts to wobble. However, Monster did not maintain its attack, and was bumped side-on by Earth Shovel, also parking over a flame jet.

Monster made a more aggressive charge, but drove up Earth Shovel's wedge and was fortunate not to be flipped up. Earth Shovel managed to catch Monster side-on again and moved it back, but with over two minutes of the match now complete, Earth Shovel had not succeeded in using its weapon, nor had Monster completed a second lift. After a tentative ram from Monster, and an attack which saw Earth Shovel briefly wedge under Monster, Earth Shovel drove under Monster and delivered it to the Grinder, which tore slices into Monster's thin armor.

Another collision between both robots popped Monster into the air, which was followed up by another head-on drive to knock Monster into the air, but never while using Earth Shovel's active weapon. After one more charge where Monster nearly tipped itself over from Earth Shovel's wedge, it was Earth Shovel that finally delivered the knockout blow in the battle, with less than thirty seconds before the end of the battle. Catching Monster side-on, Earth Shovel drove it across the arena, and fired its flipper for the first time, to knock Monster onto its side. Although Monster waved its flipper, it could not self-right, and it was counted out, failing to join Tao Shen's team.

Monster was relegated to the Redemption Round, where the Iron Barbie team chose to fight against Monster, having been given the opportunity to pick any volunteering opponent.

The contents of this battle remain largely unknown, as only a few seconds of the fight made it to the televised broadcast. It is seen that Monster and Iron Barbie approached each other in the center of the arena, with Iron Barbie delicately firing its axe, before Monster drove into the corner of the arena. There, Monster seemingly got its flipper stuck under the arena wall, and was counted out by the referee, eliminating it from the competition at this early stage.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 0
* Losses: 2

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Eliminated in Redemption Round**(0-2 record)

## Trivia

* Monster was the only robot to represent Ghana in any televised robotic combat competition.