Brutality

**Brutality** is an American heavyweight robot armed with an overhead spinning bar, with the overall design resembling famous three-time middleweight champion Hazard. It came from Aptyx Designs, a strong team led by Paul Ventemiglia, which earlier also built Tantrum and Green Wave and later came up with Bite Force. Brutality had been around since about 2005-06 and was retired in 2013. It performed well overall as it won ComBots Cup II and BattleBots 2009 Pro Championship as well as finishing runner-up in RoboGames 2006. Also, it is notorious for being the only robot ever to separately defeat the four greatest heavyweights ever: BioHazard (wrecking it so hard it was forced to retire), Original Sin, Sewer Snake and Megabyte.

## Robot history

### ComBots Cup I

Brutality's first ever fight was against Rapier-X. No know videos or descriptions of this fight exist, but it is known that Brutality won and advanced. Next, Brutality faced Karcas 2, who replaced its jaws with a steel plow on the front to absorb some punishment from Brutality's blade. This fight didn't last long as Brutality spun up its weapon, and Karcas 2 charged right at it and flipped it over on the first hit. Brutality had no self-righting mechanism, and it was counted out, giving Karcas 2 the win. This put Brutality into the loser's bracket, where it faced extremely famous BioHazard. BioHazard was nearly outright destroyed by Megabyte in its previous fight and it would in normal conditions be a forfeit but Paul Ventimiglia gave BioHazard's builder, Carlo Bertocchini, an extra repair time in the latter's shop. Eventually the fight got going on 11:30pm - about 2 hours after the official fights have ended. No known videos of this fight exist, but it is known that Brutality had easy time fighting the crippled ex-champion and won by a 81-second knockout.

It then advanced to fight Last Rites. Again nothing is known about this fight other than the result - Brutality won again and moved on to face another famed robot, full-body spinner of Megabyte. This battle was very spectacular. Already second hit between the two spinners knocked them into opposite walls. A series of hits followed with sparks being thrown each time. In most hits, both robots were slightly knocked back equally, but there were about two more powerful hits which sent both robots into the walls, with Brutality taking a brief lead at one point where it sent Megabyte flying without flying itself. Both robots were working just fine after all the beating but on the next hit Megabyte absolutely totaled Brutality, disassembling its chassis and wrecking its weapon. Brutality was unable to move and Megabyte won by knockout, also eliminating the former from the competition.

### RoboGames 2006

Brutality's first fight of the event was against Full Smash. The fight lasted only about 55 seconds as after first three hits from Brutality Full Smash lost drive on one side and after two more hits it was knocked out completely. Now just for show, Brutality continued slamming into the disabled Full Smash, ripping through its armor before the fight was called. Advancing to quarter-finals, Brutality next faced Wheel of Misfortune. It won this fight as well and advanced to the semi-finals where it faced CycloneBot. It won this fight again and advanced to winners' bracket final against rookie Original Sin. Brutality lost on a judge's decision and went straight into loser's bracket final against former BattleBots competitor SJ. It won this fight and then faced Original Sin again. However, their blade only worked for something like 8 seconds in the fight as it broke down immediately after sending Original Sin spinning away. Original Sin was able to take control, pushing Brutality despite its low profile and driving over it a lot of times. It won the judges' decision and Brutality became the RoboGames runner-up.

### ComBots Cup II

Brutality's first fight in the second ComBots Cup was a rematch against CycloneBot. Brutality won this fight and then fought Last Rites in another rematch. In the fight, both robots exchanged hits before powerful attack from Last Rites removed something from the chassis of Brutality, causing the latter to bounce violently off the floor and the spinning bar tore pieces off the robot itself. Also, Last Rites was steered into the wall by the impact. Both robots only briefly halted before going at each other for one final hit, after which both were immobilised in a shower of sparks. Despite it being Last Rites who technically caused the simultaneous knockout, judges suprisingly called the fight in favour of Brutality. Brutality then moved on to face Original Sin in its third rematch in a row. This time Brutality managed to keep its blade working for the full duration of the fight and even removed its opponent's front tires, reducing the effectiveness of Original Sin. This time **unsuprisingly,** judges ruled the fight in favour of Brutality, moving it to the final against Sewer Snake.

This match started with Brutality spinning up to speed, and Sewer Snake box rushing it before slamming it into the wall. Brutality got back up to speed, and tore chunks out of Sewer Snakes tires before Sewer Snake slammed it into the wall again. Once more Brutality got back up to speed, and ripped the rear-right tire off of Sewer Snake, before delivering a shot that sent Sewer Snake spinning away. Brutality then ripped more chunks out of Sewer Snakes tires as Sewer Snake got hung up on a floor seam. However with one minute left on the clock, Brutality's bar spinner stopped working, and Sewer Snake's rear-left tire fell off as Brutality pushed it around. Brutality then attempted to slam Sewer Snake into the wall, but Sewer Snake freed itself with its weapon, flipping itself in the process. However with the plowed fork attachment that was used for this fight Sewer Snake was unable to right itself. This allowed Brutality to slam Sewer Snake into the walls some more as the time ran out. The judges decided this match in favor of Brutality meaning it had won its first career championship.

### RoboGames 2007

For this event, Brutality did not use its spinning bar, and instead fought as a wedgebot with a flamethrower.

Brutality's first fight on the event was against Spinning Mayhem. When the match began, Brutality advanced towards the spinning shell of Spinning Mayhem as it got up to speed before aiming and ramming head on into it. The initial hit inflicted little damage to Brutality, so Brutality continued to charge into Spinning Mayhem, eventually getting under a few times. Brutality then relented, letting Spinning Mayhem's spinning maces get up to full speed, before charging in again, getting a few sparks shaved off of the front wedge but otherwise totally unfazed. Eventually Brutality managed to get under and push the spinner towards the wall, stopping it from spinning and attempting to fry its internals with the flamethrower. Spinning Mayhem escaped, so Brutality gave chase and pushed Spinning Mayhem back into the wall. However, Brutality's left side started to burn up, and Brutality was left with only one side working. This allowed Spinning Mayhem to escape, spin back up to full speed, and attack the sides with its maces. After one hit to the right side, however, Spinning Mayhem's weapon motor emitted smoke as well, and after dishing out another hit to the rear, it stopped working entirely. Afterwards, Brutality gained the use of its left side again, so it started pushing Spinning Mayhem all over the arena, even roasting Spinning Mayhem with its flamethrower a couple of times. After roasting Spinning Mayhem for one last time, the match made the distance. Brutality won the resulting judges' decision and advanced to the second round. There it faced Last Rites for the third time in its career.

This time Last Rites was able to avenge the previous two losses by winning and sending Brutality down to the losers' bracket. There it had another rematch against SJ, and unlike the previous edition of RoboGames SJ managed to emerge on top and eliminate Brutality from the tournament.

### BattleBots 2009 Pro Championship

Brutality's first-round fight was against Jim Smentowski's Breaker Box. Brutality spun its blade up to speed immediately, but it was Breaker Box who got the first attack in, pushing Brutality with its scoop. Brutality escaped and came back on the attack, sparks flying from the impact of its blade on Breaker Box's scoop. The impact was so great that it immobilized Breaker Box, meaning Brutality was through to the next round, where it would face the robot that helped it to put BioHazard into retirement: Megabyte. It would be also Brutality's revenge matchup after Megabyte devastated Brutality in its rookie season.

At the start of this fight, Brutality did not use its blade so that it could get underneath Megabyte and stop it spinning. This tactic worked well, as Brutality repeatedly pushed Megabyte around without taking damage. After a while, they turned the blade on, which turned out to be a mistake as Brutality sent itself into the air. The team wisely turned the blade off again and continued to push Megabyte into the arena hazards. This aggression meant that Brutality went through to meet Surgeon General.

Brutality had an advantage in this fight due to the fact that Surgeon General's weapon was not working. Brutality's first attack sent Surgeon General spinning across the BattleBox and immobilized it on one side. Brutality came in and severely damaged the front of Surgeon General with its blade, immobilizing it fully.

Brutality went through to fight VD6.0. However, before this fight, the VD6.0 team had incorrectly wired their drive speed controller. With VD6.0 unable to move, Brutality easily destroyed it to qualify for the final against Root Canal.

Root Canal drove straight at Brutality and stopped its blade from spinning, but Brutality managed to get underneath Root Canal and push it into the arena wall. After pushing Root Canal around, Brutality got its blade spinning again and attacked Root Canal with it, sending sparks flying but failing to cause any visible damage at first. Root Canal continued to drive at Brutality until the spinning blade ripped one of Root Canal's wheels off. Brutality attacked the vulnerable Root Canal again, but the impact of its blade on Root Canal sent it flying into the air. Despite losing a wheel, Root Canal managed to push Brutality into a corner, where smoke started to rise from it. Brutality used its wedge to get underneath Root Canal and push it into the arena wall and the pulverizer. The two then met in the center of the BattleBox, where they both attempted to push each other and became stuck. The match was stopped for a moment to separate them. When the battle restarted, the two continued to push each other, with Root Canal being lifted momentarily by the hell raisers but escaping. This pushing match continued until time ran out and the battle went to the judges, who ruled in favor of Brutality meaning it won its 2nd championship.

### ComBots Cup IV

Brutality entered ComBots Cup IV as a kind of reigning champion, as it won Cup II but did not enter Cup III from unknown reasons. The competition was held in round-robin format. Brutality performed really badly as it only won against Avalanche and lost to Sewer Snake, Last Rites and Original Sin, all of those being rematches from previous competitions.

### RoboGames 2013

After a 4-year absence from competitions, Brutality returned one last time for RoboGames where it went up against Brazilian drum spinner Touro Maximus in the first round. First hit from Touro Maximus sent Brutality into the air and already the second one stopped Brutality's blade, leaving way to Team RioBotz to make more damage to American machine in a shower of sparks. It was just the fourth hit that ended the fight as Brutality was flipped upside down against the wall, tilted to one side, with no options to move out of this predicament. This obviously sent Brutality to losers' bracket where it was up against Sabretooth. Despite Brutality's blade not working in the fight and the robot ending lodged in the wall with Sabretooth on top of it, it pushed Sabretooth around throughout the fight convincigly enough to win the judges' decision. Its next opponent was Preda Raptor.

 This time Brutality's blade was working perfectly as it sent sparks flying off Preda Raptor's scoop which it has added for this fight. When Brutality backed off from its onslaught, it turned out that Preda Raptor wasn't moving already, despite the actual robot nowhere damaged and scoop only bearing cosmetic damage, indicating it was a mechanical breakdown. Brutality won by knockout in only 28 seconds and advanced to fight Son of Ziggy. Battle started well for Brutality as Son of Ziggy was sent spinning wildly on each of four times it attacked, with big scratches also appearing on its armor. However, Son of Ziggy got the idea that Brutality may well damage itself, and rammed into the spinner as hard as it could to try to get Brutality's weapon to destroy itself. Eventually it worked as after a big hit Son of Ziggy was spun into a corner and Brutality's chain appeared to have welded itself with the one half of drive system, rendering it only able to move on one side. Son of Ziggy also stopped briefly but managed to restart while Brutality had no luck as second half of its drive quit too and Son of Ziggy won by knockout in 71 seconds.

## Trivia

Brutality is one of only five robots to actually enter a BattleBots championship and go on to be undefeated on the show, alongside Son of Smashy, Karcas 2, Hoser'd and Devil's Plunger. Alongside Son of Smashy and Devil's Plunger, it also holds the record for most battles won in BattleBots without being defeated - with all three having 5 wins and 0 losses in BattleBots. However, it is the only heavyweight to achieve this feat - the other two were middleweights.

## Results

Wins: 20

Losses: 11