This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)/Episode 8

This is Fighting Robots title card

"*A brutal episode, many hopefuls will be eliminated in the One on One battles between Team Leaders. The losers will have a chance at redemption in the last, unforgettable battle.*"
— Official Mech+ programme description for Episode 8

**Episode 8 of *This is Fighting Robots*** aired on June 1 2018.

It featured the **1v1 Fight** stage of the main competition, allowing robots to progress and be eliminated in a direct knockout format. The end of the episode also contained an eight-robot Rumble between two competitors from each of the four team managers, offering a chance for the winning robot to be reinstated following defeats in previous rounds.

A subtitled English version premiered on Mech+ on January 6 2023.

## Competing robots

* Blue
* Cat King
* Earth Mover
* Formula
* Great White
* Megabyte
* Ninja
* ORBY Blade
* Polar Opposite
* Red River Hong
* Spectre
* Tánshè
* Tungsten
* Two BBQ
* Vulcan
* Weber

* *NOTE 1: The winner of the battle between Greedy Snake, Shrederator Tiger Claw and Xiake was revealed in this episode, but the robots did not fight.*
* *NOTE 2: The competitors in the Eight-robot Rumble are not included*

## Battle of Protection and Resurrection

### Greedy Snake vs Shrederator Tiger Claw vs Xiake

*Main article: This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)/Episode 7*
The episode began by announcing the outcome of the celebrity melee held in Episode 7, between Greedy Snake (Zhang Yishan), Shrederator Tiger Claw (Sa Beining) and Xiake (Wu Chun). Greedy Snake was declared the winner, enabling Yishan to reinstate a previously-eliminated robot to join the Blue team.

"*Actually each victory is very valuable to each team. And to me, it's even more valuable, because I have very few robots in my team. I have the fewest robots in my team. So of course I think we must win this game, so that we can have a new member joining our family.*"
— Zhang Yishan

At first, Yishan cryptically mentioned that he would choose a Chinese robot, which was revealed moments later to be Two BBQ - to the excitement of its captain Song Peng. Sa Beining and Zheng Shuang both gladly accepted Two BBQ's reinstatement as well, especially since it had previously competed for the former as part of the Yellow team.

**Winner: Greedy Snake**

## 1v1 Fights

The majority of this episode focused on the **1v1 Fights** (alternatively **One on One Duel**) stage, as initially referenced in Episode 7. Consisting entirely of head-to-head battles, one team manager (the 'actioner') would be selected at random to choose a robot and set a challenge for other managers to accept. More than one manager could respond to the challenge at a time, pitting their opposing robots against the first manager's designated machine.

The manager who initially set the challenge would choose one opponent from the selection given, and challenge it in the aforementioned 1v1. In the event that no other team managers opted in, the first manager would manually pick which other manager to battle against; the second manager would then be able to select a robot to compete.

The winning robots from each battle would progress further into the competition, while the losers would be eliminated. As only 16 robots were required to fight out of an available 17, the last robot not to be selected would qualify automatically for the next stage.

For the 1v1 stage, the **spray** hazard - first seen in *King of Bots* Season 1 - was reintroduced, consisting of jets of CO2 which could be activated in the opponents' control area. Usage of this hazard was limited to the 'actioner' manager, who could activate it once per fight to obscure the view of his or her rival team.

### Robot Rosters

With the reinstatement of Two BBQ, the finalized robot rosters for this stage were as follows; robots highlighted in **bold** would progress automatically at this point:

\*Not present in the first onscreen table, but qualified through taking part in the Battle of Protection and Resurrection.

### Preamble

As the winner of the celebrity melee, Zhang Yishan was nominated as the first 'actioner'. He and Wu Chun immediately opted to take a 'technical pause' to discuss strategies and robot choices for the coming battles.

Steven Martin advised Chun that Two BBQ 'would be not a good fight' for the Red team, instead suggesting Weber - incidentally, the robot Yishan planned to send out first. Weber Robotics supported Yishan's decision, enabling the Russian flipper to become his first representative.

Of the remaining managers, Chun and Zheng Shuang accepted the challenge, submitting Great White and Tánshè respectively. Chun learnt that the Australian multibot - itself having previously defeated Tánshè in *King of Bots* - had no issue fighting against rear-hinged flippers, and so would be an ideal counter to Weber. Sa Beining, abstaining, warned Yishan not to fight Shuang at this point, citing her larger pool of available robots.

"*What I meant is to make Zheng Shuang having no one to fight with in this round. Force her robots to have an internal combat. At least there will be a relatively balanced power towards the end.*"
— Sa Beining reveals his intention to force Zheng Shuang's robots to fight each other

Shuang herself was concerned about the possibility of Chun, Yishan and Beining all not fighting against the Green team, forcing her own robots to fight each other again. This, incidentally, was the reasoning Beining gave for warning Yishan in the first place.

"*I want to fulfil a little wish of mine in this game. I want to see the two catapults fight each other.*"
— Zhang Yishan (Mech+ subtitles, edited)

Ultimately, Yishan disregarded Beining's suggestion, personally choosing Tánshè so he could realize his ambition of battling a rival flipper. Beining objected, but Shuang believed that this decision would be beneficial for the Blue team should Weber win. Yishan, while still wanting to 'protect' Weber, also considered Tánshè a significantly less damaging threat.

### Weber (Zhang Yishan) vs Tánshè (Zheng Shuang)

Upon entry into the arena, the 'spray' hazard was tested by Zhang Yishan, temporary shrouding the members of Team Legion in CO2.

Both robots met face-to-face, and Weber was able to breach the wedge of Tánshè and flip it over. Tánshè landed on its wheels, but Weber followed this up with another thrust, which blasted Tánshè backwards, although the British machine still landed on its wheels again. Zhang Yishan activated the spray to obscure Team Legion's view, as he did in pre-battle preparations.

"*Take him to the side!*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Tánshè was able to drive under Weber, but as the team could not see clearly, Tánshè missed with its flip, with Weber also flipping at thin air. Tánshè also drove over the floor flipper, which toppled the robot. Tánshè fired its flipper to self-right, but Weber flipped the somersaulting machine, and ensured that it landed inverted once again. Tánshè's flipper had locked, and it lacked the power to self-right, so the referee started to count Tánshè out of the battle, while Tánshè laid, seemingly motionless. However, when the referee reached the number nine, Tánshè fired its flipper, and self-righted powerfully, putting it back in the battle at the last second.

"*In the competition so far, that five seconds was definitely the toughest. When we were flipped upside-down, all the gas was liquid, and it runs into the ram and freezes up. However, we calmed down and wait. Pause, and you can flip yourself back over again. During the second half of the fight, we're not messing about anymore, being professional, and the whole goal was to flip Weber out of the arena.*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Tánshè then drove Weber in circles, missing with its flip, but still tricked Weber into firing its own weapon. Tánshè then flicked Weber over, against the arena wall, and pinned it in place to prevent Weber from self-righting properly. Weber was eventually able to self-right, but the quicker Tánshè machine caught up to the fleeing Weber, and threw it into a different arena wall, almost out of the arena entirely. Weber self-righted, but was stuck on the spikes at the side of the arena, and in the final ten seconds of the fight, Tánshè carried Weber over to the corner of the arena where robots could be flipped out for an immediate knockout, and managed to throw Weber onto the lip of this wall, but did not manage to flip it out. As a result, Tánshè was sent to its first Judges' decision, in a match which greatly impressed Sa Beining.

"*This is a fight between masters. I'm telling you it's really high level. Wonderful. Both of the catapults are masters.*"
— Sa Beining praises Tánshè and Weber for their performance

Though Weber had started strong - and Zhang Yishan was praised by co-presenter Wang Cong for enabling this match to happen - Tánshè was declared to won the decision. As a result, the Russian machine was eliminated from the competition.

"*We were, of course we were sad. But on the other hand, we were happy, because Tánshè was really powerful enemy, and you know, it's very good to fight.*"
— Alan Gubiev of Weber Robotics, praising Tánshè

**Winner: Tánshè**

### Tungsten (Zheng Shuang) vs ORBY Blade (Wu Chun)

#### Robot Selections

"*I've always believed that Tungsten can be a very powerful robot. It's designed and built by champions.*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Following her first victory, Zheng Shuang became the next 'actioner' manager, quietly selecting Team Carbide's vertical spinner Tungsten. Despite its powerful weapon and the team's championship-winning experience on *Robot Wars*, Wu Chun insisted that the UK competitor was 'not the strongest'. Sa Beining expressed that challenging Tungsten would not be the right choice for him to make at this point, a sentiment shared by Zhang Yishan.

Chun was the only manager to challenge Shuang as a result, pleased at not having to face Spectre or Sandstorm. He took the opportunity to use powerful South Korean horizontal spinner ORBY Blade, referring to its destructive performance against Dragon King in the Challenger Round.

#### Combat

While both robots spun up their rotating weapons, Tungsten immediately tried to take advantage of its quicker spin-up time, and aimed for the back end of ORBY Blade, forcing the South Korean machine to flee. Tungsten then attacked the side of ORBY Blade's spinning bar, and sent the robot reeling away. Tungsten followed this up with another direct blow to ORBY Blade's spinner, which left the robot lifeless upon landing. Nevertheless, Tungsten attempted to ensure its victory, and struck the motionless bar spinner of ORBY Blade to throw the whole robot 1.35m into the air. ORBY Blade was completely immobilized as a result, and the robot was counted out while Zheng Shuang fired the smokescreen in front of Team ORBY. Tungsten won the battle by knockout.

"*So we've got a lot of confidence in Tungsten, that they have got some power and hopefully some other teams will start to respect that now.*"
— Dave Moulds

**Winner: Tungsten**

### Ninja (Sa Beining) vs Polar Opposite (Wu Chun)

This battle was one of two to be relegated to short highlights, serving as a rematch between the two following their celebrity head-to-head in Episode 6. Sa Beining was randomly selected as the 'actioner' manager in this instance.

Footage suggested that both halves of Polar Opposite were initially as aggressive as in the prior encounter, with Positive Charge again upending Ninja with a few powerful drives. However, both segments were overturned mid-fight, while Ninja landed more accurate attacks with its mace. At one point, Paul Streeter's machine pushed Negative Charge over a floor ejector, resulting in both robots being turned over simultaneously. Ninja was declared the winner onscreen, avenging its prior loss to Polar Opposite and marking Wu Chun's second consecutive defeat.

**Winner: Ninja**

### Earth Mover (Wu Chun) vs Blue (Zheng Shuang)

"*Wu Zun, who has lost a good soldier, selected Bulldozer to fight with Blue from Zheng Shuang's team. Can he win?*"
— Wang Tao (Mech+ subtitles)

In the aired highlights, Earth Mover was suggested to dominate at first by getting underneath, pushing and flipping Blue over. Blue self-righted quickly, and retaliated by axing the top of Earth Mover several times, removing a piece of decorative armor from the top of the ACE team machine. Both robots survived to a Judges' decision, which ruled in favor of Blue and Bots FC.

**Winner: Blue**

### Formula (Sa Beining) vs Spectre (Zheng Shuang)

#### Robot Selections

As the next 'actioner', Sa Beining confidently nominated Formula as the robot his challengers needed to face. Wu Chun and Zheng Shuang accepted the challenge with Great White and Spectre respectively, the former for the second time this round. Awed by the strength of the potential lineups, Zhang Yishan decided to take a 'break', so that he did not risk having Two BBQ or Vulcan get damaged.

At this point, Chun revealed that Steven Martin was 'somewhat confident' about Great White facing Formula, but 'very afraid' of fighting the similarly-armed Two BBQ. Shuang doubted that Formula would be powerful enough to challenge the reigning *King of Bots* champion, though not while admitting that she did not consider which robot would be the best counter to Team Precision's machine.

"*Shadowhunter's performance in previous games has stunned all the people. He's bitten White Tiger badly. And has bitten my Lieutenant Bam causing a lot of damage. So I am still afraid of him.*"
— Sa Beining on Spectre (Mech+ subtitles)

Sa Beining addressed Spectre's earlier performances in the series along with its championship-winning run in *King of Bots* Season 1. Highlights of its attacks on Chiyung Jinlun, White Tiger Guardian and Lieutenant Bam followed, as Beining weighed his thoughts on it and Great White. While 'afraid' of Spectre, Beining was more comfortable facing the Australian entry, especially since the *This is Fighting Robots* version had not been thoroughly 'tested' beyond its Challenger Round victory.

When prompted by David to make a decision, Beining consulted his 'investigation report', highlighting that Formula should not battle against Great White, and that there was 'no guarantee' of success against Spectre. A 'very scared' Andy Hibberd, however, openly preferred Spectre anyway, as he believed that Team Precision could 'get more control over it' and be able to last longer in combat.

Hibberd and Letitia Steer repeatedly called Spectre's name in the pits, though this confused Beining as he had limited understanding of its spoken English identity. However, after a moment's hesitation, he selected Spectre to fight Formula, tricking Wu Chun in the process.

"*Although I am afraid of Shadowhunter, the world class excellent robot, I trust my teammate. This support comes from my investigation report.*"
— Sa Beining (Mech+ subtitles)

Going into this battle, Shuang believed that Beining would win, though Team Spectre's Grant Cooper remained optimistic given his machine's prior experience at succeeding against similarly-designed robots. Gabriel Stroud felt that Spectre had a '75% chance' of winning, while Brian Nave anticipated a 'tough fight' given its status as *King of Bots* champion.

#### Combat

"*When I was standing in the arena, looking at Spectre on the other side, I was very nervous. Spectre has a reputation for destroying machines and could do a lot of damage to Formula.*"
— Andy Hibberd

The two robots drew towards and smacked into one another initially, with Formula momentarily getting underneath Spectre, but not far enough to use its flipper. This occurred several more times after, with Formula chasing and momentarily getting underneath its opponent using its more effective wedge, but without making any meaningful attacks with its weapon.

This stalemate ended a few seconds later though, as Formula finally got underneath Spectre properly, and flung it into the air, with the force of the flip knocking Formula over as well. As both robots self-righted, they made another charge towards one another, neither getting underneath the other this time. After spending a few more seconds driving around its opponent, Spectre made a charge that sent it straight up Formula's wedge. Formula responded by throwing Spectre through the air, causing it to land upside down onto the electric saws.

With the saws clearly impeding Spectre's ability to self-right, Formula took the opportunity to drive around and position itself behind the inverted Team Robo Challenge machine. Thus, when Spectre finally re-righted itself, it landed on and was promptly tossed back over by Formula, to the jubilation of Letitia Steer and Sa Beining, among others.

"*With the changes they made, they have more weight on the front of the robot - really sharp front edges - and we realized there was absolutely no way of getting under the front of it. So, that made it very difficult from there on.*"
— Grant Cooper acknowledges Formula's advantage on ground clearance

Landing upside down again, Formula put more pressure onto Spectre by pushing it towards the maces and flinging it into them, causing it to bounce off, successfully keeping Spectre inverted. Formula wasted no time in pushing Spectre around some more, and eventually got in a powerful flip that lifted Spectre over 1.2 meters into the air. However, this flip caused Spectre to finally land on its wheels again. As Spectre tried yet again to get a grip on Formula, the latter answered by throwing Spectre onto its back yet another time.

Formula then proceeded to push Spectre into the corner in an attempt to send it out of the arena, but was unsuccessful after choosing the wrong angle. The silver machine landed back on its wheels and started giving chase to Formula. Formula's elastics which allow its flipper to close had become damaged, as the weapon seemed unable to retract fully by this point. This enabled Spectre to finally get underneath Formula, but it was unable to get its crusher into play as Formula managed to escape. Some time passed before Formula's flipper was finally able to close properly.

Making a final charge, Spectre bounced off of Formula, momentarily exposing its back end which allowed Formula to flip it one final time. Throughout the battle, where Spectre's self-righting mechanism became damaged through repeated flips and contact with the arena saws, Spectre ultimately proved unable to self-right. Team Precision and Sa Beining celebrated as Spectre was subsequently counted out, eliminating the *King of Bots* Season 1 champion and breaking its once unbeaten winning streak.

After the fight, Brian Nave shared his and the Yellow team's 'relief' at Spectre being defeated, which spared them of facing Zheng Shuang's most 'dangerous and feared' competitors again. Zhang Yishan criticized Shuang for sending Spectre into combat, noting that Formula turned out to be difficult to attack and had a generally lower ground clearance as a result of its pre-match modifications. A crestfallen Shuang admitted Spectre's weakness against flippers, regretting her 'mistake' at not assessing this beforehand, and considering Formula an 'enemy' from that point.

"*We've won most of our fights throughout our career, and sometimes you have to lose, and this was one of those times, so... as long as we work on it and improve now, then, we said, that's all that matters. So, we wish her all the best of luck, and just keep making the right decisions. Do everything properly, and hopefully, we can... our team can still win!*"
— Grant Cooper to Zheng Shuang after being eliminated

Of the other teams delighted at Spectre's loss, none were more so than Team Xiake. Zheng Jianfeng considered this moment the 'sunshine' for his team's machine going forward, but at the same time acknowledged that he needed to devise a strategy to counter the 'more powerful' Formula.

**Winner: Formula**

### Red River Hong (Wu Chun) vs Two BBQ (Zhang Yishan)

#### Robot Selections

As 'actioner', Wu Chun quickly chose drum spinner Red River Hong to fight, considering it a more 'reliable' and battle-hardened option. The recently-victorious Sa Beining had no additional robots to select, but felt that Zhang Yishan was able to challenge alongside Zheng Shuang.

Sandstorm (Shuang) and Two BBQ (Yishan) were the other two machines nominated. Ironically, Two BBQ's Song Peng was hoping for Yishan to not select his robot for combat, as he wished to fight an international competitor upon its return to the arena. Chun considered Sandstorm his 'idol', and sensed that Yishan would want to fight him anyway. Two BBQ was chosen, to Peng's apprehension and the surprise of Red River Hong's captain Cao Yu, who anticipated a 'difficult' match.

#### Combat

While both robots powered up their spinners, Red River Hong suffered early issues with its drum. This compelled Cao Yu to change its strategy and use its tough armor to wear Two BBQ's weapon down.

"*After [the] battle started, I found our weapon was not very stable. So we had to change the strategy. We tried to use our hard shell to block [Two BBQ's] weapon, then find a chance... to break it in pieces.*"
— Cao Yu, contextualizing Red River Hong's early struggle

As such, Red River Hong was directionless in its drive, driving in odd angles before eventually driving its side directly into Two BBQ's blade, and was thrown over. Two BBQ followed this up, punching Red River Hong backwards. This prompted Red River Hong to flee again, but a devastating hit from Two BBQ threw Red River Hong 1.49 meters into the air, straight towards the corner of the arena. Wu Chun activated the spray hazard in front of the Two BBQ team to obscure their vision, which caused Two BBQ to drive around aimlessly. Two BBQ missed with its charges as a result, until it finally overturned Red River Hong with its wedge. A follow-up attack allowed the former to use its wedge a second time to fling Red River Hong into the air.

However, when Red River Hong landed, its drum collided with one of Two BBQ's wedges, ripping it from the robot. Relatively unfazed, Two BBQ struck the back of Red River Hong, and then punched its drum to push the robot back. While using 'gyro-dancing' to right itself, Red River Hong instead brought its top panel directly into Two BBQ's spinner, but despite its lack of direction when attempting to leave the corner of the arena, Red River Hong was still surviving.

"*He's badly beaten. And then I was starting to worry.*"
— Wu Chun, as Red River Hong is left in the arena corner following Two BBQ's onslaught

Red River Hong coasted into Two BBQ, flipping over and slamming its baseplate into the vertical bar spinner. This had the effect of causing Two BBQ's weapon belt to loosen from its mountings, while Sa Beining was anticipating a certain knockout win for it. Seconds later, Red River Hong 'gyro-danced' and slammed its left side panel into Two BBQ, causing the belt to sever completely.

This afforded Red River Hong a chance to strike, hitting and stopping Two BBQ's bar spinner using its drum. Red River Hong then crashed into the front of Two BBQ, using its drum to throw it over. Two BBQ could still run inverted, and slammed into the mace to try and self-right, but landed the same way up again. On its path to another mace, Red River Hong intercepted Two BBQ's charge and knocked it into the air. Upon landing, Two BBQ was left leaning against the mace mount, pinned on its spinner and its one remaining wedge. Two BBQ was counted out, and Red River Hong spun in circles to celebrate its surprise victory.

"*At that moment, nobody said anything, nobody looked at each other, nobody dared to look around, including Zhang Yishan. That's the result of showing off. It's like having to say sorry to everyone.*"
— Song Peng, recounting the moment Two BBQ was eliminated

Song Peng openly expressed guilt at Two BBQ's defeat, though Zhang Yishan later reassured the team that they did a 'very good job' based on its performance earlier in the fight.

**Winner: Red River Hong**

### Cat King (Zheng Shuang) vs Great White (Wu Chun)

#### Robot Selections

Once again chosen as the 'actioner', Zheng Shuang still had three 'super powerful' robots available - Sandstorm, Megabyte and Cat King. By contrast, Zhang Yishan and Wu Chun were reduced to one each: Vulcan and Great White respectively.

**Zheng Shuang**: "*Because there're so many unexpected thing happening during the battle, sometimes it's really hard to say who's going to win.*"
**Sa Beining**: "*Right. You can only do the most sure thing - relatively most sure thing.*"
**Zheng Shuang**: "*Yes. So this time my choice is...* "
— As Zheng Shuang selects her penultimate competitor

Though later admitting her preference for Sandstorm, Shuang quietly selected Cat King, believing it to be a 'relatively weak' machine. This decision still pleased Team Bad Kitty's Martin Mason, who was prepared to accept any challenger.

As focus was redirected towards the other eligible managers, Chun advised Yishan to 'wait' before bringing Vulcan into combat, though both would accept the challenge regardless. It became clear that neither wanted to face Megabyte, at which point Shuang felt that Cat King would not be in a 'dominant position' should it face the Team Robots Live! competitor. On that basis, Shuang chose Great White as her opponent, setting up a clash between the American and Australian vertical spinners.

"*...Cat King was a weak robot and that it wouldn't work, and we were very excited and we just really wanted to get into the arena.*"
— Steven Martin

Like Shuang, Great White's Steven Martin felt that Cat King would be a 'weak' opponent. Further substantiating this belief, Gabriel Stroud estimated prior to the battle that Great White had a 70% chance of winning.

#### Combat

"*As soon as we got into the battle, they used the smokescreen in front of us. And then after that, two more big hits and the robot was on the side of the arena. But it all happened so quickly, and Cat King worked really really well. It was all over before I really knew what was happening!*"
— Steven Martin of Great White, reflecting on the battle

When Zheng Shuang issued the challenge with Cat King, Wu Chun once again responded by choosing Great White, while Zhang Yishan chose Vulcan. Zheng Shuang accepted Great White as her opponent. While both robots powered up their vertical spinners, Zheng Shuang immediately placed the fog in front of Great White's team, obscuring their vision. Cat King capitalized on this by charging straight into Great White's wedge, throwing the machine high into the air, and causing Great White to bounce into the arena wall. Cat King held Great White in the corner of the arena, and targeted the back end of the machine, throwing sparks. With a bigger attack, Cat King then rocketed Great White into the angled plexiglass wall - right in front of Steven Martin.

Great White landed inverted, and its spinner made repeated hits on the floor until Great White was finally righted. Both robots met weapon-to-weapon, while Great White's minibot Remora repeatedly missed Cat King. Great White and Cat King hit each other face on twice, knocking both robots back equally, but the second contact caused Great White's weapon belt to slip. Immediately afterwards, Cat King drove under Great White, and threw it over the wall in the corner of the arena, for a victory by ring-out. Cat King celebrated by hitting Remora, and claimed a surprise knockout victory on behalf of Zheng Shuang.

"*It's true. "If the tiger isn't angry, don't take him as Hello Kitty." Cat King say, "That's right, I am the Hello Kitty."*"
— Wang Tao, as Cat King shuffles around in triumph

Thrilled for his American compatriots, John Mladenik praised this battle as potentially 'the most amazing fight' he had seen up to this point. Wu Chun, though quick to reassure the Great White team, felt disappointed about their machine's relatively quick exit from the competition.

"*Cat King had shown its power, and we've shown every team what we're capable of! Now the other teams will be properly afraid of us, when it came their turn to face Cat King!*"
— Martin Mason

**Winner: Cat King**

### Vulcan (Zhang Yishan) vs Megabyte (Zheng Shuang)

#### Robot Selections

Zheng Shuang and Zhang Yishan both had at least one robot remaining, so were automatically chosen to fight each other. As Yishan only had Vulcan remaining, he was given the choice between Megabyte and Sandstorm as his last opponent.

A number of changes were also applicable to the arena hazards. Usage of the spray hazard by managers was disallowed, while others - including the floor ejectors and hammers - were operated on an automatic timer-based system.

Yishan felt both of Shuang's options to be 'powerful'; Sandstorm for its speed, agility and low profile, and Megabyte for its prior championship successes. Beining cunningly requested not to let Megabyte advance without a fight. Chun, meanwhile, believed Sandstorm to not be aggressive enough to counter Vulcan's relentless axe blows. As Chun brought up Megabyte, Beining interjected by suggesting that Vulcan's axe was only an 'auxiliary attacking tool', compared to its heavily-armored front wedge. By using the wedge to 'shovel' and deflect Megabyte, Beining assured Yishan that Vulcan could potentially defeat the American machine.

**Sa Beining**: "*I think you should beat Megabyte.*"
**Zhang Yishan**: "*Really?*"
**Sa Beining**: "*Even if you die, you die with vigor and vitality.*"
— As the team managers discuss Vulcan's chances

After a period of hesitation, Yishan finally settled on Megabyte, tearing up the paper files he had previously collated on his opponents' strengths and weaknesses. This surprised both John Mladenik and Team Relentless, the decision allowing Sandstorm to automatically qualify for the Top 13 stage.

"*If we lose, then we're going to be down to one robot. So, I have no other option. I have to go in there and I have to win this!*"
— Alan Young prepares for battle

#### Combat

"*So during the fight, we would've liked to use the axe a lot more, but unfortunately one of the hits made a pipe came out, so we lost all of our gas, so we had no axe for the rest of the fight. I started to get very nervous about the arena weapons... and where I was in the arena.*"
— Alan Young on the first impact of the match

While Megabyte powered up its spinner, Vulcan missed on its charge, failing to cease the shell spinner. When Vulcan caught up to Megabyte, it was thrown aside by the powerful spinner, the impact damaging part of the UK machine's pneumatics and rendering its axe inoperable. Megabyte lingered in the corner of the arena, and Vulcan rammed it, causing Megabyte to bounce off the arena wall, and under the arena hammer, which landed on top of Megabyte's shell. This caused no significant damage, and Megabyte's blades pushed Vulcan aside on its next attack. Both robots met face-to-face, and Megabyte rebounded away from Vulcan, failing to gain purchase on the arena floor until it slid back into the wall. In a series of collisions, Megabyte struck the wedge of Vulcan, bounced into a solid piece of wall next to the mace, and ended up on Vulcan's wedge, allowing Vulcan to push Megabyte into the arena wall, while it was at a low spinning speed. On this impact, a bolt sheared from Megabyte, significantly compromising the functionality of its shell spinner.

"*Yeah, we were just in the corner there, and, so that's when that mass is spinning like that, there's no 'driveability'. At that point, I thought we had the fight.*"
— John Mladenik of Robotic Destruction Company

Megabyte spun up once again, but struck the wedge of Vulcan, and due to the sheared bolt, Megabyte's shell did not spin again after this impact. Vulcan pushed Megabyte into the mace, and then held it against the arena wall. Megabyte briefly wedged under Vulcan and escaped, but Vulcan caught up and rammed it again. A similar impact took place again, and allowed Megabyte to drive under Vulcan, but lose its purchase. After this, Megabyte drove straight over the floor ejector, and was immediately turned over with no self-righting capability. Vulcan made no further movements until the referee counted Megabyte out of the battle, and out of the competition.

In the post-battle sequence, John Mladenik presented a weapon controller similar to the one which malfunctioned following Megabyte's wall deflections. A thrilled Alan Young and Zhang Yishan embraced each other in celebration, the former lifting and bouncing Yishan upwards opposite Team Robots Live's control area.

"*Actually, I'm not qualified to blame [Megabyte] about lack of performance or [a] mistake. Because from the very beginning it was up to me to make the decisions. Sometimes unless you're very lucky, this kind of mistake can't be corrected.*"
— Zheng Shuang (Mech+ subtitles, edited)

Later on, Zheng Shuang congratulated Yishan on his victory, while at the same time feeling that she would have been better off swapping Megabyte and Spectre's turns. Yishan similarly felt that a fight with Tánshè would have allowed Spectre to progress. Despite Shuang's guilt over having made a crucial error at the early stage of the 1v1s, John Mladenik absolved her of blame in addressing Megabyte's weapon issues.

**Winner: Vulcan**

## Eight-Robot Rumble

"*Robot fighting is not only the cruel blood exchange, it can also warm your heart by making up the regrets. Now you will have a chance to make robots revive.*"
— CH0329 introduces the Rumble

Following the 1v1s, all team managers returned to the pits to be greeted by a number of roboteers who had already been eliminated in previous stages. This set up the selection process for the eight-robot **Rumble** (also dubbed the **Revive battle**), which required each manager to select two robots to compete in the largest match of the series.

"*I don't expect anything from the revive battle. I can't imagine how eight robots can fight hard in such a small cage with all the flames and broken pieces.*"
— Sa Beining

Similarly to the celebrity-driven battles, any two robots could be chosen, regardless of which team manager they had previously fought for. The Rumble itself ran to an extended duration of seven minutes. Only one robot would be deemed victorious, allowing it to be automatically reinstated for the Top 13 stage.

The process for ordering robot selections was determined by a series of numbered cards labelled '1' through '4'. Sa Beining, picking card '1', was thus the first to make his selections, both of which had previously competed for him on the Yellow team. Beining also notably encouraged Zhang Yishan to pick Spectre, gifting the *King of Bots* champion a chance at redemption.

The competitor robots selected were as follows:

### Anchor and Shield vs Golden Hoops vs Lieutenant Bam vs Megabyte vs Polar Opposite vs Spectre vs Two BBQ vs Wrecker

"*A Rumble with eight competitors and it is... it's, it's crazy. Robot rumble for seven minutes? I mean, it's a tough thing...*"
— John Mladenik

During pre-battle preparations, Two BBQ, Lieutenant Bam and Spectre were all shown to test their weapons, drive and/or self-righting mechanisms in the arena. John Mladenik highlighted that Megabyte was only designed to run for a regular three-minute bout, while Grant Cooper welcomed the 'exciting' change from regular head-to-head or three/four-way matches. Golden Hoops' captain assured that he didn't see 'any threat' to his own machine, maintaining the confidence expressed in earlier matches.

Once the Rumble started, most team pairings split up to attack individual opponents. The only exception was the pairing for Wu Chun's team, with Wrecker pushing its minibot towards Polar Opposite as part of a counterattack against Lieutenant Bam's swinging arm. Meanwhile, Spectre pursued Golden Hoops and engaged in a pushing match with Wrecker, as Megabyte proceeded to target and send Anchor and Shield pinballing into the top-right corner. The latter sent sparks and debris flying from Anchor and Shield, which was rendered immobile as a result of Megabyte's early attack.

"*In just a few seconds into the Rumble, we knocked out Sailor, which was amazing. It's exactly what we wanted to do and then, we moved on.*"
— John Mladenik, following Megabyte's initial onslaught on Anchor and Shield

Megabyte continued its destructive streak by flinging Positive Charge across the arena and into Spectre, removing the former's left wheel in the process. This occurred just as Lieutenant Bam slammed arm-first into Positive Charge, the green UK machine also being lifted and spun round by the collision just as Two BBQ charged in. Golden Hoops, struggling to get its translational drift-based hammer weapon to good effect, bounced over a discarded belt before getting buffeted and flipped over by Megabyte. In the background, Lieutenant Bam, Spectre and Two BBQ briefly sized each other up, albeit without trading any significant blows. Wrecker and Negative Charge continued to stay clear of the action at this point.

"*Careful! Megabyte is very aggressive.*"
— Xiao Cang as Megabyte rips off Two BBQ's wedgelet

Another damaging hit from Megabyte saw it remove one of Two BBQ's front wedgelets. Prior to this, Two BBQ drove up the front of Spectre, leaving it vulnerable as Spectre shoved it back into Lieutenant Bam. However, the bar spinner on Two BBQ removed Spectre's right tooth and caused further damage to its crushing jaw, which remained closed after this attack. As a result, Spectre suffered an electronics failure after surviving more light blows from Two BBQ and maneuvering towards one of the floor ejectors. The defending *King of Bots* champion lost mobility entirely and began smoking, making it the second robot to be eliminated, much to the anguish of its former manager Zheng Shuang.

"*During that time, we were pushing them across the arena. James [Cooper] closed the jaw on Two BBQ's weapon, which was probably a bad idea in hindsight. Then, their disc just went straight through our teeth. Took the teeth off and caused some damage to the head, which ultimately lead to an electronics failure inside the machine.*"
— Grant Cooper's breakdown of Spectre's attack and subsequent immobilization

Wrecker, still lurking in the background, was targeted and thrown onto its back by Two BBQ. The impact sent Team Nightmare's machine skidding scoop-first into the spinning Megabyte, after which it was no longer mobile.

**Wang Tao**: "*Wow! My goodness! Wrecker is flying.*"
**Xiao Cang**: "*He can't move... Megabyte [has] hit many robots.*"
**Wang Tao**: "*Megabyte is really unbeatable. He's playing a big role here.*"
— As Two BBQ and Megabyte emerge as the most destructive competitors

Another shower of sparks flew as Megabyte hit and spun the partially-mobile Positive Charge into the spike strip, removing the latter's wedge, before Lieutenant Bam valiantly drove towards and up the Robotic Destruction Company machine's spinning shell. Negative Charge rammed Lieutenant Bam near the maces before the two machines took on Megabyte once more. Zheng Shuang cheered Megabyte on as it hurled Positive Charge towards the spikes and maces, by which point the internals of the latter had begun to smoke and spark.

"*Megabyte had hit Golden Hoop a number of times and it was still movin'... it didn't make sense! It was like magic! Yeah, don't know what was happening there.*"
— John Mladenik's surprise at Golden Hoops' durability

Unrelenting, Megabyte caused damage to Golden Hoops and Lieutenant Bam, removing a tire tread from the former. While Lieutenant Bam and Two BBQ were suffering drive issues – the former having one of its tracks shredded completely - Golden Hoops retained full mobility, a matter which took John Mladenik by surprise. The Wukong team, however, were satisfied that the US entry was receiving internal damage through these collisions. As in its previous fight, Two BBQ also had the belt for its bar spinner severed, leaving it weaponless by the time Megabyte and Lieutenant Bam traded blows once again.

"*Lieutenant BAM, go beat him!*"
— Sa Beining, just before Lieutenant Bam tanks a blow from Megabyte

The collision deflected Lieutenant Bam and left its front wedge hanging askew. Harry Lloyd's machine persevered, lowering its arm and using it to momentarily scrape the side of Megabyte's shell. Megabyte responded with more hits to Lieutenant Bam's wedge and left side. However, while trying to line up a side-on attack on the ailing Two BBQ, Megabyte suddenly lost drive, having slowed down noticeably as the Rumble progressed.

**Wang Tao**: "*Can Lieutenant advance? What is Megabyte thinking? This game is terrible.*"
**Xiao Cang**: "*Can he still fight?*"
**Wang Tao**: "*The longest distance in the world is: You're just in front of me, but I can't attack you.*"
— As Megabyte suddenly loses mobility

Amidst calls from Sa Beining and Zheng Shuang, Lieutenant Bam used this opportunity to steer itself towards Megabyte once again. Despite its drive issues, Harry Lloyd's machine used its lowered arm once more to strike its opponent's still-spinning shell multiple times.

Following Megabyte's immobilization, Golden Hoops began spinning up a few times to use its translation drift system. Prior to this, it engaged in a tentative scuffle with Negative Charge, which saw both robots trade very light blows with their weapons. An attempt by Golden Hoops to reach full rotational speed proved fruitless, as Negative Charge avoided the hammer and the Wukong team machine's system appeared to malfunction, with sparks flying from within Golden Hoops' body. Regardless, both were still considered mobile, as the referee ordered Robotic Destruction Company to spin down Megabyte's shell in light of its now-confirmed elimination. A crestfallen John Mladenik explained that his machine's downfall was traced to drivetrain issues, potentially resulting from the Rumble's extended duration.

"*Megabyte's drive died. What happened is that we lost a motor controller on one side, and we lost a motor on the other. But the spin motor and spin motor controller worked perfect. Got to say that's the longest fight Megabyte has ever survived. My heart fell. I knew we lost that fight.*"
— John Mladenik reflects on Megabyte's late immobilization

In the closing seconds, Negative Charge, Golden Hoops and Two BBQ were the only remaining competitors with signs of mobility. The former two proceeded to ram an already-eliminated Wrecker in unison, Golden Hoops' hammer having reached the red machine's side first. Golden Hoops marked the end of the Rumble by driving up Megabyte's shell one last time, though not without weathering a simultaneous last-second ram from Two BBQ.

"*After the seven minute melee of eight robots, there's only one place for the revive. Our rule is: Not being knocked out is the baseline, only those who survive have the chance to revive.*"
— Wang Cong

Prior to the Judges' decision being announced, a list of eliminated competitors was revealed by Wang Cong, confirming further knockout losses for Two BBQ and Lieutenant Bam despite the former's late attacks. Megabyte's immobilization also amounted to a KO loss, despite Zheng Shuang initially believing that it was still in contention for victory.

The final decision was thus between the multibot of Polar Opposite and the translational drift spinner of Golden Hoops. Polar Opposite was declared the Rumble winner, to the jubilation of the Positive and Negative team as well as their captain Wu Chun.

**Winner: Polar Opposite**

### Aftermath

Amongst the defeated team managers, Zhang Yishan's disbelief quickly faded to applause for his winning rival's machine. However, Polar Opposite's victory was initially challenged by Sa Beining, who asked the Judges to re-examine the battle footage out of the belief that Golden Hoops should have won. The head Judge, standing by the panel's verdict, explained that Golden Hoops was 'less precise' in its attacks and movements across the arena than Polar Opposite.

At that point, Beining explained that he believed Polar Opposite should have been knocked out, on the grounds of Positive Charge being immobilized by Megabyte. This went against the show's rules concerning multibots, which required all segments to be immobilized in order for the whole robot to be eliminated.

"*For the result, I can accept the victory of Polar Opposite. But later Mr. Sa started the questions to protect his team, I felt [it was] unfair too. I want to know why Jingu Bang is qualified to speak. Because from the point of view of the audience and the referees, he's not the best. His performance can't even compare with Megabyte. You protect your robot, then I will speak for mine too.*"
— Zheng Shuang (Mech+ subtitles, edited)

Zheng Shuang, while supporting Polar Opposite's victory, questioned why Beining should be allowed to protest the Judges' decision on Golden Hoops' behalf. On this basis, she made a similar objection to Megabyte's elimination, despite Robotic Destruction Company accepting that their machine was already immobile.

In response to Shuang's query, the lead Judge explained their definition of movement, stating that robots needed to maneuver in a '3-meter displacement' across the arena to avoid a 10-second countout. Replays of Megabyte's performance included clips of the machine being counted out, again confirming that it was unable to meet this requirement. Commending its 'very brave' performance up until that point, the head Judge reiterated that Megabyte would have likely won if it had maintained full mobility to the end. In response, Shuang politely accepted the Judges' reasoning on this matter.

However, Beining was still unsatisfied, requesting the Judges to rewatch the final ten seconds of the Rumble, where he believed Golden Hoops showed 'better' mobility than Polar Opposite's remaining segment. Wu Chun briefly considered giving his own explanation to Beining, but felt that it would only make the situation 'more confusing'. While supporting the idea of rewatching the fight, Zheng Shuang 'completely disagreed' with Beining's rationale, owing to Golden Hoops' relatively passive and less damaging performance throughout.

In assessing their original verdict, the panel of Judges watched footage of the full seven-minute fight 'two or three times', thus rendering a further rewatch unnecessary. The head Judge suggested a review or correspondence with the show's co-presenters, at which point Shuang vehemently requested to a member of production staff for the managers to watch the footage themselves.

As the four managers conferred, Shuang insisted that she agreed with the initial result, but would not accept a victory for Golden Hoops. While Zhang Yishan felt that Golden Hoops was proactive in attempting to find other robots to attack, he admitted that he was more focused on its specific efforts than those of other competitors.

Eventually, the judging panel re-reviewed the entire Rumble footage once more. Though neither Polar Opposite nor Golden Hoops did 'an excellent job' according to the head Judges, footage showed both the Positive Charge and Negative Charge segments pushing and ramming the latter at various moments. This substantiated the Judges' view that Polar Opposite was consistently more engaged and efficient in attacking other robots, in direct comparison to the 'slow' and aimless movements of Golden Hoops. The team managers - even Beining - accepted this thorough and 'fair' assessment.

Thus, by 'a narrow margin', Polar Opposite's victory stood, enabling the multibot to rejoin Wu Chun's team ahead of the final competition stages.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1611392145742610433

## Trivia

* This was the longest episode of the series to date, at over 1 hour and 38 minutes.