King of Bots (Season 1)/Episode 3

Season 1 title card

**Episode 3 of *King of Bots* Season 1** aired on January 22 2018. It completed the first round of the competition, featuring nine head-to-head battles between robots making their televised debuts.

A subtitled English version of Episode 1 was introduced by Mech+ on November 3 2023, alongside similar translations of the two preceding episodes.

## Competing robots

* Blade Gyro
* Blue
* Chiyung Jinlun
* Crossfire
* EarthShaker
* Griffin
* Hunting Wind
* Ink Thorns
* Inverse Scales
* Juzi
* Knife Legend
* Scorpion
* Steel Dragon
* Stegodon α and Stegodon β
* Suspension
* The Grubs
* Whirlwind Cut
* WU66

## Battles

### Blue vs EarthShaker

Immediately, Blue strafed out of the blue square and into EarthShaker, but was pushed into the wall spikes by the latter after exposing its side. Blue bumped into EarthShaker, striking the latter’s top panel with its axe before reversing and strafing towards EarthShaker once again. After a few misses, it axed EarthShaker’s flipper as its opponent pushed back, sliding off EarthShaker seconds before the latter flipped itself over. Capitalising on EarthShaker’s mistake, Blue drove round and attempted to hammer its baseplate, pushing EarthShaker sideways as it self-righted.

Blue continued to strafe across the arena, at one point collecting EarthShaker from the side and striking it once again. It dodged another flip from EarthShaker as the latter got underneath and mistimed its attack, before hammering EarthShaker’s flipper twice more. However, EarthShaker quickly got underneath Blue again and tossed it into the air; Blue retracted its axe to say upright, landing back on its wheels near the blue square and losing a bolt from its axe head in the process. It recovered to axe EarthShaker’s flipper once again, but missed its next few axe blows, and was pushed sideways across the arena by EarthShaker before it could land its next blow. The two robots lingered near the grinders, but separated and eventually met again, with Blue again dodging a planned flip from EarthShaker before striking its flipper three more times.

Strafing, Blue axed EarthShaker yet again, only to be flipped onto its back by the latter. However, it immediately self-righted before striking EarthShaker’s top-right panel and getting lifted by the floor rods. Blue hit EarthShaker’s flipper once more, but was lifted by a floor flipper and thrown over by EarthShaker again, requiring it to self-right a second time. For the remainder of the battle, it kept strafing and attempting to hit EarthShaker again, but without success, and dodged one last flip from EarthShaker before time ran out. As both robots were still mobile, the battle went to a Judges’ decision – the decision ruled in favor of Blue, putting it through to the second round.

Winner: **Blue**

### Suspension vs WU66

"*Oh my gosh, this thing goes quite fast. We really didn't know what to expect.*"
— Sabrina Skilling on WU66

Suspension quickly slammed into the side of WU66, and controlled its movements while resisting its opponent's spinning bar. Sparks flew as WU66's bar skimmed the top of Suspension, but the British machine rolled WU66 into a Grinder, which took a second hit from the hazard by its own accord while Suspension tested its flamethrower. Suspension swiftly drove into the side of the fleeing WU66, and drove it back into the Grinder for further damage, although Suspension made a glancing contact with the hazard itself. Suspension proved unable to get its steep wedge under the ground clearance of WU66, but it pinned the Chinese representative against the arena wall, and survived one final blow from the bar spinner before rolling it against the arena spikes. WU66 had lost mobility, so Suspension retreated and earned its win via knockout.

"*It's one of the first ones we've won with this robot, so it's a good feeling. With the circuitry, that should be really easy to fix, but the fireworks looked cool, and the driving was good.*"
— Sabrina Skilling on the win against WU66

Winner: **Suspension**

### Griffin vs Juzi

"*I knew [Juzi] were a massive bar spinner, so I thought if I could get in quickly, I could just stop them spinning.*"
— Tom Lloyd explains his tactics against Juzi

In the opening seconds, Griffin turned away from its opponent and drove behind the flame jets, before reversing, turning and attempting to position itself for an attack on Juzi. In doing so, Griffin inadvertently exposed its side to Juzi, resulting in the latter’s spinner damaging the hydraulic mechanism for its crusher and disabling the weapon. The two competitors immediately separated, with Griffin pursuing and luring Juzi across the arena; eventually, it waited beside the far corner, before slamming head-on into Juzi. Griffin followed this up with a second head-on charge, but struggled for traction as it kept spinning over various arena hazards, seemingly unable to drive in a straight line. It stopped beside the floor rods, allowing Juzi to drive into its front and tear one of its forks off its hinges.

As before, Griffin pursued Juzi once the latter’s weapon stopped spinning, repeatedly bumping it in the process, but without being able to grab hold of it as a result of its beak being disabled. Eventually, it started spinning on the spot between the circular saws and flame jets, and continued to do so for the remainder of the battle as it tried to grab Juzi again. Time ran out, with the battle going to a Judges’ decision as a result of both robots remaining mobile. The decision went against Griffin, eliminating it from the competition; nevertheless, both teams congratulated, shook hands and hugged each other immediately after Ling Zhou announced the result.

"*The thing was wheel spinning and sliding all over the place! The shock of one of the first blows sheared the bolts mounting the weapon motor to the pump killing the weapon! We did get one chance to bite down but it was dead!*"
— Tom Lloyd

Winner: **Moment**

### Chiyung Jinlun vs Steel Dragon

Steel Dragon started tentatively, only driving out of the red square once it got its weapon up to speed. Steel Dragon drove into an approaching Chiyung Jinlun; the impact resulted in it lifting off the arena floor and having its shell buckled. As it landed on its wheels, Steel Dragon’s flails made contact with the top of Chiyung Jinlun, although this did not appear to damage its opponent as it shook and drove over the flame jets. The two competitors drove into each other again, with Steel Dragon sustaining another hit from Chiyung Jinlun’s drum and being pushed towards the grinders and the flame jets by the latter.

The damage to Steel Dragon’s shell resulted in it being unable to drive in a straight line; nevertheless, Steel Dragon spun its weapon up as Chiyung Jinlun drove into it. It was deflected towards one of the hammers as a result, which struck the top of Steel Dragon’s disc as it struggled to move away. Chiyung Jinlun pushed Steel Dragon into the wall spikes as the hammer fired again; by this point, the damage to Steel Dragon’s shell was enough to prevent it from driving away or getting its weapon spinning. With this, it was counted out, and eliminated from the competition via knockout.

Winner: **Chiyung Jinlun**

### Stegodon α and Stegodon β vs Whirlwind Cut

Whirlwind Cut initially avoided both parts of Stegodon α and Stegodon β to get its spinner up to speed, before smashing into the side of Stegodon β. The impact buckled part of the latter’s armor and caused several bolts to shear off. As both Stegodon robots drove slowly around in its vicinity, Whirlwind Cut slammed into Stegodon β again, tearing its left-hand side clean open; Stegodon β rolled slowly into the red square before stopping completely and beginning to smoke.

Stegodon α drove itself round in circles before crawling to a halt; Whirlwind Cut violently rammed into it, causing it to roll into one of the grinders, which tore one of its armor panels off. Stegodon α had also been left immobilized by this attack; it showed limited mobility before both it and Stegodon β were counted out. After the battle ended, an electrical fire developed inside Stegodon β, which was extinguished by a fire marshal as soon as the flames spread.

Winner: **Whirlwind Cut**

### Blade Gyro vs Scorpion

Scorpion quickly closed the gap between itself and the spinner in an effort to avoid damage, although it immediately became clear that Blade Gyro's weapon was not working, so after a period of chasing, Scorpion caught Blade Gyro on its wedge, and attempted to crush. However, Blade Gyro's armor proved more durable than Scorpion's own crusher, and Scorpion proceeded to buckle and damage its own weapon in its efforts to attack. It held Blade Gyro for a period, but stopped exerting pressure onto its weapon, and released its opponent.

Despite the damage sustained, Scorpion remained in the ascendancy, driving under Blade Gyro to push it into a Grinder after it was turned over by a floor flipper. Scorpion maintained its presence until, with forty seconds left on the clock, Blade Gyro revived its bar spinner. Scorpion fled from its newly threatening foe, until Blade Gyro slammed into the arena wall, and once again disabled its spinner. Sensing weakness, Scorpion closed the gap and lunged for Blade Gyro, but drove straight over a floor flipper, and was turned over with eighteen seconds left in the match. Despite its dominance, Scorpion was rendered immobile at the very end of the match, and was eliminated in the first round and Blade gyro went on through.

Winner: **Blade Gyro**

### Hunting Wind vs Inverse Scales

Immediately, Hunting Wind negotiated out of the blue square towards Inverse Scales, which hesitated before reversing into the wall spikes. In attempting to attack Inverse Scales, Hunting Wind swung itself off the floor with its first hammer blow, its hammer head touching Inverse Scales’ spinning weapon in the process. After retracting its hammer and gingerly approaching its opponent again, Hunting Wind was briefly pushed back by Inverse Scales, but responded by striking Inverse Scales’ top panel. A powerful ram on Inverse Scales ensued, before Hunting Wind hammered its left-front wheel.

In the later stages, it became apparent that Inverse Scales was struggling to turn round – it attempted to make two lunges at Hunting Wind, only to be hammered by the latter once again and sustain more damage to one of its top panels. With its control problems worsening, Inverse Scale shuttled back and forth across different parts of the arena, before becoming immobilized with seconds of the battle remaining. The resulting Judges’ decision went in favor of Hunting Wind.

Winner: **Hunting Wind**

### Crossfire vs The Grubs

In a battle between two robots from the United Kingdom, Crossfire manoeuvred out of the blue square, driving towards and past one of the floor flippers before proceeding to turn around in circles over the floor rods. Within the opening moments, the blue robot within The Grubs struggled to move, and was forced to disable its bar spinner. As Crossfire tried to turn and attack Chop of The Grubs, it repeatedly lifted its bottom castors off the floor, causing its entire weapon assembly to swivel in the process. It continued to pursue Chop, only to lift and hold its weapon assembly off the floor as it spun round on the spot. The weight of Crossfire’s weapon caused the whole robot to overbalance and manoeuvre towards the nearest floor flipper, while simultaneously exposing it to a side-on attack from Chop. The flipper threw both robots simultaneously, with Crossfire tipping onto one side before landing upright onto the flipper.

Immediately, the floor flipper threw Crossfire again, this time across the arena and into Mince, albeit not without its bar spinner tearing a chunk out of the flipper’s edge. The collisions with the floor and Mince broke the suspension of two of Crossfire’s ‘legs’, leaving it resting on its weapon assembly. With its rear wheels lifted off the floor, it was unable to drive any further; as a result, Crossfire was counted out and eliminated from the competition by knockout.

"*Aye, it was wonderful! We were dancing about in the arena, and… I guess we forgot that were meant to be fighting!*"
— Gary Cairns on Crossfire's impromptu pirouette

Winner: **The Grubs**

### Knife Legend vs Ink Thorns

Knife Legend immediately moved forwards from its starting position, facing away from Ink Thorn as it got its weapon up to speed. However, its sluggishness allowed Ink Thorn to get underneath and manoeuvre it across the center of the arena; Knife Legend responded by hitting Ink Thorns’ left-hand side, leaving a gash through the latter’s armor. The impact caused both robots to spin away and be left immobilized at opposite ends of the arena – in attacking Ink Thorns, Knife Legend had inadvertently short-circuited itself. With neither machine regaining mobility, the battle was stopped while a Judges’ decision took place. The Judges ruled Knife Legend victorious.

Winner: **Knife Legend**

## Trivia

* The show once again used footage from *Robot Wars* while introducing Suspension and The Grubs; *BattleBots* footage of Ian Watts' earlier machine Little Sister was also used for the latter's introduction.
	+ The introduction for The Grubs also contains an error regarding Team Big Brother's performance in *BattleBots*: although Little Sister won three championship battles and three Heavyweight rumbles between Seasons 3.0-4.0 (broadcast in 2001), it did not win the main Heavyweight Championship in either season, contrary to Watts' statement.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/Mech\_Plus/status/1720452598799409409
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/robotwars/comments/7s7jti/king\_of\_bots\_episode\_3\_official/dt2we6z/