Iron Barbie

**钢铁芭比** (romanized as **Gāngtiě bābǐ**, meaning **Steel Barbie**, also officially referred to as **Iron Barbie**), was a Chinese competitor robot which fought in Season 2 of *King of Bots*. Entered by a female-led team, Iron Barbie caught the attention of celebrity captain Tu Ziya, and fought against White Tiger Guardian and Twin Panthers for a place on her team, but was swiftly immobilized. It collected a victory over the Ghana representative Monster to rejoin the competition as part of Zhu Zheng Ting's team, but after too many robots joined this same team, Iron Barbie offered to leave Zhu Zheng Ting's roster, and was eliminated from the competition as a result.

## Design

Iron Barbie uses a design seemingly inspired by competitive flippers such as Tánshè, using a wide curved wedge, powered pneumatically to travel almost 180 degrees across the robot's length. Although the flipper was not particularly powerful, functioning as more of a lifter, it provided an excellent self-righting mechanism, and an effective wedge. The flipper was decorated by a red ribbon, and also featured two prongs at the front for a lower ground clearance, but the robot was lacking in top armor, which caused its internals to spill out during its first battle.

Iron Barbie's flipper was also interchangeable with a spiked axe head, firing in the same way as the lifting wedge, although it boasted very little power.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Iron Barbie made its *King of Bots* debut in Episode 2 of Season 2. Iron Barbie's female-led team resonated with the celebrity captain Tu Ziya, who nominated it to enter a three-way rumble against White Tiger Guardian and Twin Panthers on her behalf, using its flipper weapon.

"*Oh I like them so much, I hope you win, they're so great!*"
— Emma Dumont compliments the Iron Barbie team

At the start of the battle, Iron Barbie and White Tiger Guardian moved off the mark, as did the smaller half of Twin Panthers - the main body of Twin Panthers, meanwhile, did not move at all, and it was quickly counted out. White Tiger Guardian focused its attacks on Iron Barbie, which flailed its flipper about in response to the first blow. Strangely, the next time White Tiger Guardian was seen, it had ground to a halt in the center of the arena, and Iron Barbie charged into it, as did the recovered smaller half of Twin Panthers, but Iron Barbie missed with its lift, and White Tiger Guardian launched another sequence of attacks on Iron Barbie.

"*Come on girls, flip 'em!*"
— Emma Dumont encourages her opponent Iron Barbie to self-right

By the end of its barrage, White Tiger Guardian had thrown Iron Barbie onto its back, and Iron Barbie slid into the Grinders, which were not currently active. Although the Grinders turned on after this, Iron Barbie managed to self-right, with some encouragement from Emma Dumont. However, Iron Barbie opened its flipper again immediately after self-righting, which afforded White Tiger Guardian another opportunity to attack the side of Iron Barbie, hitting it into the side of the arena, where the spikes were lined.

"*Ooh, danger, danger!*"
— Emma Dumont

Iron Barbie struggled to recover from this attack, and only made small movements, while White Tiger Guardian's driver held back and waited to see if it was immobile. However, Iron Barbie was still capable of controlled movement, so White Tiger Guardian struck it from behind, causing a gas bottle and more to fall loose from Iron Barbie. This attack also caused Iron Barbie to lose drive on one side, and it could only turn in circles with its gas bottle hanging loose, until Iron Barbie spun so fast that its own damaged drive motor fell out of the machine. The referee completed his count, and Iron Barbie lost the battle, failing to join Tu Ziya's team.

Relegated to the redemption round, Iron Barbie was randomly selected to take part in one of the opening rounds, and was able to choose their opponent, selecting the Ghana representative Monster for their next battle. For the fight, Iron Barbie used its axe weapon instead of its flipper.

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 Iron Barbie and Monster 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, granting a knockout win to Iron Barbie. After the fight, the Iron Barbie team elected to join Zhu Zheng Ting's team.

However, not long after joining the team, Two BBQ and Snake also joined Zhu Zheng Ting's team, leaving the celebrity with six robots on his team. As he was only allowed to have five robots at this stage of the competition, the Iron Barbie team conceded that Two BBQ and Snake were more valuable assets to Zhu Zheng Ting's team, and they volunteered to leave. Zhu Zheng Ting accepted their proposal, and Iron Barbie was removed from his team. Although Iron Barbie could still be recruited by another celebrity at the end of the round, Iron Barbie was the only robot not to be selected, and it fell in the Redemption Rounds despite ending its campaign on a victory.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 1

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Eliminated in Redemption Round**(1-1 record)

## Trivia

* Iron Barbie is one of the only Chinese competitors which features an English "word" in its name, with Barbie being an American brand that inspired the robot's design.
* Iron Barbie and Excelsior were the only robots to fall in the Redemption Round of Season 2 despite winning their battles in that round.