Pixel Hunter

**像素侠** (romanized as **Xiàngsù xiá**, translated as **Pixel Hunter**) was a Chinese competitor robot which competed in Season 2 of *King of Bots*. Armed with an asymmetrical bar spinner, it enjoyed a successful start to the season, being selected by Tao Shen in the opening episode and achieving one knockout victory against biped robot The Martian. However, it then lost its next fight after being stranded by Tánshè and was eliminated from the competition when Tao Shen was required to cut one of his losing robots.

## Design

Pixel Hunter was an invertible, green and yellow robot with four-wheel drive and a low profile. This profile was achieved by each of its wheels being mounted in separate drive pods (green), attached on either side of a larger weapons pod in the center (yellow). Pixel Hunter's main weapon was a large red asymmetrical bar spinner, mounted horizontally inside the yellow pod, which could rotate at up to 2,000rpm.

A concept image of Pixel Hunter, shown during the draw for its first battle, featured a pixelated figure on the robot's top panel, although this was substituted on the completed machine with a circular white panel featuring the aforementioned figure.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Pixel Hunter made its *King of Bots* debut in Episode 1 of Season 2, where it was selected by Tao Shen for the first round of head-to-head battles. There, it was drawn to face biped robot The Martian.

Pixel Hunter began very tentatively as it initially struggled to get its spinner operational. Eventually, Pixel Hunter got its weapon rotating, slowly moving its way across the arena to land two successive blows on The Martian's 'feet'. Pixel Hunter drove around, reversed into and spun away from The Martian, but did not follow up its early attacks for some time.

Eventually, Pixel Hunter approached The Martian once more, unaffected by the latter's attempt to swing its flails down on top of it. In response, it hit The Martian's right 'foot', sending the white and red machine tumbling down onto the floor. Pixel Hunter's involvement from this point onwards was limited, as it turned away and hesitated while The Martian twice demonstrated its self-righting capabilities. Its spinner soon slowed and stopped rotating; while The Martian fought the flamethrower drone, Pixel Hunter sluggishly crept across the arena in an apparent attempt to return to the blue corner. As the referee eventually counted out The Martian due to its prolonged immobility, Pixel Hunter returned to check on its soon-to-be-defeated opponent, having secured its first victory via knockout. With this, it was the first robot to join Tao Shen's team during the early stages of the competition. It would later be joined by Big Carioca, Earth Shovel, Mr Hippo and Po Feng, the latter of whom would become the captain of Tao Shen's team.

Tao Shen's team were later drawn to fight Zhu Zheng Ting's team, and Pixel Hunter was selected to participate in a two-on-two fight alongside Mr Hippo, against Snake and Tánshè. Prior to the fight, Tao Shen also selected Pixel Hunter as one of two robots who would be up for elimination if his team lost, alongside Earth Shovel.

In the fight itself, Pixel Hunter was immediately targeted by Tánshè, driving straight over the top of its English opponent. However, its weapon briefly stalled after this attack and Pixel Hunter struggled to move properly, allowing Tánshè to push it towards the arena spikes before Mr Hippo intercepted, pushing Tánshè away into the grinders. Snake then wedged itself underneath both robots, allowing Tánshè to recover and attack Mr Hippo, whilst Pixel Hunter was pushed across the arena by Snake.

Although Pixel Hunter was able to get its weapon working again, it could not land an effective hit on Snake as it was pushed into the grinders. Pixel Hunter was then pushed by Snake to the other end of the arena, where it was struck by the arena hammer. Pixel Hunter tried to escape, only for Tánshè to block its path and push it back into the spikes, before flipping it up against them. Pixel Hunter was unable to free itself and was counted out, alongside the now immobile Mr Hippo, giving the win to Snake and Tánshè.

As Big Carioca had already lost its fight against Black Rabbit, this now meant that Tao Shen had lost the round and had to choose between eliminating one of his robots or gambling on Po Feng defeating Two BBQ and Switch on its own. Ultimately, Tao Shen chose to eliminate Pixel Hunter from the competition at this stage.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 1

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Tao Shen's first cut**(1-1 record)

## Trivia

* Pixel Hunter was the first newcomer to win a fight in *King of Bots II*.