King of Bots (Season 2)/Episode 3

Season 2 title card

The **third episode of *King of Bots* Season 2** aired on 21st July 2019. It saw the debut of twelve international competitors, vying to replace Chinese machines on existing celebrity teams.

The end of the episode also featured *Robo Genius*, an educational segment exploring different aspects of robot building and combat.

## Competing robots

### International robots

* Big Carioca (BRA)
* Cat King (USA)
* Excelsior (USA)
* Megabyte (USA)
* Monster (GHA)
* ORBY Blade (KOR)
* Rhino (GBR)
* Spectre (GBR)
* Switch (GBR)
* Tánshè (GBR)
* Vulcan (GBR)
* Yesaji (IND)

### Chinese robots

* Agate
* Cracked Sword
* Deep-Sea Shark
* Earth Shovel
* Iron Scrap
* Medusa
* Mist Lion
* Reaper
* Red River Bull
* Storm Cut
* White Tiger Guardian
* Xiake

## Setup

With all six celebrities filling their teams with three Chinese robots each, this episode introduced twelve robots from outside China, who were all competing for places on the teams. After each international team was selected, they would press a button to be randomly drawn against any of the robots which had already earned a place on a celebrity team. The international robot would then challenge the Chinese robot in a head-to-head battle, to steal their place on the team. If the international robot lost, the Chinese machine would retain its place on the team. A total of twelve battles then took place, dramatically changing the lineup of each celebrity team.

## Battles

### Spectre (GBR) vs White Tiger Guardian (CHN)

"*It's a shame, it looks like you've done a really good job on your machine this time around, and I'm just sorry to say that, uh... we'll be taking your place...!*"
— Grant Cooper on regrettably aiming to defeat White Tiger Guardian

When the battle started, Spectre made a zipline for White Tiger Guardian, whilst White Tiger Guardian circled around the arena and Spectre, in an effort to reach top speeds on its vertical spinner. However, White Tiger Guardian exposed its side to Spectre in the process, and a ram from Spectre turned it so that White Tiger Guardian's back end was placed on Spectre's wedge. This situation helped Spectre exponentially, and it pushed White Tiger Guardian into the arena wall while biting down on the back end of the Chinese machine. The bite from this attack disabled the rear end of White Tiger Guardian's drive system, and Spectre also slammed White Tiger Guardian's vertical spinner into the wall to try and stop the blade, although the weapon kept spinning, throwing sparks off the wall.

"*Run away, run away, run away!*"
— Emma Dumont shows her support to White Tiger Guardian

Spectre attempted to release its claw, but instead pulled White Tiger Guardian into the air completely, and Spectre brought it to the wall in an attempt to separate, but the two machines remained locked together. In a more powerful attempt, Spectre drove across the entire length of the arena with White Tiger Guardian at ground level again, only to be stopped by White Tiger Guardian's front prongs digging into the arena floor, causing both robots to crash in place, to Emma Dumont's horror. Spectre suspended White Tiger Guardian off the floor again, with the Chinese robot disabling its spinner in resignation, before Spectre slammed it into the Grinder, to the dismay of Emma Dumont who felt great sympathy for White Tiger Guardian.

"*Don't move, don't move, just stay, just stay...*"
— Emma Dumont encourages White Tiger Guardian to concede and avoid further damage

This attack was enough to finally free White Tiger Guardian from Spectre's grip, but it could only turn in place slowly while powering up its spinner again, allowing Spectre to once again scoop it up from behind and take it to the corner of the arena, and ram the bar spinner into the wall. Spectre pressed down lightly on the top of White Tiger Guardian, aiming not to get the robots stuck again, but a burst of flame emerged from the front of White Tiger Guardian, forcing it to stop spinning again, and Spectre let go of its opponent. White Tiger Guardian was now motionless and smoking, so Spectre drove around the arena in celebration, firing its self-righting mechanism, while White Tiger Guardian was counted out.

"*We've never actually lost a fight once we've got hold of someone, so our whole target as soon as we knew we were fighting White Tiger was to just go in there, bite them as soon as we possibly could and keep hold of them, try to use the arena to damage them.*"
— Grant Cooper

As a result, Spectre won by knockout and joined Emma Dumont's team, much to the dismay of the celebrity who held White Tiger Guardian in high regard.

"*What it's like to watch a machine kill another machine, it breaks my heart...*"
— Emma Dumont

**Winner: Spectre**

### Megabyte (USA) vs Medusa (CHN)

"*It's terrible because I love Megabyte in real life, I'm such a big fan, and this time I don't know if I want him to do well!*"
— Emma Dumont remains supportive of Medusa

At the start of the battle, both robots kept their distance from each other, attempting to spin up to full speed, while Emma Dumont encouraged Medusa to attack quickly, fearing Megabyte's potentially greater power. Having reached its full 4500rpm top speeds, Megabyte circled around its opponent, expecting Medusa to let its guard down, but Medusa kept its own 4000rpm bar spinner pointed at Megabyte without leaving its general area. After an extended period of no contact, Medusa eventually crept towards Megabyte and threw sparks as the two spinners collided, but there was no major bite between either weapon, and Medusa was only pushed away.

However, this attack turned Medusa around, which allowed Megabyte to hit the back of it, and Megabyte destabilized Medusa while hitting its underside. Medusa recovered but still chose to remain largely in place, pointing its blade at Megabyte, while delivering a number of blows at Megabyte from a standstill. Despite its best efforts, Medusa was hit side-on by Megabyte over a minute and twenty seconds into the match, and Megabyte crippled both exposed tires of Medusa in a single drive towards the arena wall, leaving Medusa unable to move. Medusa could still spin its motors, and turned its wheels further off their mounting, while the referee counted out the immobile machine. This made Megabyte the winner, and the second consecutive robot to take a place on Emma Dumont's team.

"*They seemed to drive better than I expected, and kept their weapon in front of me, as I tried to maneuver and go around, I wasn't really able to get behind him until after I hit the weapon and then they spun around, then I was able to hit them.*"
— John Mladenik

**Winner: Megabyte**

### Cat King (USA) vs Iron Scrap (CHN)

"*It'll be sad that his robot is in such terrible shape when we are done! We are not weak! We do not leave robots unscathed! I feel sorry for him to have so much work to do when this is over!*"
— Martin Mason talks big before the fight

Both robots quickly accelerated their spinning weapons, and in the first six seconds, Iron Scrap crashed into the side of Cat King to break through its armor, and send it spinning into the corner of the arena. Cat King was slowed by this attack, and Iron Scrap willingly drove head-on into Cat King, slipping under its opponent's wedgelets, and overpowering Cat King's spinner to knock it backwards.

One minute into the fight, Iron Scrap crashed into the arena wall, tearing away one of the spikes, but Cat King had little mobility left. Using only one side of drive, Cat King attempted to pivot away, but exposed its backside to Iron Scrap in the process, which allowed Iron Scrap to directly strike one of Cat King's back wheels, not causing visible damage, but contributing to Cat King's impaired mobility.

Cat King still managed to move into the center of the arena, but another weapon-to-weapon hit worked in Iron Scrap's favor, with Cat King being flung into the air, and back to where it came from. With a string of two attacks, Iron Scrap individually hit each wedgelet of Cat King, and with one more slam, Iron Scrap immobilized Cat King two minutes into the bout. Iron Scrap still launched another hit on the back of Cat King, which seemed to be collapsing centrally, and Cat King could only spin its blade and move its lifters until the referee counted it out.

Iron Scrap therefore retained its place on Tu Ziya's team, having comfortably defeated the American veteran.

"*We think that Iron Scrap was one of the strongest robots in the field. We are PROUD to have had a chance to fight them!*"
— Martin Mason

**Winner: Iron Scrap**

### Yesaji (IND) vs Agate (CHN)

Before the battle, Yesaji's team proudly declared that they would not even need their weapon to win this battle, and indeed, the whole battle was fought without Yesaji using its vertical spinner, although Team BlankaBotz confirmed after the fight that this was not intentional.

"*I don't even need to spin up my weapon for its full potential!*"
— Team BlankaBotz before the fight

At the start of the fight, Yesaji swerved around the arena, likely attempting to spin up its broken weapon, but eventually charged into Agate regardless, popping it into the air. Agate responded by driving straight into Yesaji, and although the collision altered its alignment, this helped it land an accurate hammer blow on the top of Yesaji. However, the force of this swing was enough to break Agate's hammer mechanism, leaving it in the down position for the remainder of the fight.

Nevertheless, Agate kept its broken weapon in place and used it to guide Yesaji into the Grinder, and then the corner of the arena with a continuous charge. The two robots separated and danced around each other in the center of the arena, with Yesaji nudging Agate back, until it managed to hook its wedges under the front of Agate, and drive it into the arena saws, which visibly buckled the rear armor of Agate.

Yesaji then made another charge, but rode up the side of Agate and knocked its hammer back into place. The two robots engaged in a back-and-forth which resulted in Yesaji driving over the floor flipper, which turned it over. With no working spinner, Yesaji was unsuccessful in its repeated attempts to self-right using the arena wall and the Grinders, while Agate simply kept its distance and watched Yesaji's struggles.

Agate eventually caught the distracted Yesaji at the start of the second minute, and pressed it against the arena wall. Although Yesaji drove away, it was raised slightly by the floor flipper, and Agate slid Yesaji into the Grinders, which finally righted Yesaji, and allowed it to use its wedges once again, even if the spinner remained inactive.

The upright Yesaji bulldozed into Agate and caused Agate's front shell to completely detach from the robot temporarily, bending up into the air. When Agate's armor fell back into place, it wedged under Yesaji and used the top of its armor to hold Yesaji in place, for a drive into the wall. Upon their collision with the wall, Agate's shell bent up again completely, but once the robots separated, it was clear that Yesaji had lost drive on one side of the robot, with smoke also emerging from the machine. Agate kept its distance and allowed the referee to count out Yesaji, which could not leave its own circumference. Therefore, the victorious Agate retained its place on Tu Ziya's team.

**Huang Jian Xiang**: "*What happened to your weapon? You never really attacked.*"
**Team BlankaBotz**: "*In testing, everything was going good, but I have to find out what happened, I really don't know. ...I'm really disappointed.*"
— A sympathetic post-match interview

**Winner: Agate**

### Monster (GHA) vs Earth Shovel (CHN)

Both flippers travelled across the arena and bumped into each other at the start of the match, with Earth Shovel maintaining more control over the arena, forcing Monster to drive into the arena spikes. Earth Shovel then drove into the side of Monster, but failed to get underneath it, and on a second drive, Earth Shovel was caught by Monster's flipper, which flicked it up into the air, causing its side skirts to wobble. However, Monster did not maintain its attack, and was bumped side-on by Earth Shovel, also parking over a flame jet.

Monster made a more aggressive charge, but drove up Earth Shovel's wedge and was fortunate not to be flipped up. Earth Shovel managed to catch Monster side-on again and moved it back, but with over two minutes of the match now complete, Earth Shovel had not succeeded in using its weapon, nor had Monster completed a second lift. After a tentative ram from Monster, and an attack which saw Earth Shovel briefly wedge under Monster, Earth Shovel drove under Monster and delivered it to the Grinder, which tore slices into Monster's thin armor.

Another collision between both robots popped Monster into the air, which was followed up by another head-on drive to knock Monster into the air, but never while using Earth Shovel's active weapon. After one more charge where Monster nearly tipped itself over from Earth Shovel's wedge, it was Earth Shovel that finally delivered the knockout blow in the battle, with less than thirty seconds before the end of the battle. Catching Monster side-on, Earth Shovel drove it across the arena, and fired its flipper for the first time, to knock Monster onto its side. Although Monster waved its flipper, it could not self-right, and Earth Shovel won by knockout to retain its place on Tao Shen's team.

**Winner: Earth Shovel**

### Tánshè (GBR) vs Reaper (CHN)

"*We've been chosen to fight Reaper, it's a very good undercutter, very fast. We mustn't underestimate it. However, I think we'll be able to beat it.*"
— Gabriel Stroud

Reaper instantly started spinning up its undercutter, and delivered a blow to Tánshè in the first six seconds of the match, but caused minimal damage to its opponent. Tánshè chased Reaper down, and upon the second contact with Reaper's weapon, the undercutting disc flew away from Reaper entirely, leaving it weaponless in the opening stages of the bout. Tánshè went on the offensive from hereon out, and shepherded Reaper into the arena wall, where the spikes were lined.

This was Tánshè's opportunity to launch its first flip, and with Reaper's weight significantly reduced, it flew across the arena until it hit the outer wall near the Out-of-the-Arena zone, although Reaper managed to bounce back into the main arena without falling into the corner where it would have been counted out otherwise. A minute of the battle had now passed, and Reaper was still trying to drive aggressively, but Tánshè caught its back end and bumped it. Not long afterwards, Tánshè drove under the defenceless Reaper, and threw it far backwards for a rough landing against the arena wall.

Reaper did not give up, and drove head-first into Tánshè, also driving over its own disc, but Tánshè drove Reaper back into the spikes, and then launched it high into the arena wall. Tánshè drove the inverted Reaper over to another corner, briefly being clipped by the floor flipper in the process, but here Reaper started to emit smoke. Tánshè collected the struggling machine and somersaulted it into the wall stylishly, until Reaper seemingly came to a complete standstill with less than twenty seconds left in the match. Reaper did come back to life, only to be flipped over lightly by Tánshè until time expired on the battle.

"*After Reaper broke its weapon on our armor, and it fell off! We thought, oh, he's beached, but he carried on driving around, and was very very good, very tricky to catch, and he was still hitting us all the time, so he wouldn't stop, and I would say that he should really be encouraged to fix that robot. He can still come back into the competition, and he can still be on the winning team!*"
— Gabriel Stroud praises Reaper

Tánshè flipped itself over in celebration, and the Judges comfortably declared it the winner, with Tánshè taking Reaper's place on Zhu Zheng Ting's team as its reward.

**Winner: Tánshè**

### Vulcan (GBR) vs Xiake (CHN)

"*As soon as we got drawn against Xiake, we were very worried. They are one of the best robots in China, they've won a lot of fights, they've done very well in previous competitions. Of course, we believe that we can win, and beat them.*"
— Alan Young on his chances against Xiake

Both robots instantly got off the mark, but Xiake's choice of wedgelets quickly proved to be a poor decision, with the spiked wedgelets offering no assistance as Xiake drove straight onto the flipper of Vulcan. Although Xiake managed to reverse away in time, both robots crashed into the arena wall, and this allowed Vulcan to slip under the side of Xiake and overturn it with a powerful flip. With Xiake now inverted, it could no longer make use of its wedgelets, and its drum was spinning the wrong way to cause major damage, although it still chipped away at the HARDOX armor of Vulcan when the two next made contact, with Vulcan also missing its opportunity to flip Xiake.

Immediately after this, Vulcan found an opportunity to slide under Xiake and throw it towards the corner of the arena, where Xiake delicately balanced on top of the arena wall. Xiake was able to drive down from the arena wall, but could not escape the corner before Vulcan drove back under the drum of Xiake, and flipped it forwards so that Xiake slotted perfectly behind the arena wall. As a result, Vulcan won the match by knockout in just over two minutes, and took Xiake's place on Huang Jian Xiang's team. Vulcan celebrated by driving in circles in the center of the arena, firing its flipper in delight, and drifting donuts around the arena floor.

"*We just wanted to try and flip them over, and once they were over, leave them upside-down, because when they're upside down, their weapon doesn't work as well. We wanted to try to keep them in the corner, which is what we did, and then hopefully we're going to flip them, which again, we managed to do.*"
— Alan Young

**Winner: Vulcan**

### Excelsior (USA) vs Deep-Sea Shark (CHN)

Deep-Sea Shark spun its blade up to speed, and Excelsior was cautious of this, attempting to point its front wedge at Deep-Sea Shark without directly approaching it. This allowed Excelsior to avoid Deep-Sea Shark's first attack, also swinging its decorative tail at Deep-Sea Shark, but it was then forced to flee and create space. Deep-Sea Shark was unfazed, and chased Excelsior down, delivering a frontal blow which threw Excelsior into the air. This hit bent the drive axle of Excelsior and the wheel guard, which was a large enough impact for both drive chains to slip from Excelsior's wheels, and with only forty seconds passed in the match, Excelsior then ground to a complete halt. Although it fired its flipper to show signs of movement, Excelsior was counted out, and Deep-Sea Shark easily collected its second victory, retaining its place on Huang Jian Xiang's team.

"*Both drive chains popped off in that hit. The wheel guard deformed 1/4" and the axle bent too since it was attached, that was enough to derail both the chains. The fact he's a one hitter quitter, well yeah, yeah, at least he lasted more than 30 seconds!*"
— Ed Robinson

**Winner: Deep-Sea Shark**

### Switch (GBR) vs Cracked Sword (CHN)

The final four battles of the episode were broadcast only as part of a montage, with many attacks from each battle potentially missing from the edited-down fights.

Switch exhibited superior driving at the start of the battle, manoeuvring its way around to the back of Cracked Sword to pop it into the air. Switch then launched the most critical attack of the match by firing its hammer into the bar spinner of Cracked Sword - this succeeded in stopping the bar spinner of Cracked Sword, but Switch's hammer head was also torn away in the process. Nevertheless, Switch charged into Cracked Sword twice, missing its weapon swings on both occasions, although the second charge still disoriented Cracked Sword, and also kicked Switch's loose hammer head across the arena. Switch then drove Cracked Sword into the spikes lining the arena wall, loosening one of its exposed tires.

Another charge saw Switch wedge under the weapon frame of Cracked Sword to suspend it above the floor, but Switch still could not land any successful weapon blows until Cracked Sword backed into the arena wall, where Switch pinned it in place and took several swings using its bare weapon shaft, hitting the exposed bars of Cracked Sword's weapon frame. After the two robots separated, Switch carried Cracked Sword across the arena, and eventually, Cracked Sword lost mobility altogether. Switch therefore won the battle by knockout, and claimed the place on Zhu Zheng Ting's team that Cracked Sword formerly occupied.

**Winner: Switch**

### Big Carioca (BRA) vs Storm Cut (CHN)

Both robots spun their weapons up to full speed, but it was Big Carioca that drew first blood, bringing its bar spinner under the blade of Storm Cut to launch it upwards, and briefly onto its back, although Storm Cut quickly fell back onto its wheels, after hitting the weapon housing of Big Carioca with the face of its now-motionless weapon while airborne. Big Carioca had completely bent Storm Cut's blade out of shape with this attack, and when the two robots came together again, Big Carioca threw sparks off the wedge of Storm Cut, which suddenly started to smoke copiously. Big Carioca did not let up, and connected another blow with the motionless bar spinner of Storm Cut to launch it into the air and towards the Grinders, although Storm Cut landed on its wheels.

The robots returned to the center of the arena, and Big Carioca landed a blow on one of Storm Cut's rear wheels, which was enough to disable its drive on one side, also further bending the bar spinner of Storm Cut. While Storm Cut pivoted on one wheel, it vented more smoke, and came to a complete standstill. Big Carioca therefore won the battle by knockout, and joined Tao Shen's team at Storm Cut's expense.

**Winner: Big Carioca**

### ORBY Blade (KOR) vs Red River Bull (CHN)

At the start of the battle, Red River Bull was keen to stop ORBY Blade from spinning its bar up to full speed, and collided with it in the opening seconds to temporarily stop the blade, albeit not for long. ORBY Blade quickly responded, and swung its bar spinner into the side of Red River Bull, causing notable damage despite also bending its own side armor in the process. Whilst ORBY Wedge circled around the arena, ORBY Blade brought its spinning bar into the drum of Red River Bull, which was spinning for the first time in the competition, throwing more sparks. ORBY Blade was reaching dangerous speeds on its weapon, and Red River Bull attempted to ram it from behind, but missed. Although Red River Bull slammed into the side of ORBY Blade, it did not make contact with its weapon, unlike the next attack from ORBY Blade.

Swinging its bar spinner into Red River Bull, ORBY Blade delivered a huge slam, which tore open the side armor of Red River Bull, and ripped a wheel and motor out of it entirely, but in the process, ORBY Blade was flung across the arena, hitting the Grinder which threw ORBY Blade into the air. ORBY Blade landed inverted, and could not self-right, nor were its wheels turning, leaving ORBY Wedge only to nudge its teammate. However, Red River Bull had also been immobilized by the same attack; although some of its wheels were still turning, including the axle which housed the wheel that had been ripped from Red River Bull, the robot could not gain significant purchase on the arena floor, and both robots were counted out by the referees.

With the battle officially considered to be a double-knockout, the Judges were required to declare a winner based on the events of the battle leading up to the double KO, and ORBY Blade was unanimously declared the winner, having caused more damage during the battle, allowing it to take Red River Bull's place on Di Yang's team.

**Winner: ORBY Blade**

### Rhino (GBR) vs Mist Lion (CHN)

Rhino and Mist Lion collided head-to-head, with Mist Lion initially bringing Rhino off the floor with a powerful slam. Both robots then aimed their vertical spinners at each other, and Rhino ground away at Mist Lion's wedgelet, throwing sparks. At the end of this exchange, Rhino managed to wedge under the side of Mist Lion, and deliver a series of vertical spinner blows while driving it into the Grinder. The rotating Grinder absorbed Mist Lion, and pulled it up, which Rhino capitalized upon, delivering a light blow with its spinner to throw Mist Lion atop the Grinder, where it perfectly landed on a flat mount next to the arena hazard. With all of Mist Lion's wheels cleared from the arena floor, it could not escape, and the referee counted it out, awarding Rhino the win by knockout. As a result, Rhino joined Di Yang's team, at Mist Lion's expense.

**Winner: Rhino**

## References

1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/ExcelsiorBot/posts/396434167889588?comment\_id=396890391177299&reply\_comment\_id=396963834503288&notif\_id=1564492113780293&notif\_t=feed\_comment\_reply