Red River Bull

*Not to be confused with Cao Yu robots, Red River Hong or Red River Xiongfeng*

**Red River Bull** (Chinese: **红河奔牛** (**Hónghé bēn niú**), translated as either **Red River Running Bulls**, **Red Running Bull** or **Red River Running Ox**) was a Chinese competitor robot which fought in *King of Bots II*. It joined Di Yang's team for the main competition after winning a three-way rumble over Iron Rooster and Little Qinglong in its first battle, but promptly lost its space on the team after losing to the South Korean ORBY Blade in a double-knockout.

## Design

Red River Bull is a four-wheel driven robot capable of driving inverted, armed with a wide spinning drum for its weapon. This belt-driven weapon is armed with a single heavy tooth covering the entire width of the drum for maximum impact, with two forked wedgelets also leading other robots into the drum. The robot's drive system offers more pushing power and speed than the other drum spinners in the same season, and its wheels were relatively well protected by flat panels equipped with spikes to prevent the robot from being stranded on its side.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Red River Bull made its debut in Episode 2 of Season 2, where it was nominated by Di Yang to take part in a three-way rumble against fellow drum spinner Little Qinglong, and the thwackbot Iron Rooster, to earn a place on Di Yang's team. However, it entered the battle with an immediate disadvantage; Red River Bull's drum did not spin at any point in the battle.

While attempting to spin up its broken weaponry, Red River Bull took evasive measures in the opening stags of the battle, and this allowed Iron Rooster to land a direct blow on the top of it. Red River Bull retreated, and later slowly crashed into the spikes on the arena wall. Red River Bull was forced to accept its lack of weaponry, and changed its approach to fight the rest of the battle through ramming power alone.

Soon after, Red River Bull charged in to ram the side of Iron Rooster, landing its first attack of the battle. On a second ram, Red River Bull drove directly under Iron Rooster and avoided its weapon swing, although it landed on the arena saws at the end of its drive. After Little Qinglong tried and mostly failed to harm Iron Rooster, the more composed Red River Bull drove into the side of Iron Rooster and knocked it back. This attack was continued when Iron Rooster slipped back towards the arena wall, and Red River Bull swept in to ram Iron Rooster's weapon, and knocked Iron Rooster into the air, but Red River Bull also crashed into the arena spikes in the process. At this stage, the two drum spinners seemed to team up on Iron Rooster, with a strong ram from Red River Bull flipping Iron Rooster over, and causing it to slide into the spikes on the arena wall. Red River Bull then broadsided Iron Rooster again, delivering it to the arena spikes and then separately tripping it up with a drive into Iron Rooster's wheel. Red River Bull later drifted into the corner of the arena, allowing Iron Rooster to take one last swing, although it narrowly missed, and time expired on the three-minute bout.

The Judges were required to choose between all three active machines, and even though it had lacked a functional weapon for the entire battle, the Judges rewarded Red River Bull for its total of six charges on Iron Rooster (according to the on-screen counter), over Iron Rooster, the focus of both robots' attacks, and the relatively passive Little Qinglong. As a result, Red River Bull joined Di Yang's team for the next stage of the competition.

At this next stage, Red River Bull was randomly drawn against the South Korean entry ORBY Blade in an attempt to defend its place on Di Yang's team. During this battle, Red River Bull's drum would spin for the first time.

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. Red River Bull then had a lapse in concentration as ORBY Blade swung its bar spinner into the side of Red River Bull, causing notable damage despite also bending its own side armor in the process. Red River Bull was spinning its drum up to speed, but ORBY Blade delivered its weapon straight into the drum of Red River Bull to create a shower of 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 already 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, leading Red River Bull to forfeit its place on Di Yang's team to the South Korean machine, also being left with many repairs to make.

Although Red River Bull should have been able to enter the Redemption Round for a second chance at qualifying for a celebrity team in the main competition, the level of repairs needed were too much for the robot to be reassembled, and Red River Bull withdrew.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 1
* Losses: 1

## Series Record

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

## Trivia

* Despite the naming similarity, there is no confirmed connection between Red River Bull and Cao Yu, known for the heavyweight Red River Hong and the featherweight Red River Xiongfeng: Guan Qun and Luo Xing Yu have never been listed as team members of any robot entered by Cao Yu.
* Red River Bull was one of two robots to withdraw ahead of the Redemption Round, alongside Ocean Waves.