Thunder

*Not to be confused with Thunder and Lightning or Thunderstorm*

**雷霆** (romanized as **Léitíng**, meaning **Thunder**) was a Chinese competitor robot which competed in *King of Bots II*. It was built by a team of students who also created Medusa for the same season, and finished as one of the co-champions as part of Huang Jian Xiang's winning team.

Although Thunder did not compete in the first round of the competition due to no celebrities choosing it for their team, Thunder won a four-way rumble over Hold Me Up, Huntsman and Magic Windmill to join Huang Jian Xiang's team. It then collected another win, teaming up with Deep-Sea Shark to defeat Iron Scrap and Earth Mover in a two-on-two fight. The two robots then won their next battle over the team of Cracked Sword and Mist Lion, but as Thunder had attacked Cracked Sword after the battle had already ended, the two were stripped of their win. Regardless, Thunder advanced to the final tournament, and although it lost to Spectre during the Attrition War, Huang Jian Xiang's team won the tournament, making Thunder one of five robots crowned as the series champion.

## Design

Thunder was an invertible, low-profile robot using a four-wheel drive system, for high top speeds and excellent pushing power. Thunder's powerful drive system was complimented by its thick front wedge, which boasted lifting capabilities, although it could only move up and down a short distance, being hinged directly onto the chassis, unlike other robots such as Wrecker and Stalker which mount their wedges on moving arms, an approach made to present less breakable sections to spinning weapons. Thunder's wheels were well-protected by thick armor panels, and was generally very hard to damage, although its wedge was somewhat slow in lifting.

## Robot History

### King of Bots II (Season 2)

Thunder was among the Chinese robots available for selection in the opening rounds of the competition. However, it was largely overlooked by the celebrity captains, and ultimately the first round concluded without Thunder being selected for a celebrity team. As a result, Thunder was knocked into the redemption rounds. Here, it would need to win a four-way rumble against Hold Me Up, Huntsman and Magic Windmill in order to earn a place on a celebrity team of its choosing.

Thunder initially struggled to assert itself, until it and Hold Me Up swarmed around Huntsman. Huntsman responded by firing its hammer into the eggbeater spinner of Hold Me Up, but was thrown over in the process. Thunder slid the overturned Huntsman across the arena, although it quickly self-righted. Thunder quietly drove Magic Windmill into the wall, while Hold Me Up tossed Huntsman over again and immobilized it after clipping one of its tires. Thunder pushed past the meandering target of Magic Windmill, when Hold Me Up drove over the arena saws, and became pinned in place, leaving only two robots still active. Magic Windmill had also lost drive on one side, and while trying to regain movement, it backed onto the floor flipper which turned it over. Thunder held back while Magic Windmill drove into a Grinder in an unsuccessful attempt to self-right, but had no momentum without its spinning disc, and bumped away. Magic Windmill then drove onto the wedge of Thunder which carried it across the arena, and the two collided again in the center of the arena when the vertical flywheel of Magic Windmill suddenly started turning again. Regardless, Thunder still delivered Magic Windmill into the corner, where its one working wheel became high-centered, leaving it stuck in place. With all three of its opponents immobilized, Thunder crept away as the stealthy winner of the battle, joining Huang Jian Xiang's team for its efforts.

Moving into the next round, Thunder needed to fight for survival, as a loss could have led to either Thunder or Flaming Wheel being removed from Huang Jian Xiang's team. Nevertheless, Thunder teamed up with Deep-Sea Shark to battle against Iron Scrap and Earth Mover in a two-on-two battle.

Straight away, Thunder and Earth Mover charged into each other, while Deep-Sea Shark and Iron Scrap powered up their vertical spinners. Iron Scrap then collided with the front of Deep-Sea Shark, but threw itself over using its own drum. Thunder shunted Earth Mover side-on while Iron Scrap self-righted using a gyro-dance, but Thunder caught up to block its landing and press Iron Scrap's drum into the arena floor. This presented a big opportunity for Deep-Sea Shark to creep up on the rear of Iron Scrap and pelt it into a Grinder with a powerful hit. This provided Iron Scrap with lasting concerns, but it self-righted again while Thunder pushed Earth Mover across the arena again. Working in combination again, Thunder deflected the drum of Iron Scrap, allowing Deep-Sea Shark to hit it from behind again, and a push from Thunder on Earth Mover carried it across the arena until one of its rear forks hit an imperfection in the floor and negated the drive, forcing Thunder to hook under Earth Mover again and drag it on a separate attack.

Thunder continued to target Earth Mover until the robots separated, and Earth Mover was overturned by the floor flipper. Thunder used this time to approach Iron Scrap, and with a forward drive, Thunder slammed into Iron Scrap and pushed it onto the arena saw slots, immobilizing it. Thunder and Deep-Sea Shark were then left to attack Earth Mover together, but Thunder briefly became stuck under its teammate. This gave Earth Mover the chance to push it across the arena, and into the Grinder. This caused Deep-Sea Shark to momentarily stop moving, but Thunder caught Earth Mover from behind and pushed it into the Grinder, also dragging it back on the top of its lifter, forcing Earth Mover to separate using its own weapon. Deep-Sea Shark was revealed to be high-centered on one of its own broken wedges, and the referee was forced to start a count, but Thunder rammed into its teammate and freed it.

Thunder then attempted to push Earth Mover, but drove up its opponent's wedge and ended up receiving a spinner hit from its teammate. Deep-Sea Shark then bumped into the immobile Iron Scrap before pushing Earth Mover back, and fully losing a broken wedgelet. Thunder then completed a powerful drive, pushing Earth Mover into the wall, and piggy-backed it into Deep-Sea Shark's spinner which tossed it into the air and bent its front lifter completely, despite not managing to turn Earth Mover over. With less than twenty seconds left in the match, Earth Mover bumped into the back of Deep-Sea Shark, and survived a blow from Deep-Sea Shark's visibly slowed spinner, but Thunder pushed both robots into the arena wall one last time, jamming Earth Mover under a spike until time expired on the three-minute fight.

The Judges turned in a unanimous victory for Thunder and Deep-Sea Shark, earning a point for Huang Jian Xiang's team. Ultimately, Huang Jian Xiang's team won the round over Tu Ziya by a margin of 2-1, saving Thunder from potential elimination. Thunder then teamed up with Deep-Sea Shark again to face Cracked Sword and Mist Lion of Di Yang's team.

Thunder drove straight in and deflected the bar spinner of Cracked Sword, sending it spiralling across the arena. Thunder blocked its escape, catching Cracked Sword as it backed away, and then pushed it into Deep-Sea Shark. Mist Lion pushed its way past its opponents, and Thunder drove onto the arena saws, which caused it to land on top of the evasive Mist Lion. Deep-Sea Shark was required to knock Thunder off its opponent, particularly as Mist Lion had ground to a temporary halt over the saws, due to one of its forks being wedged into the slot for the arena hazard temporarily.

Thunder continued to assert itself over Cracked Sword, comfortably withstanding its bar spinner while pushing it into the arena corner. Thunder then backed away, and Cracked Sword hit the front of Thunder directly to knock both machines aside. Cracked Sword flew directly into the front of Deep-Sea Shark, which pushed it into Mist Lion, which was still stuck in place. Finally, Deep-Sea Shark hit the front of Mist Lion with its spinner, knocking its opponent back into the battle. Thunder and Cracked Sword continued to face off, with the spinner of Cracked Sword starting to create visible damage in Thunder's scoop, but Thunder pushed it onto the floor flipper which lifted both robots up. This allowed Thunder to continue its attack, sliding Cracked Sword around the arena. Deep-Sea Shark launched a direct hit on the side of Mist Lion while pushing it aside, and it became clear that Mist Lion could no longer move with this side of drive, using only the gyroscopic forces of its drum to move outside of its circumference. Meanwhile, Thunder moved Cracked Sword into the grinder mount, inflicting severe recoil onto the bar spinner.

With Mist Lion clearly struggling for movement, Deep-Sea Shark attempted to capitalize and charged in, but directly collided with the drum spinner of Mist Lion and was thrown onto its front. Deep-Sea Shark was unable to self-right, and Thunder moved in to try and free its teammate, but the referee counted Deep-Sea Shark out, leaving Thunder to fight lone. Mist Lion drifted in to attack Thunder, but also ground to a near-halt in this corner itself, only twitching back and forth, leaving the battle up to Thunder and Cracked Sword. Cracked Sword joined the action, but Thunder guided the bar spinner of its opponent into the wall, where it ripped away an arena spike and lost all momentum to its bar spinner. Mist Lion was counted out at this stage, as it repeatedly backed into Deep-Sea Shark, failing to escape.

Cracked Sword had managed to accelerate its blade again, but Thunder guided it back into the wall and, this time, silenced the bar spinner permanently, although Thunder also collided with a seam in the floor and was momentarily halted. Cracked Sword mostly spun in place near Mist Lion, with one of its own wheels visibly damaged, and Thunder pinned it against the arena wall until time ran out. Even though time had expired on the battle, as signalled by the change in lighting, Thunder continued to attack, carrying its beached opponent across the arena and into the Grinder, where it became pinned. This late attack did not go unnoticed by the celebrities and roboteers, who were visibly upset by the late attack. Originally, the Judges were required to determine a winner of the battle, naming Thunder and Deep-Sea Shark as the winners. However, Di Yang objected to the decision, believing that rewarding a robot which launched an attack after time had expired would encourage other teams to attack their opponents in the same position, and worsen the issues they already faced with repairing their robots in between rounds. In response, the Judges and producers re-evaluated the battle, and concluded that no winner would be declared.

Thunder was not required to fight again for several episodes following this controversial battle. Although its position on the team was briefly put at risk when Flaming Wheel of Huang Jian Xiang's team lost to Rhino, Thunder was spared and Flaming Wheel itself was eliminated. After four of the six teams were eliminated from the competition, Huang Jian Xiang's team, Thunder included, progressed through to the final tournament, which consisted of a second Attrition War.

With both Huang Jian Xiang and Ye Hong Li's teams reduced to only two robots, Thunder fought Spectre on level footing, with the winner taking an advantage in the Attrition War.

Following a cautious start, Thunder initially lunged at the side of Spectre, but missed, bumping Spectre’s wedge and getting rammed into the corner in return. Spectre clamped down on the space behind Thunder’s lifting weapon, with both robots pushing each other into a grinder and the blue corner spikes respectively. After letting go, Spectre resumed its early attacks, repeatedly grabbing and shoving Thunder into the spikes and grinders. Following one such attack, Thunder responded by pinning Spectre against the spikes near the hammer, only for Spectre to lift Thunder by the front-left wheelarch.

Thunder dropped from Spectre’s teeth and reversed, only to be gripped and pushed into the spikes once more by the UK entry. A sudden surge of power allowed Thunder to push Spectre a fair distance across the arena before the two competitors separated. While Thunder initially dodged Spectre’s next attack, it drove up its opponent’s front wedge, allowing Spectre to once again ram it into the wall spikes and grinders, then under one of the hammers. Thunder took two blows from the hammer before getting pushed and released near the circular saws; however, it responded by ramming Spectre into the spikes until time ran out.

The Judges voted in favor of Spectre, putting Huang Jian Xiang behind in the Final Attrition War, although teammate Vulcan managed to turn this around and earn a series victory for Huang Jian Xiang, making Thunder one of the co-champions in *King of Bots II*.

## Results

### Wins/Losses

* Wins: 2
* Losses: 1

*NOTE: Thunder's 2v2 against Cracked Sword and Mist Lion is not included*

## Series Record

 Season 2 | **Huang Jian Xiang's team, joint champions**(2-1 record)

*NOTE: Thunder's team also entered Medusa into Season 2.*

## Trivia

* Thunder is the third competitor in *King of Bots* to use 'thunder' in its name, after Thunder and Lightning and Thunderstorm.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/cvfgwd/king\_of\_bots\_season\_2\_episode\_7/ey46as2/