History Series / BattleBots

* SkillGateCharacter: Icewave. With a spinning bar that reaches ''three hundred miles an hour'' and surrounds the whole body, it might seem unbeatable at a first glace and is ''terrifying'' to the less-durable bots out there (as Razorback and Chomp can attest to). That being said, Icewave is also [[GlassCannon very fragile]], [[WeaksauceWeakness can't self-right]], and [[CastFromHitPoints does insane recoil damage to itself]] on each hit. Against less-fragile robots with deadly weapons, or those of much greater durability, Icewave quickly becomes one of the ''weaker'' bots in the competition. It's telling when Icewave was first introduced, the robot was thought to be unstoppable, dealing {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s to the aforementioned Razorback and Chomp. Then it lost to Ghost Raptor in a DarkhorseVictory (and an embarrassing one at that for Icewave, having been flipped by a piece of metal welded to the robot), and in the second season Icewave only barely won against [=SubZero=] after taking heavy damage, only to lose in a VictoryByEndurance by ''Nightmare'' of all robots, ''the'' iconic GlassCannon of the franchise. Icewave has gone from being considered "one of the fiercest robots in the competition" to "overly weak to handle its own weapon" over the course of the series.

* DropTheHammer:
** Quite a few robots, although most used a pointed tip instead of a blunt end. The Judge played this trope straight, though.
** The Pulverizer, the most destructive obstacle in the arena. If the bot designer does not have a plan for getting away from the giant hammers, then you just know [[BossArenaIdiocy that's where they will end up]].

** Gigabyte suffered a "box rush" at the hands of Witch Doctor. Before the announcers could even finish saying "Let the bot battle begin!", Witch Doctor was already thrashing Gigabyte around the arena, [[HomeRunHitter launching it up in the air]] ''several times'' before trapping it under the [[DropTheHammer Pulverizer]].

->''Robots, activate!''

A fifth was to air in May 2020; due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, filming of the season was delayed until later in the year with its format temporarily adjusted: three Fight Night matches per bot and no qualifier events like the Desperado Tournament, instead expanding the tournament to a 32-seed bracket. The season also added a series of side tournaments (''[=BattleBots: Bounty Hunters=]'') hosted after the main event. A sixth season keeping this format, plus a rework of the ''Bounty Hunters'' format (''[=BattleBots: Champions=]''), was filmed in 2021 and began airing January 2022, from a new venue in Las Vegas with a revamped arena. In September 2022, the seventh season was announced to film the following month, restoring the four-round Fight Night schedule for each team while retaining the 32-seed championship bracket and the ''Champions'' side tournament.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GlassCannon:

** Son of Whyachi in Season 4. In preparation against a bot with a spinning blade that could theoretically cause damage to its own hammers, they tried to raise the hammers to hit just above the blade and attempted to compensate by adding weight to the base of the robot so it would not go off balance. At the start of the fight, it immediately [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z05NMzAnpL8 helicoptered]] into the battle box wall before it could even get out of the starting square. Even its team was amused.

** '''Lightweight division:''' Ziggo
** '''Middleweight division:''' Son of Smashy
** '''Heavyweight division:''' [=BioHazard=]

** '''Heavyweight division:''' Vlad the Impaler
** '''Superheavyweight division:''' Minion

* EarlyInstallmentWierdness: The 1999 Pay-Per-View tournaments were both double elimination brackets (robots that lost would be entered into the losers bracket, and would be eliminated if they lost again), whereas all later brackets would be single elimination (robots are eliminated the first time they lose). And the Battlebox was very different from how it would appear in the televised seasons.

* StoneWall: New Cruelty, Turtle, Iceberg and Zion, if not in looks. In the reboot, Stinger, Bite Force and DUCK!. Petunia was built as one, and team captain Misha de Graaf admitted that this was a necessary approach due to the nature of its weapon, a crushing spike.

* TeenGenius: Several bot builders were teenagers. Andy Sauro was only 13 years old in his first appearance, and fared pretty well. Subverted with Chrome Fly in the ABC reboot, as while its builder was a teenage prodigy whose drone company had made him a multi-millionaire, Chrome Fly itself was not a particularly good bot.
** In 2020, Tyler Nguyen entered Perfect Phoenix (itself a reboot of Brutality, effectively a heavyweight-scaled Hazard at the hand of Paul Ventimiglia). Tyler was 11 years old during the taping and is not only a MENSA member, but already had a proven record in sub-lightweight robot combat before joining the big show. In addition, Ray Billings would mentor Nguyen in Perfect Phoenix's run, making Nguyen a star student of the reboot's two champions to that date.

** The Screws got teeth in season 5, effectively turning them into Killsaws lining the edge of the arena. While they still weren't encountered often, they were much more potent of a hazard than before. Said screws played a big role in the knockout by Iceberg against Phrizbee-Ultimate.

** During its rookie season, Scrap Daddy LW became infamous after getting its ass ripped apart in spectacular fashion by eventual champion Ziggo. Following Season 2.0, Scrap Daddy LW would undergo a couple rebuilds, but little did anyone know that one of those rebuilds would actually be competitive. Armed with a ball and chain attached to a jagged edged sword, Scrap Daddy Surplus thwacked and hacked its way to the TV rounds of Season 4.0, only falling to elimination after putting up a highly competitive effort against Wedge of Doom in a back-and-forth fight that narrowly went in favor of the latter (several fans even felt that Scrap Daddy deserved to win). In a twist of fate, Wedge of Doom would go on to suffer its own destructive demise at the hands of Ziggo, leaving us to wonder what would've happened if Scrap Daddy Surplus got the chance to rematch the very bot that destroyed its first incarnation.
** Malvolio is perhaps best known for its sole tv appearance in Season 4.0, when it lost to Bad Attitude in a lengthy fight that involved the former trying and failing to lay a dent on the wedgebot. Apart from Season 4, every other tournament participation resulted in a one fight elimination. Malvolio would enter the first two Steel Conflict tournaments after BattleBots's cancelation, only to come out of them with the same results. Malvolio would take a year off, skipping the 3rd and 4th Steel Conflict events to undergo some revisions. In 2004, Malvolio entered the Southwest Division Championships (Steel Conflict 5) under the alias Ze Uber Wedge, with a sleeker armor and chassis design among other upgrades. Ze Uber Wedge started off the tournament with a bang, ripping apart its opponent's weapon in a spectacular spinner to spinner hit that ultimately forced the opponent to tap out, nabbing Ze Uber Wedge's first win in three years. Ze Uber Wedge's success did not end here, as it proceeded to win several more bouts and make it to the semi-finals, where it came face-to-face with Nasty Attitude (alias of Bad Attitude) for the second time. While the fight itself was more competitive than their initial meeting, Nasty Attitude still ended up getting the nod, putting an end to Ze Uber Wedge's dark horse tournament run.

* TransAtlanticEquivalent: ''Battlebots'' shares a core concept with the BBC's ''Series/RobotWars'' although the execution is different. This show's successful reboot led to ''Robot Wars'' being revived.

*** Radioactive vs. Sweet Revenge -- The former was a [[JokeCharacter Joke Robot]] made of plastic and could barely move around, armed with a slow and ineffective hammer. The latter was unable to use its weapon, and was left completely useless. The fight ended with three ineffective strikes from Radioactive. Its telling that this fight wasn't shown even on the internet, because apparently it was ''that'' boring.

!!This show provides examples of:

* PutOnABus: Since it takes a lot of money to build and repair the robots, most contestants eventually stop competing sooner or later, some may eventually [[TheBusCameBack resurface]], but most others fade into obscurity.

* TooPowerfulToLive: Hellachopper got a double dose of this ahead of Season 2 of the ABC reboot. Firstly, the ridiculous speed of its spinning weapon (up to ''430mph'' at the tip of the blades!) caused so much strain on its internal mechanics that it kept catching fire. Secondly, the Battlebots staff took one look at it and decided there was ''no way'' they were letting that thing in their arena; the blades were so powerful they would have smashed straight through the wall.

* CrazyPrepared: Many robots brought (or improvised) different armor configurations, or different weapon bars, for different types of opponent, but Bombshell brought four completely different weapon modules: a lifting arm (never used), an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]], a vertical spinner, and a horizontal spinner designed to outreach other horizontal spinners and destroy their wheels or weapon chains.

** Malvolio is perhaps best known for its sole tv appearance in Season 4.0, when it lost to Bad Attitude in a lengthy fight that involved the former trying and failing to lay a dent on the wedgebot. Apart from Season 4, every other tournament participation resulted in a one fight elimination. Malvolio would enter the first two Steel Conflict tournaments after BattleBots's cancelation, only to come out of them with the same results. Malvolio would take a year off, skipping the 3rd and 4th Steel Conflict events to undergo some revisions. In 2004, Malvolio entered the Southwest Division Championships (Steel Conflict 5) under the alias Ze Uber Wedge, with a sleeker armor and chassis design among other upgrades. Ze Uber Wedge started off the tournament with a bang, ripping apart its opponent's weapon in a spectacular spinner to spinner hit that ultimately forced the opponent to tap out, Nabbing Ze Uber Wedge's first win in three years. Ze Uber Wedge's success did not end here, as it proceeded to win several more bouts and make it to the semi-finals, where it came face-to-face with Nasty Attitude (alias of Bad Attitude) for the second time. While the fight itself was more competitive than their initial meeting, Nasty Attitude still ended up getting the nod, putting an end to Ze Uber Wedge's dark horse tournament run.

** Malvolio is perhaps best known for its sole tv appearance in Season 4.0, when it lost to Bad Attitude in a lengthy fight that involved the former trying and failing to lay a dent on the wedgebot. Apart from Season 4, every other tournament participation resulted in a one fight elimination. Malvolio would enter the first two Steel Conflict tournaments after BattleBots's cancelation, only to come out of them with the same results. Malvolio would take a year off, skipping the 3rd and 4th Steel Conflict events to undergo some revisions. In 2004, Malvolio entered the Southwest Division Championships (Steel Conflict 5) under the alias Ze Uber Wedge, with a sleeker armor and chassis design among other upgrades. Ze Uber Wedge started off the tournament with a bang, ripping apart its opponent's weapon in a spectacular spinner to spinner hit that ultimately nabbed it its first win in three years. Ze Uber Wedge's success did not end here, as it proceeded to win several more bouts and make it to the quarterfinals. Moving on to the semi-finals, Ze Uber Wedge came face-to-face with Nasty Attitude (alias of Bad Attitude) for the second time, and while the fight itself was more competitive than their initial meeting, Nasty Attitude would still end up getting the nod, putting an end to Ze Uber Wedge's dark horse tournament run.

** During its rookie season, Scrap Daddy LW55 gained a lot of notoriety after getting its ass ripped apart in spectacular fashion by Ziggo. Lightweight Scrap Daddy would undergo a couple rebuilds, but little did anyone know that one of those rebuilds would actually be competitive. Armed with a ball and chain attached to a jagged edged sword, Scrap Daddy Surplus thwacked and hacked its way to the TV rounds of Season 4.0, only falling to elimination after putting up a highly competitive effort against Wedge of Doom in a back-and-forth fight that narrowly went in favor of the latter (several fans even felt that Scrap Daddy deserved to win). In a twist of fate, Wedge of Doom would go on to suffer its own destructive demise at the hands of Ziggo, leaving us to wonder what would've happened if Scrap Daddy Surplus got the chance to rematch the very bot that destroyed its first incarnation.

** During its rookie season, Scrap Daddy LW55 gained a lot of notoriety after getting its ass ripped apart in spectacular fashion by Ziggo. Lightweight Scrap Daddy would undergo a couple rebuilds, but little did anyone know that one of those rebuilds would actually be competitive. Armed with a ball and chain attached to a jagged edged sword, Scrap Daddy Surplus thwacked and hacked its way to the TV rounds of Season 4.0, only falling to elimination after putting up a highly competitive effort against Wedge of Doom in a back-and-forth fight that narrowly went in favor of the latter (several fans even felt that Scrap Daddy deserved to win). In a twist of fate, Wedge of Doom would go on to suffer its own destructive fate at the hands of Ziggo, leaving us to wonder what would've happened if Scrap Daddy Surplus was faced with a rematch against the very bot that destroyed its first incarnation.

** During its rookie season, Scrap Daddy LW55 gained a lot of notoriety after getting its ass ripped apart in spectacular fashion by Ziggo. Lightweight Scrap Daddy would undergo a couple rebuilds, but little did anyone know that one of those rebuilds would actually be competitive. Armed with a ball and chain attached to a jagged edged sword, Scrap Daddy Surplus thwacked and hacked its way to the TV rounds of Season 4.0, only falling to elimination after putting up a highly competitive effort against Wedge of Doom in a back-and-forth fight that narrowly went in favor of the latter (several fans even felt that Scrap Daddy deserved to win). In a twist of fate, Wedge of Doom would go on to suffer its own destructive fate at the hands of Ziggo, leaving us to wonder what would've happened if Scrap Daddy Surplus was faced with a rematch with the very bot that destroyed its first incarnation.

A fifth was to air in May 2020; due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, filming of the season was delayed until later in the year with its format temporarily adjusted: three Fight Night matches per bot and no qualifier events like the Desperado Tournament, instead expanding the tournament to a 32-seed bracket. The season also added a series of side tournaments (''[=BattleBots: Bounty Hunters=]'') hosted after the main event. A sixth season keeping this format, plus a rework of the ''Bounty Hunters'' format (''[=BattleBots: Champions=]''), was filmed in 2021 and began airing January 2022, from a new venue in Las Vegas with a revamped arena.

** As a general rule, robots designed specifically to counter one kind of spinner (for example vertical) will fall victim to the other (horizontals). Kraken is a good example of this, it always puts up an amazing fight against vertical spinners, which it’s designed to counter with its thin wedge, but gets absolutely decimated by any horizontal spinner it faces.

** ''Champions'': TBA