Characters / BattleBots – Discovery Channel Season 4

BattleBots characters index
Classic Era: Comedy Central seasons 1–5
Revival Era:
ABC seasons: 1 | 2
Discovery seasons: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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Champion

#11-Tantrum

Team: Seems Reasonable Robotics

Team Captain: Alex Grant and Ginger Schmidt

Hometown: San Diego, California

Matches (Season): Malice (W/JD), Lucky (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Gigabyte (W/JD), Rotator (W/KO), Cobalt (W/KO), Hydra (W/JD), Witch Doctor (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Tombstone (W/KO), End Game (L/JD)

• The Band Minus the Face: With Aren Hill piloting Blip this season, the reins to Tantrum have been passed on to fellow Seems Reasonable Robotics members Alex Grant and Ginger Schmidt.
• Born Lucky: Tantrum got stuck on something, likely a piece of debris, and lost control of one of their wheels. Rotator kept hitting them and eventually knocked the debris loose, which let Tantrum regain control and win the fight.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending the beginning of its bout with Lucky getting tossed around and briefly stuck on the rails, Tantrum returned the favor by smothering Lucky and peeling off its wheels.
  • Makes a consistent habit of this in its future matches, defeating Gigabyte and Rotator after being initially overpowered by them.
• Lightning Bruiser: Tantrum is as agile as ever, can tank a deceptive amount of damage despite its small size, and its spinner continues to dole out solid bursts of damage.
• Made of Iron: Got flipped by Hydra ten times and barely took Scratch Damage.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Tantrum's claim to fame continues to be its "punching" spinner, which is fixed on a track and can be safely spun up before sending it forward to attack other bots.

Runner-Up

#24-Witch Doctor

Team: Team Witch Doctor

Team Captain: Andrea Gellatly

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Season): DUCK! (W/JD), End Game (L/KO), Rusty (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Mammoth (W/KO), Copperhead (W/KO), Minotaur (W/JD), SawBlaze (W/KO), Tantrum (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Whiplash (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Glitch (W/KO), Hypershock (W/KO), End Game (L/KO)

• Boring, but Practical: Witch Doctor looks almost unchanged from years ago and doesn't look anything close to what the current meta demands of bots but that hasn't stopped it from winning multiple times.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: SawBlaze did not know what hit it, spending the entire match getting punted all over the box by Witch Doctor before landing in a flaming heap.
• Master of All: Downplayed slightly but Witch Doctor excels at almost every aspect of combat robotics. A damaging weapon, sturdy defense, blinding speed with excellent driving, reliable self-righter and no easy to exploit weak points make Witch Doctor a formidable opponent.

Semifinalists

#4-SawBlaze

Team: Team SawBlaze

Team Captain: Jamison Go

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Season): Minotaur (W/JD), MadCatter (W/KO), End Game (L/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): HiJinx (W/JD), P1 (W/JD), Riptide (W/KO), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Never stopped laying the hurt on MadCatter.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Delivered an absolutely brutal one to MadCatter, attacking it with everything it had, slamming it into walls, pulling off its top armor, before concluding by flipping it over under the pulverizer.
  • Received just as brutal a stomping from Witch Doctor in the semifinals.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Jamison Go stated after curb-stomping P1 that the team needed more practice driving Sawblaze after Sawblaze was nicked in the wheel by a killsaw towards the end of the fight. Reminder that said nick was the only damage the bot suffered the entire fight.
• Lightning Bruiser: SawBlaze is as quick as it is powerful, and convincingly beat Minotaur by decision after attacking it from every angle while running rings around it.
• Playing with Fire: Its iconic built-in green flamethrower. Unlike previous seasons, where it only functioned to cause cosmetic damage, it lit up Minotaur in its debut bout; the Brazilian bot spent the rest of the fight on fire.

#31-Hydra

Team: Team Whyachi

Team Captain: Jake Ewert

Hometown: Dorchester, Wisconsin

Matches (Season): End Game (L/KO), Gruff (W/KO), Glitch (L/KO)

Matches (Play-In): Defender (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Ribbot (W/KO), Black Dragon (W/JD), Blip (W/KO), Tantrum (L/JD)

• The Ace: Out of all of Team Whyachi's bots, Hydra is regarded by them to be the best and that claim is not unfounded.
• Achilles' Heel: Flippers need to have low ground clearance to get under other bots in order to flip them. Hydra's ground clearance was so low in its fight with Glitch that it plowed into a rough spot of the floor at full speed, leading to Glitch beating the crap out of it.
• Boring, but Practical: In their Round of 16 fight Hydra simply sat in the center of the box and kept turning themselves towards Black Dragon so Black Dragon had no option but to run at them and get flipped. They later repeated this against Tantrum.
• Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Had the end of its flipper sliced off by Ribbot and still kept flipping it afterwards.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Inverted on the 'Heroic' part since Hydra is the designated villain of season 6 but Jake Ewert was very harsh on his own performance after his bout with Gruff.
  Chris Rose: How would you grade your performance in that fight?
  Jake Ewert: I think I'd give myself an F
• He's Back!: After a grueling qualifier with Hydra losing more then it won, Hydra returned to the playoffs in a huge way and reinforced its reputation as a feared and respected bot, curbstomping Defender and Ribbot and ultimately punching its way up to the semifinals.
• Logical Weakness: Hydra's Boring, but Practical defense-oriented strategy in the championships is a very smart strategy for a flipper, forcing the opposing bot to drive directly onto the flipper. However this strategy relies on dealing more damage to the other bot than you take since it sacrifices Aggression points by being purely defensive. When Tantrum failed to take any significant damage from nearly a dozen flips while causing superficial but noticeable damage to Hydra one of the few times they missed, Hydra lost the ensuing decision due to their lack of aggression.
• Manipulative Bastard: Jake Ewert tries to invoke this whenever Hydra fights, he likens it to "Hydra Syndrome" where other robots try to attack Hydra head on constantly, which Jake will always take advantage of.

Quarterfinalists

#7-Blip

Team: Seems Reasonable

Team Captain: Aren Hill

Hometown: Mountainview, California

Matches (Season): Rusty (W/KO), Overhaul (W/KO), Lock-Jaw (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Valkyrie (W/KO), Jackpot (W/KO), Hydra (L/KO)

• Badass Adorable: Blip has an intentionally cutesy design and appearance, but its powerful flipper combined with Aren Hill's driving proves that it can hang with the big bots.
• Curbstomp Battle: After getting Valkyrie to break its weapon on its armor early on, Blip dominated the remainder of the fight, tossing the undercutter around the arena like a ragdoll.
• Genius Bruiser: While Blip is a powerful bot by itself, it's clear that one of its greatest strengths is being driven by Aren Hill, who will plan out and excecute perfect strategies in its fights.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Like many bots Blip uses magnets to help secure itself to the Arena floor so it doesn't launch itself when it fires its flipper. Those same magnets stuck to the metal lip of the upper deck in its fight against Hydra, resulting in Blip being unable to move and getting counted out.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Blip's flipper operates on a unique flywheel mechanism instead of the pneumatic and hydraulic systems used in previous flipper bots. Specifically, it uses the flywheel to twist an elastic cord to build tension before releasing the stored energy into the flipper. Chris and Kenny compared the principles of the mechanism to that of a trebuchet.
• Tempting Fate: Subverted, during its fight with Jackpot Aren Hill didn't want to prolong a fight he'd already won.
  Aren Hill: I'm not touching that anymore.
• Victory by Endurance: How they beat Valkyrie. Aren Hill planned to withstand Valkyrie's horizontal spinner until it broke itself before finally launching it, which worked out perfectly.

#14-Cobalt

Team: Robotic Death Company

Team Captain: John Mladenik

Hometown: Oceanside, California

Matches (Season): Fusion (L/KO), Ghost Raptor (W/KO), Gruff (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Yeti (W/KO), Whiplash (W/KO via JD), Tantrum (L/KO)

• Anti-Climax: Its battle with Whiplash ended when Whiplash's wedges got stuck underneath the upper deck while Cobalt stopped running while its spinner was unable to turn off. Due to match being unable to continue or be restarted, the match was given to Cobalt after it struck Whiplash once with its spinner. Cobalt won more or less due to a technicality.
• Clean Cut: Sliced straight through Ghost Raptor and left it a pile of parts in the arena.
• Double KO: In their fight against Whiplash both bots got stuck simultaneously, though not on each other. The decision went to the judges because Cobalt couldn't shut its weapon off.
• Drives Like Crazy: Matt Maxham doesn't hold back when driving Cobalt.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Its own wedge that was supposed to push Fusion into its vertical spinner instead jammed into Fusion's own vertical spinner constantly, giving Cobalt far more surface area to be attacked from.
• Glass Cannon: Cobalt can't take too much damage but it sure can give it out. Cobalt has the honors of both KO'ing the resilient Gruff and beating Yeti at its own game.
• Take Up My Sword: Team Carbide of Cobalt couldn't participate in this years competition due to travel restrictions and paternity leave, so management of the bot was given to John Mladenik and Matt Maxham. Suffice to say with its newfound success, the new team fits like a glove to Cobalt.

#16-Minotaur

Team: RioBotz

Team Captain: Marco Antonio Meggiolaro

Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Matches (Season): SawBlaze (L/JD), Dragon Slayer (W/KO), Deep Six (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Bloodsport (W/JD), End Game (W/JD), Witch Doctor (L/JD)

• A Day in the Limelight: Got a lot of attention for episode 6, starting with a tribute to the driver Daniel Freitas and his deceased relatives during seasons and ending with Minotaur's brutal curb-stomping of Dragon Slayer.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Went weapon-to-weapon with Deep Six, and while Minotaur went flying Deep Six got stuck against the wall, becoming a sitting duck once Minotaur recovered.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Convincingly beat End Game via judges' decision, ending a ten-match win streak including last year's championship.
• Glass Cannon: Minotaur doesn't have much in the way of defensive capabilities. It packs a dangerous drum spinner however that can make short work of any bot it hits first.
• Man on Fire: Spent more of its match with SawBlaze on fire than not after an early hit to a battery.
• Victorious Roar: Team Riobotz are infamous for giving deep cheers and chants of celebration.

#21-Riptide

Team: Break32

Team Captain: Ethan Kurtz

Hometown: Tarzana, California

Matches (Season): HUGE (W/KO), Defender (L/JD), DUCK! (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Shatter! (W/KO), Uppercut (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/KO)

• Attack Its Weak Point: Defeated Uppercut by destroying its wheels, leaving the rest of the bot mostly unharmed but unable to move.
• BFS: The Spinner equivalent. Riptide is armed with a gigantic vertical spinner that can launch bots meters through the air or break their armor into pieces.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Riptide has only its huge spinner to fight with, leaving itself without a self-righter or a secondary weapon to fight with. If it finds itself in a situation without a weapon or upside down, it's in trouble.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Riptide lost its fight against SawBlaze when it somehow got stuck on its side.
• In a Single Bound: In an attempt to self-right itself when fighting Defender, it slammed its weapon onto the upper deck and tossed itself 15 feet in the air as a result. To its credit, it landed upright and went on to make it to the JD despite losing.
• The Berserker: Fights like this more often then not and looks the part too.

Round of 16

#1-End Game

Team: End Game

Team Captain: Nick Mabey

Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand

Matches (Season): Hydra (W/KO), Witch Doctor (W/KO), SawBlaze (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Skorpios (W/KO), Minotaur (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Ribbot (W/KO), Tantrum (W/JD), Witch Doctor (W/KO)

• Dying Moment of Awesome: Despite losing to Minotaur, End Game gave one of the best performances in the whole season and maybe the whole show.
• World's Strongest Man: With 4 fights won flawlessly, End Game has more then proven itself to be one of the strongest bots ever created, if not the absolute strongest.

#3-Whiplash

Team: Fast Electric Robotics

Team Captain: Matthew Vasquez

Hometown: Thousand Oaks, California

Matches (Season): Bloodsport (W/KO), Skorpios (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Icewave (W/KO), Cobalt (L/KO via JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): HiJinx (W/JD), Ghost Raptor (W/KO), Black Dragon (W/JD), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Anti-Climax: Its battle with Cobalt ended when Whiplash's wedges got stuck underneath the upper deck while Cobalt stopped running while its spinner was unable to turn off. Due to match being unable to continue or be restarted, the match was given to Cobalt after it struck Whiplash once with its spinner. Cobalt won more or less due to a technicality.
• Discard and Draw: Whiplash is currently yet to use its spinner config, rather focusing on its lifter instead. Based on its 3 flawless victories against other spinners it hasn't lost much.
• Double KO: In their fight against Cobalt both bots got stuck simultaneously, though not on each other. The decision went to the judges because Cobalt couldn't shut its weapon off.
• Grapple Move: Quite possibly one of the best control bots ever made. Matty Vasquez controls Whiplash like an extension of himself and can defeat far more dangerous bots with only whiplash's lifting arm.
• Mundane Solution: Both Bloodsport and Icewave are deadly horizontal spinners that can turn bots into spare parts in seconds. What does Whiplash do to defeat both of them? Lodge them up on the screws near the upper deck in a way that neither of them can self right from.
• Out of Focus: Two of its fights weren't aired and were left as highlights. Especially jarring since Whiplash was last seasons runner up.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Should a robot with a single lifter arm and a occasional weak vertical spinner be able to defeat very dangerous spinners consistently? Whiplash finds a way.

#5-Uppercut

Team: Team Uppercut

Team Captain: Alex Hattori

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Season): Gigabyte (W/KO), Free Shipping (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): HUGE (W/KO via JD), Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Dragon Slayer (W/KO), Free Shipping (W/KO), Glitch (L/JD)

• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end from Riptide, Uppercut was never able to get a solid shot in.
• Double KO: With HUGE in the post-season.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Uppercuts vertical spinner blade is shaped like a fist. It could possibly be the single most lethal weapon used in the entire season.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Their fight with HUGE ended with a dramatic double-knockout, but wasn't televised.

#6-RotatoR

Team: Team Revolution

Team Captain: Victor Soto

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Season): Kraken (W/JD), Black Dragon (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Captain Shrederator (W/KO), Tantrum (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Glitch (L/KO)

• Bling of War: Rotator is dressed to impress with a reflective brass golden shell. Depressingly the victim of Clothing Damage whenever it was hit by Black Dragon or Captain Shrederator.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Rotator has both a thick outer shell and resilient wedges. Its incredible defense is designed to break other bots weapons and can be an even deadlier weapon then its own horizontal spinner.
• Mighty Glacier: Rotator has the reputation of a bot that'll get hit but will never go down. Not even Kraken's clamping could stop Rotator from moving or continuing the fight after the bots had to be separated by staff.
• Ring Out: How it lost to Tantrum seconds before the round went to a judges decision.
• Shield Bash: Uses this move on occasion to soak up damage.

#8-Copperhead

Team: Caustic Creations

Team Captain: Robert and Kimberly Cowan

Hometown: Erie, Colorado

Matches (Season): Lock-Jaw (W/JD), Fusion (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Lucky (W/KO?), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Animal Motifs: Snakes, obviously enough.
• Team Pet: Caustic Creations have one in Cuddles, the teams snake that joins the team in every battle.

#10-Jackpot

Team: Team VCR

Team Captain: Robert Stehn & Jeff Waters

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Matches (Season): Deadlift (W/JD), Malice (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Tombstone (W/KO), Blip (L/KO)

• Death or Glory Attack: Committed to one in its bout with Tombstone during their second attack. A full 3 minutes worth of damage was inflicted on both bots when their weapons collided and left Tombstone with a broken drive train and Jackpot with a broken shell and weapon.
• Dual Boss: Now has a minibot in its arsenal, "Ace" (previously used as Tracer's minibot "Needle"). Ace's forks proved effective at stopping Deadlift's movement, giving Jackpot enough of an advantage to control the fight and win by decision.
• Logical Weakness: Jackpot has always had a major weakness to flippers and lifters, which Blip took full advantage of.
• Oddly Shaped Sword: While the team debuted heart-shaped blades for their fight with Malice, Jackpot's signature weapon continues to be its dual diamond-shaped blades.
• Playing Card Motifs: Given the team's Vegas origin, they go all in on the casino theme. The body of the bot is painted a similar color of green as a poker table, their weapons are shaped after different card suits (namely diamonds and hearts), and the team captains even dress up like pit bosses when competing.
• Victory by Endurance: Won against Tombstone by tanking two direct hits from their opponent's weapon. The recoil destroyed Tombstone's drive while Jackpot drove away with only some deep gashes in its front armor.

#18-Black Dragon

Team: Team Ua!rrior

Team Captain: Gabriel Gomes

Hometown: Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Matches (Season): Ice-Wave (W/KO), Rotator (L/JD), Claw Viper (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): MadCatter (W/JD), Hydra (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Overhaul (W/JD), Perfect Phoenix (W/KO), Whiplash (L/JD)

• Bullfight Boss: How it fought Hydra. Overlapping with its Made of Iron status, no matter how many times it was counter-flipped by Hydra it would never go down and only lost by a judges decision.
• Firebreathing Weapon: One of only two bots to enter the top 16 with a flamethrower weapon. Humorously Black Dragon sets itself on fire with its own weapon more then anything else.
• Immune to Fire: Black Dragon is consistently set on fire by either damage or their own flamethrower weapon. Not once has it even effected their ability to fight.
• Made of Iron: Black Dragon is an incredibly sturdy bot that will not stop fighting, not even being shredded and being set on fire stopped it from fighting at max efficiency against Madcater
• Man on Fire: Black Dragon is getting a reputation for catching fire in the middle of a fight and a more impressive reputation for continuing to fight despite it.
• Technician vs. Performer: The Technician vs pretty much everyone else’s Performer. Compared to heavy-hitters like HyperShock, Tombstone, and End Game, who tend to focus more of big hits and spectacular fights, Black Dragon has a more conservative weapon and prefers to whittle its opponents down over the course of a fight rather than break them with a single giant hit, doing just enough to squeak by with a judges decision.

#20-P1

Team: Aberrant Robotics

Team Captain: Brandon Zalinsky

Hometown: Hudson, New Hampshire

Matches (Season): Valkyrie (W/JD), Jäger (W/KO), Ribbot (L/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Hypershock (W/JD), SawBlaze (L/JD)

• Badass Driver: Brandon Zalinsky proves again that he's one of the best drivers in the sport with an impressive defeat of Valkyrie.
• Fragile Speedster: True to its racecar inspiration, P1 is one of the fastest and most responsive bots in the tournament and has the torque and engine power to win most shoving matches. While not necessarily fragile, since it can take a respectable beating, it can't give one back meaning the bot still has to rely on not getting hit to survive.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Far and away P1's greatest strength is its very low, sloped front that can easily lift and flip its opponents. Valkyrie and Hypershock were both beaten after having their movement crippled by P1 riding underneath them and flipping them over.
• Took a Level in Badass: After doing poorly in 2018 with Parallax and in 2019 with an unreliable P1, and then missing out on the Round of 32 in 2020 despite doing better than in 2019, P1 was finally able to prove itself this season, finally reaching the top 32 with a strong win over Valkyrie and also beating Hypershock to reach the top 16.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: P1 has no weapons, only a low profile and single moveable panel that lifts upwards. Turns out, that was all it needed to defeat Valkyrie and Hypershock.

Round of 32

#2-Ribbot

Team: Team Ribbot

Team Captain: David Jin

Hometown: Worcester, Massachusetts

Matches (Season): Defender (W/KO), Overhaul (W/KO), P1 (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Hydra (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Double Jeopardy (W/KO), Malice (W/JD), Deep Six (W/KO), Lock-Jaw (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): End Game (L/KO)

• Beware the Silly Ones: A robot built to look like a frog may not sound like the most threatening of designs, but its impressive streak of knockouts proves that it is the real deal.
• Jack of All Stats: Ribbot is this compared to the other spinners in the field. Its modular design allows it to function as either a vert spinner or a horizontal undercutter, and with multiple armor configurations for each weapon, making it arguably one of the most versatile bots in the competition.
• Running Gag: Starting with the Overhaul fight, Team Ribbot painting the outer shell of the bot to mimic the color scheme of their opponent.

#9-Mammoth

Team: Team Mammoth

Team Captain: Ricky Willems

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

Matches (Season): HiJinx (W/KO), Tombstone (L/KO via JD), Lucky (L/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Witch Doctor (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Retrograde (L/JD)

• Double Knockout: Tombstone incapacitated Mammoth with a huge blow but flung itself into the wall hard enough to immobilize itself as well, resulting in them both being counted out.
• Stronger Than They Look: When the matchup with Tombstone was revealed, many were expecting Mammoth to be a bunch of metal toothpicks by the end of it. But Mammoth not only tanked hits that would kill most other bots outright, but recoiled Tombstone into the wall hard enough to incapacitate it and force a double knockout. Not only that, but it was still mostly functional afterwards!

#12-Shatter!

Team: BotsFC

Team Captain: Adam Wrigley

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Matches (Season): SubZero (W/JD), Blacksmith (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Pain Train (W/JD), Deep Six (L/KO)

• Battle Strip: The cosmetic layering on the shell of Shatter! is supposed to flake off as the fight proceeds. Averted in that it doesn't disadvantage Shatter! at all when it does.
• BFS: Shatter!'s optional hammer weapon, the "Mary Special" is a huge single piece that resembles a giant wireframe blade.
• Dangerous Backswing: Used in its battle with Blacksmith whenever Shatter! got trapped during its battle.

#13-Hypershock

Team: Team HyperShock

Team Captain: Will Bales

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Season): Slammo! (W/KO), Lock-Jaw (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): P1 (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): DUCK! (W/JD), Valkyrie (W/KO), MadCatter (W/KO), Gigabyte (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Skorpios (W/KO), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivered one to Slammo! in the regular season, and went on a destructive tear against Valkyrie, MadCatter, and Gigabyte in the first Golden Bolt bracket.
• Drives Like Crazy: It wouldn't be Hypershock without the iconic driving from Will Bales.
• Hero-Worshipper: Will Bales has a huge level of respect for Donald Hudson and makes it clear before and after the battle that he considers Lockjaw one of his most feared and respected bots.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Hypershock's legendary speed worked against them against P1, since P1 was maneuverable enough to turn and face them before they made contact and Hypershock simply ramped off P1, landing inverted and costing them a lot of time.
• Lightning Bruiser: Was too fast and too powerful for Slammo! to even properly react to.
• Oh, Crap!: Will Bales has one of these after booting Lock Jaw out of the arena because he was afraid he was about to be disqualified due to a quirk in the ^rules Lock Jaw landed in a door buffer zone, part of the 'tunnel' used when a team is walking their bot out to the arena. Putting a bot in the door buffer zone intentionally (7.5.9b) is a disqualification for the bot that put them there. Fortunately, Hypershock was ruled to have done so unintentionally (7.5.9c) and was granted the win. While the reason for this rule isn't explained, it's generally thought that a running bot in the door buffer zone is a major safety hazard.

#15-MadCatter

Team: Team Bad Kitty

Team Captain: Martin Mason

Hometown: Pomona, California

Matches (Season): Yeti (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/KO), Rampage (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Black Dragon (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Triple Crown (W/KO), Claw Viper (W/KO), HyperShock (L/KO)

• Large Ham: Martin Mason is well-known for acting like Hulk Hogan whenever he's on camera.
• Nice Guy: For all his humorous over-the-top Trash Talk Martin Mason is one. After his team secured their spot in the Round of 32 by beating Rampage he spent the first half of his post-match interview praising Rampage and getting the crowd to cheer for them.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: In a roundabout away for this trope, MadCatter defeated Triple Crown via knockout by literally just moving as the latter, ironically, could not do anything due to a communications issue between it and its controller.

#17-Bloodsport

Team: Bots N' Stuff Robotics

Team Captain: Justin Marple

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Season): Whiplash (L/KO), SubZero (W/KO), Claw Viper (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Minotaur (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Big Dill (W/KO), Blade (W/KO), Blacksmith (W/JD), Skorpios (L/JD)

• Help, I'm Stuck!: Lost against Whiplash when its self-righting mechanism got caught in the screws.

#19-Yeti

Team: Team C2 Robotics

Team Captain: Greg Gibson and Christian Carlberg

Hometown: San Luis Obispo, California

Matches (Season): MadCatter (L/KO), Pain Train (W/KO), Skorpios (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Cobalt (L/KO)

• Attack Its Weak Point: Greg Gibson realized that Pain Train couldn't be beaten with Yeti's simple strategy of "just smash" and tried to apply tactics to this fight. Amusingly downplayed later on when Greg admitted in an interview that his old instinct of "just smash" took over after 20 seconds of battle.
• Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Yeti lost one of its weapon belts early on fighting Skorpios. It didn't really need it.
• Took a Level in Badass: Yeti's drum now operates with a variable speed motor that allows it to spin down without shutting off completely. Combined with the more compact design, this iteration of Yeti allows for much more tactical driving on Greg Gibson's part while still dishing out the big hits that it's known for.

#22-Gigabyte

Team: Robotic Death Company

Team Captain: John Mladenik

Hometown: Oceanside, California

Matches (Season): Uppercut (L/KO), Captain Shrederator (W/KO), SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Tantrum (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Hypershock (L/KO)

#23-Tombstone

Team: Hardcore Robotics

Team Captain: Ray Billings

Hometown: Placerville, California

Matches (Season): Captain Shrederator (L/KO), Mammoth (W/KO via JD), Free Shipping (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Jackpot (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Tantrum (L/KO)

• Badass Boast: Ray Billings delivers a simple, but awesome one in response to the idea that his fearsome bot is past its prime.
  Ray Billings: Go ask anyone who I have hit whether they think I "don't have it anymore".
• Double Knockout: Tombstone incapacitated Mammoth with a huge blow but flung itself into the wall hard enough to immobilize itself as well, resulting in them both being counted out.

#25-Lucky

Team: TKO Robotics

Team Captain: Mark Demers

Hometown: Ottawa, Canada

Matches (Season): Tantrum (L/KO), Blade (W/KO), Mammoth (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Copperhead (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Switchback (L/KO)

• Killed Offscreen: Their tournament loss to Copperhead wasn't televised.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A possible case: Lucky immobilized Tantrum on the rails, but went in for one more flip to keep the fight going. It's likely that Tantrum was about to free itself without Lucky's "assistance" and the team opted for one more hit while it was vulnerable, but whatever the reason, Tantrum proceeded to go to town on them and knock them out.
• Meaningful Name: Known for being Born Unlucky in previous seasons, Lucky was, well, very lucky in its fight with Blade. Blade smashed into Lucky's wedge, then ricocheted into a wall hard enough to break their weapon bar off in the wall. Lucky then flipped Blade up and got it perfectly balanced on the screws machinery for an incredibly fast win.
• Mighty Glacier: Won its fight with Blade by resisting Blade's first attack and then launching Blade over the screws, showing that putting Tantrum on the ropes in its last fight wasn't a fluke.
• Punched Across the Room: Lucky's launcher fires an opponent across the battlebox, rather than upwards into the air like Hydra and Blip or flipping them over Like Subzero.

#26-Valkyrie

Team: Team Questionable Designs

Team Captain: Leanne Cushing

Hometown: Somerville, Massachusetts

Matches (Season): P1 (L/JD), Triple Crown (W/KO), Pardon My French (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Blip (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): SMEEEEEEEEEE (W/KO), Hypershock (L/KO)

• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Twice in its bout against P1. Initially P1 used its shorter height and frame to lift Valkyrie in such a way that its weapon would hit the floor and damage the internals. This happened again when the team tried using their own pulverizer hammers to flip it back over although this strategy was dropped after a few hits.

#27-Captain Shrederator

Team: Team LOGICOM

Team Captain: Brian Nave

Hometown: Ormond Beach, Florida

Matches (Season): Tombstone (W/KO), Gigabyte (L/KO), Jäger (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Rotator (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Ghost Raptor (L/JD)

• Born Unlucky: Shrederator has a reputation for randomly breaking down for no apparent reason, which unfortunately happened in the fight against Gigabyte when the radio receiver died. Brian Nave sourly acknowledged the bot's reputation for this during the count-out, and it was clear in the aftermath of the fight even Gigabyte's team felt bad for them.
• Dark Horse Victory: Defeated Tombstone when the former champ burst into flames.

#28-HUGE

Team: Team HUGE

Team Captain: Jonathan Schultz

Hometown: South Windsor, Connecticut

Matches (Season): Riptide (L/KO), Retrograde (W/KO), Switchback (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Uppercut (L/KO via JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Deep Six (L/JD)

• Death from Above: Due to its height, all of Huge's attacks are like this. Used to great effect to defeat Retrograde by KO.
• Double KO: With Uppercut in the postseason.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: In their battle against Riptide one of their iconic giant wheels got stuck behind the screws. Since it wasn't actually touching the screws HUGE couldn't get any traction to escape and was counted out.
• Killed Offscreen: Their tournament loss to Uppercut wasn't televised.
• Victory Pose: Climbed onto the upper deck and spun around after defeating Retrograde.

#29-HiJinx

Team: Offbeat Robotics

Team Captain: Jen Herchenroeder

Hometown: Oakland, California

Matches (Season): Mammoth (L/KO), Kraken (W/JD), SubZero (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): SawBlaze: (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Whiplash (L/JD)

#30-Icewave

Team: Team Icewave

Team Captain: Marc DeVidts

Hometown: Burlingame, California

Matches (Season): Black Dragon (L/KO), Deadlift (W/KO), Fusion (W/KO)

Matches (Championship Tournament): Whiplash (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Free Shipping (L/JD)

#32-Skorpios

Team: Team Bot Bash Party Crew

Team Captain: Zachary Lytle

Hometown: Moraga, California

Matches (Season): Blade (W/JD), Whiplash (L/JD), Yeti (L/JD)

Matches (Play-In): Malice (W/JD)

Matches (Championship Tournament): End Game (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Bloodsport (W/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Hypershock (L/KO)

• Man of Kryptonite: Was created specifically to fight horizontal blade spinners and proved how effective it was when it curb-stompted Blade.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Skorpios did not lay off Blade even though it looked like Blade would have been counted out less than halfway through the match if Skorpios just left them alone.

Did not reach the Round of 32

#9-Glitch

Team: Combat Robotics at Berkeley

Team Captain: Kyle Miller

Hometown: Roseville, California

Matches (Season): Ghost Raptor (W/JD), Hydra (W/KO), Kraken (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Gruff (W/JD), Retrograde (W/JD), Uppercut (W/JD), RotatoR (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: Its opening bout with Ghost Raptor was plagued with problems, with Glitch moving improperly and sometimes stopping altogether with it even needing Chuck Pitzer from Team Raptor to help get Glitch operational to begin with. Glitch would later have to withdraw from the tournament due to their weapon being broken beyond repair.
• Born Lucky: In its fight with Hydra it got flipped so high it bounced off the ceiling. It survived because it landed directly on its forks, which were completely ruined but also broke its fall and let it keep going.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Their weapon irreparably broke and they had to withdraw from the tournament, being replaced with Mammoth.

Defender

Team: Fast Electric Robotics

Team Captain: Jason Vasquez

Hometown: Thousand Oaks, California

Matches (Season): Ribbot (L/KO), Riptide (W/JD), Retrograde (W/JD)

Matches (Play-In): Hydra (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Claw Viper (L/JD)

• Wrestler in All of Us: While it never actually got to successfully suplex an opponent, the idea of the bot is to hold the opponent with its clamping arm before lifting it over with its lifter.

Malice

Team: Team Malice

Team Captain: Adrian "Bunny" Sauriol

Hometown: San Jose, California

Matches (Season): Tantrum (L/JD), Jackpot (L/KO), Blacksmith (W/JD)

Matches (Play-In): Skorpios (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Slammo! (W/KO), Ribbot (L/JD)

Did not qualify for postseason

Blacksmith

Team: HFA

Team Captain: Al Kindle

Hometown: Edison, New Jersey

Matches (Season): Free Shipping (W/JD), Shatter! (L/JD), Malice (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Deadlift (W/JD), Switchback (W/JD), Bloodsport (L/JD)

• Foreshadowing: The very last time Blacksmith was seen in Discovery Season 2 Chris and Kenny had a conversation about the bot's poor luck. Kenny's words then would prove prophetic during the Season 4 opener, the next time Blacksmith appeared.
  Chris Rose: Tough go again for Blacksmith and Al Kindle, huh?
  Kenny Florian: It was! He's been in a part of so many great fights, but again, always coming out the losing end. I want to see this guy get a win, be in a great fight, but also get the win. I think we're going to see a stronger Al Kindle next time around though.
• Made of Iron: Blacksmith absolutely refuses to die, as evidenced in its fight with Malice.
• Man on Fire: Blacksmith caught fire early in its match against Malice and didn't seem affected at all, staying on fire for the entire battle and going to the judges.
• Took a Level in Badass: Comes equipped with a new "power hammer" which replaces its original hammer with a spinning blade. It worked very well against Free Shipping.

Blade

Team: Team ORBY

Team Captain: Cheog Gyu Hwang

Hometown: Seoul, Korea

Matches (Season): Skorpios (L/JD), Lucky (L/KO), Dragon Slayer (W/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Kraken (W/JD), Bloodsport (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: A rookie horizontal (although it did compete in China's This Is Fighting Robots and King of Bots Season 2) that get matched up against one of the best spinner killers in the sport. And in its second fight, the blade broke in half after the first hit, allowing the aptly named Lucky to flip it on top of the screws.
• Glass Cannon: Its aluminium bar is this, thanks to being much heavier, it hits much harder, but since it's aluminium, it breaks if it hits something too hard.

Claw Viper

Team: Team Bad Idea

Team Captain: Kevin Milczewski

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Matches (Season): Pardon My French (W/KO), Black Dragon (L/KO), Bloodsport (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Defender (W/JD), MadCatter (L/KO)

• Fragile Speedster: Blindingly fast, wiffing multiple box rushes due to its own speed
• Technical Pacifist: Is equipped with only its grappling claws.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Defeated Pardon My French by suplexing and grappling it around the box until it could no longer move, not even its minibot was safe.

Deadlift

Team: RoboGym Robotics

Team Captain: Ryan Shulski

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Matches (Season): Jackpot (L/JD), Icewave (L/KO)

Deep Six

Team: Team Overboard

Team Captain: Dustin Esswein

Hometown: Norfolk, Virginia

Matches (Season): Pain Train (W/KO), SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (L/KO), Minotaur (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): HUGE (W/JD), Shatter! (W/KO), Ribbot (L/KO)

• Anti-Climax: Got one of its wedges stuck down the slots that the killsaws emerge from, rendering itself unable to move and being counted out without hitting SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE once.
• Too Powerful to Live: This season would be its last as it was rejected from Season 7 due to how destructive it was to the arena^* When it spun up to full speed in the Test Box, the gyroscopic forces involved lifted Deep Six off the ground, bringing its weapon into contact with the floor, whereupon it completely ripped itself apart., however the team is planning on entering a horizontal called Triton in its place, the spinner in question being just as big as Deep Six.

Dragon Slayer

Team: Wild Side Robotics

Team Captain: Jordan Neal

Hometown: Denton, Texas

Matches (Season): DUCK! (W/JD), Minotaur (L/KO), Blade (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Uppercut (L/KO)

• Wimp Fight: During its bout with DUCK! Dragon Slayer's weapon was reliable enough to last the whole fight but not strong enough to damage DUCK! anywhere besides its beak. This led to a 3 minute round of pushing and light tapping with its vertical spinner.

DUCK!

Team: Team Black and Blue

Team Captain: Hal Rucker

Hometown: Palo Alto

Matches (Season): Witch Doctor (L/JD), Dragon Slayer (L/JD), Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Hypershock (L/JD)

• Logical Weakness: The scoring system doesn't count damage a bot inflicts on itself as points for the opponent. Because DUCK! relies entirely on the opposing bot breaking itself and is all but incapable of inflicting damage on its own, and damage is the largest chunk of points in a judges' decision, it's nearly impossible for DUCK! to win if its opponent doesn't break.

Free Shipping

Team: Team Special Delivery

Team Captain: Gary Gin

Hometown: San Leandro, California

Matches (Season): Blacksmith (L/JD), Uppercut (L/KO), Tombstone (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): ICEwave (W/JD), Uppercut (L/KO)

• Curb Stomp Cushion: Despite losing to Blacksmith via Judges decision, Free Shipping never stopped moving and exhausted Blacksmiths weapon after its own was disabled.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Had its fuel tank hit by Uppercut during their fight which created an explosion that almost filled up the entire box.
• Weak, but Skilled: Its lack of a primary weapon and huge frame is more than made up for by Gary Gin's incredible driving skill and ability to strategize on the fly.

Fusion

Team: Team Whyachi Robotics

Team Captain: Reese Ewert

Hometown: Dorchester, Wisconsin

Matches (Season): Cobalt (W/KO), Copperhead (L/KO), Icewave (L/KO)

• Critical Existence Failure: Fusion and Icewave traded a massive blow at the start of their fight, breaking both Icewave's spinner and Fusion's horizontal spinner. Fusion was winning the pushing war and jammed Icewave into the screws... then just died in an enormous cloud of smoke after a light nudge from Icewave while the latter was freeing itself from the screws.
• Take That!: Reese Ewert couldn't help but take a joking shot at his brother Jake (captain of Hydra) after his match with Cobalt.
• Wrecked Weapon: In classic Fusion style, both of its weapons failed before it was counted out against Copperhead.

Ghost Raptor

Team: Team Raptor

Team Captain: Chuck Pitzer

Hometown: San Jose, California

Matches (Season): Glitch (L/JD), Cobalt (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Captain Shrederator (W/JD), Whiplash (L/KO)

• Curb Stomp Cushion: Somewhat Downplayed, but it was doing somewhat well at the start of its fight against Cobalt, pushing it near the screws and getting it wedged under it for a bit as well before Cobalt ripped it up.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Got broken into pieces when Cobalt delivered the final blow in their match.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A twofer. Not only did Ghost Raptor's team help Glitch get up and running before the battle but Glitch could have been counted out numerous times in their fight due to drive problems if Ghost Raptor hadn't kept helping them get unstuck and keep moving, as Glitch's captain admitted. The fight went to the judges and Ghost Raptor lost the decision. Discussed after the fight by Chris and Kenny, who praised Ghost Raptor's team for their good sportsmanship.
• Took a Level in Badass: Subtle, but it's there. Ghost Raptor is now a lot more reliable and its weapon can stay active for longer.

Gruff

Team: Team Gruff

Team Captain: Sam Mcamis

Hometown: Palm Harbor

Matches (Season): Switchback (W/KO), Hydra (L/KO), Cobalt (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Glitch (L/JD)

• Made of Iron: A consistent factor of Gruff is how hard it is to knock out. Subverted when Cobalt knocked it out.
• Playing with Fire: Most bots with flamethrowers only use them for decoration, Gruff is the only bot to truly weaponize a flamethrower, using it alongside its lifting prongs to make short work of Switchback.
• Ring Out: How it lost to Hydra after being punted around the box for minutes.

Jäger

Team: Team Jäger

Team Captain: Ralf Schneider

Hometown: Gemünden, Germany

Matches (Season): P1 (L/KO), Captain Shredderator (L/KO)

• Dual Boss: This seasons only clusterbot, with the undercutter "Toekicker" and hammer-saw "Armmuscle", plus an unnamed minibot.
• Heroic Second Wind: Toekicker fell off the upper deck with one second left on the count, giving them a second chance. Subverted in that P1 just put it right back up there.
• Unfriendly Fire: Toekicker accidently hit the unnamed minibot during its battle with P1, tearing off the wheels on its right side.

Kraken

Team: CE Robots

Team Captain: Matt Spurk

Hometown: Titusville, Florida

Matches (Season): RotatoR (L/JD), HiJinx (L/JD), Glitch (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Blade (L/JD)

• The Last Dance: Following its Champions loss against Blade, Matt Spurk admitted that the current incarnation of Kraken would finally be retired and that the Spurk clan was planning to bring something "bigger and better" next season.
• Man Bites Man: Or Bot bites Bot. Kraken is the only crusher bot this season with a clamp that can break other bots weapons in a single attack or, with Rotator, get its opponent so firmly trapped in its jaws that the match had to be paused in order to separate them.

Lock-Jaw

Team: Mutant Robots

Team Captain: Donald Hutson

Hometown: San Diego

Matches (Season): Copperhead (L/JD), Hypershock (L/KO), Blip (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Ribbot (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: Matched up against three high-caliber bots during the qualifying round, and came out on the losing end against each.

Overhaul

Team: Equals Zero Robotics

Team Captain: Charles Guan

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Matches (Season): Ribbot (L/KO), Blip (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Black Dragon (L/JD)

• Feeling Their Age: As stated in their intro, Overhaul's 3 year hiatus from Battlebots has left it a relic, with most other bots using cutting edge technology.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Got off to an impressive start grabbing Black Dragon and tossing it around the arena, but when it finally landed a full suplex it flipped itself upside down in the process. It spent several seconds trying to right itself, allowing Black Dragon to gain the upper hand and dominate the match from that point forward.

Pain Train

Team: Team Shreddit

Team Captain: Evan Arias

Hometown: Staten Island, New York

Matches (Season): Deep Six (L/KO), Yeti (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Shatter! (L/JD)

• Curb Stomp Cushion: Despite being beaten by Yeti in a KO, it was able to shred Yeti's wheels and force it into a corner more than once.
• Ludicrous Gibs: After Deep 6 was finished with it, Pain Train was in many more pieces than it started as.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Severely inverted, but it was a cool line.
  Evan Arias: Deep 6 is going six deep.
  • Tempting Fate: Two and a half minutes later, and Pain Train is a burning heap of twisted metal on top of the screws.

Pardon My French

Team: Team OuiOui

Team Captain: Philippe Voyer

Hometown: Riviere-du-Loup, Canada

Matches (Season): Claw Viper (L/KO), Valkyrie (L/KO)

• Awesome, but Impractical: Comes with a giant vertical spinner. Unfortunately, it stopped working immediately against Claw Viper.
• Dual Boss: One of the few bots to come with a minibot, "Zut!".
• Made of Plasticine: Broke down very quickly against Claw Viper.

Rampage

Team: Team X

Team Captain: Melania Knox and Daniel Knox

Hometown: Port St. Joe, Florida

Matches (Season): Retrograde (L/KO), MadCatter (L/KO)

• The Generic Guy: Rampage has nothing that really sets it apart from other competitors, just being another 4 wheel drive vertical spinner with a brown color scheme.
• Zero-Effort Boss: Lost within 10 seconds of its bout with Retrograde after a faulty EMP prevented it from driving upside down.

Retrograde

Team: Bots N' Stuff

Team Captain: Aaron Lucas

Hometown: Venice, California

Matches (Season): Rampage (W/KO), HUGE (L/KO), Defender (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Mammoth (W/JD), Glitch (L/JD)

• Armour Is Useless: Removed its undercutter for some heavier top armor for its bout with HUGE. It was less than effective.
• Dual Wielding: Is equipped with a horizontal spinner and 2 lifting prongs. They were both used to great effect against Rampage.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: After flipping them within seconds of the bout starting, Retrograde proceeded to break a tire off of Rampage after they could do nothing to fight back.
• One-Hit Kill: Functionally defeated Rampage in a single flip.

Rusty

Team: Team Iron Force

Team Captain: David Eaton

Hometown: Antioch, Illinois

Matches (Season): Blip (L/KO), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Clothing Damage: Rusty's sheet-metal case came loose after landing from a flip, much to the announcers' amusement. Blip would later line up a second flip with the express purpose of pulling it off completely.
• Foregone Conclusion: Few people thought Rusty stood a chance against former finalist Witch Doctor. The fight was both built up and played out more like a fun exhibition match between two friends than the usual bombastic high-energy duels that make up the rest of the show.
• Giant Scrap Robot: Rusty lives, breathes, and embraces this aesthetic and design philosophy. Most obvious in its fight with Witch Doctor, where its case was a random piece of embossed sheet metal to replace the piece Blip destroyed and its 'lifter' was Lock Jaw's rear plow welded onto its weapon arms.
• You Don't Look Like You: Despite getting rebuilt for 2021, "Rusty Jr." wasn't battle-ready in time for the competition and the 2020 model fought Blip and Witch Doctor in its place.

Slammo!

Team: Team Danby

Team Captain: Craig Danby

Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina

Matches (Season): Hypershock (L/KO), Switchback (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Malice (L/KO)

SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Team: Team SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Team Captain: Joe Fabiani

Hometown: New York

Matches (Season): Deep Six (W/KO), Gigabyte (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Valkyrie (L/KO)

• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Won its fight with Deep Six after Deep Six accidentally got itself trapped in the killsaw slots, defeating itself without any real input from SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Downplayed slightly when it showed that SMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE had broken one of Deep Six's wheels with its undercutter blade.

SubZero

Team: TeamXD

Team Captain: Logan Davis

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Matches (Season): Shatter! (L/JD), Bloodsport (L/KO), HiJinx (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Perfect Phoenix (L/KO)

Switchback

Team: Midnight Invention

Team Captain: Greg Needal

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Matches (Season): Gruff (L/KO), Slammo! (W/KO), HUGE (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Lucky (W/KO), Blacksmith (L/JD)

Triple Crown

Team: Team Irresistable Object

Team Captain: Todd Mendenhall

Hometown: Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Matches (Season): Valkyrie (L/KO)

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): MadCatter (L/KO)

• Critical Failure: Its fight with MadCatter ended before it could begin due to a communications link issue that happened right as the countdown started, which prevented the bot from receiving any commands to move at all and thus leading to an immediate kncokout. Todd Mendenhall addresses what happened before the fight in this video.

Did not compete in the regular season

Big Dill

Team: Team Food Fight

Team Captain: Emmanual Carrillo

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Bloodsport (L/KO)

Double Jeopardy

Team: Team Double Trouble

Team Captain: Evan Woolley

Hometown: Irvine, California

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): Ribbot (L/KO)

• Boom, Headshot!: It got to use its primary cannon exactly once, landing a direct hit on Ribbot's frog head. It was too high a shot to hit any vital components, but the decorative head was torn off entirely.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: The only bot in the field with a projectile weapon. Compared to previous appearances where it could only fire a single shot, this year's version was designed to fire smaller bursts as a follow-up after its large shot was spent. The secondary fire dealt some minor damage to Ribbot's undercutter, though not enough to disable it.

Perfect Phoenix

Team: Team Perfect Phoenix

Team Captain: Tyler Nguyen

Hometown: Herndon, Virginia

Matches (Golden Bolt Qualifiers): SubZero (W/KO), Black Dragon (L/KO)