Characters / BattleBots – Discovery Channel Season 5

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

#8-SawBlaze

Team: Team SawBlaze

Team Captain: Jamison Go

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Fight Night): HyperShock (W/KO), Lock-Jaw (W/KO), Skorpios (W/KO), Hydra (L/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Blip (W/JD), Monsoon (W/KO), Minotaur (W/KO), Ribbot (W/JD), HUGE (W/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Shreddit Bro (W/KO), Tantrum (W/JD), End Game (L/JD)

• Earn Your Happy Ending: Jamison had been competing in robot combat since he was a teenager, and had been piloting SawBlaze since ABC's second season. Now he has, at last, claimed the Giant Nut as a BattleBots champion.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Jamison Go is on very good terms with Zachary Lytle of Scorpios, appearing in promotional videos with him before their fight and being very supportive behind the scenes.
• Graceful Loser: Similar to the final match of the main tournament where Jonathan Schultz of HUGE immediately declined to go for an appeal after losing an incredibly close battle, Jameson himself would also decline immediately after being asked if he'd appeal against SawBlaze's own incredibly close fight with End Game.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: During its fight against HyperShock, SawBlaze got his saw stuck in the underside of his opponent, resulting in a double KO. While SawBlaze would ultimately win the fight, it took hours to separate the two bots, even forcing the crew to dismantle both of them.
• Loveable Rogue: In spite of his sometimes cocky attitude and confidence, Jamison Go is beloved in the sport and has shown to be both respected and liked by many other builders, including Zach Lytle, Jake Ewert, and Lucy Du.
• Strong and Skilled: SawBlaze is easily one of the most dangerous bots this season, using a devastating hammer-saw weapon while also being driven with impressive control by Jamison Go.

Runner-Up

#6-HUGE

Team: Team HUGE

Team Captain: Jonathan Schultz

Hometown: Palm Harbor, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): Shatter! (W/KO), Blip (W/JD), Fusion (W/KO), Starchild (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Skorpios (W/KO), MaDCatTer (W/JD), Witch Doctor (W/JD), Copperhead (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/JD)

• The Dreaded: HUGE was initially created to fight against the current Meta of smaller vertical spinners, but as its record this season shows, very little else stands a chance against it either.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While a respected veteran team, HUGE's record over the last few seasons had left Jonathan Schultz contemplating retiring the design and questioning its viability, and many fans did not give HUGE much of a chance this season. Cue the team going on an absolute rampage courtesy of Jonathan's improved piloting skills, demolishing all in their path to ultimately claim second place and cement the robot's place in BattleBots history, while also taking home the award for Most Destructive.
• Graceful Loser: The final between HUGE and SawBlaze was so close that Jonathan was asked point blank if he planned to appeal the decision. Jonathan immediately declined, saying the judges made the right decision.
• Humongous Mecha: One of the biggest robots to fight in BattleBots, usually towering over whoever it is fighting.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: HUGE used its own gigantic wheels as improvised shields to defend against Shatter's hammer.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Throughout the season, HUGE defeated a murderers row of opponents flawlessly, completely overwhelming top-tier bots one after another. It wasn't until Skorpios and Mad Catter that HUGE actually took any notable damage (while still brutalizing them both and decisively KO'ing the former while winning a convincing JD over the latter), and it took the eventual champion to finally stop them in a razor close fight that HUGE was initially winning. While HUGE would fall just short of winning the title, its prowess did not go unrecognised as the team took home the Most Destructive award in recognition of its season long rampage.
• No-Sell: Proved to be completely immune to Blip's flipper.

Semifinalists

#10-Copperhead

Team: Caustic Creations

Team Captain: Luke Quintal

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Matches (Fight Night): Bloodsport (W/KO), Triton (W/KO via JD), Kraken (W/KO), RIPperoni (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): RotatoR (W/JD), End Game (W/JD), Riptide (W/JD), HUGE (L/KO)

• Animal Motifs: Snakes, obviously.
• Mutual Kill: Got into this in their fight with Triton. Downplayed in that it was still a Curb-Stomp Battle in their favor.^note In the case of a double knockout, the match is decided by judges' decision. In this case, Copperhead destroyed the rear compartment of Triton that holds all of its batteries and several of those batteries but then got subsequently stuck on the debris.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The smallest bot on the roster and easily one of the most dangerous, having defeated three other bots almost flawlessly.

#28-Ribbot

Team: Team Ribbot

Team Captain: David Jin

Hometown: Somerville, Massachusetts

Matches (Fight Night): Witch Doctor (L/KO), Claw Viper (L/JD), Jackpot (L/JD), Skorpios (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Quantum (W/KO), Black Dragon (W/KO), Hydra (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/JD)

• Fragile Speedster: Ribbot has the tendency to lose power in one side of its drive after a few hits, crippling it for the rest of the fight.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Ribbot is one of the few remaining "swiss army bots" that can change between vertical and horizontal spinners.
• The Worf Effect: Went from gaining the #2 seed last year to losing 3 fights in a row against admittingly powerful opponents. However, it would quickly bounce back in the bracket, reaching the top 4.

Quarterfinalists

#1-Minotaur

Team: RioBotz

Team Captain: Marco Antonio Meggiolaro

Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Matches (Fight Night): Tantrum (W/KO), Free Shipping (W/KO), Cobalt (W/KO), Witch Doctor (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Fusion (W/KO), Malice (W/JD), SawBlaze (L/KO)

• Beware the Quiet Ones / Beware the Nice Ones: Team Minotaur are good-natured and friendly in interviews before or after the match, with their driver Daniel Freitas being rather shy and not talking much. But when the bot battle begins? Freitas drives like a madman and looks ready to rip apart metal barehanded.
• Combat Breakdown: Minotaur's fight against Witch Doctor ended up like this, as both bots slowly lost the use of their weapons and drivetrains, ending in a pushing match between two crippled bots.
• Drives Like Crazy: Even by the standards of the show, Minotaur is known for its extreme aggression while driving. The Bull Seeing Red expression on the face of their driver adds to the effect.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Marco stated as much after their fight with Witch Doctor, that they respect the rival team deeply and never let any drama inside the box affect them outside of it. Andrea Gellately on her part, instantly agreed.
• Lightning Bruiser: As one of the only bots to go 4-0 and defeat other nut contenders such as Cobalt and Witch Doctor, Minotaur earned the #1 seed as a statement that it could very well be the strongest bot in the season.
• Noisy Robots: The undisputed king of this, Minotaur's drum spinner at full speed almost sounds like an air-raid siren and foreshadows a violent end to anyone going up against it.
• World's Strongest Man: After KO'ing Tantrum and Cobalt and having previously KO'd Endgame in the last championship, Minotaur is a sure contender for the strongest bot ever made.

#2-Riptide

Team: Break32

Team Captain: Ethan Kurtz

Hometown: Tarzana, California

Matches (Fight Night): Glitch (W/KO), MaDCatTer (W/KO), Captain Shrederator (W/KO), Black Dragon (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Shatter! (W/KO), HyperShock (W/KO), Copperhead (L/JD)

• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: It is the first bot in the history of the sport to knock out Black Dragon, a bot that is notorious for being Made of Iron.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Kept on attacking Captain Shrederator after it was already flipped over and immobilized, causing over $10,000 worth of unnecessary damage much to the anger of Team LOGICOM. For reference, continuing to destroy an already-dead robot against the wishes of its team is considered incredibly bad form in combat robotics.
• The Unfettered: Riptide is a good contender for the Giant Nut, being a very powerful vertical spinner with a solid drive and defense but it will be known more for ruthlessly rending Captain Shrederator into spare parts after both teams had acknowledged that Riptide had won the instant they flipped CS onto its back, to the point where the referee physically had to take the remote out of Ethan's hands to get him to stop.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Ethan Kurtz is frequently guilty of this. On top of frequently continuing to attack robots^note Or their loose parts and Minibots after they're already KOed — despite this being greatly frowned upon in combat robotics, especially when said teams still have fights left — he also tried to put his hand over Martin Mason's mouth in their post-fight interview against MaDCatTer. He later spent a large part of his post-fight interview against Shatter! insulting Shatter! captain Adam Wrigley.
• Worf Had the Flu: Just before the quartfinals, Ethan Kurtz was quarantined due to testing positive for COVID. As a result, his role of driver was replaced by Felix Jing. Despite Felix putting up a good fight, thanks to Copperhead breaking Riptide's weapon and flipping it over, Riptide was finally eliminated (but not before Ethan and Team Break32 attempted an unsuccessful appeal that ended up turning the judges' split decision into a unanimous decision).

#3-Witch Doctor

Team: Team Witch Doctor

Team Captain: Andrea and Mike Gellatly

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): Ribbot (W/KO), Fusion (W/JD), Gruff (W/KO), Minotaur (L/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Jackpot (W/KO), Lock-Jaw (W/KO), HUGE (L/JD)

• Dem Bones: As usual, Witch Doctor's self-righter and top armor resemble a ribcage.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: In their Round of 16 fight, they took out Lock-Jaw's drone Spitfire by throwing Lock-Jaw itself into it.
• Heroic Second Wind: Against both Fusion and Minotaur, Witch Doctor was able to bounce back from certain defeat and even the damage just through Mike Gellatly's driving and Witch Doctor's powerful vertical spinner.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivered these to both Ribbot and Gruff.
• Jack of All Stats: Witch Doctor is a balance of speed, driving skill, weapon power, and durability. This has allowed it to be a perennial favorite for deep tournament runs. Unfortunately, it sometimes runs into Master of None when faced with a bot that may not have as much durability or driving skill, but has more weapon power and/or speed.
• The Reliable One: One of Witch Doctor's greatest strengths is its constant ability to continue to work well despite the opponent.

#4-Hydra

Team: Team Whyachi

Team Captain: Jake Ewert

Hometown: Dorchester, Wisconsin

Matches (Fight Night): RotatoR (W/KO), Tantrum (L/KO), Free Shipping (W/JD), SawBlaze (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): DeathRoll (W/JD), Whiplash (W/KO), Ribbot (L/KO)

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Fought this way against Free Shipping as not only does Free Shipping have a reputation of never giving up but Jake Ewert also wanted to prove how aggressive he could be in driving Hydra. It was calculated that Free Shipping spent over a minute in the air during their fight.
• Heel–Face Turn: Compared to being the designated heel of the previous season, Jake Ewert has spent much of his screentime paying compliments and showing fair sportsmanship during this season.
• Genius Bruiser: Hydra is characterized as this, as not only is it one of the strongest bots in the competition but is also driven by Jake Ewert, who can constantly plan ahead and improvise with strategies.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: In a sport where a long-running meta is open knowledge to both competitors and viewers, Hydra is the only bot that can convincingly beat any vertical spinner bot despite not having one itself.
• Worthy Opponent: Jake Ewert kept flipping both Free Shipping and Sawblaze even after they were immobile during their fights until the timer ran out. The reason? Because losing via a judges' decision harms their chances of entering the tournament less than losing via KO.

Round of 16

#7-End Game

Team: Team End Game

Team Captain: Nick Mabey and Jack Barker

Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand

Matches (Fight Night): Blip (W/JD), RIPperoni (L/KO), HyperShock (W/KO), Gigabyte (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Tantrum (W/JD), Copperhead (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Free Shipping (W/KO), Jackpot (W/KO), SawBlaze (W/JD)

• Hoist by His Own Petard: Its upset loss to RIPperoni can almost directly be attributed to its long forks jamming it into the killsaw slots a second into their fight. RIPperoni in turn decided to attack Endgame in the rear even though leaving it stuck would have won it the fight anyway. In a certain way of thinking, RIPperoni gave up the chance to beat Endgame so it could defeat it instead.
• Lightning Bruiser: As a former champion bot, End Game is still a huge hurdle for any bot to beat.

#14-Lock-Jaw

Team: Mutant Robots

Team Captain: Donald Hutson

Hometown: San Diego, California

Matches (Fight Night): Malice (W/JD), SawBlaze (L/KO), Glitch (W/KO), MaDCatTer (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Bloodsport (W/KO), Witch Doctor (L/KO)

• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Expertly defeated Glitch in only one hit, although one of its forks was rended in the process and a fire started inside the bot as per usual.
• Call-Back: Along with its trademark cambered wheel drive setup, the new front Lifting Fork setup on Lock-Jaw has a more organic look to it referencing Donald Hutson's classic-era Battlebots machines, particularly his iconic heavyweight Tazbot.
• He's Back!: After a brutal 0-4 season in the previous season, Lockjaw defeated Malice, Glitch, and especially MaDCatTer convincingly to prove why it's still a force to be reckoned with.
• Legacy Character: Since the team behind SubZero is working under Lock-Jaw this season, they have inherited Spitfire the drone to use in fights.
• Long Runner: One of only four bots to star in every season of the reboot, along with Captain Shredderator, Hypershock, and Witch Doctor. Hutson and his Mutant Robots team are the only competitors to appear in every season of Battlebots overall, dating back to the first season of the show's original run on Comedy Central in the early 2000s.
• Running Gag: It would be easier to count the fights where Lockjaw doesn't catch on fire mid-fight, not that this has ever prevented it from winning or not.

#17-Malice

Team: Team Malice

Team Captain: Adrian “Bunny” Liaw

Hometown: San Jose, California

Matches (Fight Night): Lock-Jaw (L/JD), Emulsifier (W/KO), Valkyrie (W/KO via JD)^note Original decision reversed upon team's appeal, Gruff (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Switchback (W/JD), Minotaur (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): HiJinx (W/KO), Whiplash (L/JD)

• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Hit Valkyrie so hard during their fight that Valkyries spinner was broken clean off the robot.
• Born Lucky: Won a KO victory against Emulsifier after they got caught on the floor and were counted out, meanwhile Malice was a barely functioning mess of a robot with a giant gash in its chassis.
• Wimp Fight: After breaking Valkyrie's weapon, both bots lost the use of their drivetrains and weapon systems, using the remaining time of their fight ineffectually pushing each other.

#18-HyperShock

Team: Team HyperShock

Team Captain: Will Bales

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): SawBlaze (L/KO), Whiplash (W/KO), End Game (L/KO), Claw Viper (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Lucky (W/JD), Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Starchild (W/JD), Claw Viper (W/KO) RIPperoni (L/JD)

• Agony of the Feet: Lost multiple wheels to Sawblaze after it was inverted.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Defeated Whiplash by hitting it so hard its internals were blown out of the bot, almost reminiscent of its own loss to Bite Force back in season 3.
• Drives Like Crazy: It wouldn't be Hypershock if Will Bales wasn't driving like a lunatic.
• Force and Finesse: Proved to be the Finesse to Claw Viper's Force in the "battle of the speed demons", wielding its trademark speed in tandem with its powerful spinner and Will Bales' driving prowess. The combination was more than enough to halt the previously undefeated grappler bot.
• Logical Weakness: Due to lacking a self-righter, Hypershock is critically vulnerable to being flipped over. While it can still move and fight while inverted it is still severely weakened unless it can right itself.

#20-Whiplash

Team: Fast Electric Robots

Team Captain: Matthew Vasquez

Hometown: Thousand Oaks, California

Matches (Fight Night): MaDCatTer (L/KO), HyperShock (L/KO), Monsoon (W/JD), Tantrum (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Beta (W/KO), Hydra (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Fusion (W/KO), Malice (W/JD), Black Dragon (W/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): Jackpot (L/JD)

• Badass Family: Parodied by Faruq at the start of their fight, Whiplash's pit crew is made up of Matthew Vasquez and his immediate family, including his father and brother who are also professional bot builders.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: An ordinarily top-tier bot that has been accepted into the round of 32 every year it has competed that has also lost twice to other powerful bots to start off its season.
• Dangerous Backswing: One of Whiplash's signature moves, Whiplash suspended its grappling arm and spinner over the upturned Tantrum, so that even if it could self-right, it'd land straight into Whiplash's spinner again.
• Down to the Last Play: After a season of harsh losses and close victories, Whiplash dominated Tantrum to prove its status as a nut contender, giving it a #20 seed in the postseason.
• Knee Fold Fall of Defeat: Sort of, Whiplash's arm slowly lowered to the ground after its internals were shredded by Hypershock, a sad display proving that the fight was beyond over.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After a brutal schedule of 4 accomplished 4 wheel vertical spinners, Whiplash finally won a close fight against Monsoon.
• Weak, but Skilled: Whiplash has a relatively weak spinner and lighter armor than most other bots of its reputation, but its ability to control the fight with the superb driving from Matthew Vasquez has given it victory after victory.

#21-Black Dragon

Team: Team Uai!rrior of Robotics

Team Captain: Julio Cortez

Hometown: Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Matches (Fight Night): Monsoon (W/KO), Quantum (L/JD), Beta (W/KO), Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): RIPperoni (W/KO), Ribbot (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Blip (W/JD), MadCatter (W/JD), Whiplash (L/JD)

• Playing with Fire: Has a Flamethrower equipped, mostly for the Rule of Cool
• Made of Iron: Is the current champion of bots that have NEVER been KO'd. You can hit Black Dragon but it'll never go down. At least, it was until it crossed Riptide's path...But it was back in form with Ripperoni - despite taking hit after hit and even being on fire at one point, it was able to soldier on as a push-bot and finally just won by outlasting its Glass Cannon opponent.
• Man on Fire: As happens when there are flamethrowers, lithium batteries, and big hits. Notably, Black Dragon builds around that with multiple compartments and fire-retardant foam in the chassis to try and contain the damage during inevitable cookouts.
• Take Up My Sword: As Black Dragon is championed by a Brazilian college team, the members of its team change throughout the seasons.

#22-MaDCatTer

Team: Team Bad Kitty

Team Captain: Martin Mason

Hometown: Pomona, California

Matches (Fight Night): Whiplash (W/KO), Riptide (L/KO), Big Dill (W/JD), Lock-Jaw (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Claw Viper (W/JD), HUGE (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Bloodsport (W/KO), Black Dragon (L/JD)

• Adaptational Ugliness: Compared to the paint job when they first debuted this bot, it’s the most frightening look yet.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: While fighting Lock-Jaw, MadCatter's mini bot "Gassy Cat" pulled overtime in both stalling Lock-Jaw and helping Madcatter continue to fight. Sadly, they ended up being KO'd anyway.
• The Man Behind the Man: Whereas Martin Mason is the builder and main face of the MadCatter (for obvious reasons), the driver of the bot and one of Martin's students, Calvin Iba, has mostly been responsible for many of MadCatter's victories.
• The Minion Master: Comes equipped with a full team of minibots and is one of the few bots that use them to strategically win fights.

#24-Monsoon

Team: Team Monsoon

Team Captain: Tom Brewster

Hometown: Coventry, United Kingdom

Matches (Fight Night): Black Dragon (L/KO), Horizon (W/KO), Whiplash (L/JD), DeathRoll (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Cobalt (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Gruff (W/KO), RIPperoni (L/KO)

• The Bus Came Back: It missed out on Seasons 5 and 6 due to COVID travel restrictions, but has finally made it back into the arena for Season 7.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: This version of Monsoon is at least two-thirds the size of its previous incarnations, but still hits just as hard — in fact, even more so — and thanks to its dense construction and unique hinged spinner mechanism (that lets it stay in position and active even when flipped), is a difficult one to keep down.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Its victory against DeathRoll essentially came down to one of these. The first shot it landed let it cripple half of the Australian bot's drive, and despite being flipped over on the next exchange, it recovered and forced DeathRoll into the corner, taking out the rest of its drive with one more hit to win.
• Strong, but Unskilled: It was this during its fight with Whiplash who was the Weak, but Skilled, due to only possessing a strong vertical spinner and no other way to control the fight.

Round of 32

#5-Quantum

Team: Robo Challenge

Team Captain: James & Grant Cooper

Hometown: Birmingham, United Kingdom

Matches (Fight Night): Captain Shrederator (W/KO), Gruff (W/KO), Black Dragon (W/JD), Emulsifier (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Ribbot (L/KO)

• Animal Motifs: With its cobra-like hydraulic crusher head with enormous fangs and segmented, organic armor plating to match, Quantum has the snake motif (shared with its predecessor, Spectre) down to an absolute T.
• The Bus Came Back: Like DeathRoll and Monsoon, it was unable to compete in seasons 5 and 6 due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, but with those finally lifted, the robot is free to compete again.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Captain Shrederator never even got one clean shot in, allowing Quantum to quickly outpace and ultimately kill it with several well-placed bites and rams into the Screws. Gruff fell much the same way, not even being able to flip Quantum once before being punched full of holes and lit on fire.
• Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Despite losing its teeth while fighting Emulsifier, it still was able to continue clamping it and attacking it just fine, going on to win the judges' decision.
• Lightning Bruiser: Quantum is both lethally powerful — with up to 50,000lbs^note Or just under 23 tons. For reference, that's well over three times as powerful as Razer. of pressure in its hydraulic crushing ram — and incredibly fast, allowing it to outrun almost any other bot to deliver crippling damage.
• Man Bites Man: Or Bot Bites Bot, being this year's only crusher bot since Kraken is now a spinner. Not only does it have interchangeable fangs to suit different types of opponents, it also runs on a unique two-step hydraulic system that lets it bite down either quickly and weakly to capture them, or slowly and powerfully to deliver the killing bites when they've got the enemy bot in their jaws.
• Shout-Out: Both Quantum and its predecessor, Spectre, are named after two of the biggest and most dangerous villain organizations from the James Bond series.

#9-Cobalt

Team: Robotic Death Company

Team Captain: John Mladenik, Dave Moulds

Hometown: Oceanside, California & Bromsgrove, United Kingdom

Matches (Fight Night): DeathRoll (W/KO), Minotaur (L/KO), Overhaul (W/KO), Lucky (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Monsoon (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Banshee (W/JD), Emulsifier (W/KO), Jackpot (L/KO)

• And Show It to You: Inflicted the robot equivalent of this on Lucky, by carving several big gashes into their baseplate, exploding the pneumatic gas tank for their flipper and causing some of their LiPo batteries to fall out of the resulting holes and onto the floor. One or two more hits saw Cobalt remove the rest of Lucky's batteries with surgical precision — hitting one along the way and causing it to catch fire — before leaving its opponent to powerlessly coast into the nearby corner for the win by KO.
• The Bus Came Back: After previously selling the robot to the Robotic Death Company, where the latter — and Team Plumb Crazy of Stinger The Killer Bee fame — competed with it last year, Cobalt's original builders^note Dave Moulds and Sam Smith, of Team Carbide from the UK returned this year and re-joined the team.
• The Dreaded: After a near-flawless run into the top 8 last season, Cobalt has earned a fearsome reputation as one of the scariest bots to fight and a clear competitor for the Giant Nut.
• Genius Bruiser: As shown by Dave Moulds driving during its fight with Overhaul, Cobalt will take its time slowly pulling its opponents apart and never taking unnecessary risks. It showed against Lucky as well, with them striking the exact points on the baseplate that would cause its opponent's pneumatic tank to explode, and then its batteries to fall out.
• Graceful Loser: Didn't seem too cut up about narrowly losing to Minotaur after putting on one of the best fights in perhaps any season of Battlebots.
• Green and Mean: Mostly black, trimmed green... and very, very mean.
• Punched Across the Room: Cobalt's disc spinner is shaped to launch an opponent upwards in a single huge strike from one tooth, rather than to slowly grind or gouge another robot like most vertical spinners.

#11-Claw Viper

Team: Team Bad Ideas

Team Captain: Kevin Milczewski

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Matches (Fight Night): Ominous (W/KO), Ribbot (W/JD), Overhaul (W/JD), HyperShock (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): MaDCatTer (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Shatter! (W/JD) Hypershock (L/KO)

• Badass Normal: Despite not possessing any damaging weapons or particularly outlandish gimmicks (besides its baseplate electromagnets), Claw Viper has convincingly defeated three opponents and became the #11 Seed with only good control, a strong grabbing/lifting arm setup, and some seriously incredible speed.
• Breakout Character: In-universe and out, Claw Viper has become far more popular than before this season's airing due to its performance as a pure control bot in a field mostly packed with spinners.
• Force and Finesse: Proved to be the Force to HyperShock's Finesse in the "battle of the speed demons", relying heavily on its trademark speed to batter and bully its opponents before going for a grab. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't enough to overpower HyperShock in the end.
• Jack of All Stats: Claw Viper is a very balanced bot, with decent defense, impressive control, and enough speed to easily compensate for its lack of a damaging primary weapon.
• Screaming Warrior: Kevin Milczewski can be heard screaming and bellowing taunts during his fights. Downplayed in that he is notably calmer and approachable outside of the box.
• Snakes Are Sinister: And really, they don't come much more sinister than a viper-themed bot that can both move like a bullet across the arena and slam its opponents around with ease.
• Speed Demon: Has characterized itself as this after dominating its first set of opponents with dizzying levels of velocity, aided by special base-mounted electromagnets that provide it with an extra 200kg (440lb) of downforce on the arena floor. Best summarized by Chris Rose during its entrance:
  Chris Rose: I promise you that this is the slowest you'll see Claw Viper tonight.
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from failing to reach the top 32 in its first two seasons to going 3-1, taking out previous #2 Seed Ribbot, and claiming the #11 position in dominant fashion.

#12-RIPperoni

Team: Omega Team

Team Captain: Anna Zolnikov

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Fight Night): Gruff (L/JD), End Game (W/KO), HiJinx (W/KO), Copperhead (W/KO)

Matches (Torunament): Black Dragon (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Glitch (W/KO), Monsoon (W/KO), Hypershock (W/JD)

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

• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The fight against Black Dragon was ugly. For most of the match, the pizza was giving the dragon a bad case of indigestion, leaving plenty of dents, taking out the weapon, and even lighting it on fire! But all those hits took their toll, eventually bringing it to a halt and Black Dragon scored a shocking last seconds victory.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In spite of its silly-looking design and early loss to Gruff, Ripperoni has proven itself to be a truly strong bot with a place in the big leagues. As stated by Chris Rose after they defeated Copperhead (a previously 3-0 bot and a nut contender), Ripperoni's "upsets" are no longer upsets and they are just a bot capable of defeating other contenders.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: Defeated End Game in a KO victory that nobody saw coming. Both the crowd and the other builders could be heard cheering for minutes afterward.
• Failsafe Failure: Its flywheel — the means to keep it stable and possible to maneuver, even when its massive disc spinner is running at full speed — was the first thing to go against Gruff, leading to a very unstable bot for the rest of the fight.
• Fighting Clown: A novelty pizza bot and a lethal Glass Cannon able to knock out champion-level bots, with a really good driver in Fred Durst (no relation), to boot.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: A distinctly asymmetrical bot with a flywheel system to cancel out the gyroscopic force of its enormous disc spinner, the first bot to feature such a system since Counter Revolution in ABC season one.

#13-Beta

Team: Team Hurtz

Team Captain: John Reid

Hometown: Oxford, United Kingdom

Matches (Fight Night): Kraken (W/JD), Shatter! (W/JD), Black Dragon (L/KO), Bloodsport (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Whiplash (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Double Tap (W/JD), Free Shipping (L/KO)

• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Beta inflicted this on up-and-coming fellow hammerbot Shatter! in their bout together, taking advantage of the weaker torque from Shatter!'s omni-wheel drive setup to bully them around the arena and eventually breaking the sprockets powering their electric hammer, setting it up for a brutal pounding from their more traditional pneumatic one.
• Crossover: John Reid is joined this time by fellow Robot Wars veteran Jason Marston — known for his iconic hammerbot, Thor — for a team-up of two of the UK's specialists in the type. As a reference to this, Beta now also has an optional blunt axe attachment for its hammer that closely resembles Thor's.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Beta wields a refined version of the pneumatic rack-and-pinion hammer setup — backed up by floor-sticking magnets to minimize recoil and maximize impact force — it replaced its original electric-driven setup with in Discovery Channel Season 3.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Asked the Black Dragon team not to hit them anymore after their self-righting mechanism failed and John Reid knew they'd lost against it in their fight. To their credit, the Black Dragon team immediately complied and let it be counted out.
• Shield Bash: Much like in their previous season against Rotator, Beta used this technique to great effect against Bloodsport; getting underneath them, ramming them into the walls, screws, and upper deck to knock them around like a pinball from the recoil of their own spinner (then attacking with the hammer when it was sufficiently slowed or stopped), netting them the unanimous decision.

#15-Lucky

Team: TKO ROBOTICS

Team Captain: Mark Demers

Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Matches (Fight Night): Triton (W/KO), Kraken (W/JD), Shreddit Bro (W/KO), Cobalt (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): HyperShock (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Overhaul (W/JD), Jackpot (L/JD)

• Cherry Tapping: Lucky's winning move against Triton? Lightly nudging it onto its side, causing it to be counted out as it couldn't self right.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Lucky will sometimes use a thick frontal wedge to defend against especially heavy weapons, such as Tritons horizontal spinner.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Cobalt's first strike to Lucky sent its internals spilling out in an almost grotesque manner, While Lucky was still able to fight for a little while afterwards, the match was decided in that first hit.
• Mighty Glacier: A heavily armored yet easy target with a deceptively strong flipping mechanism.

#16-Switchback

Team: Midnight Invention

Team Captain: Gred Needal

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Matches (Fight Night): Banshee (W/JD), DeathRoll (L/KO), Ominous (W/KO), HiJinx (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Malice (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Kraken (W/JD), Shreddit Bro (L/KO)

• Dangerous Backswing: Switchback's arm can swing behind itself, allowing it to potentially hit an opponent directly behind it, averted in that it has yet to do it this season.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Switchback's spinner is built into an articulating arm, allowing it to direct its weapon in front of and above itself.
• Hell Is That Noise: That huge vertical spinner generates a loud hum when it gets fully spun up, making it sound a lot like Minotaur or Copperhead.
• Mighty Glacier: Since its redesign after last season, Switchback has improved by leaps and bounds, becoming a robot that can both give and take a hit.
• Old Guard Versus New Blood: A cutting-edge bot that fought the almost identical Deathroll from 4 years ago. Unfortunately for Switchback, Deathroll won flawlessly
• Punched Across the Room: Gave a robot equivalent of this to Hijinx, landing a hit that was so strong it blasted both Hijinx and its horizontal spinner across the box in opposite directions.

#19-Bloodsport

Team: Bots ‘n’ Stuff Robotics

Team Captain: Justin Marple

Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Matches (Fight Night): Copperhead (L/KO), Gigabyte (W/KO), RotatoR (W/KO), Beta (L/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Lock-Jaw (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): MadCatter (L/KO)

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Suffered one at the hands of Copperhead, where it was defeated and set on fire in a single hit.
• Glass Cannon: Given its build, Bloodsport doesn't have any defensive options for fights. It does however have a truly powerful horizontal spinner that can even knock out Mighty Glaciers like Rotator.
• Spectacular Spinning: Bloodsport is a horizontal spinner shaped almost like a shell spinner, with its weapon covering its entire circumference and making it dangerous at any angle.
• Technology Porn: The only bot to come with real-time data analysis hardware, allowing the team to monitor weapon functionality, internal heating, and other internal information.
• Two-Faced: During its fight with Beta, the hammerbot caused visible but mostly cosmetic damage to Bloodsport's "face". It may not have done any internal damage, but Bloodsport left the fight looking like Harvey Dent.

#23-RotatoR

Team: Team Revolution

Team Captain: Victor Soto

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): Hydra (L/KO), Jackpot (W/KO), Bloodsport (L/KO), Fusion (W/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Copperhead (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Terrortops (W/KO), Valkyrie (L/JD)

• Made of Iron: As per usual, Rotator is incredibly durable, being able to easily resist most damage while using its tough exterior to set up attacks.
• Spin Attack: Rotator's usual method of attack is soaking up damage with its armored front and then spinning around to deliver a powerful hit with its horizontal spinner into the opponent's weak point. Despite being a simple maneuver, Rotator has won multiple fights with this tactic alone.
• Worf Had the Flu: Has suffered from multiple mechanical issues that they were unable to shake during the fight nights. Downplayed though, as they still got a commendable result of 2-2.
• Victory by Endurance: Won its fight with Fusion by simply outlasting the volatile bot and its tendency to defeat itself via Self-Immolation.

#25-Blip

Team: Seems Reasonable

Team Captain: Aren Hill

Hometown: Mountain View, California

Matches (Fight Night): End Game (L/JD), HUGE (L/JD), Tantrum (W/JD), Banshee (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): SawBlaze (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Black Dragon (L/JD)

• Characters Dropping Like Flies: Downplayed, Blip is one of only four rookie bots to return from the previous season.
• Charge Attack: Blips flipping mechanism requires it to be charged up to generate a stronger flip, requiring it to hold the opponent in place while it charges up its flywheel system.
• Creator's Pet: Aren Hill has admitted that he loves flipper bots and would prefer that Blip wins their fight with Tantrum.
• Gathering Steam: Despite being entering the quarter-finals in the previous season, Blip has defeated via judges' decisions twice before finally winning against Tantrum in a very convincing way.
• Mutual Disadvantage: In its fight with HUGE, while HUGE was impervious to any attack Blip could land Blip was also too small to accurately hit. Eventually HUGE won a judges' decision after burying its blade into Blip's flipper, disabling it.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Blip is noticeably smaller than most other bots, not that it stops it from being a threat.

#26-Tantrum

Team: Seems Reasonable Robotics

Team Captain: Alex Grant, Ginger Schmidt

Hometown: Mountain View, California

Matches (Fight Night): Minotaur (L/KO), Hydra (W/KO), Blip (L/JD), Whiplash (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): End Game (L/JD)

Matches (Golden Bolt Tournament): RIPperoni (W/JD), SawBlaze (L/JD)

• Broken Win/Loss Streak: Its loss to Minotaur ended its undefeated run from season 6 (excluding Champions).
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Easily one of the smallest bots in the field but as the current champion, it's proven its worth as a truly strong opponent.
• The Worf Effect: Tantrum has not had an easy season, losing 3 of its 4 opening fights in a dominant fashion whilst losing power in its self-righter twice, something that is a written death warrant for most bots.

#27-Skorpios

Team: Bot Bash Party Crew

Team Captain: Zachary Lytle

Hometown: Moraga, California

Matches (Fight Night): Jackpot (W/KO), Big Dill (W/KO), SawBlaze (L/KO), Ribbot (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): HUGE (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Shreddit Bro (L/KO)

• Hoist by His Own Petard: For its fight with SawBlaze, it brought in a BFS to try to deal with its hammersaw, but it proved too unwieldy and kept the bot off-balance enough that it essentially knocked itself out.
• Man of Kryptonite: Designed to reliably defeat Tombstone and horizontal bots in general. In a dramatic twist of irony, not only is Tombstone absent from this season but Skorpios didn't fight a single horizontal spinner bot in the entire fight night section.
• Shout-Out: The BFS Skorpios wielded against SawBlaze was actually a spare blade from OverKill, a particularly famous Heavyweight thwackbot from the original series that was operated by Christian Carlberg^note Of Overdrive, Mecha Rampage, and Yeti fame.

#29-DeathRoll

Team: Team DeathRoll

Team Captain: Steven Martin

Hometown: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Matches (Fight Night): Cobalt (L/KO), Switchback (W/KO), Mammoth (W/KO), Monsoon (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Hydra (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Slammo (W/KO), Gigabyte (L/KO)

• The Artifact: DeathRoll returns exactly as it left in Season 4, without little-to-no design changes or internal improvements. Unlike previous artifact robots, however, it remains a powerful bot to the point that it still scored two KOs and made the Top 32 despite the long break.
• Awesome Aussie: The only Australian bot in this year's competition — and along with End Game, one of only two Australiasian bots in general — and a very strong and reliable vertical spinner known for scoring some exceptionally violent knockouts.
• The Bus Came Back: After missing out on seasons 5 and 6 due to COVID travel restrictions, the team is back and ready to rumble this year.
• Land Down Under: Like in its previous seasons, DeathRoll goes all-in with the Australian theming; from being themed after a native Apex Predator, right down to having a "Crocodile" Dundee-style Bowie Knife as part of its self-righting mechanism. Its single-tooth vertical disc is even shaped like Australia itself.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Its design is obviously based on the Estuarine (Saltwater) Crocodile, and is named after the notorious spinning maneuver they do to subdue and dismember their prey.

#30-Jackpot

Team: Vegas Combat Robotics

Team Captain: Jeff Waters

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Matches (Fight Night): Skorpios (L/KO), RotatoR (L/KO), Ribbot (W/JD), Captain Shrederator (W/JD)

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

Matches (Champions): Big Dill (W/JD), Lucky (W/JD), Cobalt (W/KO)

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

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• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end from Witch Doctor, getting its chassis warped.

#31-Shatter!

Team: Bots FC

Team Captain: Adam Wrigley

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Matches (Fight Night): HUGE (L/KO), Beta (L/JD), Horizon (L/JD), Ominous (W/JD)

Matches (Tournament): Riptide (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Claw Viper (L/JD)

• BFS: One of their hammers is shaped like one, called the "Mary Special".
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Ended up on the receiving end of this from veteran fellow hammerbot Beta. Although Shatter! were noted to have the upper hand early on with their tricky omni-wheel drive and their electric hammer having unlimited swings (compared to Beta's limited-supply pneumatic one), not being able to control Beta (due to both less torque from said drive setup and their hinged forks not being able to get under it) ultimately led to it taking a pummelling to the point where their hammer was broken and their frames/top panels were twisted and caved in on themselves.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: One of Three hammer bots to star this season, using an electric-powered hammer as a primary weapon.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Despite a brutal season that saw it lose more than it won, Shatter was admitted to the postseason as the #31 seed. Unfortunately, it has to fight Riptide next.
• Sore Loser: Averted, while Adam Wrigley admitted that he would be appealing a judges' decision after losing to Horizon, he only had praise to give to the other team and their robot.

#32-Fusion

Team: Team Whyachi Robotics

Team Captain: Reese Ewert

Hometown: Dorchester, Wisconsin

Matches (Fight Night): Emulsifier (W/JD), Witch Doctor (L/JD), HUGE (L/KO), RotatoR (L/KO)

Matches (Tournament): Minotaur (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Whiplash (L/KO)

• Deadpan Snarker: Reese Ewert has gained a memetic reputation for his deadpan responses and very dry wit in interviews.
• Dual Wielding: Comes equipped with both a horizontal and a vertical spinner, sometimes using both at once.
• Explosive Overclocking: Running both of its spinners at once can cause Fusion to spontaneously combust, not that this stopped it from winning against Emulsifier.
  Chris Rose: "Reese, you caught on fire again."
  Reese Ewert: "Yeah, uh... I'm beginning to see a trend."
• Glass Cannon: Fusion's two spinners allow it to deliver incredibly powerful attacks but leave it open to damage from any angle. This is compounded by Fusion's engine problems that occasionally defeat it just by running both weapons at once.
• Took a Level in Badass: This year's Fusion is far stronger than it was in previous years, demolishing Emulsifier and coming very close to defeating Witch Doctor.

Did not qualify for the postseason

Banshee

Team: Team Small Robots

Team Captain: Dave Small

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona

Matches (Fight Night): Switchback (L/JD), Valkyrie (W/JD), Emulsifier (L/KO), Blip (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Cobalt (L/JD)

• Bullfight Boss: Engaged in one of these with Blip, as both bots had to bait and try to hit their opponent's rear while defending their own, making for a high stakes cat and mouse game that went almost the full 3 minutes without a single successful flip.
• Dying Race: Played with as Banshee is the only new flipper to be introduced this year as well as the only new bot that lacks any kind of spinner.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Before losing its drive, Banshee opened its fight against Valkyrie by dominating them with strategic flips and overwhelming speed. They went on to win that fight via judges' decision.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Greatly resembles Subzero, a long-running flipper bot that often suffered from mechanical faults, but could be a dangerous opponent if they were working perfectly.
• Worf Had the Flu: Has had repeated mechanical faults in all 3 of its shown fights as of recording, despite showing some decent control and defense against Valkyrie and Emulsifier.

Big Dill

Team: Team Food Fight

Team Captain: Emmanuel Carrillo

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Matches (Fight Night): HiJinx (L/KO), Skorpios (L/KO), MaDCatTer (L/JD), Free Shipping (W/KO)

Matches (Champions): Jackpot (L/JD)

• Ascended Extra: Was initially bound for another year as an alternate team, only entering the Fight Night tournament if another team had to drop out. This year they got their chance: DOOM failed the safety tests, and Big Dill was substituted in its place.
• Discard and Draw: Comes equipped with a vertical disk spinner for the first time after its fight with Hijinx. Despite losing its next two fights, it did far better with it then without it.
• Took a Level in Badass: Despite its 1-3 record as of writing, Big Dill has given a great performance in its current showings before breaking down out of nowhere.

Captain Shrederator

Team: Team LOGICOM

Team Captain: Brian Nave

Hometown: Ormond Beach, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): Quantum (L/KO), HiJinx (W/KO), Riptide (L/KO), Jackpot (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Emulsifier (L/JD)

• Damned by Faint Praise: Despite defeating Hijinx in a KO, the best compliments they received for their performance was that they may as well have an 0-2 record.
• Ludicrous Gibs: There wasn't much left of Captain Shredderator after their fight with Riptide, it was stated after the fight that almost nothing of the wreck could be reused.

Emulsifier

Team: Bots FC

Team Captain: Matt Bores

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Matches (Fight Night): Fusion (L/JD), Malice (L/KO), Banshee (W/KO), Quantum (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Captain Shrederator (W/JD), Cobalt (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: Dominated Malice for almost the entirety of its fight before presumably getting caught on the floor and being counted out, while Malice was a barely functioning wreak of a bot.
• Mighty Glacier: Pitiful fight record aside, Emulsifier is a bot that can both give and receive damage, fighting Fusion a full 3 minutes and even causing Fusion to catch fire towards the final few seconds before losing to a judges' decision.

Free Shipping

Team: Team Special Delivery

Team Captain: Gary Gin

Hometown: San Leandro, California

Matches (Fight Night): Gigabyte (W/KO), Minotaur (L/KO), Hydra (L/JD), Big Dill (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Mammoth (W/KO), Beta (W/KO), Gigabyte (W/KO)

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

• Determinator: No matter what condition it's in or what bot it's fighting, Free Shipping will NEVER hesitate at hitting as hard as it can. This has led to its driver Gary Gin receiving a memetic status as a crazy driver.
• Man on Fire: Free Shipping is equipped with its signature flamethrower, although it will usually only set itself on fire instead of its opponent.
• You Don't Look Like You: Has received a major design change since season 6, resembling Gary Gin's previous bot "Original Sin".

Gigabyte

Team: Robotic Death Company

Team Captain: Derek Tran, Camden Wallraff

Hometown: Oceanside, California

Matches (Fight Night): Free Shipping (L/KO), Bloodsport (L/KO), Starchild (W/JD), End Game (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Triton (W/KO), DeathRoll (W/KO), Free Shipping (L/KO)

• Changing of the Guard: While still being owned by Robotic Death Company, Gigabyte was controlled by rookie captains Derek Tran and Camden Wallraff for this season.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Suffered several of these this season, especially by End Game in under a minute.
• Spectacular Spinning: The most famous full-body shell spinner in existence and one of the last in the sport.

Glitch

Team: Combat Robotics at Berkeley

Team Captain: Kyle Miller

Hometown: Berkeley, California

Matches (Fight Night): Riptide (L/KO), Lock-Jaw (L/KO), Triton (L/KO), Valkyrie (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): RIPperoni (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: Glitch entered the fight with Triton with numerous unseen issues, losing its drive train after a single hit and leaking battery fumes after a second.
• Critical Existence Failure: Played with, any behind-the-scenes footage of Glitch shows the team struggling to get the bot working at all, usually having it arrive for fights at less than peak performance.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Lacking a self-righter or the ability to drive inverted, Glitch can potentially (and has done thrice) lose a fight just by being flipped over once.
• Glass Cannon: Glitch's vertical spinner has a proven track record of completely destroying almost anything it hits but Glitch also has the tendency of breaking down after a few hits or sometimes even entering a fight with serious issues.
• The Worf Effect: After previously overwhelmingly winning almost every fight in the last season, they ended up suffering an absolute reversal of fortune this time around; being easily defeated by Riptide, LockJaw and Triton by getting flipped over and unable to self-right before losing a Judges' Decision to Valkyrie.

Gruff

Team: Team Gruff

Team Captain: Sam Mcamis

Hometown: Palm Harbor, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): RIPperoni (W/JD), Quantum (L/KO), Witch Doctor (L/KO), Malice (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Monsoon (L/KO)

• Born Unlucky: Gruff had not only one of the hardest strengths of schedules in hindsight but also had major drive issues through most of its fights.
• Playing with Fire: As in previous seasons, Gruff is the only dedicated flamethrower bot. After its fight with Ripperoni, scorch marks could be seen on RIPperoni's chassis.
• Stone Wall: Due to lacking a damaging weapon, Gruff relies on using its strong defense and lifting arms to win via judges' decisions. Unfortunately, this didn't work against Quantum or Witch Doctor who are two of the hardest-hitting bots ever created.
• Victory by Endurance: How it defeated RIPperoni by winning in control and aggression via a judges' decision while RIPperoni was unable to control itself properly.

HiJinx

Team: Offbeat Robotics

Team Captain: Jen Herchenroeder

Hometown: Oakland, California

Matches (Fight Night): Big Dill (W/KO), Captain Shrederator (L/KO), RIPperoni (L/KO), Switchback (L/KO)

Matches (Champions): Malice (L/KO)

• Butt-Monkey: Hijinx has not had an easy year, with their only win being a KO victory against Big Dill who just stopped working mid-fight and losing to Captain Shrederator, Ripperoni, and Switchback in a KO.
• Crazy-Prepared: Hijinx entered its fight with Switchback using a new type of armor designed to stop overhead impacts from hammer saws.
• Deadpan Snarker: As well as having an almost encyclopedic understanding of robot combat, Jen Herchenroeder also has an incredibly dry wit in her builder interviews:
  Jen Herchenroeder: Earlier, Gred Needal had the audacity to show me what kind of wedge he'll be using against us in our fight, I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was using the wrong one.
• Ominous Owl: Designed around owl themes, with its shell being decorated in the design of feathers.
• The Un Favourite: Hinted at in their fight with Ripperoni. Before the fight began the other builders were questioned on who they thought would win between Hijinx or Ripperoni and almost 90% of all builders thought Ripperoni would win. Jen Herchenroeder even stated before the fight aired that nobody expected them to win.

Horizon

Team: Team Horizon

Team Captain: Joshua Kong

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Matches (Fight Night): Shreddit Bro (L/JD), Monsoon (L/KO), Shatter! (W/JD), Triton (L/KO)

• Confusion Fu: As stated by its team, Horizon's biggest strength is that opponents cannot figure out how to fight Horizon, given its odd shape and weapon style. This earned it a hard-fought victory against Shatter.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Two smaller disc spinners, one on each end of a pivoting horizontal bar.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Finally won a judges' decision against Shatter!, proving that Horizon's unusual design does have some potential after all.

Kraken

Team: CE Robots

Team Captain: Matthew Spurk

Hometown: Titusville, Florida

Matches (Fight Night): Beta (L/JD), Lucky (L/JD), Copperhead (L/KO), Mammoth (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Switchback (L/JD)

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• Spectacular Spinning: Kraken has replaced its crusher with a spinning blade on a lifting arm this year, hoping to win more fights.
• Wrecked Weapon: Had its weapon take a direct hit from Beta's hammer during their fight. The loss of this weapon cost them the match via a judges' decision.

Mammoth

Team: Team Mammoth

Team Captain: Ricky Willems

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

Matches (Fight Night): Valkyrie (L/KO), Starchild (W/JD), DeathRoll (L/KO), Kraken (W/JD)

Matches (Champions): Free Shipping (L/KO)

• Broken Win/Loss Streak: After losing four times in a row in the previous season and then again against Valkyrie in its first fight, Mammoth finally won a JD against Starchild. As stated by Ricky Willems afterward:
  Ricky Willems: It's beautiful when the thing does what it's supposed to
• Death Byathousand Cuts: Downplayed, while its flipper arm wasn't able to directly harm Starchild, it did show enough control and aggression for Mammoth to win a judges' decision.
• Grapple Move: Mammoth's spinner isn't made to cut into opponents, instead it flips them over and controls the fight from above, as shown in its fight with Starchild.
• Made of Plasticine: One of Mammoth's biggest weaknesses is its complete and total lack of armor. This is a critical enough flaw that it can cause Mammoth to be beaten almost instantly by bots like Deathroll.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Literally, as Mammoth decided to use a spare engine from Hypershock due to their own lack of parts during their fight with Kraken. While this gave them much speed and control for the fight, they had to be careful not to set themselves on fire just by using it.
• The Big Guy: The largest ever to fight in Battlebots, standing at over 6ft tall and dwarfing just about anything they fight.

Ominous

Team: Team Ominous

Team Captain: Tim Bouwens

Hometown: Tilburg, The Netherlands

Matches (Fight Night): Claw Viper (L/KO), Shreddit Bro (W/JD), Switchback (L/KO), Shatter! (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Valkyrie (L/KO)

• Clothing Damage: Lost some of its armour during its fight with Shatter when Shatters hammer pierced them and forcibly ripped them off the robot.
• Epic Fail: The fight between Ominous and Shreddit Bro was so uneventful after the first exchange that Chris and Kenny started advertising the upcoming match on Monsoon vs Whiplash instead of commentating the ongoing fight.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Was initially fighting well against Switchback, until its self-righter stopped working and was counted out. Que a few Dutch curses from Ominous's builders in response.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: One of only three bots to use an omni-wheel setup, allowing it to glide around the battlebox like a Dance Battler

Overhaul

Team: Equals Zero Robotics

Team Captain: Charles Guan

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Matches (Fight Night): Starchild (W/JD), Claw Viper (L/JD), Cobalt (L/KO), Shreddit Bro (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Lucky (L/JD)

• The Grappler: Since Overhaul doesn't have a spinner its lifting and grappling arm are its sole means of winning fights.
• Took a Level in Badass: Notably since only winning a single exhibition match in the previous season, this year's Overhaul has wrestled Starchild into submission and given a much improved Claw Viper a far better fight than its previous opponents.
• Weak, but Skilled: Despite not possessing a damaging weapon Overhaul can be a tricky opponent to fight due to the driving skill of Charles Guan.

Shreddit Bro

Team: Team Shreddit

Team Captain: Evan Arias

Hometown: Staten Island, New York

Matches (Fight Night): Horizon (W/JD), Ominous (L/JD), Lucky (L/KO), Overhaul (W/JD)

Matches (Champions): Skorpios (W/KO), Switchback (W/KO), Valkyrie (W/KO)

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

• Attack Backfire: Shreddit bro has wrecked its own weapon within a single hit twice now.
• Down to the Last Play: With only a minute remaining of their fight with Overhaul, Shreddit Bro was finally able to fight at its full potential after being atrocious for the entire season. This last-minute glow-up was enough for them to finally win a legitimate victory via judges' decision.
• Epic Fail: The fight between Ominous and Shreddit Bro was so uneventful after the first exchange that Chris and Kenny started advertising the upcoming match on Monsoon vs Whiplash instead of commentating on the ongoing fight.
• Spiritual Successor: To Even's lower weight-class bot of the same name.
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from 2-2 during the Fight Night doing rather poorly to winning its Champions bracket, beating bots such as Skorpios.

Starchild

Team: Omega Team

Team Captain: Brandon Zalinsky

Hometown: Hudson, New Hampshire

Matches (Fight Night): Overhaul (L/JD), Mammoth (L/JD), Gigabyte (L/JD), HUGE (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): Hypershock (L/JD)

• Agony of the Feet: Starchild's wheels were heavily damaged by Gigabyte during their fight, leading it to move with a noticeable limp for the remainder of the fight. Credit where it's due though, Starchild never stopped trying to win.
• How Much More Can He Take?: Starchild, for better or worse, has gained the reputation of never quite giving no matter how crippling its injuries look, with Kenny Florian even comparing it to a zombie at one point. Notably, while Starchild has yet to win a fight, it has never lost a fight via KO either.
• Humongous Mecha: Joins HUGE and Mammoth as the biggest bot in the competition.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: A "thwackbot" with a vertical spinner on its tail, which it swings around to strike opponents using the combined momentum of weapon and body. It's a scaled-up version of Zalinsky's beetleweight champ, inspired by older bots like The Master while taking advantage of more recent developments in tech, like the flexible plastic wheels popularized by HUGE.
• Man of Kryptonite: Starchild was created to combat the meta of 4-wheel vertical spinners who tend to win most fights and push far into the tournament. Unfortunately, none of Starchild's Fight Night opponents fit these criteria, leading it to be at a severe disadvantage for all of its bouts.

Triton

Team: Team Overboard

Team Captain: Bradley Hanstad

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Matches (Fight Night): Lucky (L/KO), Copperhead (L/KO via JD), Glitch (W/KO), Horizon (W/KO)

Matches (Champions): Gigabyte (L/KO)

• Dare to Be Badass: As mentioned by Will Bales during their fight with Glitch after using its own vertical spinner against it:
  Will Bales: Hats off to Bradley, I wouldn't even want to go near glitches weapon, let alone hit it.
• Improvised Weapon: After having their weapon broken by Glitch during their fight, Triton used the now useless horizontal bar as a guiding rod to push Glitch into the walls of the battlebox, eliminating itself.
• Literal Ass-Kicking: Received the robot equivalent of one against Copperhead. Within a minute of the fight starting, Copperhead hit Triton's rear end hard enough to completely blow it open, scattering battery packs and other internals all over the arena floor.
• Made of Plasticine: Has been KO'd with relative ease twice due to its light armor and inability to self-right.
• Mutual Kill: Got into this in their fight with Copperhead. Downplayed in that they still got curb-stomped.^note As mentioned above in Copperhead's entry, double knockout matches are given to Judges' Decision. In this case, Triton's operator had attempted to turn the bot around to bring its weapon to bear against Copperhead as it was chasing after Triton. Unfortunately for Triton, its own weapon inertia instead caused the bot to keep turning and swing the battery compartment of the bot right into Copperhead's weapon, destroying several of its batteries, while Copperhead had only merely gotten stuck on the debris of said impact.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Resembles Tombstone quite a lot, sadly it doesn't share its win percentage.

Valkyrie

Team: Team VALKYRIE / Questionable Designs

Team Captain: Lucy Du

Hometown: Somerville, Massachusetts

Matches (Fight Night): Mammoth (W/KO), Banshee (L/JD), Malice (L/KO via JD)^note Original decision reversed upon opposing team's appeal , Glitch (W/JD)

Matches (Champions): Ominous (W/KO), RotatoR (W/JD), Shreddit Bro (L/KO)

• Badass Decay: Valkyrie hasn't been living up to its stellar reputation so far this year, winning only against Mammoth in a disappointing display and then losing to both Banshee and Malice in judges' decisions (albeit appealed). Despite this, it would do better in the Sin City Slugfest where it made the final, beating RotatoR again on the way.
• Changing of the Guard: With Leanne Cushing absent this year and Valkyrie's previous driving now driving Ripperoni, Lucy Du has taken the task of both maintaining and driving Valkyrie.
• Jousting Lance: Came equipped with one in its fight with Banshee, amusingly Valkyrie's own horizontal spinner sliced it off mid-fight.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: This could be attributed to Lucy Du, the new team captain who has always been a very experienced builder but never driven her own bots, with Valkyrie being one of the very first times she's professionally driven a bot.
• Wrecked Weapon: Twice, as not only was Valkyrie's horizontal spinning blade broken off its chassis by Malice, but it has also broken its own wedgelet off in its previous fight with Banshee.

Did not compete in the regular season

DOOM

Team: APT

Team Captain: Alejandro Pina

Hometown: Whittier, California

• Demoted to Extra: Was relegated to an alternate bot after failing the safety tests, its place in the Fight Night tournament passing to Big Dill.

Doomba

Team: Team Hot Mess

Team Captain: Brice Farrell

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

Matches (Exhibition): Double Tap (L/KO), Dragon King (L/JD)

• Chainsaw Good: Boasts an actual chainsaw as part of its arsenal, though it wasn't active during its match with Double Tap.
• Joke Character: Doomba doesn't... look like champion material. After being KO'd by Double Tap in only two hits, it hasn't performed like it either.

Double Tap

Team: Ostrich Air

Team Captain: Jonathan Collazo

Hometown: San Jose, California

Matches (Exhibition): Doomba (W/KO), Slammo (W/JD)

• Double Tap: True to its name, its regular spinner (see image) was designed for this: when the main blade connects, the secondary blades are meant to swing outward through inertia and deliver a follow-up strike. However, it used a more traditional "single tap" bar spinner against Doomba, and its articulated blade never saw full use against Slammo.

Dragon King

Team: Bots Bash Party Crew

Team Captain: Zach Lytle

Hometown: Moraga, California

Matches (Exhibition): Doomba (W/JD), Terrortops (L/JD)

• Creator Cameo: Zach Lytle and Diana Tarlson only appear with Dragon King while masked and putting on dinosaur impressions, all for the fun of course.
• Dual Wielding: Comes equipped with two vertical saws, the only bot to have sported any for years.
• Technology Porn: Look at it! Dragon King is one of the only robots in the current age to use treads instead of wheels and sawblades instead of discs.

Rusty Jr.

Team: Team Hammer

Team Captain: David Eaton

Hometown: Antioch, Illinois

Slammo

Team: Team Danby

Team Captain: Craig and Chris Danby

Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina

Matches (Exhibition): Terrortops (L/KO), Double Tap (L/JD)

Matches (Champions): DeathRoll (L/KO)

Terrortops

Team: Team Terrortops

Team Captain: Ben Burton

Hometown: Long Beach, California

Matches (Exhibition): Slammo (W/KO), Dragon King (W/JD)

Matches (Champions): RotatoR (L/KO)