As has been typical of this new BattleBots series, the hype is real but the matchups aren't. I immediately predicted three of the four winners, despite claims that these 12 bots were fighting because they were all "so evenly matched" that the selection committee couldn't agree which ones to put in the final field. There were some spectacular moments along the way, but for the most part I was completely unsurprised by who got knocked out and when. I mean, come on: did they really think Creepy Crawlies stood a chance against any bot in the entire field? No way. No combination of 50-pound bots with anemic claws on the front could possibly stand up to even one half of Gemini (125 lbs), let alone Son of Whyachi.
However, I do have to give this special an extra rating point for the one match that saw the bot I predicted as the first loser (Black Ice, driven by former astronaut and bot-battling rookie Dan Barry) come out on top—the arena proved to be hazardous even with the hazards turned off, and that took my predicted winner (Skorpios) completely out of the running.
Shout by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2016-07-23T10:22:56Z
As has been typical of this new BattleBots series, the hype is real but the matchups aren't. I immediately predicted three of the four winners, despite claims that these 12 bots were fighting because they were all "so evenly matched" that the selection committee couldn't agree which ones to put in the final field. There were some spectacular moments along the way, but for the most part I was completely unsurprised by who got knocked out and when. I mean, come on: did they really think Creepy Crawlies stood a chance against any bot in the entire field? No way. No combination of 50-pound bots with anemic claws on the front could possibly stand up to even one half of Gemini (125 lbs), let alone Son of Whyachi.
However, I do have to give this special an extra rating point for the one match that saw the bot I predicted as the first loser (Black Ice, driven by former astronaut and bot-battling rookie Dan Barry) come out on top—the arena proved to be hazardous even with the hazards turned off, and that took my predicted winner (Skorpios) completely out of the running.