This season brought some small, but significant, changes in format. They're much appreciated. Ditching the majority of "Red Team, Ready?" / "Blue Team, Ready?" bits with the teams pushing their buttons was a great choice for pacing and really kept the action from dragging. I don't know if they'll bring back the pre-analysis from before (where Kenny Florian, a guy who doesn't know that much about robots, got introduced by a woman whose only function was to be attractive)—maybe when the 16-bot postseason starts. But I didn't miss it. All it did was waste air time.
I can't get over the pacing; it's just great. Someone (or a team of someones, more likely) really did some hard thinking during the filming and editing process to keep the audience from getting bored during repetitive boilerplate segments… by cutting them.
As for the fights themselves, this was a rousing start. Blacksmith vs. Bite Force, SubZero vs. Huge, and even Tombstone vs. Minotaur brought some of the best BattleBots action ever broadcast, in my opinion.¹ The three-way rumble between Mecha Rampage, Duck!, and Free Shipping was an absolute riot.
The only truly disappointing fight was because Bombshell had no self-righting capability, and Lock-Jaw got off a really early hit that basically ended the fight before it even started by flipping its opponent upside down. (Minotaur getting counted out because it got stuck on a damaged section of arena floor was also a bit of a letdown.)
Ray Billings is, of course, the same arrogant prick he's always been. I can't stand how he talks to the other teams, but I do have to respect his robot's record. No matter how rudely or unsportsmanly its creator might behave, Tombstone really is a fine piece of engineering.
Disclaimer: I have not seen all of the old BattleBots episodes, hence my use of "some of" as a qualifier.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2018-11-05T09:04:14Z
This season brought some small, but significant, changes in format. They're much appreciated. Ditching the majority of "Red Team, Ready?" / "Blue Team, Ready?" bits with the teams pushing their buttons was a great choice for pacing and really kept the action from dragging. I don't know if they'll bring back the pre-analysis from before (where Kenny Florian, a guy who doesn't know that much about robots, got introduced by a woman whose only function was to be attractive)—maybe when the 16-bot postseason starts. But I didn't miss it. All it did was waste air time.
I can't get over the pacing; it's just great. Someone (or a team of someones, more likely) really did some hard thinking during the filming and editing process to keep the audience from getting bored during repetitive boilerplate segments… by cutting them.
As for the fights themselves, this was a rousing start. Blacksmith vs. Bite Force, SubZero vs. Huge, and even Tombstone vs. Minotaur brought some of the best BattleBots action ever broadcast, in my opinion.¹ The three-way rumble between Mecha Rampage, Duck!, and Free Shipping was an absolute riot.
The only truly disappointing fight was because Bombshell had no self-righting capability, and Lock-Jaw got off a really early hit that basically ended the fight before it even started by flipping its opponent upside down. (Minotaur getting counted out because it got stuck on a damaged section of arena floor was also a bit of a letdown.)
Ray Billings is, of course, the same arrogant prick he's always been. I can't stand how he talks to the other teams, but I do have to respect his robot's record. No matter how rudely or unsportsmanly its creator might behave, Tombstone really is a fine piece of engineering.