Complete Control's Season 3.0 Fights Fight 1, Round of 32: Complete Control VS Subject to Change Without Reason Since Randy and I have a "past" on the show, I thought that they had intentionally matched the two of us up. This was ok with me, as I didn't think that STCWR would pose much of a threat to my robot as it was a low and flat topped wedge, perfect for picking up and destroying. I was hoping that there would be a pre-fight interview so that I could do a bit of trash talking to accentuate the situation. This didn't happen, but in line up I discovered that Randy and his whole crew were wearing Complete Control t-shirts, which was kind of funny. Randy even made "Derek Young style" sideburns out of electrical tape! Luckily for us all he took the sideburns off before the fight :) At the start of the fight I discovered a large flaw in CC's design that had gone previously unnoticed. The aluminum outriggers, while designed to stabilize the robot while picking up another machine, were a liability when facing off against a wedge type robot. They were turned into leverage bars that STCWR could get under and lift my robot off the ground. not only that, but they bent VERY quickly and were rendered useless. At some point one of them got ripped off (that was ok as I had a spare -- only one though). Even with this set back, my strategy was still the same -- get a hold of him. I tried unsucessfully to grab STCWR a couple of times, but it seemed very "slippery". Once I finally got him up in the air, I started to feel better about the match. I took him to the killsaws infront of my square, only to realize that they weren't even operational! I really should have seen that the cover wasn't even off of them before we started. I think I might have been told to drop him (as the 30 second count was up), at which point I did. I think also at this point he stopped running, so it was easy for me to recapture him and do with him what I pleased. Near the end of the match, I noticed the crowd shouting for the hammers, so that's where I took his robot. I ended up winning a match which I was losing quite handily in the start, which was a surprise to me at the time, but was partly due to an obvious design oversight on my part. The robot took some damage, including a trip over the saws which resulted in a 20+" scar along the underside of the robot. Randy didn't call "bull" this time as I won the match without having to resort to after the bell tactics. :) Fight 2, Round of 16: Complete Control VS F5 While in the line-up the builder of F5 made it clear that he would "tap out" if I flipped him over as he didn't want his robot destroyed on the saws or hammers. Being the nice reasonable guy I am, I agreed, although it is something that I wouldn't have requested of my opponents, as the whole point of this game is to destroy the other robot... anyways... Also he told me how he was a spectator last year in Las Vegas and how Complete Control was one of his favorite robots, and how he liked my matches etc, etc. I thought that this was nice of him, but it set me on a weird edge entering the fight. At any rate, as F5 was a spinner, my plan was to get on him as quick as possible so that he couldn't spin up too fast. His weapon also did not reach the ground, so I wanted to actually get my forks underneath the spinning robot and try to flip him over (without using the grabbing arm), without having to take the first hit. While this seemed to be a tricky plan, I still wasn't terribly worried as my robot is pretty tough and I thought that it could take whatever F5 could dish out without breaking. This strategy didn't last very long. The match started and I made my way towards him as fast as possible. Too fast infact, as I scooped his robot all the way up on my forks (not my intention), at which point his spinner hit my large 60 tooth #40 sprocket and broke the chain for my lifting arm. It took me a minute to realize what had happened. I actually didn't know the chain had broken until I saw it laying in the middle of the arena. Time for Plan B. This involved keeping on F5 and ramming him into the walls, and pushing him into the hazards. My grabbing arm still worked, so I could drag F5 around, which I seemed to have little problem doing. When I should have been cutting him up in the saws, or putting him under the hammers, I drove up the entrance ramp and the two of us got stuck. Since both robots were stuck, Trey came out and separated the two robots. And then almost immediately after that, F5 drove up the ramp, and out of habit of following him around and grabbing him, I followed, at which point I was stuck, but he was not. OH NOS! I was pissed. I couldn't believe that I did that. Pure driving error plain and simple. Mind you, if I had more ground clearance I could have simply driven away, but it was not to be. F5 came over and repeatedly limply smacked my sprocket again, while I was given the 30 second count out, and then the match was over. I actually thought that he might try to unstick me, especially after being so nice to me in line, and after I agreed not to destroy his robot if I flipped him over.... oh well. Right after the match ended I was told that I was saved by the bell (IE I was stuck with less than 30 seconds to go in the match), and I was relieved to a certain extent, as it would come down to a judges decision. Then came the decision -- a knock out at 2:59. I couldn't believe it. I lost by 1 second (apparently 3 seconds officially, but 1 second seems much more dramatic on television I guess). I was crushed, but so goes the game. In the post fight interview I explained how I got stuck on the ramp, causing myself to lose, and that is all part of Battlebots. As a consolation, it meant that I didn't have to fight Hazard (the eventual champion) in the quarterfinals, which would not have been pretty, although getting another fight on TV would have been nice. MW Winners Rumble Since I went out on sunday with relatively little damage (other than a bent sprocket, which was easily fixed with the use of the Mauler hammer), I was in good shape for the rumble. This would be the first time that I would have a fully operational robot for the rumble, and I was excited about it. A couple of things I remember: I was flipped over and self righted, much to the delight of the crowd. I flipped over a few robots. I managed to flip Alabama Slammer twice. At one point my lifting forks got stuck in the ram rod holes. At another point, I picked up Village Idiot and was carrying him around, and then I was flipped on my side. I could not seem to release VI, nor could I self right. After being hit a couple of times by other robots, I ended up on my wheels again... but with VI stuck on my grabbing arm! I couldn't release him, so I ended up driving him into the wall and he popped off (taking my grabbing arm tip with him). After the rumble it was between T-Minus and Complete Control for the win. In the first "cheer off", Complete Control was called first, and T-Minus second, and there was no clear winner. So they did a "re-cheer". Trey instructed Mark Beiro to announce the robots in the reverse order (as it seems that the second announced robot invairiably wins cheering contests). At this point I could almost taste the win.... But as my luck had it, Mark Beiro forgot what Trey told him seconds earlier, and Complete Control was called first, and T-Minus second. T-Minus won. I'm not bitter or anything though.... :) So the competition ended on a reasonably high note by doing really well in the rumble (but not quite well enough to win decisively), which helped ease the pain of getting stuck on a ramp in the face off rounds. But that big nut and $1000 from winning the rumble would have helped the pain even more. The two matches I fought though were great learning experiences, and Complete Control will be back, tougher than ever next year, with some crucial design flaws eliminated. Back To Treasure Island Front Page ©2001 Automatum Technologies