Heavyweight:
Ranked #1, newcomer: Riot Control
Record: 9-1
This guy is a ramming beast. Sprung Underall-esque wedges ensure that literally nothing can get under this guy. He's got exposed wheels, but that didn't stop him from showing Cupid who's boss - even though he lost like two in the fight. He's beaten Cupid, Nazi Zombies, and Giant Swan, and I don't hold any reservations about his ability to beat them again. His one loss of the season was to Meatloaf, of all robots, but between that and his wheelsectonomy I can see that low armor as being a liablity. It's also interesting to note, and a feature that I keep forgetting, is that this guy is actually also a pneumatic puncher (not to be confused with the ram you see on RoF). Either way this guy is fast, tenacious, and the juggernaut of the heavyweights.
Ranked #2, newcomer: The Dark Side of Cupid
Record: 9-1
The only spinner in heavyweight, Cupid has done a great job in beating strong, reliable opponents like Truth or Consequences, Giant Swan, and Nazi Zombies. Which is good considering that his opponent for the semi-finals is likely to be one of those guys (well, not ToC, but you know what I mean). What's bad is that almost all of the other playoff robots are high armored, fast, torquey bricks that will do everything they can to run down this guy. That apparently didn't stop Cupid from winning in the past, though, so it's clear that this guy is dangerous. Will Chris win heavyweight for the third season in a row? I hope to god not.
Ranked #3, newcomer: Nazi Zombies
Record: 8-2
I have to say that of all the robots in the heavyweight class, I find Nazi Zombies the most boring and generic robot. And not in the Wedge 'haha' kind of generic. More like 'oh god is Rough Rider really going to compete again' kind of generic. I kid. It certainly doesn't hurt his ability to win, since the only losses Nazi Zombie has faced all year are against the #1 and 2. To tell you the truth, though, I feel that his flat, single-faced wedge is a liability, especially when facing opponents like Riot Control or Shadow Zone Forever that employ wedges with smaller surface area. Still, you can't argue with what works.
Ranked #4, newcomer: Shadow Zone Forever
Record: 8-2
In response to Dylan's comment about how he's not sure how SFZ self-rights: that entire teal/dark green panel on the back and top of the robot is the flipper that works to just pop it up and back on it's wheels. This guy is dangerous fast, I think probably the fastest heavyweight we have. I kid you not this guy would have been undefeated, 10-0, had he RP'd for all of his fights. He lost in a coin toss to swimmer's Apocalypse early on in the season, and then by forfeit to the drumbot Meatloaf. He's fast, he's got an anti-spinner concave plow for dealing with Cupid, and an anti-wedge spiked flipper on the back for dealing with everyone else. He's beaten Giant Swan in a pretty damn one-sided contest, so that spells good news for him this time around. He's also beaten Truth or Consequences, although that was a little closer. The question mark here will be placed on how he'll deal with Riot Control and Nazi Zombies, two other effective wedges.
Ranked #5, previous competitor: Giant Swan
Record: 7-3
Goddamn. Going from 1-10, a worse score than people who forfeited all season, to a playoff caliber robot. If that's not an improvement, I don't know what is. His stats are pretty average all around, which spells bad news when facing a crowd of such fast heavy-hitters. He's only beat Truth or Consequences, in terms of playoff robots, however. Big losses to Shadow Zone Forever and Riot Control might spell out an inability to deal with fast rammers, and the overall shape of the robot might make it hard for him to deal with a spinner like Cupid. At the very least this guy is the only unique design in the playoffs, however, and for that he should be given a lot of credit.
Ranked #6, former champion, and finalist: Truth or Consequences
Record: 6-4
Hmm. It's been awhile since the FRR finals so I don't think we can chalk this one up to a championship hangover. At least it's an improvement over the dopplegangers of The Arbiter and Redepmtion: Denied that have tried to fill the void that this champion left. Overall he's been having a ho-hum performance, after losses to Giant Swan, Shadow Zone Forever, Nazi Zombies, and Cupid. In fact, the only robot ToC hasn't lost to yet is ranked at #1. So, going into the playoffs, I feel a bit of concern on Josh's ability to repeat a championship, even though I agree that it is an overall improvement on the previous incarnations of ToC. I, personally, believe that Josh should amp up the aggression considering that this rebuild looks more like a rammer than a flipper, and use the flipper as an aid to control as opposed to a primary weapon.
Heavyweight Predictions:
(3) vs.
(6)
This fight comes down to who will gain control longer. Now, I do believe that Truth or Consequences has the advantage in getting underneath Nazi Zombie's flat wedge, but how much advantage can that provide? The part of the flipping arm that is used to get under the opponent might not be long enough to get underneath the wedge and reach the chassis (or, at least initially). Nazi Zombie has the speed advantage, and so he might be able to drive off and away before Truth or Consequences gets under the chassis, provided he does get under NZ. Meanwhile the spike racks that rest on the wedge of Nazi Zombie might make it easier to keep control of ToC for longer. It is also worth noting the disparity in armor, for the damage category will really come down to who was affected by the hazards more. A truely back and forth fight might come to show ToC's weaker armor, and might just be enough to edge a 23-22. Who knows.
Prediction: Nazi Zombies over Truth or Consequences
Certainty: 60%
(4) vs.
(5)
I see this as really being a rematch of what happened last time. Shadow Zone Forever is nearly twice as fast as the clamp bot, an advantage that will most assuradly come up as Shadow Zone Forever goes for and takes advantage of Giant Swan's sides. They both have pretty poor armor, so attrition will factor in if one or both ends up being taken to the hazards a lot. The previous match showed that it was hard for Shadow Zone to really get caught in the dustpan, considering the size and speed of the rambot, so that will definitely play into Kody's favor. Dylan is going to want to play this as a flipper rather than a clamper. With a couple of well-timed flips, Giant Swan may be able to push the match into his favor. The speed advantage, in my opinion, is just too large to ignore however.
Prediction: Shadow Zone Forever over Giant Swan
Certainty: 80%
Superheavyweight:
Ranked #1, current Superheavyweight Champion, former semi-finalist: Eurypterus Evolved
Record: 10-0
The current champ, undefeated at ten wins, longest current running streak of sixteen wins, this is a robot to beat. Eurypterus has competed in six tournaments one after the other, made the semi-finals four times before finally becoming the champ. And now he's taken this championship and capitalized on it, beating JOLT again early on, and Drive. The one big question mark on this guy is how he'll do against Vendetta, Copperhead, or Final Boss. A previous incarnation of Copperhead beat a previous incarnation of Copperhead, twice, but that was before the redesign of Eurypterus's wedge so a rematch would certainly be up in the air. There's really not too much else to say about it: this guy is the champ, undefeated so far this season, and there's a reason for it.
Ranked #2, newcomer: Vendetta
Record: 9-1
Vendetta is probably the biggest other contender for the superheavyweight championship after Eurypterus. He's beaten Copperhead and JOLT, two big name veterens, and uses the steep wedge to his advantage of controlling the opponent. All out aggression is the name of the game here, but the biggest problem he might face is Drive. Drive beat him early on, using an extreme amount of torque and a low wedge to push around this guy. Luckily for him, Drive is ranked pretty low so the odds of him facing Drive in the semis is pretty low.
Ranked #3, former finalist, semi-finalist: Copperhead
Record: 8-2
Copperhead is always a contender, part of the original rammer trio, and each version of him gets better and better. And yet, his losses to Vendetta and Drive show some of his age. He did absolutely dominate Final Boss in their matchup, so that begs the question of if a dedicated wedge is what you need in order to beat Copperhead. His wildcard matchup is against JOLT, however, and as an 'original' rammer, spinners should be no mystery to Copperhead. He's certainly still a dominant robot, but he's always the bride's maid and never the bride. Will he be able to do one better over his Revolution performance and finally get a title, finally completing the trio of titles for the trio of rammers?
Ranked #4, newcomer: Final Boss
Record: 8-2
I have to say that Final Boss was somewhat lucky to get at this point, much in the way The Windmill was lucky to be where he was. JOLT's forfeit and then Joey crapping out on his RP put him where he needs to be to make the playoffs. That doesn't take anything away from Final Boss's ability to win fights, but one-sided losses to Copperhead and "Goodbye" does question his ability against other playoff robots. Nevertheless, he is an able robot and might be able to push something extra out of his fights that he needs to beat these other guys. The added feature of the flipping weapon just could push fights in his favor if it were used correctly.
Ranked #5, newcomer: Drive
Record: 7-3
Joey, what the hell man. You were on your way to being ranked #2, and getting a bye to the semis. And instead you crap out on your last two RPs, mixing up the names of robots and opponents, overall just not meeting any level of standard. That kind of thing nearly eliminated Drive from the competition. Drive is definitely a good robot, hell he beat Vendetta and Copperhead, two big juggernauts of the superheavyweight division. The thing is, and what makes me laugh, is his close loss to Eurypterus. Drive exploited torque and manuverability to win his matches, but it just didn't seem to be enough against well placed speed. And average speed does seem to be a liability on his part, considering it was the ability for Eurypteurs to get to his side and place some extra slams that stole the fight. I expect him to go pretty far, though.
Ranked #6, former finalist: JOLT
Record: 8-3
Damn, one of the most dangerous spinners this division has seen, and last season's runner-up nearly got eliminated last week, all due to a forgetful RP on Paul's part. Nevermind - he's here and that's all that matters. JOLT certainly is a destructive machine, but the field of SHW's appears to be stacked against them as nearly all of them, barring one flipper, is a well armored, fast ramming machine. The omni-wheeled manuverability that Paul used so well in the past seems to be working against him as robots like Eurypterus and Vendetta have used it to push around JOLT like a hockey puck, forcing him into the walls and over the saws. Considering how stacked this division is, I could very well see it happening again, especially when his first round fight is against Copperhead. That said, each time a robot rams into JOLT, they feel it, and it hurts. He knows he can cause the damage to win fights and he'll do his best to continue doing so.
Superheavyweight Predictions:
(3) vs.
(6)
JOLT has been having hard luck against rammers this season, and Copperhead is among the most unrelenting of them all. Luckily for JOLT, Copperhead is a lot easier to hit, if you will, than Eurypterus or Vendetta. Catching a corner could spin Copperhead away, maybe hurt the V-plow a bit. Hell getting a hit on the side might warp the armor into the wheels considering how close they are to eachother. On the otherhand, Copperhead has eight wheels and six torque, so hits from JOLT won't spin him very far, and Copperhead will be able to recover much faster than JOLT can. Once again JOLT's lack of torque due to the omni-directional drive will ping him around, maybe into walls, hazards etc. Paul is going to want to keep control of his robot for as long as possible, but when you're facing a robot like Copperhead that might not happen.
Prediction: Copperhead over JOLT
Certainty: 75%
(4) vs.
(5)
We know that Drive can get under Final Boss from the front, as the sprung wedge comes into play plus how it all went down last time they fought. The big problem for Drive was keeping control (as well as having a shit RP). Obviously Joey's going to want to use his better turning system (it's how Panic Attack was setup and that guy could just glide) to prevent Final Boss from exploiting superior speed. Overall I feel that Drive will be able to put that wedge to work as much as possible, be as aggressive as he can be, and prevent Final Boss from bringing the flipper into play; something that was key to Final Bosses previous victory.
Prediction: Drive over Final Boss
Certainty: 75%
