The Cherry Bomb Classic III: Fight Cards, Brackets, and Writing Assignments

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Re: The Cherry Bomb Classic III: Fight Cards, Brackets, and Writing Assignments

Post by The Monsterworks » Mon May 20, 2019 3:30 pm

The Quarterfinals

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, after fifteen long weeks, we've finally done it. We're here: the playoffs. The ups and downs of the group stage are finished. Of the twenty-one robots in each weight class that first set out in pursuit of the Bowl of Cherries, eight remain. There will be no rebounding from losses here, no prognosticating about tiebreaks and looking to squeeze points out of matchups. Now, it's single elimination. You win, you progress and keep your championship dreams alive. Lose, and it may have been a valiant effort, but it's ultimately 'better luck next time'. Nobody wants better luck then. They want it all, and they want it now.

And what better place to revel in excess than the hyper-exclusive Burj Al-Arab luxury hotel in Dubai? Our deep pocketed sponsors have shelled out big for the final three weeks of our competition. All four weight classes will be fighting in the notoriously perilous Vertigo, where a single misstep could end your championship ambitions, so don't indulge too much at the open bar! Oh, and check out the arena below. As we all know, using its features to your advantage could be the difference between a playoff run for the ages and a quick flight home. Good luck!

Vertigo


Vertigo by Floating Castle Robotics on Sketchfab

Name: Vertigo

Location: Dubai, UAE

Layout: Circular

Size: 60 ft diameter - 2827 square feet

Intended Use: LW-SHW Singles and Doubles

Theme: Helicopter landing pad

Floor Materials: painted steel

House Robots: In tournaments that allow house robots, this arena has two, Genghis and Colonel Mordread, which patrol the ring around the central hazard. However, CBC3 will not be employing them this time around.

Hazards and Features:
  • Immediate Ejection Device (1) - This enormous floor piston is located in the center of the arena and pops up beneath bots that drive over it, launching them high into the air and dealing moderate to heavy impact damage when they land in addition to potentially flipping them over.
  • Fall Away Walls - The arena walls are five feet high, meaning that only the strongest flippers can manage to flip opponents over them for the first two minutes of the match. However, at the 2:00 mark, they fall away, making OOTAs tantalizingly easy for the remainder of the fight.
  • Micro IEDs (32) - These small floor pistons ring the edges of the arena. For the first two minutes, they pop up under robots that drive over them, disrupting traction and dealing no to light damage. During the final minute, they pop up in advance of robots barreling over the edge, forcing drivers seeking an OOTA to employ at least some strategy. This hazard has been modified. There are now 64 Micro IEDs spaced about 2.5 feet apart.
  • Danger Zone (optional - 2) - The two concentric rings that are occasionally home to the house robots can be turned into floor spinners for fights without house robots. These only deal no to light damage, but they can disrupt traction and spin robots away.

Achievement: Don't Need No Special Rules! - Score an OOTA while the walls are still up.

The Fight Card

Below are the week's fights. RPs will be due on Saturday, May 25, at 11:59 PM EST. The RP limit for the group stage was 400 words, but it will be 500 for the duration of the playoffs. Remember to inform your opponent of configuration choices.

Lightweight

Middleweight

Heavyweight

Superheavyweight

Results

Lightweight

(1) Blood Eagle vs (9) Evil Destroyer

Both bots spin up and get going, meeting closer to Evil Destroyer's side of the ring, both blades colliding with a hefty SMASH! Neither bot seems to happy with the blade-to-blade collision, ED's arm having a noticeable bend to one side in it, and BE's arm looking a bit stressed. The two bots come together again, once again blade to blade thanks to the pivoting arm, and with a mighty crack, three parts fly free of the collision. BE seems to be in one piece, whilst ED's entire spinner assembly now lays around halfway across the arena.
BE spins up once more, clearly the better off of the two, though the blade seems to be struggling a little at gaining momentum. The sluggish ED moves in, attempting to capitalize, but gets battered away by the blade, spinning across the floor and popping upwards a bit as it glides over the IED. This distance gives Laz enough time to rev up to top speed, progress around the IED as ED attempts to escape, only to find the rear of its chassis cleaved clean through, spraying shuffle banks across the floor. ED's two remaining pads wriggle but can't pull the bot around adequately to prevent the knockout.

Blood Eagle wins by KO in 1:20.

(4) Terpsichora vs (5) The Thieving Magpie

It's a slobberknocker from the start. Thieving Magpie starts on top, chucking Terpsichora over twice within the first thirty seconds and forcing HFL to self-right using a Mini IED. Danielle's reflexes have been on point so far, with Magpie managing to hook off every time that it's lost the wedge war, but how long can she hope to keep this up?

Aaaaaannnnnnnd, we have our answer. Terpsichora gets under and absolutely cranks The Thieving Magpie. The Team Stealth bot somersaults through the air, landing upside-down and self-righting right into Terpsichora's weapon. OUCH! That follow up hit leaves a small tear in its baseplate and it gets thrown once more. It's able to dodge away this time, but that's scant comfort for Danielle as she resets and comes back in.

Thieving Magpie wins wedge-to-wedge, but HFL is quickly hooking away, and the flip doesn't do much more than flick its front up. Terpsichora's counterattack, however, hurls its east coast rival for a third time. The flipper is fortunate to land right side up, but that sturdy flipper is starting to look a bit dented and one corner of its wedge is noticeably peeled up. It's nothing compromising if you think about it only as armour, but its ability to get beneath the Team Instant Regret bot could be compromised if it takes many more shots like that.

Danielle goes into hyper-reflex mode, and backs off the next couple of times that Magpie gets outwedged, much to HFL's frustration, but she's sacrficed aggression points for the sake of not giving up any more damage. The gamble seems to pay off as soon as the walls fall away, with her bot earning a rare win in the wedge contest and making the most of it with a spectacular flip. Terpsichora does a near 540 and lands upside down, jetting away before what would've been an OOTA flip can claim it. The spinner flees for safety, executing a sudden turn to gyro itself back onto its wheels. It eats another flick for its troubles, but manages to settle the right way up.

With about thirty seconds remaining, both drivers are beign cautious and looking for the right opportunity. Danielle has started trying to angle in more, and HFL is hooking backwards in a wide arc to avoid it. Then, out of the blue, he follows one of these hooks up by darting forward. The already-damaged corner is caught again as Magpie backpedals, and the flipper ends up on its back. Terpsichora's able to chain a second hit that accidentally rights the other bot, and Magpie gets away. The match ends with it hovering close to the Danger Zones, trying to bait HFL in, but he doesn't seem to be having any of it.

Judges' Decision

Aggression: 8-7 The Thieving Magpie
Damage: 10-5 Terpsichora
Control: 9-6 Terpsichora

Terpsichora wins 26-19!

(3) Cuddle Time! vs (6) Tidal Wave 2

Early on in this fight, it becomes obvious that Cuddle Time! is playing a game where it has very little margin for error and that Gabe knows it. He's nonetheless able to get a couple of solid lifts in after stalling Tidal Wave's drum against his anti-vert attachment. He struggles to actually control it, however, as it tends to just tumble off of his lifter. One of these still manages to flip the Canadian machine, however, though it's able to get its drum going enough through unpredictable running to Gyro-flip itself back over before long.

Hii's not dumb, though, and after about a minute, he makes an adjustment, hooking away dramatically as Cuddle Time starts to wear down his drum's momentum. The first attempt results in him nearly being flipped sideways. Gabe capitalizes with the clamp and lift that he's been waiting for, delivering the spinner to some Micro-IEDs before releasing it. The only thing that's saving Tidal Wave, at this point, is the fact that Gabe has to line up his shots very carefully. It's allowing the drum to get up to speed pretty consistently, not that it's doing much against that oddly-shaped but sturdy plow.

Another contact comes up more or less head to head, but Tidal Wave knows the game now and a sudden hook gives it a free shot at Cuddle Time's front corner. The Team 57 entry rushes forward and, just as Gabe is starting to react, carves open the thinly-armoured front corner of his bot. The most obvious casualty is a wheel, but the whole frame seems to have taken some serious damage. Whew. Now, we have a fight.

Tidal Wave, looking to chain, moves in for a follow-up and manages a glancing blow that adds to the damage, but not in a catastrophic way. Cuddle Time resets, looking to regain the initiative with just over a minute remaining. It moves in again and gets one side of its lifter under, but it's got a slight wobble now, and one of Tidal Wave's little skids slips unde its other side. The wedge lock lasts for maybe a second before the American machine is hurled backwards, nearly going over. Tidal Wave rushes in, however, and manages a second glancing blow to its opponent's chassis and...

Cuddle Time just stops moving. Hii hangs back, keeping his bot's drum at full speed. It's hard to say exactly what happened with the Interrobang entry, but somethign must've been jarred loose. The referee's count reaches ten and this one is in the books.

Result: Tidal Wave 2 wins by KO at 2:32

(2) Ayame vs (7) Shade Fist

The fight starts with both bots coming at each other like usual and i should probably find a better way to start these writeups. Ayame goes for it's opponent's corner, Shade Fist quickly turns to adjust but at the same time Alex V backs off, SF's quick turn made it gyro dance a little, giving Alex V an opportunity to get under, which he takes gratefully. Ayame fires the flipper almost immediately after, making SF fly but it lands the right way up.

Next encounter Alex V changes his approach and tries to circle around SF, but didn't really work out and when Ayame approached it got hit. Shade Fist is quick to follow up with a chain of flips that get Ayame closer to the wall, then SF lets it stay on the ground like a second or two to spin up fully and when Ayame self rights the black dog clone quickly rushes in before it's opponent can regain control. And like that we got our first big hit! and also the last one, Ayame actually went all the way over the wall and landed OOTA.

Your Winner, by OotA in 0:33 is Shade Fist!


Middleweight

(1) Carbonemys vs (9) Manglerfish

Manglerfish is driving very cautious to start off while Alex is looking cool as the sunglasses wearing cucumber he is. Here comes Mangler fish he's coming pretty close to the hammer there. Oh boy here we go-- CLANG! BAM BAM each of the hits just missing. HFL uses the saw arm to smack the opponent away. SMASH. And Mangler fish gets underneath the side and starts sawing away. It saws for a good 7 seconds until Carbonemys breaks from it's grip. Manglerfish tries a similar strategy again. It smacks the barbaric turtle away and then goes for the side a second time. BANG BANG CRACKKK. There goes the saw arm. Eventually Carbonemys is able to turn itself around enough that it gets another small hit in. At this point there's not much more Manglerfish can do. After a lot of wedging and running, the fish is, well...

Image

Pounded into fresh meat by the local Canadian butcher

Carbonemys II wins by Filet o Fish in 2:46

(4) Neophyte Redglare vs (5) Diablo Genesis III

From the outset, it's clear that these two bots are evenly matched in drivetrain, and both have plans that they hoope will give them the necessary edge. First blood goes to Diablo Genesis, as it brings its clamp down around its opponent, but Syl's expecting the move and is able to hook away in the nick of time.

That doesn't mean that things get any easier, though. Neophyte Redglare's tactics revolve largely arounf baiting Drew into firing his flipper early. However, he seems to mostly be focusing on the clamp... without much success. After another failed try, he's finally able to get a grip, and Neophyte Redglare takes a trip on the IED, fortunate to land right side up. Syl is actually lucky enough to catch Drew by surprise, and their bot actually slides underneath Diablo Genesis' wedge. The Alpha Robotics machine spins out on the Danger Zone and Syl takes the risk of shoving it into the IED. It comes down upside-down, but self-rights quickly, immediately under pressure from its opponent, who tries to shove it right back into the gigantic hazard.

This time, the plan backfires, and Diablo Genesis gets spun away... right into Neophyte Redglare's side. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Drew fires his flipper and the Team Foxtrot Uniform bot is overturned. It begins the relatively slow process of righting itself, but Diablo Genesis is there to clamp it, and the waifubot takes a HARD slam into one of the outer walls. Still firmly gripped in the veteran machine's jaws, it takes a second and a third, being popped by a couple of Micro-IEDs before release.

Thinking fast, Syl actually decides to drive their bot over one of the hazards, and this succeeds in righting it faster than its lifter would've. Drew is flip-happy now, though and he comes in again, looking to send his opponent over once more. He takes the bait. A quick stutter by Neophyte Redglare causes him to miss, and it swoops in, getting beneath and slamming Diablo Genesis into the wall moments before it falls away.

His bot in immediate peril, Drew mashes the controls and it hooks away. Unfortunately for him, he falls for the bait a second time. Unfortunately for Syl, Diablo Genesis still has a 2WD wedge beneath its plow, and it now has his bot clamped. Lining up a final ram out of bounds, the clamp hurtles forward...right into a Micro-IED. Drew misjudged by the tiniest amount. That's not to say that it isn't able to burn ample clock until being forced to release its chewtoy, and Syl's next baiting attempt is roundly defeated, resulting in Neophyte Redglare ending this match still inside the arena, but on its back and very much on the back foot.

Aggression: 9-6 Diablo Genesis III
Damage: 9-6 Diablo Genesis III
Control: 9-6 Diablo Genesis III

Result: Diablo Genesis III wins a 27-18 judges decision and will progress to the semifinals!!
(3) Scion vs (6) Jackal

This fight is full of a lot of the drivers saying one thing and doing another. Both are like..."aggression, RAWR!" but then they pull all sorts of cute maneuvers (to be fair, Gabe was also like, "caution, RAWR!"). Both try angling in and both have numerous tricks to make it work.

Early on, Alex does an uncannily good job of predicting where Scion is going and being one step ahead of it. Gabe is forced to drive more defensively than he'd like, and actually falls for a couple of feints to his eternal shame. The icing on the cake is when Scion ends up overturned and clamped.

However, in what may be the only observed instance of Gabe being grateful for the presence of a hazard, he simply drives his bot over a Micro-IED to right it once Scion is forced to release, denying Alex more of the match control that he was so eagerly craving. The issue, in general, as the match wears on, is that Gabe, like any good driver, starts making adjustments, and Scion's speed advantage is telling. Scion also begins 'stuttering', which isn't to say that the robot develops the power of speech and then an unfortunate impediment to said miraculous ability over the course of the fight. Rapid stops and starts throw off some of Jackal's maneuvers and, now the American machine really begins to crank up the aggression, harrying its opponent and denying it the opportunity to do much more than either react or mount the sort of unintelligent aggression that Alex is loathe to engage in.

By the time that the walls fall, the combatants are on a roughly equal footing overall. Jackal gets wedged and raises its upper arm to block an overhead thwack attempt, but continues getting plowed towards... nevermind. It hooks off and manages to angle in on Scion's side shields. The Interrobang Robotics entry is far too quick to remain wedged, however, and it escapes before the clamp can come into play. Overall, the final minute is a mix of tentativeness and daring attempts to send the other OOTA for both bots. Scion is the more effective at angling in on its opponent, but keeping Jackal under control is another matter altogether. That wedge doesn't have a lot of depth at all. The buzzer sounds with the British machine hooking off of Scion's wedge to escape a big OOTA run-up, but it doesn't have the chance to counter. This is going to the judges, and it's close.

Aggression: 8-7 Jackal
Damage: 8-7 Jackal
Control: 9-6 Scion

(3) Scion wins a 23-22 split decision and will advance to the Semifinals!

(2) Chronic Jobber vs (7) I Suck at Names

We’ve got two terrifying weapons here, Chronic Jobber’s undercutting bar against ISAN’s big vertical bar on a stick.

Both bots spin up, and Chronic Jobber doesn’t even bother leaving its square until it’s done so. They approach each other very carefully. ISAN’s got its weapon flipped around backwards, so there’s no long forks for Jobber to hit. I’m not sure which way ISAN’s blade’s spinning, actually – are they trying to knock Jobber’s blade into the floor? No, ISAN raises its blade up a bit as the bots close with each other, and it looks like it actually goes over the top of Jobber’s undercutter. It makes contact with something, the lifter flies upward and ISAN gets popped in the air and yanked forward – straight into Jobber’s blade!

WHAM! Both bots get sent spinning away in an explosion of shrapnel. Jobber hits the floor and bounces in the the wall. The bar’s stopped, and it’s easy to see why: the armor right on top of the weapon hub’s been caved in and the frontal armor around there split open and peeled outward. There’s no way that didn’t take out the pulley or sprocket or whatever’s connecting the bar to the motor. But ISAN’s front left corner’s but absolutely cleaved open! The front armor’s got a huge gash, the tread guard’s been peeled out like tinfoil, and the front sprocket’s lying on the arena floor somewhere along with the track. ISAN’s also been sent pirouetting around and flipped due to the gyroscopic effect, and the weapon’s gouged some paint off the arena floor. The support frame actually looks to be twisted.

ISAN laboriously self-rights, but the weapon isn’t spinning back up. Cripple fight! Chronic Jobber comes in and attacks with its rear wedge, getting under ISAN’s corner, but ISAN has its own set of forks, and after a bit of back and forth pushing with ISAN limping around it’s able to slide under Jobber’s wedge and lift its rear end in the air, high-centering it, then roll it over on its back. Jobber’s wedge is now, uh, useless. It’s able to right itself with a mini-IED, and this process repeates itself until the walls come down, at which point it has to use the big IED.

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: Chronic Jobber 6, I Suck At Names 9
Aggression: Chronic Jobber 8, I Suck At Names 7
Control: Chronic Jobber 6, I Suck At Names 9

Your winner, by a 25-20 Judges’ Decision, is I Suck At Names!


Heavyweight

(1) Chimera vs (8) Death Metal

Ever had a pokemon match where you're just so hard-countered, you almost fight freer than if you weren't? That's kind of what happens here. It's late, I'm tired, and I'm writing other people's matches in order to get the semifinal bracket up with enough time for people to RP, so you're getting the Coles' Notes version fo this fight. My apologies.

The fight starts promisingly for Death Metal, which catches Gabe by surprise with a sideways starting tactic and, despite his certainty that his much faster machien can't be caught out by something with a -3 control ratio, carves right into Chimera's side. Wheels and pieces of wheels achieve liftoff. Luckily for Gabe, his bot has like 56.3 million of them. Cue a brief bit of discretion being the better part of valour for the Interrobang machine.

Of course, that doesn't last all match, or even much of it. Danielle does her best to give her bot space and to keep it from gyrodancing madly, and it works to some extent. This isn't entirely a boring smotherfest with a a half-doezen wall slams and extended pins, but good ol' Death Metal dances the funky chicken more than once, and there's a particularly bad sequence where it ricochets into a wall, back into the onrushing Chimera, and is punted onto the IED, coming down hard with a wobbly baseplate before being slammed into a wall and pinned.

By the time that the walls fall away, Chimera's front is showing definite signs of damage, but it's mostly managed to stop the terrifying spinner from doing its worst. Then, it flips. The ferocious blade impacts cleanly and wrenches its flipper sideways so that it's no longer properly retracting, but Death Metal flies and lands hard, skittering along its side as Danielle desperately powers down the weapon. Too little, too late. The Team Stealty standout goes into the safety netting, and that's all she wrote for this one.

Result: Chimera wins by OOTA at 2:11

(4) Dreadnought Mk. 4 vs (5) Trashman

All right, Dreadnought comes prowling out of its square, looking downright menacing. Alex wants that heavyweight title BAD, and I’m sure has no intentional of losing to... this. Meanwhile the trashman comes out, and throws TRASH all over the – all over the ring! I.e. the trashcans split off from it and trundle off doing their own thing as the main bot heads for Dreadnought. Now Dreadnought shoots forward, Trashman starts out charging at it then veers off at an angle and goes for Dreadnought’s side, but Dreadnought’s also gone for Trashman’s side, and they end up stuck awkwardly side by side. Both back off a little and go for each other, and Dreadnought gets under Trashman’s, uhh... Spoonlift? I ain’t calling that thing a forklift. Trashman backs away though and is able to escape.

Anyway, after a bit more back and forth jousting Trashman proceeds to START EATIN’ GARBAGE, by which I mean Dreadnought slams into it, easily slides underneath, and tosses it in the air. The Trashman tumbles onto its back, and with that clamp almost fully lowered to grab Dreadnought it’ll take a while to self-right. But instead of going in for a followup attack Dreadnought zooms away, and it PICKS UP THE TRASHCAN, AND SMASHES THE ARENA WALL WITH IT! Actually it looks like it was trying to throw it out, but doesn’t get the timing right and bounces it off the wall. The trashcan lands upside-down though, so that’s one minibot down.

The Trashman’s back on its treads, and this time does a feint off to the side and then charges into Dreadnought with its scoop pressed against the floor, and actually gets under it. It tries to bring the clamp down but Dreadnought fires the flipper, and the front-hinged design turns out to be perfect for pushing the clamp away. Dreadnought’s free, and after a bit it gets another flip, but this time it’s a 360, and the surprisingly acrobatic Trashman’s able to angle in and pin the flipper down before Dreadnought can fire it. It proceeds to PICK UP DREADNOUGHT, AND SMASH THE TRASHCAN ON THE HEAD WITH IT. By which I mean it parades it around the arena for almost 30 seconds, then sets it on a trashcan and high-centers it.

And the refs are calling for the pin to be released, which results in some confusion in the End of the Line LLC control booth. Yeah, sorry buddy, putting a bot directly onto another part of the cluster is a continuation of the same pin. Releasing a pin means no part of your robot can be in physical contact with your opponent for like, at least a second.

In the interest of saving time both teams agree to have Trashman just shove Dreadnought off the trashcan and put it on the arena floor, then back off to its position when the clock was stopped. And... we’re off again! And Dreadnought wastes no time overturning Trashman again – not a perfect flip but enough to roll it over – and gets its revenge by feeding the other trash can to the IED. Which it actually survives. So Dreadnought PICKS UP THE TRASHCAN, AND SMASHES THE TRASHMAN ON THE HEAD WITH IT. The Trashman’s unscathed and ends up almost grabbing Dreadnought again but the Trashcan’s now GARBAGE.

Anyway, a lot of pushing and ramming and flipping and one short-lived grab from Trashman later, and the walls come down. Dreadnought overturns Trashman and starts shoving it towards the edge while it ponderously self-rights and tries to flail itself around with its treads. The mini-IEDs come up to block it, and Dreadnought slams it against them. Trashman gets back upright, but is scooped up again, and flipped, but Dreadnought’s running low on gas and can’t quite get it over the wall. It settles for sliding underneath it again and repeatedly ramming it and harassing it and trying to interfere with its self-righting until the pin clock runs out. Trashman gets up again, but again it gets wedged. It lifts its scoop up a little and tries to monstertruck over the top of Dreadnought, but there’s the flip, and that was nearly a three-pointer! The Trashman comes down practically on top of the mini-IED as it comes up, nearly goes out, and comes down on its side in between them. Dreadnought rams it and wedges the bot’s triangular shape between two mini-IEDs, and I’m not sure it can get out from that position. The clamp can’t really open, but it retracts the pinion and is able to get enough space to – ooh, and Dreadnought rams it again, keeping it stuck in there! The countdown clock is starting at this point, and it doesn’t look like the Trashman is going to be able to wiggle free – no, it isn’t!

Your winner, by knockout in 2:52, is Dreadnought MK4!

(3) Compound Fracture vs (6) Coup de Grâce IV

A lot of this fight between former champions is both drivers mutually consenting to go head-to-head. Compound Fracture doesn't seem to be willing to press its large, shieldlike lifter, and that results in Coup de Grace winning the majority of wedge wars. It tries wailing away with its hammer but, as long as the two bots are locked together, most of these attempts are stymied by the angle and height of the plow. Slowly, laboriously, Compound Fracture manages to push Coup towards the hazards, but the hammer bot gets away fairly quickly most of the time by firing its hammer like a maniac. The audience oohs and aahs, even though it actually manages to flip itself a couple of times.

The big danger for HFL, in the first half of this fight, is getting hit on the way in. Compound's upper armour soaks a handful of nasty shots before he decides to raise his lifter as an added layer of defense. Thsi doesn't stop Drew from just pressing that big red button on his controller like a man possessed, though, and the hammer or, more often, its shaft clangs ineffectively off of the Team Instant Regret machine's plow with startling regularity.

Compound Fracture's best moment in the fight comes when it's actually able to get around the hammer bot's side and give it a quick shove into the danger zones that gets it all turner around. A subsequent push onto the IED makes the hammer bot fly. Coup is lucky to come down right-side-up, but it gets wedged for its trouble immediately. This time, however, it's able to pivot free immediately, and it retaliates with a vicious blow to the dorsal plate of its opponent.

HFL seems more willing to try angling now and, while Coup slips a way pretty often, it manages a couple of good slams into the walls and, once they're gone, the Micro-IEDs that nearly put Coup out. However, it doesn't seem to be using its lifter anymore. The damage to its top plate seems to have finally put paid to the weapon. The result is actually some more successful match control at the cost of imperfect blocking. A couple more hammer blows hit pay dirt before the match is over, and it doesn't seem to be moving with quite the same pep that it was at the beginning of the fight. That's definitely somethign that the judges will have to take into account, because this is a close one without a doubt.

Aggression: 8-7 Compound Fracture
Damage: 11-4 Coup de Grace
Control: 10-5 Compound Fracture

Result: Coup de Grace wins a 23-22 split decision to advance to the semifinals!

(2) Black Diamond vs (7) Tabor Mark 3

Both bots come out aggressively, Tabor swooping around edge of the outer floor spinner. As Black Diamond closes with it, it swerves away, but Black Diamond veers off in that direction as well, then comes around and goes for Tabor’s side. Tabor swings the turret around, and the side of the scoop glances off BD’s plow. BD gets under but Tabor swivels away and backs off, then rushes forward again, turning its weapon the other direction and actually slipping it under the side of BD’s plow this time. It lifts a little and turns its chassis to push toward the IED, but Black Diamond guns it in reverse and the one wheel that’s firmly on the floor sends it spinning away to safety. It’s right back in on the attack, though – and there’s a flip on Tabor!

One thing about having a fast lifter, though, is that Tabor’s back on its wheels pretty quickly. It scoots away, Black Diamond in pursuit, but again swings the turret around and knocks Black Diamond aside a little. It gets under but this time isn’t able to lift before BD backs away and comes in again, scooping underneath it. It’s high-centered, but slams the scoop down on top of BD’s anti-hammer bars and tips itself back – turns – and gets launched in the air again, crashing down near the arena wall and skidding into the mini-IEDs. It’s been given a 360 though, and drives away before the pistons can lift it up.

There’s some more back and forth jousting. Tabor’s able to pull off the “matador and get under the sides because turret lol” trick, but not with any consistency, and gets shoved into the wall a couple more times before it gets under and flicks Black Diamond – oh, almost up and over backwards, but those wheels stick out forever and Black Diamond’s able to reverse away, slamming its flipper down on the arena floor in a good impression of a torque reaction thwackbot.

After taking another flip and getting pushed into the central IED, Tabor gets under Black Diamond and finally turns it on its back, then pushes it onto the floor spinners, keeping its scoop on top of it to block its self-righting. Black Diamond fires, jostling itself loose, and lands on the further back side of its back (what) where its wheels are on the floor, and it’s able to scoot away before self-righting properly.

And there’s basically another minute and a half of this. Black Diamond does a pretty good job taking Tabor on a tour of the arena, and nearly gets it out a couple times in the last minute, but the flipper’s running low on gas towards the end, and Tabor is, while not doing a whole lot offensively at least disrupting BD’s offense a bit by constantly attacking at weird angles and climbing off its wedge with the lifter.

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: Tabor Mk 3 7, Black Diamond 8
Aggression: Tabor MK 3 6, Black Diamond 9
Control: Tabor MK 3 5, Black Diamond 10

Your winner, by a 27-18 Judges’ Decision, is Black Diamond!


Superheavyweight

(1) Triple 6 vs (9) I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker!

The fight starts, and both bots go straight for each other! I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker’s got its claws held straight out in front of it. Triple 6 charges into it, and gets scooped up by the little teeth, but thanks to the shape of the claws it only lifts the flipper up a couple inches, and the bot’s front wheels stay, uhh, kind of bouncing on and off the ground as it tries to push forward. Tires squeal, but Triple 6 is, slowly but surely, getting forced backward. It goes into reverse itself, darting away, but Crabcore’s got the speed to keep up with it and wedge under the flipper again.

Triple 6 J-turns away. Crabcore follows it, and briefly bumps into its side but Triple 6 gets away, and what follows is a good thirty seconds of the bots ramming and shoving each other but not really being able to make any headway. Then Triple 6 is able to slip the corner of its flipper between Crabcore’s pontoons and slide under. And there’s the flip! Crabcore gets sent flying, crashing down on its back hard! That can’t be good for the exposed saw! Crabcore brings the arm forward, trying to self-right, but the extended claws get in the way. It flops back down onto its back, and has to move the arm the other direction to get back onto its wheels. Meanwhile though, Triple 6 has gotten in behind it and scoops up its rear end. Crabcore has no traction, and Triple 6 is taking it towards the arena wall! So far Triple 6 has thrown EVERYONE unlucky enough to face it out of the arena! Is it about to claim another victim?

No! Crabcore’s omni wheels save it! The sideways set gets a little traction and scoots its back end sideways. Triple 6 flips, but with the bot off-center it ends up tumbling through the air and crashing down on its wheels right up against the arena wall. It gets popped up a little by a mini-IED, but the crab scuttles away to safety.

Triple 6 goes back on the attack, but again can’t get that flipper under Crabcore. Crabcore’s slowly but surely forcing it back, and this time there’s not as much room for Triple 6 to retreat. It turns away a bit early, and thanks to Crabcore’s extreme width the, uhh, alleged sawbot’s able to strafe and get under its side, then force it into the wall. And there’s the mini-IEDs again. Triple 6 gets popped up and rolled onto its back on top of Crabcore. Crabcore backs away from the wall a little – oh, and Triple 6 somersaults away! What is that, a 540? It almost rolls onto its back again, but it’s back on its wheels and away. Crabcore has it on the run until the flipper fully retracts though, and then wedges it again.

After a bit more of the wedge stalemate, Triple 6 gets frustrated and as it’s being forced back towards the wall just goes for it and fires the flipper. And both robots get flung onto their backs! The flipper catches the top lip of Crabcore’s claws, but it’s not transferring that much energy. It’s not the same kind of power as T6’s usual launches, and the leftover energy, well, goes to T6 itself. Both bots are inverted, but Crabcore, which is now keeping its saw arm lowered, is quicker to self-right, and is actually able to open its claws and snatch Triple 6! It’s got one claw snugly behind Triple 6, and the other underneath the flipper. It starts parading it around the arena, and drops the saw into Triple 6’s side panel. There’s some pretty white sparks, but it actually looks like the saw’s a bit lopsided or bent, so I’m not sure how effectively it’s going to cut in. And it doesn’t matter, because another stroke from Triple 6’s weapon tosses it side-over-side and end-over-end.

Crabcore self-rights and goes on the attack again, and... yeah, it’s basically another derpy pushing match. Crabcore’s able to get Triple 6 into the wall again, but by this point it’s after the 2 minute mark and the mini-IEDs raise as blockers and can’t overturn T6, and when it tries to back off a little to open its claws and saw in, Triple 6 gets away. Triple 6 also gets under one more time and gets another huge flip, but it’s not able to pull off the OOTA it’s looking for before time runs out.

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: I Dance Crabcore Motherfucker 8, Triple Six 7
Aggression: I Dance Crabcore Motherfucker 6, Triple Six 9
Control: I Dance Crabcore Motherfucker 8, Triple Six 7

And your winner, by a 23-22 Split Decision, is... Triple Six! Its undefeated run continues, but definitely NOT with the flair we’re used to!

(4) Santangelo vs (5) Starfish Prime

Santangelo rushes out of the square, going after the more ponderous Starfish. HFL attempts to cower behind the IED but that doesn't stop Laz, rushing clean over it and landing from the brief flight, pivoting to collide with the blade. Starfish is thrown across the ring, Santangelo less so, which Laz uses to scoop up the spun-down Starfish and shunting it into the mini IEDs, popping it neatly on the far side of them as they pop up. Starfish manages to squirm free, thanks to a little benevolence from whoever's running them, spinning up partially before getting toppled into the pegs again. Laz isn't giving HFL an inch, and it's showing well. Starfish does get flipped over at one point, though this doesn't really help HFL, just getting bullied around some more, rarely able to keep themselves off of Santangelo's wedge for long enough to hit a decent pelt with the blade, and even when they do it just seems to get absorbed.
Eventually, around the point that the walls drop, the strain of having to keep spinning up and down causes a bit of smoke to erupt from Starfish's weapon motor, though this does literally nothing to alter Laz's plans. He does look a bit thankful though, the front wedge of Santangelo looks like it could do with a bit of buffing out post-match. The concave wedge doesn't stop Santangelo from wedging Starfish again, bashing them into the mini IEDs again, attempting a flip to get it through. Of course, this doesn't work, but a few more pins into the pegs round out the match. It's a JD, though I don't think it's going to be terribly tough on the panel this time.

Damage: 9-6 Starfish Prime
Control: 13-2 Santangelo
Aggression: 10-5 Santangelo

Your winner, by a 29-16 decision, is Santangelo!

(3) Final Boss vs (6) Cruelty

The fight begins with both bots rushing because there really isn't much else they can do, Cruelty presses down it's lifter and wins the first wedge war. Final Boss tries to do something but can't really do anything while it's on top of that wedge, meanwhile Cruelty pushes it into the big IED but overshoots a bit and both bots go airborne. Cruelty lands the right way up while FB not so much, NWOWWE fires the flipper to self right before his opponent can do take advantage of this.
Final Boss turns to face its rapidly approaching opponent, Cruelty tries to angle-in but gets countered and flipped almost immediately after, it does a full 360° spin and lands in basically the same position but a meter or so away. Attackfrog tries to angle in again and pulls it off this time around and goes for the big IED again but the floor spinners managed to pull FB out of his wedge and before he can react FB is under it's side and up goes Cruelty, landing upside down. Before he can react FB gets under it and slams it against the wall (technically it's 1 wall, i think idk), then one of the micro IEDs pops up under Cruelty and NWOWWE reacts by firing the flipper, making the Aquatic Robotics's entry bounce against the wall, landing behind FB, right way up but facing away from it.
Both bots just turn in place so nothing notable happens until they move at each other, where FB gets under again and fires the flipper, except that Attackfrog tried to angle in so it was a bit to the side, thus Cruelty got thrown rather sideways. It didn't really fly that far back and it even landed the right way up, it quickly charges at FB's side before it's driver can properly react and pins it against the nearby wall. FB fires the flipper against the wall while pinned and ends up pushing it's opponent away a bit, but not enough to escape so it gets pinned again. Soon enough the timer runs out and Cruelty backs off, Final Boss adjusts itself and charges at it's opponent, successfully getting under it and flipping it once more. Cruelty lands upside down close to the middle and it just drives itself into the big IED close to it and manages to use it to self right and make some time.
How much time you might ask? Well the walls just fell...
Soon after both bots charge at each other and Cruelty gets under it's opponent, then it begins to push the flipper into the middle IED. Final Boss ends up flying and landing upside down but self rights before the wedgebot with a 'weapon' can take advantage of the situation. Then the same thing happens again but instead of getting thrown by the IED, Final Boss gets away form the wedge by the floor spinners, letting it get under Cruelty's side and flip. Cruelty did NOT fall the right way up so it quickly rushes to the middle to get thrown by the IED but it gets intercepted by Final Boss. NWOWWE pushes Cruelty to the outer edge of the arena, presses that button on his controller aaaannndd there goes Cruelty.

Your winner, by OOTA in 2:44, is Final Boss!

(2) Fenrir vs (7) Hartmann's Youkai Bot

"In the green square: this bot ain't nothin' but a hound dog, and he'll leave you crying all the time! Ready to step all over you like some blue suede shoes, it's! Fenrir!"

"In the purple square: it's the lean, green, chevron-shaped spinning machine. Those might be love hearts, but this waifubot's love hurts! It's! Hartmann's Youkai Bot II!"

The quarter-final battle begins with Fenrir looking to gain some early momentum with a ferocious charge and HYB... not doing that. Like, at all. The undercutter's content to hang back and spin up, its driver confident that weapon power alone will give them victory. Both bots have their weapons going at full pelt, and they're heading for an almighty collisiOH MY GOD! Huge hit there! Fenrir's drum slams into the undercutting disc and gets a powerful bite onto it, warping the disc and sending the bot end over end, but the heart-shaped teeth on HYB still tear into the Cloneotaur's weapon and leave a huge gash through it. The drum's already powering down and part of its tooth has been hurled across the arena, but HYB is flipped onto its back. The massive flywheel on the newly-minted overcutter is at a wobbly angle, and the crowd holds its breath as Tri lets the blade slow down to a full stop. And waits. And waits.
And then it roars back into life! The spinner is back on, and HYB tilts forward and goes back on the attack. The target of the aggression, meanwhile, is looking very much the worse for wear. The drum has completely died but that's far from the worst of it; there's smoke pouring from one of the wheel pods and the machine's just limping along. HYB circles around the stricken drumbot, Tri preparing for the perfect moment to strike, and HOLY HELL! This time, the blade finds purchase on the chassis and completely rips the right bulkhead off! The right wheel's gone too! This is an evisceration! There's parts flying everywhere and some important-looking wiring has tangled itself around the spokes and - wait, is that - yes it is! Fenrir's carcass is being flailed to death with its own speed controller! Wolf just holds his hands up and the refs count Fenrir out.

Winner: Hartmann's Youkai Bot II, KO by AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, HE IS BROKEN IN HALF, 01:35


That's all for the playoff bracket. Time to get fighting. The semifinals await!
Mastodon... Extinction (HW)
Osiris... Armageddon! (MW)
Elrathia... ROBOTS (LW)
Magnolia Pico... Ruination 4 (MW)
RipTide... ROBOT2 (FW)
Black Diamond... Cherry Bomb Classic 3 (HW)
MADSCIENCE... ROBOTS 3 (LW)
Abyss... ROBOTS 3 (MW)


The Monsterworks: 214-57 (.790) ...Probably up to no good.
Cherry Bomb Classic IV: 25-4
Finishing Move: 6-2
Magnolia Pico: 6-1
Magnolia Grande: 6-1
Glacier III: 7-0
ROBOTS 3: 21-6
Sixpounder: 3-4
MADSCIENCE: 9-1 Champion!
Abyss: 9-1 Champion!

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Re: The Cherry Bomb Classic III: Fight Cards, Brackets, and Writing Assignments

Post by The Monsterworks » Thu May 30, 2019 1:34 am

Due to these fights putting the quarterfinals over the character limit, I'm posting them separately here, before the semifinal results

The Eliminators

Since nine total bots qualified from the group stage and a single-elimination playoff bracket kind of needs to have an even number, we took a week off to have the eighth and ninth seeds in each weight class fight for the right to party continue. The results of those fights have been posted below. Congratulations to the winners.

Lightweight

(8) Phobos Anomaly vs (9) Evil Destroyer

Evil Destroyer gets that bar moving and lumbers ponderously out of its starting square, but Phobos Anomaly isn’t exactly quick on the draw either, and ED’s gotten some distance from the walls by the time the tracked twins reach it. They separate, moving to opposite sides of it, and ED rotates its turret to follow the one with a hammer. Not a good bot to have getting behind it, so it seems like a smart idea. But the clamp half circles around, getting Evil Destroyer between it and the arena wall, and charges in!

Evil Destroyer keeps moving toward Hammer Bro, but swings the turret around at the last second. Clamp Bro turns towards the blade to try to catch it on the plow, but Evil Destroyer’s weapon bar is a little bit higher than Clamp Bro’s plow. Instead one of the clamp bars is hit, and both bots go flying, Evil Destroyer pirouetting in circles.

Despite its lighter weight, Clamp Bro’s treads have more grip than ED’s shuffle pods, and it quickly recovers and goes back on the attack, now with a bit of a bend in its arm. Again Evil Destroyer catches it and launches it away. A third attempt tosses Clamp Bro onto the floor spinners, interfering with its attempt to give chase again, but Evil Destroyer’s finally knocked into the wall, stopping the bar.

Meanwhile Hammer Bro’s been hanging back just far enough away that ED can’t easily go after it, but now it rushes in. ED’s gotten enough distance from the wall to at least start the bar moving, though, and sticks the turret out as pretty much a keepaway stick. Hammer Bro tries to get a smack in on the turret, but just feeds its weapon into the bar. It gets smacked aside, spinning it around, but ED’s knocked off-balance a little, and the blade hits the arena floor.
Evil Destroyer “rushes” (as much as that word’s applicable to anything it does) away from the wall, keeping the bar placed defensively behind it. Hammer Bro shadows it but now ED’s managed to spin up enough that there’s a wall of whirling steel in its way, and Evil Destroyer reverses course, going after Hammer Bro, which wisely backs off. Clamp Bro’s regained its bearings by this point, and goes for ED’s side. But again the turret swings around and catches it, and the bot gets swatted aside like a fly. Evil Destroyer goes skidding almost into the wall again, but keeps the blade spinning and goes back to a fruitless pursuit of Hammer Bro.

Clamp Bro’s weapon is actually holding up fairly well considering it keeps taking direct hits from Evil Destroyer’s bar – what are those arms, solid HDPE inside a metal tube? But things are starting to get bent a bit, and a couple of the spikes are missing. It’s the only thing Phobos can really attack with though as long as ED’s weapon is spinning. It charges again, taking a huge hit and getting YEETED across the arena. Evil Destroyer sends itself into the wall again, though, bouncing off with the weapon slowed way down! Now’s Hammer Bro’s chance!

Hammer Bro zooms towards Evil Destroyer, whose weapon is way below full speed and pointed off to the side. It’s quick enough to come in and smash the hammer down on one of ED’s shuffler pods, the spinner swings its turret around and catches Hammer Bro right on... well, there’s not really anything to hit but the tread pods. The clusterbot gets punted away with little bits of metal and rubber flying off – and the track’s snapped! Hammer Bro’s lost a tread, and it’s stuck going in circles!
But Evil Destroyer’s limping too, dragging one useless shuffler pod around. It’s having trouble maneuvering away from the wall. Clamp Bro comes in a bit tentatively – it looks like the clamp arm is limp after that last hit, just resting on the edges of the plow, and I don’t think that’s high enough to actually hit Evil Destroyer’s bar. Aah – but it is still tall enough to butt up against the end of the turret arm, and sticks out enough that ED can’t reach Clamp Bro’s chassis. It starts slowly pushing the shuffler towards its wounded teammate.

Evil Destroyer swings the turret away. Clamp Bro backs off a little, then comes in and pushes against the side of ED’s chassis. ED’s now got the bar pointed right at Hammer Bro, and HB definitely isn’t going to be able to crab around that, let alone do so and aim its hammer at the same time. Clamp Bro decides not to go for the team kill, and turns and tries to push ED towards the wall. But that makes Evil Destroyer change its mind too. It swings the turret around – OH NO, AND GIVES CLAMP BRO THE OLD REACHAROUND! The bar’s brought into play from the side this time, and can reach over the non-functional clamp and contact Clamp Bro’s tread pod.

The minibot goes flying in a spray of parts. The tread pod has just been cleaved into – the side’s caved in, the track is split open, and there’s rollers and bits of what I think might be drivetrain stuff on the arena floor. The other side of it doesn’t seem to be moving either. That's a game over for Clamp Bro, and ED goes after the surviving twin. Meanwhile, it’s the two minute mark, and down come the walls.

Now, how fast can Hammer Bro crab around the arena? It’s covering some distance... but... not... fast... enough! Evil Destroyer limps towards it, periodically having to stop and turn to adjust for the drag of the damaged shuffler pod, but eventually does reach it. Hammer Bro’s facing the curtain, and defiantly slams its weapon down on Evil Destroyer’s turret arm. Problem is, the only part of that it can reach has a blade covering it. And that’s a HUGE HIT! Hammer Bro’s weapon is force-fed into the turret, and the head is ripped off and the arm bent. The bots are knocked away, but ED comes back for another hit. Hammer Bro gets split in half, the central shaft snapped, and the half with what’s left of the hammer attached is sent flying towards the side of the arena so fast the mini-IEDS can’t reach in time! There’s 50% of the cluster immobilized, more than 50% of the remaining half sent out, and one naked tread pod sitting by the wall not moving.

Your winner, by knockout / OOTA in 2:38, is (9) Evil Destroyer!

Middleweight

Both bots rush out of their squares, Harby making the distance first, but beginning to spin up as Manglerfish approaches. Yeah, turns out Harby is more than a wedge. Who knew? Anyway, Manglerfish manages to sneak in and get under, Harby's hammer bouncing up and getting a decent clonk on the saw arm, but stopping nonetheless. HFL brings down the saw, showering sparks across the arena, Harby beached on Manglerfish's wedge. There's nothing NWOWWE can do as Manglerfish hauls Harby over to the IED, neatly sliding the bot onto the IED, which fires with a resounding THWACK! , tossing it up and over. Harby manages to recover, retreating slightly and spinning up again, this time actually doing a decent job of fending off Manglerfish, bashing it enough to spin it to one side. Harby begins spinning down, but HFL recovers, pivoting back and scooping up Harby once more. Following Vertigo Airline's second successful takeoff, NWOWWE changes it up a bit, just plain rushing them. This time, Harby's wedge proves able to get under, scooping up Manglerfish and rushing them into the Micro IEDs, bouncing the two bots apart. HFL recovers, sweeping in under Harby's back end, high-centering them once again and sticking them back onto the big boy IED. A few more back-and-forth assaults bring the fight to its end, both bots still functioning and NWOWWE with a few extra air miles in his pocket. Let's go over to the judges, to see what they thought.

Damage: 8-7 Harbinger
Control: 10-5 Manglerfish
Aggression: 8-7 Manglerfish

Your winner, by a 26-19 decision, is Manglerfish!

Heavyweight

(8) Death Metal vs (9) Long Arm of the Law

In the proudest ARC tradition, we present to you brick vs spinner, with nothing less than playoff survival on the line. Nighthawk Robotics seems well aware, as their entry, Long Arm of the Law, comes barreling out of its starting square and around the central hazards on a beeline for its opponent. Danielle, meanwhile, at the controls for Death Metal seems not to have gotten the memo. Her bot is starting backwards... and upside down. It trundles out of its starting square spinning up at a somewhat lackadaisical rate. Hmm, you know what? I smell trickery. There is something foul afoot.

And we don't have to wait long to see what it is. Just before its rookie opponent can make contact, Death Metal whips its front around, aided by its own weapon torque. Of course, it has virtually no control once it gets going, but it doesn't exactly need much. Unfortunately for Danielle, however, Long Arm of the Law manages to turn just enough to sort of deflect the impact. It still leaves a deep score in the rookie machine's plow, but ARC's most infamous tombclone goes gyrodancing away.

With the brick in hot pursuit, Death Metal shuts its weapon off and settles just as the two bots make contact. The Nighthawk Robotics entry immediately takes control, wedging and shoving its opponent towards the outer walls, but the weapon has started spinning again, and it's reaching dangerous speeds just as Danielle hooks away once more. It's less than controlled, but the combatants are forcefully separated and the chase is on once more. Death Metal settles down quickly this time, so there's no need to throttle down the weapon. It's a classic blade-to-thing impact, with said blade skittering up Long Arm of the Law's plow in a series of smallish impacts than leave minor gouges and deep scratches.

PAY DIRT.

The spinner's terrifying weapon slips over the plow and digs right into one side of the rookie machine's tracks. It's only going at about two-thirds of its full power, but there's a split second where the track flexes and nearly slips free. Nighthawk immediately backs off as Death Metal spins partway around. This time, the spinner killer manages to get to the veteran's side, shoving it hard into the lexan. A micro-IED pops up to interrupt its spinup, and then another. It's given a tour all along the perimeter of the arena until the pin timer expires and Long Arm of the Law is forced to let up. What this has also done, aside from racking up some serious points for the rookie, is run out a good deal of clock. The walls are dropping in less than ten seconds, and Danielle makes no bones about running for the comparative safety of the center. Long Arm of the Law is in hot pursuit and, what's worse for Death Metal is that it's presenting its side to the onrushing brick. Or... maybe that's by design?

Death Metal whips around once more and, this time, the rookie isn't quite quick enough to dodge. Its massive blade skips once, twice, and then...It clips the tracks. Long Arm of the Law plows into the veteran machine and it gets caught up on the floor spinners. Desperately trying to escape, it sweeps its weapon over the central IED and gets absolutely launched. When it comes down, Death Metal definitely isn't the bot it was before. After letting out a puff of smoke, its weapon struggles to spin up to full speed, and it keeps slewing to one side as it drives. Long Arm of the Law, however, isn't able to take advantage. That last hit did mortal damage to one of its tracks. While it held on for a couple of seconds before sloughing off, it's no longer attached and, what's worse, has managed to get stuck under the Nighthawk Robotics machine. Largely as a result, it's having trouble showing any real forward movement.

Death Metal circles around ponderously, barely in control itself. Its entire frame is warped, and its weapon is throwing up occasional sparks from scraping against the arena floor. Danielle's not about to steal defeat from the jaws of victory, though, and she throttles Death Metal right into its opponent's side. Both machines go flying from the impact, with Death Metal taking some time to recover. Long Arm of the Law is left near the edge of the arena, weakly trying to crab away from it, but it's just not very mobile. With the clock winding down, the spinner lumbers in, having to course-correct a couple of times, and delivers a final blow that launches its opponent into the Micro-IEDs just as the clock expires. They stop the brick from plunging over the edge, but it's not a positive note on which to end the fight if you're a fan of Nighthawk Robotics.

Aggression: 9-6 Long Arm of the Law
Damage: 9-6 Death Metal
Strategy: 9-6 Death Metal

Result: (8) Death Metal wins a 24-21 judges' decision and will advance tot he Quarterfinals!

Superheavyweight

(8) Black Mamba vs (9) I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker!

There is only room for one Alex in this town

Before the match both drivers talk a little, set their respective bots in the arena, Alex drinks a shot and both of them say ready so we can actually start.

Now that the fight has started both bots go to the same side, Crabcore closes it's claw and Black Mamba presses down right before the encounter, getting under the claws. BM briefly pushes Crabcore until it opens the claws, only to close them right after. This causes BM to get to the crab's face but at the same time causes the claws to get under BM's sides. Alex brings down the cheese cutter and Alex counters by lifting up his weapon, meanwhile BM is slowly pushing IDCCMF towards the edge of the arena. After 30 seconds of a barely moving spark show the judges say that Alex had a moving pin and has to let go, naturally both of them release each other and now we can see a gash right in the middle of BM's lifter.

After that exchange both drivers wait a little before getting back into action, Crab closes it's claws while BM presses down just before impact and gets under again, but this time Crabcore opens the claws uses its strafing shenanigans™ to escape sideways. Britbong didn't react on time to stop the crab from getting to his side and clamping it from there, and that's actually a solid grip too. Even if he can't escape, what BM can do is move Crabcore around, not extremely fast and not exactly controlled but he can do it. What he can't do though is use the lifter to stop the saw from cutting it's side. Both bots have a weird crab-like dance with a spark shower included, slowly but surely getting closer to a wall. It's been 20 something seconds of this now and it looks like the cheese cutter is starting to get through the thick armour but Alex V isn't an idiot, now they are close to the walls and he uses his superior drivetrain to turn them around, getting his opponent over a micro IED, forcefully ending the hold early.

Canadian Alex is now cornered against the not quite corner of the not quite wall so he strafes the sheet out of there before his British counterpart can do anything, now that he is at a safe-ish place he closes the claws and waits for his opponent who presses down at the last seconds but even then gets out-wedged this time. Black Mamba decides to reverse out of there but the crab doesn't think so and gives chase, soon he opens the claws which releases BM but the he closes them again, grabbing the front part of BM, it's not the best grip and the saw can only touch the tip of the wedge but the clamping gets the job done. Alex V decides to gun the drive and push Crabcore around, his front wheels are off the ground so it's not a fast process and the other Alex makes at good job at avoiding getting pushed to the big IED.

After several seconds of this Da Monstawerks's captain decides to open the claws a bit and, you guessed it, close them again to get BM in range of the saw, and it works! But at what cost? Now Black Mamba has all of its wheels on the floor and is much more effective at pushing and Oh look, it's 2 O'clock the 2 minute mark and the walls have fallen! The saw is doing it's job at producing sparks and stuff while BM pushes it around, it tries to go for the Center IED but crabcore actively keeps that from happening thanks to it's strafing ability. Alex V then decides to change plans a little and just goes for the outer edges and Crabcore isn't quite able to stop it. They are about tho reach the edge of the arena and suddenly Alex M turns around to Alex V's surprise, throwing it's bot outwards and...

No Alex, you can't throw sideways a big, flat, SHW bot through a 2.5ft gap like that! That's not how any of this works.
What happens instead is that both bots end up with their sides facing the edge and BM is quick to react and get it's lifter under the main part of Crabcore and lift it, getting part of it stuck on top of a micro IED. After a lot of aptemts Crabcore manages to use it's claws to get free, but guess who is paciently waiting for it back down on the floor. Of course it's Black Mamba and it tries to just push the crab in between the micro IEDs, Crabcore counters this by opening the claws so it does not fit in between them anymore and it actually works! Alex V decides to just hold down a pin from there. FF to where he has to let go and the crab gets the f@ck out of there and waits for BM with the claws open. Mamba charges in, Crab closes the claws and holds down it in range of the saw but BM managed to use it's lifter to clock the saw. And now BM slowly pushes Crabcore around while getting a spark shower until the timer finally runs out.

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: Black Mamba 7, I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! 8
Aggression: Black Mamba 9, I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! 6
Control: Black Mamba 6, I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! 9

Your winner and owner of the ultimate Alex title, by a 23-22 Judges’ Decision, is (9) I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker!!

Mastodon... Extinction (HW)
Osiris... Armageddon! (MW)
Elrathia... ROBOTS (LW)
Magnolia Pico... Ruination 4 (MW)
RipTide... ROBOT2 (FW)
Black Diamond... Cherry Bomb Classic 3 (HW)
MADSCIENCE... ROBOTS 3 (LW)
Abyss... ROBOTS 3 (MW)


The Monsterworks: 214-57 (.790) ...Probably up to no good.
Cherry Bomb Classic IV: 25-4
Finishing Move: 6-2
Magnolia Pico: 6-1
Magnolia Grande: 6-1
Glacier III: 7-0
ROBOTS 3: 21-6
Sixpounder: 3-4
MADSCIENCE: 9-1 Champion!
Abyss: 9-1 Champion!

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Re: The Cherry Bomb Classic III: Fight Cards, Brackets, and Writing Assignments

Post by The Monsterworks » Thu May 30, 2019 1:53 am

The Semifinals

Three.

That's all that you need to do now: come out on top of three other bots, and you bring home the title. Welcome one, welcome all, to the penultimate week of the Cherry Bomb Classic III. With seventeen of the initial twenty-one machines from each weight class gone, the pits have gotten a good amount quieter, though the rest of the hotel and the media center, in particular, is buzzing. So, who will have the honour of hoisting the Bowl of Cherries? You won't have to wait long to find out. In that spirit of brevity and intensity, allow me to present to you the semifinalists and their arena!

Vertigo


Vertigo by Floating Castle Robotics on Sketchfab

Name: Vertigo

Location: Dubai, UAE

Layout: Circular

Size: 60 ft diameter - 2827 square feet

Intended Use: LW-SHW Singles and Doubles

Theme: Helicopter landing pad

Floor Materials: painted steel

House Robots: In tournaments that allow house robots, this arena has two, Genghis and Colonel Mordread, which patrol the ring around the central hazard. However, CBC3 will not be employing them this time around.

Hazards and Features:
  • Immediate Ejection Device (1) - This enormous floor piston is located in the center of the arena and pops up beneath bots that drive over it, launching them high into the air and dealing moderate to heavy impact damage when they land in addition to potentially flipping them over.
  • Fall Away Walls - The arena walls are five feet high, meaning that only the strongest flippers can manage to flip opponents over them for the first two minutes of the match. However, at the 2:00 mark, they fall away, making OOTAs tantalizingly easy for the remainder of the fight.
  • Micro IEDs (32) - These small floor pistons ring the edges of the arena. For the first two minutes, they pop up under robots that drive over them, disrupting traction and dealing no to light damage. During the final minute, they pop up in advance of robots barreling over the edge, forcing drivers seeking an OOTA to employ at least some strategy. This hazard has been modified. There are now 64 Micro IEDs spaced about 2.5 feet apart.
  • Danger Zone (optional - 2) - The two concentric rings that are occasionally home to the house robots can be turned into floor spinners for fights without house robots. These only deal no to light damage, but they can disrupt traction and spin robots away.

Achievement: Don't Need No Special Rules! - Score an OOTA while the walls are still up.

The Fight Card

Below are the week's fights. RPs will be due on Saturday, June 1, at 11:59 PM EST. The RP limit for the group stage was 400 words, but it will be 500 for the duration of the playoffs. Remember to inform your opponent of configuration choices.

Lightweight

Middleweight

Heavyweight

Superheavyweight

Results

Lightweight

(1) Blood Eagle: 6-1 vs (4) Terpsichora: 6-1

Well, here it is: the match that a LOT of people have been waiting for. The number one seed and favourite, Blood Eagle, has been the ultimate villain for most of this season in establishing itself as a serious title threat. Standing in its way, however, is the four seed and former champion Terpsichora, which has moved from strength to strength in its quest for a second title. I'd say that this is the true final and that the winner here is a near-lock for the title, except that the other semifinal features Tidal Wave 2 against Shade Fist. Yep, this year's Lightweight bracket is just THAT strong.

It's a hot, windy day as two of ARC's top drivers take their places in the control booths. The Arabian sun beats down on the matte black surface of the arena. A gust swirls into Vertigo causing the long white robes of a handful of audience members to billow. Then, the buzzer sounds, and it's go time!

Both drivers seem to know what kind of fight this is, so neither makes an attempt to rush. There's only the sound of two deadly weapons getting up to speed. Then, Terpsichora's out of the gates! The vertical spinner hurtles forward, aimed squarely at its horizontal counterpart. Blood Eagle, its massive blade wailing, lurches out of its starting square as well, closing the distance at a slightly slower clip. The two of them approach, head to head, and... Blood Eagle floors it in reverse! HFL, in the middle of turning his bot in a slight hook to create a better angle for recoil, is caught out and Laz quickly throttles his bot forward. It's only an act of sheer reflexes that saves Terpsichora from taking a very bad hit but, now Blood Eagle is on the attack, lumbering forward with deadly intent.

KaBoom!

It's hard to tell exactly what happened, but both machines find themselves absolutely hurled apart. Terpsichora tips up on its side, nearly going over, but HFL seems to have cut the drum briefly so let it settle, and that does the trick. Meanwhile, Blood Eagle rebounds hard off of the lexan and lands right side up. The Team Instant Regret bot is on top of it immediately, as Laz backs away, trying to bring his weapon up to speed and... what's this? Terpsichora's weapon doesn't seem to be spinning! Was that HFL throttling it down before or... That wedge took some brutal damage in the opening exchange and it seems like a peeled-up piece is interfering with the drum.

Desperate, Terpsichora's able to close in on time to take the next impact at less that full power. Both bots are spun away, but the lack of vertical play in that last hit seems to have allowed Blood Eagle to retain a bit more control. Laz immediately has his bot reversing and spinning up and, this time, it looks like it's going to be ugly. Terpsichora makes contact with the fully up tae speed Blood Eagle and gets absolutely pummeled, with the bot and one side of its plow being thrown at least fifteen feet in separate directions. Blood Eagle flips onto its back and spins out of control, smacking into the Micro-IEDs and taking a pop from one.

The deathspinner is out for blood now, and comes in eagerly on the attack, spinning up as it goes. Terpsichora seems to be hanging back, though. Has it had enough? Is the drivetrain damaged? Wait, NO! That last hit removed the bit of warped wedge that was interfering with its weapon. It's buying itself time to spin up!

Laz realizes this a bit too late and the one seed takes a colossal hit, somersaulting end over end and rebounding from near the top of one of the walls. Terpsichora doesn't come out unscathed either, going over sideways with its weapon rebounding against the floor and popping it back over. HFL is quickly back on the attack, his bot hitting its opponent before that lethal blade is up to speed. Blood Eagle takes another punishing blow, crashing into the lexan which ripples under the force of the impact. It's definitely on the back foot now, but Terpsichora has little room for error with its entire front a shambles.

Laz is quick to back away, HFL closing the distance quickly. A low, rumbling hum reverberates through the arena. Blood Eagle's weapon isn't quite up to full speed, but it's close, and it's back in undercutter mode. HFL has to know that, so he tries to take the blow slightly off-center, on the good part of his wedge close to his blade, in the hope that Blood Eagle's weapon will skip upwards diagonally into his, but Laz executes a last-second turn and...

We have CARNAGE! Blood Eagle's weapon cleaves right through the lower part of Terpsichora's chassis, twisting bulkheads and baseplate alike as it flings its opponent away like so much scrap metal. A handful of batteries and bolts spill out and the former champion goes still. For its part, Blood Eagle skips along the floor, tipped up on one wheel and its weapon, and nearly hurls itself out of bounds as the walls fall away. Saved by a Micro-IED, it settles back onto both wheels and spins down as Terpsichora is counted out.

Result: Blood Eagle wins by KO at 2:09 and will fight for the championship!

(7) Shade Fist: 5-2 vs (6) Tidal Wave II: 5-2

We begin the fight with both drum spinner powering up their weapons and heading towards each other. There is an angling in attempt by Shade Fist but Tidal Wave counters and we already got our first big hit. TW gets thrown back while SF straight up flies away, landing the right way up. Both bots are ready for round 2 and here they go, this time the angling in worked and TW is the one that noticeably flies away the farthest and does not land the right way up. TW tries to self right using the gyro but Shade Fist is rapidly approaching so Hii decides to just turn in place and take a weapon to weapon hit while upside down, this results in a relatively big hit and obviously TW flies to the other side of the arena.

Tidal Wave 2 lands the right way up this time and both bots move to the center of the arena for round 4, TW takes this one home. Shade Fist lands and immediately rushes to the middle and then adjust to hit it's opponent. Hii didn't counter the angling in in time so he gets the short end of the stick. TW does not land the right way up and SF quickly gets a chain going, and by chain i mean he landed one more hit before TW landed in just the right position to screw him over. This doesn't stop the driver of the green red bot, he quickly recovers from the hit and charges again at Tidal Wave 2, landing a meh hit, then he chains another hit that throws it far enough for it to reach the wall.

Both bots carefully approach each other for round i don't even know anymore, soon enough we get the BIG HIT. The bots still function after landing? yes, but you can see that there is some loose stuff and thing don't quite work like they used to. Both drivers take a little break to self right their bots, asses damage and stuff. After that Shade Fist takes the initiative to get back to fighting and it successfully gets takes the next hit home. TW 2 uses gyro to self right before Shade Fist reaches it, like 2 seconds later we got another biggie hit. Both bots get thrown apart again and one of Shade Fists drive systems seems be dead now, not good in this fight.

After this TW2 fools around a little and charges for a attack and SF manages to turn just in time to get yet another big weapon to weapon hit. Both bots fly away, surprisingly both land the right way up. Tidal Wave 2's spinner doesn't seem to be spinning up again and that can mean big trouble for it, oh wait never mind, Shade Fist's spinner isn't moving either. OH NO WE GOT A CRIPPLE FIGHT!

The rest of the fight basically comes down to TW2 using it's still mostly functional drive to get a good angle to push SF, only for it to lack the power to actually, you know, actually push it.

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: Shade Fist 7, Tidal Wave 2 8
Aggression: Shade Fist 8, Tidal Wave 2 7
Control: Shade Fist 6, Tidal Wave 2 9

Your winner, by a 24-21 Judges’ Decision, is Tidal Wave 2!


Middleweight

(1) Carbonemys: 7-0 vs (5) Diablo Genesis III: 5-2

Let's keep this one short, alright? The turtle tries. It certainly does. Man, it squirms, hooks, stutters, and wriggles. It does everything in its power to give it the angle on Diablo Genesis, but this is like facing an Onix with your Pikachu without the sprinkler system going off, or like facing down a Cloyster with your Dragonite. The type disadvantage is so severe that you don't have much of a chance.

Drew's not dumb. He knows this and exploits it, raising DGIII's lifter/flipper/clamp/everythingundertheuniverse to block Carbonemys all fight long, stonewalling it pretty much from start to finish. There are a couple of dicey moments, to be sure. One of the Alpha Robotics machine's pontoons gets absolutely flattened, and its weapon jams in the raised position towards the end of the match, but ninety percent of this one is the turtle being shoved, clamped, and flipped though, to Alex's credit, he manages to avoid eating the ignominy of an OOTA in the final minute. The judges' decision is perfunctory. We all know who won. Thus falls the last of the middleweight undefeateds and the death weapons.

Aggression: 10-5 Diablo Genesis III
Damage: 10-5 Carbonemys
Control: 13-2 Diablo Genesis III

Result: Diablo Genesis III wins a 28-17 judges' decision and will fight for the title!

(7) I Suck at Names: 5-2 vs (3) Scion: 6-1

Both bots leave their squares pretty quickly, Scion making a swift flank which ISAN isn't able to punish, resulting in a swift scooping and slamming from Scion, getting popped free by the mini IEDs, though inverted. ISAN manages to self-right, but is swiftly scooped up once more. This time, the big IED gets a visit, throwing ISAN up and over once more. Scion is once again there to scoop up ISAN, though this time the falling bot manages to buzz the plow with the spinner, which had managed to get up a bit of speed whilst being shunted and thrown, though it doesn't seem to do much damage.

This continues for the majority of the match, Scion slamming ISAN into walls and throwing it over, until around the last half-minute, where a bounce off of the mini IEDs manages to get ISAN on its wheels, spinner revving, and getting a pretty hefty strike on the side of Scion's wedge, tossing it up and over with a meaty gash. Gabe isn't deterred, setting to work on another flank, actually getting up against ISAN's side, pushing the two somewhat flat surfaces against one another. The shove sticks ISAN into the mini IEDs again, as well as bouncing Scion up its side a bit. Scion is able to back off to reposition, shoving ISAN around the mini IED wall a bit until the final buzzer goes. Was that hit enough to sway the judges? Let's find out...

Damage: 12-3 I Suck At Names
Control: 11-4 Scion
Aggression: 10-5 Scion

Your winner, by a 24-21 decision, is Scion!


Heavyweight

(1) Chimera: 7-0 vs (4) Dreadnought Mk. 4: 6-1

Okay, honestly, this is crapshoot. We have two good bots and two... thorough strategies. Both counter each other a good amount. It's a tough, tactical battle, but it skews marginally in favour of Chimera in the early going. Gabe does get baited hard a couple of times, and eats a flip right out the gate that takes a while to recover from what with Alex's interference of his self-righting. Nonetheless, he's successfully able to impose his game plan of controlled chaos from that point forward. Dreadnought's efficient self-righting is put to the test more than once, including a particularly scary incident where Chimera is able to chain a couple of flips in a row, pinging the British entry off the top of the lexan and very nearly over. It comes a couple inches at most from overbalancing and plunging out. If you look at Alex in the control booth, you can literally see the sweat beading on his forehead. He lets out a great, heaving sigh of relief, puffing his cheeks out, when it tumbles down on the right side of the wall.

However, the two bots' next meeting goes a bit differently when Alex is able to anticipate Gabe's hooking maneuver and pull one of his own that grabs him the advantage. Chimera's a fast bot, but it's a little slow to start backing away and Dreadnought's able to dig a fair amount under to FLIP! Cue a fifteen-second montage of Dreadnought just harassing the shit out of Chimera as the American bot tries to self-right. It actually succeeds at least twice, only to end up back on its tenacious foe's wedge eating a follow-up attack.

Gabe begins to mix some baiting of his own into Chimera's routine, and he scores an off-angle flip on Dreadnought that punts if about six feet backwards instead of over. However, his attempt to carry that momentum is firmly noped as the Britflipper gets beneath in a rare head-to-head and overturns him. Cue another montage, only this one ends with Chimera squashed into a wall, flipper firing and wheels spinning furiously to get away as the countdown nears one minute.

With about two seconds left before the walls slide away, the referee forces Alex to release the pin. He can be heard muttering something about a 'bloody fast count'. Gabe's less worried about that and more worried about mounting some offense, and he manages to bait the baitmaster himself, following up with another flip that kicks Dreadnought backwards dangerously close to the mini IEDs. One even pops up in anticipation only to be disappointed. Surprisingly, despite his back being the one to the wall, Alex opts to go wedge-to-wedge with his onrushing opponent. He sure is putting a lot of faith in his wedge. And...no! Dreadnought reverse j-hooks away at the last second, and Chimera misfires, struggling to stop its own momentum. Gabe realizes his mistake and immediately floors it in reverse, but the Ice Cubed flagship is able to get its flipper underneath and up goes Chimera!

Dreadnought manages a kick of its own, sending Chimera into a mini IED and almost over the top, but Gabe did just enough reversing that it doesn't get enough bite to overturn the 4-bar. That wasn't quite as nerve-racking as Dreadnought's near miss int he opening minute, but it was close. The fight moves away from the edge of the arena after that, which seems to be of Gabe's design, though he still has trouble coralling the opposing flipper. Really, it's a case of both bots pulling so many tricky maneuvers that they don't meet head to head very often and, when they do, Dreadnought tends to win out. With the clock winding down, both go hell for leather on the aggression, trying for one last impressive flip or shock OOTA, but it doesn't come to pass, and this fight's going to the judges with 23-22 split decision written all over it. Man, I would not want to be them.

Judges' decision:

Aggression: Chimera 7 - 8 Dreadnought
Damage: Chimera 8 - 7 Dreadnought
Control: Chimera 7 - 8 Dreadnought

Your winner, by 23-22 split decision and moving onto its third grand final, Dreadnought Mark 4!!!

(2) Black Diamond: 7-0 vs (6) Coup de Grace: 5-2

We’ve got a rematch here. Black Diamond has beaten Coup de Grace in the group stage, but this is a different arena, with more space and less hazards, which Drew has claimed will work in his favor. Both teams are pretty confident going into this, and both have reason to be, with Black Diamond undefeated so far and Coup de Grace managing to defeat the otherwise-undefeated Compound Fracture in a close decision.

Black Diamond is the more aggressive at the start though, charging across the arena very quickly while Coup de Grace, uh... camps against the wall. Reminder: he’s fighting a flipper. In an arena with OOTAs all the way around. It’s just cruising along the wall a few feet from the mini-IEDs while Black Diamond sits there wondering what to make of it.

Finally Black Diamond darts in, going for Coup de Grace’s side. Coup immediately swivels to face it and fires, but Black Diamond seems to have been prepared for that and peels out in reverse. Coup’s hammer slams down just short of hitting Black Diamond’s wedge, and the force of the blow knocks the bot in the air. As it bounces down BD slides under it, slams it against the wall, and flips! It’s in too close for an OOTA, but Coup hits the wall near the top and it definitely reaches above the top of it! Consider that a warning shot!

Coup has the sense to not camp near the wall after that, but it’s still playing this fairly passively, waiting for Black Diamond to make the first move and turning to keep the hammer pointed more or less at it. Black Diamond’s able to bait out another misfire – no, I think the hammer did actually hit Black Diamond’s flipping plow, and put a bit of a dent in it, but again this gives it a change to come in while Coup de Grace’s off-balance and throw it onto its back. As it self-rights BD gets under its side and pushes it onto the floors spinners, but it gets twirled away before it can get shoved into the IED.

A few more exchanges, and Coup de Grace’s actually gotten a couple good hits in. Black Diamond’s hammer blocker is mostly doing its job: the top bar has some bents in the middle from catching the hammer, but it’s not enough to give Coup a clean shot at the chassis. The sides, though, are only supported at one end and one gets bent down pretty severely. That could be a weakness Coup de Grace could exploit later on! And we haven’t seen much of Black Diamond’s flipper lately, with it opting to push Coup de Grace into the mini-IEDs instead. Is the weapon still functional?

It’s almost two minutes in, but uh oh! Coup de Grace’s finally able to turn itself to slip the hammer past the damaged blocking bar and gets a nasty blow on Black Diamond’s top! That’s put a huge dent in it and I think actually torn the metal open! Black Diamond can NOT afford to take hits like that. And that seems to have rattled Alex’s nerves as well as his bot: he backs off, not coming within Coup de Grace’s hammer range. Drew, on the other hand, is emboldened, moving towards Black Diamond with menacing purpose. The walls are down, now... and Black Diamond charges! Coup de Grace smashes the hammer down, hitting the blocker with the arm just behind the head, but it’s high-center now. Black Diamond wedge it and gets a huge flip as Coup de Grace retracts, sending it skidding inverted almost into the mini-IEDs. They raise around it. Coup self-rights, but its side hits a mini-IED and it rolls onto its back again. It retracts the hammer, but Black Diamond’s on top of it now. Another self-righting attempt from Coup, but it’s wedged, and there’s another flip, sending it flying over the mini-IEDs and into the bronze medal match!

Your winner, by OOTA in 2:13 and moving on to the Heavyweight Grand Finals, is... Black Diamond!


Superheavyweight

(1) Triple 6: 7-0 vs (4) Santangelo: 6-1

This battle of opposing flipper philosophies begins with a bang. Both machines charge out of their starting squares and meet head to head and it's Triple 6 winning out. Santangelo starts backing off immediately, but the Team Stealth entry just manages to catch the tip of its wedge and flick it over. Unable to impart all of its force into is opponent, the devilish machine rocks backwards, nearly flipping itself. Laz quickly self-rights, but Triple 6 recovers a shade faster and is on its case again. A particularly meaty flip follows and Santangelo rebounds off of the lexan, having done a full 360. The Canadian machine quickly darts out of the way.

To his credit, Laz doesn't lose faith in his bot's wedge and, on the next head-to-head, manages to get under and flip Triple 6. It's not nearly as spectacular, but it does the job and forces Danielle to self-right. Santangelo is there in its path and, as the American entry settles onto its opponent's flipper, it's tipped to the side and doesn't seem able to gain any consistent traction. Laz plows it HARD into a wall, both bots eating a shot from the Micro-IEDs. Newly freed, Triple 6 jets away, Santangelo hot on its tail.

Danielle tries to reposition but gets caught before she can, and Triple 6 gets flipped up... but not quite over. Its opponent really doesn't have much oomph in that flipper. A second effort comes in moments later, though, and Laz gets it right this time, forcing the one seed to waste more gas self-righting. The moment that it settles, however, Santangelo is on top of it again, pushing and flipping. Triple 6 was able to back away enough that time to avoid being flapjacked, and Danielle opts for another head-to-head.

...or DOES she?

Just before impact, Triple 6 veers off abruptly at a ninety degree angle and tires to hook around into the onrushing Santangelo's rear. Already a bit past her bot, Laz is able to reverse hook away and present his front in the nick of time, however, and his machine's better wedge wins out yet again. Triple 6 gets flipped. Triple 6 self-rights. Triple 6 escapes Santangelo's wedge as Laz is trying to get it high-centered again.

The Team Stealth entry opts for a different strategy, making a beeline for the danger zones and... she's on them, using them to confuse her opponent's driving, forcing Laz to adjust, and... he kind of just lets her 'ride the merry-go-round', keeping a slight distance and keeping his bot's front pointed at the rings. When Triple 6 finally charges off with something like an angle, he just points his flipper at it and... he actually gets outwedged! I mean, it had nothing to do with using the rings, but this is a rare wedge win for Triple 6 and...

Santangelo's backed off before Danielle can pull the trigger. She keeps charging forward, however, and now it's Laz' turn to do the same. The Tartarus Robotics entry gets under and Triple 6 gets flipped. The walls fall as it self-rights, with Santangelo digging beneath it before it settles and taking it towards the central IED before it bucks loose with a mighty flip.

Most of the final minute is spent towards the center of the arena, in cagey and inconclusive action. It's a bit of a downer ending to a fight that almost everybody thought would end with one of these bots in the safety netting. Instead, we're going to the judges.

Aggression: 8-7 Santangelo
Damage: 8-7 Triple 6
Control: 10-5 Santangelo

Result: Santangelo wins a 25-20 judges' decision and will fight for the title!

(7) Hartmann's Youkai Bot: 5-2 vs (3) Final Boss: 6-1

Lame fights don't deserve long writeups, so this ain't getting much. The first two minutes consist of Final Boss being very much not bosslike by turning tail and running headlong from its opponent, avoiding all contact. Hartmann's Youkai Bot does its best to engage, lumbering after the cowardly flipper, but isn't able to catch it.

Instead, we're treated to two minutes of utter futility, punctuated by the boos of the crowd and a terrifying death hum coming from HYB's weapon. Hearing that thing, I almost can't blame Josh for running. Anyways, fast forward to when the walls fall away, and Final Boss immediately goes from matador to bull, charging full-tilt into its opponent's weapon, creating a slight angle at the last second. The two machines are flung apart violently, withthe mangled remains of one of Final Boss' hinged skirts separating and somersaulting out of the arena. Josh guns his slightly damaged machine forwardin an attempt to stuff the deadly spinner before it can reach murder speed, and is only about half successful. HYB, at near-full power, dishes out another massive hit, but eats a flip this time for its troubles. Unfortunately for the veteran, it's not easy to flip into a whirling undercutter, and the result is not the OOTA that Josh had to have been hoping for.

Its flipepr slightly bent but still functional, Final Boss charges in again, and HYB, having settled surprisingly quickly, makes no bones about running, figurative tail between figurative legs, in order to spin up. Final Boss is still able to catch it, however, and that's a BIG flip! The Team Blood Gulch machine loses its other frontal skirt and its flipper does NOT look good, but the spinner gets flung clean over, its blade skipping across the floor, sending it completely out of control. With less than ten seconds remaining in the fight, Josh mashes the controls and his venerable machine hurtles forward for a final flipping attempt. With enough wheels back on the ground and its weapon going again, HYB attempts to matador out of the way, but Final boss catches it cleanly and...

It's OUT! Hartmann's Youkai Bot pops off of the top of the IEDs and...wait a second. It's hung up on them, one wheel dangling out of bounds, two in, and the other frantically spinning. Final Boss is lying there towards the center of the arena, its flipper mangled almost beyond recognition and its front bulkheads exposed, but it creeps forward a bit as the deadly undercutter slips over the edge of the arena and the buzzer sounds.

The crowd erupts in shouting and loud discussion. The referee, judges, and other officials confer. Josh insists that HYB went out. Tri insists that the buzzer had already sounded. A couple of tense minutes pass as they review video footage. It appears that the Cool Story Brobotics machine lost contact with the arena floor about two seconds AFTER the buzzer sounded, so we're going to the a judges' decision after all.

Aggression: 9-6 Hartmann's Youkai Bot
Damage: 10-5 Hartmann's Youkai Bot
Control: 10-5 Final Boss

Result: Hartmann's Youkai Bot wins a 24-21 judges decision and will fight for the title!


It's down to the wire now, so RP hard, best of luck, and see you on the other side!
Mastodon... Extinction (HW)
Osiris... Armageddon! (MW)
Elrathia... ROBOTS (LW)
Magnolia Pico... Ruination 4 (MW)
RipTide... ROBOT2 (FW)
Black Diamond... Cherry Bomb Classic 3 (HW)
MADSCIENCE... ROBOTS 3 (LW)
Abyss... ROBOTS 3 (MW)


The Monsterworks: 214-57 (.790) ...Probably up to no good.
Cherry Bomb Classic IV: 25-4
Finishing Move: 6-2
Magnolia Pico: 6-1
Magnolia Grande: 6-1
Glacier III: 7-0
ROBOTS 3: 21-6
Sixpounder: 3-4
MADSCIENCE: 9-1 Champion!
Abyss: 9-1 Champion!

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The Monsterworks
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Team: The Monsterworks

Re: The Cherry Bomb Classic III: Fight Cards, Brackets, and Writing Assignments

Post by The Monsterworks » Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:51 pm

The Championship

Then there were two.

If you've made it this far, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate you. You're truly part of elite company. Out of the twenty-one machines that started out on this journey seventeen weeks ago, only two remain in each weight class. This week, they fight atop the treacherous helipad of the Burj Al-Arab, and everything is on the line. For some this is their first time at the big dance. For others, it's a long-awaited comeback or a chance to fulfill a long-held dream. Finally, there are those who look to make their mark on ARC history and solidify their place among the greats. What better way to do that than to be the one to lift the CBC Bowl of Cherries at the end of it all? As promised, our trophy is ready, and it's a beauty.

Image

Wanna see more?
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Imagine your bot's name engraved right here

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Of course, the Bowl of Cherries isn't the only accolade available to be won this week. Those bots that... did not perform quite as expected have a title of their own... of sorts, to fight for. That's right, Shitbot Showdowns are back! Check them out below. While those should be a lot of fun, we know you're here for the big dance so, for the final time this year, take a look at the arena and best of luck. It's championship robot fightin' time!!

Vertigo


Vertigo by Floating Castle Robotics on Sketchfab

Name: Vertigo

Location: Dubai, UAE

Layout: Circular

Size: 60 ft diameter - 2827 square feet

Intended Use: LW-SHW Singles and Doubles

Theme: Helicopter landing pad

Floor Materials: painted steel

House Robots: In tournaments that allow house robots, this arena has two, Genghis and Colonel Mordread, which patrol the ring around the central hazard. However, CBC3 will not be employing them this time around.

Hazards and Features:
  • Immediate Ejection Device (1) - This enormous floor piston is located in the center of the arena and pops up beneath bots that drive over it, launching them high into the air and dealing moderate to heavy impact damage when they land in addition to potentially flipping them over.
  • Fall Away Walls - The arena walls are five feet high, meaning that only the strongest flippers can manage to flip opponents over them for the first two minutes of the match. However, at the 2:00 mark, they fall away, making OOTAs tantalizingly easy for the remainder of the fight.
  • Micro IEDs (32) - These small floor pistons ring the edges of the arena. For the first two minutes, they pop up under robots that drive over them, disrupting traction and dealing no to light damage. During the final minute, they pop up in advance of robots barreling over the edge, forcing drivers seeking an OOTA to employ at least some strategy. This hazard has been modified. There are now 64 Micro IEDs spaced about 2.5 feet apart.
  • Danger Zone (optional - 2) - The two concentric rings that are occasionally home to the house robots can be turned into floor spinners for fights without house robots. These only deal no to light damage, but they can disrupt traction and spin robots away.

Achievement: Don't Need No Special Rules! - Score an OOTA while the walls are still up.

The Fight Card

Below are the week's fights. RPs will be due on Saturday, June 8, at 11:59 PM EST. The RP limit for the group stage was 400 words, but it will be 500 for the duration of the playoffs. Remember to inform your opponent of configuration choices.

Lightweight

Middleweight

Heavyweight

Superheavyweight

Results

Lightweight

Championship: (1) Blood Eagle: 7-1 vs (6) Tidal Wave 2: 6-2

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, it's time to get these grand finals started! First up, we have our lightweights in an all-Canadian matchup. Starting in the green square is the one seed: Tartarus' terrifying undercutter, Blood Eagle. In a long tradition of Laz bots upsetting the apple cart, it has blazed through the group stage and playoffs alike, the vanguard of a new wave of terrifying undercutters. Its opponent, in the purple square, is Team 57's veteran machine Tidal Wave 2, consistently one of the game's best vertical spinners and a perennial title contender. Hii has been denied at the final hurdle with this machine before, so nothing would be sweeter for him than the vindication of a title.

The buzzer sounds and both bots are off...slowly. Spinners need time for their weapons to reach full speed, after all. Something seems to be a bit... off about Tidal Wave, though. It's hard to place, but... Wait a minute? Has Hii opted to start upside down? What crazy gambit is this? Laz definitely looks concerned in the other control booth. Both weapons will get a lot less engagement this way, and anything that prolongs this fight favours Tidal Wave. Then there's the matter of his undercutting bar. Something that long is fairly elastic for what it is, but there's still a very real danger that it gets warped enough that it hits the floor before it can take out Tidal Wave's weapon.

Both knowing that a lot is on the line, the drivers line their bots up and charge in. It's still a forceful clash of weapons, and the tro of them are thrown apart, Blood Eagle's weapon hitting the floor and hurling it backwards, while Tidal Wave nearly pops itself over. Yet, both weapons are still running. Hii tries to take advantage of his opponent's struggle to recover, but he doesn't have quite enough of a speed edge, and Laz is able to throw Blood Eagle into reverse and buy himself time to spin up. The weapons meet a second time and... Something just flew off!!

A second impact launches the Tartarus Robotics machine, but also its opponent. While Blood Eagle hurtles into the lexan with sickening force, Tidal Wave tumbles away and lands upright, with a chunk torn out of one of its support arms. The massive undercutter again struggles to get under control and its blade has started throwing up sparks from the floor, but Tidal Wave's drum is making some nasty noises, and a thin wisp of smoke wafts out from its chassis. With his bot back upright and most of his plan scuppered, Hii knows that he has no choice but to attempt a rush.

He's partially successful. Blood Eagle isn't quite at full speed when they meet. The massive spinner gets tossed away like so much scrap, its fearsome weapon hitting the floor once again and causing it to do all manner of gyroscopic acrobatics. Tidal Wave gets hit hard as well, though. One of the drum supports is torn open and warped and, even as Hii mashes the controller and his bot sallies forth bravely once more, its weapon grinds to a halt. Tidal Wave is able to reach its opponent once more before it's at full MURDER speed, and the big undercutting blade seems to be struggling a little bit, but that's still another powerful blow tanked by the Team 57 machine's drum.

And... the drum is no more. That hit seems to have ripped it clean out of its mountings! The twenty-pound hunk of metal smashes into the bulletproof glass and the entire arena wall ripples from the impact. Speaking of the walls, they're about to fall, and Blood Eagle is quick to get away from them, just in case. Tidal Wave, meanwhile, is still limping along, but without its weapon, this is really just a matter of delivering the coup de grace. Laz leans over with a wicked grin and asks, "One more?" Hii's not giving up just yet, though. He's proven his driving credentials beyond a shadow of a doubt in this fight, and he does so some more, luring Blood Eagle into a dangerous game with the hazards that has Laz hesitant to engage.

Finally, with about twenty seconds remaining in this improbable match, one side of Tidal Wave's drive gives out and that leaves Blood Eagle the opening that it's been looking for. The impact is colossal, with Blood Eagle spinning out and smacking its weapon into the floor repeatedly until something inside of it goes and the massive blade falls silent. Things are much worse for its opponent, however. The final blow sprays batteries, panels, and a wheel across the arena and over the edge. Once piece is even big enough to activate a Micro-IED, which pops up just a split second too late in a final salute to the valiant Tidal Wave 2.

Result: Your winner, by KO at 2:58, and Cherry Bomb Classic 3 Lightweight champion is... Blood Eagle!

Shitshow: Killjoy II vs Twin Typhoons


Middleweight

Championship: (3) Scion: 7-1 vs (5) Diablo Genesis III: 6-2

In the red square, If it were a constellation, it would be called "The Big Flipper"! You're gonna see stars, it's Diablo Genesis III!
In the blue square, this bot's like a mob boss. It'll smash you into kapeashes. He's no good fella, so you better not flip, because he will never, ever forget about it. Scion!

Both bots get rolling quickly, DG3 angling itself as the two get closer, but Scion slows, drifts a little and scoots right under DG3's wedge, pulling it up and shunting it into the wall, leaving the cheese-wedge pointed skyward. The micro IEDs bounce the two bots apart, DG3 able to get back on its wheels and pressure back in, this time outwedging and throwing Scion over. Gabe takes a quick diversion to the IEDs before going back on the offensive, charging in and sliding under again, popping DG3 up with the mini IEDs again. DG self-rights and briefly escapes before getting wedged from the side, slammed with enough force to pass the IEDs and bounce off the outside wall, briefly leaving it beached. As the half-way point of the match approaches, W0lf gets free but seems to be a bit slow leaving the IEDs as Scion approaches again. DG3 then slides back a bit, a careful nudge shoving Scion up and over on the mini IEDs. Gabe escapes, but he's losing momentum in this match, as DG3 throws it up and over again, bullying the smaller bot around the ring, as the walls fall away. Scion, stuck upside down, moves over towards the main IED, as DG3 closes in and manages to catch it, throwing it clean into the air, chaining a second flip on it as it lands, tossing it against the extended IEDs. Scion squirrels away before W0lf can follow up, but it's fully on the back foot now, spending the remainder of the match running away as DG3 continues closing in. DG3 is only able to get in one more launch, right in the last moments of the match, leaving Scion right side up as the final buzzer goes.

Damage: 8-7 Diablo Genesis III
Control: 8-7 Diablo Genesis III
Aggression: 9-6 Diablo Genesis III

Your winner, by a 25-20 decision, and your Cherry Bomb Classic III Middleweight Champion, is Diablo Genesis III!

Shitshow: JEVIL vs (6) Psychosis


Heavyweight

Championship: (2) Black Diamond: 8-0 vs (4) Dreadnought Mark 4: 7-1

Ladies and Gentlemen... it’s time for the Cherry Bomb Classic 3 Heavyweight Final! In the green square, we have the Number 2 Seed, Black Diamond, a new machine from the veteran Monster Works team! And in the purple square, we have the famous front-hinged britflipper and Number 4 Seed, Dreadnought MK4! Both bots’ journeys here have been almost flawless. Black Diamond is currently undefeated at 8-0. Dreadnought’s record isn’t quite as impressive at 7-1, but in the semifinals it got revenge on the only bot to beat it this tournament, Chimera. Who has what it takes to win the trophy? Let’s find out in 3... 2... 1... FIGHT!

Both bots waste no time in getting stuck in. Dreadnought’s slightly the slower, at 19 mph top speed vs 20, but initially seizes the initiative, trying to get under Black Diamond’s corner. It’s attack’s foiled by Black Diamond’s anti-wedge forks though. Black Diamond seems a little surprised by the direct attack right off the bat, but Dreadnought’s driven itself so far up the wedge it’s front’s riding over the hammer blocker, and while it’s able to get traction it isn’t able to back away before Black Diamond fires its flipper. Dreadnought’s sent flying, but it’s a full 720-degree backflip – or at least a bit past 630 – and it lands back on its wheels and scuttles away. It’s back on the attack quickly though, and Black Diamond is briefly put on the defensive as its flipper retracts.

Neither bot’s interested in giving up an inch, though. Black Diamond jerks sideways a little and is able to trick Dreadnought into exposing its corner, but it isn’t quick enough to capitalize on getting under it and the sleek black block of cheese slips away. And after a bit of what I’m sure is some very strategic driving but basically looks like two robots playing the “I’m Not Touching You” game, Dreadnought’s actually able to take advantage of a small wheelies from Black Diamond and get under it. It’s not an optimal amount of bit for Dreadnought’s front-hinged flipper, but the British machine wastes no time in demonstrating it’s enough to make Black Diamond wipe out! It get sent skidding backwards across the arena on its top, but fires the flipper before it can even come to a stop and somersaults back onto its wheels? Uhh, we tech those? But Dreadnought can techchase! Before BD can retract its flipper Dreadnought scoops it up again, probably forcing its own flipper down faster by pushing against it. Ooh, and BD just got away there, twirling like it’s dismounting a rail, but Dreadnought’s going straight after it! Alex (V) wants that heavyweight title, and he wants it badly!

This is a very good, very tense battle so far – and there’s another huge flip from Black Diamond, and for the first time Dreadnought’s inverted! It quickly self-rights, but nearly does a 270, and Black Diamond wedges it again from the side. I’m not too sure if Dreadnought can get traction from that angle. And Black Diamond’s going for the wall, it’s ready to end it – but the flip’s not quite enough! Dreadnought lands inverted, self-rights, but onto the mini-IED! It gets its rear end popped in the air, but stays upright and zips away.

So far this is an absolute back and forth flipping frenzy. Dreadnought’s mostly been keeping a respectful distance from the walls, but gets Black Diamond into them and tosses it kind of on its side against the wall. BD tries to self-right, throwing itself wildly into the air, but comes down on a mini-IED just as it comes up and gets overturned again. It tries to scoot away inverted, but Dreadnought’s there waiting for it. After a few seconds Black Diamond’s back up again though, and makes Dreadnought look like it’s on a halfpipe! I think that one might’ve been a 900 with a twist at the end as Dreadnought ends up on its side with the flipper propped open after trying to self-right as it skids onto the floor spinner. Can it even get back up from there – yes it can, never mind, and it vaults straight over the top of Black Diamond. And a little later Dreadnought gets under BD’s corner and before Alex (M) can get away he finds himself thrust onto the central IED!

Black Diamond goes flying, and bails hard on the landing, crashing down on its side. Dreadnought meanwhile crashes into the raised piston, and lemme tell you unlike lift poles that thing doesn’t have padding! Dreadnought’s wedge doesn’t seem to be damaged, though, but Black Diamond’s left wheel looks like it might be a little wobbly now.

And the walls are down! Both bots are now OOTA-capable if they’ve saved enough gas. Black Diamond’s made Dreadnought use more flips I think, and it’s starting from a bigger margin on OOTA-capability, but its flips have been losing a little power as the fight draws on. There’s one now – no, that’s definitely higher than the mini-IEDs, shame it wasn’t really close to the wall. And shame it was another 360 for Dreadnought. It self-rights, but onto BD’s raised flipper and gets rolled onto its back again. Now, Black Diamond goes for the long shove of destiny... and Dreadnought fires its flipper again, getting back on its wheels. Black Diamond frantically goes after it, trying not to lose the initiative. It gets under, but Dreadnought backs away – and there’s a missed flip from Black Diamond! It doesn’t flip itself over, but it wheelies high in the air and Dreadnought easily gets under it. Dreadnought pushes towards the wall as well, but at an angle, and sends BD skidding onto its back again. It pursues it, and gets it up against the mini-IEDs. There’s the flip from Dreadnought, but no joy, with BD being boxed in too close to the wall. It ends up upright with one wheel caught between the mini-IEDs, but after a couple seconds gets away from there.

A couple more flips are exchanged, and both bots are definitely low on power now, with Black Diamond barely managing to self-right in the last few seconds of the match, but both have hung on the full three minutes. What a final! The judges will have to figure this one out!

Judges’ Decision:

Damage: Dreadnought 9, Black Diamond 6
Aggression: Dreadnought 6, Black Diamond 9
Control: Dreadnought 6, Black Diamond 9

And the results are in... your winner, by a unanimous decision, but the closest a unanimous decision can get at 24-21, is... Black Diamond! We have our heavyweight champion!

Shitshow: Shadow Mk. 5 vs Necroblade


Superheavyweight

Championship: (4) Santangelo: 7-1 vs (7) Hartmann's Youkai Bot: 6-2

Wellcome to the typical ARC final from the Cherry Bomb Classic III tournament, this time from the Super Heavy Weight division. In the Brick square we have Santangelo, currently sitting at 7-1, only getting beaten by the drum spinner Fenrir. On the Spinner square we have Hartmann's Youkai Bot II, currently sitting at 6-2 and is, in fact, the only bot from it's group to have fought a bot from outside it, that single bot being the very same Fenrir that defeated Santangelo. It defeated Fenrir so that means that HYB will easily win this fight right, right?

We begin our last grand final with Santangelo rushing in and HYB positioning itself carefully close to the floor spinners while obviously spinning up. Soon enough we get our first hit and a quite big hit too, Santangelo gets noticeably thrown back and one of it's forks as now gone, meanwhile the spinner got thrown far and landed in a clear sector of the arena, not on the other side of it but still far from any wall, hazard or brick.

Immediately after Laz guns his bot forwards while Tri reverses farther away to get more spin up time but it isn't quite enough as quickly Santangelo reaches HYB and adjusts itself a little before tanking the next, not as big, hit that doesn't do much to the brick other than shaking it but it does launch the spinner towards the wall. Notice the use of the word 'the' as the arena is a circle so you can't really define sides to it's edges.

Anyways Laz does what any driver with a brick does when fighting a spinner and charges at his opponent, reaching it before it builds any real power, so instead of the bots getting thrown apart HYB rides up the wedge with it's weapon scraping against it. This works for a few seconds but HYB manages to make contact with it's wheels and rides off the wedge.

This lets it spin up a little before the next kinda big impact that lands right where the missing fork was. BUT it doesn't throw the spinner far away so Santangelo reaches it again before the spinner gets any speed and gets the wedge under it again. Laz lets the spinner scrap against his wedge to make it lose some speed before firing the flipper. Turns out that the disk still had some speed then as not only did the gyro stop the bot from getting turned over but HYB also landed with the disk first, so when it made contact with the floor it threw the bot far away and it kept moving by the power of the spinner until the gyro was beaten and the wheels touched the floor. Lucky bastard!

After getting noped out of his plans, Laz charges at his opponent as that is the only thing he really can do, both bots adjust their angle and positioning carefully to adjust for the hit and they actually miss each other! What? Both driver laugh as they just messed up on both sides before getting back into action. The robots turn around and re-adjust for their next hit before Laz moves to seal the deal. And like that we got another BIG HIT, Cool Story Brobotics's entry flies fast and crashes into the wall in mid air, landing close to it. Meanwhile on team brick it looks like there is another fork missing, in the opposite side of the one that got ripped previously, it's almost like he is spreading the damage.

After this Santangelo does the only thing it knows, charge forward at the spiny thing. It reaches the spiny thing before it gets to any significant power so it's a small hit that gently tosses both bots back. Then Laz guns his bot forwards and Tri guns his own drive in reverse to get away from the brick, heading towards the middle of the arena.Obviously Santangelo catches up rather soon and we get a similar hit to the last one. Another chase like that happens next but this time Tri managed to get to the middle and use the floor spinners to throw off Santangelo to gain more time.

During that succession of events the walls fell, meaning that we are getting close to the end of the fight. Anyways Laz shrugs his mistake and goes for another charge, Tri gets his disk to full speed and adjust his positioning to prepare for impact and... Ladies and gents we got another really big hit. The last fork on Santangelo's wedge in gone too, that wedge is looking pretty beaten up by now. On the other hand Hartmann's Youkai Bot II flies again, hitting the wall while airborne again and oh wait no, the walls already fell! lets read that again. On the other hand Hartmann's Youkai Bot II flies again, heading rapidly towards the edge of the arena. So fast that the micro IED it found wasn't fast enough to stop it, instead it bumps HYB up a bit. Meaning that nothing stops HYB from flying straight out of the arena!

And like that, your winner and champion of the Cherry Bomb Classic III tournament, in the Super Heavy Weight division is, by OOTA in 2:18, Santangelo!

Shitshow: OverCleaver vs KEGATRON


Before we close up shop here, I'd like to remind everybody who participated to remember to fill out this form if you haven't already done so and to have your say in our upcoming awards voting. With that said, I'd like to thank everybody who took part, and especially those of you who stepped up to write, render, or help with organizational matters. It was a pleasure and an honour to serve as your event organizer and I look forward to seeing you all back next year. Now, there's only one thing left to do: I officially declare the Cherry Bomb Classic III complete!


Mastodon... Extinction (HW)
Osiris... Armageddon! (MW)
Elrathia... ROBOTS (LW)
Magnolia Pico... Ruination 4 (MW)
RipTide... ROBOT2 (FW)
Black Diamond... Cherry Bomb Classic 3 (HW)
MADSCIENCE... ROBOTS 3 (LW)
Abyss... ROBOTS 3 (MW)


The Monsterworks: 214-57 (.790) ...Probably up to no good.
Cherry Bomb Classic IV: 25-4
Finishing Move: 6-2
Magnolia Pico: 6-1
Magnolia Grande: 6-1
Glacier III: 7-0
ROBOTS 3: 21-6
Sixpounder: 3-4
MADSCIENCE: 9-1 Champion!
Abyss: 9-1 Champion!

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