Vlad the Impaler II vs. Spitfire
Vlad the Impaler II vs. Spitfire
The judges say: 27-18 victory for Spitfire
The fans say: 31-14 victory for Spitfire
Scott: I'm almost tempted to score Aggression 4-1. Spitfire's attacks were much more frequent and severe than Vlad's. Especially near the end, when Vlad appeared to lose its desire to fight. What the hey; I will score Aggression 4-1 in favor of Spitfire. I think it deserves it.
I saw no damage. I didn't even see much superficial damage. But I did see Spitfire flip and lift Vlad more often than Vlad lifted Spitfire. Getting bounced around more means more implied damage to Vlad, which gives Spitfire the slight edge.
Vlad's strategy seemed to be simply to get the lifting plate under Spitfire, then lift. Spitfire's strategy seemed to be to get the lifting arm under Vlad, then lift. But Spitfire did something that really impressed me. On three separate occasions during the course of the fight, I saw Spitfire deliberately go around Vlad to get under its vulnerable backside. That extra bit of strategy, successfully carried out, gives Spitfire the edge in this category, too. Congratulations are in order for Spitfire -- good fight.
Shin: Oh my god, a Vlad-bot NOT seeming to be the superior aggressor over his opponent? Yeeup, hell hath froze over indeed. That just bewilders me beyond imagination. Not like Vlad II was wussing out or anything. And in fact, I was convinced he HAD the aggression points until like, maybe halfway into the fight. Then all of a sudden, Vlad II was getting flipped, sometimes from Spitfire, other times his aggression backfiring against him WITH Spitfire's assistance, and then Vlad II suddenly wasn't as all-over-the-place as he or his brothers normally would be. I guess something DID go wrong, huh? It's just not Gage to lose out on something like aggression. Regardless of it, Spitfire really made a spectacle of himself AND Vlad II by shoving him around the walls and such. Boy, this is just...weird. A Vlad not having an upper hand in aggression. Between this and seeing wheels from Ziggo being cut off, I'm about torn to shreds with all these impossibilities becoming, um...possible.
Damage was, well...nothing much obvious. The big indicator that showed Spitfire had the upper hand was, well...for one, he was the one flipping Vlad II all over creation. Two, after all that, Vlad II was not quite..driving to his normal 100% perfection. Then count a little hazard damage, most of it done to Vlad II...and basically...it all comes down to the fact that Spitfire dominated here.
Is it me, or are the strategies from Vlad, Vlad II, and Vladiator just...consistently...similar? They just...seem that way. Lately they seem to be backfiring. Like Vladiator, Vlad II is actually suffering from his own head-on attacks. Spitfire was the one doing the flipping~ on accident, on purpose, no matter how it was done...Vlad II was getting flipped. And muchly. That's all I can say, really.
Xrayspex: While both these bots were fast and maneuverable, Spitfire was the faster and more maneuverable of the two. I thought this really worked against the normally agressive Vlad II because it allowed Spitfire to position itself better for attacks. This caused Vlad II to spend a lot of time on the defensive, avoiding the hits and trying not to be pushed to the hazards. I give Spitfire a 3-2 advantage in aggression points.
Vlad II took a lot hazard damage. Vlad II got hit and popped alot by Spitfire. Even worse, Vlad II's drivetrain broke, which caused serious maneuverability problems near the end of the match. I'd award all the damage points to Spitfire except that Spitfire did visit the hazards a couple times and Vlad II did get a couple good hits in. 4-1 damage points to Spitfire.
It appeared that Vlad II's strategy was to hit Spitfire alot, lift with the lifting plate, and probably push to some hazards. Vlad II was not able to really implement this strategy because Spitfire never really allowed Vlad II to position itself properly for such a thing. Spitfire's strategy seemed to be relentless hits on Vlad II, lifts, flips, and pushing Vlad II into the hazards. Spitfire executed these strategies quite well, and partially disabled Vlad II as well. I give 4-1 advantage to Spitfire in strategy points.
The judges say: 33-12 victory for T-Minus
The fans say: 38-7 victory for T-Minus
Shin: As sweet as TriDent's self-right is...um...it sure didn't...help him too much. In fact, it made him more vulnerable because it's so damn slow. But seeing T-Minus eeeevily flip him into the killsaws as he's self-righting is just too wonderful. Flips were abundant here. TriDent only had a couple of significant shoves over T-Minus, meanwhile T-Minus was making an utter bitch out of TriDent. Especially in the end. Quuiiiite humiliating. It's like Complete Control's brand of EVIL!
So, damage was also more on the side of TriDent. Getting flipped and hitting the killsaws at the same time...ow. Then driving over those same killsaws...not to mention getting flipped god-knows-how-many times! T-Minus...uh...drove over some killsaws...got hit by the pulverizer once, and...that was it. Didn't even affect T-Minus enough to prevent him from flipping TriDent against the wall.
Strategy, well...TriDent, what little strategy it seemed to show, was a Pushbot's. And, well...is that thing even a pushbot? T-Minus and his "Flip-Until-I've-Humiliated-My-Opponent-Enough-And-Rest-Back-In-My-Square" strategy worked quite well here, and was a brilliant show for us all. TriDent didn't have a chance, that it did not. That's about it, no need to blather about other useless details...
Will: I never thought I'd ever see T-Minus in a fight that didn't end in a KO of some sort. Oh well, down to business.
TriDent seemed to be absolutely bewildered during most of this fight. TriDent was not very aggressive during this fight, mainly driving around rather aimlessly and getting maybe one or two hits in. T-Minus moved in when he could and flipped again and again, only moving away to either chase down his victim or to position for another flip. TriDent gets a point for the one time he got T-Minus into the pulverizer.
Damage is methodical - T-Minus's flips didn't damage TriDent much, and TriDent didn't damage T-Minus much (except by running it into the pulverizer). However, there is one glaring detail that causes T-Minus to sweep this category - the two wires protruding from TriDent. A red and a black wire indicate they go to something important, like a battery or a motor. It was more than likely a battery, because TriDent seemed to have full range of motion, but was slightly slower than before. TriDent's one major show of aggression resulted in some very light damage on T-Minus that is rather insignificant compared to the wires.
Strategy is a dead giveaway. Flip, flip, for goodness' sake, flip again! That was T-Minus's game plan. They were aware that they probably would not have gotten a KO (I didn't really think so, either - Coolrobots robots are very solid), but still put on a good show. I give TriDent a point because he did manage to get control of T-Minus just once, though that was not nearly enough.
Xrayspex: T-Minus really just dominated this match for me. Aggression was the closest category. TriDent did initiate some good solid hits on T-Minus, and did get T-Minus up on the lifting arm once. Also it appeared that a couple hits/flips were caused by stupid moves on TriDent's part rather than aggression on T-Minus' part. That said, T-Minus was still the aggressor in this fight, getting lots of good hits and flips of its own. 3-2 advantage for T-Minus.
While neither bot seemed able to actually damage each other with any weapon of their own, TriDent spent a lot of time on the hazards, especially the saws. T-Minus took a hammer hit and saw hit and that was about it. 4-1 damage for T-Minus.
Strategy. I have no clue what TriDent's strategy was. One would think it would be to get T-Minus spiked or lifted with the lifting arm, but it seemed that TriDent spent an extraordinary amount of time righting itself, and while it was righting, it was a total sitting duck for T-Minus to come over to flip it. And it seemed that when TriDent was not righting itself, it was driving itself into the saws, which, at least to me, is a really bad strategy. All strategy points awarded to T-Minus.