So my earlier assumption that it would be a ‘best out of three’ fight was mistaken. They stuck with the simple ‘one and done’ match, but held it two times. as Suidobashi brought up the fact that as the challenge was originally made with the MK II, now named Iron Glory, they still wanted to pit the Kuratas against that bot. It was only fair.
Iron Glory was upgraded with some additional safety measures, such as replaced cockpit panels and proper seating, and was shipped to Japan alongside Eagle Prime. The first match was Iron Glory VS Kuratas, as was originally envisioned two years ago. Additionally, each mech would be piloted by their original inventors, Matt and Gui in the Iron Glory, and Kogoro inside his Kuratas.
Kuratas was finally fully shown, with its upgrades as well. The rear legs have indeed been replaced with a rather hefty 87-horsepower tractor motor and rugged wheels, allowing it to speed up to 18 miles per hour. Its left arm had also been replaced, with a half-ton all-steel clawed fist, for the singular purpose of punching things. Together, these upgrades increased the Kuratas’ base weight to 6.5 tons from its earlier 4 ton rating. Iron Glory weighed in at 6 tons straight, making the bots rough equals, though the American mech’s engine was at a much lower 24 horsepower, crawling along at just 2.5 miles per hour.
Match One happened quickly as a result. At the horn’s blow, Kuratas built up speed, and ran right for Iron Glory. The latter attempted to get off a few shots, but a misfire in the barrel ruined the firing. At the last second, Kuratas pivoted its torso and brought the fist to bear, landing a punch with enough strength to knock Iron Glory flat on its back. The first fight ended with Japan as the victor.
The Good and the Bad, Match One: Both of these bots were evenly matched in terms of weight, but power plant was obviously a huge mismatch, and while the MK II was made for ranged combat, the KR01 had undergone changes specifically to maximize melee ability. As a result, Kuratas managed to outclass Iron Glory when it came to speed and strength.
The video was cut together, but there was at the very least, a day’s worth of repairs on Kuratas before Match Two began, against the newer and bigger MK III, Eagle Prime. Right from the outset it was obvious there was going to be trouble for Kuratas, as Eagle Prime weighed TWICE as much, at 12 tons, and is powered by a monster 430 Horsepower engine. That and actual dedicated algorithm development had simplified movement of all the mech’s extremities, allowing it to maneuver and position its body much more easily.
Match Two began with Kuratas opting to take shelter behind one of the obstacles laid out on the field. Eagle Prime brought its cannon to bear and whittled away the pile of barrels, landing a couple of hits on Kurata’s legs (though with no ‘point’ system in play, it didn’t appear to count for much.) Kuratas then launched a surprise, in the form of a drone from its back. It hovered over Eagle Prime, who managed to swat it out of the air, only for the drone to land on its cockpit and begin discharging smoke. Whether this was intentional or one of the drone’s batteries simply going up, the result was the same, as Matt’s vision was clouded. Kuratas then began to emerge, clearly going for the full-speed punch again, but Gui sighted the movement on the monitor. Eagle Prime pushed a car over from another field obstacle, blocking Kuratas’ path and causing them to pause for a bit before closing again. This time there was no momentum behind the punch when they finally met, and the two bots wrestled a bit, with Eagle Prime grabbing the iron fist in its claw, and using the cannon as a battering ram against the front legs. And then, the bots became stuck.
The match was paused, as the referee saw them struggling to untangle, and pushed the button on a portable E-Stop that they were carrying, causing both of the competing robots to shut down at the same time. The decision was made to disentangle the bots, repair them, and then reset Match Two to be taken from the top.
The Good and the Bad, Match Two Take 1: Eagle Prime vastly outranked Kuratas in weight, strength, and speed. The one downside that Eagle Prime has is its sheer size and bulkiness, making maneuvering through the field obstacles they had set up somewhat tricky. The Drone that Kuratas released was something different, and there was no rule banning them to start with. It did its job in either case. Bots getting stuck together is another issue that will have to be addressed for future matches.
Another day or so was taken for repairs on both bots. In this timeframe also, the MegaBots team decided to make a weapon swap on Eagle Prime, removing the cannons, for a 4-foot-long Rock-biting Chainsaw.
When the horn sounded signalling the retake of Match Two, Kuratas decided to switch roles, as it lifted its right arm and then began unloading a rapid-fire stream of paintball rounds at Eagle Prime. Supposedly to gum up additional cameras on the American mech’s body. To counter this, Eagle Prime decided on an unusual tactic, by picking up a lighting strut in its right claw and then holding it out in front of itself, spinning at a relatively high speed as a makeshift shield until Kuratas stopped firing. It then dropped the strut and closed in rapidly, grabbing the iron fist again and proceeding to engage in a shoving match. The chainsaw activated at this time, and began shredding into Kuratas’ right arm, tearing open the paintball machine gun. The Japanese mech did not have the horsepower to hold its ground, and so it was shoved to the far side of the battleground... where the commentators had set up shop. It was pushed backwards into their desk as the two commentators fled, and Eagle Prime applied more chainsaw damage, until Kuratas shorted out and became unoperable. At that instant the Referee hit the E-Stop again, and called the match in favor of Team MegaBots.
The Good and the Bad, Match Two Take 2: This is where the majority of the current complaints of the fight about it being staged and fake come in. The lighting strut being used as a shield, and the shoving match into the commentator’s desk, felt stilted to a lot of viewers. The lighting strut bit was almost certainly for show, scripted or not. The last bit with the commentator’s stand, if it WAS scripted, was undoubtedly to add a touch of drama to the match, but if so, the execution has hurt their chances more than it helped.
At battle’s end, Matt, Gui, and Kogoro all emerged and shook hands. The last interview at the end showed Gui stating that it was time to go ahead and develop a sport’s league, to get together some basic rules, and weight classes. This tumblr’s hope is that, moving forward, rules and weight classes will help make sure that bots squared against each other will be on level playing grounds, and not be quite so one-sided as these first battles have turned out to be.
In a Reddit AUA held the day before the stream, MegaBots revealed that they have had additional teams coming forth to them. Two of them we already know of, as Greatmetal and their Monkey King, and Jizhan Robotics’ Dawei, both from China. In addition to these, there is also one in India, two in Australia, and potentially two more in Russia. This tumblr will be keeping an eye out for these teams, and will be profiling their bots as well, when the time finally comes.
In the meantime, let us hope that more giant robot duels will be coming our way, and soon!
