I was talking about the consolidation of the Battlebots meta into boxy 4-wheel vertical spinning machines because it just works, but vertical spinners aren’t necessarily the enemy here. There are still powerful and effective bots that are vertical spinners but have unique designs.
For example, the vertical spinner isn’t always a disk. Sometimes it’s a drum.
What’s a drum spinner? Basically what if you took the disk and expandong.
Boom, it’s a spiked cylinder now. The drum has had some good results and I’m honestly not sure what their fatal design flaw is based on my armchair observations. I think what it has over the disk though is surface area.
One of the higher praised drums in Minotaur, the Brazilian Bull.
(Unrelated but the Brazilian teams are some of my favorite teams? Minotaur and Black Dragon are some of the best bots to watch. And have you ever seen the Brazilians celebrate? They are the best celebrators in the goddamn game, I love those guys.)
Minotaur also has Daniel Freitas as its driver who is very skilled but also has an incredibly intense personality. Strong but silent, until he wins or loses. Then he strong and very loud.
Also got a great drive, basically even in the weapon is out the Brazilian bull can usually push its enemies around.
Other notable drums are Yeti and Copperhead. Copperhead has been a highlight, an absolute beast these days. Yeti hasn’t been around for a bit but they did alright.
But Copperhead is an absolute beast. Durable and has an amazing bite to it, as in its powerful drum sends enemies flying.
Copperhead was able to completely tear apart and beat the highly decorated, EndGame (Winner of a Giant Nut and 2 Golden Bolts).
See how Copperhead eats up Rotator
And completely separated Gigabyte’s body from its shell. You never see that happen to full body spinners!
And as you can see unlike some of its peers, Copperhead and Minotaur are two wheelers. Which obviously has its advantages and disadvantages. You probably need less wheels to make room for your big heavy drum (Battlebots has a 250lbs weight limit for bots) Which is a common theme amongst drum spinners.
Speaking of two wheels, let me talk about the worst version of a drum spinner imaginable.
This?
Is Axe Backwards. And no, despite its abysmal results(1 win 10 losses), it doesn’t have that name because its design is Ass Backwards. Though it is also that.
Axe Backwards has all the flaws of a Full Body Spinner (a style I’ll talk about in another post) and none of the benefits of being a drum.
So, first key flaw is the wheels. This is also a flaw copper head has which is having exposed wheels, but Axe Backwards’s wheels are so much more exposed and doesn’t have armor or a front weapon to protect them.
Next flaw is that the body is the weapon. Which means that even if they impact and damage the opponent they risk ruining all the internals as well.
Third: The thing is so unwieldy. You basically never see it spin up to speed and it has the impact of a pool noodle. And it always seems to have drive issues
I will say that aesthetically, Axe Backwards is what I look for in my Battlebots: Color, Gimmick, On-Theme. It has axes in its design that are also used for balance and as a secondary weapon and it’s got bright pink and green to contrast the rest of the body.
But yeah, Drum Spinners are some of the strongest weapons you have in the battle box. Typically strong performances, usually built durably,
As long as you’re not Axe Backwards.
