Heat 8 - Round 2 Battle 2 - Archangel of the Abyss (31) v Megalodon Maneater

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Activate!

And were off! With both of machines far more cumbersome than the 2 from our previous battle theres no wonder that we see a far slower start this time around, and its Archangel of the Abyss, nippy for a walker at 12mph, who immediately starts bobbling around the arena on its parsley cutter like legs, whilst Megalodon Maneater tries to catch it. The wedge gets to the lower ring before Alexs Machine has got up to speed too quickly, but he still finds himself being spun away with the 4mm Hardox taking a small swipe. Alex tries to turn away but with manouvreability being the main issue for this particular walker, its not long before Megalodon Maneater is hot on his tails again, again sliding underneath with the wedge, and again being knocked away with a couple of scratches to the wedge. Rich curses his luck as he cant get close enough to get a good grip, whilst Alex curses his luck that his top ring isnt low enough to take a good swipe at oncoming wedges.

Rich is persistent though and before long, once again hes driving Megalodon Maneater into Archangel of the Abyss again, and yet again hes sent spinning away by the half sped up shell. Whilst Archangel has been the better controlled and more damaging machine so far, Megalodon Maneater has been by far th emore aggressive, yet it seems at this point in time like it wont be easy for either machine to mount an overly meaningful attack on the other. Rich briefly spins around to show the back of his machine to Archangel of the Abyss, seemingly trying to provoke Archangel into making a charge but Alex isnt falling for it and so happily scuttles back on his way. This differing tactic has given Archangel of the Abyss the chance to get his bottom shell up to its full 2500 revolutions per minute speed though, and Rich curses his luck, knowing that his attempt to swing the fight in his favour has actually given Alex an opening.

Alex turns his machine to face his foe, and then stops, seemingly baiting Megalodon Maneater into making a move. Rich is just as hesitant though, and seems to be contemplating the best plan of action. He moves in closer, but this just inspires Alex to trun slightly, changing direction minimally, but throwing Rich off course. A similar manouvre, with Megalodon Maneater sheepishly edging closer, provokes exactly the same reaction with Alex just making slight adjustments to his bearings. Finally Rich makes a bolder move to come in, but Alex gets his machine going fowards and the change in angle becomes clear, as he manages to tear into the bottom side corner of the wedge, a small gouge and some bent metal on the edge of the 4mm hardox armour, showing just how much potential is in those rings. Richs robot has spun away, and is just regaining control, when a scuttlign Archangel catchs up with him and slams into him again, this time at the rear. A scratch to the paint and a couple of nuts and bolts follow but nothing more than superficial.

The previous attack has sent Megalodon Maneater spinning into a wall, and losing its bearings. Archangel sees his chance to try and grab total control of the fight and comes in again, slamming the other side panel. Again more paint flakes and a couple of bolts as Archangel of the Abyss manages to damage his foe, but not seriously. The last impact sends both machines spinning into the wall, but this actually aids Rich as his robot is stopped spinning by an angle grinder and he immediately charges at Archangel of the Abyss, pinning him on the wedge and blocking him in with another angle grinder. The crusher comes down for the first time in the fight and immediately crumples through the 25mm polycarbonate on the top, cracking straight through it as if it was nothing more than a sheet of tin foil. Megalodon Maneater then performs some Razer-esque showmanship, lifting the arm up and taking Archangel with it, displaying him to the crowd before pushing it back down again. He jams his back against the wide wall before lifting the arm again, this time releasing his prey, knowing that he was never going to be able to get him to the pit before the anti-pinning rule came into play.

He exploits the rules though by backing him into the sidewall meaning that the only route out is straight back onto the wedge. Archangel however realises that he can exploit that and revs up the shells before driving straight up the wedge, and smashing straight into the ram of the hydraulic crusher. Immediately hydraulic fluid or some such liquid seems to be dripping from somewhere as Archangel of The Abyss falls off the side of the wedge and onto his back through the impact. As he uses the arm to self-right, Megalodon Maneater manages to catch him again on the wedge but when he tries to move the crucher down, the hydraulics system just wont respond, seemingly leaving the Maneater as a vegetarian anarexic. Knowing that being a pushbot is now his only shot Megalodon Maneater tries to turn and edge the 150kg machine towards the pit but instead Archangel of the Abyss just revs up the shell again and drives back into the claw, again throwing himself off but this time onto his wheels.

With the crusher bust and a wedge his foes only weapon Archangel of the Abyss decides to go for broke and charges along the side of his sluggish opponent, shearing a gash into the 4mm hardox as the shell gets up to full speed. Megalodon Maneater barely has time to turn before hes coming back the other way and shearing at the same side panel again, this time an entire side panel coming off as Archangel manages to pull the main strengthening bolts away. With time running out Megalodon Maneater knows that hed rather brave a judges decision than need an entire rebuild and so just starts spinning away from Archangel, keepign the wedge facing under all circumstances, and point blank refusing to show him the now exposed mechanics down the left hand side. Archangel manages to get one more attack in, gently denting the wedge, but this is all the time there is in the right, as the Refbot counts down to the end and the fight comes to a climax.

CEASE

Over to the judges

Damage - Archangel caused vastly more superficial damage but a judges report shows that 1 of Archangels 4 drive motors was damaged by a crushing attack

AotA - 6/10 * 5 - 30
MM - 4/10 * 5 - 20

Aggression - Both machines seemed equally aggressive, Megalodon more at the start of the fight, Archangel more towards the end

AotA - 5/10 * 4 - 20
MM - 5/10 * 4 - 20

Style - Megalodons showmanry tips it slightly in his favour, though Archangels graceful self-righting swings it back to almost even

Aota - 4/10 * 3 - 12
MM - 6/10 * 3 - 18

Control - Megalodon Maneater was the better controlled for most of the fight, but the panic caused by Archngel towards the end swings it back a little.

AotA - 4/10 * 2 - 8
MM - 6/10 * 2 - 12

Dominance - Megalodon Maneater was never really on top of Archangel whereas Archangel was definitely on top at the end

AotA - 7/10 * 1 - 7
MM - 3/10 * 1 - 3

Totals -

AotA - 77
MM - 73

So there you have it, a much closer decision than people wouldve thought but it goes nonetheless to Archangel of the Abyss!

And so the heat final

Archangel of the Abyss (31) v NSBFR-X

Thoughts, Tactics, Predictions, semi-skimmed milk?