Fourth heat? Who would have thought I'd make it that far? Certainly not me. :P Anyway, Let's get to it!

Heat D
Eliminator 1
Paralyzation 2 (7) vs. Sideswipe

----
From Vancouver, Canada, seeded number 7...Paralyzation 2!
T'will be interesting to see how fast the venom in the 7th seed will act here.

Melissa: Hmm, very nice machine, as I've said before.
Samuel: Thank you.
Melissa: And what are you going to do out there?
Samuel: Destroy things? Yeah that sounds about right.
Melissa: Not daunted by anyone else?
Samuel: Not in the least bit.
Melissa: Confident are we...well good luck out there.

Nasty weaponry, the 19kg drum achieving a maximum of 5000RPM...not much else to say about it, however. 4mm Hardox armour on a low box chassis shape (with new side spikes! Shocker!), LEM130s which propel it to 15mph and a relatively low ground clearance, but the drum won't work as well inverted, and as with all invertible robots its mobility is exposed from the top.

C&B1: Didn't compete.
C&B2: Didn't compete.
C&B3: Made the 2nd round of the Semi-Finals, but that's as far as it got: 3rd-seed Nitro-Gene 5.0 flung it over the fence after only 24 seconds had gone by.

From Hoogvliet, Holland...Sideswipe!
You'll always be under this robot's wheels if you don't take care. Or worse...that spinning bar...

Melissa: Ooh hoo hoo hoo...now THAT is a nice machine.
Leo: *nods* The main body's made of T6-aluminium, and the top plating is made of special 5mm bisalloy chrome steel.
Melissa: And the weapon?
Leo: That's my little secret. It'll do some good damage I hope.
Melissa: And how do you feel about fighting a seeded machine?
Leo: Like I do about fighting any other robot, just go out there and do what we can.
Melissa: Mm-hmm, well give 'em hell.

Steel and aluminium spell out the armourment, the weapon of secret material, or so says team captain Leo van Miert, gives out nearly 15kJ so that's not too bad. Magmotors power the 2WD and help it achieve top speeds of around 20mph, but the ground clearance is a bit comfortable for flippers to get under, and the srimech seems unreliable.

C&B1: Didn't compete.
C&B2: Didn't compete.
C&B3: Didn't compete.

Roboteers, stand by...

House robots: you want 'em, we got 'em...wait, you don't want them? Well too bad for you, because Exa-Gore-Ic Evo and Rorschach are here for their arena playtime!

3...
2...
1...
ACTIVATE!

So Samuel is looking to justify his 7th seed spot...we'll see! Paralyzation 2 turns to the side and moves about; Samuel is looking to avoid the front of Leo's machine, but Leo's tactic? Keep the front of Sideswipe pointed at the 7th seed! Whose tactic will work? So far it seems to be Leo's tactic; the wide stance, top speed, and torque are helping Sideswipe turn efficiently and quickly, even with the weapon in between. Paralyzation can't keep running around in circles and so backs off...Sideswipe pursues immediately. But the seeded machine backs all the way across the arena, turns and just misses Sideswipe, but again can't seem to turn and attack faster than Sideswipe can! Even so, Samuel fears that weapon of Sideswipe's and keeps at his tactic, not that it's doing much good, for as vigilant as Samuel is being about avoiding Sideswipe's spinner, Sideswipe isn't letting Paralyzation by at all! Finally, Sideswipe moves forwards, seeing Paralyzation pause for a second, and the drumbot can't move away quick enough, meaning we get our first big hit of the heat!

CRASH!!!

And what a hit it is, ladies and gentlemen! For 15kJ, that sure had a lot of force behind it; it's sent the 7th seed spinning back into the wall! Lucky for Samuel, Paralyzation didn't hit the wall drum-first; that would very well have been catastrophic! But Sideswipe's coming in again for another blow, so Samuel better get outta there! And so he does, but Sideswipe's after it! Knowing full well that Sideswipe by now is faster than his machine, Samuel sees no other option but to turn around and meet his opponent head-on...but even that brave attempt is thwarted! Why, you ask?

CRASH!!!

Because Sideswipe was coming in too fast for Samuel to turn his machine about properly, and so again Sideswipe's hit the side of Paralyzation, sending it into -

CRASH!

- the wall, drum-first! Oh dear! And such a hit has sent Paralyzation into the air under its own force, splatting down inverted with a THUNK! But hey, lookie here! Paralyzation, with a nifty little spin, shows that all is well in Team Coldstorm-land. So...a wall hit is not quite as catastrophic as we had thought: Samuel should be thankful that he shock-mounted all his components or else he would have likely knocked himself out on the wall! But the drum isn't going to be as useful upside-down, and to make matters worse, in comes a bloodthirsty Sideswipe again to deal another blow! Samuel tries to turn his machine about again, but...

CRASH!!!

Crikey! A rapid series of blows indeed, all of them having smashed Paralyzation into an arena wall! Not that the blows from Sideswipe's spinner have really done much external damage by themselves; Paralyzation's Hardox armour is holding up really well against these assaults, and just as well as the innards, too...but how long will it be until it all finally caves in? And strong though its armour and chassis are, Paralyzation's lack of aggression is certainly not helping Samuel in terms of points: he's losing them at jet speed! That won't do you well in if the judges' decision happens, Mr. Park! Eager to start controlling the match a little more, Samuel gets his robot off the wall and away from it in a hurry as Sideswipe spins its weapon up, but as Leo turns and attacks again, Paralyzation has its drum spun back up, and decides to confront Sideswipe head on! That's just fine with Leo!

CRASH!!!!

OUCH!!! Massive collision alert!!! Both robots go for a tumble! Sideswipe cuts through the air a bit, thankfully landing on its wheels but uh oh...the spinner appears to be bent a bit...but strangely enough, it is still spinning! Even so, Leo's a bit worried. Paralyzation's spun away again, but no damage seems to be given to the drum; the weight advantage in the weapon seems to have given Samuel the better of the blow! There's little waste of time now on Samuel's part as Paralyzation moves back in; not waiting for either his or his opponent's weapons to spin up Samuel rams his machine into Leo's with almost unparalleled force! Instead of a great CRASH, we get a rather noisy WHAM from immobile weapons thudding together, and Paralyzation's greater drive kicks in: he pushes Sideswipe across the arena! Leo tries to push back but no go! And right into the wall goes Sideswipe, the rear of the newcomer forced into it, and the 7th seed simply holds him there. Right, uh...neither of you are scoring any points by just sitting there like ducks in a row, lads. Eventually Paralyzation releases his opponent...then drives into him again a second later as Sideswipe was about to go around him! The result is that Paralyzation pushes Sideswipe over one of the arena spikes, which pops out as Sideswipe goes over it, and inverts him instantly! Now that is a shocker...Sideswipe's 'srimech' barely helps him right himself when it's spinning. How will it help him self-right when it's NOT spinning? I think we already know the answer to that; it doesn't look as though Leo can right his machine at all and that...would classify as being knocked out! Samuel, after getting over the shock of having quite successfully used an arena hazard to win the match, leaves his fallen opponent lying inverted near the spike and heads his robot to the middle of the arena to spin about in a victory dance, as The Watcher moves in to count out another brave but defeated soul. Terrible luck, Leo!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

CEASE!

Sideswipe leaves no stone overturned, yet Leo is still flipped out of the running!
Paralyzation 2 (7) advances to Round 2!

Next battle: Novastorm vs. Harraz

(seeing as neither will likely give me tactics, I'll write the battle soon :P)