Friday, May 7, 2021

Number 22 - Rotator



Rotator is a double horizontal spinner, but in many of its fights, it's gone with one. Whether it's the top or bottom, disc or bar, it all depends on the opponent. Rotator has been around for the last four seasons, making it to the quarterfinals in season 3. It is one of about half a dozen robots to have beaten Tombstone in modern Battlebots, as seen above. Rotator debuted in season 2, suffering the fastest knockout of the qualifying round to returning quarterfinalist Witch Doctor. It won an exhibition rumble after the season, however, dominating Splatter and Disk O' Inferno. In season 3, Rotator lost its opening match to Petunia but won three straight (including one against Skorpios) to make it to the top 16 as the 11th seed. It stared down the devastating horizontal spinner Icewave, which was having its best season ever. Rotator completely dominated Icewave, chopping off the top half of the robot, but fell to eventual champion Bite Force in the quarterfinals. After the season, it was awarded the Most Destructive Robot award. In season 4, Rotator lost a close decision to SawBlaze to kick things off, but After this, Rotator faced season 2 runner up Bombshell, ending the fight with one hit. Rotator then battled Tombstone and knocked it out in spectacular fashion. At 2-1, Rotator was selected to face Death Roll in a main event. Rotator was thrashed, but it made it the distance. At 2-2, Rotator was no longer an automatic bid into the top 16, and it had to beat Blacksmith to get there. Blacksmith beat Rotator in a judges' decision, but whether it was right or not is a matter of anyone's opinion. Rotator was eliminated from the tournament. In season 5, Rotator started off on the wrong foot, losing its two first matches to two very tough opponents, Beta and Valkyrie. In season 5, there were three qualifying fights, and Rotator won its third over Big Dill to improve to 1-2 and earn the 22nd seed in the round of 32. Its next opponent was a deadly vertical spinner, JackPot. Rotator took out JackPot for its second knockout of the season and took on fellow vertical spinner End Game in the round of 16. End Game won by a judges' decision, but some Rotator fans complained about it. All in all, Rotator has lost some very close judges' decisions, first to SawBlaze, then to Blacksmith, Beta, and End Game. Seeing as how it lost all four of those decisions, Rotator stands at 9-9 (.500) with five knockouts. How many other robots have taken out Skorpios, Icewave, Bombshell, Tombstone, and JackPot (none)? 

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