电闪 雷鸣 (translated as Thunder and Lightning) is a multibot from Shenzhen, China, which competed in the first season of King of Bots, and Season 1.5, the debut of This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5).
Entered by a father-and-son team, it won its first battle in King of Bots by defeating fellow multibot Steel God of War on a split decision. Thunder and Lightning's campaign was more comfortable in the following two rounds, immobilizing the Japanese multibot Ninja General before winning a unanimous Judges' decision over Saber. In the fourth round, Thunder and Lightning defeated Greedy Snake to reach the semi-finals, where it lost to British entry Spectre via knockout. It ultimately finished fourth overall in Season 1, after both halves sustained heavy damage - including an internal fire for Lightning - in the playoff against American full-body spinner Megabyte.
In This is Fighting Robots, Thunder and Lighting was not initially selected by any celebrities to advance to the main competition, despite surviving to the end of its preliminary rumble. However, Wu Chun later chose Thunder and Lightning to fill the last place on the Red team. Thunder and Lightning survived to a Judges' decision in their first battle of the main competition, but defeated Ninja in a head-to-head battle, with one half of the clusterbot being driven by Wu Chun. It was eventually eliminated in a four-way rumble won by Tungsten, but Thunder and Lightning emerged victorious in the Eight-robot Rumble, which also contained robots it had lost to previously, such as Megabyte and Spectre.
Design
Thunder and Lightning were identical multibots (or clusterbots), and as such they were equally weighted, with the same advantages and disadvantages, the only discernible difference between the two robots being their color-schemes, with one half being painted red, and the other blue. The removable link covers on each machine used the color of the other half of the robot. The two halves were invertible, with two slightly exposed wheels at the back end of both robots. The robots were both armed with vertical spinning discs, with a great deal of power behind their attacks - the low weight of the weapons also allowed them to boast a reported spinning speed of 15,000rpm. Feeder wedges were also present at the front of the robots, to lead opponents into the spinning discs.
The red half of the robot (driven by the son) was named Thunder, and the blue half (driven by the father) was named Lightning[1].
For the playoff against Megabyte, Lightning was repainted gray and extensively rebuilt, exchanging its disc for a shallow wedge and its side/rear armor panels for tubular columns.
In Season 1.5, Thunder and Lightning used new green/turquoise and orange colors, alongside additional artwork on top. Both robots now featured interchangeable vertical discs and front wedges, with the green/turquoise half also being armed with a bar spinner in turntable shots and promotional images. However, both parts of Thunder and Lightning still used the vertical discs in their first fight.
Robot History
King of Bots (Season 1)
The two-part multibot Thunder and Lightning faced the three-part multibot Steel God of War in the first round. Initially, neither Thunder nor Lightning moved from their starting positions, and one of Steel God of War's wedges ran straight into the disc of Lightning, and was thrown over. Steel God of War's drum spinner approached Thunder, but Thunder had the lower wedge, and buckled the wedge of its opponent, then slammed it upwards, while Lightning focused on a wedge robot. However, Thunder failed to escape, and a wedge drove under its back end to drive it towards a Grinder, where Thunder was held briefly. When freed, Thunder was also suspended by the Floor Rods briefly.
Lightning was also damaged by the arena saws, but managed to launch a brutal attack on a Steel God of War wedge, throwing it high into the air and over, before grinding at its wedge. Lightning was then able to push both static wedges at once, driving them both towards the Grinder, but Lightning instead drove straight into it, and was knocked away in recoil. Lightning attempted to gyro-dance using the power of its spinner in order to self-right, but was stopped by its wedges, as it wobbled onto a floor flipper, and would not be righted until it danced into the Grinder, sustaining damage in the process. Lightning struggled to drive away, and turned itself back over again, before Steel God of War pushed it straight back into the Grinder.
It had become evident that Lightning had lost the use of one wheel, but Thunder recovered by throwing a wedge of Steel God of War over, also chasing the main body of the machine across the arena. Thunder was pushed from behind by Steel God of War, and used gyroscopic procession to turn itself over, and it was pinned against the wall while Lightning was also pushed back into the Grinder before time expired on a very close match. Although the Judges were not unanimous in their decision, a 2-1 split decision put Thunder and Lightning through to the next round, with the backing of Ian Lewis.
- Ian Lewis: "Damage for 'blue' was very good. It was very strong."
- Fellow Judge: "So for the control, I think for the whole fight, 'blue' controlled the two bots, kept fighting, working with each other, but I don't think the 'three-one' [Steel God of War] worked very... teammates. So control, I think 'blue' is better."
- — The Judges praise the teamwork of Thunder and Lightning
In the second round, Ninja General fought another multibot, Ninja General, resulting in five robots battling at once again. Ninja General was tenative at first, and held back in the red square without purpose. After reaching its top speed, Lightning drove straight into the red robot of Ninja General, and rammed it into the wall. It was then flipped over by Lightning's disc, while Thunder ripped into the golden part of Ninja General. With the red robot immobile, Lightning smashed the yellow Ninja General into the disc of Thunder, bending its frame while leaving a gash in the side. The robot could now only move backwards, so while the blue component of Ninja General attempted to attack Thunder, it was Lightning which pushed the yellow machine into the arena wall, where it did not escape. With 66% of Ninja General immobile, the robot was counted out, and eliminated from the competition.
In the third round, Thunder and Lightning fought Saber, their first opponent to not be a multibot. Thunder and Lightning used their usual tactic of remaining stationary to power up their spinners, but Saber slammed into Thunder and turned it over with a charge. Lightning retaliated by hitting Saber's back plate with its disc, before proceeding to hug the side of Saber, limiting its movement. A big hit from Lightning threw Saber up into the air, and caused part of its top armor to break loose, only staying on via a rear hinge. Saber backed into the wall, while Thunder attempted to use gyro-dancing to right itself, albeit without success, as Thunder became stuck on its left-hand side. While Thunder continued to attack the side of Saber, the larger machine was careful to avoid putting Thunder back on its wheels. Lightning drove into Thunder, but did not succeed in righting its partner, while Saber intentionally remained close to the stranded multibot to keep it immobile. Through its own gyro-dance, Lightning flipped itself over to collide with Thunder, but again did not knock it down until it finally drove into its partner and revived it.
Saber missed a flip, and Lightning struck its wedge, causing damage. Lightning then drove into the Grinder, while Thunder again attempted to gyro-dance back onto its wheels. Lightning then delivered a direct blow to the side of Saber, creating a visible tear. With an aggressive charge, Saber turned Thunder back onto its neutral position. Saber missed its next flip, and neither robot attacked each other for a period, with Saber driving over the floor rods, and Thunder eventually landing a small hit. After Lightning also drove over the rods, it struck the front wedge panel of Saber and damaged it, pushing the heavyweight robot across the arena. Saber also drove into the Grinder while trying to lead Lightning into it. Thunder briefly stopped moving, but Lightning was able to rip off Saber's loose wedge panel entirely.
Saber focused its efforts on the more active Lightning, while Thunder remained passive, and Saber rammed Lightning into the wall. Thunder managed a small attack, driving under the wedge of Saber, but without causing damage. Saber fought Lightning atop the flame jets, but Thunder asserted itself at the right moment to rip away Saber's other front wedge panel, leaving it with only the flipper at the front. Thunder started to dominate, hitting Saber's back end before driving under its front, while Saber's balance was too upset for it to drive under Thunder properly. Towards the end of the battle, Thunder hit the back of Saber, and Lightning attacked the side one more time, finishing with a big hit to Saber's front. The battle went to a Judges' decision, while Thunder and Lightning celebrated with a coordinated gyro-dance. The decision was unanimously awarded to Thunder and Lightning.
Within the top eight, Thunder and Lightning were originally intended to face Rust Boar. However, after Rust Boar withdrew due to the mounting for its drum spinner sustaining damage, it was replaced with Greedy Snake, which fought Thunder and Lightning for a place in the semi-finals.
Greedy Snake initially drove beyond Thunder, and rammed into Lightning, with the smokescreen also being activated in the faces of Thunder and Lightning's team. Greedy Snake then edged Thunder backwards, and overturned Lightning with a powerful drive. Lightning quickly self-righted through gyro-dancing, but landed in the grip of Greedy Snake. Lightning was able to free, and delivered a direct blow to Greedy Snake's lifter, throwing it up. Greedy Snake drove into the front of Lightning again, swiftly turning it over, but Lightning righted itself within seconds. While trying to attack Greedy Snake, Thunder was deflected into the air by Greedy Snake's shape, and on its next attack, Greedy Snake rammed Thunder into the corner of the arena, stranding it on its side.
Thunder was a considerable distance from its partner, and so it was left idle while Lightning fought Greedy Snake alone, and the lighter robot was cast into the air. While Greedy Snake attempted to grab Lightning with its weaponry, the multibot landed a decisive blow, and ripped away one of Greedy Snake's forks using its discs. Greedy Snake was still able to hound Lightning into the wall, but Lightning used the entire arena to flee, and eventually draw Greedy Snake onto the floor flipper, where both robots were turned over together. While Lightning landed perfectly on its side, Greedy Snake was stuck on its side, and Lightning pressured it to prevent Greedy Snake from self-righting effectively. Lightning then left Greedy Snake idle as it struggled to self-right, and rescued the stranded Thunder before Greedy Snake was counted out, and the win by knockout was awarded to Thunder and Lightning.
Thunder and Lightning had advanced to the semi-finals, where it fought the final remaining representative of the United Kingdom, Spectre. Straight away, Lightning was targeted by Spectre, which pursued the blue machine across the arena while Thunder proceeded to give chase itself. With Team Spectre realizing that the multibots had swapped drivers, Spectre drove into and pushed Thunder around in circles, before scooping up, clamping and ramming it into the wall – however, Thunder’s disc tore the teeth of Spectre’s crusher off, reducing the crusher’s effectiveness. Lightning, meanwhile, had retreated towards another wall, but was left unable to drive properly as Spectre pushed Thunder into its own spinner. Spectre let go of Thunder and reversed, leaving the Chinese multibots to slowly negotiate towards the red square. Lightning proceeded to slam head-on into Spectre, its disc momentarily throwing the British machine off the floor. However, Spectre landed on all four wheels, chasing Lightning across the arena again before grabbling and slamming Thunder into the wall spikes once more. The impact dislodged Thunder’s left wheel, immobilizing it on one side.
With this, Lightning was left to fight Spectre alone. It was soon grabbed and driven into the grinders by Spectre, whose attacks were sufficient to occasionally throw Lightning off-balance and leave it immobilized on one side. Thunder, still attempting to maneuver across the arena on one wheel, met Spectre once more – Spectre clamped and pushed it into the nearby grinder, which threw Thunder over and left it completely immobilized. Both parts of Thunder and Lightning were counted out as Spectre drove slowly away and raised its srimech several times in celebration.
Thunder and Lightning could still compete in a third place playoff, where it fought the American full-body spinner, Megabyte. Prior to this battle, Lightning underwent a comprehensive rebuild, sporting a gray color scheme, a shallow front wedge in place of its disc and its side and rear armor completely replaced with tubular columns. Meanwhile, Megabyte’s shell was exchanged for one featuring cut-outs and polycarbonate top panels, with John Mladenik and his teammates initially unaware of the modifications carried out to Thunder and Lightning.
In the opening seconds, the heavily-modified Lightning drove into and scooped Megabyte up with its wedge, the momentum in its attack causing Megabyte to skitter into the wall. Sparks flew as the American robot’s cutters hit the wall, causing Megabyte itself to rebound across the arena towards Thunder. Thunder hesitated as Megabyte got its shell up to full speed again, before ripping its left wheel and motor out with a powerful side-on attack. Lightning subsequently took several hits from Megabyte's spinner, which repeatedly launched and sent it spinning across the arena. Megabyte then hit Thunder again, sending it spinning into the grinder. By this point, Lightning began encountering control issues which again prevented it from driving in a straight line – Megabyte capitalized on this by weaving around, then hitting the left-hand side of Lightning one last time. The impact threw Lightning into the center grinder mount, immobilizing and causing it to catch fire within seconds. With the motors and wires for its left wheel hanging out of the robot, Thunder weaved itself across the arena in an attempt to show signs of mobility, but this was not enough to prevent Thunder and Lightning from being counted out as a whole. Defeated, Thunder reversed and stopped alongside the burning Lightning as Megabyte sat nearby; the father-and-son team of Thunder and Lightning were left disconsolate about their loss in post-battle interviews, but were soon congratulated and praised by John Mladenik of the Robotic Death Company.
This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)
NOTE: This article presumes that the orange half of the machine is named "Thunder", and the green half is named "Lightning".
Thunder and Lightning competed in This is Fighting Robots, but were not initially selected by any celebrities to join any teams. This forced Thunder and Lightning to take part in a preliminary rumble against Blue, Wall Breaker and Saber II. Both halves of Thunder and Lightning were equipped with their vertical discs.
Thunder and Lightning, particularly Thunder, came under immediate pressure from the swinging axe of Blue, although the multibots avoided their target while spinning in circles. Eventually, Lightning sustained a blow from the axe of Blue. However, the multibots collaborated to trap Blue, which fired its axe aimlessly. A direct blow from Lightning caused the front wedge of Blue to fall off. Thunder became stuck under Blue, and Wall Breaker attempted to grab the smaller multibot. However, this allowed Blue to land an overhead blow on Thunder, while Saber II drove under Wall Breaker and tossed it across the arena. Thunder and Lightning harassed the inverted Wall Breaker, attempting to stop it from self-righting. However, after this, Thunder and Lightning played an extremely passive role in the fight, only spinning in circles while Blue pushed it backwards. At the end of three minutes, Thunder and Lightning had not done enough to impress the celebrities, and fell at this stage.
Fortunately for Team Positive and Negative, the celebrities did not fill up their teams by the end of the preliminary rumbles, creating extra space for Thunder and Lightning. The multibots became the final choice of Wu Chun, and advanced to the main competition as part of the Red team.
Under Chun’s captaincy, Thunder and Lightning were first selected to fight in the second round, where they faced EarthShaker, Switch and Stealth. For this battle, Thunder exchanged its disc for a larger front wedge. Both parts were initially hesitant to attack, before Lightning proceeded to drive into the spinner of Stealth; the impact deflected Lightning into EarthShaker and Switch. Seconds later, Thunder drove itself underneath and pushed Switch twice, the second time over one of the floor flippers. The flipper threw both robots simultaneously while Lightning had one of its front wedges torn off by Stealth, although Thunder continued to push Switch into its twin. Switch pushed Thunder back, but Thunder escaped as EarthShaker flipped Switch. Lightning nudged the side of Stealth, before maneuvering EarthShaker around and enabling it to flip Switch over once again. Both parts of Thunder and Lightning then attempted to pursue Stealth, each ramming into the South Korean machine just before it ripped one of EarthShaker’s wheels off.
Both Thunder and Lightning proceeded to gang up on Switch again, only to be jostled into the air by an approaching Stealth. Lightning in particular was thrown upside-down by Stealth’s attack as it spun round, and continued to spin as Thunder pushed Switch away yet again. Eventually, Thunder drove head-on into Stealth’s spinner twice, the second collision deflecting it into Switch. Thunder capitalized on its recoil by pushing Switch into the wall spikes, before deflecting another blow from Stealth’s spinner and maneuvering it into the spikes as well. With Lightning suffering from traction issues as a result of a delaminated tire, Thunder was left to push Switch into the grinders and wall spikes once again. It carried the British machine across the arena until a jolt from Stealth separated them. Thunder rammed Stealth head-on twice more before time ran out, with the whole multibot surviving to a Judges’ decision. The decision ultimately went against Thunder and Lightning, resulting in it being unable to score a point for Wu Chun’s team. Chun, however, was impressed with the team's driving, and personally congratulated Liu Kunfeng’s son after the decision was announced.
Wu Chun then chose to drive Thunder and Lightning, with assistance from Liu Kunfeng's son, where both controlled one half of Thunder and Lightning to battle Ninja, which was being driven by Sa Beining. Before the battle, Wu Chun practiced driving Lightning, his half of the machine, which entered the battle with blue colors and a static wedge. The young Liu drove Thunder (orange), equipped with its vertical disc.
Ninja immediately exposed its wedge to a hit from Thunder's disc, and swung its weapon around aimlessly, being lifted up by another blow from Thunder. Ninja retreated into the corner of the arena, and the back end of the robot was hit by Thunder's disc, briefly causing it to lose traction. Ninja spun in place, knocking Thunder aside, while Wu Chun drove Lightning into the way of this attack. Wu Chun lined up his shot, and Lightning slammed into Ninja's wedge, throwing the robot up. Attacking in co-operation, Thunder and Lightning pressured Ninja, until a swing from Ninja's mace threw sparks from the wedge of Lightning.
Thunder and Lightning retaliated, but Ninja pressured Lightning onto the floor flipper, which lifted both robots up, after Paul Streeter of Ninja's team activated the flipper. Lightning rammed into Ninja, but the thwackbot wedged under Thunder and pushed it towards the arena wall. Ninja returned to the center of the arena, offering no offense, and Lightning rammed it, to the celebrations of driver Wu Chun. Ninja's mace landed on Thunder, producing more sparks. Critically, after Ninja hit the arena floor several times, it fed its mace right into the disc of Thunder, which ripped Ninja's weapon away, throwing it into the wall. Thunder capitalized, and struck the wedge of the weaponless Ninja, and after a combined attack from both multibots, Thunder attacked the left wheel of Ninja and bent the hub. Thunder followed this up with another strike to Ninja's wedge, and Lightning slammed into the back of Ninja just before time expired on the battle. With no knockout, the battle was sent to a Judges' decision, which was awarded in favor of Wu Chun's Thunder and Lightning.
In its next battle of the main competition, Thunder and Lightning fought in a four-way rumble against Ninja, Vulcan and Tungsten. Lightning was equipped with its wedge, while Thunder was outfitted with two prongs, leading into its spinner. Lightning immediately bumped into Vulcan, but overturned itself by scaling Ninja's wedge. Ninja missed Lightning with its sword attack, but Vulcan struck the underside of Lightning with its own axe. Tungsten had pinned Thunder in the corner of the arena, tossing it over while ripping metal away from it. In a bigger hit, Tungsten sent Thunder flying through the air, spinning around. In defence, Lightning rammed into the back of Tungsten, but this did not stop Tungsten from hitting the back end of Thunder. As Thunder landed on Tungsten's spinning disc, it immediately caught fire and lost mobility.
Lightning attempted to push the burning carcass of Thunder away from the battle, but it was again thrown into the air as it drove into Ninja's wedge. Tungsten started to focus on it, throwing Lightning over with a powerful disc attack, following this up with a lighter hit, and an attack which threw sparks from the wedge of Lightning, and over the course of these attacks, Lightning lost mobility on one side Tungsten pushed Lightning into a Grinder, overturning it. After this, the immobile halves of Thunder and Lightning were left alone for the remainder of the match, which was won by Tungsten.
Ahead of the Top 8, Wu Chun was required to cut two robots from his team, and he elected to cull Thunder and Lightning from his roster, eliminating the robot at this stage. However, Thunder and Lightning still participated in the Eight-robot Rumble, where it represented Wu Chun's red team alongside Wrecker. It fought against Zheng Shuang's Megabyte and Two BBQ, Zhang Yishan's Spectre and Spear and Shield, and Sa Beining's Lieutenant Bam and Golden Hoops.
There, both robots immediately found themselves attacked by Lieutenant Bam and Wrecker. Lightning successfully dodged the latter's charge while Thunder took a hit from Lieutenant Bam's overhead weapon, but as the British machine was temporarily distracted by Wrecker's minibot, Thunder managed to get in an retaliatory strike at Lieutenant Bam with its disc. The two could then be seen in the background while Megabyte destroyed Spear and Shield, and as Megabyte returned out to the center of the arena, Lightning suddenly found itself sandwiched between Lieutenant Bam and the American spinner, the resulting impact sending it flying across the arena into Spectre, as well as causing it to lose a wheel. Still partly mobile, Lightning could be seen limping around in the background as both Spectre and Wrecker was taken out. Eventually, it was targeted by Megabyte again, which sent it flying into a wall. It was attacked yet again by Megabyte not long after this and sent into another wall in an impact that finally immobilized it.
Meanwhile, Thunder had mostly avoided trouble with the other robots until it made another attack against Lieutenant Bam, although Thunder then sustained a small hit from Megabyte. As the battle continued though, both Megabyte and Two BBQ broke down, leaving only Thunder, Golden Hoops as well as a heavily damaged and limping Lieutenant Bam still active in the rumble. Thunder spent the reminder of it pushing Golden Hoops around until time expired on the battle. The Judges were required to choose between Thunder and Lightning and Golden Hoops for the victory, and having declared Thunder the more active participant in the battle, the multibots emerged as the winner of the eight-robot rumble.
Results
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING - RESULTS | ||
King of Bots (Season 1) | ||
Main Championship Fourth Place | ||
Round 1 | vs. Steel God of War | Won |
Round 2 | vs. Ninja General | Won |
Round 3 | vs. Saber | Won |
Round 4 | vs. Greedy Snake | Won |
Semi-Final | vs. Spectre | Lost |
Playoff | vs. Megabyte | Lost |
This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5) | ||
Main Championship | ||
Preliminary Rumble | vs. Blue, Wall Breaker, Saber II | Not selected |
NOTE: After not being selected by any celebrities in battle, Thunder and Lightning was later selected by Wu Chun to fill an open space in his team | ||
Rumble | vs. EarthShaker, Stealth, Switch | Lost |
Celebrity Head-to-Head | vs. Ninja | Won |
Rumble | vs. Ninja, Tungsten, Vulcan | Lost |
Eight-Robot Rumble | ||
Eight-robot Rumble | vs. Golden Hoops, Lieutenant Bam, Megabyte, Spear and Shield, Spectre, Two BBQ, Wrecker | Won |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 6
- Losses: 4
NOTE: Thunder and Lightning's preliminary rumble in Season 1.5 is not considered a win or a loss.
Series Record
Series | Thunder and Lightning Series Record |
---|---|
Season 1 | Fourth Place |
Season 1.5 | Selected by celebrity, one win |
Season 2 | Did not enter |
Outside King of Bots
Before entering King of Bots, the Thunder and Lightning team found success in the FMB (Fighting My Bots) 60kg tournaments. For the 2018 World Cup Final, they entered with Shanfeng Warrior, an improved version of one of the Thunder and Lightning multibots, which reached the round of eight before losing to famous Brazilian competitor Touro on a judges' decision.[2]
At the UK King of Bots Featherweight Championship held in August 2018, the team entered Calabash Bros, a scaled-down version of a Thunder and Lightning half. It collected one win out of its three qualification melees, and was relegated to an eight-way melee to earn the final place in the Top 20. Although Calabash Bros was immobilised and lost the battle, it later filled in as a substitute for Barghest, and won its head-to-head against Utopia to qualify for the Top 8.
Trivia
- Thunder and Lightning was one of two robots in King of Bots Season 1 to be named after thunder - Thunderstorm also debuted in the same episode as Thunder and Lightning.
- Thunder and Lightning fought two fellow multibots in two consecutive battles.
- The young son of the team first gained an interest in engineering after playing with his father's tools at the age of 2.
- The team dressed in costumes that resembled "Minions" from the film series Despicable Me in This is Fighting Robots.
- Due to its 4th place finish in King of Bots Season 1, Thunder and Lightning, alongside RoboGames competitor Crash n' Burn, and Robot Wars: Series 10 joint third-place finisher Nuts 2, is one of the most successful heavyweight multibots in the history of robot combat.
References
- ↑ During the robot's introduction, the blue half was referred to as the electric half of the team
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlebots/comments/7wfc7r/fmb_world_cup_final_60kg_round_of_8_touro_bra_vs/
External Links
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