Brickbat - The thing that’s become painfully obvious to me…emphasis on “painfully”…in recent years is that, barring some horrific rule change (there was some noise about “intentional arena out is a loss” but that got scrapped almost immediately), robot combat is pretty much the one reality TV concept that can’t be ruined. Oh, the charisma vacuum hosts and ticking time bomb analyst and buffoonish “heel” owners do their darndest, but even their best efforts can’t corrupt the thrill of the contest. I could give a really complex explanation why (which I won’t…I don’t like to overanalyze everything, all right? 
), but on the face of it I think it’s really simple: It’s an unpredictable real-time competition, and they’re fine with that. Will it be a 5-second crusher? A parts-flying battle of attrition? A hard-fought stalemate? You’ll learn when we do!
Contrast that to the three shows I’ve covered so far in this thread, which were so scripted and drawn up and edited and fluffed and molded and twisted they may as well have been cartoons. Contrast that to the second season of American Ninja Warrior Junior (whatever you were able to catch of it, anyway), which is so allergic to the very concept of “failure” that it has the feel of a special needs camp. That simply is never going to happen with Battlebots.
Mixdenny - Well, it helps if the opponent’s weapon craps out on the very first exchange and you never have to worry about getting hit back. Still, I won’t deny that Blip’s having nothing less than a dream season. If it beats Jackpot, it’s a mortal lock for Rookie of the Year. Or whatever Battlebots has in place of that. What it should have, anyway.