Bad Kitty

Bad Kitty
Participation Information
Reboot Seasons	World Championship II
Team Information
Team	Team Think Tank
Team Members	Bradley Hanstad (Captain) Martin Mason Thomas Michael Roy Thomas Katie Mason Ted Shimoda
From	Brea, CA
Other Entries	VD6.0, Ringmaster, MantaRay, InTriVerter, BatRay, Bullistic
Associated Robots	MadCatter (Martin Mason) Chronos, Deep Six, VD6.0, Captain Shrederator, Triton (Bradley Hanstad)
Robot Statistics
Weapons	Vertical spinner
Statistics correct as of its most recent appearance on the show, or if not applicable, qualification attempt.

Bad Kitty was a heavyweight robot built by Team Think Tank for BattleBots World Championship II.

Its design was based on their previous entrant for the 2009 BattleBots competition, VD6.0, but with a strong feline theme. This included reshaping the hood for its vertical spinner to look like a cat's head, though the 2" AR500 steel disk of VD6.0 was still used. Other changes included two prongs on either side of the robot to aid its ability to drive inverted. According to the 2016 season t-shirt produced as official merchandise, which notably used early designs of robots, Bad Kitty was depicted to have a more pronounced cat head as well as dual cat arms either side of the disk. Bad Kitty also have a small nuisance bot similar to Shaman named Little Kitty, which was driven by then 12 year old Katie Mason. Despite previous experience and a potent weapon, Bad Kitty lost in the qualifying rumble to Black Ice and did not participate again in the tournament. It fought once more with Katie Mason driving, but lost in an exhibition rumble to The Ringmaster.

The robot would not return after 2016 as the team would be overseas at the time of World Championship III. However, several team members would split off into MadCatter and Chronos respectively for World Championship IV onward, most notably Martin Mason. Bad Kitty remains in possession of Bradley Hanstad, who has since competed with Chronos and Deep Six, then captained Triton during World Championship VII. He now works for the live show, BattleBots: Destruct-A-Thon.

Bad Kitty in January 2022.

An early render for Bad Kitty.

Bad Kitty depicted with a different cat design on official BattleBots merchandise.

Robot History

World Championship II
Bad Kitty vs. Skorpios vs. Black Ice Bad Kitty's debut came in a three-way qualifying rumble, where the winner would decide the final four places in the tournament bracket. Here, it was drawn up against newcomer Black Ice as well as Skorpios. Black Ice watches on as Bad Kitty evades its roadblock. At the start of the match, Black Ice dropped its roadblock bar, then drove over to where Skorpios and Bad Kitty were fighting. Bad Kitty's first hit on Black Ice disabled the flywheel powering its harpoon weapon, but Skorpios managed to lodge itself underneath the screws and became immobilized, reducing the rumble to a 1v1. Black Ice approaches an inverted Bad Kitty as Skorpios attacks the screws. Turning its attention to Bad Kitty, Black Ice used its lower wedge to drive its opponent around the arena and overturning it. "If Bad Kitty has nine lives, Chris, he just used up his last one! There's smoke comin' out of that bot!" — Kenny Florian as Bad Kitty is immobilized Black Ice ultimately won the rumble as Bad Kitty was later immobilized too.
Bad Kitty vs. OverDrive vs. The Ringmaster Bad Kitty also participated in an exhibition rumble, driven by Katie Mason. It took on OverDrive and The Ringmaster, driven by Carissa Carlberg and Hannah Rucker respectively. This fight was dubbed 'The Daughters Rumble' on the BattleBots YouTube channel. Bad Kitty rolls Overdrive over. All three robots were tentative to begin, though The Ringmaster hung back as OverDrive and Bad Kitty drove into one another. Bad Kitty quickly got the upper hand on OverDrive, tearing a piece away before attacking its wheel and overturning the Carlberg machine. The Ringmaster disables Bad Kitty. Soon after, Bad Kitty toppled over and reversed into the oncoming ring spinner of The Ringmaster, dislodging its drive pods and damaging a rear wheel. Bad Kitty was unable to move, leaving The Ringmaster and OverDrive to fight alone. Bad Kitty played no further part in the battle, which was ultimately won by The Ringmaster.

Results

Competitive Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Exhibition Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 1

Total Wins/Losses

• Wins: 0
• Losses: 2

Competition	Wins	Losses
World Championship II	None	Black Ice The Ringmaster

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"From the litterbox to the BattleBox, it's nasty claws will make you mess your drawers. It's BAD KITTY!"

*Cat purring noise* "She's all cat, calico no. You're about to take a cat nap. Cat's all, folks. It's BAD KITTY!"

Trivia

• In its battle, Bad Kitty was painted black, despite being pink in both its official image and in its promotional footage.
• The first cut of Bad Kitty's application video featured the song for Mouser Mecha-Catbot played over a reveal of the robot's CAD, which was produced by Eban Schletter.
• Team Think Tank also competed in Comedy Central BattleBots Season 5.0 with Ringmaster, and were sporting enough to let a new robot have a very similar name to it for the second season of the ABC reboot.