- "The fully authorized guide to the World's most destructive sport!"
- — The book's tagline
BattleBots: The Official Guide is a 230 page reference book written by Mark Clarkson, designed by Ted Holladay including images from Garry Gay and Daniel Longmire.
The book features facts, statistics and photos for 40 Comedy Central BattleBots competitors, including a bonus introduction on how BattleBots first started and a handy glossary listing important terminology to the sport as well as a rank index displaying the wins and losses. It also includes a section on how to build your own bot written by veteran competitor Christian Carlberg.
The book was published in April 2002 by Osborne McGraw Hill Publishing, and was originally listed on the BattleBots website for $25.00.
Front Summary[]
Robotic Combat has arrived to inspire countless movies, novels, computers, and daydreams.
In the last decade it has become a reality, thanks in large part to BattleBots, the world's most popular robot fighting tournament and one of the highest-rated shows on cable TV. From the first official BattleBots competition in 1999 to it's current 5th successful season on Comedy Central, BattleBots has become an obsession for people of all ages and from all walks of life. Some of the builders are what you'd expect - mechanical engineers, and computer geeks - but just as many are artists, musicians, high school students, and retirees. This destructive sport puts athletes and couch potatoes on equal ground. In BattleBots, an eleven year old girl can kick a grown man's ass. And the surprises don't stop there - wait until you see the bots! Beetle shaped bots. Spider-like bots. Beautiful bots and ugly bots. Bots with turrets and arms and spikes and chainsaws. Bots on wheels and tracks and feet. Bots that spin, hop, punch, hammer, and chop. Bots that can lift a car. Bots built by one guy working weekends in his garage. So step inside, here's your chance to meet some of the robots that have made names for themselves and their builders in the fearsome sport of BattleBots.
Back Summary[]
They're not just machines. They're BattleBots.
Meet the Mean Monsters of Metal:
- Nightmare - a deadly vertical spinner whose giant toothed disc spins 300mph, disassembling other bots, and sending parts richocheting off the ceiling!
- Sunshine Lollibot - a big ass saw blade, powered by a chainsaw motor. Oh yeah, and it's pink.
- BioHazard - an amazingly low-slung bot that's nearly impossible to flip, this 6 wheeled beauty uses it's electric arm to lift opponents off the ground or tip them over.
- Huggy Bear - a menacing capital 'H' with teeth, this crushing ClampBot looks like an escaped prop from the evil version of Sesame Street.
- Ronin - a heavy, horizontally spinning disc driven by surplus electric treadmill motors, and sporting 3 red Japanese battle flags.
And many more!
- "This is a beautiful full color book about the sport of robotic combat, the origins of BattleBots, and the bots and builders behind the madness. 229 Full color glossy pages with detailed history of the sport, an introduction to the Battlebox, breakdowns of robot types, two page robot profile spreads of over forty of the best bots, hints on how to build your own Battlebot, and comprehensive statistics on over five hundred Battlebots in all weight classes. All builders and fans must check this one out... it's amazing!"
- — Official description from the BattleBots website.
Introduction[]
- Letter from Bil Dwyer.
- What's in the Book?
Part 1: The Sport of Robotic Combat[]
Chapter 1: The History of BattleBots[]
- Greg and Trey's Excellent Adventure.
- From La Machine to rumble under the freeway.
- Pete Lambertson creates the arena at the Pyramid.
- BattleBots on TV.
- Historical timeline depicting the events in order from 1970 to 2002.
Chapter 2: The Sport[]
- Overview of famous bots over the years.
- Rules and referees.
- Memorable fights.
- Judges' decision.
- BattleBox features.
Chapter 3: The Competitors[]
- Christian Carlberg
- Carlo Bertocchini
- Jim Smentowski
- Mark Setrakian
- Donald Hutson
- Ian Watts
- Zack Bieber
- Lisa Winter
- Nola Garcia
- Steve and Lowell Nelson
- Ardnt Anderson
- Michael Mauldin
Part II: The Bots[]
Note: All bots are in alphabetical order, not by weight class.
Chapter 4: Robot Types[]
- Wedge Bots
- Ram Bots
- Spin Bots
- Rotary Bots
- Rotary Saw Bots
- Lift/Launch Bots
- Clamp Bots
- Thwack Bots
- Pound and Chop Bots
- Barrel Bots
- Punch Bots
- Multi Bots
- The Chimera
Chapter 5: The Robots[]
- Afterthought
- Atomic Wedgie
- Backlash
- BattleRat
- BioHazard
- Complete Control
- Deadblow
- Death By Monkeys
- Diesector
- Dr. Inferno Jr.
- El Diablo
- Electric Lunch
- General Gau
- Hazard
- Herr Gepoünden
- HexaDecimator
- Huggy Bear
- Jaws of Death
- Little Drummer Boy
- Little Sister
- Mechadon
- MechaVore
- Minion
- Mouser Mecha-Catbot
- Nightmare
- Phere
- Ronin
- Sallad
- Sharkbyte
- SnowFlake
- Son of Whyachi
- Sunshine Lollibot
- Super Chiabot
- Tazbot
- Techno Destructo
- T-Minus
- Toro
- Voltronic
- World Peace
- Ziggo
Part III: How it's Done[]
Chapter 6: How to build a BattleBot[]
- Guide written by Christian Carlberg on how to build a BattleBot from scratch.
The Winners[]
- All winners from Season 1.0 to 4.0.
- Includes Best in Show Award and Rumble winners.
BattleStats[]
- Index regarding Bot Rankings, wins, losses, weight class types, team, builder, etc.
Trivia[]
- The book was published during the airings of Season 5.0. This is why there was no coverage on the winners of that season.
- BattleBots: The Official Guide is considered a more comprehensive version of The Official Guide to BattleBots.
- A guide of the same name was published by Scholastic in October 2022, covering the modern era of BattleBots.
- The entire book can be loaned and viewed on Archive.org.
References[]
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