Free Shipping's Discovery Season 4 appearance.
Free Shipping is a heavyweight robot that competed in both seasons of the BattleBots reboot on Discovery and Science. It's a four-wheeled box-shaped robot similar to Original Sin, one of its builder's other robots, and armed with a forklift and flamethrower. It was built by Gary Gin, who is well known for being a very skilled driver, both in BattleBots and other events and is capable of driving upside down using the black bars attached to its forklift.
Despite its poor performance, it was a crowd favorite, most notably being up in flames and still being driveable despite sustaining considerable damage, mainly from both HUGE and WAR Hawk.
Gary Gin also competed with The Big B in Battlebots, using it RoboGames as well, up till 2013.
For Season 4, it sported a design closer to Original Sin, while its forklift and flamethrower were completely remade. The forklift was mounted onto a lifting arm with the flamethrowers being mounted on the arm as well, while the orange section at the rear now formed around the lifting arm instead of just behind it. As a bonus for the team, long time veteran Stephen Felk returned.
Robot History
Discovery Season 3
Free Shipping's Discovery Season 3 appearance.
Free Shipping is toppled by DUCK!
Free Shipping's first ever battle was against Mecha Rampage and DUCK! as part of a rumble. When the rumble began, Free Shipping was off to an okay start until Mecha Rampage tore off one of its wheels. Making matters worse, Free Shipping was flipped over by DUCK! and had trouble maneuvering and/or self-righting. Eventually, Free Shipping got back onto its remaining wheels and continued, only to take more punishment from Mecha Rampage, losing one of its front forks. Despite using its flame thrower, it was tossed through the air multiple times by DUCK! before time ran out. In the end, DUCK! was declared the winner by a 3-0 judges decision.
Free Shipping hits the weapon of HUGE
Free Shipping had its first single battle against HUGE. For this match, Free Shipping added some extra spikes in hopes of snaring HUGE's wheels. The match began rather poorly for Free Shipping as the first hit bent up one of the two forks, leaving it useless to use against HUGE. Free Shipping continued to attack and had its top support cage broken. After more impacts, Free Shipping's flamethrower had become bent such that the flames were actually cooking Free Shipping itself. Still, Free Shipping continued to attack, nearly getting flipped over and losing the side plate. As time began to run out, Free Shipping managed to get HUGE nearly on its side near the pulverizer, but HUGE toppled back down and resumed the fight. Time ran out with Free Shipping flipped over and in the end, the judges awarded a 2-1 split decision for HUGE.
Hypershock flips off Free Shipping's wedge
Next up for Free Shipping was HyperShock, which had come off an easy win over Battle Royale With Cheese. For this fight, Free Shipping added a front wedge plate to protect the lifting forks from HyperShock's weapon. The match started off pretty evenly with neither robot getting the advantage. However, Free Shipping managed to flip HyperShock near the screws and kept on it with the flamethrower. Free Shipping then took a hit from its opponent, but didn't suffer much visible damage. After some maneuvering, Free Shipping started attacking its opponent again, which had gotten flipped over again and wasn't able to self-right. Free Shipping backed off and HyperShock was counted out, giving Free Shipping the win by KO.
Free Shipping next participated in a last-ditch effort to hopefully make the top 16 against WAR Hawk. For this fight, Free Shipping added a front wedge plate to the top of the forks to hopefully keep WAR Hawk at bay and/or control the fight. The match got underway and Free Shipping was successfully keeping WAR Hawk at bay. However, this didn't last long as Free Shipping started to take damage, notably to the front lifting forks, which were now bent upward in the middle. Nevertheless, Free Shipping continued to attack and was thrown on its back with its lifting forks dangling nearby, but quickly used the arena barrier to self-right. Free Shipping continued to take punishment from WAR Hawk and was thrown onto its side. Free Shipping struggled around until the killsaws helped it back over. Free Shipping was still unwilling to quit and was thrown onto its back, taking the BattleBots sign on the side of the arena with it. Free Shipping was pretty much now at the mercy of WAR Hawk and took another hit, shredding the BattleBots sign in the process. Luckily for Free Shipping, WAR Hawk's weapon stopped working, but there was little Free Shipping could do as the flames were now cooking itself once again. Time ran out and the judges awarded a unanimous 3-0 decision to WAR Hawk.
Discovery Season 4
First up for Free Shipping was Team Whyachi's new robot Hydra. Free Shipping was off to a good start as they had the lower wedges and were able to shove Hydra around a few times, while Hydra kept mistiming its flips. However, Free Shipping was soon thrown into the air by Hydra but landed upright. Free Shipping got in another attack before getting flipped again and thrown onto their back. Before Free Shipping could attempt to self-right, they were shoved into the corner, where self-righting became basically suicidal as they'd likely end up out of the arena, or because their lifting arm was broken. Free Shipping stayed upside down and was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
Amazon Alexa BattleBots Challenge
After the main tournament, Free Shipping was one of 10 robots selected to compete in a live stream event in Las Vegas, Nevada called BattleBots Challenge where it would be competing for the Giant Bolt trophy. For this event, Free Shipping was placed up against former semifinalist Bronco and opted to go with the version of the lifter with the wedge. When the match began, Free Shipping was quickly tossed into the air but was equally quick to right itself. Bronco then miss-timed a flip and ended up on top, allowing Free Shipping to shove it around. However, Bronco got free and Free Shipping was tossed twice more, ending up upside down with its back to the Screws. Luckily, Bronco was there to give it a bit of an assist but as Free Shipping attempted to get back over, it was launched high into the air, nearly ending up on top of the pulverizer. This damaged Free Shipping's lifting arm and caused some minor damage to the housing for its flamethrower's fuel tank. Free Shipping was toppled over but with its lifting arm stuck up, it had some mobility but Bronco took advantage by tossing it onto the screws. Free Shipping did its best to try and get off but ended up even further between the screws and the arena barrier and was counted out, giving Bronco the win by KO. Because it lost in the opening round, Free Shipping was illegible to be chosen by the crowd to compete for the championship and was eliminated.
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 6
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery Season 3 | HyperShock (Undercard Match) | DUCK! (Undercard Rumble)
HUGE (Undercard Match) WAR Hawk (Undercard Match) |
| Discovery Season 4 | TBA |
Hydra (Undercard Match) Yeti (Undercard Match) |
| Amazon Alexa BattleBots Challenge | None | Bronco |
Faruq Tauheed Introductions
"If this bot were a parcel company, it would be called "Dead Ex". Mess with this bot, you're straight trippin', it's FREE SHIPPING!"
"It's the forklift of fire. Fresh from the docks, it'll leave you screamin', 'What's in the box?!' It's FREE SHIPPING!"
"Someone call Whamazon, cause this bot is in its prime. Coming to deliver death by burning. Don't OPEN the box! It's FREE SHIPPING!"
"This robot used to move boxes. Then it got fired and now it fires back at robots. It's FREE SHIPPING!"
"It signs for everything with the initials WTF. What the fork? Tine's up, you're done. This silverware will kill you son. It's FREE SHIPPING!"
