Hydra's Discovery Season 5 appearance.
Hydra is a heavyweight robot built by Team Whyachi which competed in the fourth and fifth seasons of the BattleBots reboot on Discovery and Science. It is teal/purple (lighting for the color) colored robot armed with a unique hydraulic flipping arm that would build up pressure, then release. In test videos, it's capable of lifting the teams van, tossing a 450 lbs quad that broke a front wheel off upon landing, hurling 250 lbs with ease, and allowing the robot to right itself. Along with a new version of Falcon, Hydra was a replacement for the recently retired Warrior robots. Hydra's name was derived from the system it uses for its flipper, hydraulics. Hydra performed well in its rookie season, being the fourth unbeaten robot in the opening stages of the tournament, but had an early exit after its defeat in the Top 16.
For Season 5, Hydra had a new end to the flipper put in and a much more monstrous paint job instead of the scale-like one as well as different front configurations depending on the fight.
Contents
Robot History
Discovery Season 4
Hydra's Discovery Season 4 appearance.
Hydra's first match of 2019 was against Gary Gin and Free Shipping. As the match got underway, Hydra was struggling to get under Free Shipping's low front wedgelets and ended up getting pushed around after missing with their flipper.
Hydra misses on Free Shipping.
Hydra tried again and once more was shoved around by their opponent. Luckily, they managed to get under Free Shipping and threw them into the air where they landed upright on the arena floor. Free Shipping tried to retaliate and managed to get another shove in before Hydra threw them into the air where they landed on their back. Hydra then pushed them in the corner where Free Shipping couldn't self-right. Free Shipping was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
Hydra's next opponent was Rob Farrow and WAR Hawk. As the match got underway, Hydra hit a seam in the floor and was unable to avoid WAR Hawk's first attack. Luckily Hydra withstood the punishment by its opponent and continued its attack, eventually tossing WAR Hawk into the air. WAR Hawk landed upright, however and Hydra took another hit, sending more sparks flying. Hydra retaliated by throwing WAR Hawk upside down near the pulverizer. WAR Hawk escaped so Hydra threw it in the air again, this time breaking off about 1/3 of WAR Hawk's chassis. With WAR Hawk's mobility very limited, Hydra threw it in the air again, separating the rest of the robot and leaving WAR Hawk unable to move. WAR Hawk was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
Hydra was next placed against Petunia from the Netherlands. When the match began, Hydra missed with its flipper and was nearly grabbed by Petunia. Hydra then missed again and once again was nearly grabbed by its opponent. Hydra then threw Petunia into the air, but Petunia landed right side up. Hydra got in position and threw Petunia over, but this time Petunia self-righted. Hydra then took Petunia to the arena a barrier and tossed it again, nearly getting it out of the arena and damaging one of the battle clock's screens. Hydra got in another flip that sent Petunia over the arena barrier to where its weapon was outside of the barrier and Petunia was trapped against the pulverizer with no way out. Petunia was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
Hydra was having great success and was now placed against Team Inertia Labs and Bronco. Things were going very well for Hydra as they were first to throw Bronco into the air but Bronco landed upright. Hydra tossed Bronco again and Bronco landed upright once more. After the third flip, Hydra successfully got Bronco upside down, but Bronco quickly self-righted. Hydra continued to throw Bronco around until they got Bronco with its flipper outside the shorter arena lexan wall where it couldn't move or escape. Bronco was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
Hydra was now in the Top 16 and placed against Team Riobotz and Minotaur. Unfortunately, Hydra was quickly attacked by their opponent and lost a piece of their flipper. Hydra attempted to maneuver around Minotaur, but ended up taking damage to the sides and losing its side skirts, as well as the left hand drive chain. Hydra continued to take damage to the sides until its drive system failed and it was left motionless against the arena barrier. Hydra was counted out, giving Minotaur the win by KO to advance to the quarterfinals.
Hydra wasn't done yet as it also had an exhibition match against fellow veteran Will Bales and HyperShock. Hydra started off very well, throwing HyperShock onto its back almost immediately. This gave Hydra an immense advantage as its design was now easily capable of flipping HyperShock repeatedly, especially since HyperShock's self-righting mechanism still wasn't working. However, as HyperShock began smoking, the fight moved to one of the corners with Hydra right next to the edge. Hydra then took an attack from HyperShock but luckily for them, ended up out of the arena where it couldn't get back in. HyperShock was counted out, giving Hydra the win by KO.
At the end of the season, Hydra was awarded the founder's award.
Discovery Season 5
Although it's unknown what fights Hydra has, on the Discovery website, it has been shown to be fighting Witch Doctor at some point.
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 5
- Losses: 1
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery Season 4 |
Free Shipping (Undercard Match) WAR Hawk (Undercard Match) Petunia (Undercard Match) Bronco (Main Event) HyperShock (Unaired Match) |
Minotaur |
| Discovery Season 5 | TBA | TBA |
Faruq Tauheed Introductions
"From the cheese state of Wisconsin, in this fight, it's the big old cracker and you're just de-brie. Give it up for HYDRA!"
"This bot is a wizard with its flippers. It's going to put you on tilt and rock the way you're built. Bounce you off the bumpers and off the walls. When it's over, it's over. In the BattleBox, there are no free balls. It's HYDRA!"
"This bot is going to Die Hard. It's about inflict some John Mcpain. You're gonna need some Nakatomi plasma. Welcome to the BattleBox pal! It's HYDRA!"
Trivia
- Much like Tombstone in the third season, Hydra was the only robot in the fourth season that went undefeated in the fight cards and knocked out every opponent, before being knocked out in the first round.
- It was also similar to Bronco in the first and third seasons, in that it was the only flipper advancing to the Top 16 in the fourth season.
- Out of other opponents who've split bots apart, Hydra is the only flipper to physically split a robot apart.
