Icewave

For the robot similar in appearance and name see Green Wave.

Icewave is a heavyweight robot which competed in the first two seasons of ABC's BattleBots reboot and the third and fifth on Discovery. Its main feature was a 15-horsepower Fireman's saw internal combustion engine (hence "ICE") housed on top of the robot which powered a 54-inch spinning steel bar that weighed 47 pounds. The blade's top speed at the tips has been stated to be approximately 300 miles per hour. Icewave was a fan-favorite for its destructive design and intimidation factor, but it lost in an upset defeat to Ghost Raptor in the quarter-finals.

In Season 2, Icewave did decently. Defeating SubZero in the first round despite its blade breaking down, but it lost to Nightmare in the second round due to radio interference despite doing very well in the first 15 seconds of the fight and started to move again after being counted out.

In Season 3, Icewave gained a few cosmetic changes involving a yellow top to the engine compartment, and the blades now being painted gray on the sides, to make the bar look skinnier instead of shorter. Although the blade's speed was now 200 mph - 100 miles less than the first two seasons, for safety reasons - it still had enough power and weight to inflict severe damage. It did very well in its matches, splitting two robots in half and was a favorite to win the championship, but lost in the round of sixteen to a well driven Rotator in an upset after having its ICE decimated.

Unfortunately, Icewave didn't compete in Season 4, due to factors that included Marc opting to spend time with the family and perhaps the destruction of the ICE used to power its weapon. However, Icewave competed in the Re:Mars All Stars tournament, but lost in the opening round to Bite Force after its engine had problems.

Similar to last year, Icewave didn't compete in Season 5 but did compete in the Bounty Hunters tournament. For Bounty Hunters, Icewave has a more black than blue look to it and a slightly different shaped housing for its partially customized internal combustion engine, but is otherwise identical to previous versions. In Bounty Hunters, it lost out to Skorpios, having been outdriven and its weapon having struggled to be at full power to dish out damage.

Marc DeVidts confirmed that Icewave will be competing in season 6 with a stronger and more reliable weapon.

Icewave was built by Marc DeVidts, who also built Edge and Vault for previous BattleBots competitions. Icewave is not a new design for DeVidts either, as he competed with a middleweight version of the design back in the mid-2000's. This version of Icewave also competed in a few BattleBots-sanctioned events including the 2004-2005 BattleBots IQ tournaments (the former as Goliath) and the 2004 NPC Charity Open.

Robot History

2004 NPC Charity Open

Icewave as a Middleweight at the NPC Charity Open

The aftermath of the fight against Major Punishment.

Icewave's first ever match was against Major Punishment. When the match began, Icewave spun up its weapon and made a few small contacts with Major Punishment before its own blade tore off one of the rubber shock absorbers inside the engine. As a result, Icewave became unstable, tearing its engine apart and flinging it across the arena. Major Punishment won by KO and Icewave fell to the loser's bracket, where it faced Blue Flame.

Before the match began, Icewave had its spinning blade removed due to damage sustained in the first match and added a rear wedge and front plow. Blue Flame collided with Icewave's front plow and broke off a tooth of Blue Flames disk, causing the bot to wobble. Blue Flame hit Icewave with its unbalanced disk and landed on top of Icewave. After this hit, both robots had to be separated, but Blue Flame's weapon malfunctioned. From this point on, it was a pushing match. Blue Flame won on a judge's decision, and Icewave was eliminated from the tournament.

BattleBots at Java One

Icewave shoves Carbide under the pulverizer.

Icewave's first fight at this event was against Carbide. This fight started with Icewave spinning up, and landing some good hits on Carbides plow. However Icewave's engine shut down and the fight was now a pushing match. Icewave then pushed Carbide under the pulverizers, the repeated pounding from the Pulverizers disabled Carbide's drivetrain, and it was counted out.

This put Icewave in the semifinals against The Mortician. Icewave won this fight, and was now in the finals against SubZero. This fight started with Icewave spinning up to speed before SubZero reversed its wedge into Icewave, and slammed it into the wall. This stopped Icewave's spinning bar, SubZero then turned around, and promptly flipped Icewave out of the arena, winning by knockout in a total of 12 seconds.

ABC Season 1

Icewave's first ever match was against Razorback. Despite early aggression from Razorback, Icewave was able to get its weapon up to speed and carved up Razorback, eventually knocking off the front wedge.

Icewave tears the front wedge off of Razorback.

A few hits later, and Razorback's entire front apparatus was gone, along with its right front wheel.

Soon after this, Icewave began to smoke heavily (this was due to a loose battery which had been damaged by the impact forces), but Razorback had stopped moving while parked on Icewave's wedge, and thus was counted out. Icewave was given the knockout victory and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Chomp.

In its fight against Chomp, both robots avoided each other at first before Icewave made a tear in the front of Chomp's wedge. The next three attacks caused some damage to the left side of Chomp, loosening the armor on that side. Icewave's next attack torn front of the left chassis with a following attack hitting the rear of Chomp. The right side of Chomp was then hit and damaged by Icewave. The next three hits caused two of Chomp's wheels to fall out and Chomp was immobilized; Icewave won by knockout in exactly one minute. This win put Icewave to the quarterfinals, where it faced Ghost Raptor.

Before the match began, Team Raptor added an arm atop Ghost Raptor to keep Icewave's dangerous blade at bay, which they named the "De-Icer". Once the match started, the arm proved successful in keeping Icewave away. Ghost Raptor pushed Icewave. Icewave's blade eventually made contact with Ghost Raptor's wedge, but due to the angle of the wedge, the impact caused Icewave to flip upside down. With no means of self-righting, Icewave was counted out of the fight and Ghost Raptor won by KO in what was perhaps the biggest upset of the season.

Sparks fly as HyperShock's spinning drum and Icewave's spinning blade collide.

Icewave wasn't finished, however, as it went up against HyperShock in a grudge match. Icewave landed a few hits against Hypershock, which caused it to stop moving; Icewave then landed a devastating blow, obliterating Hypershock's side armor. Icewave then won the match by KO.

ABC Season 2

Icewave strikes SubZero with its spinning blade.

Icewave's first match in Season 2 was a rematch against SubZero. Icewave's blade spun up while and SubZero charged straight at Icewave, which almost flipped SubZero onto its back from the impact. After this, Icewave continued attacking SubZero with its spinning blade, damaging SubZero's front flipper to where it could no longer sit flat on the floor. At one point, Icewave tore a huge gash into the right side of SubZero. Unfortunately, Icewave's blade stopped spinning toward the end of the match due to an electrical failure that prevented the engine from sparking, so Icewave pushed SubZero around the BattleBox for the rest of the match. By this point, SubZero was doing very little against Icewave, as it was no longer able to place its flipper underneath its opponent. Before the time ran out, Icewave pushed SubZero under the pulverizer, which got in a few blows before time ran out. In the end, Icewave won on a unanimous 3-0 judge's decision and advanced to the round of 32 where it faced the No. 25 seed Nightmare.

This match started out rather well for Icewave, as it managed to tear off both of Nightmare's wheel guards and leave Nightmare bouncing around from a bent weapon shaft. However, Icewave quickly started to suffer from radio interference and stopped moving. Icewave was counted out, eliminating it from the tournament again, despite the fact that Icewave started moving again straight after being counted out.

Discovery Season 3

Icewave's first match in Season 3 was against newcomers Vanquish. The match started out well for Icewave as it was able to strike Vanquish a few times. Icewave continued its attacks, even getting on top of Vanquish's wedge, which prompted the robots to be separated (this was cut from the TV airing).

Icewave got its weapon up to full speed and started dealing bigger hits to Vanquish, including leaving Vanquish without drive on one side. One particular big hit tore Vanquish in half with one half being little more than two drive wheels and the other half containing everything else.

Vanquish's remains scattered across the floor

Vanquish was unable to continue and was counted out, giving Icewave the win by KO at 56 seconds.

Icewave gets tossed into the air by Yeti's drum.

Icewave's next match was against Yeti. At the start of the match, Yeti attempted to charge Icewave to keep it from spinning up its weapon. Despite this Icewave did manage to get its weapon up to speed, but Yeti kept it under pressure. Icewave then landed a blow that sent itself flying, but landing upright. However, this hit left its opponent incapacitated, and Yeti was counted out. After this hit, Icewave's driver forgot how long the blade was and accidentally hit Yeti's tires.

Icewave's third opponent was against Skorpios. For this fight, Icewave added an orange beak designed to counteract the addition Skorpios made to itself. When the match began, Icewave was doing well, as it managed to disable Skorpios' saw arm. On the second attack, Icewave started to tear off the front extensions on Skorpios, but was thrown into the air. Icewave was then pushed into the screws before being released. Icewave struggled to spin up its weapon due to Skorpios's speed, but still managed to dish out hits, eventually tearing off another of Skorpios' front extensions. Icewave found itself again being shoved around by its opponent but managed to last the distance. Time ran out and the judges awarded a split 2-1 decision for Skorpios.

Icewave's last chance to make the top 16 was against HUGE. The match was off to a good start as the first hit from Icewave tore into one of HUGE's wheels, causing that wheel to lose some mobility. HUGE kept going so Icewave attacked it again, causing less damage than before. By the third attack, HUGE was now in two sections and unable to move. HUGE was counted out, giving Icewave the win by KO and a place in the top 16 bracket.

Icewave had done enough to make to make the top 16 where it faced Rotator. The match started poorly for

Icewave as the first hit on Rotator caused its weapon motor to stall, enabling Rotator to tear into the engine housing with its disk. Icewave tried to push Rotator around, but Rotator's speed combined with Icewave's inability to defend the engine housing caused it to take more damage, eventually losing its entire gasoline engine. Time ran out and Rotator won on a unanimous 3-0 judges decision.

Amazon Alexa BattleBots Challenge

In spite of not competing in the main tournament, Icewave still competed as one of 10 robots in the live streaming event in Las Vegas, Nevada. At this event, it was placed against the 2-time champion Bite Force. Things were off to an okay start for Icewave as they were avoiding damage from Bite Force and even managed to get underneath Bite Force's wedge. However, Icewave started to take a barrage of hits that tore into its wedge and its weapon, leaving it unable to spin up due to an imbalance issue. As the match wore on, Icewave had pretty much no wedge left but soon both tips of its weapon were torn off, allowing it to spin up to speed normally. Unfortunately, Bite Force didn't give it any room to mount an attack so its weapon couldn't land any hits. Making matters worse, they ended up stuck against the arena barrier near the pulverizer. Luckily, Bite Force's weapon chain came off, resulting in a pushing match but this didn't favor Icewave at all due to their lack of a front wedge. Eventually, Icewave stopped moving and was counted out just before the end of the match. Icewave wasn't chosen by the crowd to compete in the championship match so it was eliminated from the event.

BattleBots Bounty Hunters

Icewave waited for the tournament to end so it could face the winner, which turned out to be its rival from 2018, Skorpios. Unfortunately, Icewave had trouble delivering any big hits to Skorpios as was shoved across the arena and eventually took damage to its ICE from the pulverizer. Icewave had little drive power left and its ICE had been too badly damage to function so Icewave took one final hit from Skorpios as time ran out. The judges awarded Skorpios the win and a pieces of the $25,000 prize money.

Wins/Losses

Wins: 19
Losses: 11

Competition	Wins	Losses
2004 NPC Charity Open	None	Major Punishment Blue Flame
BattleBots IQ 2004	(3 wins)	Alakran
BattleBots IQ 2005	(4 additional win) Alakran	None
BattleBots IQ 2006	Hurricane Katrina Guazabara	Revenant
BattleBots at Java One	Carbide The Mortician	SubZero
ABC Season 1	Razorback Chomp HyperShock (Grudge Match)	Ghost Raptor
ABC Season 2	SubZero	Nightmare
Discovery Season 3	Vanquish (Undercard Match) Yeti (Main Event/Undercard Match) HUGE (Undercard Match)	Skorpios (Main Event/Undercard Match) Rotator
Amazon Alexa BattleBots Challenge	None	Bite Force
Bounty Hunters	None	Skorpios

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"It's got an unquenchable thirst for destruction and only serves it one way, on the rocks! Here to pour on the pain, it's ICEWAVE!"

"Direct from Silicon Valley. Here to put the deep freeze on its opponents. ICEWAVE!"

"It may burn gas, but it's one cold son of a bot! Here to leave the opponent frozen in fear, it's ICEWAVE!"

"To the extreme like a bot not a vandal. Light up the box and watch it chump like a candle. Ice, ice baby. It's ICEWAVE!"

"This tsunami will make you run to your mommy. It's a wave of destruction, ICEWAVE!"

"The world's loudest bot. The only way this'll end is in sudden deaf. This is ICEWAVE!"

"Take your best slapshot at this bot and be met with its blades of glory. Its propeller is one hell of a yeller. Do you believe in decibels? Yes! It's ICEWAVE!"

"Faruq here with your 5-day gorecast. Grab a scarf because it's gonna be freezing forever. It's the Wizard of blizzards, ICEWAVE!"

"It's the only robot that needs an oil change every 20,000 kills. It's ICEWAVE!"

"To the extreme, it rocks your bot like a vandal. Lit up with rage, it'll give you all you can handle. Ice, ice wavey. It's ICEWAVE!"

The middleweight Icewave in 2006
The middleweight Icewave with a different top mounted engine
Icewave in 2005
The lego version at BrickCon2019.

Trivia

In ABC Season 1, Icewave is the only bot seeded in the Top 4 that didn't reach the Top 4 in Season 1.
- This also held true for Icewave in ABC Season 2 where it was seeded in Top 8 and did not reach Top 8.
Icewave's blade tips are painted to conceal them against the color of the arena floor, giving the opponent a false sense of how long the blade is. For Season 2, the blade tips were given an orange stripe in the middle of the grey tips although the stripe was not present during their fight with Nightmare.
The "wave" in Icewave's name is a tribute to Green Wave from which Marc took design inspiration while creating Icewave.
Icewave's spinning bar, at 54 inches (4.5 feet) long, tip to tip, was once the largest weapon ever recorded in history of robot combat. By comparison, Ghost Raptor's bar was, according to Chuck Pitzer, 52 inches (4.3 feet) long and Nightmare's spinning disc was measured at 48 inches (4 feet), tip to tip. It has since been surpassed by Mammoth.
Icewave uses 100 octane fuel for its engine.
Unlike other overhead horizontal bar spinners (namely Hazard and Brutality), Icewave's blade is mounted slightly closer to the front of the robot rather than being mounted at the center of the bot.
Icewave's design is partially inspired by a robot built by Bite Force's Builder Paul Ventimilgia where the motor sat above the weapon.
Icewave's ICE is the same one used in the middleweight version. It was simply transferred over and the extra weight was applied to the base and the weapon. It was also used because of the fact that the current batteries and electronics were not mainstream yet.
Icewave's yellow top was actually a spare built for season 2 of the reboot but never used until season 3 of the reboot.
A lego RC version of Icewave fought at the 2019 BrickCon.
Icewave was one of multiple robots to appear on the BattleBots website as a competitor for the 2019 season despite confirmation that the robot was not competing that year.