Instigator was a middleweight (formerly lightweight) robot built by Team Byte Me which fought during Seasons 2.0 and 3.0 of Comedy Central BattleBots. An earlier build also competed in the 1999 Long Beach event as a lightweight.
It was originally a two-wheel drive, bare metal robot with a small horizontal spinning disk at the front. Debuting at the Long Beach competition, Instigator's only win came by forfeit and it lost its other fights.
Instigator was rebuilt as a four-wheel drive, invertible middleweight for future events. Its steel horizontal spinner was now driven by a 12V PMDC motor. Instigator also sported a new chassis and checker-plate aluminum armor. Instigator had mixed success during the Comedy Central seasons. Instigator lost both of its tournament fights and suffered premature elimination, but managed to advance through two Consolation Rumbles.
Outside BattleBots[]
The original lightweight Instigator build was two-wheel drive and featured a lifting arm for weaponry. It fought in the original US Robot Wars events held by Marc Thorpe, debuting in 1996. However, it lost both of its fights in the Lightweight Face-Off and the Lightweight Melee rounds.
Returning for 1997, Gator lost its opening round fight to X-2 before defeating Scrappy in the loser's bracket. Mobility issues ahead of its match against Ziggy forced Gator's team to forfeit their next battle, and they were eliminated. Gator returned for the Lightweight Melees, but lost in the opening round again.
The team planned to return for future US Robot Wars events, but these never came to fruition due to legal disputes which led to the event of Thorpe's events, but indirectly led to the creation of BattleBots in 1999.[1]
Gator also entered under the Instigator name for the 2000 BotBash competition.
Robot History[]
Long Beach 1999[] |
|---|
Instigator vs. Bombus Bombus (Forfeit) Instigator was scheduled to fight Bombus Bombus first, but its opponent had technical issues and had to forfeit. Instigator won by default and advanced to the next round. |
Instigator vs. Sallad   Instigator fighting Sallad. For its next fight, Instigator faced Sallad. Sallad won by crowd vote and Instigator was now in the loser's bracket. |
Instigator vs. W.L.O.W. In the loser's bracket, Instigator met W.L.O.W., who won by knockout after Instigator was flipped onto its back. This meant that Instigator was eliminated from the tournament. |
Kilobot Royal Rumble Instigator also fought in the Kilobot Rumble at the end of the tournament. Instigator was moving slowly around the BattleBox and it was being attacked by Mouser Catbot 2001. After this, HammerHead was pushing Instigator from the left side and flipped it against Executioner. The flipped Instigator was pushed against the spikestrip and was left there for the rest of the rumble. In the end, HammerHead was declared the winner of the rumble and Instigator lost overall. |
Season 2.0.[] |
Instigator vs. Subject to Change Without Reason Instigator's first and only fight was against Subject to Change Without Reason. Subject to Change was too low for Instigator's blade, so it resorted to a pushing and shoving match. Instigator managed to deal slight damage with the blade, but the fight was dominated by Subject to Change, who maneuvered Instigator around the arena and into the hazards. Instigator survived to the end of the fight, but it lost on a 34-11 judges' decision. |
Middleweight Consolation Rumble Instigator returned for the Middleweight Consolation Rumble at the end of the tournament. It performed well throughout as it won overall along with Space Operations Force, and both robots advanced to the Middleweight Royal Rumble. |
Middleweight Royal Rumble   Instigator lifted by SABotage during the Royal Rumble. Although Instigator survived throughout its second rumble, it was dominated by SABotage and other middleweights who managed to lift it into the air. Deadblow was ultimately declared the winner of the Middleweight Royal Rumble and Instigator lost overall. |
Season 3.0[] |
Instigator vs. Blade Runner   Instigator gets hit by Blade Runner.   Instigator is caught on the killsaws by Blade Runner.  Damage Instigator took from the killsaws during its fight with Blade Runner. |
Middleweight Consolation Rumble Instigator also participated the Middleweight Consolation Rumble at the end of the tournament. After facing several robots with spinning weapons like Exodus 2001 and Turbo, the time ran out and Instigator was declared the winner of the consolation rumble along with Alabama Slammer. |
Middleweight Royal Rumble Instigator advanced to participate the Middleweight Royal Rumble. It was first seen behind Village Idiot before being attacked by SABotage, then Bad Attitude. It was then teamed up on by both SABotage and Deadblow, before beginning to experience drive problems as the fight wore on. Hazard bumped Instigator while fleeing from other robots and T-Minus flipped it onto its back. Although its right-side drive briefly began working, Instigator later died and played no further part in the rumble. Instigator ultimately lost out to T-Minus, which was declared the winner. |
Competitive Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 4
Exhibition Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 2
- Losses: 2
Total Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 3
- Losses: 6
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Long Beach 1999 | Bombus Bombus (Forfeit) | Sallad W.L.O.W. |
| Season 2.0 | Rumble | Subject to Change Without Reason Deadblow (Rumble) |
| Season 3.0 | Rumble | Blade Runner T-Minus (Rumble) |
| INSTIGATOR | ||
| Season 2.0 | ||
| Middleweight Consolation Rumble (shared with Spin Orbiting Force) | ||
| Season 3.0 | ||
| Middleweight Consolation Rumble (shared with Alabama Slammer) |