Marking the return from a near eight-year hiatus for John Mladenik's team, Invader was a modified version of their famous heavyweight Megabyte, using the chassis and drive train from its superheavyweight counterpart Super Megabyte.
Invader during World Championship II hero shots.
It was a four-wheel drive robot themed to look like a UFO, with alien decals around its armor to mimic 'windows' and LED lights underneath. Its primary weapon was a large spinning shell, which also doubled up as armor, powered by a large Etek motor. with belts running to a central shaft. Despite being destructive in its only appearance, an electrical failure caused it to be eliminated in its one and only fight.
Invader would not return after its only appearance, and was subsequently scrapped by the team. However, John Mladenik would rebuild his iconic shell spinner design and bring Gigabyte to future seasons of BattleBots.
Invader was one of twelve robots which took part in a three-way rumbles in order to qualify for the Championship bracket. In its match, Invader was placed against the returning Mohawk and the rookie Lycan.
Lycan drives into Invader.
The shell spinner quickly got up to speed as Lycan dashed across the BattleBox and Mohawk led with its steep front wedge. Lycan oversteered and found itself in the corner of the arena, where Mohawk gave chase. In escaping, Lycan drove into Invader and spun away on impact, suffering a gash in its front wedge.
Invader ricochets around the BattleBox.
This impact destabilized Invader, whose weapon was slowed after hitting Mohawk. However, the shell continued to make contact with the steel floor and Invader kept pinballing around the BattleBox, showing little control as Mohawk activated its flamethrowers.
"Looks like Invader's able to spin properly now but it's not moving. That's not a good sign here."
— Kenny Florian as Invader appears immobile
Invader continues to spin, but shows no signs of life in its drive.
Lycan then rammed into the side of Mohawk before turning its attention to Invader, who was residing in the red starting square. The Canadian bot attacked Invader again, but suffered a second gash to the side of its plow. Invader was nudged several more times and then stopped moving, though its shell continued to spin.
"And here we go - looks like the tide may have turned as Mohawk may have an opening."
— Kenny Florian
Mohawk grabs Lycan.
Mohawk and Lycan continued to charge into Invader, which eventually cost Lycan a drive chain. The flaming crusher was able to push Lycan across the arena, eventually sinking its claw between its double-stacked drive wheels.
With the Canadian robot unable to drive away due to aforementioned damage, a count began on both Invader and Lycan, with Mohawk declared the winner by double knockout. This proved to be Invader's only BattleBots appearance as it was replaced by Gigabyte for future seasons.
Damage to Lycan after its encounter with Invader.
According to John Mladenik, the reason for Invader's sudden immobilization was its off-the-shelf motor controller. As the shell was spinning under the robot's power, it relays managed to weld themselves shut, also preventing the weapon from being disabled automatically.[1] In this state, Invader's shell remained active for almost an hour until the robot's batteries ran out of charge, after which it was finally deemed safe to be extracted from the BattleBox.[2][3] A spinning Invader was visible in the background of Mohawk's post-rumble interview, while the incident was even alluded to by Chris Rose in post-match commentary.
Invader was fitted with a GoPro for its fight with Mohawk and Lycan. John Mladenik uploaded the footage to YouTube in August 2016, including several minutes prior to the fight commencing.[4]
Though Invader sported its self-righting pole which would also become a feature of Gigabyte in later seasons, it was pictured without it in official team photos.
