re:MARS all:STARS BattleBots Challenge (2022)

re:MARS all:STARS BattleBots Challenge (2022)
Network	YouTube
Presented by	Chris Rose Will Bales
Champion	HyperShock
Runner-up	Hydra
Premiere Date	October 2024
Defending Champion	Witch Doctor
Filming Dates	June 23, 2022
Location	Las Vegas, NV
Preceded by	World Championship VI
Succeeded by	BattleBots: Champions I

The 2022 re:MARS all:STARS BattleBots Challenge, also known as Vegas All Stars, was a BattleBots tournament held in Las Vegas, Nevada as a collaboration between Amazon and the Discovery network.

It took place on June 23, 2022 at 7:30pm PST, held between eight marquee competitors from the ABC and Discovery runs. Presenter Chris Rose was at the event as well as ring announcer Faruq Tauheed and Bot Whisperer Pete Abrahamson. Although Kenny Florian was absent due to a conflicting schedule, Will Bales featured as a guest commentator. There were no judges at the event, with matches going the distance decided by audience participation. Several rule changes were trialed during these fights in response to the frustrations of World Championship VI. This included obscurity concerning controlled movement, where any and all translational movement was now deemed "controlled", as well as actively punishing any refusal to engage during a fight. To help enforce this, Kathryn Godfrey was added to the team of referees.

Team Witch Doctor did not return to defend their title from the previous event. However, the eight competing robots were announced on May 26, 2022, and first-round matches were revealed to Facebook Supporters on the same day. The event was not livestreamed unlike previously, but there are plans to upload footage to the BattleBots YouTube channel at a later date. Greg Munson later confirmed plans for this to be before the end of 2022, and at the dedicated December 2022 Comic Con panel, reaffirmed hopes that footage could be made available either that month or in early 2023. Following numerous delays out of BattleBots production's control, Munson confirmed in a September 2023 episode of Behind the Bots that the re:MARS event would uploaded before the end of 2023. He also stated footage would be included in Episode 5 of BattleBots: Champions II, which turned out to be brief clips from HyperShock's fights against Tombstone, Blip and Hydra. Despite the announcement, the footage from the event ultimately was not uploaded to the BattleBots YouTube channel before the end of 2023.

"Our YouTube channel is run by NBC Universal and it's mostly to put the international distribution on a better footing, so we let those guys run it. They've been working their butts off to do a whole bunch of stuff - one of which is Amazon - and that's why it's been delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed. But just had an email from them the other day to say they're close."

— Greg Munson on Behind the Bots podcast in September 2023

In August 2024, Greg Munson stated that re:MARS all:STARS fights would be "coming to YouTube in October". This was followed up by Munson's appearance on an episode of Behind the Bots the following month, where he also confirmed it would adopt the name Vegas All Stars.

Although all information about fight results was initially under non-disclosure agreement, this was later changed to apply only to fight footage.

On June 13, 2022, BattleBots revealed the competition structure for the event, the format consisting of a small knockout tournament with four first round battles, two semi-finals and a final bout between the winning semi-finalists. First round draws were made public on June 16, 2022. The event was ultimately won by HyperShock, who overcame Tombstone and Blip en route to the final, where it defeated Team Whyachi and Hydra. According to Bunny Liaw, Malice was the first choice backup for the event in case of any issues with the eight competing robots. This was confirmed with images of promotional banners for the event showcasing Malice among the field. JackPot was later confirmed to be the second choice backup robot. Both fought in a grudge match during the event, which was won by Malice.

The official bracket for the event.

A promotional graphic revealing the field of robots.

The Giant Bolt award.

Team HyperShock with the Giant Bolt.

HyperShock taking on Tombstone, as seen in BattleBots: Champions II.

Hydra fighting HyperShock, as seen in BattleBots: Champions II.

HyperShock faces Blip, as seen in BattleBots: Champions II.

Tournament Bracket

re:MARS Round 1
Blip vs. Whiplash
Tombstone vs. HyperShock
Cobalt vs. Skorpios
Hydra vs. MadCatter
Grudge Matches
Malice vs. JackPot
re:MARS Semi-Finals
Blip vs. HyperShock
Cobalt vs. Hydra
re:MARS Final
HyperShock vs. Hydra

Trivia

• The 2022 re:MARS all:STARS event was the first BattleBots competition not to involve Kenny Florian since the show's revival in 2015.
• HyperShock was driven by Alex Bales, wife to Will Bales, for the first time at this event.
  • She would later also drive HyperShock during BattleBots: Champions II.
• Skorpios was originally an alternate for the event, but was called up to compete after an unknown team withdrew.
• Of the eight competing robots, three fought in the previous re:MARS all:STARS event - Skorpios, Tombstone and Whiplash.
• The event marked the first competition for Hardcore Robotics since the departure of veteran team member Rick Russ.
  • It also marked the first time Justin Billings had driven Tombstone at a competitive event since the previous re:MARS event.
• Every fight was won by knockout, with the exception of Skorpios versus Cobalt.
• The Skorpios team were joined by members of Team Malice, Vegas Combat Robotics and Team LOGICOM especially for the event.
• HyperShock's win over Hydra marked the first time it had beaten Jake Ewert's bot in three attempts to date.
• This was the first time Witch Doctor and Lock-Jaw did not participate in a reboot era BattleBots competition.
• Of the two backup robots, only Malice featured on the promotional poster made for the event, whereas JackPot did not for unknown reasons.
• Whiplash was seen to have used its signature disk for the first time since its loss to End Game during the 2020 season, having not used it at all during the 2021 season (although by filming order, BattleBots: Champions I preceded this).