Spaz was a middleweight robot built by Mike Regan of Team Vicious which competed in Long Beach 1999 and Season 2.0 of Comedy Central BattleBots.
It was a two-wheel drive, invertible thwackbot which spun on the spot as its primary method of attack and defense. Its arm had spikes on either end in order to cause damage no matter which way it would spin.
Originally designed for the Gigabot class, Spaz was named after an inherent flaw in two-wheeled robots that make them hard to control. Mike Regan opted to cut his build down for the middleweight division as it was considerably lighter than the then-160lb upper limit for heavyweight robots. Instead, he worked to shed more weight from his build to make the lighter weight division, including using a custom-molded, carbon fiber composite shell for Spaz's armor as opposed to more traditional materials such as steel or aluminum. He also drilled holes into the drive and wheel sprockets in order to make weight.
- "I originally intended for 'Spaz' to be my first entry into the Gigabot (heavyweight) class at BattleBots. With about a month to go till BattleBots, I made a drastic decision. I realized that I would not have the time to complete 'Spaz' as an effective heavyweight robot, not to mention, it would be kind of on the light side."
- — Mike Regan on Spaz[1]
Team captain Mike Regan was unable to take part in Season 1.0 as he was participating in a film and had other commitments. However, Spaz was rebuilt ahead of Season 2.0. Its frame was now made from welded 1" steel tubing and 2" steel channel stock. Spaz retained its large, powerful drive motors as well as its 12.5" wheels, but these were now foam filled in order to prevent punctures. The newly-built Spaz managed to claim the Season 2.0 middleweight championship, before being retired due to Mike Regan wanting a robot with an active weapon for future seasons.
After building lightweight Scrub for Season 2.0, which went 1-1 in the competition, Team Vicious built another robot named THWAK! for Season 3.0. However, he was unable to replicate Spaz's success. Mike Regan considered bringing Spaz out of retirement for Season 5.0, but time restraints pushed him to modify THWAK! instead. Ultimately, it would not compete, and Spaz remained retired.
Robot History[]
Long Beach 1999[] |
|---|
Spaz vs. Ill Intent (Forfeit) Spaz was due to fight Ill Intent in its first ever BattleBots fight, but Ill Intent had technical issues and was forced to forfeit. As a result, Spaz won the fight by default. |
Spaz vs. Carnivore Spaz eventually fought Carnivore. Carnivore won the fight by KO and Spaz was eliminated from the winner's bracket. |
Spaz vs. Stuffie Returning in the loser's bracket, Spaz fought Stuffie. Stuffie won the fight on a judges' decision and Spaz was eliminated from the tournament. |
Megabot Royal Rumble Spaz also participated the Megabot Rumble at the end of the tournament. Spaz was one of few robots still moving in the end, but ultimately lost out to Grant Imahara's Deadblow. |
Season 2.0[] |
Spaz vs. Tobor Rabies   Spaz gets stuck on the ramrods.   Both robots are popped by the hellraisers.   Both robots are stuck under the hellraisers during the remaining seconds. Spaz's first match in Season 2.0 was against Tobor Rabies. Tobor Rabies moved towards Spaz, who started spinning, and got hit by its spiked arm. Both robots clashed together in the center of the arena and both robots started push each other. Spaz backed up and started spinning again, but got stuck on the ramrods. Tobor Rabies approached as Spaz escaped. Spaz continued spinning and Tobor Rabies tried to push Spaz around the arena. Spaz tried pushing Tobor Rabies for awhile and tried to hit it with its spiked arm, but missed several times. Spaz got its spiked arm stuck on the hellraiser, but it was able to escape. Both robots got stuck on the hellraisers for awhile and both robots started pushing again before the time ran out. Spaz won the fight on a 38-7 judges' decision. |
Spaz vs. Blue Streak   Spaz pushing Blue Streak. Spaz advanced to the Round of 16, where it faced Blue Streak. In the beginning, Blue Streak was being hit by Spaz's spiked arm and was being pushed onto the killsaws, but Blue Streak escaped and drove itself onto another set of killsaws. Spaz kept on hitting Blue Streak with its spiked arm and pushed it until it lost a drive chain. Both robots slammed into each other one more time before the time ran out. Spaz won the fight on a 33-12 decision and advanced to the quarter-finals. |
Spaz vs. Buddy Lee Don't Play in the Street   Spaz gets underneath the front of Buddy Lee. |
Spaz vs. Bad Attitude   Bad Attitude gets stuck underneath the spikestrip. |
Spaz vs. El Diablo   Spaz hits El Diablo's spinning drum. In the title decider, Spaz met Zack Bieber's El Diablo. Spaz made the first advance, but was knocked by El Diablo's rotating drum. Spaz swung its axe and knocked one of El Diablo's horns off. The bots moved towards the killsaws with El Diablo losing full mobility after it lost one of the two wheels that support the drum. Spaz swung its weapon repeatedly, hitting El Diablo and pushing it near the killsaws. El Diablo took a ride over the saws but kept moving. Spaz was showing more mobility and got some more weapon damage points while El Diablo tried to line up its rotating weapon for a shot. The time ran out and Spaz won the fight on a close 25-20 judges' decision, meaning Spaz was declared middleweight championship for Season 2.0. |
Middleweight Royal Rumble Spaz returned to participate in the Middleweight Royal Rumble at the end of the tournament. Spaz was one of few robots still moving in the end, but again fell short to Deadblow. |
Mike Regan and Spaz.
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 6
- Losses: 2
| Competition | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Long Beach 1999 | Ill Intent (Forfeit) | Carnivore Stuffie |
| Season 2.0 | Tobor Rabies Blue Streak Buddy Lee Don't Play in the Street Bad Attitude El Diablo |
None |
Honors[]
| SPAZ | ||
| Season 2.0 | ||
| Giant Nut |
Spaz's stats as listed on the TV show.
Mark Beiro Introductions[]
"He's so bad, he makes medicine sick. He fights to the death with a razor-sharp pick. Introducing SPAZ!"
"He'll lull you into a state of relaxation, just so he can kill you, stuff you, and hang you in his trophy room. Here is SPAZ!"
"The rubble in the wake of this bad dude, tells a nasty tale. But to finish the story, he needs to slay one more Demon. Here is SPAZ!"
Merchandise[]
Any appearances by Spaz in merchandise are listed below:
Trivia[]
- Spaz was the first thwackbot to win the Giant Nut.
- Despite being a Giant Nut winner, Spaz did not feature in any of the BattleBots video games, including the canceled build for PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
- Mike Regan originally intended for Spaz to feature active weaponry, but opted against it due to time restrictions.[2]
- Mike Regan used Spaz's general layout to build his Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors entry The Brute, with the main difference being that it used four-wheel drive to make it easier to control.