SubZero

SubZero is a middleweight (later heavyweight) robot which competed in the NPC Charity Open in 2004, the 2007 event held at Sun Microsystems Java One conference, the BattleBots 2009 Pro Championship, Season 2 of ABC's BattleBots reboot and both seasons of Discovery and Science. It was armed with a CO2-powered flipping arm. It performed well in competition, winning two matches in the Pro Championship, and NPC Charity open, as well as going undefeated in the event at Java One. However, when it competed in the heavyweights, it wouldn't have the same kind of luck as its middleweight version.

It started off in the 2004 NPC Charity event with a rounded design and exposed wheels, becoming box shaped and getting a bigger flipper in 2007. As a heavyweight, it had a body featuring rounded sides and a flipper resembling Toro's.

SubZero was built by the same team that built Hammertime and Bounty Hunter. It was sold in 2010 as another version of Bounty Hunter. It went by the name Spartan.

SubZero was named from the -104 degree temperature of the CO2 that came out of the tank. However, due to CO2 not being allowed for the modern competitions, SubZero used Nitrogen like most of the other pneumatic weapons.

For Season 2 on ABC, SubZero was revised as a new bot, complete with a full titanium shell, a large flipper blade, and little self righting arms on its sides to push itself back over, very similar to the Robot Wars competitor of Behemoth. SubZero also had its drone Spitfire with it, but it wouldn't get to be seen till Season 3. Unfortunately, SubZero didn't make it past the first round after meeting Icewave in a rematch.

For Season 3 on Discovery, SubZero was redesigned with a smaller flipper and a slightly different body. It maintained the rough shape of Season 2's, only with a few extra holes for the safety functions, and a different angle to the top. This version didn't fair much better, earning more losses than wins, earning its only win against Capt. Shrederator.

For Season 4, SubZero was rebuilt from the ground up as a new bot. It was still four wheel driven with a flipper, but it reverted back to its old white color, had bigger and more exposed tires, and a much bigger flipper. Spitfire was absent from this version as it was with Fuzzy Mauldin's new bot, Texas Twister. Just like the last season, SubZero got more losses than wins, picking one up from a barely functional P1.

Although SubZero didn't have much luck in the heavyweights so far, its armor proved durable to spinners and could take the blows. This showed in its fights with ICEwave, HUGE, Capt. Shred., and Minotaur.

Robot History

2004 NPC Charity Open

After receiving a bye in the first round, SubZero went up against Red Square in the round of 16. In the match, SubZero ran to the corner of the arena and Red Square was having driving issues as it lowered its flipping arm. After SubZero was driving over Red Square multiple times, SubZero tried to get underneath the rear of Red Square for a flip, but it misses. After this, Red Square got underneath SubZero and tried to flip it, but it misses as well. After more collisions between both robots, Red Square was running out of power and SubZero was still moving very quickly around the arena. The time ran out shortly after and SubZero won on a judge's decision. This win put SubZero to the winner's quarterfinals, where it faced Falconizer.

In this fight, Falconizer kept its rear pointing at SubZero so it could not be flipped. SubZero managed to flip the front of Falconizer once before Falconizer went back to pointing its rear at SubZero. SubZero won on a judge's decision and advanced to the winner's semifinals, where it faced Devil's Plunger.

Devil's Plunger dominated in this fight, preventing SubZero from flipping and pushed it against the arena wall multiple times. Near the end of the fight, Devil's Plunger lost the front left tire, but that did not hamper Devil's Plunger as it continued to push SubZero around the arena. Devil's Plunger won on a judge's decision and SubZero was now in the loser's bracket, where it faced Red Square again. SubZero won on a judge's decision again and advanced to the loser's semifinals, where it faced Falconizer again. Falconizer won by KO and SubZero was eliminated from the tournament.

BattleBots Rochester R3

SubZero's first match in this competition was against Whirlee. It won this match, and advanced to the next round where it faced MoZar. It beat MoZar, and advanced to the next round where it was supposed to fight Green Wave. However SubZero had technical issues, and was forced to forfeit.

Due to the double elimination format SubZero was still in the competition, and the loss put it in the quarterfinals where it faced MoZar yet again. SubZero won the match, and was now in the semifinals against Falcon. It lost this fight, and was eliminated from the competition.

BattleBots at Java One

SubZero's first fight was against Mosquito. In the match SubZero drove straight out at Mosquito, and nearly flipped it out the arena. Mosquito however drove off, and SubZero repeated this attack. Mosquito then got under SubZero and attempted to drive it into the wall, however SubZero got away, and Mosquito drove under the pulverizer.

SubZero then flipped Mosquito again, and at this point the tap out button malfunctioned, making it look like Mosquito had surrendered, this caused some minor confusion. However Mosquito had not tapped out, and the fight continued. Mosquito then got under SubZero, and took it to the wall before a time out was called.

Once the fight resumed SubZero got under Mosquito again, and attempted to get it out the arena once again. Yet again Mosquito survived this attack, and got under SubZero. However SubZero escaped, and flipped Mosquito two more times before Mosquito nearly drove SubZero into the wall again.

SubZero then drove away, and nearly got hit by the pulverizer before flipping Mosquito again. However SubZero then got wedged under the arena wall, and the fight was paused to free it. Once the fight resumed SubZero got under Mosquito again, and attempted another flip, however it missed allowing Mosquito to get away.

However Mosquito then got stuck under the arena wall, and this allowed SubZero to come in, and flip it. This freed Mosquito, and SubZero gave chase, but once it got under Mosquito it missed the flip again. SubZero then delivered the final flip of the fight before wedging under Mosquito, and taking it to the wall. In the resulting judges decision SubZero was announced as the winner.

This put SubZero into the semifinals against Slasher. This fight started with SubZero reversing into Slashers spinning blade to try to slow it down, this failed as Slasher was able to deliver a nasty hit that tore a gash in the right rear side of SubZero. Slasher drove into SubZero again ripping apart its wedge even more, but SubZero drove Slasher into the wall stopping its spinner.

Slasher however quickly got back up to full speed, and delivered a devastating blow that ripped a large chunk of armor off of SubZero, it followed this up by using its spinning bar to grind on the damaged area. Subzero then attempted to flip Slasher, however it only managed to flip itself. This allowed Slasher to come in, and deliver a large hit with its spinner as SubZero was self righting.

This sent SubZero crashing into the wall where it righted itself. After Slasher ripped into it some more, SubZero slammed Slasher into the wall again where Slasher lost a large portion of Mobility. However Slashers blade was still spinning, and SubZero rammed into it. This ripped the right top panel halfway off the robot, but SubZero was not affected by this that much, and slammed its barely mobile opponent into the walls again.

SubZero then positioned itself for a flip, and nearly tossed Slasher out the arena. Slasher landed upside down, and SubZero flipped it again, righting it. SubZero then flipped Slasher two more times before the buzzer sounded.

SubZero won the judges decision, and this meant that SubZero advanced to the finals where it faced Icewave. This fight started with Icewave spinning up to speed before SubZero reversed its wedge into Icewave, and slammed it into the wall. This stopped Icewaves spinning bar, SubZero then turned around, and promptly flipped Icewave out the arena, winning by knockout in a total of 12 seconds.

2009 Pro Championship

SubZero's first match was against Stinger: The Killer Bee. SubZero won the match and advanced to the round of 16, where it faced Safety Factor. SubZero won the match and advanced to the quarterfinals, where it faced VD6.0. VD6.0 won the match and SubZero was now in the loser's bracket, where it faced Root Canal. Root Canal won the match and SubZero was eliminated from the tournament.

ABC Season 2

SubZero's first match in Season 2 was a rematch against Icewave. Icewave got its spinning blade going and SubZero went straight at Icewave, which it almost got flipped onto its back from the impact. After this, Icewave continued hitting SubZero with its spinning blade. At one point, Icewave left a huge gash into the right side of SubZero. Unfortunately, Icewave's blade stopped spinning toward the end of the match and pushed SubZero around the BattleBox. Before the time ran out, Icewave pushed SubZero under the pulverizer for one final blow. In the end, Icewave won on a unanimous 3-0 judge's decision and SubZero lost overall. SubZero unfortunately was not chosen to be a wildcard meaning it was eliminated from the tournament.

Discovery Season 3

SubZero's first match of the competition was against newcomer HUGE. For this match, SubZero added some extensions at the back and on top of the flipper arm in hopes to slow down HUGE's weapon. When the match began, SubZero backed into HUGE but ended up losing one of the two extensions almost immediately. SubZero tried to find a way to out-maneuver HUGE but HUGE stayed with it. SubZero got underneath HUGE and took damage to its flipper, which became loose from the impact. From then on, SubZero did its best to try and survive but found itself up against the wall and taking more punishment from HUGE's bar. Time ran out and the judges went unanimously in favor of HUGE, advancing it to the next stage of the tournament.

SubZero's next fight put it against Captain Shrederator. For this match, SubZero opted to back into Captain Shrederator to absorb the blows and then perhaps go in for the knockout flip. Things went well for SubZero as despite taking impacts, it wasn't suffering much damage. SubZero miss-timed a flip and only managed to flip itself over before self-righting quickly. The next collision caused its opponent to fly into the arena barrier and bounce off, landing upright but unable to move. Captain Shrederator was counted out, giving SubZero the win by KO.

Next up for SubZero was Red Devil, which had survived but lost against Monsoon. SubZero included its drone Spitfire as a bonus. The match was off to a good start for SubZero as they launched Red Devil completely over. They repeated this process a few more times before their flipper seemed to fail. Making matters worse, its drone Spitfire had quickly upended itself and couldn't fly. This left SubZero open to its opponent's attack as it was grabbed and dragged around the arena while sparks were emitting from its armor. Luckily, this didn't really affect SubZero so it continued to advance despite not really having a functioning weapon. Unfortunately, it wasn't really able to mount an attack and thus took another attack from its opponent, which also caused Spitfire to get sucked into the screws and torn apart. It took one final attack from its opponent as time ran out and the judges awarded a unanimous 3-0 decision to Red Devil.

SubZero's next opponent was in a last-ditch effort to make the top 16 against Minotaur. For this fight, the robot's front flipper was strengthened with titanium. When the match got underway, things were looking grim for SubZero as they miss-timed a flip and were thrown into the air, allowing Minotaur to attack but not dealing any great damage. SubZero tried again but miss-timed the flip again and this time landed on its back. SubZero took punishment from Minotaur before self-righting and continuing the fight. SubZero's flipper was then bent up at the front, rendering the flipper pretty much useless but SubZero pressed on. Minotaur's drum suddenly spun down but SubZero had no way to capitalize on it and soon Minotaur's weapon was back up to speed. SubZero was then thrown onto its back again but Minotaur helped it back over. After another hit, SubZero ended up on its back on the screws where it was unable to self-right. SubZero was counted out, giving Minotaur the win by KO.

Discovery Season 4

SubZero's first match of 2019 was against a redesigned Cobalt. For this fight, SubZero added wheel guards in hopes of protecting the wheels from Cobalt's vertical disc. As the match got underway, SubZero didn't have a good start as they were almost immediately thrown into the air by their opponent. SubZero tried to look for an opening but ended up taking more damage, costing them a wheel guard, and eventually a tire. SubZero couldn't seem to find any opening and was carried across the arena with Cobalt underneath, causing damage to the underside. Not long after, SubZero lost another tire and was no longer moving. SubZero was counted out, giving Cobalt the win by KO.

SubZero next found itself up against P1. During the time in the pits, it was revealed SubZero had a lot of work to do, even having to switch their frame back to their prototype frame. This resulted in them being overweight and had to ditch their electric self-righter. SubZero started off well as it flipped P1 over in the corner before flipping it back onto its wheels. SubZero then flipped P1 and its minibot at the same time, getting P1 stuck on the arena wall briefly before SubZero pushed it off. After a few more flips, P1 was seemingly having drive problems and SubZero took advantage by flipping it out of the arena. With P1 unable to escape and being counted out, SubZero promptly tossed the minibot out of the arena before the count-out completed, giving SubZero the win by KO.

SubZero had an untelevised fight where it fought the British multibot, The Four Horsemen. Not much is known, except for SubZero billowing tons of smoke and later getting shoved into the wall. SubZero was counted out, giving The Four Horsemen the win by KO.

SubZero wasn't done yet as it went into an exhibition match against Misha and Petunia. SubZero started off well, chasing down Petunia, whom was running away and not really engaging in the fight. However, SubZero soon found itself in the grip of Petunia's crushing beak but was able to get free using its flipper. Unfortunately, SubZero's drive system stopped working just under the pulverizer, leaving it defenseless and pretty much motionless while Petunia took it near the center of the arena. SubZero tried desperately to show movement using only the power of its flipper but had no luck and was counted out, giving Petunia the win by KO.

Wins/Losses

• Wins: 14
• Losses: 12

Competition	Wins	Losses
2004 NPC Charity Open	Bye Red Square (X2) Falconizer	Devil's Plunger Falconizer
BattleBots Rochester R3	Whirlee MoZar (x2) StopBot	Green Wave (Forfeit) Falcon
BattleBots at Java One	Mosquito Slasher Icewave	None
2009 Pro Championship	Stinger: The Killer Bee Safety Factor	VD6.0 Root Canal
ABC Season 2	None	Icewave
Discovery Season 3	Captain Shrederator (Undercard Match)	HUGE (Undercard Match) Red Devil (Undercard Match) Minotaur (Main Event/Undercard Match)
Discovery Season 4	P1 (Undercard Match)	Cobalt (Undercard Match) The Four Horsemen (Untelevised Undercard Match) Petunia (Exhibition Match)

Faruq Tauheed Introductions

"Brrr! Temperature's fallin' when this bot's brawlin'. Chillin' like a villain and here to do some killin', It's SUBZERO!"

"Hailing from deep in the heart of Pennsylvania, they should call it Puxatawney KILL 'cause it's about to be Poundhog Day. It's SUBZERO!"

"Ring, ring. (Hello?) Is your refrigerator running? (Uhhhh yeah.) Then you'd better go catch it. Click. It's SUBZERO!"

"If this bot ran a sub-shop, it would only give out cold-cuts with a side of flips. It's the stone cold gyro, SUBZERO!"

"This bot is like Tupperware because he's about to turn you into leftovers. "Who left the fridge open?" It's SUBZERO!"

"This bot can be found in the freezer section, which is perfect. Since when you lose, all you'll want to do is eat ice cream in your pajamas and watch The Notebook. What? I know what it feels like to have heartbreak. Faruq is sensitive. It's SUBZERO!"

"It came, it thawed, it launchered. Back from the deep freeze, its frostbite is strong like Hercules. It's not nice and it will flip you on your ice. Oh hail no! It's SUBZERO!"

Trivia

• SubZero was the first known BattleBots competitor to have thrown an opponent out the arena.
• With the exception of P1, every robot that SubZero has faced in the reboot thus far was armed with some sort of spinning weapon.
• SubZero would also go on to compete in the 2019 Orlando Maker Faire with many of the other competitors.