BARF in the Bay Area

Bay Area Robot Fights (BARF) was today as you may remember from a previous post. In a field of 21 fellow robots, here is how my two bots did:











DDT: 3 wins - 2 losses
The crowd pleaser that never fails to please... okay I will take that back. The first match against "Babe the Blue Bot" was less than ideal because my belt for the weapon derailed like so many times past (I thought I had that fixed!). But the other 4 matches, the bot never failed to bring a smile to the crowd, bouncing off walls and making sparks and parts fly off opponents. "Cause for Concern" was one such opponent who had his 1/2" lexan frame cracked and his bolts sheered. This bouncing was the demise however when a prime hit on "Verbal Irony 4" sent DDT flying into the pit. It was only a matter of time before it happened anyway.





Pacman: 5 wins - 2 losses
We ran round robin for the beetleweights since there were no as many. Surprisingly, this robot had actually captured the crowd's heart although not being a very good spinner (belt problems, hot motors, slipping blades). The crowd, on hearing Pacman's name announced, would chant "Wakka wakka wakka!" because that's the sound Pacman makes, ha ha. I was even surprised to see that people wanted pictures of me and the robot. I will never forget this one young woman (I'm guessing early 20's) came up to me in the pits after a match and excitedly asked for a picture with me and the robot. I said yes because it would make her happy and because I was honored to know someone wanted a picture with me (plus she was, in my opinion, decently attractive XD).


But anyway! Pacman went through opponents by total win or total loss. He ate through some good aluminum pieces of opponents, a few sparks, relatively stable robot. But some really good pushers put him in the pit. Okay, one of those losses probably should not have happened, but it did. When fighting "Push it to the Limit", an impact shook off one of my wheels. But the same impact left him high centered. We freed him but i couldn't move because the loss of one wheel made the robot sit at an odd position so Pacman got pit'd shortly after. Oh well, we had fun anyway.


Overall it was a heck of a fun event. I always feel a bit strange walking into Anime conventions because the people are way too nice and energetic (and costume-y). But I really enjoy this crowd to be honest. They are overly enthusiastic which makes me feel better about the entertainment that I help provide. They really appreciate it unlike some other events.

Now I know I am not too big an anime nut, but I did see some nice costumes that I did not take pictures of. Fran from Final Fantasy (with her bow), a ton of Naruto characters ranging from Naruto himself to Sakura to Atasuki, Wong Tao Yen from Portal, and many more. I really liked the guy who dressed as the Scout from Team Fortress 2. Bonk! XD

Videos to come! I still haven't uploaded them yet. Check my Youtube page for more! And additional pictures here!