Sparky during Rocket City Robot Assault in 2004
Sparky (not to be confused with the BattleBots competitior of the same name and class) was a Lightweight combat robot built by Team KurTrox from Port Saint Lucie, Florida which competed at both BattleBeach II and Rocket City Robot Assault in 2004. Sparky was a very large, circular Full-Body Spinner made up of multiple pieces and rings of aluminium with a thin red base driven by two drill motors and armed with 3 flails and some bolts as teeth.
Sparky during BattleBeach II without it's Flails
Due to it's light construction Sparky was able to fit a large, fast weapon motor which made the shell spin up to incredibly high speeds. However, due to this incredibly light construction though, Sparky was easily bent and buckled which often lead to it's downfall in some of it's matches where it would beach itself on it's own chassis with it's wheels unable to touch the floor.
Sparky's internals, showing how simple the robot was.
History[]
BattleBeach II[]
Sparky gets wailed on by Street Thug
Sparky's first ever competition oponent was two armed whacking robot Street Thug. Sparky started the match by spinning up, so quick to get up to those high full speeds as it slowly dodged at Street Thug's first two box-rushes and a few of it's other rams, managing to grind against one of it's arms a few times. Street Thug then backed off, reversing into Sparky and pushing it a little before turning arounfd and ramming into it with it's front, deforming the shell a little and buckling the middle ring outwards. Street Thug rammed into Sparky again a few more times which really caused that middle ring to bend out of shape into an almost straight strip of metal. Sparky sluggishly tried to move away but to little avail as Street Thug would keep bumping into that shell, each time stopping it dead in it's tracks. Eventually, with one of it's arms down, Street Thug captured Sparky and pinned it against the wall, wailing at it with it's free arm for about 5 seconds before backing off to let Sparky go. Sparky only twitched for around 10 seconds, barely having any spasms of movement before it started to try and spin up again, driving off but with no success as Street Thug came back on the assault. Sparky managed to dodge a few charges by Street Thug, allowing it to get up to a decent speed again but to no use at all as it was stopped right in it's tracks upon impact with Street Thug's thick front, getting wailed on and pinned up against the wall were it was whacked for another five seconds before Street Thug again backed off. Sparky moved a little more inwards, spinning up on the spot before the same thing happened again, twice infact, with that second time lasting a little longer before Street Thug backed off and Sparky spun up some more but too late as the match ended. Street Thug was declared the obvious winner and Sparky was moved to the Loser's Bracket.
Sparky gives Medulla Oblongata a massive hit, sending pieces of it's drive assembly flying and smashing it into a wall.
Sparky's next opponent was Four-wheel drive rammer Medulla Oblongata. Sparky started out strongly, spinning up to it's usual high speeds as they both slowly approached eachother without much caution, the first hit sending Medulla Oblongata aside before the second made Sparky slam into the wall with quite some force behind it, bending the shell a little. This did not seem to phase Sparky all that much however as it spun right back up and came in for another attack, this time on Medulla Oblongata's side, sending it flying into the arena wall and ripping one of it's wheels off in an impressive attack. With only one side of drive, Medulla Oblongata was practically stuck going back and forth with little movement, meaning Sparky could retreat and spin up to as high as a speed as it wanted to, attacking Medulla Oblongata again and skimming off that front plow with little bite or little damage. Sparky retreated and spun up again, giving Medulla Oblongata two very unspectacular hits but enough to cause it's top plate to come loose. Sparky's weapon was clearly quite damaged, spinning up slowly as it retreated and drove back to the other side of the arena, whacking into Medulla Oblongata's other side which still had all of it's wheels in to little effect, stopping the weapon dead as it ran away again. For the rest of the match, Sparky would use this hit and run tactic on Sparky who was quite unable to do anything in return but take the blows and occasionally push at Sparky a little. Eventually Sparky came in for one last assault, giving Medulla Oblongata a weak whack but one that immobilised it completely, sending Sparky through to the next round and eliminating Medulla Oblongata from the competition.
Sparky's next opponent was fellow Floridian Full-Body Spinner Ground Zero. For this match, Sparky mounted the shell a little higher so that Ground Zero's small teeth which it was using for this match wouldn't be able to hit anything. Unfortunately this modification made the match quite dull, despite the power of the two robots as Sparky spun up at the start of the match and approached Ground Zero who stayed in it's corner, spinning it's far heavier shell up. The two couldn't do a whole lot to eachother, with Sparky just grinding against the shell, it's own shell gradually getting warped a little as the fight went on. Ground Zero managed to dent and bend Sparky's base a little overtime but this damage was only superficial as the match went the full three minutes and to a judges decision where Ground Zero was awarded the win which sent Sparky out of the competition.
Sparky sends Spazz Monkey flying into the arena wall
Sparky was not done however as it entered the Lightweight rumble with Featherweight wedge Spazz Monkey and Lightweight two-wheel drive Wedge 'Cuda Spawn. Sparky started out in typical fashion, spinning up in the centre of the ring as the other two robots fought in and amongst themselves for a short while before eventually it chose to attack the lighter Spazz Monkey, sending it flying across the arena and damaging it's own weapon quite badly and making it's own batteries come loose, causing it to spin down and back off, only to be pestered a little by 'Cuda Spawn. It spun up again, nowhere near as fast as it could have gone, getting stopped again and bent some more by 'Cuda Spawn which really unbalanced it now. It ground at Spazz Monkey's wedge a few times, seemingly re-balancing the shell at least a little so it could get up to higher speeds before getting hit by Spazz Monkey again and getting knocked out this time. It was pushed to one side by Spazz Monkey who was pushing 'Cuda Spawn around but it was clearly knocked out. Eventually 'Cuda Spawn would knock out Spazz Monkey far later in the match by bending it's wedge down where it would be declared the winner.
Rocket City Robot Assault[]
Sparky is sent flying by Dark Steel's ram, immobilising it
Sparky's first match of the tournament was against Team Dark Forces interchangeable robot Dark Steel (Stainless). Dark Steel charged towards its opponent face first immediately missing as it violently slammed into the wall before attacking once again getting slammed into another wall by Sparky's weapon, Dark Steel was stuck on the wall before Sparky came in for another attack and its opponent managed to free itself enough to keep Sparky back with its tail before escaping and slamming into Sparky again sending it flying and buckling one of the skirts on Dark Steel, Dark Steel then missed another ram but managed to push Sparky to the centre of the arena where it became clear that Dark Steel had managed to completely buckle the cage on Sparky as it awkwardly hobbled about before getting slammed into the wall again and immobilised with the cage buckled onto the arena wall giving Dark Steel (Stainless) the win and sending Sparky into the Loser's Bracket in round one once again.
Sparky is sent flying by 'Cuda Spawn
Sparky's next opponent was previous rumble opponent from BattleBeach II, 'Cuda Spawn. Sparky immediately tried to spin up as the fight started but was soon stopped by a box-rushing 'Cuda Spawn as it was seemingly very slow to spin up, possibly due to it's heavy flails and it's damage from previous rounds. Sparky retreated, trying to spin up again but soon becoming incredibly unbalanced, flipping out but soon stabilising a little and maintaining a decent speed, only for 'Cuda Spawn to come in and ram Sparky, sending it flying up into the air and across the arena, bending it's shell quite heavily now. 'Cuda Spawn pushed the heavily damaged Sparky around for a while before retreating to give it one very strong ram into the wall before pushing it around again for a long long time, all the while Sparky is unable to get up to any sort of decent speed due to it's damage and 'Cuda Spawn's persistent attacks. Eventually 'Cuda spawn pushes it against one of the walls a few times before ramming it repeatedly into a corner, however, this seemed to have a bit of an adverse affect on 'Cuda Spawn as it became clear from the smoke bellowing out from the inside that the ESC's had been blown. The match somehow ended on the full three minutes and 'Cuda Spawn was given the win, sending Sparky out of the main competition.
Spazz Monkey and Sparkey collide
Sparky however was not finished at all with the event, as it got a grudge match with Featherweight, previous Rumble opponent Spazz Monkey. Sparky stayed in it's corner as the match started, spinning up as Spazz Monkey approached cautiously, reversing into it once which made Sparky 'hop' just a little bit before Spazz Monkey came in for another hit with it's rear, sending it flying again, across the arena but not damaging it all that much at all. It quickly circled round and came in for another assault, missing Sparky and getting it's wedge grinded a little by those flails before coming in for another ram, getting sent into the nearby arena wall again and immobilised. Sparky kept grinding up on Spazz Monkey for a short while, not doing all that much to it as it was eventually counted out, giving Sparky the win.
Robo Wedgie completely buckles and bends the far lighter Sparky
As a final match, Sparky entered the Lightweight Rumble once again with agile Rammer and anti-spinner Crocbot and Middleweight wedge Robo Wedgie. Sparky started in the middle of the arena, spinning up as the other two robots fought it out a little, being sent flying accidentally by the far more powerful and heavier Robo Wedgie as if by mistake. Soon it would spin up to a high speed before eventually Robo Wedgie would come barging in like a freight train, throwing it across the arena as it tried to spin up again, unable to due to some painful unbalanced spasming before Robo Wedgie came in again and rammed it into the arena wall, crumpling it as if it was made of cardboard. Robo Wedgie dragged it into the centre of the arena before ramming it into the wall again, crumpling it enough so that none of it's wheels where touching the ground, immobilising it completely. Later in the match, Robo Wedgie decided to ram the dead Sparky into the arena wall with enough power to flip it over and separate the chassis from the shell. Eventually Crocbot would go on to win the rumble, as Sparky was retired soon after due to it's damages.
Results[]
Sparky in the pits during BattleBeach II
- Wins: 1 (+1 Unofficial Grudge Match win)
- Losses: 4 (+2 Rumble losses)