We have to admit, we were pretty pumped about the prospect of a scrap between two real, human-built robots this week.
After years of watching CGI Transformers whiz around the big screen surrounded by some of the most horrific storytelling in modern movie history, we were genuinely excited for the USA vs Japan showdown.
However, it turns out the hyped MegaBots fight was every bit as choreographed as Michael Bay’s “Robots in Disguise.”
More like Strictly?
Those who turned into the live stream on Twitch may have noticed the action looked more like a violent Strictly Come Dancing performance as opposed to a clash of heavy machinery.
The fight’s promoters have now admitted the battle was shot over a number of days and heavily edited in order to create a more entertaining rumble.
“The duel was filmed over a number of days, but all of the repair time was cut out,” Megabots co-founder Matt Oehrlein told Motherboard.
“The action was real and we aimed to create the most entertaining fight possible. We’re letting the video speak for itself!”
The video of the battle has since been viewed more than 2.5 million times on YouTube.
To be fair, parts of it are pretty entertaining. However, it was a bit rich of the organisers to promote a live stream on Twitch that clearly wasn’t.
If you’re keeping score on who won the ‘fight’ then Team USA’s Eagle Prime defeated Japan’s Kuratas when both robots crashed through the judge’s table.
We assume that’s the MegaBots version of crashing through the Spanish announce table in WWE.
Among YouTube commenters, Chad Quandt seemed to capture the mood: “You didn’t need to rig and make this so scripted. Technical limitations aside, I’d been just as happy watching you guys trying to actually make two machines fight. As soon as you put your a human in the driver seat essentially piloting a construction vehicle you know nothing’s gonna happen to either of them.”
Did you tune into the Megabots matchup? Was it worth the two years of hype? Share your thoughts with us @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
