A bot whose name had a wrestling connection proved its own ability to wrestle in the arena. As NWOWWE recalls:

Being a wrestling fan, I though of the town name of Truth or Consequences (being the "hometown" of wrestler Cactus Jack). I thought that the name would be a cool name for a bot and like something a Battlebot competitor might use.

A latecomer to the Advanced Robot Combat community, NWOWWE jumped into the spirit of things in the first tournament that he knew about: ARC Vengeance. Among the entrants was a low and powerful flipper, with some obvious influences.

I'd seen a few flippers like the Matador and T-Minus on Battlebots. That really impressed me, and I knew I wanted a flipper for my team.

A flipper he wanted, and a flipper he would have as a heavyweight. And not just any flipper, but one with a dino theme to its look, and wedging capabilities, too.



But as often proves to be the case, those bound for greatness have humble beginnings.

It didn't have a very long run, going 2-2, so it wasn't a very memorable debut.

Chalked up to mere fate, Truth Or Consequences next fought in Fantasy Robot Rumble, third season, the first season where heavyweights and superheavyweights were allowed. NWOWWE remembers the season fondly.

That was a very exciting season. It started off with a tough loss to Androit in which I overlooked Androit's ability to move inverted. This loss actually paved the way for a very easy season for ToC. After that loss ToC fought bots that Forfited, were intentionally given very low stats, or were just bots that ToC matched up well against. The challenge picked up again with a rematch vs. Androit that went much better the second time around. Following that was a very tough win vs. Dogpounder II. Going into that match I had heard that Flippers matched up poorly against thwackers, so winning that fight was a good personal accomplishment. Fighting in the finals against Tank was a reward within itself. The rest of my team had taken early exits. I managed to get a win over Tank to force a Ultimate Final, and it looked like I just might have enough to win the Championship, but it wasn't to be. This good run by ToC in FRR3 helped to pave the way for the rest of his career though.

Truth Or Consequences then stepped into the first for the offbeat and off-the-wall tournament American Influence: Naturally Assumed Destruction, a tournament that even NWOWWE acknowledged as being a bit.... well, he said it best:

AI:NAD was certainly a crazy tournament which from the get-go, ToC seemed almost predestined to win. ToC's lone loss in the tournament came on a very poorly written result. Other than that, each of ToC's fights lasted roughly 30 seconds each, involving ToC flipping his oppenent out of the arena very quickly.

Despite having an incredible run, there was something that NWOWWE couldn't ignore: Truth Or Consequences had serious design issues. The pride of Team Blood Gulch had to undergo improvements.

Perhaps the biggest flaw that the orginal ToC had was its wheels. It had six all bunched up in the back half of the bot. This hampered its manuverablity. This was changed in its second version where the wheels were more evenly spread out, which helped immensely. Originally, ToC was shorter and longer bot, which while not being a huge drawback in itself, lent itself to compacting the design for a more sturdy overall look.

In addition to a more compacted design came a shorter flipper foot and a much simpler paintjob. Thus came Truth Or Consequences 2.



With an improved body, and a newfound world of credibility to its name, Truth Or Consequences 2 debuted in ARC Annihilation, looking to really establish itself as a threat, which it did, despite not winning the championship.

By this point I had good confidence in the design and managed to pull all the way to the winner bracket finals before losing to Heart Attack 2. After that ToC dropped again to Babaganoush, another kind of flipper. The tournament loss was a bit of a setback, though on the other hand, competition was of much higher quality than in AI:NAD.

Though already a champion, NWOWWE was not entirely content to stop at that. Wanting a more solid foundation, as well as a championship for the new and improved design, Truth Or Consequences 2 was entered in Fantasy Robot Rumble: Combat Lagoon, where things started by looking tough.

It looked like ToC would have a very tough start facing Thracktar Ultra in the first round. Thracktar being controlled by [Fish Of Doom] could have been a very hard victory to pull out, but inexplicably [Fish Of Doom] decided not to RP for the match. Things didn't get much easier after that as I had [Area51Escapee]'s Wrath Of Draco lined up as my next oppenent. In a match that could have easily gone either way I managed to come out on top. This fast start was a huge confidence booster.

After a quick and easy victory over Dogpounder II, Truth Or Consequences 2 then stepped into the battlebox to face its old nemesis, Tank. Revenge seemed unlikely as this fight was won by the defending champion.

There is one reason more than any other for that loss... a poor gameplan. Tank is a pusher, and ToC is a flipper, and I had it in my head to try and use some pushing against Tank, and it didn't really work out.

Truth Or Consequences 2 was sent to the Losers' Bracket, where it quickly rebounded back into the Finals. But NWOWWE needed a new strategy, and new one hit him harder than a whiffle bat in an episode Gemini Show.

Basically, I knew I could not go in expecting to win any pushing contests, so I figured I'd just keep using the flipper on him. It's there, why not use it? It seemed that Siphai was expecting my old gameplan, and since I was using an actually logical gameplan, I managed to catch him off guard for a big win.

The Ultimate Final once again. Last time, it didn't go NWOWWE's way. So many things going through his mind. Chiefly...

"Am I even going to get the RP in on time?" Seriously. I was extremely busy that week and was RPing past the zero hour. Thankfully Siphai was as well so that took some of the stress off. As far as the RP itself, I knew two things: he'll be ready for me, and that I couldn't really afford to break off my new attack plan too much. What I tried to do was look at the fight from Siphai's perspective, think about what sort of stuff he'd be looking for and try to exploit any advantage I could find. This was for a championship in a non-controversial tournament and I couldn't afford to miss any angle.

While no one can be sure if any angles were missed, enough angles were covered in order to win. In an extremely close fight, Truth Or Consequences 2 managed to squeak out the win over Tank. As NWOWWE described the thrill of victory...

I was amped, and rather shocked to be honest. It ended up being such a close fight, and I was glad to have won the championship over Tank. I was also thinking that it was probably the last Tournament that ToC would end up competing.

Though Truth Or Consequences retired on a high note, its influence is still felt in other bots of Team Blood Gulch.

After so much sucess with ToC, I wanted to have another flipper in my wholly new team. It just so happened that it was a HW again. The name Redemption Denied, I view as a private joke against Siphai in that since I figured he'd be using Tank again, he'd get to face a flipper of mine, but never get a chance to even the score so in effect he'd have no chance to "redeem" himself.

Truth Or Consequences has been retired, but not before it acquired the most wins of any custom fantasy league robot. As one of the best flipper's in the game ever, it has earned the laurels upon which it now rests.

Truth or Consequences is a bot that surprised me with his productivity... I would have never expected him to win so many fights.