MegaBots - What Went Wrong (Part 2)

_{Promotional graphic for the Giant Robot Duel}

While the physical limitations couldn’t be avoided and the marketing was disconnected from the reality of the event, the one thing that should have been controllable was the setup, scripting, and editing of the event itself. People wanted robo-MMA not robo-WWE.

What they received, however, was post PG-13 era WWE, complete with the obvious scripting, terrible acting, heavy editing, and predetermined outcomes that you would expect. Since my father and I used to watch the original Battlebots series together 20 years ago I figured it'd be interesting to see his perspective, as he had seen none of MegaBots advertising outside of reports on the initial challenge video. Once the event had ended, his reaction was a rather muted "it's still early, give them a decade and see what they can do." The live chat and subsequent video comments were significantly less charitable. Those who thought they were getting real life gundam action felt cheated and made sure the team knew it. Based on the reactions, I'm of the opinion that the less of the marketing audience members saw, the more likely there were to give the technology some leeway.

The next largest source of negative comments was the handling of the event itself. There's some dispute over why the event turned out the way it did, however, from what I can gather, the rough timeline is as follows:
The MegaBots team issues its challenge.
Suidobashi accepts.
The fight is delayed as MegaBots build a mech designed specifically to fight beat Kuratas.
During the planning for the event, the Kuratas team asks to fight the Mk2 (a glorified tractor) in order to save face (remember they're trying to sell the Kuratas and are using this as an advertising event).
Finally, the event is set and occurs two years after the initial challenge, Suidobashi show up with the same machine they had when the challenge was accepted.

MegaBots claims the Matt and Gui were in the Mk II during its fight with the Kuratas but considering the complete lack of movement after firing an opening volley of paintballs (something that could easily be triggered remotely) there's no reason to think they didn't just jump into the toppled bot between edits. The second fight, between Eagle Prime and Kuratas was laughably on-sided in the other direction. Due to the lack of weight class boundaries, Eagle Prime was several tons heavier and could simply push the other machine about as it pleased for the most part.

The final straw for many was at the end, despite stating multiple times throughout the program how dangerous the bots were (even though there were multiple cameramen walking around them in close proximity during the fight) the event ends by showing the announcers flee their table with acting cheesier than the average B Movie, as the bots back up 15 feet and destroy the announce table.

There was a lot of finger pointing after the livestream but at the end of the day, I'd say this comes down to different priorities, Sudobashi was hoping to use the event as a tech demo for the robots they're trying to sell while MegaBots was attempting to start a sports league.

Ultimately, the failure of the event lead to the end of MegaBots as we know it, the next event they tried to fund failed to secure funding and hype, Gui left, the workforce was eliminated, and Eagle Prime was put into storage.

Before this piece was put aside due to my "Raising Tadpoles" series having its unexpected beginning, that was essentially the end, however, in the intervening months, the remaining creator, Matt Oehrlein, has managed to convince their investors to give him one more shot. Like every underdog story, MegaBots is hoping to somehow rise like a phoenix from the ashes and are funnily enough already employing some of the suggestions that I was going to include here before my attention was diverted. It certainly will be an uphill battle, the MegaBots team now consists of Matt, a friend, and the occasional former team member volunteering some time.

_{Source: We Ran Out of Money (Season 2)}

Now that the first stage of MegaBots' history has ended, where do they go from here? Firstly, any fights are out of the question for the time being, $207,232.26 may sound like a lot, however, it's a mere drop in the bucket when the Eagle Prime alone cost $2.5 million to build. Matt is essentially left with the world's most expensive animatronic unless by some miracle he happens to find investors willing to fund a different match with opponents that have yet to be built. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, Eagle Prime is still functional and can be used for press events and publicity. Transitioning to an entertainment company from a sporting company can seem like a downgrade, however, this route offers the best chance at long term survival. I'd like to highlight the example of “Robosaurus,” the giant, fire-spewing robot that eats car to the amusement of thousands live each year. By putting on events, not only are the owners of Robosaurus able to maintain the bot but the small business surrounding it as well, they've been successful enough that two smaller robots were made by another company using the Robosaurus design, named Megasaurus and Transaurus.

A similar strategy being employed by MegaBots can buy time to eventually build a small robot league on the mech size scale of the robots in Real Steel while using Eagle Prime as an official ambassador and mascot. Though one thing to note is that despite Robosaurus' $2,200,000 build cost in 1989, it only sold for $575,000 at auction in 2008. Giant robots are niche products and I would not expect Eagle Prime to offer a return on investment if it is sold – likely a part of the reason the investors were willing to give Matt one final shot.

Matt seems to have begun using this strategy and now hosts live events with Eagle Prime smashing up various cars and appliances for a live and digital audience. Hopefully through a combination of ticket sales, merchandising, and ad revenue, they'll be able to generate enough funds to keep afloat. The maintenance costs of Eagle Prime are likely the largest individual costs at the moment and unfortunately can't be avoided for most events, though I imagine their insurance isn't much better. Regardless, they may want to look into other types of events. Appealing to individuals with more money than diversions is a time-honored business strategy, offering “piloting classes” of various levels is a potential option either in between or after live events to keep revenue coming in. Megabots is already offering a series of live experiences where individuals can pay to operate the arms of the bot and break things, formalizing the event by giving the option to pay larger amounts to those who have already gone through the smashing course in order to drive the Prime around the and the lot and receive a “pilot certificate: or other such novelty item may be something they'd like to look into. Additionally, sponsorships would be another option to look into, though shipping, maintenance, and the lack of a large crew are now limiting factors.

Does have MegaBots have a chance at survival? I'm willing to bet Matt would admit the odds are not in their favor, however, that doesn't have to be a death sentence for the small company. I doubt their dream of a massive robot fighting league will ever come to fruition, however, operating a small entertainment company that holds events or cooperates with other events, such as monster truck rallies, can help them at least right things financially to the point of eventually turning a profit. Will that be enough to satisfy investors? It depends on their investors. If the company manages to remain solvent for long enough, they may even luck into another large robot team forming and fighting them, though I certainly wouldn't stake the future of the company on it.

If you are interested in seeing where MegaBots goes from here, you can follow their YouTube channel.