Tombstone

Tombstone is a heavyweight (formally a superheavyweight) robot built by Hardcore Robotics which competed in the 2004 NPC Charity Open, 2009 BattleBots Professional Championship and every season of the reboot. It is a two-wheeled box-shaped robot armed with a large horizontally-spinning bar that weighs about 65-75 lbs. Its offence is also its defense, as it took up the front of the robot so it was hard to get to the sides. It performed well in competition as it became the champion of the superheavyweight division at the NPC Charity Open in 2004, runner-up of the first season of the ABC reboot and champion of the 2nd season.

The first Tombstone was a superheavyweight that competed in 2004. This version won its weight class and fought until 2005 at least. This version of Tombstone also competed in the televised 2009 pro championship, coming third. Two of the only parts that survived into 2015 from this model of Tombstone was the 250 lbs version of Tombstone's black blade (which was used against Witch Doctor) and a armor panel.

The second Tombstone was basically a new version of the team's flagship heavyweight, Last Rites as Ray did not want to contractually tie up Last Rites to compete in BattleBots, so he built a new Last Rites specifically for BattleBots. Its name was taken from the team's retired Superheavyweight version. Last Rites to this day remains one of the most vicious robots on the robotic combat circuit and holds a spot in the Combat Robot Hall of Fame. Last Rites' design was inspired by M.O.E.'s but with Ray Billings wondering what it be like with just two wheels instead of four.

Tombstone's builder Ray Billings built a new version of Tombstone for the 2015 reboot of BattleBots on ABC where it finished runner-up and earned the giant bolt for most destructive robot. Tombstone had at least three blades for the 2015 competition: the large silver one it used against its first two opponents, a black blade it used against its third opponent (originally used on the superheavyweight version) and the red blade it used against its last two opponents. It also had a cushion to absorb hammer attacks (labeled "Beta Blocker" after its intended target) but it did not get a chance to use it.

Tombstone had a problem entering Season 3, as its weapon was spinning at 400 mph, which at the time, the tournament only allowed 250 mph, thanks to HellaChopper. Ray worked on reworking the machine to meet the new speed limit while making the weapons heavier. Even though it won its four fights by KO, Ray had to constantly repair the chassis, which led to having to shorten the chain, which allowed Bombshell to break it, ending Tombstone's champion run.

Tombstone returned for Season 4 with a new black top plate, baring the teams Grim Reaper worn on their shirts, as well as five interchangeable blades. Ray actually made sure the frame was stronger this year by making Tombstone 1 inch shorter in all dimensions, allowing for a stronger frame.

The robot's name came from computer networking's term "tombstoning" meaning to kill it and have it stay dead.