King of the Nerds: S2E4: Zingbot Ain't Got Nothin' On THIS Guy

This week in Nerdvana… 

Mary Kate has left the building and the nerds perform a clink drink tribute in her honor. Well, not all the nerds… 

Katie admits that the Titans of Rigel have been puppetmastering Midas Touch Attack and hopes that her team can continue to do so. Nicole just hopes that Mary Kate’s exit restores peace in Nerdvana. Huh whaaaaat? Am I watching the same game that you were playing during filming, Nicole? I thought getting rid of Zack was supposed to restore peace in Nerdvana! Was Mary Kate instigating Zack's behavior? Did I miss something?

After a five-fingered version of “I Never”, Curtis calls all nerds to the courtyard, but before he announces how the next Nerd War will go down, he springs a twist on our nerds. The teams are uneven and he and Bobby think they should be balanced so he whips out the ol’ “sorting hat”. ToR will take turns drawing coins from the hat and whoever draws the gold coin will join the gold team.

What happens next makes me believe that if your name is Katie and you have to draw something from a hat and you go first, you have the “Katie Curse”. Survivor Blood vs. Water Katie was rocked out to Redemption Island by drawing first and when King of the Nerds Katie draws first she has to join the island of misfit nerds. At this point, I just have to say… I love twists in reality shows, but this twist – not happy about it. And it’s not just because I love Katie and hated to hear her crying in the bathroom later. To really switch things up and make the game more interesting, everyone should have had to draw coins to shuffle up and even out the teams.

So this week’s Nerd War will be a game of Robot Dodgeball. Great. Of course. Of course this week is the robotics challenge. Of course Katie would be the one to switch teams, she the robotics girl, remember? If I was like some of the people who watch these competition reality shows, I would be screaming “RIGGED” at the screen, but I know better. Allow me to demonstrate my amazing math skills… Katie had a one in four shot, a 25% chance, (see, so impressive my math skills… #sarcasm) of drawing the gold coin. The variable in this situation is Katie’s freedom to shake up the coins in the hat. Even if the gold coin was at the top, there was no guarantee she would choose it. So to anyone out there who thinks it was rigged, I’m sure Curtis and Bobby would assure you that it was a fair draw and that there was only one gold coin in the bag. ::drops mic, walks away:: Oh… ::runs back, pics up mic:: One more thing… C3PO is a droid, not a robot. Only “Star Wars According to a Three Year Old” girl gets to call him a robot because she calls him a “wobot” and also refers to him as the “siney guy” and it’s freaking adorable. After you read this, go YouTube that and watch it; the one with clips from the movie is the best one. ::drops mic again::

In the Robot Dodgeball Nerd War, each team will have 24 hours to build four robots. Of course MTA is thrilled to have Katie on their team and of course ToR is annoyed. Xander is reduced to a glitter fit, though, not nearly one as dramatic as when Gary “Glitter” had to go on slop in the first season of Big Brother Canada. (Season two is just around the corner, by the way – March 5^th). Curtis further explains that the game will be time-based and that the robots will be judged beforehand on creativity and execution. The team that loses the first part of this Nerd War will lose one robot for the second. Everything they need is in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the teams make haste in retiring to their War Rooms. Well,  Zack makes the best haste he can with his self-proclaimed weak arms pulling a crate full of Radio Shack goodies…

In the Tor Room, the Titans are upset that Katie isn’t with them anymore since this challenge highlights her skills and knowledge. As Chris watches from the sidelines, Xander and Kayla pull together a creative strategy for their robots. Everyone on the team will design a robot inspired by their own personalities as Titans.

This is a good time to bring up the fact that Chris has been flying under the radar ever since Zack became the “villain” of the season. He was in the first Nerd Off, remember? He’s also had the advantage of being on the winning side of the Nerd Wars since then, but even though he’s the ToR team captain, he seems to be more comfortable near the walls. Clearly, Chris is a very intellectual person with a level head on his shoulders and he has a really good shot at winning the Throne, but this is partly a social game too. Having the smartiest pants is only going to carry a nerd so far. When the teams are dissolved, and if Zack is finally exterminated, Chris is going to be the next biggest threat to the other players. He really needs to step up his social game if he wants to avoid Nerd Offs in the future. By not participating in the Mary Kate clink drink at the top of the episode, he has singled himself out as a loner; if the other nerds are ever at a loss of who to nominate, he’ll be an easy target. Maybe he doesn’t drink alcohol, but one does not need booze in a glass to participate in a toast and when you’re in a competition that is based partly on a social game, you always join in on a toast. Always. 

In the MTA War Room, Katie is more in Hell than she is in Heaven. Everyone on the Gold team agrees that Katie should take the lead on this one and her idea is to create a Battlebots inspired robot army and the rest of the team is fine with that and they get to work.

Team captain, Zack is totally focused on the tasks at hand, giving his arms a work out by tossing a dodgeball around the room, knocking stuff off tables and causing general disruption. (General Disruption ::salute::). Maybe this is why Nicole burns her face with a hot glue gun, it’s the simplest explanation. How does one burn ones face with a hot glue gun unless dodgeballs are being haphazardly thrown around a War Room by Zack? I know that’s not the case, but comedy… Jack is super nice about making Katie feel welcome and hopes she doesn’t think her new team is a bunch of losers. Katie feels they are doomed to fail anyway; she’s really the only person who knows what they are doing building these robots so she has to help everyone.

Things are going really well, as per usual, with the Titans of Rigel...

When they are finished building, ToR logs some practice hours with maneuvering their robots and throwing dodgeballs; Chris is their selected target. (Okay, okay, you are a team-player, Chris, not a wall flower. I apologize). Kayla is excited about the opportunity to get all athletic, release some aggression and make some boys cry; she’s the kind of person Brian hated in gym class.

In the MTA camp, Jack is feeling slightly optimistic about his team’s chances of winning the Nerd War, but he has now joined Zack in forming a super tornado of destruction in the War Room. Jack has cut two wires that Katie can’t fix and Zack has sat on her controller. The stress gets to her and she does what most girls do in reality TV when the frustration takes its toll – this is when she goes to the bathroom to have a little cry; she can’t even talk about how upset she is in the Diary Room. (((Katie)))

Before the real battle begins, the robot fleets must first be judged and to help them do that, Curtis and Bobby first bring out Matt Winston, co-founder of the Stan Winston School, the world’s premier school for the arts and sciences of special effects and character creation. Matt is Katie’s idol and she’s stressing now because she’s not proud of what she has produced for her team. In addition to Matt, Curtis and Bobby will also require the assistance of…

NERDBOT!

And by assistance, I mean zinging. Seriously, Big Brother’s Zingbot ain’t got nothing on this guy.

Matt is very impressed with ToR’s functionality, appearance and creativity and is also very impressed with Katie’s re-purposing abilities; she’s well on her way to a career in special effects and she gets a thumbs up from her idol. Her efforts just weren’t enough, though, because ToR is deemed the winner of phase one of the Nerd War and Nerdbot makes quick work of destroying one of their bots. Once the carcass of Jack’s creation has been carried away, it’s time to begin phase two.

In round one of the war, Katie and Nicole play offense against Xander and Brian. Nicole plays roller derby, is super competitive and she promises that she will not lose. Katie is great at dodging, but isn’t confident in her coordination. Nicole’s confidence; however, is warranted as she knock’s Xander’s dragon out of the game and in the same toss, misses Brian’s by only a fraction of a hair. Oh, and Brian… I was going to reply to the picture you posted on Twitter last week, but… why are you wearing a skirt?! From now on, I’m calling you Brianrietta. <wink> 

Round two turns the tables; Katie and Nicole will now play defense while Chris and Kayla arm themselves with dodgeballs for ToR. In order to keep the lead, Katie and Nicole need to stay in the game for longer than a minute and eighteen seconds. Katie is worried because she’s a terrible driver, (noted), and Curtis and Bobby are impressed that Kayla and Chris are going for direct hits on the MTA robots instead of trying a bounce attack. Katie is out first and soon after, Nicole takes a hit giving ToR the lead. 

In round three MTA will again be on offense; Jack and Zack will now throw dodgeballs at Chris and Kayla’s robots. Chris is not at all worried about Zack’s throwing abilities because he has absolutely no upper body strength, but he should have been because not only does he take out Chris’ robot, he quickly dispatches of Kayla’s soon after. Zack’s new found talents have put thirty-three seconds between the teams and in the final round  he will be defending his team alone against Xander and Brianrietta. He doesn’t deal with the pressure very well and the rest of his team does their best to calm him down before it’s go time. If they lose, it’s not his fault. Katie has confidence is his abilities to use the controls, but Zack accidentally steers her robot too close to the raised barrier of the court and it gets stuck. Within seconds of dislodging the robot, and the beginning of the round, the fatal shot is fired. By the end of the episode, the hand of Midas will be back down to three fingers. 

As the winners, ToR will receive up to $1,000 in gear from Radio Shack; NERDGASM! Their gifts are in the T.A.R.D.I.S, and nicely wrapped. Finally! Kayla doesn’t have to share soldering tools with her dad!

While the Titans drool over their new toys, the hand of Midas is lamenting on the challenge. Zack is still beating himself up and Jack is quick to jump in to tell him how proud he is of Zack. He finally admitted humility! This is the first time he's blamed himself, he's growing up!

But Zack isn't blaming himself. Zack thinks Jack's heartfelt praise is B.S.; Zack is a grown-up and Jack had nothing to do with it. Katie is worried she will be the one voted into the nerd off; last in, first out, right? This is her first time being on the losing side so she's pretty nervous despite the gold team's track record of voting in Zack. The Titans of Rigel think the gold team will definitely vote in Zack. While they think Nicole is great, they think Nicole is great. She is a good choice to compete against Zack. Brianrietta explains that even if Nicole loses, a formidable opponent will still leave the game.

Back to the hand, (of Midas), Zack and Nicole are having a discussion. Zack wants to know if she's voting for him then submits an argument in favor of voting Katie into the Nerd Off; she couldn't even do the engineering for "our", which I'm assuming he means himself, Nicole and Jack when he says "our", stuff. Not sound logic, Zack. In your diary room session your reasoning is far more valid. You're right. ToR will never vote Katie into a Nerd Off and if your team really wants to show those purple freaks that Midas Touch Attack is united, Katie needs to compete. (Sorry, Katie, it's true).

In the Throne Room, Curtis reveals the chosen nerds. The Titans have indeed voted for Nicole, and in a shocking turn of events, (#sarcasm), Midas Touch Attack votes in favor of Zack three to one . Et tu Nicole? Et tu? This week's Nerd Off is Zombie Nerdplunk and one of them will not survive the night. For those of you that haven't watched this episode, first of all, why are you not watching King of the Nerds? The Diary Room sessions alone are worth it. Secondly, Zombie Nerdplunk is Kerplunk and if you don't know what game that is, I don't want to talk to you anymore. (Kidding, but really, did your parents not love you? Do you need a hug? I'll give you a hug)

As you can see from the picture, the Nerd Off game will be played just like Kerplunk. The first nerd to drop 150 body parts, and just body parts, not other random garbage, will be the one leaving Nerdvana. Nicole executes a little reverse psychology in an attempt to shake Zack's confidence and it seems to be working for awhile, but foot after brain keeps falling through the poles when Nicole takes her turns. Seriously, were you guys too short to reach those high stakes, or were you not allowed to go after them?! You seem pretty tall for a girl, Nicole, but please tell me you couldn't reach them when the push came to shove and you had only one body part left until you reached 150. Please tell me that. That one body part did fall, though, and Nerdbot finally got to crush a nerd... It was Nicole.

King of the Nerds airs on TBS at 10pm/9pm on Thursdays. You can check out the cast bios and loads of extras at the Official King of the Nerds Webpage. And don't forget to follow our nerds on Twitter! All of their Twitter handles are on their corresponding biography pages on the TBS website. Stay nerdy, my friends!

If you're not following me on Twitter you can @thedolphinpoet. I'm compiling a Top Ten List of things we learned from this season of King of the Nerds and I want YOUR suggestions for what should be on it. Tweet them to me whenever you think of something funny and I might use yours! Oh, by the way for anyone that caught the post for episode three before I edited it: Zack and I cool now. :)