...And now we cut into our main story tonight with some breaking news. The Ultimate BlogBot League has tonight revealed a surprise in this year’s BlogBot tournament: none other than the Champions of the Pan-Insularic Robot Fighting Series will be joining the contest, the first time since the inception of the sport that competitors from outside the League have been permitted to participate. Our correspondent, Jenny Haniver, is reporting from the BlogBot Arena:

Yes, that’s right Jens, in a brief update splashed on the video boards in the arena, and corroborated as genuine on Twitter, the UBBL tonight announced that tomorrow’s agenda would feature two exhibition matches, each of which would feature a well-known, yet entirely new, face.

[A brief clip is shown of a crowd gathered in front of a wall-sized screen, on which the word ANNOUNCEMENT is emblazoned, followed by a logo denoting that a new challenger has entered the contest, sending the crowd into an excited frenzy]

Fans have speculated for years that this might happen - that, despite high-profile tension between the stars of the two leagues, behind-the scenes co-operations has been steadily making this inevitable. Still, tonight the milestone has been reached: tomorrow, the Champions of the Pan-Insularic Series will take on some of their Archepaelic rivals.

[An infographic breaking down the career stats and highlights of two players]

First up, Annoy-o-Tron, fresh off of its win against Min-Mox, will accept the challenge of CrowBot2000, the famous fighting robot piloted by Raven1207. I have to tell you, Jens, this match-up has been theorised on the internet by armchair Botologists and fan-fic writers alike; the match-up of the two Bots statistically even sometimes being overshadowed by the tension between the online fandoms of their pilots.

[A clip of a robot methodically dissecting another robot]

Just as intriguing will be the bout between the newly revamped Credit Score: F and three-time Insularic champion Yvette the Botmistress. Rumour has it that Credit Score: F - previously a bit of an also-ran in the Archepelaic League - has attracted some serious sponsorship in the hopes that it will put up a good fight against the visiting champ.

Thank you, Jenny. What’s the mood in the Arena Hall feeling like?

Well, this has certainly been a bit of a jolt - in an already unpredictable year this influx of new talent and fresh approaches makes the act of prediction harder than ever. But one thing is for sure: plenty of smiles on fan’s faces.

Haha, good stuff, thank you Jenny. Now, turning back to our latest coverage of rising sea levels…