User blog comment:RA2/Robot Wars Extreme Warriors 1 Rankdown/@comment-2118191-20181115063553

My final rankings are as such....


 * 10 - Conquering Clown. This robot spent a significant amount of time in the pool without getting cut. To be fair, it proved to be a little more effective and durable than how it looked, being able to push the other robots around, including Drillzilla of all machines, so perhaps this was foreshadowing of things to come. But at the end of the day, by far the weakest machine left.


 * 9 - The Brute. A decent little machine, dominated its melee, but it was by far the weakest of the four semi-finalists, with little going for it in terms of weapons or who it actually defeated. Also loses points for being unable to compete in either the Robot Rebellion or the World Championship due to the damage it took from Revolutionist - I would have hoped a robot competing at the time would be able to easily fix such damage.


 * 8 - The Revolutionist. Extremely low for a series runner-up, but the fact remains, Revolutionist is very hit and miss. When it works, it's a really dangerous robot that can cause some serious damage and has the most effective weapon in the entire series. Key statement here being "WHEN it works", because invariably, it didn't. Only against Brute did it function at 100%, all other battles it just never really got going. Also, a loss to Panzer is excusable. A loss to Razer is also excusable. A loss to Sobek is a disgrace!


 * 7 - General Chompsalot. I was torn between this and The Revolutionist because Chompsalot has the better performance whilst Revolutionist has by far the better weapon. I've never liked the weapon of Season 1 General Chompsalot, and yet it proved to be far more effective than it had any right to be. Defeating Stinger and giving Pussycat a major run for its money make me feel confident in putting it this high up.


 * 6 - Pussycat. I can't really rank it any higher, because at the end of the day, it was just there for the War of Independence. It didn't even have the strongest performance, certainly not of the sort I'm used to seeing of Pussycat in this era. That being said, I do feel that these fights showcase just how capable Pussycat is, just as much as its appearances in the British version. Against Rosie and Chompsalot, Pussycat was initially on the backfoot, but in both cases it managed to pace itself brilliantly and come back strong in the end when it needed to. In my mind, this is what really makes Pussycat one of the UK's greats of its day, even more than its weapon or driving (they help).


 * 5 - Tut Tut. Like Pussycat, it doesn't feel right ranking Tut Tut any higher. Tut Tut was a fodder-bot, created by the Robot Wars crew for the sole purpose of being weak and getting smashed apart by the House Robots. At least, that's what the people who made it were thinking at the time. Afterwards they were probably thinking "Oops....we've made an unbeatable robot". Its wins in EW1 weren't that great, certainly in comparison to Nickelodeon, but Tut Tut proved to be more effective and durable than it had any right to be.


 * 4 - Manta. This is going to be the case of more successful vs more impressive. Manta is actually one of my all-time favourite American robots and when it functions properly, it is a real destructive powerhouse, essentially being a flashier version of Tornado. Its Civil War performance was great throughout and that scores it really high. But I can't ignore its consistent battery problem, throughout every battle it had. I may have ranked it higher if it had been the one responsible for eliminating Chaos 2 in the World Championship, but it wasn't.


 * 3 - Tricerabot. Arguably should have won its heat instead of Revolutionist. Far, FAR superior to its sister-bot even though it doesn't exactly have the best win-loss record of this series. When it could, it could certainly wallop the competitors around with ease...but really, it was its performances against the House Robots where it really shined. I mean, it managed to flip over Matilda...twice...without ANY weapon at all (and both times she was using her flywheel) and then managed to push Sir Killalot into the pit. Who can realistically make that boast? Bet TPTB were seriously regretting letting Tricerabot compete in the Rebellion after that.


 * 2 - Panzer Mk 2. It's the champion. Anything less than the top three feels like it would be an insult. I'm a little torn as to whether Panzer Mk 2 or Mk 4 was better, and this Panzer did seem to have a few rough moments (maybe could have turned down the speed), but when it could, it proved to be extremely durable and aggressive. It worked because it was constantly in the other robots' faces, never giving them a chance to breathe. Also major credit goes to the fact that it was able to outpush Tornado in the World Championship - if Philipper hadn't flipped it over, Panzer surely would have won.


 * 1 - Drillzilla. Really, was it going to be anyone else? It won the Annihilator, it won the Tag Team Terror virtually single-handedly due to Tut Tut not really working properly, arguably should have won the US Championship (or at the very least its first round battle) and probably would have won the World Championship were it not for facing Razer, and even then it proved to be almost completely uncrushable. I hate the fact that people keep insisting that innovative designs such as Drillzilla are either "unsporting" or "cheating", even if they're other roboteers. Guys, Drillzilla's team made a new type of robot that proved to be a major breakthrough to the standard walkerbot. Instead of whining and demanding it be disqualified, the correct thing to do would be to take this into consideration when you build your next robot. I'm sure a good wedge would be able to counter Drillzilla' keeping its feet off the ground and allowing the opponent to push back. But no, since all Americans must have a ground clearance of at least 10cm, that was never going to happen, so obviously Drillzilla's unique locomotion must be banned or have rule changes. I do legit wonder though how Drillzilla would have done in an actual proper championship.