User blog comment:RA2/Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 1/@comment-2118191-20180213104328


 * 12th: Barry. I am legitimately shocked not only that it has made it to the top 12, but it was saved twice. It is a legitimately terrible robot that just gets praise because "it's heavy". OK, sure, lets ignore the fact that it got wedged within seconds and then just died when Matilda touched it. Not to mention the team were so overconfident that it'd beat Shunt when, based on its performance, it would have died on the first impact and then gotten pushed straight out. That leaves such a bad taste.


 * 11th: Cruella. It's a bland robot, with not much that can be said, but it deserves praise because it still functions well as a wedge.


 * 10th: Cunning Plan. My thoughts are pretty much the same as Cruella, just a wedge. It scores higher due to the fact it was more successful at being a wedge than Cruella, but the fact that it was just a featherweight stops it going higher.


 * 9th: Plunderbird 1. It's innovative with its interchangable weapons, but I don't think we can confidently assume that it'd be quite as solid as its successor. That robot got through with its pushing power. We didn't really get any hints of that, and I don't really like to assume all that much.


 * 8th: Recyclopse. Controversy time? I can't really get behind Recyclopse. It's such a novel design, but in practise it just doesn't work. Yes, it flipped a house robot...once it was already dead AND the house robot was pushed onto the tongue. Such a weapon is far more likely to just push a robot away, which isn't really what you want when it comes to flipping. Also, it broke down twice. Maybe three times.


 * 7th: Bodyhammer. TECHNICAL RUNNER-UP!! In all seriousness, it's a cool design, well engineered and the fact it was able to continue competing so solidly without a weapon must be given some credit. That doesn't however change the fact that it had little answer once it got outpaced, getting very fortunate in its heat final and just being sorta there in the Final (but then that could be said about everyone that wasn't Roadblock, so I don't consider that a detraction)


 * 6th: T.R.A.C.I.E.. Wow, the third Grand Finalist in a row. It's innovative, those spikes were very effective weapons and the fact that it was invertible was a nice touch. But guys, if you're going to be critical about Bodyhammer's performance, there needs to be consistency...T.R.A.C.I.E. nearly bombed two rounds in a row and then bombed the final. Really, it was a robot too ahead of its time - suited more for the battles than the trials.


 * 5th: Nemesis. An all-around robot that was unfortunate to be drawn too early against Roadblock. It dominated the Gauntlet and Trials with ease, and I think it would have won a fair few Arena Battles against lesser robots. Also, I love the fact that this robot was made with a personality in mind.


 * 4th: Killertron. It's so distinctive and any other heat would have reached the Grand Final, I'm sure. I just question how effective its axe REALLY is, though, since it never really landed any blows except on an already immobilised Shogun.


 * 3RD: Robot the Bruce. A great early pusher, extremely effective and a consistent performer all around, let down only by its high ground clearance giving it some issues and general blandness.


 * 2ND: Mortis. I think most of us will agree that Mortis had by far the most effective weapon out of all the robots in Series 1. Based on what we saw with Leighbot, is it really any wonder why TPTB would rank it so highly from then on out? I'm fairly positive the battle between Recyclopse would have been very different if it still had the axe.


 * 1ST: Roadblock. Was there ever any doubt? Believe me, I've considered many options, tried to imagine any scenario...I've even looked through all the possibilities of a Mortis vs Roadblock battle. But Roadblock just wins. The key is in the strategy - straight in, straight out - in a series where nobody had an answer to that. No wonder it was billed right from the start, and no wonder it won (OMG, ROODBLOK WAS TEH FYRST ROBOT TEY INTRUDOOSED, TEY SPOILED TEH CERIES!!).