User blog comment:Nweston8/Robot Wars Missions - Entry 2: Finding machines that are genuinely underrated/@comment-24393094-20180117184717

I am going to nominate Barber-Ous, particularly Barber-Ous 2. I LOVE this machine, it is my third favourite machine and my favourite spinner of all-time. But sadly, as its terrible display in Audited Series 6 shows, it does not really have that much success in Arena tournaments. Apart from wins against Crushtacean and Snake Bite, Barber-Ous 2 usually falls to any good opponent, usually in the first round. I have seen it lose to Killerhurtz twice, whilst some people have claimed it could have even lost to Schumey Too!

The problem I have with this rating of Barber-Ous 2 is that we typically assume that it will break down against great opponents. Killerhurtz? Heh, one hit one kill. Chip? Never mind that the spinner was unreliable in testing, Supernova is there to save its bacon! Bulldog Breed and Panic Attack? Ha, even though both robots are great enough to potentially tackle Barber-Ous 2 through their merits alone, let's vote them through on the basis that Barber-Ous 2 will KO itself!

And here is the thing: why is it that most people HAVE to go for the reliability card, in particular voting against Barber-Ous 2 for knocking itself out in its Series 7 melee? Apart from that unfortunate loss, most of its break downs have a good explanation. Against Panic Attack? That was the Series 5 version, which was not exactly a good robot, to be honest. Against Hypno-Disc? No explanation needed. In its Challenge Belt melee? Two powerful axes, where not only was one of them one of the greatest robots of that era, the two also ganged up on Barber-Ous 2. Spin City? Hold on, some people actually felt that Barber-Ous broke down, even though I had to correct this? Not to mention, Barber-Ous 2 actually survived direct hits from Shredder Evolution, Infernal Contraption and some random House Robot known as Mr. Psycho. Come to think of it, unless you take its Series 7 qualifier (where Lightning I think broke one of Barber-Ous 2's wheels), its reliability is exaggerated massively, to the point where it is almost comical.

And yes, you are right. I have nominated Barber-Ous 2 for both lists. Because I think that it is extremely underrated and extremely overrated. And no, this polarisation does not make it just "rated". It is to the extent where neither side is actually right in my opinion, meaning I think it deserves a mention on both lists.