User blog comment:RA2/Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 3/@comment-2118191-20180412135515

FIFTEEN TO ONE (does anyone remember that show?)

Look, I rate The Big Cheese as better than Wheely Big Cheese any day. But I'm still a little surprised it got this high on the list. A great wedge and a good lifting arm, but it's still a very slow machine. It'd struggle against virtually everyone else here.
 * 15 - The Big Cheese

Behemoth proved itself to be a far more capable machine than in Series 2. And yet, for some reason, it still feels lacking. Its lack of a srimech may be one thing, it was only Series 3, but it felt like it just lost power if it didn't finish the battle quickly...a problem that ran into Series 4 as well. It had a good battle against Razer, but that's not quite enough to put it any higher. Behemoth's time in the spotlight will come eventually, I'm sure...but it's not now.
 * 14 - Behemoth

As you may recall, I was considering eliminating Facet as the final cut. I gave it a pass because it did exactly the same thing Cassius did, but better. It's got a great flipper, but this is as far as I can put it. Thin armour and the fact it can be side-stranded prevent me from placing it any further up.
 * 13 - Facet

Arguably the weakest semi-finalist left in. Looking back over the heat, it had a lot of issues against all three of its opponents, to varying degrees or another. It's a solid weapon, but a less than stellar heat win don't make me feel confident putting it higher.
 * 12 - Gravedigger

On the other end of the spectrum, X-Terminator should have won its heat. It was genuinely beating Panic Attack, after a strong performance throughout the heat, and it was only due to a slam in the wrong place that caused its gas canister to burst. Any other day, and I'm sure X-Terminator would have won. Whether it'd beat any of the other robots left in, I'm a little on the fence.
 * 11 - X-Terminator

A controversial vote here, perhaps? Pitbull did sorta get lucky in its heat final, hence why it's only at number 10, but it still proved to be highly effective and had a great, solid weapon that was actually really good at what it did. Also, it just really stood out from a visual stand-point. Also, note that it was beating Fire Storm before the spikes happened. And yeah, lack of srimech stops it being any higher.
 * 10 - Pitbull

Yeah, controversy time again, Panic Attack just really wasn't very good in Series 3. When it got lined up, there was nothing that could stop it, but half the time, it just seemed to be extremely poorly controlled. Axios and Toe-Cutter took a long time for it to beat, but were slow so weren't much of a threat. X-Terminator, Thing 2 and Fire Storm were all able to outmaneuver it with little problem, and Panic Attack proved to be quite fortunate (although not undeserving, to be fair) to get victories over the first two.
 * 9 - Panic Attack

So, what ranks Thing 2 over the robot that beat it? Consistency. It may have been a little difficult to control, but it still got extremely commanding and, more importantly, convincing victories over Prizephita and Cerberus. Plus, that battle with All Torque was one of the standouts of the series.
 * 8 - Thing 2

Visually not much had changed since Series 2, but I do still have to give Mace some serious credit. Whilst its lifter didn't look perhaps as good as it could have been, it still proved to be quite the commanding robot in its heat. I have to give it credit considering it was facing three robots in a row that were very difficult to handle. Plus, it did give Chaos 2 a good fight.
 * 7 - Mace 2

If not for the fight against Hypno-Disc alone, 101 proved to be so durable and resilient throughout its entire run. It never backed down, never gave up and just fought on until it got its win, which it usually did. A nice little clash with King Buxton and the fact it simply refused to die against Razer give it some credit points.
 * 6 - 101

This is a robot that was able to damage robots just by ramming them into the wall. Forget the fact that was Napalm for the moment, that's still fairly impressive. I didn't really like Steg-O-Saw-Us as a kid, but I can appreciate it now, seeing it as one of the best rambots of the early age. Maybe a bit fortunate with Gravedigger though.
 * 5 - Steg-O-Saw-Us

Basically Cassius with a good driver. Aside a rocky start with Facet, it dominated the heat and kept going in battles where Pitbull and Panic Attack got the upper-hand at various points to ultimately come out on top. The battle against Chaos 2 was admittedly rather anti-climactic, but it deserved its top four position.
 * 4 - Fire Storm

Shock horror guys, but the producers did actually get the top three seedings right, at least in theory. In theory, Razer can beat most...not all, but most...of the robots left in the pool. It beat Chaos 2 extremely convincingly, for one thing. That in itself skyrockets it quite high up. The World Championship truly showed what it was capable of, and it deserved the win with three commanding victories and a great comeback in an epic battle. The fact that it bombed so horribly in the UK championship due to another breakdown really stops me from ranking it any higher.
 * 3 - Razer

Surprised? No? Well, this might surprise you - I was a little torn between Razer and Hypno-Disc for number two. Why? Hypno-Disc had a great weapon, the first of its kind, caused so much damage to Robogeddon and Stealth and reached the Grand Final, on its first attempt no less. But here's the thing - after the first two rounds, it struggled, badly. Every fight thereafter it seemed to have some serious issues, failing to damage the opponent or just simply not functioning properly. It barely even moved in the Grand Final, making the series decider quite anti-climactic (although one I think Hypno-Disc would have lost regardless). Literally the only reason I'm voting Hypno-Disc above Razer is because I think Series 3 Hypno-Disc would beat Series 3 Razer.
 * 2 - Hypno-Disc

What puts Chaos 2 at number one, aside the fact that it was the champion? The same reason it became the champion in the first place - it was consistent. It, Hypno-Disc and Razer had the best weapons in the competition, but whilst Razer and Hypno-Disc had to worry about reliability issues, Chaos 2 did not. It was extremely well-built, fast, low to the ground and powerful...it was a little pocket-rocket. And it managed to flip another robot out of the arena. And take on the House Robots. Chaos 2 was so ahead of its time...it's the perfect champion of its era. What's more to say?
 * 1 - Chaos 2

I will finish this off by saying this was EXTREMELY hard to rank. Good luck to everyone else.