User blog comment:RA2/Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 4/@comment-1011118-20180601034907


 * 18) Crusader. Sorry, but I'm not seeing it.  They appeared to gain the upper hand on Steg 2, although the seeded robot may have been stuck in forward drive.  They did ok against Mortis, a robot infamously bad at fighting wedges.  I don't see much that suggests they can win heats, let alone a warrant for top 18.
 * 17) Bigger Brother. A good deal of improvement from last series, but it's vital to divorce it from its Series 5 and beyond incarnations.  It simply couldn't close the deal, its flipper on a good day could very laboriously turn a robot 90 degrees.  If RW had ended at four, I don't think anyone would call this bot runner-up material.
 * 16) Killerhurtz. Almost all that remain are event winners or semifinalists, so this is as far as it can go.  Killerhurtz showed great speed and potential, but were beaten fair and square by Splinter.  It didn't look overly impressive in any round of the Annihilator.
 * 15) S.M.I.D.S.Y. Dominance is what I'm looking for at this stage and S.M.I.D.S.Y. didn't really have it.  I tip my hat to their solid effort though.
 * 14) Spikasaurus. Very fine job winning the annihilator, as a fan of Survivor, I can respect the strategy of "don't give them a reason to eliminate you."  That being said, their weapon was inherently difficult to work with, a simple wedge could foil them, which cost them against Bulldog Breed.  It had a fine pair of motors that justified it being only a rammer, and the teens is a respectable placing.
 * 13) Firestorm 2. Harshly low ranking for FIrestorm perhaps, but they have to pay for their troubled performance. Beating the Morgue in Round 1 was their best showing, after that it was all struggles.  They flipped Plunderbird 4 as well, so that's worth a little.
 * 12) Thermidor 2. The middler of this bunch, Thermidor had some kinks to iron out, but still turned in a great performance.
 * 11) X-Terminator 2. A surprisingly stable robot given the improvised nature of their weapon.
 * 10) Mortis. Their performance had some disappoinments, but their weapons looked on-point and the axe was strong enough to pierce some types of armour.  They apparently left a mark on Steg's tail that gave them concern.  But they have to lose out to more reliable robots.
 * 9) Razer. Good on such a fragile robot to win the Annihilator.  Like Mortis, they do have to lose points for their technical failure
 * 8) Stinger. This run had to be devastating to the sports-gamblers out there, it was simply full of surprises. I'm ranking it below a few robots that didn't reach the Grand Final, because I feel those robots would be more consistent if we replayed Series 4.
 * 7) Tornado. Another murderbot that showed a major step in robot progress.  Absolutely owned its opponents.  I'm deducting points for its recurring belt slippage but this rank is pretty damn good for a newbie


 * 6) Panic Attack. This version was IMO Panic Attack at its peak.  They really made an art out of lifting and carrying and somehow managed to utterly destroy Saw Point
 * 5) Wild Thing. The only robot to go the distance with Hypno-Disc this series, its driving cannot be praised highly enough
 * 4) Dominator 2. This robot was a real treat to watch in action, and really clobbered several robots.  Great-looking design, and sorry Mortis & Killerhurtz, but the most dominant and consistent axe we've seen yet.
 * 3) Chaos 2. Another great year for the champs, it wasn't until the finals that they ran into real opposition.  I'm calling their performance imperfect not because of the annihilator loss, but because that rear panel was shown to be vulnerable multiple times - a blemish you can't ignore on an otherwise fantastic robot.
 * 2) Pussycat. I almost gave them the top spot, but #1 just edges it out on long-term sustainability, had the weight limit stayed the same.  Pussycat made so much out of such little weapon, their success really could be described as Cold Fusion.  On paper they should've been Splinter 2.0 against Hypno-Disc, but somehow they found an opening and rode it to victory.  And the Celebrity Special, they netted a well-deserved win
 * 1) Hypno-Disc. I'd put money on Hypno-Disc over almost every bot here - for Pussycat, it'd be on a rematch.  They had the single most dominant run here, smashing through all of their opponents until a one-second misjudgement took them out.  Had they not increased the weight limit and the robots not been able to put on 20-kilos of armour, I have no doubt that Hypno-Disc would've continued winning.  It was an icon, a legend, and responsible for what remains one of the most destructive fights in Robot Wars.