User blog comment:RA2/Series 6 and Extreme 2 Rankdown/@comment-979907-20190117101347

Buckle in boys and girls, I've done a purely mathematical determination of my ranking. Each robot was given an aggregate: Wins in S6/X2 (W) + Number of fellow final 14 they'd beat (F). The final ranking is something I'm fairly confident is appropriate. Where they tie, I break them up based on who would win between them.

14. Spawn Again (6 points: 4W + 2F) Its finest hour was KOing Hypno-Disc once (arguably twice) but there's no denying Spawn Again fulfilled its potential the way Oluremi Idris fulfilled his commitments to Team Scutterbots (i.e. not nearly enough). I'd back Spawn Again against 13 Black and Hypno-Disc, but its cumbersome nature and a chance rewatch of its dreadful lack of recovery against Bigger Brother mean it has to sit here.

13. Kan-Opener (6 points: 5W + 1F) Kan-Opener was the deserving winner of the annihilator, but its success was confined to that one tournament and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It only comes in at 13 because the only robot I'd have it beat is taking up the 14th spot.

12. 13 Black (7 points: 5W + 2F) Would you like chicken salt with that? I fully expect this to be my most controversial ranking, but I signed up for this statistic and I stand by it. 13 Black's discs may have some power in them, but they still look soft and stop too often. They couldn't finish off Double Trouble, they had help against Chaos 2, Razer and Dominator 2, and I can only give them votes against robots without flippers, high speeds or furious weapons, which doesn't give us much to go off. They've done remarkably in their career and deserve a top 15 spot, but given that they were defeated in every fight in Series 7 I don't believe they declined so much as did well with what they could handle.

11. Hypno-Disc (8 points: 3W + 5F) This is about where Hypno-Disc belongs, and it deserves it after the travesty of the Series 5 rankdown. It can still deal out hits to punish Bulldog Breed and Barber-Ous. I won't quite have it maintain wins over Bigger Brother and Dominator 2, but I will stand by its prospects against Firestorm and even Terrorhurtz, neither of whom had the armour of the robots who did defeat it in S6/X2.

10. Dantomkia (10 points: 7W + 3F) This is another one coming in quite low, but the numbers don't lie - I only rate Dantomkia's prospects against 13 Black, Hypno-Disc and Kan-Opener. It showed vulnerability to being bludgeoned to death, being outflipped, and sometimes perplexingly just breaking down. It had some skill in its s6 campaign, but in perspective, its first three opponents weren't any threat, Chaos 2 had already defeated itself, and it didn't actually KO either Wild Thing or 13 Black. A notable Extreme 2 keeps its tally up and respectably so, but Dantomkia settles for 10th and deservingly so.

9. Bulldog Breed (10 points: 4W + 6F) On the opposite end of the spectrum to Dantomkia, Bulldog Breed pulls together a respectable four wins (which feels more like six considering how often Bulldog Breed beat both opponents in a fight), it maintains its pedigree because I rate its chances against some surprising bots like Dominator 2 and Dantomkia. A near podium finish for the Bulldog, and deservingly so.

8. S3 (10 points: 4W + 6F) S3 exceeds both Dantomkia and Bulldog Breed because I have it beating both in a 1v1, and I also rate its chances against a good chunk of the lower half of the tally. S3 may have had a fairly easy heat and a less than impressive Extreme so this may seem high, but the destruction was still there, and a top eight performance is nothing to sniff at.

7. Dominator 2 (11 points: 5W + 6F) Dominator 2 really impressed me when re-visiting it, the way its armour was so strong Hypno-Disc almost flipped itself over just by making contact. Its victory over Bigger Brother more than makes up being outshone by Hydra in the heat, proving it was always knocking on the door to the A-league.

6. Storm 2 (15 points: 5W + 10F) I loathe Storm 2 and hate ranking it, but this is probably a fairer spot to put it than my gut instinct to put it at three. It was never truly tested by an A-league robot until it fought Firestorm 5 in Series 7, so its hard to say where exactly it should rank. However, on design and execution alone it is undeniable against anyone except Bigger Brother, Razer and Firestorm 4.

5. Terrorhurtz (16 points: 8W + 8F). Terrorhurtz could take a tumble based on two curbstomp losses in Extreme 2, but it was just such an undeniable beast that John Reid's first semi- and grand final just felt natural. I would have it beat nearly everyone except big spinners, big rambots and Razer based on sheer fury, and that includes Firestorm 4 in a straight rematch.

4. Bigger Brother (18 points: 9W + 9F). Okay nine wins has to be diluted when you realise that three of them were Minor Meltdown, but one of those was the then reigning champion and it was done in a way that gave all of us anti-rambot viewers hope that the show wouldn't just degenerate into every critic's worst nightmare. Still driven with devilish style and impeccable teamwork, it would fairly lose to the other top 3 of Series 6 but there's no denying that it belongs in the top 5 because of the way it took down the champion.

3. Tornado (20 points: 11W + 9F) I thought for sure I'd be voting for Tornado in number one for the same reason I did Chaos 2 in Series 3, but it lost twice to Bigger Brother and Razer in a way that made it feel properly outgunned. That's not to deny its championship run, outdoing Hypno-Disc, Firestorm and Razer in the process. It truly was one of the best robots of all time and reaches the podium for its prowess. Perhaps if Storm 2 wasn't kicking around to sally the numbers for it.

2. Firestorm 4 (21 points: 12W + 9F) Unfortunately there's so little we know about Firestorm 4's upgrades, but gee it seemed like the best one. Flipping Mr. Psycho, romping its heat, winning a trophy - this was peak Firestorm and whilst its third place in this series feels a lot less stated than in Series 3 and 5, it was probably its best year.

1. Razer (25 points: 12W + 13F) Razer is my number one. Unlike in Series 3, where I held it back because of its loss in round 2, here it is undeniable. It lost a single fight in the entire year, and that was a damn near loss to Tornado who it was magnificently coming back against despite everything. I have it beating all thirteen other robots here, virtually unchallenged. There's no denying Razer, and it's my vote for number 1.