User blog comment:SpaceManiac888/Rusty Spanner and Golden Wrench of the Decade (2010s)/@comment-29558956-20191216104543

3: World Series, Episode 2: Sorry Toast, but it had to be mentioned. World Series Episode 1 wasn't the best episode of the reboot, I'll admit, but at least it had Apollo, the return of Diotoir, a minimum of one great Head-to-Head and some nice bits of camaraderie sprinkled in between. World Series Episode 2, on the other hand, felt redundant. Not only did it share the same hybrid Tag Team/Head-to-Head format, but it also had a similarly unbalanced competitor roster, a less successful attempt at nostalgia-baiting (to be honest, I didn’t really care that much for Sgt. Bash’s absence) and an awkward moment where a breach of Tag Team rules finally had consequences for one of the competing teams. The last point would have been okay, except that every other Tag Team battle before it – including the first one from the very same episode – didn’t penalise teams for breaching the ‘only one robot from one team can fight at any one time’ rule. To be fair, Episode 2 still had its moments, like Thor vs Tough as Nails, Big Nipper's inferno, the segment on Mike Mauldin’s former restaurant and Shunt’s axe snapping in half. But in retrospect, it felt like an unnecessary dirt stain on what is otherwise an excellent and highly polished Series 10. To think that it’s even more likely now to be the last ever episode is... a little sobering.

2: Round Robins: Can't disagree much with criticisms of the Head-to-Head format. It worked out mostly fine in Series 8, and it offered every Heat Semi-Finalist more screen time than with a typical knockout format, but the more spinner-centric field in Series 9 really showed up its main flaws. Repetitive Heat/Grand Final draws are one thing, but another is seeing severely damaged robots barely working after repairs, often compounding the reliability issues and general one-sidedness of many battles that took place throughout this series. Even as far back Series 8, Heat 1, worthy Heat Finalist Behemoth didn’t seem as if it had fully recovered from its spectacular Head-to-Head against Carbide; no wonder their third encounter didn’t stack up as well. I’m especially glad that Series 10 ditched the Head-to-Heads in favour of the Redemption rounds and playoffs, which also had the benefit of giving losing robots more chances to show their potential.

1: BBC Betrayal: I can thank the BBC for bringing Robot Wars back at a point in my life where everything felt uncertain. It was through the reboot that I decided to help out on the Wiki in the first place, and I am glad to have seen it through right to the end. But there are times where I still feel upset over the Beeb’s decision to not only put Series 10 up against Blue Planet II with very little advertising, but also turn their back on the reboot just as King of Bots and Discovery BattleBots were getting into gear. What happened? Series 10 received a lot of love from Mentorn, Robo Challenge etc. to make it the best series it could possibly be; yet, rather than give it the wider reach it deserves, the Beeb decide to shunt it on the sidelines while plugging more Attenborough, more Strictly... more tennis! The robot combat community is looking healthy right now, but it hasn’t felt the same to me since Robot Wars got scrapped. It just feels criminal to leave behind the show that got it started while other shows grow and prosper.

(dis)Honourable Mention: Series 9 - Battle of the Spinners. One of my main issues with King of Bots/modern BattleBots is the excessive number of spinners they’ve been accepting in recent seasons. Personally, I feel it makes for a highly derivative roster and a potentially less interesting competition, especially if they turn out to be more dominant than competitors with other weapon types. While this didn’t feel as much of an issue in Series 8 or 10, Series 9 was where the abundance of spinners really started to affect quality, especially in Heat 4. Not only did it lead to a lot of short, one-sided fights and a relatively unbalanced Grand Final line-up, but it also exaggerated the drawbacks of the Head-to-Head format by forcing trashed robots to fight on in a semi-trashed state. If Series 9 had introduced the Series 10 format, then perhaps machines like Sabretooth wouldn’t have needed to struggle on as limply after being utterly maimed by Aftershock.

Golden Wrenches:

3: Old Guard, New Guard: One of the best things about the reboot for me is how well it struck the balance between new and returning competitors. We saw the likes of Behemoth, Terrorhurtz, Big Nipper and Thor coming back, fully upgraded and putting on some of their best-ever performances. We saw teams return with new machines and new approaches to competing with varying degrees of success (Team Outlaw/Ironside3, Team Big Brother/The Swarm). We saw brand-new entries carve their way into the All-Stars ranks – Carbide, Apollo, Eruption, Concussion, Team Shock, Team Ranglebots, the list goes on - and even those which didn’t reach the Grand Finals still had their own merits. Whether it be through putting on great battles (take Gabriel 2 vs Carbide or Tauron vs Androne 4000, for example), having interesting designs or entertainment value by their side (Bucky the Robot) or simply having fun as their machines get smashed to pieces, many of the new teams felt as much at home as the established faces when they got to show what their robots could do.

2: The Human Touch: While not perfect in the editing department, I must say that watching Series 8-10 made me feel much more engaged with the roboteers, their triumphs and their tribulations than in the original series. Through mixing interviews with VT segments, cutaways to control rooms and an abundance of clips taken from The Pits, it felt as if there was more effort being put into making the audience connect with the teams in and out of the arena. We had laughs, we had tears. We had tactics, tempers, banter and pranks. We had competitors getting tweaked and reassembled, sometimes with the help of others after a complete trashing. And we had a couple of timeless quotes that lived on in the wider robot combat community ("Wait for a good hit!", "She’s up tae speed now, boy!"). I also found the addition of presenter and Judges’ reactions to battles particularly welcome; Angela Scanlon cheering Eruption on in the Series 10 final will always be as memorable to me as the fight itself. Not every clip shown represented the whole story from within The Pits, true, but this approach made Series 8-10 feel more like an ode to robot combat than a typical game show. And for that, I can appreciate those series a lot more than if they simply emulated Series 5-7, like the recent Crystal Maze or Supermarket Sweep revivals did.

1: Series 10: If Robot Wars does ever come back, then the second reboot will have a tall order trying to topple the main Series 10. A medley of spectacular battles, varied entries, delightful camaraderie, ultra-slick pacing and a revamped format that ensured two battles per competitor made for an absolute barnstormer of a UK Championship. On top of this, we got a genuinely compelling title narrative between Carbide and Eruption, a glorious road to redemption for Behemoth, a fun and non-controversial 10 Robot Rumble, and a lot of other memorable moments that are simply too many to count. Rewatched the Grand Final a couple of months ago and it still feels as engaging as the first time. Granted, there were still imperfections – take the World Series or Fog of War, for example – but I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the original series the same way since Series 10 came about. It was that good.

Honourable Mention: Angela Scanlon. Wasn’t sure how to make of her before enjoying one of the documentaries she did before Series 8, but her charisma, presence and enthusiasm really shone through as the reboot went on. From calling Foxic and M.R. Speed Squared "Robot Wimps", to helping with Androne 4000’s repairs following its victory over Tauron, to excitably rooting for Eruption in the Series 10 Final, it felt as if she was genuinely invested in Robot Wars and what it really meant for the teams and fans. To be honest, most of the same things can be said for Dara, though he seemed a lot more understated. I don’t ever remember any of the preceding hosts or pit reporters having this level of involvement, even if they had the same enthusiasm towards the show. Angela, if you’re reading this, I’d be more than happy to see you back for Series 11.