User:ToastUltimatum/Lists

OK, so a lot of users have a crack at making these list pages, so I'll make one of my own.

Top 17 Robots
I wrote this a couple of years ago, and I'm not completely sure how much this holds true nowadays, I may give it a rethink in the future, but here's the current state of the list.

''Honourable mentions: Eruption, ICU, Ripper, Robochicken, Tetanus, Thermidor II, Trazmaniac

Rencudia's Top 5 Robots
Over the past two years, I've been rewatching the whole of Robot Wars from Series 3 onwards with my girlfriend, Rencudia. We've finished Series 6 at this point. It's been a really fun experience, as it's given me a brand-new take on every battle that I've already seen multiple times, and while she knew that some robots would do well due to them having toys in my house, she has no idea who would win each battle. Over this time, she's developed interest in four particular robots. Here's her favourites.

Honourable mentions: Arnold, Arnold Terminegger, Corkscrew, Dantomkia, Gabriel

Top 10 Battles
Well, you have to have one of these too. The lower half of the list is a bit shaky, it's not necessarily accurate, but I'm confident in my Top 6.

Top 10 Biggest Letdowns in Robot Wars
I shall clarify that this list is partially based upon my Top 10 favourite robots, and other users may not care as much as I did about these events.



Robots that could beat Storm II
NOTE: This was written in the context of 2004, not 2016.

Storm II is a robot that is considered by many to essentially be invincible. In fantasy wars, it usually ends up as the winner, and other users on this Wiki find it boring, not because of Mentorn's reasons, but because they too find Storm II to be invincible. Personally I like it quite a bit, but the invincibility deal is hard to deny/ Well, I've had an attempt at thinking which robots could have a good go at beating Storm II. I didn't add Razer at the time of writing, but I think they're capable.

5 Judges Decisions that Could be Different in 2016
In the 2016 series of Robot Wars, the Judging Criteria changed. Throughout the original run, damage was the most important factor, with aggression second, control third, and style fourth. This was altered in 2016, where aggression became the key factor, ahead of damage, in this era where armour holds up a lot better. A positive change if you ask me. The style category was also completely gone. In short, Damage>Aggression>Control>Style became Aggression>Damage>Control. Here's five Judges' decisions from the original series that I think could have been called the other way in 2016.

Honourable mention: Slicer vs. Lizzard

12 Robots that were Cheated
Perhaps a more controversial list, the 12 Robots that were Cheated. The robots will range from minor casualties, decisions you may not agree with me on, and clear mistreatments.

The 5 Robots I'm the Least Inclined Towards
I've worded the title like that specifically because there can never be a robot that I dislike - anything that appeared on Robot Wars has at least some meaning to me, and as you'll read within the list, some of the robots here still had battles, even against each other, that I enjoyed. But even though I don't outright dislike the robots here, I have qualms with all of them, which I'll share with you all.

The Fundamentally Wrong Episode
As much of a Robot Wars fan as I am, there's one episode in the history of it I have to say was simply done wrong, and that was the Seventh Wars Annihilator. So the premise of an Annihilator is to have a large number of robots in the arena at the same time, and to be completely berserk with all sorts of attacks happening at once.

So what was wrong with this one? Five out of the six competing robots were flippers. But flippers are my favourite weapon, are they not? Yes, they are. I love them because they toss robots about, often out of the arena, and they don't significantly damage their opponents; but four out of the five flippers were low pressure, virtually eliminating OotA potential. So basically, rather than seeing a wide variety of attacks all over the place, all you're going to see is weak flips here and there.

Let me go through all of the robots individually, and see if they're justified. Obviously Kan Opener deserves its place, it didn't have a flipper, and it won the previous Annihilator. No complaints here.

The next one is Raging Knightmare. A low pressure flipper, yes, but Raging Knightmare was a good choice, as a robot from Team Knightmare had appeared in two previous annihilators, Raging Knightmare has proven it can still perform an OotA despite the low pressure, and it also represents a Series Semi-Finalist of the same series.

Then there's Ripper. I also feel Ripper was justified, as it was a very good robot that got placed into a difficult heat. The Annihilator gave it a chance to win, and it could toss robots about, so Ripper's allowed too.

Next we have Robochicken, a third flipper, and the only one that wasn't low pressure. Having a third flipper is pushing it a bit, but I'll pass Robochicken, as half of it was supposed to be axe, and it provided comic relief. It was also a surprisingly good robot, and this was another chance to showcase it. Only problem is, it performed poorly. Team Robochicken removed Robochicken's head (a good part of the robot's comic relief) so that the robot could self right, but after it was flipped within 3 seconds, it didn't. So Robochicken disappointed, but it was a fine choice.

So I've just about passed the first four, now the last two spots should be filled with good robots with other weapons, right?

"Nope."

- Chuck Testa

The first one was Ewe 2. Ewe 2 vs. Tetanus Booster was the poorest Judges decision in the history of the show in my opinion, so Ewe 2 maybe deserved a chance to be in another episode, but the Annihilator was essentially full. Ewe 2 was a poor flipper, its blade was about 6cm Squared, and it was against a flat surface. This makes Ewe 2 difficult to flip with effectively, and when it did flip, the flipper was low pressure, so it's going to have minimal effect. Ewe 2 was bound to be outclassed in the Annihilator, the episode had enough similar robots, and if it can't self-right when side stranded, it couldn't possibly win.

And then the final robot. Flippa. Ahem. What. Flippa had one televised battle prior to the Annihilator, where it didn't move an inch after Activate. Flippa had a very strong chance of doing absolutely nothing again, and even if it did work, it would just be another low pressure flipper. As if we don't have enough. In the Annihilator, Flippa moved for a few seconds, made contact with Ewe 2, and then died without doing a thing of any significance. Yet it just about outlasted Robochicken, so that had to go out, and Flippa was to fight in the next round. At least, it was meant to. Flippa did what was expected of it and never even made it to the arena because of mechanical problems. What a waste of time. I understand why Flippa competed, it takes a lot of work to get an American robot to a UK TV studio, and Mentorn didn't want to waste the one they had, but if a foreign flipper is to compete, I'd rather have Scraptosaur.

I also gather that Panic Attack was invited to compete in the Annihilator before the spaces were filled up. While it would make for a nice all-star, it's still not a good choice by me, as it has a lifting mechanism, which is in the same vein as all of these low pressure flippers, and perhaps more importantly, it was going to be competing in the episode afterwards anyway.

Now don't get the wrong impression, some of the battles were entertaining in this episode, yet some of them were also pretty bad. The first to have flaws was the battle that filled in for Flippa's incompetence, the House Robot Rebellion. A great opportunity to flip some house robots that have never been flipped before, and a last chance to see Gravity. Growler gets flipped straight off the bat, great start. The pit is then opened, and Cassius Chrome drives straight into it. The pit is re-raised, which could be criticised, but I think it's fair enough, as the house robots should get a good showcase in this battle. But if Gravity flips Cassius Chrome and puts it back in the pit, that should be the end of it. But nope, the pit is re-raised and Refbot puts Cassius Chrome back on its wheels. Putting Mr. Psycho in the battle was a tad unfair, there's no way Gravity or Behemoth are supposed to be able to beat that. Sir Killalot would have been a better choice in my opinion, as Gravity could flip that and achieve a fate no other robot ever has. But instead, the invincible Mr. Psycho competes. Or so we thought. Mr. Psycho completely broke down at the end, leaving Cassius Chrome to fight alone, But was Cassius Chrome not defeated earlier in the battle? That should mean instant victory for Gravity and Behemoth, yet instead the decision was given to the audience. Why bother? The competitors had already won.

The other battle in the Annihilator that was annoying was the semi-final. Ripper and Kan Opener had an alliance right from the start, what could Raging Knightmare do? It was tag teamed, and defeated easily in a bit of a poor show. At least Kan Opener attacked in the final.

So if I were to improve it, I'd have to replace Ewe 2 and Flippa. If I was aware of how Robochicken would perform, that'd get ditched too, but I obviously couldn't forsee its performance. So here I would like to decide which robots are good candidates to replace Ewe 2 and Flippa.

Firstly, it would be nice to see some action from a seeded robot, and I think 13 Black would be a good choice. Despite being a Top 8 seed and a very damaging machine, 13 Black did next to nothing in the Seventh Wars, so this would be a great opportunity to see it do something. It should be in working order.

Then for the other, there's a few options. I'd like to add a robot that underperformed in the Seventh Wars, so I'll discuss the candidates. Disc-O-Infeno is one, that didn't do nearly as well as it should have, and it would make for a second returning Annihilator champion. Another robot that underperformed in Series 7 was Pinser, a robot which is never appreciated. This could have been put in, though Kan Opener may have been enough in terms of pincers. Maybe Hydra? I know it's another lifting weapon, but it's half axe, and Hydra never got a chance to show its stuff in Series 7, despite it being a potent machine. Scorpion? Jackson Wallop? Barber'Ous 2 'n a Bit? Tetanus Booster? A Team Vader robot? Fluffy? Edge Hog? They missed a lot of options there. My personal pick would be Scorpion, as we all know the power that had, or Edge Hog to represent the overhead weapons.

So I'm not saying Annihilator was a boring episode to watch, it had its moments, but it could have been done so much better.