User blog comment:RA2/Robot Wars Rankdown: Series 1/@comment-979907-20180213095203

12. Barry - I'm disappointed that Barry made it so high despite Nweston's blog, but I trust that it will rank poorly on everyone's top 12, and only REALI-T deserved to be above it in my opinion. It was a Gauntlet failure and there's nothing more to be said.

11. Cruella - It's a box wedge that self-immolated on a grille, hardly an exciting demise. The only reason anyone remembers it is because Martin Smith drove it and it was a functional design, though I give it credit for wedging Robot the Bruce so well. It's just sad watching it try to score a goal against a house robot who wants you to score, a stock bot that can't go through, and a Deadnaut.

10. Cunning Plan - It was the best of the worst, but I can't rate Cunning Plan above robots it wouldn't beat in a fight.

9. Bodyhammer - A weapon that can't hit anything except a dung beetle, and an unremarkable campaign, had Bodyhammer been defeated in the heats I don't think anyone would be rating it this highly. If anyone says "technical runner-up" I think I might scream.

8. Plunderbird 1 - Was essentially its semi-finalist successor but with an unlucky Gauntlet run. I don't doubt that it would've fared much better in combat.

7. Killertron - One of the "capital W" Weapons of Series 1, along with Mortis and Recyclopse, Killertron's weapon probably couldn't get through everything but it was unmistakably aggressive, not to mention the high drive power and iconic design.

6. T.R.A.C.I.E. - It was remarkable that such an early machine pulled off being invertible, and to have twin spears as effective weapons to beat the clear second best robot in its heat.

5. Nemesis - Heat A was unforgivably stacked, but understandably so considering it was the first episode ever. Nemesis was an absolute brute, beating Shunt in the Sumo so humiliatingly that the show had to edit the order, it came first in the Sumo and wasn't even immobilised in the fight but the show was uneasy with a robot on fire (twenty years later, Rapid and Big Nipper's nuclear meltdowns only evoke laughter).

4. Robot the Bruce - Here we are at one of the "Big Two" that I mentioned in my blog on Roadblock's effectiveness in Group Battles. Undoubtedly a threat for the title, it outpushed Dead Metal, was nimble enough to turn tight corners in a tiny soccer arena, and absolutely slayed Wedgehog in one of the most decisive heat finals of all time.

3. Mortis - Mortis is such an easy pick for top-tier because of its Capital W weapon, and a list like this is probably how it ended up seeded second in Series 2. That being said, I just can't vote for it over Recyclopse, regardless of the handicap in the heat final, it lost fair and square from lack of aggression and spending half the heat final trapped on spikes.

2. Reclyclopse - Huge props to this robot for being so darn original, aesthetically novel and effective. Just like Nemesis, Recyclopse broke ground by flipping a house robot in just its first episode!

1. Roadblock. I have nothing to say about Roadblock. Its one of the best robots of all time relative to the time period. It's incredibly effective, tactical and entertaining.