User:Datovidny/Lists

I had various lists before, but I thought I'd have them deleted and have another crack at it once I'd sparked a bit of wisdom.

Robot Wars Awards
After reading a lot of the lists from other users, they seem to focus a lot on the negative aspects of Robot Wars history, but I don't think that's right, whilst it's considerably easier to list all the things we wished would happen on Robot Wars that didn't happen, I want to thank the best TV show of my childhood by celebrating its greatest bits. I begin with the Robot Wars awards, where I'll go through the awards individually, listing those robots that were deserving of each award throughout their career.

Most Original Entry
The Most Original Entry Award was for those robots that may not have had designs that set the warzone on fire, but they did do one thing that something on a TV Entertainment show always should, they captured our imaginations. We wouldn't forget the moments when we first saw these robots, making them all legends in their own right. Some near misses for this category include Nemesis and Wizard.

12. Milly-Ann Bug While I'm sure the design was based on an insect, or "bug", it still reminds me of a train, especially since it was originally going to have three domes instead of just two. Whilst Milly-Ann Bug may have been overshadowed by Razer in its first appearance, it was still quite a wacky design for Series 2, with its flammable hair and unique method of hauling around its arse, compare it with the generic designs that dominated the Series 2 line-up. Milly-Ann Bug was rightly awarded with the Most Original Entry trophy in Series 2, and the team managed to make the robot even more distinguishable by giving it the funky green, yellow and brown paint scheme, these days, you look at the colours of camouflage, and then just brighten the texture, you can't help but see Milly-Ann Bug. It could be seen as quite odd to place an actual winner of the award so low on the list, but Series 3-7 would yet see even more original designs...

11. Wowot Even the name of this one was original. Wowot, based on a crane, built looking like a part of an assembly line at a Car Plant, was original in the fact that the weapon pretty much was the robot, it stood out so much, and was an original weapon in itself. When Wowot first entered the arena, the thoughts going through most viewers was probably along the lines of "great design, but I bet it doesn't work". However, we couldn't have been more wrong, Wowot, in its only UK appearance, proved to actually have quite a bit of potential in battle, even though it was faced with Lambsy, a foe that was just the right shape. It was such a shame to see it go out in Round 1, Wowot is a fairly difficult robot to remember amongst the rest of Adam Clark's machines, but only because it wasn't given anywhere near the amount of time on screen it deserved, this the main reason it's given a low ranking on the list. Nonetheless, a great design, a good attempt to have an all-rounder for Robot Wars and various Techno Games events.

10. The Kraken Jayne Middlemiss said that it was "one of" the most scary-looking robots that she had seen "today", I would like to argue that it was "the" most scary-looking robot that I'd seen "throughout" Robot Wars. I'll be honest, after beginning watching Robot Wars in Series 3, and watching pretty much every episode that followed, The Kraken was the only robot that when it entered the arena, I actually gulped and felt nervous. Everything about its design made it look frightening, its svelt sculpted body, finished off in "Dark Forest" balck, with a large "Walk of Terror" wedge, at the end of which stood a large claw that came down so quickly, underneath which was a very sharp and heavy-looking claw, that looked like it would take no prisoners. However, the ironic thing was that the robot never actually looked that potent on screen, so we were expecting a Thermidor 2 victory in the second round anyway. In fairness, the hydraulic claw did cause a scrape on Cobra's tough titanium shell. A rightful place on the list then, the robot that for probably the first time since Razer stepped into the ring, immediately looked as scary as the show tried to be.

9. Crushtacean Now, it's quite obvious why Crushtacean's on the list, I could talk for ages about every aspect of the robot, but the main reason is: "its claws were clever". Joking aside though, the weaponry was designed very intelligently, and from memory I can't think of any other robot that had its weapons controlled in such a manner. The design itself was also fairly original, I think the closest other robot we had to a crab was the lobster Thermidor 2, the other tiny details, like the curved top and bottom, the circular base, and the hugely exposed wheels also helped in making the robot look quite original and quite distinctive. However, the reason it hasn't been placed any higher on the list is that the main thing that stood out for us about the whole robot was the weapon setup, which overshadows every other aspect of the robot, and while that may look good for us, it wouldn't have come clear to the audience in the studio, and everything aside, it's a technical thing, which kind of defeats the object of the award. Full marks for the design of the robot though, potent weaponry and perfect distance between the claws made it a good robot as well as original.

8. 13 Black After watching Hypno-Disc in the arena, causing tremendous damage to everyone, it didn't take many Robot Wars fans long to wonder what it would be like to shove two spinning discs on the same robot, we were first introduced to this "crazy" concept in Series 5, with the appearances of 13 Black and Shredder, Shredder didn't appear that potent, and was off the screen very quickly by driving into the pit, which leaves us with 13 Black, a funky and colourful design, discs aside, and it was unfortunate against Corkscrew, and because of its early departure in this series, it's very easy to forget that 13 Black was even in Series 5. However, Series 6 came around, and 13 Black returned, looking hugely more dangerous with its enormous discs, even though it had pretty much no pedigree at all, and it was going in up against big favourites Thermidor 2 and Stinger, 13 Black was still seen as one to watch, and didn't disappoint, as it sailed through Rounds 1 and 2 without breaking sweat, and then swinging it against Stinger in the Heat Final. It was the large discs that made 13 Black very distinctive, full stop. They may not have done quite as much damage in their battles as we would've thought by looking at it, but it was always one to fear from Series 6 onwards, and in Series 7 made a name for itself as "THE" spinner to watch out for, making it truly an Original Entry.

7. Twn Trwn Perhaps a wee but fortunate to be this high on the list, Twn Trwn was a terrific design, it was far from the Best Design, because the main priorities of the robot were that it had artwork coming out of every orifice, and was as big as its cost in pennies, though at only £200 it was probably bigger.......never mind. Thank goodness that the team chose the artwork over the snowplough, I doubt it would've looked anywhere near as good, and I bet it still would've died after one blow from Tridents' axe. For me, every square inch of Twn Trwn was more aesthetically pleasing and more original than the whole of most robots that ever competed, though it may have just looked better next to a robot with only one shade of colour. Such a shame to see the artwork trashed at the end, but how great it was to see such a mad looking robot, in what probably was quite a dull heat otherwise in terms of robots competing.

6. Fat Boy Tin A robot that really stole the scene for a while, Fat Boy Tin certainly came in at a time in the series where we were seeing a few too many generic designs from the middle heats. Fat Boy Tin definitely classes as an Original Entry for the fact that it technically wasn't original at all, it had taken its design from robots that had been fighting decades prior, just not in Robot Wars. Looks aside, it was also quite a size, also making it quite original, it was the tallest competitor that had ever competed at the time, so it certainly stood out, even when it was next to Sir Killalot, and it would go on to be the tallest competitor ever, for a whole.....1 episode. Despite our lack of faith in it, Fat Boy Tin was actually a fairly competent robot, a powerful and fairly quick robot with a wedge, but it looked bad getting outfoxed by Plunderbird 4 in a matter of moments. Despite not staying the tallest ever, we will always remember the not at all original Fat Boy Tin.

5. Wheely Big Cheese Any user on the wiki familiar with me will not be surprised to see me try and seek Wheely Big Cheese into the list. My all-time favourite, bar none, I'm afraid to say it. From the very moment I first saw it in the arena, I knew it would take something very very very special to switch my preferences from this, it never happened. I loved Wheely Big Cheese for its sheer design lunacy, the robot was basically one big weapon, with two huge red wheels bolted onto the side. The wheels themselves were original, bright red, and using sharpened golf shoe studs for grip instead of tyres. However, the weapon was the main attraction, after seeing Chaos 2 monster Series 3 with its flipper, anyone would look at Wheely Big Cheese, with its gigantic flipper, that was technically double-sided, and expect unprecedented anarchy. In fairness, we got a fair spectical in its Series 4 heat, but we were yet to see it at its peak in Series 5. I'm saddened to think that on several occasions, such as the Series 5 Semi-Finals and the All-Star Quarter Finals, when it could've performed really well and maybe caused an upset or two, it suffered one way or another and didn't deliver. Its reliability proved that it was far from the perfect robot, and its exposed wheels proved that it was far from the Best Design, but it was a design that definitely made it distinctive and impressive, a shame then that it was a design only ever "kind of" replicated by St. Agro.

4. Razer Three numbers up, I labelled Twn Trwn as being controversially high, but here I find myself looking at the great Razer being controversially low at number 4. First things first, it's certainly deserving of a top 4 slot, the weapon was the robot basically, with some tiny wheels and mediocre armour finishing it all off. There isn't really much to say about the rest of the robot, the sole reason that we even remember Razer was its weapon. As the robot stepped into the arena in Series 2, the claw just looked like a bodybuilder's arm, with strength to match, an original weapon in itself which proved particularly against Inquisitor that it could render anything scrap metal. So for Series 3, we knew what to expect, and it never really lost its damage potential, from Series 2 right to Extreme 2 it just seemed to be able to pierce through absolutely everything. The design really made its mark in Series 3, whilst in Series 2 it was just a wedge with a large "curved bit of metal raised high" (because the claw hadn't been invented yet), in Series 3, when it had those wings, it really did look like part bird, reptile. Razer was clearly an original design, as it would inspire many crushers to enter the later series, but all of them would be dubbed "Razer-clones" or "Razer-esque", Ming 3 and Tiberius 3 in particular facing most of the criticism. This harsh dubbing proved that Razer in fact "WAS" the vertical crusher, meaning it was truly an original robot. However, I can't find it in myself to put Razer any higher up on the list, this may sound a bit odd, but I just don't think it ever really got put in front of me that it was an original robot. I started watching Robot Wars in Series 3, so I was told before its battle with Backstabber that it was a really good robot by Philippa and Jonathan, so I never really got the chance to be amazed by a new robot that electrified the arena with its capabilities. Sorry lads, if I'd just been watching a year earlier, I would've been impressed by Razer even more and it may have even reached number 1.

3. Hypno-Disc Hypno-Disc in many respects is on the list for the same sort of reasons as Razer, it was a design that was defined truly by the weapon, and as it went into its second series, we all knew what to expect, especially after the addition of a srimech, since it lost previously for not having one. However, there are a few things that put Hypno-Disc higher up than Razer. Firstly, something that I stated for Razer, I started watching Robot Wars in Series 3, so I first saw Hypno-Disc when nobody really knew what this robot was, and what the weapon would do, but as I watched it tear Robogeddon limb from limb, I was gob-smacked, and I was almost equally impressed when it tore apart Stealth, disabling the pneumatic rams completely. Another reason that Hypno-Disc goes higher, it did cause a lot more damage, Razer would create fairly big holes, holes about the size of two axe hits from Shunt, which could be seen almost every battle after a robot died, but Hypno-Disc ripped its first two opponents apart nut from bolt, much more theatrical, much more original to see. Hypno-Disc was one of a kind for a very long time, spinners may have come in Series 4 and 5, but until 13 Black in Series 6 it looked like Hypno-Disc was the only one capable to doing any damage to all, destroying many a foe from Series 4-5, including The Predator, V-Max, Raizer Blade twice, Splinter, Ming 3, and not forgetting Atomic, whilst also causing a fair amount of damage to others besides. As a result of its prowess, whilst every spinner that followed wasn't dubbed a "Hypno-clone", it was always the benchmark for new spinners to look up to, and I remember Jonathan Pearce mistakenly calling Disc-O-Inferno "Hypno-Disc" at one point during the Extreme 1 Annihilator. In short, Hypno-Disc: to quote Philippa Forrester; "One of the most original, if not THE most original".....Well, number 3 at least.

2. Stinger Most of the robots in this list have been listed because of their weapon making up the robot, with Stinger, its the wheels making up the robot. As it made its mark in Series 3, Stinger certainly set the series off to a good start by performing as maniacally as possible. Stinger was original for so many reasons, that it required just the wheels and the body to go, the fact that it had everything mechanical hidden in its wheels, that its wheels were extremely huge, and that despite not being powered by anything but torque-reaction, it had one of the most punishing axes in the warzone. Even the small details, like the axe head being an odd and intriguing shape, and the tyres appeared different from the norm, they made Stinger even more different from the rest. Of course Stinger was going to be a revolution, even in Series 4 Jonathan Pearce made a meal of how insane the robot was, and it wasn't even its debut series. Admittedly, quite a few robots with a similar design entered Series 3, but Stinger was the most interesting, and would be the only one to continue afterwards, to adopt the basic concept as its own. There were many robots that had a particular type of weapon making them original, but it's difficult to find a robot more original than Stinger, which will always be remembered by Robot Wars fans.

So...the winner is...

1. Psychosprout You may argue, or you may just plain disagree, but for me, you can't get more original than the only robot that looked at the wheel as a concept and thought: "........No". Psychosprout had no weapons, it was made with layers upon layers of paper mache, it was the only robot to literally read the child's guide to robot-building by having a shell on top of an un-tampered RC car, and it had no wheels touching the arena floor. Psychosprout was fantastic, and a great concept to see, though whilst most robots were designed for Robot Wars, Psychosprout was designed really for something in Techno Games, can't think what though. It was certainly original next to pretty much everything else in Series 1, like Uglybot, Full Metal Anorak, Shogun, Scrapper and Leighbot...the list could go on. For that alone, Psychosprout is probably deserving of the number 1 slot, that it REALLY stood out amongst the generic stuff from the time. However, Psychosprout didn't really inspire any other roboteers to copy the basic concept, which is unsurprising, I doubt it was at all competent in the Arena, but it did inspire one person....me. I'm in the process of creating a robot with a paper mache sphere for a body, with a wire mesh and basic controls inside, which shall be named Rollerbot, named as such as when finished it will resemble this guy from the Guildhall Leisure game. There isn't really much more to say about this one, it hardly defined Robot Wars' history like Hypno-Disc and Razer, but I feel it came from the best ingenuity.

More awards to come later.