User blog:NJGW/Robot Wars Missions - Entry 1: Finding machines that are genuinely overrated

In any event that puts multiple people or things into a competitive environment, you'll see fans of those respective fields feel the need to assert their opinion on something relevant to that interest. Sure, calling an athlete 'decent' could be something you firmly believe, but if you want other people to take interest in your opinion you need to be boisterous with it. That's why so many people resort to the terms 'overrated' and 'underrated'. These are two words that are criminally misused, but because virtually everybody misuses them, it becomes the norm for these terms to commonly be used incorrectly, and only with malice. Today, however, we'll try to start righting some of those wrongs, by first pointing out classic examples of machines which are called overrated which aren't, before then beginning our search of trying to identify machines which do truly fall into the 'overrated' category.

Classic misuses of 'Overrated'
Overrated as a word is rather simple: giving something higher value than is warranted. So how do people so often fail to use this word correctly? It's simple - people think that once you label something overrated that it remains overrated forever, and that's exactly how we have machines still being labelled overrated when that is no longer the case:


 * Mortis - one of the classic examples. Back in the day, was Mortis overrated? Yeah. Between Series 1-2 it was a high-end machine which deserved praise, but it was between Series 3-4 when things became unnecessary. In its final two campaigns, Mortis was a machine which was clearly showing its age but still received a pedestal, with defeats to better machines such as Behemoth and Steg 2 still considered shocks. Long after Mortis was retired, people started to fixate on how overrated Mortis truly was. However, this snowballed into a way that the mere mention of Mortis tended to bring the overrated tag. This is where the problem starts: how is Mortis still considered overrated when, on polls or threads of overrated robots, Mortis is always consistently picked? How can a machine be overrated if everybody is picking it as the overrated pick? If the vast majority of people are saying it's overrated, then how is it actually being overrated? This is a typical example of people not realising that the term is flexible, and just because you once call a machine overrated, doesn't mean that can't change. The problem is, people are so determined to have a strong opinion on a machine, that they believe once they label a machine with the 'underrated' or 'overrated' tag that they can never change their opinion, because it will then make themselves look bad for 'changing opinion'. This reluctance to adjust, however, leads to multiple examples of 'overrated' machines being permanently stuck with this tag, even if that tag is long passed its sell-by date...


 * Razer - with Razer, it's more simple. It's one of the most iconic machines in the show's history, so people want to be aggressive with their opinion on it. Because Razer is so often held in high regard, the people that vehemently hate on this machine feel the need to balance out the perceived 'overrating' of this machine by underplaying its power and saying it'd lose to any decent spinner. Arguments like that are one of many that have been ongoing for years concerning Razer, and simply put: Razer is considered overrated by the people that hate on it, but because the people that hate on it often resort to unrealistic arguments - i.e. the people that call Razer overrated can severely underrate it themselves - it means that things balance out in how highly rated Razer really is in general.


 * Spawn Again Series 5/6 - sadly, this one is the plain stupid example of when people are just flat-out wrong in their use of the word. It's one where because 'overrated' is such a strong word, they use it to hate on a machine, even though they're actually using the word completely incorrectly. Spawn Again got to the Semi-Finals and was outclassed at that stage in both series. However, how on earth does that relate to this machine potentially being overrated? Do people say this machine should've got to the Grand Final? No. Do people consistently vote for it in Fantasy Tournaments against better machines? No. Spawn Again in this period has never received any unnecessary praise - it is simply a machine which receives a consistent stream of hate and nothing more. I also have made an effort to highlight this particular misuse of the term 'overrated', because it will prove crucial in the robots I highlight as 'overrated'. If a machine you adore (or even I adore) eventually features on the list, it's not me hating on the machine. I am not calling machines bad when I call them overrated - I am simply saying that these machines are valued higher than they deserve to be in the present day.

''Now, with that in mind, let's try to put together a list shall we? We want to find machines that are genuinely overrated by people, and with reasons as to how and why they are. I'll try to make this list a mixture of my own nominations, as well as ones suggested below. However, as I say, even machines you love can definitely fall into the overrated category, so if one of your personal favourites is one that you logically conclude is in fact overrated, do not shy away from nominating them.''

Nominate away!