User:Combatwombat555/Lists

Top 15 Robots
Seeing as I've posted my list of favourite robots on Jimlaad's page, and a lot of them are perhaps a bit more unusual, I thought I'd put a list together explaining exactly why. Although some of them will be little more than 'I don't know really'.

To Be Continued
 * Razer- I've explained this already, mainly that it was the first robot I ever saw fight, and the engineering that went into making it was amazing, and the sheer level of damage it could do. And, to be honest, it looked awesome too. But I know most people either love or hate Razer, and you haven't come here for fanboying, so I'll move on.
 * Diotoir- Diotoir was a robot that I started watching Robot Wars a little too late- the Semi Finals of series 5 onwards- to catch, and I only saw the Tag Team Terror model which didn't exactly last long. Since then though, Diotoir's become on of my favourites mainly for the team, both the humour and the sportsmanship. And the robot wasn't bad too, twice heat finalist and more, powerful and dogged... AND IT DOES HAVE MULTIPLE FLIPS.
 * Bigger Brother- Bigger Brother was another of the first robots I saw fight really, in the Grand Final against Hypno Disc, the first time I had seen either of them fight, and I remember thinking that Bigger Brother was a little bit screwed after a minute or two. But it just wouldn't die, and then it pulled off that amazing comeback victory. Some people don't like it because it prevented the fight everyone wanted in Razer vs Hypno-Disc, but I just think it was incredible to pull that off. And then in the next series, when I actually saw it fight properly, I liked it even more.
 * Typhoon 2- This might be the most controversial on the list, but despite the Grand Final controversy, I really like it. The swathe of destruction it cut through the heat, battering Hammerhead and Iron-Awe, meant that I was rooting for it to win the series. Being a bloodthirsty 8 year old at the time probably had something to do with it. I do think Bigger Brother may have beaten it if it hadn't been for Iron-Awe flipping it out though, but I won't begrudge them a bit of luck.
 * Firestorm- Ah, Firestorm. It just kept going and going, getting better and better. Graham Bone's driving was pretty phenomenal, and the weapon was great too. Managing to get 7 OotA flips with a front-hinged flipper? That demonstrates some brilliant design. It's just a shame the team only managed to win 1 thing in the 5 series it was entered for, Firestorm certainly deserved more.
 * Eric- Eric is the first of the more unusual robots on the list, and to be honest I'm not that sure why I like it. The name probably has something to do with it; one of the most unaggressive names possible, and that's probably the point. The design was good too, especially for the series it entered: slanted sides to ward off axes and crushers, a srimech hidden away, and a pretty decent weapon, the lifter and jaw combination. Honestly, I think it could have been a semi-finalist in series 4, and maybe, just maybe, a Grand Finalist in series 3 if it hadn't driven in against King Buxton, although that would have required a rather large slice of luck.
 * Big Nipper- Big Nipper, especially the series 7 model, is hugely underrated in my opinion. That lifter and horizontal crusher combination is, quite frankly, genius, and the hard armour and invertibility meant it really couldn't be stopped easily. It was really entertaining to watch too, lifting, slamming, grappling... I thought it was unlucky not to beat The Grim Reaper, I wouldn't have liked to have made that very tight judges' decision.
 * Robochicken- Who, honestly, doesn't like Robochicken? It did start out as a joke robot, granted, but the engineering behind it must have been pretty sound, it survived being Razer's main focus whilst Velocirippa crashed out, and whilst it wasn't very successful for series 5 and 6, it was at least entertaining and put up a good fight. Then the chicken evolved! Managing to flip over B.O.D. (granted, not a colossal achievement) and Mega Morg, and take Tough As Nails to the wire, it really showed to be a fun robot that could fight well too. Great team, a great flipper, and I think if it hadn't been pierced by Tough As Nails in the last minute or so of the heat final, it'd have got that decision.
 * Gravity- Wow. Just, wow. That flipper was insane. Even now when I watch YouTube clips of Gravity, there's still something about a robot that can launch another that high and that far. And I know that Wheely Big Cheese's flipper was arguably better, and it probably was, but I didn't see Wheely Big Cheese's heat in series 5, I only started watching Robot Wars from Razer's semi-final, so I didn't see that flip until years later. Also, Gravity took on the House Robots, and dominated them. It was such a massively entertaining robot to watch fight.
 * Anarchy- To be honest, I never really saw the point of walkers when I was first watching Robot Wars. I watched it a little sporadically, I ended up missing a few heats, and Anarchy's was one of them, so the first walker I ever saw fight was RT-81. So, I wasn't massively impressed (despite wanted RT-81 to win that fight, purely as the underdog). I do remember watching Drillzilla on the Razer DVD, but again, it was outclassed there (and it's not a true walker really). However, then I heard about Anarchy, saw the heat, and was hugely impressed. That was the first walker I saw that just worked. That in itself made it a favourite of mine. And it had awesome weaponry too! Maybe it could have beaten Tornado too, if the weapons had been used to maximum effect. That axe could certainly have gone through the top.

12 Least Favourite Robots
And the other end of the scale… To Be Continued
 * Tornado- I don't think many people are going to like this, but to be absolutely honest, this dates from the Series 6 Grand Final. And again, to be honest, at the time I genuinely thought the team had cheated because it couldn't fit in the pit. You'll be pleased to know that I no longer hold the second opinion, it did fit, and if Razer could have let go with the wheels suspended over the pit, it would have won. However, impressions are hard to shake. The other main problem I have with Tornado is almost that it was too successful. The amount of times it took out machines that I considered much more entertaining- Anarchy, Gravity, Hypno-Disc, Firestorm, even Gemini to a certain extent- meant that it denied the opportunity for some really entertaining match ups. Hypno-Disc vs Anarchy? Gravity vs Storm 2 (admittedly a foregone conclusion, but it would have been fun to watch)? A Dominator 2/Firestorm rematch? In addition, some people might say that Tornado's design is boring, and to be honest, I share that sentiment a little, but like it or loathe it, a ramming box is effective. Whenever I make a robot on Extreme Destruction, it pretty much always turns out as a rammer, because that's the easiest way to win. So I can see why the team went with Tornado's design, and I don't blame them for it. However, their tactics were quite dull too. Storm 2 was a rammer, but it launched other robots across the arena. Tornado just repeatedly charged. It doesn't repel me as much as it did, and I will watch Tornado fights, but it's still the least liked out of all on Robot Wars for me.
 * Cassius Chrome- I've pretty much explained this one further up. Ineffective weaponry on a machine that's supposed to do damage, and at the most basic level is supposed to be entertaining? Yeah… Although maybe the designers were running out of ideas, they had an axe, a flamethrower, a flywheel, about five crushing/grabbing weapons, a circular saw, and a great big hammer. The only weapon I can really think of that's not there is a flipper, but series 7 was flipper overload anyway. Still, there were probably more effective house robot designs that Cassius Chrome.
 * Wharthog- Wharthog was a robot that never really grabbed my attention. The first series I looked up on YouTube was, well, the first series, and Heat E was one of the more entertaining. Designs like Psychosprout, Full Metal Anorak, Torque of the Devil… All entertaining designs. The only blight on the heat was Wharthog. Kind of generic, no weapons besides a couple of spikes, nothing special. This wouldn't have been enough to place it third on this list without something else, though: it performed really rather badly. It lost because the wedge buckled and it got pinned to floor, hardly a great performance, and hardly demonstrating great engineering. And then the driver stormed off because he didn't want to talk to Clarkson. Perhaps a little understandable, but it hardly paints you in the best light.
 * Aggrobot- This one again dates back to when I was younger and really liked Razer. I was given the Ultimate Warrior Collection for a birthday or Christmas or whatever, and that was how I first saw Razer's early wars, including its malfunction against Aggrobot. Razer had caused huge damage to Aggrobot, looked well on course to win, and then the crusher jammed open. However, if that had been it, I would have had no major problem: for example, if I was sore about every robot that defeated Razer, the clever and destructive Pussycat would feature here. Not so. What annoyed me was how whenever Aggrobot was mentioned on screen from then on, it always seemed to be accompanied by an anecdote that it 'defeated the great Razer in the past'. It didn't, Razer beat itself! Plus, Aggrobot never seemed to evolve as such into a good machine, it was always a little mediocre for me, with little effective weaponry: the first incarnation was fair enough, it was their first machine, and there were far worse robots in Series 3 (although was the tongue really a weapon?). Series 4's machine looked sleeker and more effective, so again, fair enough. From then on, things went downhill: I don't think that pincer ever did any damage, and that lifter never managed to overturn anything either. An overrated, basic design that never got better then, so not a great favourite of mine.
 * B.O.D.- Oh dear. A plastic robot, with a high ground clearance and ineffective weapon. Admittedly, Agent Orange, a robot in my list of favourites, had a plastic shell, but that was, as the team said, to get in 'lots of big nasty weapons'. And it worked to a certain extent, Agent Orange didn't have lots of success but it had a lot better weaponry than most other robots in Series 3, I think with a bit of luck it could have at least made the semi-finals, in another heat. B.O.D.... didn't. It had a blade that could have done pretty much no damage to any armour. If B.O.D. had entered in an early series, I could have let it slide, but Series 7? Where robots like Tsunami, Gravity, Atomic, Typhoon 2, Storm 2 and so on were dominating the arena? No. It was little more than cannon fodder.