Forum:March Madness- Robot Wars Wiki determines the BEST episode of UK Robot Wars

Forums: Index > March Madness - The Best Episode of UK Robot Wars > March Madness- Robot Wars Wiki determines the BEST episode of UK Robot Wars

Hi team, back in January a few of us discussed arranging a tournament to determine the best episode of UK Robot Wars. This has been teased before in tournaments like Ragnabattle, blogs like Rusty Spanner, and in general Nick and Toast commentary throughout. But whilst everyone will discuss favourite bots and fights, no one has ever determined the best episode of Robot Wars.

Now that it's March, we're going to have what we call a March Madness tournament. This involves a bracket of 32 shortlisted episodes, seeded based on expectations, and then we run inwards, voting in 4 x 1v1 clashes at a time until we have our final four, then final two, and then final 1.

A number of us have shortlisted 24 of our 32 candidates. We will then have a write-in vote for everyone to submit 5 choices of their own. With the 24 objectively not in dispute, the remaining 8 spots will definitely be quite varied and it will be fascinating to see which episodes make our top 32.

There will be NO judges in this tournament as it is simply a matter of personal preference and I do not want to sully the waters with one person's preference taking precedent over another's for arbitrary reasons. If we have a tie, we will wait until the tie is broken.

I am posting the rules below and will set a discussion area and a voting area. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 05:18, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Rules

• UK Robot Wars only - Series 1-10 and Extreme 1-2.
  • Episodes of Extreme 1 are eligible as EPISODES - not tournaments
• Commentary, narrative, interviews and antics are all fair game in liking an episode. Battle quality does not have to be the sole factor.
• This will NOT be a traditional arena tournament - it is open to all users, regardless of edit count.
• I will allow a fairly decent amount of time for updates - probably twice a week.

The Candidates

SEEDS

1. Series 10, Grand Final (1)
2. Series 5, Grand Final (2)
3. Series 10, Heat B (Carbide) (3)
4. The First World Championship (4)
5. Series 4, Semi-Final A (Chaos 2 and Pussycat) (5)
6. Series 8, Grand Final (6)
7. Series 5, Heat H (Wheely Big Cheese) (7)
8. Extreme 2, All-Stars Heat A (Firestorm 4) (8)
9. Series 5, Semi-Final A (Bigger Brother and Razer) (9)
10. Series 8, Heat D (Apollo) (10)
11. Series 7, Heat D (Gravity) (11)
12. Series 4, Southern Annihilator (Razer) (12)
13. Series 8, Heat A (Carbide) (13)
14. Series 7, Heat F (X-Terminator) (14)
15. Series 9, Heat A (Aftershock) (15)
16. Series 1, Heat A (Roadblock) (16)

UNSEEDED

1. Series 4, Northern Annihilator (Spikasaurus)
2. Extreme, Episode 10 (4 x All-Star fights - Chaos 2 v WBC, Firestorm 3 v Wild Thing, Behemoth v Razer, Tornado v Pussycat - as well as Steel Avenger's Mayhem)
3. Series 6, Heat J (Dominator 2)
4. Extreme 2, Challenge Belt
5. Series 7, Heat A (M2)
6. Series 7, Semi-Final A (Tornado and X-Terminator)
7. Series 7, Semi-Final B (Storm 2 and Typhoon 2)
8. Series 9, Heat B (Eruption)
9. Series 10, Heat A (Behemoth) (Write-in)
10. Series 4, Heat B (Pussycat) (Write-in)
11. Extreme 2, All-Stars B (Write-in)
12. Extreme 2, Annihilator (Write-in)
13. Series 7, Heat I (Storm 2) (Write-in)
14. Series 3, Heat E (Chaos 2) (Write-in)
15. Series 6, Heat D (S3) (Write-in)
16. Extreme 2, Commonwealth Carnage (Write-in)

The Seeds are now finalised. I've prioritised the episodes widely considered among the best, and have given priority to prestige or landmark episodes (finals or series openers) wherever there is a conflict. I've shoehorned in a Series 9 and Series 1 episode at 15 and 16 because that way every series in the pre-selected 24 has a seeded representation. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 23:02, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

The Write-ins

• You may select FIVE (5) episodes to write-in.
• Your number 1 vote is worth TWO (2) votes. 2-5 are worth one vote apiece.
• When writing in, please put a list and mark your number 1 vote in BOLD, and then sign.

Write-in section

Diotoir

I'll try and dedicate mine to "one per series" or at least one for these five choices :P I will be a bit more objective as opposed to subjective (I mean my personal favourites would include some Series 3 episodes!)

• Series 4 Grand Final - Chaos 2
• Extreme 1 Episode 7 (Annihilator 1) - Pussycat
• Series 6 Heat F - 13 Black
• Extreme 2 Annihilator - Kan Opener
• Series 3 Heat E - Chaos 2

Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 10:14, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

ThatRedOtter

I'm in the Arena! Hi Mum! Okay all joking aside it was very hard to pick 5 episodes but we think we're here!

• Series 10 Heat A - Behemoth
• Series 7 Annihilator - Kan-Opener
• Series 4 Heat B - Pussycat
• Extreme 1 Episode 7 (Annihilator 1) - Pussycat
• Extreme 2 Annihilator - Kan-Opener
• Series 10 Heat D - Nuts 2

User:ThatRedOtter 10:37, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Toon Ganondorf

• Series 3, Heat M (Scutter's Revenge) - Contains only appearance of Oluremi Idris. Has the Plunderstorm chant. Incredibly notable moment with Pussycat's blade. Memorable KOs on Hammerhead, Dundee, Zeus and Thermador, as well as Cassius 2's downfall. Also contains the hysterical Walker battle between Mammoth and Arachnid.
• Series 1, Heat F, inclusive of S1 Grand Final (T.R.A.C.I.E./Roadblock)
• Extreme 2, Tag Team Terror (Bulldog Breed/Robochicken)
• Series 7, Annihilator (inclusive of House Robot Rebellion) (Kan-Opener)
• Series 7, All-Stars (Pussycat)
• Series 3, Heat N - If I can't have Scutter's Revenge, I'll take John Reid's self-pitting episode which is pretty full of antics too
• Series 4, Heat B - This was on my personal shortlist and I'm happy to put it in.
• Series 7, Heat M - I was going to include this as well, but changed it out.

Toon Ganondorf (t c) 10:42, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

O Raz3r O

• Series 6 Heat A (Razer) - Two of the best melees from Series 6 can be found in this episode, whilst Raging Reality vs Tetanus 2 has the Refbot falling into the pit and some brilliant JP commentary. We also get introduced to Mr. Psycho and Growler in this episode, Razer got a brief scare against Cyrax and put on a great display in the heat final.
• Series 4 Heat B (Pussycat) - Lots of damage in every battle, and both fights before the heat final were great entertainment. Razer's fight against Milly-Ann Bug was hilarious, Pussycat tore into everything, just a really good, all-round episode.
• Extreme 2 Annihilator (Kan-Opener) - Perhaps the most consistent Annihilator, for me, outside of Series 4, and also had the swansong of the bumper car Major Tom as well as a pitting in the final with less than five seconds of the fight left
• Series 7 Heat N (Raging Knightmare) - Two melees I myself rate very highly, even if others might not sing their praises quite as much. Spawn Again vs R.O.C.S. is an incredibly good fight that slips under the radar against faster, more frantic and destructive S7 fights, and the heat final really was explosive, wasn't it?
• Series 7 Annihilator + House Robot Rebellion (Kan-Opener) - the first round has Ripper cleaning up half of the field and toying with the remaining two, the second round is packed with frenzied attacks and an exciting finish, the third round has a lot of visual appeal, and while the final isn't the strongest, this episode also has the thoroughly enjoyable House Robot Rebellion fight with Gravity and Behemoth too.

Raz3r(talk) 11:09, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Jimlaad43

• Series 6, Heat C (Dantomkia's heat) - Contains 3 OotA's, a dominant rookie and arguably one of the more iconic KO's of an All-Star, with the master of flippers, Chaos 2, being flipped out.
• Series 7, Heat O (Typhoon 2's heat) - Big stories with Bigger Brother being flipped out and Typhoon 2 destroying two robots after a dodgy first round. It also contained the exciting Dutch qualifier with Tough As Nails scoring a couple of stylish pittings.
• Series 3, Heat H (Hypno-Disc's heat) - I may be a major criticiser of Series 3, but Heat H was definitely the most iconic, with Ypno-Disc's debut being so scary for everyone involved.
• Extreme 2 Commonwealth Carnage - Mr Psycho got flipped, Firestorm won a trophy, Mr Psycho got flipped, OotA's happened, Mr Psycho got flipped, Crushtacean did some fantastic driving to dispose of Corkscrew and Mr Psycho got flipped. It may have appeared only at No.26 on my Side-Competitions ranking, but that's because it had other issues that the fights and narrative made up for to make a good episode.
• Series 5, Heat C (S3's heat) - S3 showed its class, got run close by Mousetrap and defeated three former Semi-Finalists. Plunderbird were in it, a hippo was smashed up, an OotA and lots of destruction.
  

• Series 7, Heat I (Storm 2) - I have 4 battles which are on 3 votes, so not wanting to promote any others, I'm going to scratch my one vote to try and guarantee a 4 vote tournament gets a 5th and definitely goes through. Heat I was definitely 6th on my list before writing this up, so I am not too disheartened to change to this.

Jimlaad43(talk) 11:16, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

VulcansHowl

• Series 10, Heat A/Heat 1 (Behemoth) – An outstanding redemption for one of the show’s longest-running machines, making up for years of misfortune and a humiliating defeat in Series 9. Also contains dominant victories from a rejuvenated Apollo, new machines with flashes of promise (Donald Thump, The Swarm, Apocalypse) and the only appearance of ballistic floor missiles.
• Series 10, Heat E/Heat 5 (Magnetar) – Best remembered for a spectacular debut run from Magnetar, along with an abundance of comical and charming moments in and out of the arena. Perhaps one of the best episodes for banter and behind-the-scenes insight, especially when the cameras focus on Brentwood School and Team S.Tek.
• Series 3, Heat E (Chaos 2) – A commanding debut run from Chaos 2, culminating in a famous Heat Final against an equally-dominant Big Cheese. Solid victories from Anorakaphobia and Sonic, plus The Big Cheese’s attack on Sgt. Bash, also help to make this one of the most memorable episodes from the entirety of Series 3.
• Series 2, Heat G (Roadblock) – Contains some of the most competitive Gauntlet and Trial runs in the first two series. Stand-out performances from Killerhurtz and Onslaught in Skittles almost result in returning champion Roadblock being eliminated. Oh, and don’t forget about Team Nemesis, either...
• Extreme 2, Annihilator (Kan-Opener) – A balanced, entertaining and fairly destructive Annihilator, not least due to the presence of machines like Thermidor 2 and the ‘bumper car’ incarnation of Major Tom. Topped off by a tense and closely-fought final round, where Kan-Opener achieves a skilful pitting with seconds to spare!

VulcansHowl 12:45, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

ToastUltimatum

• Extreme 2, All-Stars Heat B (Razer) - This was on the shortlist for the original 25 until we had to cull it down to a 24 and this one was removed via executive decision. Nevertheless I feel it deserves its place very much so, containing unexpected scares for Razer throughout, six whole fights between high quality machines, and the ludicrously fun 13Black vs Dominator II.

• Series 6, Heat D (S3) - Every fight here is wonderful. The GBH 2 melee is famously loved, the S3 melee saw Shredder take an unexpected lead despite losing its disc in dramatic fashion, Sir Chromalot creates pure comedy while trying to lead S3 into the pit, Shredder takes a highly curious and very close win over The Alien, and Shredder showcases its indomitable spirit by never giving up despite S3 tearing it up. I’d be gutted if this didn’t make it in.

• Series 4, Heat B (Pussycat) - All five fights were notable for destruction from two very well-known machines

• Series 7, Heat I (Storm II) - I’ll throw Nick a bone. TOAST 21:36, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

• Series 5, Heat C (S3) - Agreeing with Jimlaad here, S3 episodes really were fantastic.

Naturally Series 10 Heat 1 is essential but that has already safely qualified. TOAST 13:59, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Harry Stormer

• Extreme 2 Commonwelath Carnage : Mr Psyhco flipped, Firestorm winning a trophy, a grudge match & brilliant underrated robots (apart from Bondi Titch)

• Series 10 Word Series Episode 1: The return of "Diotoir", a floor hitting contest, the rival of the battle music, Cobra & TMHWK showing what they can do & the first ever gyro self-right (I believe)

• Series 10 Heat 4: An awesome Tauron, Iron Awe, Somerset's fame, The Kegs being killed twice & a controversial but classic fight.

• Series 5 Semi-Final 2: A battle of yellow, Firestorm vs Pussycat & many dream match ups

• Series 3 Heat H: Hypno-disc's destruction & JP's commentary

--Harry Stormer (talk) 15:06, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

SpaceManiac888

• Series 3, Heat N (Thing 2): This heat explains why I love Thing 2, compared to the other Adams Family machines. It put on three excellent performances against Prizephita, All Torque (who was in its prime), and Cerberus (giving the Cyprus machine its best ever battle). Not to mention, some iconic moments happened here, from Killerhurtz's suicidal pitting, to Cerberus earning the quickest battle ever accolade, and All Torque's impressive pitting of Crippler.

• Series 6, Heat K (Hypno-Disc): A very fun heat, featuring Hypno-Disc at its best for the final time, Barber-Ous 2 and Bulldog Breed impressing me greatly, and a range of visually entertaining robots, ranging from decent machines like Kat 3, and joke robots such as Granny's Revenge 2.

• Series 3, Heat H (Hypno-Disc): Some of the battles not involving Hypno-Disc were great. Those that DID involve the spinner were iconic. Enough said.

• Series 3, Heat O (Fire Storm): A good heat, featuring a debuting Fire Storm, Diotoir in its prime (in my opinion), Facet impressing greatly (and giving Fire Storm a decent challenge), and The Steel Avenger being fun as always (and outsmarting Schumey Too).

• Series 4, Grand Final (Chaos 2): Classic episode, to round off one of all-time favourite series. Chaos 2 vs Stinger was great, Pussycat vs Hypno-Disc bore witness to one of the greatest shocks in Robot Wars history, and Chaos 2 vs Pussycat was worthy as a Grand Final battle.

• Extreme 2, Robot Rampage (Typhoon, Typhoon Thunder, Argh! and Anty B): Were there some flaws with this episode? Of course there were. However, even with some glaring issues (Middleweight Final being the biggest offender), this episode proved to be surprisingly entertaining. Its comedic value is especially high, whereby although a proper Lightweight Championship battle would have been nice, the destruction of Ellie's Little Pink Bot was more than satisfying.

• Series 6 Heat L (Bigger Brother): Finally, another great Series 6 heat, featuring a dominating Bigger Brother outclassing good robots like Behemoth and Disc-O-Inferno. But also, Disc-O-Inferno's triple knockout in its melee was awesome, while Behemoth put on a good show against Bigger Brother. Robots like Major Tom and Killer Carrot 2, and the team representing Tridentate, were also fun to watch.

• Extreme 2, Commonwealth Carnage (Firestorm 4): Dominating performances from my favourite robot, combined with its amazing flip on Mr. Psycho, an excellent concept and every battle being great, I have decided to vote this in.

SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 15:56, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

CrashBash

• Series 6 Grand Final - Seriously, nobody? The only downside was Terrorhurtz breaking down after crippling Firestorm. Other than that, we got solid displays from both top-two finishers and then one of the best title fights EVER! It may have seemed like Tornado had dominated, but that barely mattered when you realised that Razer came so close to a technical victory and would have done if it had been able to let Tornado go.
• Series 7 Heat M - Has anyone voted for this yet? I'm legit surprised if they haven't. It was a really solid heat with some solid, tense clashes where there weren't unexpected surprises, all leading to one of the best heat-finals ever. Do remember that Tough As Nails was badly crippled within seconds of the fight starting and it STILL managed to come back and win.
• Series 6 Heat D - I think this has already been explained enough, but it still deserves to be there.
• Extreme 1 Annihilator 1 - It's just a classic clash overall no matter which way you look at it. There were surprises throughout and for the most part it was never clear who was going to fall or when. Yes, Pussycat winning may have seemed predictable, but it never felt it. I'd honestly go as far as saying that not only did it have the best quality of all the annihilators, but it was also the most satisfying.
• Series 7 Heat I - Storm 2 may have dominated, but there were still surprises and even if the "big names" didn't get through, the robots that did still had their strong moments. Also, that OOTA slam.

CrashBash (talk) 16:24, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

NJGW

• Series 7, Heat I - This is an absolute necessity. It has two of the best melees of all-time, combined with a rambot getting an OotA. Those three fights on their own are plenty enough. Even the Round 2 fights are good value though - with another rampant Storm 2 performance, and The Steel Avenger's most dominant display with some good axe damage.

• Series 2, Semi-Final A - a right classic, this. We have the completely unique event of the Race-off in the Gauntlet, some narrative-fuelled drama in the pinball, an upset of Panic Attack beating Mortis, and then Killertron murdering Behemoth with a brutal axe attack - especially for the time. Fantastic episode.

• Series 4, Semi-Final B - if Series 10 Heat A gets backing because of an all-time classic fight, then this needs to as well solely for Hypno-Disc vs. Splinter. Aside from that fight though we have some other notable ones. Hypno-Disc vs. Wild Thing is another all-time classic, Panic Attack's KO on Spawn of Scutter is beautifully done, Wild Thing vs. X-Terminator 2 is a good fight, and so is Stinger vs. Panic Attack. Stinger vs. Mousetrap is the poorest fight there, but even then it's only sub-par at worst. Great episode.

• Series 2, Grudge Match Special - going to back Diotoir here. For Series 2 these are great fights, and the whole setup in general is fun and very entertaining. Both of the Grudge Matches involving Mortis are hilarious and genuinely good fights, mixed in with the unique moment of Cassius raising Mortis from the Pit. The Reserve Rumble and Super Showdown are hilarious, the Inferno Insurrection is great fan service, and the Internet Insurrection involves good House Robot attacks too. For top quality it's not top tier, but this episode represents what Robot Wars is all about in the best way. Lighthearted rivalries, expressive and unique moments and designs, fire and fun, and House Robots attacks. I really love this episode.

• Series 7, Grand Final - A unique lineup, Storm 2 dominating Tornado with pit drama involved, Typhoon 2 destroying the arena wall twice, and the title fight in general.

• from the episodes in with any form of hope, add my backing to Series 6 Heat D, Series 4 Grand Final, Series 6 Grand Final, and Series 3 Heat M.

NJGW (talk) 16:27, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Rammingspeed

Go on then, I'm not very active here but I'll throw my hat in the ring.

• Series 10, Heat A (Behemoth) - Where do you start? I'd say this is comfortably the best heat final in RW history and the other battles are no slouches.

• Extreme 2, Robot Rampage - Messier than a Jackson Pollock painting, but an entertaining ride throughout. Ignore the glaring controversies and it's great fun.

• Extreme 1, Episode 1 - Contains a very underrated match between Tornado and Stinger, a tense fight with Chaos 2 and X-Terminator and while the main event was predictable, it was a fun fight that was better than it had any right to be.

• Series 5, Heat C (S3) - S3 vs Mousetrap, say no more. Oh, and S3 vs Plunderbird. And S3 vs Stinger too, to be fair.

• Series 3, Semi-Final A (Chaos 2 and Fire Storm) - Again, bar some anti-climatic finishes (looking at you, big floor spike) there's no poor fights here. They're either impressive exhibitions (Chaos 2 vs Trident) or gritty, closely fought scraps (Panic Attack vs Fire Storm). I've also got a lot of time for Chaos 2 vs Mace II, I'd actually say I prefer it to Chaos 2 vs The Big Cheese.

--Rammingspeed (talk) 18:40, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Hey RammingSpeed, you don't need to nominate any of the episodes that are already in the 24 listed already above, as is the case for the Series 10 Grand Final, Series 8 Heat 4 and Series 6 Heat J. Raz3r(talk) 18:42, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

My bad, I've changed my picks. --Rammingspeed (talk) 19:00, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

CaliforniaKingsnake

• Series 5, Heat L - I previously mentioned why this episode is amazing.

• Series 10, Heat E (Magnetar) - Not every fight is incredible, but the dull fights still somehow managed to be entertaining or funny

• Series 10, Heat A (Behemoth) - Agreeing with everyone else

• Series 7, Heat C (Dantomkia) - Fastest fight at the time coupled with heaps of destruction

• Extreme 1, Episode 5 - This episode has the Thermidor double OOTA, as well as the debut of Anthra- I mean Draven, which gave King B a chance to prove it was still capable. Plus who doesn't remember how entertaining Diotoir vs Firestorm 3 as well as the Tag Team?

CaliforniaKingsnake (talk) 09:16, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Don't you mean episode 5? Episode 7 was the first annihilator. CrashBash (talk) 14:02, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

SFCJack

• Extreme 2, Robot Rampage - This episode is an absolute mess, but I wouldn't have it any other way. You've got Broadsword's demolition, Mammoth trying to scuttle away from Dead Metal then being righted by the floor flipper, 259's destruction of Doom Too, whatever the hell Ellie's Little Pink Bot was supposed to be, Refbot attempting to clean up the featherweights and who could forget the antweights? Yes, Robot Rampage isn't without controversy but for an episode that isn't cannon to the main series and absolutely doesn't take itself seriously, I don't let that taint how memorable of an episode this is for me.

• Extreme 2, All-Stars Heat B - When the lineup for an episode includes Razer, Chaos 2 AND Hypno-Disc, you know you're in for a good ride. Admittedly, the latter two are past their prime, however this is the closest a lot of fans got to the dream three-way melee. As it happened, 13 Black's inclusion wasn't even a disappointment as it got the KO on Chaos 2 and joined Series 5 Big Nipper in the exclusive club of robots to visibly damage Razer. Then you have their Round 2 battle with Dominator 2, which is absolutely a classic. Sadly the heat final and overall final are closer to "typical" Razer victories, but the episode itself is very strong for me.

• Series 6, Heat A - Where to start on this one? You've got the debuts of Mr Psycho and Growler, Brutus Maximus' destruction, Ruf Ruf Dougal racing around the arena completely ablaze, a competitive second round showing from Cyrax against reigning champions Razer, a great showing from a new robot in Raging Reality that included two OOTAs and Refbot driving into the pit. A great introduction to Series 6.

• Extreme 2, Tag Team Terror - Episodes that feature the last fights of iconic robots always stand out to me, but this episode is more than just that. A massive improvement on the previous two Tag Teams, this episode was absolute chaos. From the dog fight between Bulldog Breed and Growler to Steel Avenger's pitting of Stinger and inevitable self-pitting. Also, we saw Bulldog Breed's only ever OOTA on none other than Pussycat. You then got the beautiful moment when Bulldog Breed attacks their own teammate and at the end of it all, the Robochicken team have a tournament victory to their names. What's not to like?

• Series 6, Heat C - This episode felt like it wanted to follow the narrative of the experienced veteran Chaos 2 vs the newcomer in Dantomkia, and intentional or not, I love that. Kept apart until the heat final, both robots impressed through their melees and Round 2 battles before it all came to a head. The heat final was fast and frantic, resulting in a famous victory for Dantomkia that was not only iconic, but given the manner of the win being an OOTA on Chaos 2 of all robots, ironic also. Even aside from all that, Crushtacean put up a decent fight against Chaos 2 and Dantomkia vs Mighty Mouse was a very fun fight in my opinion.

SFCJack (talk) 15:55, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Hogwild94

Now this was a very hard call to have to make, but here goes:

• Series 3 Heat E: Chaos 2 explodes onto the scene with two explosive battles, culminating in one of the best RW battles of the 90s in the heat final. Also, one of the very few episodes of Series 3 where the best two robots of the heat fought in the final.

• Series 3 Heat H: The debut of another of Robot Wars' most iconic robots, and some of its most iconic and explosive fights. Plus another great heat final which, in my mind, is the strongest sign of a great episode.

• Series 5 Heat E: Not that keen on Series 5 overall, but this is one of the strongest episodes of it, boosted by the best heat final of the series, Prizephita's impressive underdog run to it, and a decent debut for The Alien.

• Series 5 Heat L: Another rare bright spot in the rather meh Series 5, with another spectacular underdog run by a novice that very few would have seen coming after its bad Extreme performance, and the shock of the second seed nearly losing, even though it ultimately survives.

• Series 6 Grand Final: After the disappointment of the previous series' final, this was a fantastic finale, plus the best grand final battle of the original era, bringing the best series of the 00s (IMO) to a fitting ending.

Gutripper

• Extreme 2, All-Stars B - Though it featured the death of one of my favourites in Chaos 2, and had a fairly naff rematch between Spawn Again and Razer, the 13 Black fights do carry it to be at least on par with some other episodes already in the shortlist.
• Series 5, Heat L - The debut of Fluffy and the retirement of 101, two of my favourite bots, plus the hilarity of Clawed Hopper's win and a shock nearly-upset.
• Series 3, Heat N - I agree with the rationale about Thing 2. I really enjoyed both it and Cerberus heading to the heat final, and their ensuring fight.
• Series 10, Heat D - C'mon, Androne and Tauron is almost enough single handedly.
• Series 7, Heat M - Tough as Nails makes a stellar debut with Robochicken trundling in close pursuit. Gutripper^Speak 21:19, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

GarrodGang

• Series 4 Heat B: Brilliant displays in both melees from the seeds, two very unique destruction fights in the eliminator and the added drama of the shock upset and Ian's rant at the end.

• Series 5 Heat C: One of the most impressive """debut"""" displays from a machine. Every fight here has something to recommend it - whether its the nervy S3 V Mousetrap, or just the humour of Shredder pitting itself.

• Series 6 Heat A: Great melees, some nice OOTA's and two Razer head to heads notable for how much they avoid the common pitfalls of post-weight increase Razer bouts.

• Series 6 Heat D: Yes Toast i'm coming to the rescue here. A fantastic melee in GBH, a lesser but still fun followup, the general joy of having Sir Chromalot around and Shredder doing the Black Knight routine.

• Extreme 2 All Stars B: Just a great episode, 13 Black more than justifies its place in the tournament with a shock win over Dominator 2, a brutal final dispatching of Chaos 2, and even putting a knick in Razer - a more impressive feat than it sounds.

User:GarrodGang

RA2

I hope I'm in time, I apologize for taking so long.

• Second World Championship. I'll be using my extra vote to draft an episode that I feel is being unjustly overlooked. Great action all-around, and a rare treat to see true internationals go toe-to-toe with the UK bots.
• Series 10 Heat D (Nuts 2). Not a perfect heat, but as a competitor of a few year, I've seen my fair share of failed Meltybrains. Finally seeing a successful one was like a long awaited payoff. Watching it in slo-mo is one of the most mesmerising things ever. Sure we had some lowlights like Iron Awe 6, but we also got The Kegs getting cracked open twice
• Series 7 Heat M (Tough as Nails). Fantastically unique design in a series desperately needing one. Robochicken was great fun too.
• Series 7 Heat C (Dantomkia). I'll give this one a boost, Dantomkia was a beast and all the fights were good. Dantomkia's well represented, so I'll let it fend for itself and throw my support to Series 6, Heat F (13 Black)
• Series 3 Semifinal 1. A lot of good robots in Series 3, but you had to really sift to find them. I can only give it to my vote to a semifinal.

RA2; aka Resetti's Replicas. (My Talk) 01:16, March 4, 2019 (UTC)

General Discussion and queries

Suggestion for a candidate

I was wondering if candidates can be nominated to be added in, since I have a suggestion for an episode to be among the best: Series 5 Heat L. I can't think of a superbly dull or boring fight there, even Clawed Hopper vs Twister was funny at least. And speaking of Clawed Hopper, we got the first walker victory in the main series, and the most impressive "newcomer" performance in Fluffy. Shreds 3 veterans in a row yet a breakdown cost it the heat victory has to be commemorated as a fantastic episode. CaliforniaKingsnake (talk) 06:13, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

I also have a candidate to suggest is the Series 4 Grand Final. Every battle here is just pure perfection and all are destructive and tense in their own rights, making for a very close battles. Stinger vs Chaos 2 is a flipping delight, Hypno-Disc vs Pussycat was a great shock and offered "that hit" and then there's the Grand Final itself. Just pure perfection, two robots slugging it out, battle weary and both offering the best. Both had very clear chance of winning. Everything here was just fantastic! Also Series 6 only has one episode? I mean surely there should be another, it's a great series. You can sacrifice Semi Final A of Series 7 (only candidate that I disagree with), as it it isn't as memorable as Semi B or the others listed and really stands out as an odd choice, for something Series 6 related, like Heat A or Heat F both are very enjoyable episodes where every battle has something to offer.Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 07:56, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

You both get to nominate 5 choices, and once I've tallied everything, 8 more episodes will get added to make a full 32. I've put in 24 episodes, with another 8 to be nominated based on the votes. So if Series 5 Heat L and S4 Grand Final are your choices, you should put them at the top of your lists. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 09:59, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

How will the voting take place once we have all 32? Jimlaad43(talk) 11:23, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Pretty much the same as ragnabattle - i.e. classic head to head with votes, straight elimination, head into the centre of the bracket. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 11:28, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Ah OK, so we're just looking for a number 1 then, rather than a ranked top 32. Cool, should make it fun. Jimlaad43(talk) 11:49, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

I would like to add the Commonwealth Carnage because of Mr Psycho being flipped. Firestorm winning its only trophy , a grudge match and the robots where just fun. --Harry Stormer (talk) 11:32, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

We already have a clear top eight

I've been tallying up everyone's votes so far, purely out of curiousity, and it seems that, if we were to hypothetically stop the votes right now, we already have a clear top eight.

1. Series 10, Heat A - Won by Behemoth over Apollo (6 points)
2. Extreme 2, Annihilator - Won by Kan-Opener over Thermidor 2 (4 points)
3. Series 4, Heat B - Won by Pussycat over Razer (all remaining 3 points)
4. Extreme 1, Annihilator 1 (Episode 7) - Won by Pussycat over Arnold A. Terminegger
5. Series 5, Heat C - Won by S3 over Stinger
6. Extreme 2, Commonwealth Carnage (Episode 15) - Won by Firestorm 4 over Crushtacean
7. Series 7, Heat I - Won by Storm 2 over Steel Avenger
8. Series 7, Annihilator - Won by Kan-Opener over Ripper

Those are how the battles stand right now, but I wonder how much will change with a few more votes? We've got a massive list of fights with two points (eleven as of my last tally) that could easily muscle their way in, after all. CrashBash (talk) 19:15, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

Agreed, and plenty of people are changing their votes as they read other people's rationale. I expect my clarification that the next 8 don't get seeding and therefore number of votes don't matter might affect some votes as well. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 21:11, March 2, 2019 (UTC)

How does Seeding work?

I see that we're planning to have seeds. How does that work, and doesn't that sound like we've already decided the result anyway? Jimlaad43(talk) 18:10, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

I’m going to do the seeds myself. As you said, voting on seeds makes it redundant whilst having seeds handed down allows for upsets. Also the write ins aren’t seeded which allows for upsets. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 20:34, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Still, how many seeds will there be? I know the eight write-ins won't be, but seeding all the already-confirmed episodes would just make it look awkward. I'd personally say 16 should be the maximum, but that's just me. CrashBash (talk) 20:45, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

I'd be fine to do 16 seeds. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 21:11, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

No, my point is that having seeds itself makes the whole thing redundant, as we already have a result given. The thing about voting on which episode is better, there will always be a "best" episode, which cannot lose. It's not like an arena tournament where the RPS nature of Robot Wars means, say, Carbide could face Terrorhurtz early and lose, despite the fact it'd beat pretty much everything else. I get that we don't want the best two episodes to meet in the first round, but a knockout tournament isn't going to determine a true ranking, and we can't seed everything before we start down to one user's preference as that skews it horribly. If, say I was doing the seeds - I would put S6 Heat C as a seed, and it doesn't look like it's going to even qualify, showing that my opinion on this differs to everyone else. You see where I'm coming at, that the seeding seems like it will skew the result more than not seeding. I mean, are we not allowed to vote for some of the 24 in the current list to go away? I certainly don't agree with quite a few of those in the list, and would hate to see them seeded, meaning they can't be knocked out sooner by more worthy episodes. I suggest not bothering with seeding if you want an accurate result for the best episode. If we're wanting a ranking of the top 32 episodes, it'll have to go down to letting everyone write their ranking of the 32 episodes chosen and calculating averages. Jimlaad43(talk) 21:25, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

March Madness is a tried and tested format, and I don't want to mess with the formula (which includes a 32 bracket, with seeds and a head-to-head knockout). Episodes cannot be objectively assessed - the voting comes into it and I think you'll be surprised by what I might prefer just as I am by yours. I do one of these every year for Oscar winners and you'd best surprised how accurate it gets it. If you end up not being happy with the result, we can try another format for a later tournament.Toon Ganondorf (t c) 21:34, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Now that we're only doing 16 seeds, I am certain that there are 16 indisputably seedable episodes in the 24 qualifiers - episodes that you can concede are among the best even if you don't like them yourself. For example, I intend to give FWC a top 4 seed but I don't even enjoy it that much and I'll be delighted if it gets upset by say, Series 4 Heat B. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 21:37, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

But that's my point, you'll quickly see that these "16 indisputably seedable" episodes are highly disputable by different people, and if there are 16 indisputably seedable episodes, why are we bothering with the other 16 episodes? We may as well skip to round 2 because they're obviously worse than the other 16, regardless of the order. As I said, because this voting is a popularity contest rather than a review of tactics, strength, weakness and luck of robot battles because you can't get "upsets" in the traditional sense. Yes, an inconsequential Extreme side tournament episode beating a world class Semi-Final may be an upset because it wasn't expected.

To illustrate my point, take the example of "Pussycat vs DisConstructor" from Ragnabot 2. In that tournament, we're working out which robot would beat the other, which is why DisConstructor won because it has just about the correct matchup to get away with it. Seeding works to keep the big robots apart, and is usually based on previous performance. In the case of this tournament, the question isn't Which robot would win in a fight, it is Which robot is better, to which everyone would vote for Pussycat. Pussycat would always come on top of DisConstructor in this, making it not worth even putting DisConstructor in.

The title of this blog is "Find the Best episode", to which a knockout tournament works fine, because the best will ALWAYS win. An extreme example I know, but if you ran a "which is the best Series 3 robot" knockout tournament including Chaos 2 and 15 round 1 knockouts, Chaos 2 will always win. You're wanting to take control of the tournament - which is fine - but I think giving us 24 battles already is probably enough. Anyway, why do you want to throw your opinion out at the start? Surely it'd be better to keep it under wraps and let us find out yours as the tournament progresses, or the rest of us may as well produce a top 16 list too and get the ranking (yes, it'd be a ranking rather than just the top fight) over and done with sooner. Jimlaad43(talk) 21:52, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

I understand all of your points, but this is how this particular tournament format works. My objective episodes are based on my reading of the overall community, but I think once we get into voting there will be a lot of variety. Look how much passion there is for Series 10, Heat A. I didn't even put it in the 24 but it seems people will clamour for it. We're also squaring opinions on content off against each other, not trying to determine what would happen in a fight. The first rounds are just as likely to have upsets (see again some really whacky votes in the write-ins) as the Ragnabot qualifiers, which are about 90% formality yet no one has any complaint there. I want the final bracket to be truly between the best, not between the first seed who had to beat the 2nd, 4th and 9th seed, and an obscure write in that people kept voting through because it kept pulling other write ins. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 22:00, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Update on the vote-ins

7 VOTES 1. Series 10, Heat A

4 VOTES - TENTATIVELY SAFE Series 3, Heat E (Chaos 2) Series 5, Heat L (Pussycat) Extreme 2, All-Stars B Extreme 2, Annihilator Extreme 2, Robot Rampage Series 7, Heat I (Storm 2)

3 VOTES - BATTLEGROUND Series 3, Heat H (Hypno-Disc) Series 3, Heat N (Thing 2) Series 4, Heat B (Pussycat) Extreme 1, Episode 7 (Pussycat's Annihilator) Series 5, Heat C (S3) Series 6, Heat A (Razer) Series 6, Heat C (Dantomkia) Series 6, Grand Final (Tornado) Extreme 2, Commonwealth Carnage Series 7, Annihilator (Kan-Opener)

2 VOTES - ON THE FRINGE Series 3, Heat M (Scutter's Revenge) Series 4, Grand Final Series 6, Head D (S3) Extreme 2, Tag Team Terror Series 7, Heat M (Tough as Nails) Series 10, Heat D (Nuts 2) Series 10, Heat E (Magnetar)

1 VOTE - OUTLIERS Series 1, Heat F (Inclusive of GF) Series 2, Heat G (Roadblock) Series 2, Semi-Final A Series 2, Grudge Match Special Series 3, Heat O (Firestorm) Series 3, Semi-Final A Series 4, Semi-Final B Extreme 1, Episode 1 Extreme 1, Episode 5 Series 5, Heat E (Wild Thing) Series 5, Semi-Final 2 Series 6, Heat F (13 Black) Series 6, Heat K (Hypno-Disc) Series 6, Heat L (Bigger Brother) Series 7, Heat C (Dantomkia) Series 7, Heat N (Raging Knightmare) Series 7, Heat O (Typhoon 2) Series 7, Grand Final Series 7, All-Stars Series 10, World Series, Episode 1

I've now tallied everything up for transparency and we have a fascinating shape of events taking place. Far from Crash's early post where we had a clear 8, now its a massive free-for-all with 9 fights all vying for 8th place, and everything in 2nd-7th all only a vote off being eliminated.

By publishing this list, I encourage everyone to re-review their list and consider dropping votes for episodes in the 1 vote range to bolster other choices in the 2-3 vote range.

This additional drama (akin to preferential voting) will add some extra spice and ensure that the 8 write ins really do reflect everyone (through action or inaction) as people can give up the choices to cling to episodes like Series 1, Heat F (sniff).

PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THE LIST - ONLY I WILL DO THAT. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 21:34, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Series 6 Heat C should have 3 votes, I gave it 2 and SFCJack gave it 1 :) Jimlaad43(talk) 21:54, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, I must have forgotten to count your bold as 2. Can you please mark your replacement vote in italics. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 22:02, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Done. Didn't realise that the space I put in wasn't as visible as I hoped. My bad. Jimlaad43(talk) 22:10, March 3, 2019 (UTC)

Final votes

Okay the following results are now locked in. We need another 3 episodes.

LOCKED IN 1. Series 10, Heat A (Behemoth) (7 votes) 2. Series 4, Heat B (Pussycat) (6 votes) 3. Extreme 2, All-Stars B (5 votes) 4. Extreme 2, Annihilator (5 votes) 5. Series 7, Heat I (Storm 2) (5 votes)

3 MORE NEEDED Series 3, Heat E (Chaos 2) - 3 Series 3, Heat N (Thing 2) Series 4, Grand Final - 1 Series 5, Heat C (S3) Series 5, Heat L (Pussycat) - 1 Series 6, Heat A (Razer) Series 6, Head D (S3) - 4 Series 6, Grand Final (Tornado) Extreme 2, Robot Rampage - 2 Extreme 2, Commonwealth Carnage - 3

We need to get three out of the rest of the list. Please everyone vote for ONE of the remaining episodes and I'm going to see if we can get the final three that way. I am voting for Series 6 Heat D. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 08:28, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

I also vote for Series 6 Heat D, no contest for me. If I cannot vote for something in my original nominations, my next choice after the S3 heats would be the Robot Rampage. TOAST 08:44, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Commonwealth Carnage gets my vote. I can't believe we have two more votes for the awful Shredder vs Alien battle that really ruins what was a decent episode otherwise ^. Jimlaad43(talk) 08:45, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Actually I'm changing my vote to Commonwealth Carnage too. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 08:47, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

My vote was for the Series 6 Grand Final and it shall remain that way. CrashBash (talk) 08:49, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

For sake of ease, I'm going to change my vote to Series 3, Heat E. CrashBash (talk) 20:43, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

I’ll maintain my vote for Series 6 Heat A. Raz3r(talk) 09:07, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

I’m resigned to 6A standing no chance of making the last three, so I’m switching my vote to the one other choice I was actively considering: Robot Rampage. Raz3r(talk) 21:00, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

I maintain Series 4 Grand Final.Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 09:09, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

I'm maintaining for Extreme 2, Robot Rampage. --SFCJack (talk) 09:34, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Still backing Extreme 2, Robot Rampage. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 10:16, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Still backing Series 5 Heat L CaliforniaKingsnake (talk) 10:20, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Sticking with Series 3, Heat E, but for two reasons outside the ones I've already mentioned. First, Chaos 2's debut almost single-handedly set a new benchmark for competitor robots in this and future series, while being relatively free of the gremlins that set Razer back in its early appearances. Second, Chaos 2's success - much like with Hypno-Disc and its flywheel - also demonstrated the viability of rear-hinged flippers as an effective weapon type, which would lead to them becoming the de facto weapon in UK and European robot combat for several years. I would think that these factors would be significant enough considering that we aren't solely judging these episodes on battle quality alone. VulcansHowl 12:01, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

This is a real tough one, but Series 3 Heat E is an icon, so it gets my vote RA2; aka Resetti's Replicas. (My Talk) 12:32, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Joining Toast in voting for Series 6 Heat D. NJGW (talk) 18:41, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Count me in for Series 6 Heat D. User:ThatRedOtter 18:43, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Commonwealth Carnge for me--Harry Stormer (talk) 18:46, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

Series 6 Heat D User:GarrodGang

Series 3 Heat E. Series 3 deserves one entrant. Hogwild94 (talk) 21:18, March 5, 2019 (UTC)

And as a result, it's going to have two. TOAST 01:43, March 6, 2019 (UTC)

All right, we've got a result. 3E, 6D and Commonwealth Carnage rounds out our list. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 08:45, March 6, 2019 (UTC)

For what its worth, I was also going to vote Commonwealth Carnage. Gutripper^Speak 10:12, March 6, 2019 (UTC)