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

Forums: Index > The Arena > 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 (not yet seeded)

1. Series 1, Heat A (Roadblock's heat)
2. The First World Championship
3. Series 4, Semi-Final A (Chaos 2 and Pussycat)
4. Series 4, Northern Annihilator (Spikasaurus)
5. Series 4, Southern Annihilator (Razer)
6. 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)
7. Series 5, Heat H (Wheely Big Cheese)
8. Series 5, Semi-Final A (Bigger Brother and Razer)
9. Series 5, Grand Final
10. Series 6, Heat J (Dominator 2)
11. Extreme 2, All-Stars Heat A (Firestorm 4)
12. Extreme 2, Challenge Belt
13. Series 7, Heat A (M2)
14. Series 7, Heat D (Gravity)
15. Series 7, Heat F (X-Terminator)
16. Series 7, Semi-Final A (Tornado and X-Terminator)
17. Series 7, Semi-Final B (Storm 2 and Typhoon 2)
18. Series 8, Heat A (Carbide)
19. Series 8, Heat D (Apollo)
20. Series 8, Grand Final
21. Series 9, Heat A (Aftershock)
22. Series 9, Heat B (Eruption)
23. Series 10, Heat B (Carbide)
24. Series 10, Grand Final
25. Write-in
26. Write-in
27. Write-in
28. Write-in
29. Write-in
30. Write-in
31. Write-in
32. Write-in

Please note that only 24 will be seeded - the write-ins will not be seeded

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 2 Annihilator - Kan-Opener
• Extreme 1 Episode 7 (Annihilator 1) -Pussycat

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) 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.
  

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 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).

• 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.

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.

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 7 - 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)

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)