Forum:Ragnabot 3 Awards Discussion

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Ragnabot 3 has been a record breaking tournament with over 800 robots competing, plus an Antweight tournament which is also eligible for this vote. Below is a list of categories. Please comment below with some nominations for battles, robots, comments or whatever is being asked for. After a few days, I will create a new page for the official voting. Please do not vote under lists as they will be removed.

Best Battle

Which battle that happened would you like to have seen the most. Anything from a one-sided bloodbath to two All-Stars that never met can be nominated.

All right, I'm doing nominations in the dead of midnight because I have lost my mind. Anyways, definitely Aftershock VS Magnetar. Would've been a cakewalk for Magnetar, but that would've been an awesome fight to watch nonetheless. --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:36, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Carbide vs Magnetar - I think, going into the Grand Final episode of Series 10, everyone wanted to see this. It's kind of the Razer/Hypno-Disc of the reboot. Combatwombat555 (talk) 00:42, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Carbide vs Eruption - It was a tense fight which was close to going in Carbide's favour, but it's one of those fights where Eruption managed to pick up some votes and "fight back". Kinda fitting as in Series 10, Carbide was beating Eruption until it fought back hard, it's almost parallel. Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 06:57, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Big Nipper vs Razer vs Sabretooth (10) was perhaps the highlight of the Melees, with perhaps Dominator 2 vs Cherub vs Mortis and Tricerabot 3.0 vs Black Hole vs Tiberius 3 coming close too. Jimlaad43(talk) 10:11, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Magnetar vs Ironside3 as the finale to their rivalry was also a good draw. Jimlaad43(talk) 10:11, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
What about ~~Anarachnid vs Whirlpool 70~~! In all seriousness, three fights come up for me, but just due to the closeness of it Hypno-Disc vs S3. As well, I think Kat 3 vs Vader vs 259 was also a good fight, even if it was near unanimous. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
There are a couple here already which I too would have nominated, but UFO vs Hodaf the Bad was one of the most exciting, tense back-and-forth fights I've had the pleasure of voting in. M.R. Speed Squared vs PP3D was an interesting fight to debate too. Raz3r(talk) 12:45, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
The battle I'd most like to see comes from a completely biased angle, but Mute vs The Grimreaper would be a hilarious yet competitive battle that I would love to see. I also reckon that Eruption vs RAPID is a shout worthy of the final. TOAS T 15:12, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Carbide vs Magnetar and Chaos 2 vs Panic Attack, two of my favourite All-Star fantasy draws that came close to happening for real. Would also like to mention Rapid vs Sabretooth as another particularly close and balanced draw, Typhoon 2 vs Manta for the hypothetical spark show and Carbide vs The Tartan Terror for sheer destruction alone. VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Overachiever

Without taking their opponents into account, if someone said "Robot X will reach the Y round" to you before the tournament, which would you laugh at most?

If anyone told me "ORAC's Revenge would make it out its heat alive" then I'd have assumed they were on drugs. Aaaaand then the draw happened... --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:39, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
It's a toss-up between Doot's pick and Hard (loanerbot). OrAc's Revenge was at least pretty competent for the time, this version of Hard getting through has more of a '...what?' feel to it. Combatwombat555 (talk) 00:55, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
The only one that can really challenge the above two nominations is Zorro. The reason is simple; we don't really know enough to judge it properly. All we know is that the moment it faces a competent flipper, it's out. As for its spinner's capabilities, it was meant to be potent, but we never got to see it thanks to it being damaged early on in its only battle before suffering the aforementioned flip of doom. At least with Orac's Revenge and Delldog, we had opponents that showed off much of their capabilities. Zorro never got to, making it a major overachiever in my opinion. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 00:57, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Surely Texas Tornado gets the vote. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly exceeded reasonable expectation and got wins over robots that can't have been hurt by the underdog narrative it had written by the Melee stage. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 08:47, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

You know what, I agree with Toon here Texas Tornado was a really strange robot to have gotten as far as it did.Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 09:17, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
How about our lower-weight category battle winners? DTK and Mini-Maul reached Round 2, while 259 (Middleweight) was a heat finalist. Jimlaad43(talk) 10:04, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Root 3. The fact that it reached the melees, despite being a three-part cluster, and weren't the best machines across Robot Wars as a whole. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Tied between the two American Top 16 achievers: Manta and Rosie the Riveter 2. Raz3r(talk) 12:48, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Jim's mentioned the other lower weight machines, but poor old AM CVn didn't get a mention! Combatwombat555 (talk) 14:27, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
They've all been brought up already, but in summary:
- Rosie the Riveter II (followed by Manta and Hypno-Disc) went the furthest out of its depth, finishing in 9th.
- Texas Tornado was the most objectionable robot in the Top 32 as it wasn't just out of its depth, but it also progressed through a fight with Magnetar and Propeller-Head in it. Happy for it though, Texas Tornado is still a good robot, even if it's not this good.
- Although Orac's Revenge (followed by Ally Gator) was the worst robot in the Top 96, the least deserving heat winner for me was Hard, being a long-forgotten loanerbot who for me was lucky to get past THE BASH. Funny though, I loved seeing it there!
- REALI-T (followed by Bee-Capitator) was the worst Heat Finalist.
- Mini-Maul (followed by AM CVn and the rest of the sixteenth placers) was the worst robot to win a fight.
- Overall winner for me: Rosie the Riveter II. TOAS T 15:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Of all the Heat winners, surely Bondi Titch stands out as one of the most unlikely? VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Most Controversial Result

Which battle result did you disagree with most? Battles eligible must have a clear 5 vote majority, as anything else is close naturally, so can swing either way.

I'll start, and after several fights, I'm picking Delldog over Absolut Krankhaft/Arena Killer. I genuinely believe AK should have won this. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Daisy-Cutter vs Spawn of Scutter is the first that springs to mind for me. Raz3r(talk) 12:51, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Hypno-Disc vs Wild Thing is the one result that bothers me the most, based on the criteria above. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 12:55, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
I can't think of any particularly disagreeable fights with a five-vote majority at the moment, but the outcome I really struggle to swallow is Run Away vs Orac's Revenge. While it was only swung by a one-vote majority, the Orac's Revenge crowd seemed completely certain in their opinion, sometimes not even putting forward a reason in their vote whilst focusing purely on the shock of Orac escaping the heat. One vote even used Run Away's "exposed wheels" into play, when the wheels are protected from overhead weaponry! To me, this was an extremely obvious victory for the heavier, wedgier pushing machine in Run Away, which also had blades easily capable of damaging Orac's Revenge. The Series 3 machine's victory to me felt like an opportunistic shout to get the older robot through. Dishonourable mentions to Ivanhoe vs Tender Caress and Recyclopse vs Phoenix MW. TOAS T 14:55, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Wheely Big Cheese vs Bucky the Robot vs IG-88. While I agree that Bucky’s self-righting issues were a legitimate concern, I’m still surprised that no-one else brought up the time Matilda concussed the Cheese in the Flipper Frenzy. Would have expected that moment to play a more significant part considering IG-88’s track record of concussing opponents. Also mentioning Killer Carrot 2 vs Botwork considering that Botwork's sluggish pace would have played more to KC2's advantages under the Series 8-10 criteria. VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Most Controversial Moment

The biggest controversy not eligible for the Most Controversial Result award.

Cherub somehow skirting death three times in its run, with me vehemently defending the biblical wedge throughout its run. --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:41, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Rip vs Run Away fiasco. While the result was fair, the whole ordeal surrounding voting for either robot did not make one bit of sense. In the end, everyone suffered, nobody got what they wanted and ultimately Run Away secured a decent victory over Rip, which is what should have happened in the first place. It also led to... SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 00:45, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Recyclopse's extremely lucky victory. While I backed Recyclopse and would still do so against Middleweight Phoenix, I cannot help but imagine that had some voters actually took the time to, you know, vote in that battle, Phoenix would have gotten a narrow win. Alas, "Daylight Robbery" occurred according to Toast. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 00:45, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Mortis' extremely lucky victory. A similar case here. While I accept that Mortis could have beaten Tiberius, Tiberius ultimately should have gained more votes. Sadly, one voter forgetting to actually vote, and another leaving it too late, sealed Tiberius' loss. Tiberius could very well have reached the 3rd round in an alternative reality where both voters made their choices in due time. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 00:45, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

I think this one gets overblown - I too forgot to vote for that one (in fact I think I forgot to vote in that entire round of battles), and would have voted for Mortis. Combatwombat555 (talk) 00:51, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Mortis vs Tiberius - Same reasons as Space so not much to add, Mortis really overachived in this and I felt some people were a little too stubborn to actually rewatch Mortis in Series 4 and see the sloppy controls, faulty weaponry and high ground clearance issue before deciding, which based on some of the votes, felt really obvious. Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 06:57, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
The Qualifiers. I really didn't like the way they were pretty much fixed to get rid of specific robots. This is evident by the fact that only one of the 34 fights had a vote for both robots, and the robots that crashed out were all garbage. Is it not the point of tournaments like Ragnabot to let the rubbish robots have a glimmer of hope at some sort of glory? Raz3r(talk) 12:55, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Arena Cleaner's opening deficit against DisConstructor - Heading into Ragnabot 3, I was already frustrated by how many matches were somewhat thoughtlessly being determined on the grounds of "exposed wheels", but this match was when the fear set in. Arena Cleaner, one of the most powerful spinners in Robot Wars history, almost lost to DisConstructor, and that to me was terrifying. TOAS T 14:45, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Surprise

Which robot went further than you expected, and made you happy about that?

Hypno-Disc has to be up there - a robot that didn't make the Top 8 of Series 6 (a full 15 years before the most recent series) placing 6th. Combatwombat555 (talk) 00:40, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Hypno-Disc certainly gets my vote in the pleasant surprise camp, especially defeating X-Terminator. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 08:48, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Bucky the Robot - Bucky definitely surprised me getting to the melees. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Delldog. Did you see its heat?? That was a Heat of Death to end them all, but Delldog slipped through completely unharmed. Genuinely unthinkable. TOAS T 15:24, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Loss

Which robot crashed out far too early? Use my blog to help your decision

My heart says Supernova, but my mind realistically has to say Aftershock, a 'bot dealt one of the worst hands ever in its first Ragnabot run by immediately dying to Magnetar. A shame, 'cause I think it could've definitely made the Grand Final with the right draws. --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:49, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Thinking this differently. Yeah, robots like Tornado, Aftershock and many others fell. But here is the thing; at least they faced robots that could easily or competently outmatch it. Pulsar's loss was different. It lost to a machine that had fallen to several spinners in the past, in Bulldog Breed. A classic machine that while competent, should easily be outmatched by a Series 8 Grand Finalist with a drum spinner. Alas, not the case, making it a major but unexpected loss, unlike many of the others that you could understand falling at an early stage. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 00:51, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Aftershock and Pulsar are probably more surprising, but Tornado I feel at least warrants a nomination. A robot that perennially features in the last stages of any tournament it's in (and that placed second in Ragnabot 1), bombing out in round 2. Combatwombat555 (talk) 01:12, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
For me Aftershock losing in the Heats was very shocking, especially as that is a machine that could have made the Semis at the very least. But I do agree with Combatwombat with his choice for Tornado, however, I just feel Aftershock's loss to be the more "big" Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 06:56, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
For me, Firestorm. Ok, so it reached the melees but had it not drawn probably two of ten machines that could have beaten it, I definitely saw it going further than Top 96. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Dantomkia and Bigger Brother both crashed out in the heats having both drawn the one robot that could beat them, despite being leagues ahead of the rest of the pack in their respective heats. Raz3r(talk) 12:58, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Aftershock is the best robot we lost within the heats (followed by Supernova). However I agree with Space that the award goes to Pulsar, because it didn't just lose in the second round, it lost to Bulldog Breed of all things in a clear "let's get rid of Pulsar" move that was later proven unnecessary as Terrorhurtz was waiting for the winner. I'll reiterate that I'm not upset about this - getting rid of Pulsar nice and early was great - but it does stand out as the robot who deserves this award the most. TOAS T 15:16, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
May I add Panic Attack and Roadblock to the list? Did not anticipate the first two UK champions to crash out in Round 1, even if their draws lead to an excellent fantasy All-Stars clash and a worthy underdog victory for Arnold A. VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Improver/Decliner

Which robots showed the sharpest improvements and declines from the previous Ragnabot? Use Crash's blog for guidance.

My biggest improver is definitely Texas Tornado for its impressive performance all the way into the Top 32 where it had no right to be. --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:54, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest... decliner? has to go to Atomic. From fourth place all the way down to bombing out in the heats, Atomic's went into meltdown far quicker than I expected. --TheyCallMeDoot (*doot doot*) 00:54, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest Improver: Wild Thing - Finally got some luck here, going from R1 to QFR1. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest Decliner: Philipper 2 - Quite well in Ragnabot 2, to a Round 1 fall in this Ragnabot 3. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest improvers: Wheely Big Cheese crashed out in Round 2 in Ragnabot 2, but stormed through to the Top 16 this time around, while Hypno-Disc went one step further, finishing 6th after falling in Round 3 last time. Raz3r(talk) 13:09, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest decline: Before this Ragnabot, Destructive Criticism had amassed two consecutive Top 32 finishes, only to fall at the first hurdle this time around. Raging Reality also deserves a mention, having reached the Top 16 last series only to lose in Round 2 this time. Raz3r(talk) 13:09, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest improvements: Reptirron the Second, Cyrax and Pinser all made the Top 64 despite not even qualifying for the last series. The Top 96 also adds Twister DS2, Zorro, Hyperactive, Delldog and Orac's Revenge to this. However , I'm giving this to Wheely Big Cheese, for reaching the Top 16 in the first Ragnabot it ever won a heat in. TOAS T 15:23, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest decline: While the definite runner-up is Destructive Criticism, I have to give it to Atomic. Going from two Top 8 finishes down to a Heat Final was quite miserable. TOAS T 15:23, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest Improver: Hypno-Disc finishing 6th following its astounding defeat to Big Nipper in the heats last time out. A worthy mention also goes to Kat 3 for reaching the Round of 64 after failing to qualify for Ragnabot 1 and being eliminated in the first round of Ragnabot 2. VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Biggest Decliner: Philipper 2 and Corkscrew Two have one thing in common: both enjoyed a great run to the Top 32 in Ragnabot 2, only to be swiftly defeated in Round 1 this time around. VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Best Vote/Reply

Which user posted the funniest/most insightful/intriguing or in any other way best vote in a battle? Did they make you laugh, completely convince you to switch votes, or just generally described every factor in the battle perfectly? Post the user and battle so we can find it.

ToastUltimatum, Qualifiers - Lizzard over The Parthian Shot - "AND DE VINNER ISH LIZZARD". Although there are four other ones, with the meme train in Heat O, being another good one, Toast gets my vote. Vulcans in Heat B of Tsunami vs DTK, Up went DTK ... You're an irritant. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
SpaceManiac888, Rawbot vs Rammstein, Heat U, Round 2, "…THAT BOT IS SO RAW THAT IT MAKES NEMESIS' KEBAB LOOK OVERCOOKED." VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Shock Win

Which battle produced the biggest shock win? A good/All-Star robot crashing out to a much less successful and regarded robot, which just happened to be the right robot to stop their run?

Gabriel 2 & Nuts 2 beating Firestorm V - Did not expect to see Firestorm crash out in the Melees, as I said above, these two machines were some of the only machines that could force Firestorm out. Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Arnold A. Terminegger over Roadblock, Heat E, Round 1. The fact that this went 12-1 in Arnold’s favour is even more impressive considering the pedigree of Bodmin Community College’s machine. VulcansHowl 16:38, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Draven over Kan-Opener (7), Heat Q, Round 3. The Facebook link I found concerning Draven’s armour was what convinced me that Toast’s analogy was more likely to happen than Kan-Opener crushing its sides. VulcansHowl 16:38, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Cherub over Drillzilla, Quarter-Final 1, Round of 64. Another closely-fought battle, and an outcome which would most likely leave Cherub anti-fans apoplectic no matter how well it fought. VulcansHowl 16:38, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Manta over Dominator 2, Quarter-Final 3, Round of 32. Wouldn’t be the last time that my best-performing Sweepstake nominee would dish out sparks. Here, it got to pull off what S.M.I.D.S.Y. couldn’t quite do, and the knowledge we subsequently got of Manta’s Grade 5 titanium armour would have only made it more difficult for Dominator 2 to get the damage advantage it relies on. VulcansHowl 16:38, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Biggest Ragnabot 3 meme

What meme and regularly returning vote/caption/comment became the best meme of this tournament?

Would say wheels, but that's quite major, so I'll go for Hogwild's Don't bring featherweights into the Arena in a predominantly heavyweight tournament (or DBFITAIAPHT). Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Jimlaad trying to say that even though it made the Top 32, Centurion didn't get 17th place in Ragnabot 1, claiming that only the robot who lost to the champion could deserve that title. The robot in the Top 32 who lost to Razer in that tournament was, of course, Centurion. TOAS T 15:27, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Has to be mentioned here at some point: Don’t bring wheels into the arena count: xx - SpaceManiac888 VulcansHowl 16:07, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Best Ragnabot 3 blog

Which Blog written by a user about Ragnabot 3 was the best or most informative, useful or greatest commentary?

Best Episode

Which Episode (Page) was the best one to be involved in voting for?

Heat I. So many battles were up for debate, and many ended up with an amazing comeback by the winning machine. UFO was arguably the MVP of the entire episode, coming from behind against both Mega Morg and Hodaf the Bad. While Steg 2 annoyingly got through the entire heat, seeing machines like Short Circuit and V-Max battling it out for a place was heart-warming to say the least.
As for the worst (if we are doing this), it has to be Heat J. Sure, while there were a few close debates here and there, I found this one to be one of the most dreary out there. The problem was that there were far too many "squash" battles, whitewashes that made voting boring. Round 2 may as well be the worst section of the entire Ragnabot, because there was only ONE countervote that entire round. That is unacceptable. Didn't help that there were only two all-stars, Thor and Bigger Brother, who would easily outmatch any others in the heat. They did battle in the third round, but another whitewash didn't help. Only saving grace for me was Maximum Torque's surprising run, but that wasn't enough to save this episode. SpaceManiac888 (Talk) 01:06, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Heat A was a great heat with loads of Big name battles and a surprise heat winner in Spawn of Scutter. Jimlaad43(talk) 10:01, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
Heat D was a good heat. I quite enjoyed the Bulldog Breed/Terrorhurtz/Pulsar/Pussycat/Kat 3 battles, as well as some machines we lost in Round 2. (Jim's just pipped me to Heat A). Adster 1005 11:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)
For me it was Heat I. So many close decisions in every single update, it had me gripped from start to finish. I still remember many of the backstage chats I had with other voters whilst this updated. Much as Heat A was good, it suffered from being brought forwards in the running order as we weren't properly able to figure out how balanced the other heats would be, and it generally came "too soon". TOAS T 15:32, February 9, 2020 (UTC)

Innovation Award

What was the best new feature of Ragnabot 3 compared to previous Ragnabot versions?

Rantnabot. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Reduced number of Qualifiers. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Free Passes being knocked out in the qualifiers. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
24 heats. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Pre-Quarter-Final Melees. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Expanded Sweepstake Scoring system. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Schrödinger's Floor/House Robots. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)
Interchangeable Weapons rule. Jimlaad43(talk) 23:57, February 8, 2020 (UTC)

I hardly noticed the Interchangeable Weapon rule and based on some of the Big Nipper votes, neither did others...Diotoir the son of nemesis (talk) 06:53, February 9, 2020 (UTC)