User blog:CaliforniaKingsnake/CaliforniaKingsnake's Realm of Praise

I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but I feel that there was been a lot of negativity in recent blog posts on the Wiki, focusing on the worst bits of episodes and such. Thus, I wanted to make this blog to praise robots for any reason I've found across the Wiki/my own experiences with the hobby. Hope you all enjoy

Entry 1: Robo Savage

Praised for: FIXING THE FLIPPERS OF THE WIKI

Long before I had even gotten back into Robot Wars there had been much debate back when the Wiki had flippers and flipping arms as separate pages. Was Dantomkia too thin to be considered a "true flipper"? Was Bigger Brother a flipping arm? The arguments as to what qualified as an arm were numerous. But somehow, it was this machine, this loanerbot that ended the whole debate. Not a genuine competitor really, but a bot designed to be toyed with.

Shown: The only real time this stock bot was effective

Now as for the actual robot, well, it's a loanerbot. I can't really be mad with a loanerbot, especially a flipper that looks like a British Matador. Is it a good version, absolutely not, it had the weakest flipper I've ever seen and it was a shame Soldier Ant lost to it so that Robo Savage could be in the final. But the team were honestly so much to watch even when they were losing, to the point where they felt like they were in the main competition they were taking it so seriously. It's such a bizarre and interesting loanerbot, but as the robot that fused the flipper pages on our Wiki, it deserves at least some praise

Entry 2: Cobra (reboot)

Praised for: MAKING A RAMBOT GOOD

To anyone who has ever been near me it should come as no surprise to hear that rambots are my absolute least favourite type of machine in the universe. In my personal opinion they're boring, they look so bland and they do nothing of real interest. While I'll admit the Storm 2 OOTA made me nod a bit in approval, that's about as much praise I ever gave rambots...

NOW RAM HIM AGAIN

...until Cobra came to our screens. I praised the crusher's cute appearance before during the Series 9 rankings of looks, but Cobra does more than look the part now. The World Series showed me what was truly missing from rambots: very good tactical fights with opponents. In the Tag Team, in the Head-to-Head, in both fights Cobra wasn't anything like past rambots, which just did the random rammings into wall after wall which made things boring. Cobra is a surprisingly good machine. While I do still fear for those tyres should they enter the main competition again, it is honestly such a delight to watch. Cobra vs Sabretooth is actually among my favourite fights now since I don't think I've been so on the edge of my seat. In fact, Cobra is the ONLY rambot I want to see currently. Unless rambots can pull off interesting, tactical fights; then I'll just stick to the beautiful Cobra which doesn't need the silly crusher to have venomous strikes

Entry 3: Razer

Praised for: GETTING MY GF INTO ROBOT WARS

I know, I know. Razer's kind of seen as either a God or the bane of everyone's existence. But Razer does deserve praise for not only being a gorgeous bot in of itself, but when introducing a friend who would eventually become my girlfriend to Robot Wars, I showed her a video of Razer battles. And she loved it. She loves the machine still to this day, she was upset like many about what happened in Series 8, (but then she found a new love in Carbide) and she gets excited just seeing it.

This wasn't a robot, this was a killer art piece

...and can you really blame her? Sure, Razer is a bit too overhyped nowadays and people over-exaggerate its power, but with its combat record the hype is very much warranted, unlike other bots. This machine was beautifully driven and very destructive. It's obviously sad to see it no longer return to the Wars, but then again, I think that it's a nice way of passing the torch to the next generation of roboteers and new and awesome crushers. Which speaking of...

Entry 4: Androne 4000

Praised for: BRINGING BACK THE CRUSHER

After Razer pretty much announced its full retirement it seemed like the dinosaurs were becoming extinct. And by the dinosaurs I of course mean the crusher robots. Now don't get me wrong, we still had Draven...and Cobra's "crusher"...and a decade old Crushtacean...and Coyote....okay crushers were definitely going out of fashion, as the machines that bore them either couldn't use them well, didn't use them at all, or were destroyed before they could use them. So to hear that Series 10 was wanting crushers back made me somewhat nervous. And sure enough we had some of the more naff crusher styles like Track-Tion (which come to think of it did its weapon ever move during the series?) and Coyote (which to be fair the crusher actually worked and well this series)...

I've waited too long to see this kind of attack

...and then we see Androne 4000. Finally, at long last Razer's torch of the crushers could be passed on. Androne is genuinely a really good machine that I was surprised with, especially against Tauron. It did break my heart to see Tauron go, as that has quickly become one of my favourite machines, but way to go Androne for pulling a win there. The machine does of course need to work on a few obvious flaws, but for a first machine it is quite a machine. And these are GENUINE newcomers, as in this is their first robot entirely. Granted, so was Concussion, who also kinda sorta continued Razer's legacy, but Androne gave us such charm that I honestly enjoy. I also loved the controller setup. It looked so DIY, and it's so funny.

Entry 5: Thermidor 2

Praised for: MY CHILDHOOD FAVOURITE

As a kid I was only able to watch random episodes of Robot Wars: Extreme and Extreme 2 on the channel Dave. As such, I never saw the main Wars until the 2016 series came around. That being said, there was always a certain robot that I remembered alongside Razer, and that was a robot designed like a lobster called Thermidor 2. I didn't know why it had a 2 at the end at the time, but all I remember was that I loved watching it fight as one of the most shown episodes of Extreme was the one where the Mayhem was Thermidor 2 vs Behemoth vs Stinger. Which is probably the reason I still love the machine to this day.

I'm still impressed they managed this

This fight is still among my favourite battles of all time, as not only does it show off how much of an improved machine Thermidor was (shame it never replicated that success in the main Wars eh?) but it contains one of my favourite OOTAs of all time: against Stinger. Y'see Stinger is a machine that earned a reputation in the classic series of being basically untouchable, if you were against Stinger you'd have some trouble since it's so difficult to attack. Stinger was Gabriel before Gabriel, so to get it out of the arena required a big claw like Killalot (or maybe Wowot come to think of it...), yet Thermidor got the perfect angle to throw the machine out of the arena. Because despite losing in Round 1 three times, the machine is actually surprisingly good. It's well driven and very strong. Thermidor's weaknesses lied in the thin armour and exposed wheels, but it was a fun machine to watch.

Entries 6 & 7: Diotoir Machina & THE BASH

Praised for: REFERENCING THE CLASSIC SERIES IN THE REBOOT

As Series 8 and 9 came and went fans were at the most, mixed. On one hand the fights and camera angles were superb, but there was one thing missing: references to the classic series of Robot Wars. Aside from a few familiar faces and sometimes getting commentary from JP about a team's experience (as well as a passing comment from Dara in the first episode of the reboot), we didn't get any classic footage or references. And much like everyone else, I was admittedly sad, especially when you have machines which have a lot of pedigree from those previous wars.

Admit it, we all cheered when we saw this

In Series 10 however, there was a little more reference to it (though most of it kept to Haynes Manual interviews), and we started to get excited. Then along came the World Series and an iconic fur was brought into the limelight once again. We even got classic wars footage. And okay, the bots themselves aren't the best. In fact, they're pretty awful. But this is not about the bots here. It's about what they represent. Their identities have stayed with us for so long that to see them return, even if one of them was an underweight jokebot that retired after one fight, was exciting. I honestly hope we see Peter Redmond in Series 11 with a new Diotoir (maybe give it a new name too like Scrios [Irish for "Destroy"]) because he was so much fun to have back. As for THE BASH, he helped hint to the producers that maybe bringing back Bash is a good idea (maybe bring back Growler too? Pleeeeease?)

Entry 8: Hobgoblin

Praised for: FIRST EVER BEATER BOT IN RW

It's been way too long since I last updated this, and there are still many bots I deem worthy of praise, and with it picking up votes to beat a Grand finalist (and me being amongst them), I think it's worth putting Hobgoblin in now.

This is going to beat the robot that came joint third? Yes, actually

Hobgoblin seems to get a bit of a bad reputation thrown at it for being unreliable and seemingly unwanted, and to be honest I don't see why since Hobgoblin has done something well deserving of praise in the televised series: put a brand-new and unique spin on a tried and true weapon design.

It's sad that this is the only real show of power Hob's shown

Now yes, I am aware that egg-beaters have been in the lower weight classes for ~5 years prior to Hobgoblin's appearance on TV. But Hobgoblin is the first HEAVYWEIGHT of this design, and even the first egg-beater spinner the show has ever seen, so those that don't attend or watch live events should have been rather impressed. But that's not the only way it put a spin on a tried and true weapon. It also put a spin on the drum. I mean, think about it, how much lamer and more forgettable would Hobgoblin be if instead of that rather beautiful beater, it was just a big dull drum? Don't get me wrong, I love drum spinners, but Hobgoblin is such a lovely twist on that concept that I can't help but admire it.

Not only that, but it feels so grossly underrated since it's lost every battle, but its tussle with Shunt proves that this is a bot that could do some major damage with the right amount of luck. Ironic, the robot called Hobgoblin is plagued by gremlins.

Entry 9: Fluffy

Praised for: THE TRUE PIONEER OF BAR SPINNERS

Okay, everyone here on the wiki is aware that the pioneer of the weapon we'd soon know as the bar spinner is a Series 3 competitor known as Hammertron. But it didn't exactly put on a show with this weapon, now did it? In fact, Hammertron was downright forgettable. But then comes along Fluffy (and if you want to be technical you can also include The Alien), and the rest is history.

I like 101, but this image makes me so happy

I mean, its "debut" in Extreme was admittedly very...underwhelming. I do wish they had put it in a Wild Card Warrior match against a bot like Gemini or Plunderbird since that would be the greatest debut as well as finally make a newcomer win. But its debut in Series 5 could not have been more perfect if it tried. First fight: against the seeded 101. And Fluffy utterly DECIMATES it; moving on to its next fight with the very experienced (although yet to receive its own legendary status) Terrorhurtz, who even put on an anti-Fluffy device. And what do Fluffy do? That's right. They decimate Terrorhurtz. So, Fluffy is into the Heat Final, and it's against the legendary Pussycat, the runner-up of last series. Surely Fluffy is mincemeat right...?

Top 10 Most Shocking Moments in Anime

...as soon as this moment happened, I'm sure every single person's jaw dropped. The runner-up just lost its disc AND a castor to the newcomer, and was now really struggling to push. Could we see the second seed fall at the Heats? Sadly no, Fluffy conked out before then, which is such a shame. Fluffy could have easily been Semi Final material in another heat, and had those batteries not conked out at that bad time, it would have made Semis then. Unfortunately the Fluffy luck ran out then, and despite still doing great levels of damage, never remade a Heat Final. But there's no denying its legacy.

Call me crazy, but I'd like to think Fluffy is who to thank for this

Ever since Fluffy competed there was/has been a surge in invertible horizontal bar spinners. Carbide, Arena Cleaner/Cathadh, Frostbite (though Frostbite was more than likely inspired more by Carbide), the list goes on. And personally I'd like to think Fluffy and the American bar spinners are to thank for that. It's a real shame that Fluffy never made a Heat Final, but what it started in the UK series cannot be denied.