User blog:RA2/All Stars Rankdown

As promised, it is the All Stars Rankdown! Signups are now active! Signups will commence until we have 10 people including myself, or until the 14th of June.

Please note, you need to include your vote-in for your signup to be counted.

Format

We’ll be using the “Pick-n-Mix” format. In this game, we'll be setting up a pool of robots, and take turns eliminating one robot from the pool, the adding a new one

This will continue until 17 or fewer robots remain. After that, players will rank the surviving robots, and the averages will determine final rankings.

I'll be pretty open about the criteria you use to make your cuts, just a few rule & guidelines:

• Insulate it to the series in question, or the reboot. We are strictly judging robots by their peak performance, or is multiple, then each peak separately.
• No discussing how it was received by the fandom - you can call a robot overrated or underrated, complain about fanboys, etc, as long as that is not your only reason for cutting
• No troll-moves. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but if I see a move that's clearly intended to get a rise out of people or an individual, you will be booted. Slots are very limited, do not take one unless you plan on taking this seriously.
  • You can make backroom deals with other players, but keep in mind, there is no recourse if someone breaks the deal.
• You must have watched & be familiar with all episodes of the series in question, even the obscure ones - it won't do to have a bad robot slip under the radar because people forget to nominate it. Since Extreme is part of this, you'll have to remember all the different appearances that each robot made. The series is on YouTube if you need to refresh your memory, and I will post a spreadsheet in Google Docs, listing all robots in the game, and their status in the rankdown.
• Please be punctual and check in often. The game only works if each person takes their turn in good order.
  • This will now be enforced, in order to keep the game moving. If a player does not take their turn within 36 hours of the last player, the player will receive a strike, and the turn may be taken by anyone not participating in the rankdown. If a player gets 3 strikes, a replacement will be sought. I'm sorry to have to do this, but it is not fair to the other players to keep them waiting an indeterminate amount of time. If you don't have time to write out a summary, I'll accept just the robots names, and you can post the writeups later. If comments are not working for whatever reason, you may use my Talk page.
• Most importantly, have fun, and don't take it personally if a robot you like gets cut sooner than you want it to.

Spreadsheet

Here's a list of all the robots that have been deemed All-stars of a season. I have deliberately left of their placements from the rankdowns in order to keep perspectives fresh. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yHMQioSaSI1o1lQG6nY-NS3ZlYkXJJhhkhmB0ZcKSOY/edit?usp=sharing

The Doom Dial

To make things more interesting, I’m introducing the Doom Dial, your choice of a special power. Each player may press the Doom Dial once to access one of the following effects:

• Pit: Negate the most recent cut and remove the robot in question from the pool. The robot gets immunity for one full cycle (ie cannot be nominated until after the player you interrupted finishes his/her next turn). It’s on you to play this in time to catch the robot you want, if it’s not the most recent, it can’t be Pitted.

• Rogue House Robot: on your turn, you may cut a robot that’s not in the pool. You will not nominate on the round you use this. You may not cut any robot that has immunity. This cut cannot be negated by the Pit.
  • New Addition: You can also use Rogue House Robot to cut one of your own nominees. If you do it this way, you pick a replacement, so the pool keeps the same number of robots

• Fog Of War: On your turn, instead of cutting/nominating, replace the entire pool with a new set. You may not pick any robot that has immunity. In subsequent rounds, you can cut robots that you brought in with Fog of War.

The Doom Dial will be available in all rounds except the first and last. You are not obligated to use the Doom Dial. To reiterate, you each get one button press, NOT one of each power.

Usages

• RA2 - Fog of War (Round 7)
• NJGW - Rogue House Robot (Round 7)
• O Raz3r O
• HV Lobsta
• CrashBash
• Toon Ganondorf - Pit (Round 3)
• Adster
• GarrodGang

Versioning resolution

Below is an exhaustive list of the robots with multiple versions kept:

• Atomic: 5 & 7
• Behemoth: 3 & Reboot
• Big Nipper: 7 & Reboot
• Diotior: 3 & 5
• Firestorm: 3 & 6
• Mortis: 2 & 4
• Panic Attack: 2 & 4
• Pussycat: 4 & 7
• Spawn Again: 6 & 7
• Supernova: 7 & 9
• Terrorhurtz: 6 & Reboot
• Tornado: 4 & 6
• Wild Thing: 4 & 5 & 6
• X-Terminator: 3 & 4 & 7

I also made the choice to overrule the rankdown results on Killerhurtz and keep the Series 4 version. Its being statistically "worse" is down to Series 3 having a large excess of robots.

My signup

If you wish to play, just do as I've done here and declare your bottom 10. Keep in mind that your spot will NOT be locked in unless you write out your bottom-10 list.

• 10. Barry. I'm going to try not to make this a rankdown of who could beat whom in a fight, and I encourage others to do the same, and keep in mind the intent to measure them as relative to their era. That being said, Barry lost in the gauntlet, and never appeared again. Plus, any theoretical advantages in battle can be attributed to their weight bonus, and that hardly seems fair. Definitely the least worthy of being called an all-star, so I'm giving them 10 votes into the pool.
• 9. Corporal Punishment. Thanks to the Shuntposting watch parties, I got a chance to review these bots, and Corporal Punishment was slower and less potent than I remeber. They never had their drive well sorted and ultimately were done in by their poor design - forks bent so badly after ramming that the Corporal couldn't even go forward without impaling itself.

• 8. Spikasaurus. Their successful attacks were awfully opportunistic. Static spikes in Series 4 is already a disadvantage, and when faced with Dominator, they showed how much trouble they had with being directly confronted with no other bots to distract. I also can't ignore their pinball proformance and what it says about driving skill. Plus, all their really good attacks involved them being unable to separate, which is a negative IMO.
• 7. Blade. Quite fortuitous to not meet Razer. Weapon did scratches at best and was just so-so at pushing. In my opinion it was weak even by Series 3 standards.
• 6. Concussion. Accuse me of having an agenda but this bot was sluggish and really struggled against the stars, the fact of the matter is they won a very weak heat and were lucky in the heat final that Thor had to ration its axe power. Just constantly appearing to be struggling or limping.
• 5. Pulsar. Like Concussion, a struggler that seemed to have something wrong in every battle. Its good moments were better than Concussion though.
• 4. Splinter (Only the Series 5 version made the all stars btw). Weaponry was a bit too low-impact by Series 5 standards, and the only bot they beat with no help was VIPER 01.
• 3. Crusader 2. A good pusher, but is it an all star? They were well and truly dominated by Mortis, and people say Mortis's axe is rubbish, well it went through Crusader's armour like paper.
• 2. Chaos. While it did cocoon into a legend, Chaos itself was pretty prone to tipping over and the lifting arm was more about pushing robots away, didn't have the leverage to flip a robot lower than Wheelosaurus
• 1. St. Agro. A very innovative robot, but for the most part, just an passable flip-overer. And fragile.

Players

Please specify if you have a positional preference, if not I will assign you one randomly.

1. RA2
2. NJGW
3. O Raz3r O
4. HV Lobsta
5. CrashBash
6. Toon Ganondorf
7. Adster
8. GarrodGang

Rankdown

Round 1

And the All Stars Rankdown is officially open! You all voted, and the robots voted into the pool are... Barry (unanimously 10th), Blade, Chaos, Corporal Punishment (unanimously 9th), Cruella, Crusader 2, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, and Robo Doc. But one of these is about to go.

118. Barry (RA2)

Hey now, you're not an All Star: Barry. Everyone thought it was the worst here, including me so natch this is going to be first out. My system for determining who's an all star dragged in a whole third of Series 1 (A lot aren't on the Google Doc because of redundancy reduction). Barry was a very good looking robot, but we can't ignore the fact that they didn't constrain themselves to any weight class like the other robots did, and their advantage, had they gone further, would largely lean on that. Compound that with the real elephant in the room, that Barry did nothing but lose the Gauntlet, and this cut couldn't be cleaner.

Nominating: Spikasaurus. As well as placing 11th in the vote-in, it's my top pick that's not currently in here. Spikasaurus was a perfectly serviceable robot, but Series 4 called for weapons, it was too late to depend on spikes. And I can't ignore what happened in their pinball run and their 1v1 with Dominator, a concerning picture of how Spikasaurus performs when it doesn't have another robot to hide behind.

Pool: Blade, Chaos, Corporal Punishment, Cruella, Crusader 2, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Robo Doc, Spikasaurus.

117. Cruella (NJGW)

cut: Cruella - a lack of pushing power despite being wedge shaped, and the standard builds seen in Series 1-2 compound things.

pool: Berserk 2

the pool: Berserk 2, Blade, Chaos, Corporal Punishment, Crusader 2, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Robo Doc, Spikasaurus.

116.Corporal Punishment (O Raz3r O)

Demoted to Private: Corporal Punishment was pretty slow, the weapon was poor and its driving was questionable.

Pooled: Spawn Again (S6/E2) may have improved for Extreme 2, but had a lot of issues throughout its Series 6 campaign that other opponents should have capitalised on, but didn't

Pool: Berserk 2, Blade, Chaos, Crusader 2, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Robo Doc, Spawn Again, Spikasaurus

115. Robo Doc (HV Lobsta)

The Doctor is Out: Robo Doc, looking at its performance, very much seemed to be more suited to the non-combative parts of Series 2 than actual combat, as it performed quite well at Joust and The Gauntlet. It was, however, completely out-classed in its only fight. It had good engineering behind it though, seeing as it helped to make 101 a reality.

Pooled: Cunning Plan. Completely outclassed in the first Grand Final because of its featherweight status.

114. Chaos (CrashBash)

Not there yet: Chaos. Its time would come, but it feels like the opposite to Chaos 2 in every way - weak flipper, very high ground clearance, no control at all....

It's crushing Mortis under its own weight!: Recyclopse. Beyond overturning Matilda and Scrapper, its weapon was sadly ineffective...and worse of all, it just had several reliability issues

Pool: Berserk 2, Blade, Crusader 2, Cunning Plan, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Spawn Again, Spikasaurus

113. Blade (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: Blade. Revisiting the fight with Agent Orange made me realise how close Blade game to being a round 2 dropout.

Pool: X-Terminator 2 (4) - The pitiful axe aside, its lifter does not give me confidence in the same series that included Hypno-Disc, Pussycat, Chaos 2, Razer and Dominator 2 all being the best of all time with their respective weapons.

Pool: Berserk 2, Crusader 2, Cunning Plan, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Recyclopse, Spawn Again 6, Spikasaurus, X-Terminator 2

112. Crusader 2(Adster)

Sailing away: Crusader II - Crusader had a tiny little lifter, and it was in the weight limit, which could have been more of a panel, and therefore could have been much more effective against Mortis or Steg II.

Pool: The Big Cheese - next robot on my vote-in list

111. Cunning Plan (GarrodGang)

Cut: Cunning Plan. Certainly an effective featherweight, by all means... and yet it was an effective featherweight TRANSPLANTED into what was a heavyweight competition. Against most competent heavyweights this machine would be ineffective, even in series one, and as such I cannot give it credit for beating RC cars with plastic shells on top.

Pooled: Nemesis. A competent run at the trials aside, it did little against Roadblock and I can't seriously think it was in with much of a chance of winning.

Pool: Berserk 2, Concussion, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, X-Terminator 2, Nemesis

Round 2

The doom Dial is now active, so if any of you think my move is too offensive, well the pit became available just in time.

110. Spawn Again (Series 6/Extreme 2) (RA2)

Spawned for the last time: Spawn Again (Series 6/Extreme 2). Logically I can't believe that all the top robots from the latter half of classic RW were infallible. In my opinion a fast & maneuverable bot in Series 2 is era-relative better than Spawn Again in Series 6. While this Spawn Again was a better choice than the Extreme/S5 version, it still was a constant under-performer; got lucky against Supernova and almost lost to Spam. SPAM!!! Our own page on Series 6 Spawn Again is one big merciless roast, and the good moments that bolster it only looked good because of how far apart they were.

Everyone has a headache from me complaining about: Concussion. I had a lot of gripes in Discord about Pulsar possibly beating Concussion out, and maybe I swayed someone, maybe not. Here's your chance to right what I feel to be a possible wrong.

Berserk 2, Concussion, Haardvark, Nemesis, Onslaught, Pulsar, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, X-Terminator 2

109. Nemesis (NJGW)

Cut: Nemesis - some good outside-battle action, but still gets outdone by those on show here which either match it in trials or better it in the arena.

Pool: Raging Knightmare

The pool: Berserk 2, Concussion, Haardvark, Onslaught, Pulsar, Raging Knightmare Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, X-Terminator 2

108. Onslaught (O Raz3r O)

Cut: Onslaught performed well in the trials, but ultimately ended up beating an immobile robot in its first fight, and being immobile itself in its second.

Not a terror yet: Killerhurtz

Pool: Berserk 2, Concussion, Haardvark, Killerhurtz, Pulsar, Raging Knightmare, Recylcopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, X-Terminator 2

107. Haardvark (HV Lobsta)

Cut: Haardvark to get as far as it did had luck on its side, the good (having an easy heat, with its first battle ending after a single shove and the next being decided by the House Robots) balancing out the bad (controls burning out on multiple occasions). I think it's had its run.

Pooled: Facet. Won its first battle in a single flip, lost its next (and last) in a single flip.

Pool: Berserk 2, Concussion, Facet, Killerhurtz, Pulsar, Raging Knightmare, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, X-Terminator 2.

106. Berserk 2 (CrashBash)

Going Crazy: Berserk 2. Whilst it may be better than what it become, Berserk 2 feels like more of a one-trick pony, being remembered for being the first to stand up to Hypno-Disc and subsequently hindered by not being the only one. Decent weapons it may have, but it still feels the weakest of these robots even within its own series.

Stuck: T.R.A.C.I.E. The fact it barely made it through the Trial speaks for itself - one legit competitor extra and T.R.A.C.I.E. would have been out.

Pool: Concussion, Facet, Killerhurtz, Pulsar, Raging Knightmare, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, T.R.A.C.I.E., X-Terminator 2.

105. Pulsar (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: Pulsar. I’ve given it some goood leeway and it was certainly potent, but it doesn’t stop the fact it was close to loosing almost every battle in its career. If we are pooling Series 1 Grand Finalists, Series 8 is just as vulnerable.

Pool: Splinter 5. Ive never been as impressed by its Annihilator as I was apalled at it practically losing to Killertron and Aggrobot, not to mention its pretty pitiful Series 5.

Pool: Concussion, Facet, Killerhurtz, Raging Knightmare, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, Splinter 5, The Big Cheese, T.R.A.C.I.E., X-Terminator 2

104. Splinter (Adster)

Cut: Splinter - In a 50/50 decision (between this and Raging Knightmare), I'll opt to cut Splinter, as TG said when he pooled it, it's Annihilator performance wasn't spectacular, and it was supremely outclassed by Bigger Brother in the Heat Semi-Final

Pool: The Grim Reaper - Last machine from my vote-in list.

103. Facet (GarrodGang)

Cut: Facet. Sure, it could have potentially gone on to extensive success in the series with a better draw - you could make an argument for it beating most of the semi-finalists in series 3. Using that logic you would have to propel a round 2 loser way further than it deserves, which I don't intend on doing.

Pool: Cassius II. Similar logic really, you could push it far on potential (on potential it's arguably a top 3 bot in that series), but it's actual record saw some pretty reckless driving and, as we now know, enforced issues leaving it with only one flip in the tank.

Pool: Concussion, Killerhurtz, Raging Knightmare, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, T.R.A.C.I.E., X-Terminator 2, The Grim Reaper, Cassius II

Round 3

102. Raging Knightmare (RA2)

The end of a dream: Raging Knightmare. The second weakest heat winner, behind St. Agro, but St. Agro isn't here. Grim Reaper's heat was dreadfully boring, but the Reaper itself was very steady and dominant, not like RK who constantly flipped itself. Looking back, they had luck at just about every stage - no gas in Round 1 but Executioner killed Topbot and then itself, ROTS was giving it a real run for its money before its gas line burst, and Spawn Again did Spawn Again things. And in the Annihilator Round 2, they looked completely lost. To their credit they beat Ewe 2 by having a better design that couldn't be side stranded, but to their discredit, their unassisted achievements were minimal.

The Saint Comes Marching In: St. Agro. I gave it one vote and I'm sticking to it. Credit for them to the innovative design, and this is by no means an expression of dislike, but their combat prowess was minimal, and I feel they got highly optimal draws in two consecutive flipper-bots that couldn't themselves self-right very easily.

Pool: Cassius 2, Concussion, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, St. Agro, T.R.A.C.I.E., The Big Cheese, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator 2

101. St. Agro (NJGW)

Cut: St. Agro - was hardly exceptional in its melee and broke its weapon, got dominated by Scraptosaur before the KO, nearly lost and suffered damage against a one-side drive Ceros, and mullered in the Semis.

Pool: Prizephita Mach 2. Its Round 1 and 2 victories are battles it only won due to incredibly unaware opposition drivers. Prizephita's drive was done in both fights.

The pool: Cassius II, Concussion, Prizephita Mach 2, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, T.R.A.C.I.E., The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator 2.

100. Prizephita Mach 2 (O Raz3r O)

Mayday: Prizephita Mach 2, as Nick correctly pointed out, lost drive on one side against both Thermidor 2 and The Alien, and while it had a good barrage of attacks on Wild Thing in the heat final, you’d have to wonder why less than 3 of the 5 minutes of the fight was shown. I get the feeling it was the latter stages of the fight where Prizephita was already considerably slowing down and had a broken flipper; of course they’ll focus on the more visually impressive Prizephita attacks on TV.

Shouldn’t outrun The Reaper: With The Grim Reaper pooled, Big Nipper (7) should be too. Sure, the heat final decision was questionable, but it was very close, far closer than their round 1 clash, which The Grim Reaper dominated.

Big Nipper (Series 7), Cassius 2, Concussion, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, T.R.A.C.I.E., The Big Cheese, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator 2

99. Cassius II (HV Lobsta)

Cut: Cassius II. Team Cassius’ performance in Series 3 is nothing to write home about, compared to previous campaigns. While it did manage to win a rematch with Team Loco, its all too intimate relationship with the pit spelled disaster for the team against Pussycat, a robot it was defeating up until that point, I’d argue. Other than Grand Final bots simply not competing in the subsequent series, this was perhaps the longest fall of any bot between seasons, although I’ve probably forgotten one or two more extreme cases. (The fact that they were disallowed to use their C02 flipper more than once a fight and their spike at all thanks to similar pneumatic systems being behind Series 3’s incident in the pits didn’t really affect them much, seeing as they fired the flipper off multiple times during the battle with Dundee, and again with Pussycat.) Still, the front hinge flipper seemed to struggle in actually flipping bots over in Series 3, taking many shots to get Dundee up and over. Cassius went out with a whimper, rather than a bang.

Pooled: X-Terminator (Series 3). I think X-Terminator’s performance in Series 3 is around the same quality as in Series 4, so having both in the pool feels ok to me.

Pool: Big Nipper (7), Concussion, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Big Cheese, T.R.A.C.I.E, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2.

PIT The Big Cheese (CrashBash)

Grated: The Big Cheese. It's really the only one I feel I can eliminate at this stage that I haven't nominated. Its slow speed and sluggish lifter leaves it perhaps a bit too vulnerable to other robots of its era.

TG: PIT: Big Cheese. A quick glance reveals that X Terminator and bloody Diotoir are still in Series 3’s contributions, and I’ve felt that this was a premature add for some time.

Hammered: Bodyhammer A strong performance in Series 1 let down by a poor Heat Final and the fact that it was rendered weaponless.

Pool: Big Nipper (7), Bodyhammer, Concussion, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, T.R.A.C.I.E, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2.

98. Big Nipper (Series 7) (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: Big Nipper 7. A heat Finalist who really cannot count upon much and I am sure is largely potential based.

Pool: hydra 6. Potent, but couldn’t self right against Bulldog breed and was armoured in cheese

Pool: Bodyhammer, Concussion, Hydra, Killerhurtz, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, T.R.A.C.I.E, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2.

97. Killerhurtz (Adster)

Killed off: Killerhurtz - A tricky one this between Killerhurtz and Spikasaurus. Both had good and negative points throughout the Series. Spikasaurus had the Annihilator win ("defeating" Killerhurtz in the process), but lost a close R1 decision, Killerhurtz won an easy decision, but aced the Pinball, where Spiksaurus failed. I'm leaning towards getting rid of Killerhurtz because whilst Killerhurtz had some good attacks on Spiksaurus, Spikasaurus had a good go in taking down Killerhurtz.

Pooled: Raging Reality - After that essay, another tussle between Beast of Bodmin and Raging Knightmare, I'm going to pool Raging Reality. It may have toppled Tetanus and Typhoon II, but it was then mauled by the other four in Round 2.

96. Bodyhammer (GarrodGang)

Cut: Bodyhammer. Was close between this and TRACIE due to TRACIE's breakdowns in the gauntlet and trials, but with not much to its credit (every other bot still in contention I can think of at least one solid performance against a bot either better or of an equal level to it) but a lucky escape against REALI-T and being slightly too low for Roadblock to knock over, Bodyhammer had the least to recommend it.

Pooled: Panzer Mk 2. Unfortunately, Panzer can't call upon its strong extreme warriors record here, and as such only has the 2WC melee to its name, and while it put up a good showing against Tornado it was nevertheless killed off with a single flip, and a 0-1 record ain't all-star material.

The Pool: Concussion, Hydra, Raging Reality, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, T.R.A.C.I.E, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2, Panzer Mk. 2.

Round 4

95. Hydra (RA2)

Heads won't be growing back: Hydra. Very plucky robot, but as TG said, they had rather weak armour, I don't think I've ever seen Dominator do that much damage. And they were really listless towards the end of that fight. As for the tag team terror, I think they would've had a real struggle if they had to 1v1 X-Terminator, on the basis of the way their clash was going. Can't cut my own without using up my Doom Dial, and I feel I might need it with this anti-early series agenda.

Pooling: Diotior (Series 5). In series 3 not every bot had a recoruse for getting flipped so I cna't single out that Diotior for that. But by Series 5 standards they don't measure up. And that win on Tornado was largely aided by their fur negating Tornado's weapon, and Tornado inexplicably driving up their wedge all the time (the team's diary doesn't really explain why they did that).

The Pool: Concussion, Diotior (Series 5), Raging Reality, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, T.R.A.C.I.E, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2, Panzer Mk. 2.

94. T.R.A.C.I.E (NJGW)

Cut: T.R.A.C.I.E. - amazed it got to even this stage. It died in the Gauntlet, killed itself in the Trial, and should've lost against Prince of Darkness after dying on the grille too. At its best, it was a joy to watch, but that happened in one fight.

Pool: All Torque

The Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Diotior (Series 5), Raging Reality, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2, Panzer Mk. 2.

93. Raging Reality (O Raz3r O)

Reality sets in: Raging Reality had an incredibly easy round 1 draw, was struggling badly against Tetanus 2 in Round 2 until its mobility issues kicked in, and had no chance against Razer. Also had a very questionable breakdown in Round 2 of Extreme 2's Annihilator.

Pooled: Supernova (9) often rated highly based on potential, but what we actually saw of it in Series 9 against Pulsar and Ironside 3 should catch up to it sooner rather than later in a ranking like this. Frostbite is hardly the most impressive robot to completely beat up either.

The Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Diotior (Series 5), Panzer Mk. 2, Recyclopse, Spikasaurus, Supernova (9), The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2

92. Panzer Mk. 2 (HV Lobsta)

A Short Campaign: Panzer Mk. 2. If Philliper didn't get that lucky flip, if Tornado hadn't already destroyed Panzer's scrimech, we probably wouldn't have cut Panzer at this stage. All things considered, it kind of went under my radar till it was pooled, me thinking that Extreme Warriors would be considered in the ranking. Oh well.

Pooled: Crustacean. Has a couple very memorable victories, but even Ian Vissler himself considered Crustacean's win against Behemoth in S5 as "More luck than anything else." It also had control problems throughout Series 5 and 6, managing to defeat itself against Chaos 2 when it opened the pit then fell down itself because it lost control. Had an easy first round draw in Series 6, Mr Nasty being perfect for Crustacean's claws to snip the former's aerial, and the fact that it lost to Behemoth the second time they met in the arena shows that Crustacean's most famous victory was maybe a bit of a fluke. Always ended up being beaten by stronger All-Stars.

Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Recylopse, Spikasaurus, Supernova (S9), The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3), X-Terminator 2.

91. X-Terminator 2 (CrashBash)

The sequel is never as good as the original: X-Terminator 2. The fact the team didn't like it is not a good start, but even outside that, it just didn't feel as commanding as the original X-Terminator.

Box in the pool: Robot the Bruce. It's just a box. Nothing more to say.

Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Recylopse, Robot the Bruce, Spikasaurus, Supernova (S9), The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3)

90. Spikasaurus (Toon Ganondorf)

Extinct: Spikasaurus. I could chuck The Grim Reaper but it really has to be up for this machine who has come so far on an Annihilator alone.

Pool: Mortis (4). The weapons jammed against Steg 2, and it just felt past it’s prime compared to the emerging Dominator and Firestorm machines in the heat on either side

Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Crushtacean, Diotior (Series 5), Mortis (Series 4), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Supernova (Series 9), The Grim Reaper, X-erminator (Series 3)

89. Supernova (Series 9) (Adster)

Turned into a black hole: Supernova Supernova might have had some good wins in Series 9, but it was pretty much outclassed by Ironside3 and Pulsar in the Head-to-Heads.

Pooled: I don't want to do this, but Wild Thing II. A bit of a step down from Wild Thing, and the disc could have been a bit better

The Pool: All Torque, Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Mortis (4), Recylopse, Robot the Bruce, The Grim Reaper, Wild Thing II, X-Terminator (Series 3)

88. All Torque (GarrodGang)

No Trousers: All Torque. Credit for being a reliably pushy bot, but only scalp it can claim is Prometheus and King B dispatched them rather quickly.

3.6 Roentgens? Not great but not terrible...: Atomic (Extreme 1/Series 5) Very unfortunate to have been so thoroughly savaged by Hypno-Disc, could have pushed itself even higher if it'd been able to contest its annihilator.

The Pool: Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Mortis (4), Recylopse, Robot the Bruce, The Grim Reaper, Wild Thing II, X-Terminator (Series 3), Atomic (E1/S5)

Round 5

87. Mortis (Series 4) (RA2)

Rigor Mortis sets in: Mortis (Series 4): Scratched up a couple of robots, but the wins were minimally impressive - close and oft-disputed JD to Panic Attack being the highlight. Said before that Crusader's armour was like paper, and it couldn't seem to leave a mark on anyone else. Loss by lifter jamming is going to hurt them too. Wild Thing, Atomic, X-Terminator, and Crushtacean in the Commonwealth were taken out by high-tier robots compared to Steg 2 beating Mortis.

Into the gravity well: Black Hole: I have no excuses for their loss to Philipper, and who did they beat of comparable quality to Philipper - was the old version of Tsnuami that good?

The Pool: Atomic (S5/X1), Black Hole, Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Recylopse, Robot the Bruce, The Grim Reaper, Wild Thing II, X-Terminator (Series 3)

86. Beast of Bodmin (NJGW)

Cut: Wild Thing 2 - it's not a bad machine, but Wild Thing 2 struggled offensively despite its strong reliability.

Pool: Beast of Bodmin

The Pool: Atomic (S5/X1), Beast of Bodmin, Black Hole, Concussion, Crustacean, Diotóir (S5/X1), Recylopse, Robot the Bruce, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3)

85. Beast of Bodmin (O Raz3r O)

Hardly a Beast of a performance: Beast of Bodmin. May have reached the Top 8 of Series 3, but boy did it struggle to get there. It was badly losing to Crusher before its track slipped, Onslaught worries it until its own poor control failed it and left it overturned, and even Invertebrat threatened it in the heat final for a while. Blade was perhaps the weakest semi finalist of Series 3, and once it finally faced a good competitor, Beast of Bodmin was outclassed.

Respawned: Spawn of Scutter

The Pool: Atomic (S5/E1), Black Hole, Concussion, Crushtacean, Diotoir (S5/E1), Recylcopse, Root the Bruce, Spawn of Scutter, The Grim Reaper, X-Terminator (Series 3)

84. The Grim Reaper (HV Lobsta)

Does it fear itself?: The Grim Reaper. All of its battles ended in judges decisions. Which is a distinction that none of the others in the pool have. One could also argue that even the JDs it did win were close all but once, and even then, Gyrobot did a good bit of damage. Never got close to an OOTA either. The flipper was weak by Series 7 standards. Didn't get a single attack in against Storm 2 and of course had a very close JD against Big Nipper. Most of the other S7 semi-finalists would have made short work of it, I think.

Pooled: Tsunami. Had very easy opponents in its group battle and the second round and in the heat final managed to claw defeat from the jaws of victory

83. Black Hole (CrashBash)

Chance, chance...UPSET!: Black Hole. It may be the German champion, fair enough, but I feel it has too many vulnerabilities to make it stand up to a good chunk of the robots from the cocurrently filmed Series 6.

Guess who's back: The Big Cheese. Maybe it was initially eliminated a little earlier than it should, but it still has vulnerabilities of its own and needs considering.

82. Diotior (Series 5) (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: Diotoir. I wanted to cut Crushtacean or Spawn of Scutter, but s4 SMIDSY is still not even pooled and that’s unacceptable, so I’ll cut a different heat finalist and hope SMIDSY goes shortly after.

Pool: SMIDSY 4 - really needs to go soon

81. Atomic (S5/E1) (Adster)

Gone into meltdown: Atomic (S5/E1) - a solid Mayhem performance, kinda got lucky against Kan-Opener due to the srimech, then ripped apart by Hypno-Disc.

Pooled: Supernova (S7) - I'm really struggling now, and I don't expect Supernova to be cut until the remaining 9 are cut, it was a Round 1 dropout (albeit getting damaging Killalot, with a bit of help), and whilst it had two good battles in the Top 4 of the 3WC, it had a bit of trouble in the first round.

The Pool: Concussion, Crushtacean, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Spawn of Scutter, Supernova (Series 7) The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3).

80. S.M.I.D.S.Y. (GarrodGang)

Sorry Mate I Voted You: Weird to think that series 4 was SMIDSY's best season performance wise (god knows they coulda done better in 6 and perhaps 7) but it was. Full credit for beating out Aggrobot and bamboozling Panic Attack for a time.

Silenced: Mute

Round 6

79. Crushtacean (RA2)

Feeling crabby: Crushtacean. They had a very impressive defeat of Corkscrew, but other than that, all low-tier robots. And it must be said that they threw away a win against Chaos 2, and on paper wouldn't beat any of the Series 6 semifinalists.

Waited long enough: Terrorhurtz (Reboot). Keep in mind, this ONLY counts the reboot version. The series 6 version has much higher to fly, but fast forwarding 13 years, it was very dated and tired and only brought anti-horizontal armour to the table, it was absolutely lost against flippers and vertical spinners, ie 90% of the bots with championship potential. They just didn't make the magic happen.

Pool: Concussion, Mute (Extreme 2), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Spawn of Scutter, Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3)

78. Spawn of Scutter (NJGW)

Cut: Spawn of Scutter - a good performance against Vercingetorix, but nothing too much to boast about otherwise.

Pool: IG-88

Pool: Concussion, IG-88, Mute (Extreme 2), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3)

77. Mute (Extreme 2) (O Raz3r O)

Nothing left to say: Mute (Extreme 2) may have reached the New Blood Final, and possibly should have won it, but the journey there wasn’t always smooth. Poor control in Round 1 was saved by a Terror Turtle elimination, it couldn’t finish Mr Nasty off, ran out of gas very early against Roobarb and ended on the flames, then had a weird breakdown against Cedric Slammer.

Walking into the pool Anarchy

Pool: Anarchy, Concussion, IG-88, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3)

76. IG-88 (HV Lobsta)

Bounty on its head: IG-88. Consider the main weaknesses of this not, thin armour, no scrimech and easy to get under to flip, then consider the semifinalist lineup of Series 7. It had opponents that were perfect for its axe to spin into and destroy (a tracked bot and two thinly armoured bots with well-exposed wheels, The Stag and King B), but put against any decently armoured flipper or lifter and a flip of doom would save the judges a decision, as Dantomkia spectacularly showed.

Pooled: Fluffy. While its wins were spectacular, so were its losses. Too unreliable to reach the heights of success later bar spinner designs reached.

75. Fluffy (CrashBash)

You had ONE job!: Fluffy. Maybe the odd breakdown here and there is sorta acceptable. Throwing away each and every one of your performances is not, especially in two fights you were winning!

Pool: Sabretooth (9/10) Aside from an admittedly great fight against Terrorhurtz, what else did Sabretooth really have? Know that I considered GBH...yet I felt it overall performed more consistently.

Pool: Anarchy, Concussion, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Sabretooth. Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3).

74. Anarchy (Toon Ganondorf)

Outlawed: Anarchy. Gone as far as I can on potential alone.

Pooled: Behemoth 3. The fact that it couldn’t self right has to come into play and hold it back based on Series 3, as it’s the reason it’s Uk Championship performance doesn’t match the World Championship

73. Sabretooth (Series 9/10)(Adster)

Cut: Sabretooth (9/10) - It had that good battle against Terrorhurtz, and did alright against other machines in S10, but when taking each machine in consideration for it's time, I feel like Sabretooth is just edged out about by the others to be cut.

Pooled: Mace II - As I said last time, this is going to get trickier every time. However, I think Mace II should be pooled, as it was kinda chance that Stinger deflected to the pit, and it got outclassed by Chaos II in the Top 8.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Concussion, Mace II, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami, X-Terminator (Series 3).

72. X-Terminator (S3) (GarrodGang)

Cut: X-Terminator (S3). Had a strong performance against PA and perhaps could've gone further in a more forgiving heat - for a promising heat finalist this is a good enough ranking.

Pool: Spawn Again (Series 7). Could legitimately have been a top contender for series 7 - a strongly armoured, powerful flipper? However I simply can't overlook the ram issue - it's pretty clear this was an inevitability and such a debilitating timebomb within the bot has to severely diminish its ranking.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Concussion, Mace II, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Spawn Again (Series 7) Supernova (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Tsunami

Round 7

FOG OF WAR (RA2)

Put on your hi-vis vests and reduce speed, because we're rolling in the FOG OF WAR.

I cannot in good conscience cut any robot here besides my own. And a Rogue House Robot on Concussion will not be sufficient to satisfy my concerns. So, time for a more drastic course of action. The following are being removed: Tsunami, Robot The Bruce, Supernova (Series 7), and Mace 2.

And the following are being added: Pussycat (Series 7), Storm2 (Reboot) , Shockwave, and Diotior Series 3.

Meaning the pool now is: Behemoth (Series 3), Concussion, Diotior (Series 3), Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), Storm2 (Reboot), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese

71. Plunderbird 2 (ROGUE HOUSE ROBOT) (NJGW)

Rogue House Robot: Plunderbird 2 - this robot has caused enough damage on the Wiki already, lmao. It was a decent wedge against awfully, awfully slow machines. It's still slow and not nimble.

The pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Concussion, Diotior (Series 3), Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), Storm2 (Reboot), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese

70. Diotior (Series 3) (O Raz3r O)

Die-otoir: I can’t believe Diotoir (3) slipped my mind, and somehow outlasted X-Terminator (3), nor was it pooled before Behemoth (3). I wasn’t paying enough attention earlier and thought this version had been cut instead of the S5 version, but alas, it’s far too late now. I don’t think Diotoir’s performances in the FWC outweigh its accomplishments in the Tag Team Terror, and this version is lucky to be as high as it is.

Put it back on a leash: Pitbull

The pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Concussion, Pitbull, Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), Storm 2 (Reboot), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese

69. Concussion (HV Lobsta)

Starring Will Smith: Concussion. This seems like a good time to cut this machine. It had reliability problems throughout Series 9, even if it did win most of its battles, and was soundly defeated by two quality bar spinners in the forms of Ironside 3 and Carbide. Series 10 was more lackluster, having been beaten in its group battle through the efforts of Nuts damaging a wheel and Androne 4000 sniping the removable link, defeating a weaponless, scrimechless wedge, then having the idea of protecting the wheels of the bot come back to bite them in the rematch against Nuts 2. Also didn't really do much in the 10 Bot Rumble. It was outclassed by all the other finalists, in both series that it appeared in.

Pooled: Thermidor 2 (Series 4).

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Pitbull, Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), Storm 2 (Reboot), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Thermidor 2 (Series 4).

68. Storm 2 (Reboot) (CrashBash)

What the Hellbent happened to: Storm 2? I've asked this question before and it still upsets me to see just how much charm Storm 2 lost between the original and reboot series. The main reason, however, I am choosing to cut it now is that unlike every other entry (that I haven't already nominated), Storm 2 didn't have anything flashy to show for itself in Series 8. It was outshined by Eruption in its melee, was basically just a doorstop against Eruption and PP3D in its battles and then got thrown out by Apollo. I'm not strictly saying Storm 2 would have done better if it was anything like it had been in Series 7, but it certainly would have performed better.

Pooled: Robot the Bruce. Back again.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Pitbull, Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), Terrorhurtz (Reboot), The Big Cheese, Thermidor 2 (Series 4).

67. Terrorhurtz (Reboot) (Toon Ganondorf)

It doesn’t hurt: Terrorhurtz (reboot): a big defensive wedge was great for the show because of a legitimate trump to carbide, but two failures to reach the heat final and a very cruisy opportunity heat which it lost quite easily. Never felt on par with Thor, the obvious comparison.

Pool: Thing 2

66. The Big Cheese (Adster)

Hopes grated: The Big Cheese - TBC was a good robot for its time, but ultimately, I think it was just too slow, and the lack of srimech cost it.

Pooled: Supernova (S7) - same reasons as last time

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Pitbull, Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Shockwave, Spawn Again (Series 7), The Big Cheese, Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II

65. Shockwave (GarrodGang)

Cut: Shockwave - I originally opted for Robot the Bruce, but have decided to amend it - though I do not think Bruce should advance much further than this. Shockwave had probably the least impressive path to a final placing in the reboot, and I'm honestly rather surprised it's outplaced Concussion. A decent melee performance followed by a pretty definitive defeat by Thor and wins over two of the least impressive opponents possible, that they managed to leave the heat at all was a stroke of luck on their part and of bad luck on Thor's. A good machine but probably the least impressive of all three Team Shock heavyweights.

Pool: Tsunami. A potentially top-tier run ruined by overconfidence.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Pitbull, Pussycat (Series 7), Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Spawn Again (Series 7), Supernova (7) Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami

Round 8

64. Pussycat (Series 7) (RA2)

Say me-OW: Pussycat (Series 7). Well aren’t you guys so kind, cleaning out all the ones I brought in with Fog Of War. We’re at the stage where scalps aren’t good enough, they have to be good scalps. Pussycat was in real danger of going out in Round 1 if not for Twister's blade randomly dying, and then were beaten by M2, who’s a good candidate to be the next Series 7 cut. King B and Kat 3 were legit kills but on so so bots, and I don’t know what happened with Dantomkia, but it seemed flukey. Armour quality had evolved and Pussycat had not.

Going undergroud: Gravedigger. Mortis is a good scalp, but the robot had a worrying amount of difficulty just pointing the wedge at the opponent and driving forward. Of all Series 3 bots remaining, the weakest performance.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Gravedigger, Pitbull, Recyclopse, Robot the Bruce, Spawn Again (Series 7), Supernova (7) Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami

63. Robot The Bruce (NJGW)

Cut: Robot the Bruce - a nice quick KO in the Heat Final was good, but that was on a terribly light machine, and the Cruella fight was such a non-event, followed by a Grand Final suicide.

Pool: Bulldog Breed RA2's note: This is the Series 7 version, and the only version of Bulldog Breed included in this Rankdown.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Bulldog Breed, Gravedigger, Pitbull, Recyclopse, Spawn Again (Series 7), Supernova (7) Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami.

62. Spawn Again (Series 7) (O Raz3r O)

Out of respawns: Spawn Again (Series 7) had an impressive round 1, but while I found its fight against ROCS very enjoyable personally, Spawn Again really should have finished it off faster than it did, and the explosion in the heat final, while severely unlucky, cannot be ignored.

Big fish in a small pool: Kan-Opener (Series 6/E2) performed well in its Annihilator, but fell very easily in its Series 6 Melee.

The pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Bulldog Breed, Gravedigger, Kan-Opener (S6/E2), Pitbull, Recyclopse, Supernova (Series 7), Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami

61. Gravedigger (HV Lobsta)

Six Feet Under: Gravedigger. Of the pooled bots, I think it struggled against its opponents the most, as it always found it difficult to flip over any of them, and seemed sluggish at some points in its Series 3 campaign. Had a lucky win against Mortis thanks to a slipped track and found it difficult to flip three wedgeless, weaponless robots (I’m not counting Darke Destroyer’s wagglers as weapons). All and all, an easy cut.

Pooled: M2. All its battles save the first were either a close won thing or a loss.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Bulldog Breed, Kan Opener (S6/E2), M2, Pitbull, Recyclopse, Supernova (Series 7), Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami.

60. Supernova (Series 7) (CrashBash)

Imploded again: Supernova. It had a few strong performances in the Third World Championship, but it was hindered by a poor showing in the main competition and several dubious issues in the 3WC itself.

What may have been...: Disc-O-Inferno. Feels like the right place to nominate it. It won an annihilator, so that's always a good thing, but we're purely judging the X1 version, which leaves a few unanswered questions as to how competent it really would have been, considering the strongest robot it directly defeated was the about-average Spirit of Knightmare - considering the latter was the one who KO'ed Steel Avenger and Panic Attack had to withdraw due to sustained damage rather than direct.

59. Disc-O-Inferno (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: Disc-O-Inferno (X1). Feels appropriate that it should be back to back with Supernova. It comes down to this or Pitbull, and Pitbull was in less danger in the same amount of fights

Pool: Ironside 3. Robots being unable to self right really need to be cleared out before the top tier.

58. Recyclopse (Adster)

Recycled: Recyclopse - I'm cutting Recyclopse. Despite it having a good weapon with the flipper and toppling Matilda, the chains and what should have been a draw with Mortis do have to hold it back a bit.

Pool: Drillzilla - got through after Firestorm got rid of both opponents before then outpushing Firestorm itself. It had to really wait for Manta to kill its own power off, before being smothered by Razer.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, Ironside3, Kan Opener (S6/E2), M2, Pitbull, Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami.

57. Pitbull (GarrodGang)

Cut: Pitbull

Pool: Big Nipper (Reboot)

Round 9

56. Kan-Opener (RA2)

KO’d: Kan-Opener. Any trophy win carries a good deal of merit, but the Annihilator can be won by playing a largely passive role. Kan-Opener relied on the flipper bots tiring each other out for a lot of the annihilator. Their defeat of Thermidor is legit, and Typhoon, maybe they could repeat that piercing in a 1 v 1, but that’s all they can take sole ownership of. And that’s not even touching on the Achilles heels laid bare in the main competition - thin armour, and difficulty shaking themselves loose. I bet people are tired of me saying this, but Kan Opener’s record begs the question of if they could win a fight where more than one robot is to be eliminated. And that’s a good reason to cut them.

Nominate: Behemoth (Reboot). One heat win out of 3, checkered with a lot of bots outclassing it.

Behemoth (Series 3), Behemoth (Reboot), Big Nipper (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, Ironside3, M2, Thermidor 2 (Series 4), Thing II, Tsunami.

55. Thing 2 (NJGW)

Cut: Thing 2 - some good performances in there for sure, but Thing 2 reared up constantly, and I think it would've been exposed against a large portion of the Series 3's higher finishers.

Pool: GBH

54. Thermidor 2 (O Raz3r O)

Broiled: Thermidor 2 (Series 4) had a deceptively weak run to the semi finals of Series 4 I think. It was struggling in the round one melee, with Kronic the Wedgehog arguably outperforming it until Thermidor 2 side stranded the weaponless Gravedigger. Then it was against Dreadnaut XP-1, a robot which couldn’t self right. Meanwhile, Thermidor 2 was really struggling against Kronic the Wedgehog in the heat final until the flipper broke off, and even then it couldn’t finish Kronic off itself, with Kronic seemingly breaking down by itself. Valiant against Pussycat, but ran out of steam and was outclassed in the second half of the battle.

Pooled: Ripper’s poor armour and disappointing defeat against Kan-Opener combined with being thoroughly outclassed by Firestorm 5 means it wasn’t going to evade the pool much longer.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Behemoth (Reboot), Big Nipper (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, GBH, Ironside3, M2, Ripper, Tsunami

53. Big Nipper (Reboot) (HV Lobsta)

Cut: Big Nipper (Reboot). Has six wins from two seasons, and no heat finals. Except for Aftershock however, all those wins were against mediocre bots, like King B Remix and Terror Turtle (not saying they're on the same level). Had difficulty against almost every flipper it fought , which I found strange, considering the fact it has two FRA Championships under its belt. It obviously lost something in between stages, or did the others gain...?

Pooled: Tough As Nails. Since Bulldog Breed is here already, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to pool a robot it beat in the same episode it exited.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, GBH, Ironside3, M2, Ripper, Tough as Nails, Tsunami.

52. GBH (CrashBash)

Insert put here :GBH. Had a pretty decent showing for its time, but it inspires the least amount of confidence for me.

Blown Back: Tornado (4). A very strong performance, but three of its four fights ended with it immobile for one reason or another, and two were breakdowns.

Pool: Behemoth (Series 3), Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, Ironside3, M2, Ripper, Tornado (4) Tsunami.

51. Ripper (Toon Ganondorf)

Shredded: Ripper. The fact that it could be so easily immobilised by being back stranded holds it back from greatness.

Pooled: Wheely Big Cheese

50. Tornado (Series 4) (Adster)

Blown Away: Tornado (4) Crash summed it up well, and considering, as he said, that it had two breakdowns, shouldn't allow it to be carried top much further. It almost wasn't a Semi-finalist either if that spike hadn't have been there or Gemini 1 had gotten 2 off, Gemini would have gone through. It was that close.

Pooled: Thor (Reboot) - If Ironside3 is in the pool, then Thor needs going in. Thor failed to a heat in 3 attempts, Ironside3 won a heat in 2 attempts, and could have done better in S10 had it been selected.

49. Tsunami (GarrodGang)

Cut: Tsunami. There's no bot here I think has a weaker record than Tsunami, and I'd hate to see them outperform Bulldog or M2.

Pool: Rapid. If Thor and Ironside are up for contention now, think its only fair Rapid is. It boasted a pretty explosive flipper and it made Terrorhurtz look like a chump - however, its other opposition in the heat was poor and it showed itself up pretty badly in the grand final melee.

Round 10

48. Behemoth (Series 3) (RA2)

Cut: Behemoth (Series 3): Suffers from a lack of good scalps, and not good stamina; had to end matches very quickly; the thwo that went long were its undoing. They were cheated by the floor spike, yes, but were getting owned by Pitbull up until the flip.

Pooling: King Buxton. Just a box like Robot the Bruce, and struggled in Joust and Pinball. Plus, the builder’s account makes it sound like the motors could’ve gone anytime.

The Pool: Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, Ironside 3, King Buxton, M2, Rapid, Thor (Reboot), Wheely Big Cheese

47. King Buxton (NJGW)

Cut: King Buxton - a good machine especially for back in the day, but the machine was always under stress and a burnout was inevitable.

Pool: 101

The Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Drillzilla, Ironside 3, M2, Rapid, Thor (Reboot), Wheely Big Cheese.

46. Drillzilla (O Raz3r O)

Cut: Drillzilla had a decent showing against Firestorm 3 in round 1 of the SWC, despite not scoring any KOs like the flipper did, but it seemed to be struggling early on against Manta until it died, being outpushed several times. Was also utterly helpless against Razer in the final.

Pooled: Mace 2 returns to the pool after being thrown out by Fog of War a little while back.

Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Ironside3, M2, Mace 2, Rapid, Thor (Reboot), Tough as Nails (somehow none of us until now have realised it was pooled and yet not listed) Wheely Big Cheese

45. Rapid (HV Lobsta)

Cut: Rapid. For what looked to be a well-armoured flipper, it didn't handle spinners well at all, and when put against a good flipper, it struggled to do much of anything except lie on its face with its flipper hanging out after a few flips.

Pooled: Gravity.

Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside3, M2, Mace 2, Thor (Reboot), Tough As Nails, Wheely Big Cheese

44. Wheely Big Cheese (CrashBash)

Cheesed off: Wheely Big Cheese. So, what do the robots currently in the pool have in common? Well, for the most part, they're all reliable - except for Wheely Big Cheese. There is literally no reason as to why it broke down against Dominator 2, a fight it was winning comfortably, and at this stage, that's inexcusable. One super awesome flip does not a Robot Wars god make. Also, since this is the S5 & X1 version, we need to consider a terrible run in Extreme where its only victory was against Diotoir.

At risk of losing the chips: 13 Black. Well, if Gravity is in there, then 13 Black should be, even if this is the "superior" version.

43. M2 (Toon Ganondorf)

Cut: M2. Narrowed down to this or Mace 2, one is more indisputably top tier within its own series.

Pool: Mortis (2). Surprisingly unpooled before now and pretty clearly less ahead of the pack than Series 1, relying on an opportunity heat and Napalm controversy.

Pool: 101, 13 Black, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside3, Mace 2, Mortis (2), Thor (Reboot), Tough As Nails

42. 13 Black (Adster)

The numbers up: 13BLACK (S6/E2) - may have helped to take out Chaos II, but had a really close battle with Dominator II, and was shown up in the Semi-Finals (apart from the Losers' Melee dance). Might have had a good heat run, but so did all the other robots in the pool.

Pooled: Killertron - I'm now struggling to pool robots. I suppose Killertron had an OHKO against in the Grand Final, and we are getting to the close of this, and Killertron stands out for this reason alone.

Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside3, Killertron (2), Mace 2, Mortis (2), Thor (Reboot), Tough As Nails

41. Mortis (Series 2) (GarrodGang)

Stretched Out: Mortis (S2). Faced reasonable but not spectacular opposition en route to the semi finals, and the unfortunate pinball fiasco led to them basically throwing the fight against Panic Attack. If they'd entered with Rob at the helm fully motivated, they could well have beat PA and scored far, far higher - as it is, their campaign was simply good, rather than great.

Trying desperately to think of another Troggs song to reference giving up and saying "Pool": Wild Thing (E1/S5). I'm no fan of this design, but I will acknowledge it performed pretty well, with a close win over D2 and coming oh-so-close to dethroning the champion, balanced out by losses to bots like Arnold and weirdly shaky performances against bots like Prizephita who it really shouldn't be struggling with. A pretty solid campaign, at a point in the list where we're weeding out the solid for the spectacular.

The Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside3, Killertron, Mace 2, Thor (Reboot), Tough As Nails, Wild Thing (E1/S5)

Round 11

40. Thor (Reboot) (RA2)

Cutting: Thor (Reboot). This was a tough one, but zero heat wins in three attempts, plus their many struggles with the remaining reboot robots cuts them here. I was really hoping that their Series 8 dominance on MR Speed Squared would be their baseline amount of damage against other bots, but they couldn't make that lighting strike agian, and overall underperformed.

Left in the bag of trail mix in favour of the chocolate pieces: Nuts 2 One good season is not enough for them to outrank the remaining Reboot bots (Behemoth can go first but that's out of my hands). Their heat was, well to be frank, the entropy from putting Aftershock, Carbide, and Eruption together in a different heat. Their win over Carbide is legit and impressive, but that's severely dampened by the fact that such a small modification could negate it.

Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside 3, Killertron, Mace 2, Nuts 2, Tough As Nails, Wild Thing (E1/S5).

39. Tough as Nails (NJGW)

Cut: Tough as Nails - a great Gravity win is a big plus, but Tough as Nails isn't well-rounded enough to be a dominant machine against the majority of the better machines in its series. Robochicken was improved for Series 7, but no serious competitor should struggle against it. The loss against Bulldog Breed also showed limitations.

Pool: Wild Thing (S4)

The pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Bulldog Breed, Gravity, Ironside 3, Killertron, Mace 2, Nuts 2, Wild Thing (S4), Wild Thing (E1/S5).

38. Bulldog Breed (O Raz3r O)

Put down: Bulldog Breed had a very easy heat and made a dog’s dinner out of it, being second best to Mantis in Round 1 and taking damage from Infernal Contraption it never fully fixed by the sounds of it, then pitifully failing to get any half decent flips against a dead Hard, and Kat 3 pushed it closer than it should have done in the heat final. Pulled off a great performance against Tough as Nails, and lasted longer than most would have done against X-Terminator given the circumstances, but the manner of the heat win has caught up to it.

Stings to do this: S3 (5), between this and Dantomkia S6, but S3 had a couple more difficulties in its heat, had a less convincing losers melee win and was beaten more easily by Razer.

Pool: 101, Behemoth (Reboot), Gravity, Ironside 3, Killertron, Mace 2, Nuts 2, S3 (Series 5), Wild Thing (Series 4), Wild Thing (E1/S5)

37. Wild Thing (Extreme 1/Series 5) (HV Lobsta)

Tamed Article: Wild Thing (X1/S5). Looking at each of its fights during the two series, this version of Wild Thing lost more battles than it won, and most of the battles it did win, it won closely. All except Dominator II in X1 and Napalm during the Fifth Wars. All its battles were enjoyable to watch though, making for one of my favouite campaigns of the classic era.

Pooled: Dantomkia (S6)

Pool: 101, Behemoth, Dantomkia, Gravity, Ironside3, Killertron, Mace 2, Nuts 2, S3 (Series 5), Wild Thing (Series 4).