Top 10 Robot Wars Series 7 Competitors

The winner of the New Blood tournament gained automatic entry into the series as the 16th seed. Storm II was like a souped-up Tornado. Unfortunately, this team had an ongoing battle with the producers. The active-weapon rule was implemented, so they had to add a lifter to the bot. Either way, the bot didn't need it, as it was so powerful it could push and slam robots all around (even getting The Steel Avenger out of the arena).

It even beat Tornado in the Grand Final before fighting Typhoon 2 for the title. After dominating the fight, it went to the judges, and Typhoon 2 was given the win in possibly the show's most scandalous decision.

The reason why Storm II is number 1 is that it was the rightful winner of Series 7, and many Robot Wars fans acknowledge that.

Atomic in Series 4 started out as a bulky and rather flimsy flipper, then it returned in Series 5 with better construction and decent flipper power. In Series 7, the improvement was a quantum leap. It had probably the most effective flipper in the series, a solid plow to deflect spinners, and high-pressure rams to chuck robots clean into the air. It managed to get an out-of-the-arena flip in all of its fights.

In its fight against Typhoon 2, it looked like the perfect design to take it out. However, a freak accident caused the flipper to malfunction, and the bot got stuck on its back, where Typhoon 2 caused it a great deal of damage. Had it not broken down, it could've easily won the series and even given Storm II a good run for its money.

The Air Cadets from Edinburgh entered a heavyweight version of their highly successful middleweight bot. It was a full-body spinner capable of getting up to scary fast speeds and knocking out robots in only a few hits. The thing is, though, it had a lot of luck on its side. Its weapon didn't work in the first fight, and had Atomic not broken down in the Semi-Finals, Typhoon would've lost.

In the Grand Final against Storm II, it found itself on the right side of producer favoritism. After getting bossed about in the fight, the judges declared Typhoon 2 won on damage, while overlooking its own weapon chain coming off. I can't deny that the robot is still excellent and a worthy winner, but it's a shame it had to be through such producer meddling.

The champions from the previous series returned to defend their title. As the active weapon rule was introduced this series, they had to lose some of their interchangeable weapons but gained some new ones in the process. These included a scoop with a flail and an electric lifter (the latter not being much use). Despite that, the robot remained relatively unchanged and was still as effective as ever.

Power-housing through the competition, it beat the highly favored Gravity. It faced Storm II in the Grand Final but was less powerful and ended up losing on a judges' decision. It then fought X-Terminator in the play-off, which it won, and finished 3rd overall.

X-Terminator has been around since Series 3 but has never really had great success. However, in Series 7, the team ditched the axe they had for so long in favor of a vertical spinner. And this move was for the better. It wasn't the biggest or thickest, but it was good at tearing parts off robots piece by piece.

It had a very low scoop, allowing it to get under wedges, bend the metal upwards with the spinner, and render them useless. It managed to flip Killer Carrot 2 out of the arena, as it did to the very good German bot Tsunami. It made it all the way to the Grand Final until it met Typhoon 2. The power of Typhoon's spinner was simply too much, and it got wrecked. It then fought against Tornado in the play-off, but the damage was too severe, and X-Terminator finished in 4th place.

While a lot of the old favorites didn't turn up this series, it was good to see Firestorm still there. It's always been one of the most well-rounded and consistent robots in the show's history. It got through its heat with virtually no struggle, flipping the likes of Reptirron the Second out of the arena, and even Ripper, a machine that in any other heat could've easily been a semi-finalist.

Firestorm made it to the top 8, but alas, the run came to an end when it fought Storm II. Firestorm lost the ground game, couldn't get in underneath it, and Storm II pushed it into the pit. I always considered Firestorm to be something of an underachiever in Robot Wars. The best robot that never won a series in my eyes.

This Dutch entry looked fairly unassuming, just another wedge flipper. But the power it displayed was almost on the level of Apollo, but 12 years earlier, which made it that much more impressive. It made a big splash when it threw Hydra out of the arena, smashing it into a camera, then defeating 13 Black. It also had what was at the time the fastest knockout against Dantomkia.

The run ended when Tornado proved too strong for it, puncturing its tire and pushing it down the pit. Really, the robot's biggest weakness was it wasn't the most solidly constructed. But when you have a flipper as powerful as this, it was still quite the spectacle to behold.

Another team that has been around since Series 3. Bulldog Breed has mostly been a good flipper bot, but in its previous two series, it was unfortunate to get drawn against Hypno-Disc both times. The team came back better armored and with "No Fear." It barely escaped disqualification in its opening melee after the team broke the rule against entanglement devices by placing netting over the pneumatic rams.

But after getting let off with a warning, it then managed to get through its heat. In the Semi-Finals, it had what I consider to be the best fight of the series against Tough as Nails. It then fought X-Terminator, and it got absolutely battered. Given X-Terminator's big phobia of flippers, it was unrelenting destruction as well.

Still, despite the messy end, I'm happy Bulldog Breed managed to get as far as it did for just this once.

The Most Promising Newcomer award winner from the previous series returns as the #5 seed. Its battle tactics remained relatively unchanged: get right in there and flip bots out of the arena. It managed that on Scorpion (though it did take some damage from its spinner), and IG-88 in only 11 seconds. Unfortunately, it then met Gravity in the Semi-Finals, where it only lasted roughly 6 seconds before getting thrown out of the arena by the more powerful flipper.

Now knowing what to expect, the team's nerves from the previous series died down a bit, and they seemed to go into fights with more confidence this time around.