I enjoy rankings. After doing the Reboot ranking I actually had an idea to make a "Ranking the Third Wars" and "Ranking the Fourth Wars" seeing as both are my favourite series but I didn't want to do another series ranking. So I then thought of a "Ranking Every robot in Robot Wars" which was VERY ambitious and would have taken forever considering that I'd have to watch their battles before hand :P and plus almost half would have very short "I'm indifferent" sentences to describe them so...yeah that as out of the bag.

It struck me that I could do something that wasn't ever done plus something that I could do that wasn't a series ranking or didn't revolve around rewatching EVERYTHING just to get a oversight on a full competitor ranking. So why not talk about one of the main factors that make Robot Wars, Robot Wars: The House Robots!

Who doesn't love the House Robots? Well except those whiny "fans" on Reddit who then say "House Robots should be banned" and other stupid crap, but here they don't matter. Instead, we have an actual intellectual (me) to tell you about what makes the House Robots great and who is the best of the best as well as who is the worst.

The factors to judge these House Robots is mainly subjective, based on why I like them and what I don't like of course while trying to be somewhat objective on what is actually useful about them. I WON'T be including Shove or Dozerbot as they were unseen and pretty much hard to talk about. The Sentinel on the other hand will be included! So let's start running up that hill and see who is the worst and who is the best...starting with the worst.

10th: The Sentinel

The Sentinel is perhaps the most forgettable and most forgotten House Robot. While everyone else remembers the classics for being classic, the Series 6 ones for their hype and Cassius Chrome because it was crap and no one who isn't mentally challenged likes it. The Sentinel is so obscure that it's hard to even acknowledge it during the series because it really didn't do too much did it? Let's explore some factors to this House Robot and why it's last

House Robot Factors:

The weaponry: This was a small digger essentially, but as a result the weapon couldn't be anything other than something that swings back and fourth or spikes which means that the weapons were very much naff. It only really pinned and maybe lifted something on an occasion here and there but that's about it...

Memorable moments: Other than maybe pitting Onslaught or lifting Mace it didn't actually do much did it? The issue was it was introduced hallway through wit no real fanfare and even then, competitors ether avoided it or were attacked by another House Robot (namely Dead Metal) which offered more value than anything The Sentinel ever did. The Sentinel was sort of just there and when it came to actually "being in the PPZ" it didn't really see a whole lot and before you know it, it was taken away.

Effectiveness: Other than maybe pinning competitors, it did little to nothing.

Uniqueness: You can certainly say that The Sentinel is definitely unique but unique isn't always a good thing. As you may notice, The Sentinel is a tracked robot...that can't move. It's boxed in and honestly the previous identity of The Sentinel always slips through the facade creating an issue for the audience to think of it as a "scary mean robot" only to just see a slightly repainted and decorated digger.

Overall, The sentinel is more of an obstacle than an actual House Robot. Yet it's classified as a House Robot despite it's lack of anything that made the Robots on Robot Wars robots. It was literally just an operated digger that did nothing but get in the way and occasionally it may do something. It's no wonder that the thing didn't last an entire series let alone half of it! It feels like this was a last minute decision by the producers similar to Cassius Chrome, except Cassius Chrome could move and wasn't 100% useless...unlike The Sentinel.

9: Cassius Chrome

It's Cassius Chrome. I mean what else can I say? I swear Cassius Chrome is probably the MOST HATED robot/thing in Robot Wars history. The fans hate it, the roboteers hate it, the producers seemingly didn't care for it. NO ONE SANE OR WELL LIKES IT! It's just awful in very considerable way. No matter how some may twist Cassius Chrome's history (i.e. Series 7 fans who like to ignore the flaws) even they struggle to stay positive about speaking about this. It was forgettable and bad in it's hey day and he fact that even now people have such heavy hatred for this thing that honestly Cassius Chrome is perhaps the most disliked Robot in Robot Wars history.

House Robot Factors:

The weaponry: These "fists" are visually quite cool but they did nothing. Like the wagglers on Darke Destroyer 2 they did nothing except maybe cause a scratch here and there (despite 99% of the time it's "damage" was caused by the competitors beforehand so...yeah extremely useless!) Then we have the speed and "ramming" which once again didn't do much especially because the design of CC didn't really help it.

Design: Based on concept and perhaps the most accurate to initial designs...and that's not a good thing. You see the concepts for Matilda, Shunt etc had to be changed to try and make them practical, the issue with CC is that they went with the first design and that was it. They give it character, sure, but that doesn't make it effective. They needed to make sure that it could work without being completely ineffective. But that never happened. The other issue was it didn't really look or feel like a House Robot...it felt more like a competitor than a House Robot!

Memorability: The fact that Cassius Chrome was pretty much a last minute addition for the sake of it. There was no big hype, no fanfare...it just arrived halfway through an episode. Cassius Chrome's memorability is often only from three particular battles: Supernova vs Mechaniac, THAT Allstars battle and the House Robot rebellion. These battles shown us Cassius Chrome ether being in the spot light doing something useless in a "humourous fashion" or in most cases being bullied and battered by everyone. Basically, Cassius Chrome was a joke and treated as such. The issue is, the House Robots were never really meant to be "jokes" rather they were deadly and active hazards that would annihilate and put on a great show at the same time, Cassius Chrome didn't do that. For the most part it was just there in the background doing nothing and well...it only really shined when it was being attacked as oppose to attacking. I find it funny looking over the article and finding images of Cassius Chrome literally just brushing past a opponent and that's it! How useless can you get?

Effectiveness: What effectiveness?

Cassius Chrome was created by a competitor team...so there's a problem right there. It's highly likely that the team purposefully made Cassius Chrome as least damaging and as pathetic to spare competitors...Conspiracy aside, Cassius Chrome sucked. It's no wonder it is so hated across the board by everyone, it did nothing, wasn't memorable and even if it was a "jokebot" it wasn't funny. No hype no nothing. As mentioned before, Cassius Chrome feels less of a House Robot and more of a competitor robot. It's a good thing we'll NEVER see it again...

8th. Mr Psycho

When I was younger, I loved Mr Psycho and would have rated it higher...I still love it but I rank it quite low in comparison to the rest. House Robots are like Death Stars. There's one, then another but slightly bigger and then there's another but it's called Star Killer Base instead. With Robot Wars there's pretty much the same thing we have one big robot (Sir Killalot) then we have another but BIGGER (Mr. Psycho)!

House Robot factors:

Weaponry: I love the claw, it's such a cool looking claw and combined with the weight and power made Mr Psycho's claw very useful and plucking competitors up and carrying them to a hazard, and when compared to Sir Killalots claw it actually seemed useful...But unlike Sir Killalot's secondary weapon, Mr. Psycho's hammer was naff. The weapon by the Sixth Wars was becoming a weak weapon, in fact when were hammers ever really effective? Armour was improving and axes were utilising ether bladed ends or spiked ends that also had a lot of power. Psycho's hammer had three stage swing with three joints and most of the time the hammer would often get stuck in a upright in a "Seig Heil" fashion. This meant the hammer could only really work (and that may be a miss! or didn't do too much) once before it would get stuck in that position again.

Design: I love the design. I love the look back and front but the design has some flaws. For example, the high ground clearance. Unlike Sir Killalot, Mr Psycho for some reason had a ground clearance that was easy to exploit and as a result it got flipped on more than one occasion which made this rather large and somewhat threatening House Robot...less scary as a result.

Memorability: Perhaps Mr. Psycho's biggest flaw is that it never had many "great and memorable" moments. Sure the first battle it was in and the hype certainly solidified its place but battle wise it didn't do many brilliant things. I say when it got defeated was certainly memorable but when it caused heavy damage or did some thing so brutal I would say the Annihilator from Extreme 2 and what Psycho did to Major Tom was perhaps its best time. I will say it is also just beautiful to see Mr Psycho grab opponents and lift them high into the air, I mean just look at the Panic Attack image. It's beautiful!

Effectiveness: It's basically a bigger Sir Killalot with a hammer and higher ground clearance. I will say the issues mainly come down to the ground clearance and the hammer. But the claw is certainly effective!

Overall, Mr Psycho is just a bigger Sir Killalot with bigger flaws and unfortunately not much to offer on the table. It's not bad but certainly isn't as great as it could have been or even fleshed out some more, Mr Psycho could have been a whole lot more. It had a lot of character but originality and uniqueness was an issue. Not bad, it's okay.

7th. SGT. Bash

The first of the classics is SGT. Bash. Like with Mr Psycho, I love this House Robot but unfortunately there are factors that severely hinder it and pushed it lower on the rank. SGT. Bash is memorable for it's wars against Diotoir but aside from that there's a more complex and interesting story behind this futuristic army bot. This is a robot that had evolved and as we saw by the reboot omitting SGT. Bash, it has certainly warmed our hearts.

House Robot factors:

Weaponry: SGT. Bash has evolved over the years but the one weapon that has been consistent is the Flame Thrower. Unfortunately, the Flame Thrower is a BFW. It's brilliant and flashy,it made the House Robot memorable but the biggest issue was that just like any other BFW it's great and flashy but it wasn't effective unless a robot was flammable and even then sometimes it never worked. The other issue was that the flame thrower was only ever at an advantage when angled/bent downwards but even then did nothing substantial. The first weapon was a circular saw, in series 1 it broke every episode. Series 2 saw little to none of it. Moving on is the spike...yeah. So SGT. Bash's weapons were not the best...but then there's the claw. This claw was probably the best claw from ANY of the House Robots who had claws. Dead Metal was more for grabbing than crushing, Sir Killalot struggled with low to the ground robots while Mr Psycho's was angled awkwardly to grab things, therefore could only grab tall robot. SGT. Bash's claw may have been small but did a HELL of a lot. The claw was low to the ground and could scrape the floor boards even wile snagging a competitor and just crushing it in delightful carnage.

Design: The original design wasn't good, too scrappy and just looked ugly. Thankfully Series 3 gave us a new look and this really looks good. Not only does it give us a more sleek and cool looking design, it also feels more like that "futuristic general" that Chris Reynolds was going for. That accompanied with a stylish flame thrower and awesome claw, makes SGT. Bash probably one of the best looking House Robots.

Memorability: The first two series didn't offer much except some brilliant attacks by the competitors. Series 3-6 in my opinion was when SGT. Bash really shines. The claw ripped and teared into plenty of competitors while the flame thrower set Diotoir (Or Granny!) on fire on multiple occasions which was just great. There were a great many occasions when the SGT. decided to get bullied by flippers which as great. I mean who didn't love the Flipper Frenzy? Series 7 for me didn't offer much but then again I feel that could be applied to almost all the House Robots who aren't named Mr Psycho, Growler, Sir Killalot and Cassius Chrome.

Effectiveness: AND this is where SGT. Bash loses a lot of points... Unfortunately, SGT. Bash wasn't too effective, I mentioned already about the weaponry and I reiterate, the flame thrower was only situational and was a BFW. The claw, though awesomely powerful, rarely saw a lot of great action other than pitting a dead opponent. It was also susceptible to being flipped very easily and was unable to really fight back against these flippers. SGT. Bash also suffered from being easily dismantled, therefore robots could really just annihilate it time and time again making it less and less useful in battles, especially as Robots were getting better.

Yeah so SGT Bash rules but it's biggest downfall was what made it famous in the first place, the flame thrower. That and it lost it's effectiveness quite quickly, in fact I dare say it was the LEAST effective classic House Robot from as far back as Series 1! It's a shame in hindsight, that said the claw changes were justified and in my opinion a saving grace and the memorability this wonderful Sargent gave us!

6th: Dead Metal

Most of what I'm typing today will be basically copied and pasted from my old comment on Nick's (probably forgotten and now unused) Overrated Robots blog. So here we go! Dead Metal has always confused me. Everyone says how cool it is and claims it is "da bezt house robutt!11!" because it looks cool and does a lot more than any house robot...the latter of which is a complete exaggeration of Dead Metal considering I would dare say it is the most consistently useless House Robot in the show, or at least it never really got going.

House Robot Factors:

Weaponry: The claws are probably the most useful feature, but don't cause any real damage. They can grab and pit or shove a robot into a hazard. In series 1 and two it had a saw arm, which according to the producers wasn't that useful and it really shows. The saw was too far from the arm and was definitely the weakest out of all the House Robots. Series 3 brought in a new saw and for this and Series 4 the saw did it's job well. The issue is after wards and in particular the reboot. The saw was useless. Another BFW that was flashy and all but was a effective as the United Nations dealing with any despot dictator or warlord or terrorist group, basically any issue for that matter (in other words completely useless while claiming to actually do stuff, i.e. sending angry letters telling them how angry they are!) Political jokes aside, the saw was only good in two series and not in any other.

Design: Dead Metal's saving grace is the design. It's a simple design really but absolutely beautiful. The spikes and "eyes", the grunge look, animalistic features and accompanied by the weapons make Dead Metal possibly the best looking House Robot of them all, weapons aside. It may also be because I love hedgehogs and plus my favourite animal of all time is a Porcupine while Dead Metal almost resembles.

Memorability: It sort of links in with what I said in the weaponry. The best of Dead Metal on the Ultimate Warrior, ironically, is the only one to NOT have a battle...and no wonder. Dead Metal never had a good "battle" that said as noted in its "best of" section it does contain a LOT from Series 3, no wonder because it was the only series (with Series 4) to have the best moments. It really shines here and it's beautiful sparky mayhem. After Series 4 was this period of nothing then Series 7 onwards had memorability in how much it was bullied. Reboot wise...well if Dead Metal was removed from Series 9 and 10 would anyone notice?

Effectiveness: See Controversy Corner Dead Metal section.

Dead Metal is sexy and beautifully deigned. As a rambot/grabber it is really effective and has a lot of use but the primary saw wasn't. What puts it above SGT. Bash is that Dead Metal at least had some great adaptability and wasn't hindered completely by its weapons or design therefore making it rather more useful than originally thought...though I still consider it quite useless and perhaps pointless during the reboot. Which maybe what made me think low of it, because the reboot was such a major hindrance because Dead Metal might as well not have been there! That said the Series 3 and 4 performance was so good that it saved this sexy robot. And it's just beautiful!

5th. Refbot

When I was young I didn't really like Refbot. I found him annoying and a bit of a nuisance, I did sort of shape this opinion based on Extreme Destruction whereby Refbot would go postal and just try to kill the player, which was annoying. Refbot however was far from annoying and infact was a very welcome and important move by the producers to add it.

House robot factors:

Weaponry: Refbot has no weapons, so this is pretty much impossible to do. However I can talk about its equipment. The wedges were made specifically to break robots apart and in my eyes was a vital importance! I mean the other House Robots would just maul the competitor while freeing it, so a "neutral" robot doing the job was worthy. The count down in my eyes was extremely useful. The issue with no count down was that you almost had to predict or estimate how long it had died, and with editing trickery this became a bigger issue. So having a mobile countdown was both useful and effective at the same time. The fire extinguisher is another story. Though not completely awful it wasn't the most effective and rewatching it battle saw that the extinguisher would only slightly spew out CO2 and the robots on fire would rarely go out making this a good idea but poor in execution.

Design: The design is brilliant. It obviously incorporates a referee humanoid look but it also has plenty of sport references throughout. The yellow/red card system was one, the head was modelled to look like an American footballer's helmet, the wedge and the "legs" are almost similar to a Ice Hockey "goalie" in the way it's posed. I may not be a fan of sports but these all make the robot look really good. I also love the articulated head and arms. Overall a brilliant and unique design.

Memorability: Most of Refbot's memorable moments for me have to be when it failed. It's hard to find a moment of Refbot actually doing anything (i.e. Fighting) because it wasn't made for that. Instead, Refbot's best bits is when it's made a fool of itself or being attacked. Refbot also had that fight against SGT Bash which was humourous as well.

Effectiveness: I pretty much said it in my previous point on weaponry. Although saying that Refbot still had a tendency to get in the way which then resulted in it being attacked.

Of all the House Robots that NEEDED to be brought back for the reboot, Refbot was, in my opinion, one of them. The reboot was riddled with "is it dead?" moments and robots getting stuck, having a Refbot would have been extremely useful. In the time we had, Refbot certainly proved it's worth but what lowers it slightly is that it wasn't a "combat House Robot" and therefore it's hard to judge because it was made to just about stay away and come out when needed.

4th. Growler

When both the new House Robots were introduced, I fell in love with both of them. When I was young and even now, Growler was my personal favourite of the two for being an animal based robot that looks great AND was extremely effective. Of all the robots that could/should have been bought into the reboot (aside from Refbot) HAS to be Growler...I mean technically there's Spectre but and even bigger one of those really would do the trick!

House Robot Factors

Weaponry: Growler had two weapons. It's often easy to forget that but it's true! The main weapon is it's crushing jaw. I swear House Robots most used weapon is a claw, I mean it's effective at grabbing opponent but actually causing damage...well that depends. Growler was only able to grab robots that was an appropriate size so an issue there. Then there's the flamethrower which was rarely used and though ineffective was rather hilarious in a juvenile sense. Basically, if you listen closely Growler would fart causing flames to shoot out. So weapon wise it wasn't too good but it could ram and ram it did well!

Design: BRILLIANT DESIGN! The design is clearly based on a dog and has loads of character whether it's the load growls it produced every time it opened its jaws, the little spiked tail, the almost grin it produced or even the flame farts. Growler was certainly characteristic and felt like a House Robot!

Effectiveness: Growler's biggest issue was self righting but then again they all had that problem. That said Growler was very effective in the sense that it could grab and slam with violent force opponents. That combined with the speed and aggression made Growler really effective especially with the newer machines they were facing. The jaw though wasn't low enough to grab thing properly but was still brilliant and made the robot feel more characteristic.

Memorability: Growler unfortunately had a lack of screen time for some reason. that said it's appearances were all great being rather funny or extremely aggressive. I feel Extreme 2 in particular saw the best of Growler I mean it completely stole the show with the Lightweight battle! Series 7, like with all the House Robots was a hindrance but hey.

Growler incorporates the best from House Robots as well as some of the worst elements. It's a brilliantly designed, comedic, effective and truly characteristic House Robot. Had the weapons been better it probably be higher up. Ah well TOP 3!

3rd: Sir Killalot

When I was really young I actually didn't care nor like Sir Killalot...Yep I used to dislike Sir Killalot, not because he was a mean robot that decimated helpless competitors (quite frankly if you're gonna enter a show like this, expect annihilation and don't whine) but because he was so damn overrated. Everyone would go on and on about how "great Sir Killalot was" about how he's the best and no other can top him. Obviously, as years gone by I do adore Sir Killalot and my reasoning is that unlike other House Robots Sir Killalot has ALWAYS been a devastating force of nature, even in the reboot it hadn't changed.

House Robot factors

Weaponry: Sir Killalot has always had two weapons, arguably three. The lance was great at lifting robots or even poking holes, but it wasn't too great...then they improved it by making it a long drill that was brilliant! The drill was super effective, not only picking up competitors but also causing maximum damage, I always loved seeing the drill against W.A.S.P. Then there's the claws. The claws were tiny for the first two series but they were capable of snapping and crushing some opponents, it was the more larger and improved claw from Series 4 onwards that really showed true power. The claw just decimated competitors and was really useful in picking them up and throwing them across..or simply dumping them.

Design: Sir Killalot has gone through three changes from the original series 2 design. I will say this I love the Series 4-7 design. Series 2 is fine, but the eyes and the weaponry as well as that curved back was awkward but Series 3 had a better look the claw was the only issue. The series 4-7 design is just perfect. It really encapsulate the name "SIR" Killalot really well, with that beautiful breastplate, knight like mask, red eyes, effective weapons and even the back with the chain mail style cage as well as those spikes just made Sir Killalot look brilliant. What brings Sir K down a bit is the reboot...Yeah...Whereas Shunt, Dead Metal and Matilda all look really good, Sir Killalot got the short end of the stick. The tacks and that bluish lighting looks good but that's as far as I can praise it. It seems they missed the easily identifiable knight look and comparison and decided to completely undo Sir Killalot's character and go for an extremely ugly looking space marine look. I do find it funny that almost NO ONE likes this design, I mean I remember seeing the comments about Sir Killalot after the reveal...they were not positive! And rightfully so, it looks ugly and doesn't fit Sir Killalot at all.

Effectiveness: As mentioned above. Sir Killalot is perhaps the ONLY House Robot to remain consistently useful throughout the show from it's first appearance to it's latest. Everything, about Sir Killalot was effective, the speed, the power, defence and the weaponry. It never faltered ever...well except fire.

Memorability: Sir Killalot has so many great moments, it's hard to actually find one in particular that's better than the rest. Sir Killalot has great moments like the before mentioned W.A.S.P. moment, catching fire twice!, Fighting Apollo or even that Supernova incident. Sir Killalot really had it all! But probably the thing I love the most about Sir Killalot is its "Disco of death" when it plucks a competitor, spins on the spot and throws it. Just beautiful. But once again, the biggest negative here is the reboot where Sir Killalot didn't have much to offer.

Sir Killalot is deservingly considered the best of the best, it really was a force of nature that could completely annihilate a robot, while looking good and even put on a show while doing it. But the biggest downfall was the reboot, which really hindered Sir Killalot for me and if I'm honest the top two did do a whole lot or than pick robots up and then dump them somewhere.

2nd: Matilda

Whereas Cassius Chrome is the most hated robot of all time, Matilda is possibly the most popular up there with Razer, Chaos 2 and Hypno-Disc, although probably with more Rule 34 made of it. And why not? Matilda is awesome in every sense of the word, she's a fast deadly and brilliantly characteristic robot, with plenty of great moments and overall one of the most consistent House Robots of the bunch, never failing to impress when she gets that big arse of hers into gear.

House Robot Factors

Weaponry: Matilda has always had possibly the best weaponry of all the House Robots. I mean even in Series 1 her weapons were really good, and even better than Series 1's powerhouse House Robot Shunt! She originally had a lifter and chainsaw, which surprisingly worked well in the earlier series. The lifter could easily lift and topple any competitor ether over or stranded against the wall or another. The chainsaw could easily cut through early modelled robots, admittingly by Series 3 and definitely by Series 4 the chainsaw lost all power...Then Matilda got a boob weapon job by getting some real flipping tusks and a truly awesome flywheel which has stayed ever since. The flywheel doesn't actually spin as fast as a regular competitor's blade but it is significantly heavier and the slower spin was meant to allow her to quite literally chuck competitors clean into the air and even out of the arena...it worked! I mean just look at it! When ever any one decided to have a got at Matilda's rear, it would be decimated in glorious destructive fashion. The flipping tusks as well made her even more powerful. Honestly, I think Matilda probably was the most devastating House Robot to face.

weapon job by getting some real flipping tusks and a truly awesome flywheel which has stayed ever since. The flywheel doesn't actually spin as fast as a regular competitor's blade but it is significantly heavier and the slower spin was meant to allow her to quite literally chuck competitors clean into the air and even out of the arena...it worked! I mean just look at it! When ever any one decided to have a got at Matilda's rear, it would be decimated in glorious destructive fashion. The flipping tusks as well made her even more powerful. Honestly, I think Matilda probably was the most devastating House Robot to face. Design: Matilda was meant to be a more organic design, in particular a hog like design. I actually really like the "prehistoric mutant pig" look of Matilda. Her weapons (particularly the earlier weaponry) made her look even more animalistic and great. Not as sleek and sexy as Dead Metal, Growler or Shunt, but still does the job right. My only major issue, is her armour which seemingly has always been weak. I love the novelty of her basic fibreglass shell but against spinners, poor Matilda would be decimated. Heck even a flipper like Apollo managed to tear the shell.

Effectiveness: EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE. I mean the weaponry was devastating, the speeds she went was brilliant and she could even help out other House robots/competitors! The issue is, she was very situational. As mentioned about her weak armour and even vulnerability to flippers meant that she couldn't combat heavy spinners and would be a victim of big flippers. And her weaponry was only really effective against certain robots due to their sizes, weapons and armour.

Memorability: Matilda's face is plastered all over the place. On posters, T-Shirts, toys, DVDs, magazines, adverts etc. Basically it's impossible to get away from her. Battle wise Matilda has a mix range of something bad but brilliant happen to her, something absolutely awesome happening because of her or she's just there and doesn't do anything (which is rare). Matilda's moments are a thing of beauty because when she's decimated, flipped or crushed to oblivion it's brilliant and some of the best moments in Robot Wars (e.g. the fantastic Onslaught vs Razer) or maybe she can just annihilate a robot with her weaponry and fight a fantastic battle (Razer vs Widow's Revenge, TR2 vs Thor, Micro-Mute - Yes that's awesome!)

Objectively, Matilda would be number 1 or 2, subjectively she is second. There is almost no faults with Matilda, she really is the perfect House Robot...well except for one. She is certainly the most in your face, most advertised House Robot, and she really does shine and her weaponry makes her the most destructive and most devastating House Robot to face, but alas she suffers from weak armour and even suffers from being situational...if only there was one House Robot who really was the most perfect House Robot who had great weaponry, was useful no matter what and had strong armour...

1st: Shunt

"It hates anything that moves" — The best quote from JP ever

I mean I have said it a billion times in the past that Shunt is my favourite House Robot. But not only is it subjectively the best...but objectively its certainly one of the best, providing tons of entertainment and also just being plain effective, showing off all the aspects that make the House Robots...well House Robots, from their dangerous personalities and their abilities to just smash into competitors that lay too closely, and for me personally, Shunt perfectly encapsulate this. From being the original "top dog" to being apart of the top hierarchy alongside Sir Killalot, the true and mighty slayer!

House Robot factors

Weaponry: Shunt has always remained consistent, although saying that Shunt has made some changes...namely the axe. In Series 1, the axe was a blunt blade that acted more like a crusher/pinning device than a damaging axe. Series 2 had the right idea and gave Shunt a spiked axe that could penetrate through the armour and cause some serious damage, that and the lifting bucket scoop made Shunt a true beast. But Shunt got even better! A new "diamond tipped axe" that just made Shunt truly one of the most powerful House Robots. Some would say the axe lost effectiveness by Series 6 and 7 but I beg to differ. I mean it still put holes into robots (though not on the scale as Series 3 or 4 admittingly) and cause some significant internal damage. Plus Shunt had a wedge and a lifting bucket scoop that made Shunt even more powerful. It was able to defect most bladed weaponry (Heck it even survived Carbide in Series 8,9 and 10! Albeit with a minor scratch here and there). Shunt in the reboot continued to show its power with the axe causing damage here and there and as mentioned the scoop was VERY useful.

Design: I have always loved industrial look to things. I guess that's why I have a soft spot for a lot of 90s movies, old 3D games using the Quake Engine and even 90s music because everything was very industrial, dirty, gritty with touches of hi-tech. Shunt itself is an industrial robot, in fact it's based on a construction vehicle (bulldozer) another thing that has always found my fascination. So yeah it's pretty clear I find Shunt just beautiful to look at, even the reboot managed to keep this look, and they were incompetent with the series! Unlike some House Robots (e.g. Matilda) the weaponry is matched with design perfectly giving the House Robot more character and presence.

Effectiveness:Fun fact if you watch the reboot, you'll note how Shunt is pretty much used 99% of the time, and no wonder it did damage, survived spinners and even cleared up the mess. Even in the classic Series, it was rare for Shunt to never be used in an episode. Shunt really could do just about everything. In fact when compared to other House Robots, Shunt only had one weakness...and that was being flipped. It's weaponry was great for offensive damage as well as brilliant for the defensive. It was fast and able to rampage its way through robots while putting on a great show.

Memorability: Shunt had plenty of great moments. Series 2 had brilliant axe smashing moments, Series 3 also as well as times it was attacked. Series 4...well just look at that Hypno-Disc attack, it just one absolutely beautiful moment out of a million. Series 5 and Extreme 1 had plenty of humorous attacks both caused by Shunt and done to Shunt. Even Series 6 and 7 had its fair share of attacks and funny moments (such as Sir Chromalot bumping into it and Shunt chasing afterwards). The reboot for me though shows the true brilliance of Shunt, and it probably is thanks to how Shunt was used in 99% of the show (I swear one episode Shunt was in the arena the WHOLE episode) It had great attacks on the likes of Draven, PP3D, Thermidor and even poor Chompie as well as being attacked or having humorously embarrassing moments (in particular Series 10's axe mishaps) Basically, Shunt has never been dull.

The house Robots overall, are great. Without them Robot Wars wouldn't be Robot Wars. But for me Shunt it truly the definitive House Robot. It was great on all accounts and only had one real weakness, that by the reboot pretty much was fleshed out (unless it's Apollo!) Shunt was great defensively, brilliant offensively, beautiful in design and just overall and fantastic House Robot! I have always loved Shunt and I remember it being my first RC House Robot as well as having a poster of it (no longer with me :( ) and being obsessed with the strangely pinky toy. Shunt will forever be the very best and the most perfectly balanced House Robot.