I think the chest having the C on it was a really good choice actually because these cybermen (or at least the rise of the cybermen/age of steel episodes) were meant to be a representation of how dependent and trusting we are of corporations. This is cybus industries product, of course they’re gonna brand it, even when you think about it it is using a person who has been horribly murdered and converted against their will to advertise your company, no thought of actual people

I love the mondasian cybermen those are the most true to the concept of body horror.

George: I hate the frowning mouth on the earthshock Cybermen Also George: I love the Cyber Masters (which have frowning faces)

finally we have an answer to the mystery "the hybrid born of two warrior races that will stand in the ruins of galifrey"...the Cyber-masters

The Cybus helmet design is the best in the show's history. There's something about the faceplate that just makes them look completely dead inside, devoid of any emotion whatsoever, just a ghost of humanity. They have the best voices too. They're just so chilling to look at, they make you feel genuinely uncomfortable.

"Why would they convert animals?" You know, the whole point of the Cyber Shades was, they did the labor, or scouting, not the usual Cyberman stuff, like upgrading people, or deleting incompatible ones. They were lost in a fairly primitive era (wasn't it Victorian England? Not quite the best time era to start a Cyberman population), so desperate times ask for desperate acts. That's why they converted animals even when in every other instances, those were ignored.

The twelfth cyber legion cybermen are probably my favourite up there with the Cybus ones (since they’re basically the same) and I actually like the marching and formation stuff because it’s not all about the body horror with the Cybermen it’s also about humans who’ve given up their free thought and individualism.

”Cybermen don't have noses” Ashad does.

I also love the Cyber-Masters. Maybe we've not seen the last of them. Before the explosion, we hear the Master saying "all of you, through here, now!" I did not catch this the first time. Could it be a hint?

I agree with the fact that i actually was terrified when thinking about the concept of the modern Mondasian Cyberman, the others to me I had been younger watching them but they were just robots, these were helpless people being converted not to start a war but to survive

The Lone Cyberman reminded me a lot of the Borg from Star Trek--just pure ruthless. I've always liked the tear drop shaped ducts on the eyes. It makes them look so sad and so human somehow!

The Colony Mondasian Cybermen look like living sock puppets, and in the strangest way, that's kind of what they are? They're terrifying in a way that's really difficult to understand, which is what I think Doctor Who horror should always be.

The nemesis design was for the silver anniversary (25th anniversary) The reason for the super shinyness

You say "Cybus Ones", I hear "Cyber Swans" Now I want to see Cyber Swans.

I feel like the key thing with the Nightmare in silver design is the fact that they had to adapt to military expansion, an while it loses the body horror aspect and the other interesting aspects, it does stick true to how they would evolve, they become scary in a different way.

Chibnall: So you don't like the Cyber Shade? Ace: Exactly Chibnall: Let's bring it back!

The Mondas design has so many subtle things that evoke medicine and death we already understand; The headpiece resembles an electric chair cap, the mask is essentially a burn compression mask, the chestpiece is like a miniaturized iron lung, and the bands around the arms and legs vaguely resemble ilizarov fixators. The transparent rubber tubes are also more effective than metal pipes to this end, it's all much more medical than robotic.

So I only ever watched the new-who (9-12) and I only ever really saw the Cybermen as upgraded "beings" who make a person into a machine. So yes, the Doomsday Cybers were "my" cybers. A robotic army. But watching this, it's amazing to see the origins of the Cybermen... not beings of conformatiy, but beings of longevity.

The Lone Cyberman underwent subtle design changes between Diodati, and the Ascension. In the Haunting of Villa Diodati, his legs were part Mondasian, but with lots of additions. Plus the shins had the exoskeleton like pipes on the inside of the shins. From Ascension of the Cybermen onwards, he had Nightmare in Silver thighs, with Cybus shins.

In defence of the cybershades they are an interesting concept, but the execution is what really brings them down ultimately

The visible brain is a great idea for the Lumic Controller, as he was obsessed with the Brain, but putting it on the combat-focussed Cyberleaders seems really weird to me. Not very logical.

The cyber masters were thought to be unstoppable. 1 Dalek would enjoy proving that wrong, lol.

highly agree with #1 , truly the most horrific version of the cybermen that taking the "villain" away and brought the "Monster" out on a side note , what was the background music during the #1 section?

I wasn’t expecting you to point that out about the cyber war cybermen since almost nobody noticed it!

But the cybus cybermen story was the most contemporary and, therefore, chilling epic story.

Im with you, I LOVE the lone cyberman and all the other new ones. I also love how they brought back the cybus cyberman guards for ashad

My top 28 Please don't hate 28: Cyber Woman (IT COUNTS) 27: Stealth Cyberman 26 Nemesis Cyberman 25 Nemesis Cyberleader 24 Cybershade 23 Wooden Cyberman 22 Telos Cyberleader 21 Cybus CyberLeader 20 Cybus CyberController 19 Victorian Cyberleader 18 Twelfth Legion Cyberleader 17 Post-Cyber war Cybermen 16 Cyber War Cybermen 15 Earthshock Cybermen 14 EarthShock Cyberleader 13 Wheel Cybermen 12 Cybus Cyberleader 11 Revenge Cybermen 10 Cyber-Masters 9 Twelfth Cyber Legion Cybermen 8 Mondasian Cybermen (1966) 7 Tomb Cybermen 6 Invasion Cybermen 5 Tomb Cyberleader 4 Revenge Cyberleader 3 Lone Cybeman 2 Warrior Cybermen 1 Colony Ship Mondasion Cybermen

I really didn’t appreciate just how many there were 😂

I totally agree with the cyber masters I thought they were brilliant. I’d like to see maybe a single cyber master come back for a series finale a few years down the road I feel that could be really interesting

I absolutely love the tear drop on all of the Cybermen. The design is ahead of it's time.

My top 5 5. Silver Nemesis Leader 4. Tomb of the Cybermen Leader 3. Invasion Cybermen 2. 2017 Mondasian Cybermen 1. 1966 Mondasian Cybermen

The cyber men always looked at their best when their costumers looked Tatty and cheap. Cybermen are supposed to be humans who augmented to survive, and the tattered look supported it so much Also I’m glad I’m not the only one that LOVES the cyber masters. I hated the episode but that design was out fucking standing for me also. It looks amazing. Love it

The thing I like about the 12th Legion Cybermen is that they go all the way back to original series models in the way you can see a flexible suit, giving the implication that there is an augmented actual human body under there (with a few shiny mechanical attachments for limbs).

Oh no the Nemesis Cybers are my favourite because of the shiny helmets, they act like a bad 80s gang and their aversion to jazz 🤣 Totally agree about the 2017 Mondasians tho love em

I love these ranking videos, please do more!

I like the Cybermasters' design as well. Because you realize that they are different just from the appearance. The handlebar heads are replaced with a design that resembled the collar of a Timelord's robe. And the Gallifreyan text is a nice touch. But the gold, I would argue, resembles just how highly timelords think of themselves.

Great list and commentary. Thanks Ace!!

With The Invasion, watch in HD and you notice the Cybermen are wearing Cyberboots held on by silver Cyberlaces.

Thank you for making these. It's nice to see these designs listed out, and their differences noted. My top choices, in no particular order: Tenth Planet Cyber Warrior from Ascension of the Cybermen The Lone Cyberman and finally, the CyberMasters.

I actually really love the cyber shades they were interesting also it brings the idea of other cyber creatures that could happen

Favourite design is the warrior cybermen

What about the version from The Doctor Falls, the Cybus style Cyberman with a blue chest plate instead of the C or the plain circle

With The Lone Cyberman ,the left arm look like it's from a real present day astronaut suit,also he has a flashlight/Laser cannon thing from a mondasian cyberman.

For the Lone Cyberman... I think series 13 would be great if he was the arc of it... we start off with him in human form, and then mid way through after a filler and another epic story, he gets converted, and we get a two part finale of a Cyberman war, maybe with the Daleks... then his mask get half blown off and he escapes, and then when he escapes.. that’s where he phases into the episode where he first appeared

I love the new mondasian cybermen they are brilliant and horrifying warriors a close second nice video ace

After listening to the Spare Parts audio drama, the original Mondasian Cybermen became my absolute favourites. God, that story gave me the creeps.

Hey! Nice video. In 'Ascension Of the Cybermen' you get a better look at the 'Cyber War Cyberman' you covered from 18:27. You can see in when Yaz and Graham look out of the ship and into the ruins of the big battle. It is seen when all the cybermen are floating in space - it appears at the end.

You never mentioned the spikes on the Cyber War Cyberberiad.

Something I only just thought about after watching this is I have a feeling that the teardrop design with the eyes is an artistic nod to the loss of their humanity while being upgraded. Makes it even darker

19:30 I’m inclined to think we weren’t actually meant to notice this, more likely they just slapped the recognizable Cybus head they modeled for the cold opening shot onto the CGI doubles used for other SFX shots like the army scenes, because that’s what they had lying around and they thought no one would pay that close attention. I think the Cyber-war cybermen are meant to be the normal Cybus ones like the ones who flank Ashad.

The warrior Cybermen from Ascension/Timeless Children is amazing. You can see that these Cybermen are battle ready. With the body shape and the spike armour. AMAZING!

It would be really cool to see a Dalek/Cyberman design rankings video with the designs from beyond the TV series (e.g. the Dalek Time Controller/Strategist, the Overseer, the various unique designs from Supremacy of the Cybermen).

I loved the Cybus Cybermen I thought they were so creepy as a kid. They didn’t use guns which made them scarier imo. They’re basically metal zombies which follow you around and if you get caught you basically die horribly to an electric shock. I kinda liked the stomping around. The fact they didn’t run but were relentless in catching you was just so creepy to me. Also they looked completely dead inside. One of my favourite all time scenes from the cybermen was when the doctor was traveling through the long and narrow tunnel which a bunch of deactivated cybermen lurked. When they slowly started to awaken holy shit that was creepy. Though I didn’t really like the whole cyber network thing that mind controlled everyone and the fact the cybermen were “invented” by a businessman. I feel like they could have done a lot more with that story. To me a cyberman is a metal zombie which was once a human.

the intimate and drawn out conversion of Bill into a cyberperson has always creeped me out. This is one of my favorite episodes

Brilliantly researched and fantastically presented documentary. The Cybermen are my all time favourite villains of Doctor Who. I saw Earthshock as a kid and was memorized (and terrified) of the Cybermen. Of course that makes those Cybermen my favourites! Also like the Tomb, Revenge and Invasion Cybermen. I do like the Mondasian Cybermen (old and new) but my second favourite Cybermen would be the Warrior Cybermen, because they remind me so much of the Earthshock ones.

I love the cybermen from the Earthshock era. The cyberleader with his black handles had a very stern, Vaderish style to him

Agreed the human shape of the older cybermen is what made them so scary is that they are us and we are or eventually will become them, and it’s not too unheard of where due to modern science humans are becoming more and more mechanical as we replace damaged or destroyed body parts

my first Cybermen were from Revenge. And then the next, years later, was from Earthshock. the Troughton era ones were a revelation to me. I don't like the nu-Who cybermen much at all.

I just realised that after Revolution of the Daleks. Ace will have to do another top rank designs for the Daleks xD

I personally grew up on the Cybus designs, and thus they’re my personal favorites. I also just think they’re the best modern interpretation we’ve gotten. Very industrial looking, which makes sense in a modern context. But there’s still the bodysuit underneath with helps sell that there are still people in there.

13:28 When I was watching Army Of Ghosts and Doomsday I didn’t even know this guy existed lmao

Totally down with you dude. This is a pretty accurate list for me. The invasion model was 'my' cyberman growing up and to this day it is still the one that I adore the most, but the colony design is just out of this world cool. Absolutely terrifying.

i dunno but i just don’t like the cybus cybermen, their helmets just feel too hexagonally

Invasion of the cyberman head with the 12th legions body would be sick I know it would seem very robotic but the scariest bit about it finding out that it is actually used to be a human

the cybus cybermen also appeared in the pandorica opens and nightmare in silver, the cybus logo appeared on the headless cyberman and the trio that confronted the doctor as well as the stone cyberman). Also the mondasian patients, the Blood of the cybermen ones without a chest plate (just the cyber insignia) cyberslaves and cyber lord from the adventure games and also the ninth doctor cybermen the ones that convert rose/cyber slitheen, judoon, silurians from supremacy? It would be super to hear your thoughts on them, the blood ones especially, does no chest plate help the design at all? The neck mould for the 12 cyber leigon cybermen (the doctor falls onwards) is more of a rubber design than the cybus ones which were fibreglass

My favourite design of the cybermen are the invasion designs. I just love them and I can’t explain why! My favourite voice is the 2006 ones.

The first Mondasian Cybermen I ever saw was in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls. Compared to other designs, the Mondasian Cybermen just scream pain. Like it lives in constant agony. Like it regrets upgrading itself, and that’s what makes the design so effective.

Here's a theory: The original teardrop and mouthdrop was used to mount the silver rings around the mouths and eyes of the Cybermen in Moonbase and Tomb. But in Wheel, they didn't have those, but they used the same head mould, leaving the mounting holes visible.

The wooden Cyberman was _specifically_ designed to get past the Papal Mainframe's scanners, and was most likely a simple drone.

You know I feel like the designs changing make sense in an evolutionary standpoint. You know how things become more advanced when time changes? Like you have the first cyberman design which is human-like, and then you have the bulky, more robotic designs.

I like the Cyber Shades as a one off design. Matches the purposeful campness of the episode

The Mondasian Cybermen from World Enough And Time has everything people love about the original 60s version and they improved on them.

I would love to see a modernised Moonbase style Cyberman return and the Earthshock ones in a couple of years time.

I didn't know that there where even a difference between cyber leaders and just generic cybermen... Now I can't unsee the black head bars

When you watch the Tenth Planet if you look closely you can see the actor's eyes through the eyelets which always terrified me.

I was 5 years old when the Invasion Cybermen came onto the screen, and they terrified me. These are my go-to design - good to see they're near the top of your listing.

The mondasian cybermen are absolutely terrifying and it feels like they could actually exist in reality

alot of these designs feel more like varients of the same design rather than completely different designs. I also was first introduced to the cybus industries cybermen " whatever you call them" so thats why I like them the most.

The thing I love about these videos is the fact that even though he sometimes rants about things he hates it’s done in a way that’s so respectable since he actually knows that people are able to have different opinions. Even when he talks about absolutely hating something that I for my own reasons am partial to I don’t feel offended or like things I like are being disrespected. It’s just that simple understanding that not everyone has to have his same opinion that makes it all so nice. For instance I kinda like the wooden cybermen. They would be a bit higher on my list because there’s something about them for me probably for the same reasons it got made in the first place. Still I feel perfectly fine hearing him say he absolutely hates them. It’s just nice to see someone like that.

The OG Cybermen looking so slapped together and wonky works really well

Mondasian ones are my favourites. Agree with you that Cybermen are all about body horror. Would love to see a modern take on the tomb of the cybermen design after they smashed the invasion design in series 12 and the mondasian version in s10

Gotta be honest, i haven't watched the cyber wars storyline in it's entirety yet, but damn is it good so far. The lone cyberman is about as interesting a villain as you can get. For me, anyway. He's a Cyberman who's seen war, the worst of war, damaged, broken, and he knows it. But he's got a mission and he's going for it at full speed. And, he's utterly terrifying. They should've given a cyberman emotion ages ago. This is about the most scary cyberman I've ever seen.

I feel like the walking sounds for Cybus Cybermen was for mainly fear factor

What did you use to make this list because in a previous video you mentoined that you used something to help come up with a list? I would love to make my own so I'd really like to know.

Who remembers jumping up and down at the end of the first episode of earthshock?

Correct me if I am wrong but the tenth planet cybermen were very early cybermen and that’s the lore reason for them looking so cheap as they are literally out of surgery with prototype life support and implants.

I love the Cyber-Masters too and really hope they return. A really powerful and effective design.

I like cyberman when you can see there is obviously a person under there. The Mondas Cybermen, I can't remember which one specifically, but one of them has a clear tray in front of the mouth, and if you look close, you can see their mouth move when they talk. Just anything to remind you, that's not a robot, that's not a man in a suit, that's a human who lopped off his extranious bits and replaced them after they stopped working and didn't stop until there was no more man left.

15:47. I agree that the cybermen are better when we are reminded they are people not just acting like a bunch of robots but I did laugh out loud when you did that noise, it reminded me of the Master doing the same 'doosh, doosh, doosh' mickey take of the stomping noise in Timeless Children. Another inciteful and interesting video btw 👍👍👍👍👍👍

About the "C" branding on the Cybus Cybermen, thats meant to relate to consumerism of brands, since Rise of the Cybermen has a heavy consumerism theme.

At first I thought the Lone Head was a Nightmare Head, but looking at it closer, its totally different. I wouldn't mind seeing a fixed version of it.

Well these version of Cyberman do come from a corporate organization so it does make sense for them to have a logo and for to be branded on to them

The C could mean there is an unknown human villain behind the whole thing or an AI corporation existing which is trying to replace the Timelords in controlling the universe.

27:00 I wouldv'e put the Demon's run episode rather than closing time because thats when we learn what the leigon is actually called.

I LOVE THE CYBER-MASTERS

The Cybus Cybermen were my first introduction to the Cybermen too

I think Ashad's head, if it were not damaged, looks much more like Iron Man's helmet than the Nightmare in silver cyberman heads do. Which is kinda interesting because some people say they don't like the nightmare in silver cybermen because they're reminiscent of iron man, but I haven't heard someone say that about Ashad.(I might be wrong on this one because I don't really spend much time searching those kind of things -- please correct me if I am wrong)

You are such an amazing Ytuber, just if there was more Who fans on the platform, you would be up there with 1mil subs extra

One of my favourite Cyberman designs is Lee Sullivan's take on them as seen in the Radio Times 8th Doctor comic strip, and the artwork for the streaming version of Real Time that appeared on the BBC's Doctor Who website. They looked like a suitably updated evolution of what had been on TV up till then. For the TV show designs, I absolutely loved the version introduced with The Age of Steel/Rise of the Cybermen and onwards. The looked physically intimidating, armoured, and like they could reach out and twist your head off. It also shows what a brilliant writer Russell T Davies is. When the original Cybermen were introduced in 1966, artificial limbs were still primitive, having barely moved on from the designs introduced after WWI and the idea of transplant organs was still a year away. Gerry Davis and Kir Peddlar tapped into the very real fear that people might lose their humanity through spare-part surgery. Forty years later, transplant operations and artificial limbs were commonplace and far more advanced. So RTD tapped into the body-horror aspect of the Cybermen - the horrible imagery of people being put through an industrial process like a robotic car factory - stripping away their humanity and turning them into identical machines off a production line. They're a great design - though I prefer my Cyberleaders without visible brains - that should be reserved for Controllers and Planners -and I think they should have dropped the Cybus logo by Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. I also loved the horrible irony of John Lumic from the parallel Earth. He was a shattered wreck of a human, forced to live his days in his wheelchair. he concots the idea of the Cybermen so that he can escape the disease that has enfeebled him - only to realise at the last minute the horror of his situation when he's unceremoniously carted off by his creations to become like them, losing all individuality in the process - the very thing that made him John Lumic - and then, once converted, he's still stuck imobile in a chair. Marvelous stuff.

I loved the Twelfth Cyber Legion Cyberman design but hated the thudding noise they made as they marched (easy to avoid as you could hear them coming miles away) - one of the things that terrified me as a kid was the stealth aspect of the cybermen and that they could sneak up on you without you realising they were there. Totally agree on the Mondasian cybermen being the best, they really do look creepy and almost human-like...