You will find a lot of robot styles are born out of the types of competitions that run in certain countries and stuff. In the states they build loads of spinners and hammers in the small weight classes because the rules and arenas don't favour flippers.
Here in the UK the rules and the arena are nigh on the exact opposite. We aren't allowed spinners and the arenas are design with chucking someone out in mind.
This sounds weird but my point is that following these thoughts, if you look at the yank stuff you will find nothing but spinners. Look in the UK you will find mostly flippers. Don't worry about feeling like a sheep, yes you can build something quirky like I do for fun, but to be successful it's about looking at what works. Which is all you've done